Archinect - News

NYC approves Olalekan Jeyifous and Amanda Williams' Shirley Chisholm monument for Brooklyn

2023-07-18T14:48:00-04:00

New York City is getting a new monument dedicated to the late pioneering Brooklyn congresswoman Shirley Chisholm following the approval on Monday, July 17, of a sculpture designed by artists Olalekan Jeyifous and Amanda Williams.

The piece is part of the city’s new She Built NYC initiative, a series of public art commissions created under the de Blasio administration that will install monuments to historic trailblazers in every borough over a proposed four-year timeline.

A previously-approved version of the monument, which will be the first ever to depict a woman in Brooklyn, was delayed through the pandemic and will now restart using a slightly refined design featuring a gestalt of imagery that combines Chisholm’s silhouette and the U.S. Capitol Building dome into one 32-foot latticed steel form. The artists say this combination “symbolizes how she disrupted the perception of who has the right to occupy such institutions and to be an embodiment for democracy.”

The 2019 'Our Desti...

Royal College of Art establishes a new scholarship fund named for the late design visionary Virgil Abloh

2022-11-07T13:35:00-05:00

The Royal College of Art has recently unveiled a new scholarship named for its late visiting professor and designer, Virgil Abloh.

The £35,000 (about $40,000) RCA Virgil Abloh Scholarship will cover the full tuition and fees for talented Black British students facing financial restrictions who are interested in studying any program at the London institution’s School of Design.

The scholarship also provides important networking and professional opportunities to students as supported by Abloh’s former creative partner Samuel Ross and additional parties in various creative industries across the UK.

Previously on Archinect: Virgil Abloh announces new $1 million scholarship fund for Black fashion students

An RCA press release indicated its intention to “recognize Abloh’s support for education, his career-long ethos of using his practice to create social change and his position as a renowned champion for equality of opportunity.”

The school also says the money will “help break down barrier...

Students from NOMA's 2022 Foundation Fellowship cohort gain mentorship and work experience from 18 architecture firms

2022-08-04T14:10:00-04:00

The National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) celebrates its fourth class of architecture students chosen as this year's 2022 NOMA Foundation Fellowship (NFF) cohort. An initiative that provides mentorship and design research experience for young emerging professionals, the NFF has become an impactful program offered to underrepresented architecture students across the nation.

This year 20 architecture students were selected to be a part of the 2022 summer cohort. During the two-month summer fellowship, each student is hosted at a leading architecture firm nationwide. During the summer, student fellows "engage in design research and benefit from firm mentorship." NOMA shares, "NFF provides professional experience to underrepresented students to connect them to the profession and provide a pipeline to eventual employment, supporting the 2030 Diversity Challenge, which aims to increase the number of licensed Black architects."

Tiffany Brown, NOMA Executive Director shared,...

The Black Reconstruction Collective honors cultural practitioners Tonika Lewis Johnson and Ife Salema Vanable in inaugural prize

2022-07-28T18:51:00-04:00

Continuing with its mission to support and acknowledge Black cultural agents of change within the community, the Black Reconstruction Collective (BRC) has announced the winners of its inaugural Black Reconstruction Collective Prize. Made possible with support from the Mellon Foundation, the BRC recognizes Chicago-based photographer/social justice artist Tonika Lewis Johnson and Bronx-based architect, historian, and theorist Ife Salema Vanable as this year's winners.

"This prize was created by the founders of the Black Reconstruction Collective as a way to launch the organization as a funder and support system for Black creatives," shares the BRC. Both will receive an unrestricted monetary prize of $5,000, allowing them to use the funds to carry out their design pursuits as they see fit. Newly appointed BRC Collaborative Manager Michelle Lisa Polissaint writes, "Ife and Tonika exemplify the mission of the Black Reconstructive Collective & I'm so excited to spend the next year working...

Gensler awards more than $70,000 in scholarships to 17 emerging designers

2022-07-12T17:55:00-04:00

Architecture firms around the globe continue to exercise their efforts in providing scholarship opportunities to students and emerging designers looking to pursue careers in architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, and other adjacent professions.

This is the case for international architecture firm Gensler, which has announced recipients of this year's scholarship cycle. The 2022 Gensler Scholarships awarded include the Rising Black Designers Scholarship, the Brinkmann Scholarship, and a set of micro-scholarships presented to ten students.

Gensler Rising Black Designers Scholarship

Scholarship Details: In 2020, Gensler launched the Rising Black Designers Scholarship + Design Challenge to help talented design students overcome the costs associated with higher education. This annual program awards tuition scholarships, micro-scholarships for books and materials, and opportunities for summer internships to underrepresented Black students enrolled in U.S. not-for-profit ar...

