Archinect - News

Architect, preservationist, and advocate of D.C. statehood, Charles Cassell, dies at 96

2021-05-26T17:42:00-04:00

Charles I. Cassell, a distinguished architect who helped shape the campus of the University of the District of Columbia and fierce advocate of Washington D.C. statehood, passed away on May 17th, the Washington Post reports. He was 96. According to his wife, Linda Wernick-Cassell, the cause of death was congestive heart failure.

Born on August 5, 1924, Cassell grew up in Washington, D.C., the son of one of the country’s most prominent Black architects, Albert I. Cassell, who was the head of Howard University’s architecture department and designed eleven buildings on the campus, along with many other academic communities across the United States. Albert I. Cassell’s Founders Library at Howard University was named a national treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2016.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Charles I. Cassell spent several years as an architect for the Navy Department, designin...

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...

New MoMA exhibition investigates architecture, Blackness, and anti-Black racism in America

2021-02-12T12:57:00-05:00

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America is the fourth installment of the Issues in Contemporary Architecture series at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The exhibition investigates the intersections of architecture, Blackness, and anti-Black racism in the United States.

Olalekan Jeyifous. …other seasonal occupancy neighborhoods. 2020. Courtesy of Olalekan Jeyifous. The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Moreover, the featured projects will look at contemporary architecture and its role in the systemic racism that has facilitated discrimination and injustice in the U.S. A system that has informed and continues to inform the design of American cities through public policies, municipal planning, and architecture that has specifically impacted the Black community.

J. Yolande Daniels, principal, studioSUMO | Los Angeles. Race Plate. 2020. Digital rendering, 24 x 36″ (61 x 91.4 cm). Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Reconstructions will feature 10 n...

Milwaukee to name Fire Department HQ after state's first African American architect

2021-02-11T13:08:00-05:00

The Milwaukee Fire Department Headquarters, at 711 W. Wells Street, is being renamed to honor the first African American architect in the state who designed it. Alonzo Robinson was the city and state’s first licensed African American architect. He designed the Milwaukee Fire Department Headquarters in 1960. It was finished a year later, one of the first of hundreds of buildings Robinson designed in the Milwaukee Area.

According to WTMJ Milwaukee, "The family says Alonzo didn’t want to be recognized for being the first African American architect but rather, he wanted his work to be noteworthy. In addition to the MFD HQ, he designed churches, like the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church near 17th and Meinecke, and he designed other city buildings as well."

First biography on architect Max Bond to be published by Princeton University Press

2020-08-24T13:36:00-04:00

Princeton University Press (PUP) has announced plans to publish If Architecture Were for People: The Life and Work of J. Max Bond., Jr., a forthcoming biography on the pivotal 20th century architect written by architectural historian Brian D. Goldstein.

A PUP announcement explains that Bond's works, which include the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Studio Museum in Harlem, among others, offer "a new perspective on two sweeping forces that transformed architecture, urban planning, and American culture: modernism and the Civil Rights movement."

View of the Bolgatanga Library in Ghana. Image courtesy of Willis E. Bell and Davis Brody Bond.

Bond, often considered among the most prominent Black architects working in the United States during the late 20th century, was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1935 and ea...

Tuskegee University receives $100k gift to support aspiring African American architects

2020-08-14T13:25:00-04:00

Tuskegee University's Department of Architecture has received a gift of $100,000 from the Cooper Carry Charitable Foundation, Inc. to increase access to the architecture profession for African American students. The foundation is the charitable arm of the Cooper Carry architectural firm.

According to a press release, $80,000 of the gift will be used to establish new need-based scholarships for undergraduate students. $20,000 of the gift is designated for a student technology scholarship that will allow students to receive technology assistance by providing laptops and/or architecture design software – as Tuskegee has transitioned to remote instruction.

"We knew Tuskegee University would be the place to develop a new and meaningful partnership – and we believe it’s important to be part of actively developing diverse voices in design and architecture," said Cooper Carry President and CEO Kevin Cantley. "We have great respect for Tuskegee University and have hired several recent Tuskeg...

Mabel O. Wilson receives UVA's Distinguished Alumni award

2020-07-24T20:46:00-04:00

Architect, historian, and educator Mabel O. Wilson has been named as the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient by the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Architecture.

Wilson graduated from UVA with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture in 1985, and has been selected to receive the prestigious award among other "exceptional graduates from the School of Architecture who have demonstrated creativity, innovation, leadership, and vision through their distinguished body of work, within the professional, academic, civic, or artistic realms, as well as their service to the University of Virginia," according to the school's website.

Professor Wilson is the Nancy and George E. Rupp Professor of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation and Professor of African American and African Diasporic Studies at Columbia University. She also serves as the Director of the Institute for the Research in African American Studies, the Director of Graduate Studies for the African American and African...

