06/24/2026
It took a village to design the village.
5 years ago, the (made up) firm of Khatawser, McKinzier, Gensler, Sunflower and Bensler, LLC (last 3 shown here) celebrated the design of Camp Esperanza.
It all started by me asking lots of questions and actively listening. I then sketched a layout that is strikingly similar to what is being completed today.
+ I learned that if you don't have skills, it's hard to get a job. I made space for Skills Training.
+ I knew that if you don't eat well, you can get sick, and connecting to nature is awesome. I added a HUGE Garden.
+ If your car or bike breaks down, it's hard to go to work. I added Auto & Bike Repair. The list goes on. Exercise. Safe places. A kitchen. Very efficient tiny homes. TOOF keeps moving more & more items from my initial list, and turning them into a reality on the ground.
I brought that rough sketch and the long list of what folks said they needed to transition into stable housing to my friends Ben and Marcus. They dropped it into CAD and beautifully animated it. World renown firm, Gensler added so much to the magic. My friend Ali added Engineering, heart, and so much more.
I am proud of the hard work of so many designers to create a vision, goal and now a reality. Again, it took a village to design the village.
