Michael Ford is a designer, born and raised in the city of Detroit. Ford received his Masters of Architecture degree from the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM), where he completed his graduate thesis titled “Hip Hop Inspired Architecture and Design.” He has worked as a designer at Hamilton Anderson Associates located in Detroit, Mich. and as an adjunct professor at his alma matter. Ford has also worked as a designer at Flad Architects located in Madison, Wisc.

He has spent the past decade working to blur the lines between professional practice and academia. He is dedicated to stimulating cross disciplinary discourse between practitioners and residents on the sociological and cultural implications of architecture and urban planning on its inhabitants. More specifically, Ford has unveiled the subconscious roles of historical architectural figures such as LeCorbusier in envisioning the built environments which necessitated the birth of hip hop culture.

Ford’s Hip Hop Architecture research is the topic of articles published in a variety of places including University of Pennsylvania’s annual Unspoken Borders Publication and Conference and Harvard University’s Journal of African American Policy. Along with these publications Ford is also a regular presenter at the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) Annual Conferences and has been a guest lecturer at several universities including the University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign, University of Detroit Mercy, UPenn, Carnegie Mellon Univresity and Harvard's Graduate School of Design.