DAP: Design Justice for Black Lives initiative seeks to streamline professional activism

2020-06-12T13:25:00-04:00

A new initiative focused on leveraging designers' "professional connections and privileges in the name of advancing justice" offers an easy and effective way of reaching professional organizations, leading architecture firms, political entities, and academic institutions via email.

Hosted on the website of architecture and urban design studio Colloqate, the DAP: Design Justice for Black Lives initiative, which is aligned with the design justice movement and is undertaken in solidarity with the Movement of Black Lives, automatically generates email messages preloaded with contact information for industry and academic leaders that individuals can send out to advocate for change within the design fields. The effort is the latest installment of Colloqate's Design As Protest (DAP) effort, an ongoing series of projects that instrumentalize "design as a means to speak out in support of the disinherited and marginalized communities" by exposing and working against the injustice, discrimina...

NMAAHC launches initiative to celebrate the work of Black architects

2020-06-08T11:38:00-04:00

The National Museum of African American History and Culture has launched Rendering Visible, a digital collecting initiative intended to celebrate the "creative production" of Black architects. Through a call for submissions, the initiative will allow the museum to to select architectural illustrations to be considered for inclusion in the Museum's digital collection.

According to the museum website, the goal of Rendering Visible is to document the creativity of Black architects and designers. Submissions should include sketches, renderings, and artistic illustrations that convey the intent and concept of a design project.

Submit your work here.

Trailblazing Buffalo architect Robert Traynham Coles passes away at age 90

2020-05-18T14:42:00-04:00

Longtime architect, advocate, and mentor Robert Traynham Coles has passed away at age 90 in Buffalo.

Coles, who in 1994 became the first African American Chancellor of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), was celebrated for the quality and beauty of his architectural designs. His notable projects include, according to an obituary published by The Buffalo News, the Frank E. Merriweather Jr. Library; the JFK Community Center; and the University at Buffalo's Alumni Arena and Natatorium, as well as additional buildings in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Providence, R.I.

Like many other minority architects, Coles was discouraged from pursuing a career in the industry by his teachers early on, though he eventually earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota and a Masters of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After his studies at MIT, Coles traveled to Europe on the Rotch Travelling Scholarship from the Boston Socie...

Professor Kermit Lee Jr., Syracuse School of Architecture's first black graduate, honored in student organized exhibition

2020-03-03T11:34:00-05:00

Kermit Lee Jr., died in 2018 and was the first Black graduate of Syracuse University’s School of Architecture. In dedication, Syracuse’s National Organization of Minority Architecture Students chapter created an exhibit honoring his legacy and named it “The Living Room Conversation: In Memory of Professor Kermit J. Lee Jr.”

Curated by architecture students Benson Joseph and Parinda Pin Sangkaeo, The Living Room Conversation features Professor Lee's drawings from his time as a student and further chronicles his life and legacy. According to The Daily Orange, the exhibition was split into four parts, each a different season in Lee's life: student, teacher, architect, and person.

Kermit Lee Jr. in Braunschweig, 1960

"Students really captured him and understood a man I don’t think any of them have met," said Karin Lee George, Professor Lee's daughter. "He’d be grinning."

National Museum of African American Music to open this summer in Nashville

2020-02-24T11:20:00-05:00

The National Museum of African American Music is on track to open in Nashville later this year...it will be the only institution dedicated to showcasing music genres created and inspired by black Americans. In 2015, [mayor] Karl Dean, announced that plans would move forward to redevelop the old convention center on Fifth and Broadway into a brand-new space...Nearly three years from the start of the project, the museum is nearly finished and it is expected to be completed by this summer

Designed by Nashville-based Harold Thompson Architects, the museum will house more than 1,400 artifacts, seven galleries, a theater, and live music. "The perception nationally, I think, is that Nashville is just country music. And while we love country music, I think it’s important to touch base on all the other musical genres African Americans have helped to influence," said Tamar Smithers, director of Education and Public Programs, reports Black Enterprise.

Check out the virtual tour below:

Remembering the civic architecture of Paul Revere Williams

2019-12-18T18:55:00-05:00

A new episode of the Lost LA series on Los Angeles channel KCET highlights the civic architecture of noted and prolific architect Paul Revere Williams.

Williams, who built over 3,000 structures over a more than 50-year-long long career, is largely known for designing stylistically eclectic Hollywood movie star houses, but the breadth and scope of his legacy far exceeds works that simply cater to the rich and famous. Instead, Williams, who was posthumously awarded the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Gold Medal in 2017, worked across styles, building types, and formal approaches to arrive at one of the most diverse and visionary bodies of work of any American architect of the 20th Century.

During his time, Williams helped design key components of the Los Angeles International Airport complex, for example, as well as the Pueblo del Rio housing projects, the Founder's Church of Religious Science, and a number of public schools, churches, and commercial structures for communities...

