A native of Detroit, MI, Rebecca “Bucky” Willis received her Master of Architecture degree from the University of Detroit Mercy. She has worked for a number of non-profit organizations in Detroit, including Habitat for Humanity, Detroit Future City, and the Detroit Collaborative Design Center. She also taught an Architectural Design Studio as an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture.

 

Bucky is an avid traveler! She has studied abroad at the Warsaw University of Technology in Poland and has participated in five fellowships including the Salzburg Global Forum Young Cultural Innovators Fellowship in Austria, the New Museum – Ideas City Athens Artist Fellowship in Greece and the University of Chicago – Place Lab Ethical Redevelopment Salon in the States.   

 

The heart of her career and research lies at the intersection where architecture and design meet social issues and emotional impact. This career and research focus inspired her to create the concept of Bleeding Heart Design - a design movement and non-profit that inspires altruism. Designers who seek to improve humanity and solve social issues through design are whom Bucky likes to call "design superheroes"!