About
Mary Jiang.
Architect, researcher, and advocate for design as an act of empathy.
Mary Jiang is an architect and researcher whose work centers on the invisible barriers between people and the spaces they inhabit. Trained between Shanghai and Chicago, her practice moves quietly between adaptive reuse, community architecture, and inclusive design.
She founded The Fifth Wall as a signature project — a lifelong inquiry into how architecture can become a language of dignity, empathy, and belonging. Her work has been supported by community organizations, cultural institutions, and — most importantly — the people who inhabit her buildings.
Mission
To design spaces that meet people at the door and say, without words, "you were expected."
Philosophy
Architecture is not the art of building walls. It is the courage to notice, and then to gently remove, the invisible ones. Every material, every threshold, every window is a small ethical decision about who is welcome.