Temple University's Rashida Ng elected ACSA president

2019-10-15T16:16:00-04:00

Rashida Ng, chair of the Department of Architecture & Environmental Design at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University has been elected as the new president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) for the 2019-2020 year.

Professor Ng, according to a press release announcing her selection, will "work to advance architectural pedagogy by coordinating with the discipline’s accreditation, licensing, and education communities, all of which are vital to student learning and development."

Remarking on the election, Professor Ng stated via an announcement, “The year ahead is an important one—ACSA is launching new initiatives to support research and teaching, as well as retooling its annual meeting to reach more faculty and practitioners in architecture. We will also be supporting schools during the release of the 2020 [NAAB] accreditation standards. We are committed to increasing access and supporting the retention of students from disadvantaged...

While boycotting Chicago Architecture Biennial, ArchiteXX debuts Windy City run of "Now What?!" exhibition

2019-09-17T19:45:00-04:00

Now What?! Advocacy, Activism & Alliances in American Architecture since 1968, an exhibition created by gender equity-focused activist group ArchiteXX highlighting the impact of social movements on architecture and design, is currently on view at the Co-Prosperity Sphere gallery in Chicago.

The exhibition, which opens amid the backdrop of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB), is being presented without any official affiliation with the festival "due to the financial support [CAB] receives from BP," according to an ArchiteXX statement. BP, a London-based fossil fuel corporation, is the main financial sponsor for this year's CAB, and has donated $1 million to in support of the biennial and its affiliated projects and programs, including CAB's student design competition.

Coded Plumbing Exhibition with QSAPP at Columbia University and the Van Alen Institute by QSPACE_Courtesy of QSPACE

Remarking upon the content of the exhibition itself, co-curator and ArchiteXX co-founder Lori...

African-American women are propelling Detroit's architecture and interior design scenes

2019-08-26T15:32:00-04:00

For August, Archinect has explored a variety of topics relating to the changing landscape of the city of Detroit, including new initiatives in design and public policy, academics, and architectural practice.

As we near the end of the month, our focus turns to the architects, designers, urban planners, and community-centered programs in Detroit that have collaborated to enrich neighborhoods and develop stronger examples of equity within the area.

According to Erica Snow of Business of Home, a 2018 report from Design Core Detroit states the nature of Detroit's growth. "Design is thriving in the Motor City [..] architecture and interior design were $489.6 million and $148.6 million industries, respectively, in the city's metropolitan area, and the design industry as a whole grew 15-percent between 2012 and 2016."

This type of growth and focus on design has made Detroit into a "must watch city." The area has a vibrant past and bright future that is coming together thanks to dedicated...

University organizes tour of notable African-American architects' work in Chicago

2019-08-07T10:45:00-04:00

Black architects are underrepresented yet have made considerable contributions to the Chicago cityscape. Join the Dean of the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology and tour notable projects by black architects on the south side of Chicago beginning with the Johnson Publishing building, the first and only downtown high rise project designed by a black architect. We will visit Ping Tom Memorial Park, First Church of Deliverance, 31st Street Harbor Building, and more

Detroit's Maurice Cox to lead Chicago's planning department

2019-07-19T13:12:00-04:00

New York native Maurice Cox is stepping down from his role this fall as Detroit's planning director. He's expected to take on a role as the top planning executive for the City of Chicago, a city official confirmed.

After four years at the helm of Detroit's planning department, Maurice Cox is headed to Chicago to serve as the city's top planning executive under the Windy City's new mayor, Lori Lightfoot.

A Brooklyn native, Cox is an architectural designer, educator, and former mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia. Prior to arriving in Detroit, Cox directed the Tulane University City Center, a community outreach and design-build institute housed within the Tulane School of Architecture. Prior to that role, Cox served as the design director for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Cox told The Detroit News, "I feel strongly that Detroit's neighborhoods are receiving the attention that they deserve and people feel strongly that they have a road map for the quality of life for neighborhoods, whether it's streets, parks or greenways. Cox added that those efforts are "driven by the residents who stayed."

Norma Merrick Sklarek awarded posthumous 2019 AIA|LA Gold Medal

2019-07-18T18:57:00-04:00

Norma Merrick Sklarek, a pioneering 20th century architect, has been posthumously awarded the 2019 AIA|LA Gold Medal by the American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles chapter.

Born in 1926 in Harlem, New York City, Sklarek learned carpentry skills from her father during the Great Depression, and eventually studied at Barnard College and the Columbia University School of Architecture. She graduated with an architecture degree in 1950 and would go on to lead design teams for some of Los Angeles’s most impactful practices, where she worked on many of the most significant and innovative design projects of the time.

Sklarek led the design of the Pacific Design Center's Blue Whale building while at Gruen Associates. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user Gary Minnaert.

According to a press release announcing the award, Sklarek worked as the director of architecture at Gruen Associates, where she led the design of some of L.A.’s most iconic late-20th century buildings, including the Californ...