Alejandra (Alex) Ruiz will speak in an upcoming edition of CPID Talks on Friday, April 1. Currently pursuing her Master of Architecture degree at Portland State University, Alex is a designer from Mexico City and Center for Public Interest Design Student Fellow whose work addresses issues of equity and accessibility. Two such projects will be featured in the upcoming Venice Biennale, which she will be discussing at the talk.

Alex received her B.A. in Architecture from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Taller Max Cetto-Facultad de Arquitectura), where her thesis explored accessibility and universal design in special education. The resulting project is a Multiple Attention Care Center (CAM), a school for children with different types of disabilities. This project, designed with several colleagues from UNAM, focused on how accessibility and universal design can be integrated in the design of special education infrastructure, including participatory design and community engagement. The CAM 43 project won Honorable Mention at the 2014 Public Interest Design Awards Mexico. The project is currently under construction.