Shelley Davis Roberts is the Studio Director at Designing Justice Designing Spaces, a non profit professional services firm that uniquely blends architecture, real estate development, and community engagement toward the goals of ending mass incarceration, as well as dismantling systemic racism and its consequences on the most vulnerable members of our society.


Originally from Las Vegas, Nevada, Shelley earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, and a Master of Architecture from UC Berkeley. Shelley has over 25 years of comprehensive experience in project management and all phases of design for a wide range of architectural project types, including affordable multifamily housing, schools, private family residences, commercial, and sacred spaces.


As a former Chapter President for the San Francisco Chapter of NOMA, Shelley has researched and presented on the contributions of African American Architects in her lecture “Evolution of the African American Architect.” Shelley’s multi-disciplinary interests have guided her work in architecture, community development, identity, and culture while also working as a visual and performing artist and educator. Formerly an Architecture and Diversity instructor at the City College of San Francisco, she has also performed and completed large-scale art installations as a collaborating artist of House/Full of Black Women throughout 2016-2023. House/Full of Black Women is a multi-site, multimedia, ritual dance theater project addressing the displacement of black women and trafficking of young girls in Oakland, CA.