Archinect - Features

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 ...

Syracuse University School of Architecture Students Uncover the Forgotten Histories of Systemic Racism With “Hidden Histories” Exhibit

2021-04-08T08:19:00-04:00

The built environment isn’t static. Everyday, structures are created, destroyed, and repurposed. Some are preserved while others are left to slowly decay. As time passes and the world changes, new meanings can become attributed to these spaces. Their pasts and histories become vulnerable and new realities may take shape. For better or for worse, the functions spaces once had, the people they once served, and the circumstances that led to their erasure fade and become forgotten.

There are a myriad of forces that drive this ever-occurring phenomenon, ranging from natural to deliberate actions. And, this is where difficult questions arise. What is the history of this place? Why has it been forgotten? Was this nullification intentional? Who and what were the agents that drove these actions? While these are complex questions, in taking a step back and observing broader historical contexts, explanations for these occurrences can be revealed. And, Syracuse Architecture’s National Organiza...

Undoing Apartheid Architecture with Wandile Mthiyane

2020-07-23T09:52:00-04:00

Wandile Mthiyane’s story captures a special reality about architecture and its unique relationship to people. Growing up in Durban, South Africa, Wandile lived in a community designed as a part of the nation’s oppressive apartheid regime of the past. And while the unjust laws of that history have been abolished, the consequences of its effects remain. Wandile decided early on that he wanted to counteract the remnants of this “apartheid architecture” that loomed over his fellow South Africans, and so he embarked on a journey few would have the grit to see to the end.

Determined to study architecture in the United States, the young dreamer raised himself to a position to eventually gain the support of one of the most powerful men in Durban, a crucial step in his path to realize his vision of a better future for his people. Today Wandile is the CEO and Co-Founder of Ubuntu Design Group, a social enterprise design firm with a non-profit arm that is transforming the lives of families in ...