Archinect - Features

'As a Black Architecture Firm, We Cannot Ignore the Fact That We Are Rare': A Conversation with Think Wilder Architecture

2023-02-24T08:15:00-05:00

Architecture licensure and running a practice are topics widely discussed on Archinect. While everyone's path is different the experiences of firm leaders, regardless of their firm size, offer a look into the realities of being an architect, leader, and entrepreneur.

"Having my own practice has allowed me to use the business as a platform to create more than just architecture. I think architects have skill sets that transcend architecture." These are the words of Stephen Wilder, Principal of Think Wilder Architecture. The Howard University and Carnegie Mellon University graduate runs a New Jersey/New York-based architecture practice that's keen on balancing work expectations while showcasing the value architects provide to their communities.

For our latest installment of Archinect's Studio Snapshots, we chat with Wilder on his path to architecture, the obstacles of licensure, challenging the industry's work culture, and how he defines the role of an architect.

Architecture Gave Me a Black Eye: A Note to Architectural Educators

2021-11-19T08:32:00-05:00

I was eight years old when I entered my first slave quarter—that was the first time architecture hit me. It was the first time that I can recall thinking about spaces that dictated where my race belonged. But, more than anything, the hit was mostly a surprise, and I questioned if something so much older and so much larger than me was allowed to hit me. Was I, in turn, supposed to fight back?

While I do not blame the building, I do, in fact, blame the education responsible for curating that experience. I can only imagine the difference felt if this field trip was anchored by discussions about inequality and self-worth, rations and resourcefulness, or degradation and fortitude. Instead, I spent my time on the plantation that day trying to figure out if I would have been a field slave or a house slave. In that moment, what everyone failed to realize was that whether they recognized it or not, the slave quarters were also telling my white classmates where they belonged. And just like ...

Black MD’s, Lawyers…and Architects; Part 2

2021-09-23T11:19:00-04:00

Black America’s need over the next several generations is for an “apostate architect” wing [to complement the budding generalist design and theory architect wings]. The apostate wing must be capable of and motivated to play a vital role in the business of wealth creation-centered community production of affordable housing and related community facilities. Given the reality that [highly motivated] African Americans who could be interested in careers in architecture are not willing to take the profession’s de rigueur “vows of [personal] poverty,” an alternative re-purposed medical doctor modeled curriculum would also solve the architect’s unacceptably low compensation issue.

Melvin L. Mitchell continues with Part 2 of Black MD’s, Lawyers…and Architects. Click here to read Part 1.

Othering Blackness in Design: Reflections with Walter Hood

2021-07-02T14:24:00-04:00

Mr. Hood wouldn’t let his son go to art school, so he had to find the next best thing. Going through the rest of the list of college majors—accounting, advertising, agriculture, etc.—nothing else called out to him in the same way nor made the vision of the future he wanted any clearer or any more desirable. But then, an accidental discovery halfway through high school helped to make this vision a little less murky. One day, while walking through the hallways, Walter happened to stumble upon a very strange collection of people in a classroom. They were all standing at boards, in all-white cloaks, meticulously drafting away with T-squares in one hand and graphite in the other.

Op-Ed: Paul R. Williams — The Complexity of being an Architectural Icon (and Black)

2021-02-23T10:42:00-05:00

When asked to reflect on the impact that Paul R. Williams has had on my career as an architect, I was initially hesitant. How do you quantify the importance of such an icon of the profession? I did not grow up in Los Angeles. I grew up in Seattle. I always wanted to be an architect. Architects and designers are in my family. Paul R Williams was not the first Black Architect that I was exposed to. I went to a majority architecture school in New York. PRW was not covered in our euro-centric architecture curriculum. I was only exposed to PRW through the National Organization of Minority Architects, while I was in college. Immediately upon learning about his works, I felt woefully behind. Since that time, including a move to Los Angeles, I have experienced some of his works in person, met some of his family members, and had conversations with colleagues who knew him directly. His icon status is undeniable, and should be amplified and celebrated exponentially, however, for me his legacy ...

Black MD’s, Lawyers…and Architects; Part 1

2020-11-20T13:45:00-05:00

In the eyes and minds of Black America the two professions of medicine and law sit at the apex of respect, envy, and essentiality – as well they should. In my book, African American Architects: Embracing Culture and Building Urban Communities, 2020 (and several published summarizing articles) I alluded cryptically to the issue of Black architects and our subconscious wish that Black America (and particularly Black youth) see our profession as being as equally essential and prestigious as they see the medical and legal professions. I wish to explore here whether this is a viable aspiration.

Build Something Big! One Million New Affordable Housing Units, 2020-2030

2020-09-04T17:34:00-04:00

The USA has an ever-growing affordable housing problem. For Black Americans, however, this problem has been a chronic condition that desperately requires a solution. As DC-based architect and author Melvin L. Mitchell discusses in this op-ed, the work needed to fix this must involve Black individuals from every aspect of the building industry.

This essay references the second part of Melvin L. Mitchell's recently published book African American Architects: Embracing Culture and Building Urban Communities. Mitchell asserts that African American architects must catalyze a Black controlled housing industry and develop/build one million affordable new houses over next ten years.

"Discovering a Black Aesthetic in Architecture" — An Investigation by Woodbury Grad Demar Matthews

2020-06-09T13:29:00-04:00

Demar Matthews is a recent M.Arch graduate of Woodbury University. We first met Demar with the publication of his article A Black Architecture Education Experience, a piece that propelled the young designer into a rigorous investigation of Black architectural aesthetics in America. Due to COVID-19, Demar was forced to rework his approach to his project and decided to curate all of his research on a website, offtopdesign.com, which is a work in progress. Demar's academic exploration of Black aesthetics is something he says he's only just begun.

He says this thesis is a first step to what he hopes will be a much longer and deeper path. I connected with Demar, to talk a bit more about his project and thoughts for his future.

Archinect's Spotlight on 2020 Thesis Projects: 2020 has been an extraordinarily challenging year for architecture graduates. Students were displaced as schools shut down, academic communities had to adapt to a new virtual format, end-of-year celebrations were can...

A Conversation with Curtis Moody, FAIA on What It Means to Help Shape a Future for Black Architects

2020-02-29T07:00:00-05:00

Within the realm of architectural practice, the need to write and re-frame the narratives and contributions of women in architecture, Black architects, and other minority-identifying designers has gained increasing urgency in recent years. And while architects like Paul Revere Williams, Phillip Freelon, Norma Merrick Sklarek, Zena Howard, Gabrielle Bullock, and Kimberly Dowdell are nearly household names in design, these architects constitute but a few of Black architects who have impacted the profession.

Curtis Moody, a renowned architect based in Columbus, Ohio who has been practicing for over 38 years, is another such architect. When he first started his practice back in 1982, his goal was not only to establish a thriving architecture practice but also build a firm that would be a representation of a group that is often overlooked and misrepresented. Since then, he has expanded Moody Nolan into a practice consisting of 230 employees with 12 offices across the U.S.

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