House of Joy
Yiselle Santos Rivera writes about architecture, identity, leadership, and the relationship between the built environment and the lives it shapes. Her essays move between the intimate and the institutional, between cultural memory and policy. She is a regular contributor to The Latino Newsletter.
Essays
"The East Wing Demolition Is an Architectural and Political Failure"
The Latino Newsletter, March 24, 2026
On the demolition of the White House East Wing as an act of cultural and architectural erasure.
"The Casita as Cultural Memory"
The Latino Newsletter
On Bad Bunny's Super Bowl stage set, the casita as architectural form, and what buildings carry when they carry a people's history.
"Adopting the J.E.D.I. Mindset"
DesignIntelligence, 2021
On Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion as a design and leadership lens rather than a program.
"It's OK to See Color"
Architect Magazine, 2019
On racial identity, visibility, and representation in the design profession.
"Reforming the Building Industry: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion"
BuildingGreen, 2020
On inclusive practices and what structural change in architecture actually requires.
Books and Chapters
Out in Architecture (2023)
Co-author and contributor. An anthology exploring LGBTQ+ experiences in architecture and what the profession gains when it makes room for the full range of human identity.
"Making the Invisible Visible" (2021)
In Latinas in Architecture: Stories of Raising the 1% One Latina at a Time. A personal narrative on equity, identity, and what it costs and creates to lead authentically in the built environment.
Selected Press and Features
"Voices of Change: Navigating DEI in the Built Environment" — DesignForce, 2024
"Elevated Conversations: Yiselle Santos Rivera, AIA" — AIA Architect, 2022
"Pride by Design: The Power of Storytelling to Transform" — Pride by Design, 2023
"How Design Can Benefit from Indigenous Ways of Being and Doing" — HKS Research, 2023
