Archinect - News

NOMA summer programs saw 43 young professionals connected with architecture firms, fellowships, and grants

2024-09-10T08:00:00-04:00

National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) has concluded the sixth edition of its NOMA Future Faces initiative, which sees young professionals connected with industry summer internships. The 2024 edition saw 25 students and recent graduates take part in a two-month summer fellowship, undertaking design research, project work, and firm mentorship.

The fellowship was open to all members of the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS) with the purpose to “develop and propel forward the next generation of Black and minority architects who will be designing for the future.” Alongside the practice placement, each fellow also received a $2,450 relocation reimbursement and is eligible to receive a $1,000 licensure stipend once they become a licensed architect.

Meanwhile, the organization also recently oversaw the latest edition of the Historically Black College & University (HBCU) Professional Development Program (PDP), which seeks to support architecture stu...

NOMA announces its 2023 summer fellowship cohort by welcoming 13 architecture students and graduates

2023-07-21T14:15:00-04:00

Continuing to not only champion but provide pathways to academic and professional advancement, the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) celebrates another fellowship cohort of young designers.

The NOMA Future Faces (NFF), formerly known as the NOMA Foundation Fellowship, recognizes 13 architecture students and graduates for this 2023 cohort as they engage in a two-month-long summer fellowship.

These fellowships are "hosted at leading architecture firms across the country where fellows engage in design research and benefit from firm mentorship," explains NOMA. "In an industry where only two percent of licensed architects in the United States identify as Black, the NFF plays a crucial role in providing valuable professional experience to underrepresented students."

The team at NOMA shared insight as to the fellowship's rebranding in 2023, explaining that the new name better highlights the program's mission and purpose to "develop and propel forward the next generation...

Architecture student Maya Matabwa named University of Illinois Chicago's Hartshorne and Plunkard Fellow

2023-02-22T14:42:00-05:00

Maya Matabwa, a first-year M.Arch student from the University of Illinois Chicago's College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts, is the recipient of the second Hartshorn and Plunkard Fellowship.

The program officially launched in 2022 by awarding its first fellow, M.Arch student Martina Smith, and is named and funded in honor of UIC alumni Ray Hartshorne and Jim Plunkard of Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture (HPA). To increase the opportunities for architecture students from traditionally underrepresented communities, the fellowship provides students with financial support for up to three years, academic and professional mentoring, and a paid internship at HPA.

Matabwa, who was born in Malawi, shared with UIC Today that receiving the award is "still sinking in."

Across academic institutions and firms, initiatives to create stronger pipelines, mentorship, and funding for students of marginalized communities have increased. "Being here as a young, Black, Malawian woman is an honor, ...

Designers, educators Omar Ali and Emmanuel Osorno join Tulane as fellows in new Deans’ Equity and Inclusion Initiative

2021-06-24T17:49:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Tulane University School of Architecture, an Archinect Partner School

Tulane School of Architecture has selected designers and educators Omar Ali and Emmanuel Osorno to join the faculty as the school’s inaugural Architecture Fellows. As part of their two-year fellowships, they will also join the first cohort for the newly launched Deans’ Equity and Inclusion Initiative, a national partnership co-founded by Tulane School of Architecture. Ali, co-founder of table of co., will serve as the 2021-23 Architecture and Urbanism Fellow at Tulane. Osorno, founder of EOstudio, will serve as the 2021-23 Architecture and Social Innovation Fellow.

“Bringing new, diverse faculty with new perspectives to our school is incredibly important in advancing our own goals toward equity and inclusion. Both Omar and Emmanuel have immense talent, thoughtful teaching experience, and critical research in their fields, and our school looks forward to working with them,” said Iñak...

Ten architecture students from five HBCU's have recently been appointed to NOMA's 2021 Foundation Fellowship cohort

2021-02-13T11:45:00-05:00

Ten architecture students from five Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) are selected to be a part of NOMA's 2021 Foundation Fellowship (NFF). In 2020 NOMA announced the fellowship's inaugural cohort that consisted of 30 students from over 20 architecture schools across the United States.

The fellowship's mission was to provide professional experiences to underrepresented students through mentorship and direct collaboration with architecture firms. With the number of licensed Black architects slowly but steadily increasing, the fellowship allows students to stay engaged within the profession and provide a direct pipeline towards future employment opportunities.

Jason Pugh, newly appointed 2021-2022 NOMA President, shared his response to the recently announced student fellows and the schools participating. Pugh, proud HBCU alum who graduated from Howard University, shared in a statement, "HBCUs continue to provide opportunities to expand an educated Black middle clas...

Lily Zhang wins Steedman Fellowship; $50K travel grant among largest U.S. architecture awards

2019-04-03T15:47:00-04:00

If architecture is in a relationship, posits Lily Zhang, then storage is its selfless soul mate: essential and supportive but typically overlooked.

“Storage allows architecture to maintain order,” said Zhang, an architectural designer based in New York and winner of the 2018-19 James Harrison Steedman Memorial Fellowship in Architecture.

“We keep our active inhabitable areas free of clutter and the appearance of overindulgence,” Zhang added, “while banishing unused and unwanted items to the basement, the warehouse, the broom cupboard or the mechanical room.

“Yet rather than dismissing these spaces as passive and inert, what we stash away and where we hide them are as revealing as what we display, if not more.”

Planometric and sectional views of shared storage spaces, from “Collective Clutter,” which proposes new spatial and socially engaged models of storage. (Image: Courtesy of Lily Zhang)

Granted since 1925, the biennial Steedman Fellowship is organized by the College of Architect...

MADWORKSHOP fellows reimagine the emergency shelter for disasters

2018-05-08T14:37:00-04:00

Through a plethora of over-designed shelters, interventions, and temporary housing prototypes, professional architecture has attempted to pick up on issues of global mass displacement. Despite the endless stream of projects of this nature, little has changed and cots in gymnasiums remain the standard, insufficient approach in times of need.

Addressing this issue, Shelter Squared is meant to offer a different design-oriented solution to emergencies. Designed by Jeremy Carman and Jayson Champlain, two of MADWORKSHOP's 2017 fellows, the flat-packed, approximately mattress-sized shelter takes less than fifteen minutes to assemble, and can be stored on-site making it immediately available in any scenario.

The units are constructed with lightweight, waterproof panels for easy maintenance and use velcro connections to ensure simplicity of assembly. Each unit provides an operable fabric enclosure, clean floor, roomy sleeping quarters, lockable...