Hip Hop Architect Michael Ford on building a foundation for future generations of BIPOC designers

2022-05-10T14:22:00-04:00

“Getting new voices and pulling new people into architecture is important, but also having a portfolio of good work is important as well,” Ford said. “I think my ultimate legacy, though, for me will be measured by the number of people I inspire to become architects. And not just become architects but to not check their culture at the door. When you can bring your total self into the design world, that’s where you can make a true contribution.”

The “Hip Hop Architect” took Madison.com on a site visit to the local Quarra Stone Co., where granite tiles are being made for a forthcoming installation at the National Guardian Life company’s headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.

For the project, Ford plans to erect a 25-foot-tall lobby installation with the company’s DEI statement engraved across 360 individual tiles using his own self-developed hieroglyphic alphabet. (“It’s architecture that prompts people to do something,” he explained.)

Rendering of the lobby installation Ford designed for National Guardian Life Insurance. Image courtesy BrandNu Design.

“I don’t think it's pushing the limit,” the 39-year-old continued, speaking of the corporate commission and another metaverse project for the non-profit Infamous Mothers. “For me, it’s representing what can happen when you bring more diverse minds to architecture and diverse experiences, backgrounds and culture because architecture has lost its mystique of what it once was. For m...

The Hip Hop Architect surprises Detroit high school senior with $10,000 scholarship

2021-12-07T18:13:00-05:00

The Hip Hop Architect Michael Ford has surprised a high school senior student in Detroit with a $10,000 scholarship from The Hip Hop Architecture Camp to study architecture.

Sarah Shaw-Nichols is a student at Ford’s former school Cass Technical High School. The scholarship was awarded through Ford's initiative that aims to introduce underrepresented youth to architecture, urban planning, creative placemaking, and economic development through the lens of hip hop culture.

The funding for the scholarship came from Herman Miller, which has recently collaborated with Ford on a variety of projects, such as the Conversations for Change program and a custom Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman piece.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Michael Ford (@thehiphoparchitect)

Herman Miller teams up with Hip Hop Architect Michael Ford

2021-01-19T11:16:00-05:00

Herman Miller has partnered with Hip Hop Architect Michael Ford, to host Conversations for Change, a platform for discussions about racial inequity, social justice, and hope.

Ford has produced his first piece of furniture with Herman Miller, a modified version of the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman (ELO) that was originally launched in 1956 by Charles and Ray Eames. For Ford's remix, he has handwritten the names of victims of racism in the United States as a tribute to those who lost their lives to racial injustice.

According to the Conversations for Change website, "The ELO will travel across the US from Jan 18th, 2021 through February 2021, and people of influence; activists, actors, artists, and design professionals will sit in the Mike Ford ELO as they speak with Ford over Instagram Live via @HermanMiller and @TheHipHopArchitect, about the racial disparities in their industries and the injustice that they’ve faced."

South African CEO partners with NOMA and AIAS to offer architecture students a masterclass in community-led design

2020-09-24T11:50:00-04:00

You might remember Wandile Mthiyane from Archinect's recent profile on him, Undoing Apartheid Architecture. In that profile, Wandile talked about a pioneering new program his organization, Ubuntu Design Group, has developed. Called the Ubuntu Architecture Summer Abroad Program (UASA), the new initiative will teach college students a community-centered approach to architecture through a design-build studio course that will be led by Wandile.

Students will experience a unique educational experience to design & build dignified and culturally-influenced homes for resilient families in South Africa. “Students will be designing and building a home for a family that has been affected by apartheid architecture,” Wandile explained. “They will come to South Africa and learn first-hand the role of architecture in systemic racism, it’s history, and what its impacts are today. And they will get to be a part of the solution we are pursuing.”

According to Wandile, partnerships have already been se...

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.

OCAD University aims for diversity with five new tenure-track Faculty of Design hires

2020-06-04T11:47:00-04:00

On August 1, 2020 five new tenure-track faculty members will join OCAD University's Faculty of Design. The new hires make up part an effort to address the university's Academic Plan 2017-2022, which the institution has structured to establish a commitment to "decolonization, diversity, and equity."

According to Dr. Dori Tunstall, Dean, Faculty of Design at OCAD, candidates were sought out to fill the needed positions for their work with and within the Black community and for their technical, theoretical, and design/making expertise.

Dr. Sara Diamond, President and Vice-Chancellor, OCAD University shared in a press statement, "This is an important announcement within today’s context, given recent anti-Black racism protests and events [...] “OCAD U understands that valuing diverse creative practices and forms of knowledge are essential to, and enrich, the institution’s core mission and vision as an art and design university with a local and global scope."

Meet the faculty below:

Ange...

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...