Architect Designs Tech Labs for Kids Through Programs Like Black Girls Code

Architect Danish Kurani designs tech labs for “marginalized kids” so they can become the next leaders in STEM.
 
Kurani designed the Black Girls Code lab in New York from floor to ceiling. It’s made for girls to engage with and think in depth about tech.
 
“You realize, wow, I created a space where kids’ lives are getting better,” he stated. “Their lives are getting transformed, that coaches, and teachers, and mentors feel like, wow, I finally have a place where I can put my arm around a kid, we can, you know, talk. I can mentor this young person.”
 
Kurani’s other spaces around the world include Howard West in California for Howard University students, the Nelson Mandela School for Social Justice in Brooklyn, and the Riverbend School in India.
 
“The whole lab—it’s all about demystifying tech for the girls right? Pulling back that curtain, showing them how things work, what behind the scenes, so they feel like, wow, this is not this enigmatic thing that only happen in Silicon Valley or in tech offices,” he said. “I can do tech. I can build tech. I can make tech.”
 
A recent Girl Scouts study found that 52% of girls ages 5-17 are “digital leaders” striving to learn new tech skills.