Career Conversations: Change Makers Series

Join us for the inaugural Career Conversations: Change Makers Series.

This conversation will focus on Regenerative Design: Practices for a Changing World. How might design contribute to places, communities, and ecological systems that are able not only to endure change, but to thrive through it? The inaugural Career Conversations: Change Makers series brings together practitioners who are rethinking how design engages climate, place, resources, and living systems. Rather than offering a single definition of regenerative design, the conversation will explore how these ideas are being put into practice today through research, technology, collaboration, stewardship, and design.

Panelists will reflect on the questions guiding their work, the career paths that brought them there, and the challenge of translating environmental and social values into real projects and institutions. For students, the evening offers a chance to learn from people actively testing new possibilities for design practice and to consider how their own values and interests might shape the field.

Panelists:

Ariel Ben-Amos (MCP’09) is a city planner for the City of Philadelphia.  He has nearly two decade’s worth of experience coordinating transformative projects at the intersection of people, place, and infrastructure. Ariel has contributed to design manuals, built complete and green streets, and developed programs to support community stewardship of the ROW.  Ben-Amos is a former Peace Corps Volunteer,  an instructor at the University of Pennsylvania, and founder of StreetBoxPHL, a non-profit dedicated to serving citizen stewards of the Right Of Way.

Ariel served in the Peace Corps (Albania) and on numerous non-profit boards within Philadelphia (from the Gershman Y to Bartram’s Gardens), working to promote arts and culture in the city’s neighborhoods. He is both a graduate and instructor at the University of Pennsylvania, teaching in his undergraduate program (Urban Studies).

Working for the City of Philadelphia he has launched pedestrianization programs, coordinated green infrastructure investments in streetscape projects, managed infrastructure grant program development, and utility real estate planning initiatives. Ariel’s research focuses on the intersection of people, place, and infrastructure, and the political and organisational factors that mediate multi-modal investments and initiatives.  

Ariel has contributed to numerous Design Manuals (NACTO Urban Street Design Guide, The Routledge Handbook of Urban Design Practice, etc) and has been published in Transportation Research Record, th The State of Transportation Planning 2020, and the Philadelphia Independent.

Arathi Gowda is an architect and regenerative design leader who is committed to creating places that support both human and ecological well-being. Inspired by early involvement with Earth Club and Amnesty International and shaped by her architectural education at Carnegie Mellon University, she brings a global perspective developed through projects in more than 40 cities across nearly every climate zone. Arathi believes regenerative, human-centered design can create places that restore ecological health, strengthen communities, and enhance quality of life, advancing a more resilient and thriving future for people and the planet. Arathi is dedicated to developing future design leaders through academic engagement and mentorship. She has taught at Howard University, Northwestern University, the Illinois Institute of Technology, and Roosevelt University, bridging education and practice to advance the potential for regenerative design.

Arathi advocates for collective climate action and serves on the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment Advocacy Group and the AIA Government Affairs Committee. She is the current co-chair of the U.S. chapter of Architects Declare, a movement declaring a climate, justice, and biodiversity emergency.

Arathi received the Individual Chapter Mission Award from Illinois Green (2016) and was named one of ten recipients of Green Building & Design's Women in Sustainability Leadership Award (2019). She was appointed to Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago Building Decarbonization Task Force (2021) and was named to Newcity Magazine's Design 50, an honor recognizing individuals who shape Chicago’s architecture and built environment (2022). In 2025, Arathi was conferred the AIA Fellowship for contributions to the technical advancement of the architectural profession and society at large.

Jazz Graves, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, is an Owner’s Representative with Becker & Frondorf, bringing 20 years of experience in the architecture and design industry to her new role. After 14 years as a Principal at KieranTimberlake, she now applies her deep background in complex institutional projects, collaborative design processes, and stewardship‑focused delivery to advocate for clients and guide project teams through every stage of planning and construction.

During her 14 years at KieranTimberlake, Jazz delivered design solutions that balanced ambitious technological and sustainability goals with a deeply collaborative approach. She served on the façade team for the award‑winning U.S. Embassy in London, which achieved LEED Platinum certification, and acted as project architect for Washington University in St. Louis’ 18‑acre East End Transformation. Her expertise in university infrastructure also includes the Integrated Project Delivery of Brown University’s Engineering Research Center, an undergraduate housing roadmap study for MIT, and the historic renewals of Harvard University’s Eliot and Kirkland House.

Beyond her project work, Jazz is an active leader within the architectural community and co‑chaired AIA Philadelphia’s Women in Architecture Committee for several years, leading programming that cultivates the development of women design professionals. Her career pivot reflects a continued commitment to shaping resilient, thoughtful environments—now from the client’s side of the table.

David Salamon (MArch’13), RA, LFA, CPHC, BECxP, is a registered architect and an experienced builder with expertise in high-performance sustainable design across multiple scales. Prior to pursuing a formal architectural education, he built his own off-grid home in northern New Mexico. David is interested in questions such as, how does the architecture of a school influence learning? How does the architecture of a hospital affect healing? And how does the architecture of multifamily housing promote (or hinder) community? David received his Bachelor of Art in Architecture from the University of New Mexico and a Master of Architecture with a Certificate in Ecological Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.

As a Certified Passive House Consultant, David has been trained in and designed projects with both US and International passive house systems.  He is a co-founder of the Greater Philadelphia Passive House Association (now a part of Green Building United) and has been a guest critic and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Temple University where he previously taught energy modeling. At Re:Vision, David provides full service residential and commercial architectural design as well as high-performance and Passive House consulting services.

Moderators:

Joe Gargasz is a second-year student at the Weitzman School of Design, pursuing his Master of Architecture degree. He received his Bachelor's of Science in architecture at The Ohio State University. 

Lauren Johnson is a fourth-year student in the University of Pennsylvania's undergraduate architecture program with a minor in Urban Studies. She plans to pursue a Master of Architecture degree after she graduates.

This panel discussion is being held in collaboration with the Penn Undergraduate Architecture Department and the Weitzman Office of Professional Development & Leadership. Please email Kali Meeks (kmeeks@design.upenn.edu) if you would like to register.

If you require any accessibility accommodation, such as live captioning, audio description, or a sign language interpreter, please email news@design.upenn.edu. Please note, we require at least five (5) business days’ notice.