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The HBCU Africa Architecture Lecture series brings the voices of Black architects and the African Continent together for representation and discourse

2021-02-04T17:52:00-05:00

Here at Archinect, we highlight academic events and lectures that provide insight and access to public programming created by architecture schools. Year after year, these events welcome various leaders and innovators within architecture, design, and its adjacent fields of study. While in-person events are put on hold, the ability to engage and invite a global audience is possible thanks to virtual events outlets. 2021 welcomes an exciting series of talks, panels, and lectures that we've featured in our 2021 Get Lectured series and Archinect's Virtual Event Guide. However, an upcoming lecture series creates an opportunity for a much-needed platform for Black design professionals to share their work, expertise, and initiatives for change.

Archinect Feature by Sean Joyner: "Discovering a Black Aesthetic in Architecture" — An Investigation by Woodbury Grad Demar Matthews. Image courtesy of Demar Matthews

February is Black History month, and the rise in promoting and highlighting Black ex...

Madame President Goes ALL-In; A Conversation with NOMA President Kimberly Dowdell

2019-09-26T18:35:00-04:00

For Archinect Sessions episode #145, we are joined by Kimberly Dowdell, a principal at HOK in Chicago and the current President of the National Organization of Minority Architects. Our conversation covers Kimberly’s impressive path to success in architecture and the leadership role she’s taking in NOMA. We’ll also discuss the upcoming NOMA conference taking place in Brooklyn in a few weeks from October 14th-20th.

Listen to episode 145 of Archinect Sessions, “Madame President Goes ALL-In”.

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Shownotes:

19th Annual Dunlop GSD Lecture: Kimberly Dowdell

Hamad International Airport Passenger Terminal Complex, the first project by Kimberly Dowdell at HOK, 2008...

As Historically Black Colleges and Universities shutter, America loses its history

2019-07-03T09:48:00-04:00

For nearly 200 years, since the opening of Pennsylvania’s Cheyney University in 1837, H.B.C.U.s have educated thousands of students, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Justice Thurgood Marshall, Toni Morrison, Representative Elijah Cummings and Senator Kamala Harris. But from a high of 120 such schools to about 101 in 2019, many have faced an uncertain future. In the last 20 years, six have closed, and several others remain open in name only after losing accreditation.

A recent New York Times report chronicles the increasing pace of financial woes and accreditation hurdles facing Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in the United States.

The report states that in the last 20 years, six HBCUs have shuttered, leaving only 101 of these culturally and historically significant institutions in operation.

At their height, at least 120 HBCUs were in operation across the United States, providing a vital source of educational opportunity for Black Americans, including in architecture.

According to The New York Times, a variety of leading political and cultural figures graduated from HBCUs, including Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, author Toni Morrison, Representative Elijah Cummings, and Senator Kamala Harris, among many others.

The remnants of Morristown College, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and shuttered in 1994. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user Bravidos.

At leas...

Harvard GSD launches digital repository highlighting the work of African American architects and designers

2019-05-31T12:41:00-04:00

The Design Nexus seeks to honor the work of African American designers from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds together on a single platform to showcase their craft and the places they work.

The Harvard University Graduate School of Design has launched the African American Design Nexus (AADN), a new virtual collection that highlights African American architects and designers from various generations, practices, and backgrounds.

National Museum of African American History in Washington, D.C. Image: Rex Hammock/Flickr

The collection profiles noted African American architects, including Mabel O. Wilson, founder of Studio &, and Paul Revere Williams, as well as specific projects and sites that are designed by African American architects or have played a significant role in African American history. Chronicled sites include the city of Los Angeles, as well as the National Museum of African American History in Washington, D.C., which was designed in collaboration between Adjaye Associates, The Freelon Group, Davis Brody Bond, SmithGroupJJR, and Perkins + Will. Perkins + Will's August Wilson Center for African American Culture in Pittsburgh is also highlighted in the collecti...

Zena Howard: Architecture's powerhouse strategist and advocate for diversity

2019-02-12T15:58:00-05:00

There are little more than 400 African American female architects in a profession of over 110,000. Although an improvement over the roughly 90 that existed when I entered the profession, the current numbers continue to reflect the obvious dearth of women like me. [...] My primary advice to young people is to seek mentorship as early as possible. Take advantage of many architects like myself who are willing to expose you to our studios, our staff, our work, and our own experiences.

