10/06/2026
Fall Lecture Series
Kim Holden is a registered architect, certified birth and postpartum doula, educator, and maternal health advocate exploring how the built environment shapes birth experiences, autonomy, trauma, and health outcomes. She is the founder of Doula x Design (“doula by design”) and an original Founding Principal of SHoP in New York City.
Kim’s work is rooted in the belief that improving maternal health begins with meeting people, and systems, where they are. Through clear storytelling and deeply human examples, she makes complex conversations about healthcare, trauma, equity, and design accessible to audiences well beyond architecture and medicine. She invites people to see birth not simply as a “women’s issue,” but as a shared societal concern that reveals how we design systems, shape experiences, and care for one another.
Kim served as the William Henry Bishop Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at Yale University and is currently a Shaw Innovation Fellow Advisor at the University of New England, where she guides research on maternal health and supportive birth environments. She serves on the Board of The Birthing Place Foundation and co-founded the Mobilize Maternal Health Coalition, both based in The Bronx, New York. Born and raised in New England, Kim serves on the AIA Maine Program Committee and is Vice President of Architalx, a Portland, Maine based lecture series celebrating its 40th anniversary season.
Friday, October 9th
12:00-1:30 pm
EV 024
