Afaina de Jong

Afaina de Jong (b. 1977, Amsterdam) is an Amsterdam-based architect working at the intersection of art and architecture. With her studio AFARAI, founded in Amsterdam in 2005, she pushes the boundaries of traditional architecture by approaching the city as an intersectional and interdisciplinary whole. In doing so, she integrates theory and research with design as a feminist practice that stimulates change and creates space for difference. By using form as a language — through colours, patterns and stories often perceived as “the other” — she works towards a more inclusive spatial experience. De Jong is head of the master’s programme Contextual Design at Design Academy Eindhoven and has held teaching positions at, among others, the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft; the Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam; Columbia University GSAPP, New York; KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm; and the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. Her design research project The Multiplicity of Other was commissioned in 2021 for the Dutch Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice. Her design initiative The Embodied Restoration Lab, focused on AI, feminism and architecture, was part of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice in 2025.