Nicole Joslin is community engaged architect and affordable housing advocate currently serving as a principal and director of 4community development at Capital A Housing, a real estate developer focused on providing Affordable housing to the Austin community. Combining her passion for civic engagement with her architecture know-how, Joslin strives to create holistic, complete and well-designed communities through in-depth communication with community members, leaders and stakeholders. She believes that the most valuable contribution to our built environment is our thoughtful collaboration with a team – design isn’t only about the design itself, it’s also about assessing the decision making processes that will ultimately impact communities long term.

Since joining Capital A Housing, Joslin has hit the ground running, working on projects that are informed and built by community identified needs. She integrates the community voice in all projects – a component that is historically not factored into design decisions. Joslin dives into the nitty gritty of partnership building to ensure projects aren’t just short term solutions, but that the Capital A team are actually taking tangible steps to address deep rooted community challenges. Some notable projects include: East St. Johns, a community of 6 ownership units serving families at a Median Family Income (MFI) of 80%, and Seabrook Square, a 262 unit mixed-income development giving low income families and unhoused neighbors the opportunity to live, work and play in one of Austin’s historic neighborhoods.

Prior to joining Capital A Housing, Joslin served as the executive director of Community Powered Workshop, formerly the Austin Community Design & Development Center, an organization that connects with and amplifies the voices of communities who have not yet been heard to create powerful places. In this role, Joslin got to hone in on her community engagement skills and bridge the gap between the design process, the culture of a neighborhood and the way people actually live. She has also held positions at notable architecture firms including Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, BOKA Powell and Architecture for Humanity where she took a fellowship in Biloxi, Mississippi working on a model home project that experimented with sustainable materials and construction methods for future resiliency in the face of climate change.

From 2016-2018, Joslin served as a summer adjunct professor at The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture. As a professor, she helped students gain hands-on experience with a community engaged design seminar within the Public Interest Design program. During this time, Joslin implemented her belief that architecture is no longer bound by strict and traditional definitions of design, but rather, designers can break beyond conventional norms and showcase their talents in ways that aren’t often taught in the design studio.

Joslin is a registered architect in the state of Texas in addition to being a LEED accredited professional. In addition, she holds a masters of science in community and regional planning from The University of Texas at Austin and received a bachelor of architecture, with a minor in sociology from the University of Oklahoma. When she isn’t designing community driven and engaged communities, she enjoys hiking with her family on the greenbelt and breakfast tacos at all hours of the day.