Borderless Studio

Borderless Studio is a design and research practice based in Chicago and San Antonio. Led by principals Paola Aguirre Serrano and Dennis Milam, the studio describes its focus as “connecting communities to design processes and cultivating collaborative design agency through interdisciplinary projects.” In partnership with local stakeholders, Borderless designs and enacts a wide range of urban interventions that aim to promote spatial justice and equity. 

Projects include: 

• Creative Grounds, a series of collaborative activation projects at a former elementary school in the Chicago neighborhood of Bronzeville;
• Buena Vida Choice Neighborhood Plan, a transformative neighborhood plan for a 1940s-era public housing site in Brownsville, Texas;  
• Morningside Park Ribbon Connection, a two-acre park in East Detroit. 

Paola Aguirre Serrano holds a BArch from the Instituto Superior de Arquitectura y Diseño de Chihuahua and a master’s degree in urban design from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. She served until recently a commissioner of Chicago Landmarks and member of the City of Chicago Cultural Advisory Council. Aguirre Serrano teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has taught at both Washington University in St. Louis and Archeworks.

Dennis Milam holds a BArch from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Milam has over 15 years of experience working with private clients, developers, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and architecture and engineering offices in the United States, Austria, Middle East, and Asia.

The studio was selected as a contributor to the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial.

More information

• Borderless Studio, Architect Magazine
• Chicago Architects Borderless Studio Advocate for Spatial Justice, Wallpaper*
• Borderless Studio, Chicago Architecture Biennial