Olivia Mae M. Asuncion, AIA

Olivia Mae Asuncion, AIA, is an architect, advocate, and researcher whose work is reshaping the profession’s understanding of accessibility and inclusion. A leader at local, national, and global levels, Olivia dedicates her career to dismantling physical and systemic barriers in the built environment through design excellence, research, education, and public service.

As a Presidential appointee to the U.S. Access Board, Olivia advances accessibility standards at the federal level, influencing design policy across the United States. Her groundbreaking Fulbright research in the Philippines investigated the intersection of educational access and built environment accessibility, bringing international visibility to the urgent need for inclusive design in schools. Locally, Olivia has led the design of K–12 educational facilities and public safety buildings across California, infusing universal design principles into projects that serve diverse communities.

Through her leadership roles with AIA California and the Young Architects Forum, Olivia has fostered new pipelines for emerging architects, revived K-12 architectural education initiatives, and amplified the visibility of disabled voices within the profession. She has shared her expertise through national speaking engagements, including the Smithsonian Institution, Georgia Tech, and the Association for Learning Environments, empowering architects to center equity in their work.

Driven by lived experience and a belief in architecture’s ability to drive social change, Olivia is not just advocating for access—she is building it, inspiring the current and next generation of architects to design spaces where everyone can thrive.