Elise DeChard Named Inaugural AIA Detroit Women in Architecture Award Winner

Elise DeChard

Elise DeChard (MArch Architecture 2018) has won the first-ever AIA Detroit Women in Architecture Award, launched to honor a woman whose work advances gender equity in the profession. A celebration for all of AIA Detroit’s 2026 award recipients will be held on September 10.

DeChard founded END Studio, a Detroit-based, woman-owned architecture and research practice. The studio uses playful techniques to explore community, sustainability, and interactivity. Past projects range from community art spaces to collaborative manufacturing centers to a fortune-telling wall of TVs. END Studio’s Pineview Residence received a 2026 AIA Architectural Honor Award in the Building category.

She leads with a simple belief: great architecture starts with caring for the people who make it. Her studio culture centers collaboration, mentorship, and well-being — especially for young women entering the field.

DeChard also believes good design should reach everyone, not just clients who can afford it. END Studio partners with nonprofits and small businesses through programs like Motor City Match, and reserves capacity for small-scale projects that expand access to architectural expertise across Detroit neighborhoods.

In 2024, DeChard helped found The New School, a Detroit-based collective of women architects and designers committed to doing the work differently — sharing resources, collaborating, and lifting each other up.

DeChard holds a BArch from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and her MArch from Cranbrook. Before Detroit, she worked in New York City architecture, where she created the concept and design for New Lab at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Her work has appeared in Metropolis, Architectural Digest, The Architect’s Newspaper, Detroit Design, Hour Detroit, and Detour Detroit. Crain’s Detroit named her a Notable Woman in Design in 2020 and a Notable Leader in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction in 2026.

She has also taught at Lawrence Technological University and Kendall College of Art and Design.

Learn more:

Recognition Awards – AIA Detroit

2026 AIA Detroit Celebration of Architecture Event Registration

2026 Architectural Honor Awards – AIA Detroit

The Metro: Collective of women architects reimagining Detroit through design – WDET 101.9

8 Women Designing for Belonging in Detroit – Metropolis Magazine