If you're unaware of her name, you know of her work. Zena Howard's contributions to the architecture profession are rooted in design strategy and advocacy. With over 25 years of experience, the seasoned architect has worked on several notable projects. As Principal and Managing Director of Perkins+Will's North Carolina practice, her work is a reflection of her passion as an architect, mentor, team builder, and strategist. Several of Howard's projects focuses on public and private institutions, museums, and other educational typologies.

Motown Museum Detroit, Michigan. Image © Perkins+Will

Tenley-Friendship Library District of Columbia Public Library. Image © Perkins+Will

Earning her Bachelor of Science degree in architecture from the University of Virginia, Howard's expertise revolves around creating and leading design projects in sustainability, inclusive design, and historical and cultural buildings. Her background in LEED certification projects allows her to drive projects that no...

Posthumous recognition for Colorado’s first black architect

2018-12-02T17:26:00-05:00

The Henderson House, 2600 N. Milwaukee St., reflects the architectural styling of the highly respected modern architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. John Henderson was very intentional in his nod to modernism, and specifically included a wall of large, plate glass windows on the southern façade – both to look out over the City Park Golf Course and to create a sense of horizontality that is so distinctively mid-century modern.

View of the southern wing’s western end | Image by Paul Brokering, 2018

This past Monday, Denver City Council designated the Henderson House as Denver's newest landmark! Read the original application here. To learn more, check out a 2007 profile (in Denver Urban Spectrum) on the occasion of his winning the annual Denver Black Arts Festival, Louise Duncan award. Or back in 2009 the now defunct Buckfifty blog, a friend of John's offered some personal reflections.

A look at visionary architect Georgia Louise Harris Brown, the first female African-American architecture graduate

2018-02-07T20:50:00-05:00

Pioneering African-American architect Georgia Louise Harris Brown had a knack for seeking out the most fertile architecture scenes in the world during her long career. She practiced in Chicago during Mies van der Rohe’s prime and, from there, moved to Brazil, where a singular modernist language was being created for Brasilia, the most ambitious planned capital of the 20th century.

Georgia Louise Harris Brown has been featured as part of Redshift's Respect series, focusing on architect visionaries. Brown was the first African-American women to graduate with an architecture degree, and the second professionally licensed African-American female architect in the nation. Beverly Loraine Greene was the first, and a role model to Brown.

She studied under Mies at his Illinois Institute of Technology and was heavily influenced by his modernist style. Her first job in Chicago was with Kenneth Roderick O'Neal, an African-American architect and structural engineer who also studied with Mies.

Working with Frank J. Kornacker Associates by 1949, Brown worked on several key projects such as 860–880 Lake Shore Drive. This high-rise was influential in its minimalist grid of steel and glass and constructed with Brown's structural calculations.

Eventually moving to Brazil, Brown became professionally licensed in 1970 leading many firms for over the next twenty years. Read mor...

Meet Henry Wilcots, the overlooked African-American architect who completed Louis Kahn's Dhaka National Assembly

2017-08-14T13:59:00-04:00

It would be the decisive moment in Wilcots’ life. By saying yes, he ended up devoting more than 20 years to helping Kahn build the new capital...The meetings would cause him to move to Philadelphia, a place that at the time seemed to him far less welcoming to African Americans than Dhaka. When Kahn suffered a fatal heart attack in 1974...Wilcots would assume the awesome task of finishing a Louis Kahn masterpiece.

This article sheds light on the story of Henry Wilcots (now 89 years old), the much overlooked architect who was responsible for completing Louis Kahn's Dhaka National Assembly masterpiece. Dubbed as the “Kahn whisperer” by fellow colleagues, the calm-and-collected Wilcots was able to have a smooth working relationship with Kahn, the article says.

Flashback: Floyd McKissick's unfinished “Soul City” suburb in NC

2016-05-13T13:13:00-04:00

There would be homes and industry surrounded by trees, hills and lakes. Above all, there would be no prejudice, poverty or slums, according to a Soul City brochure...Despite its name, Soul City was never intended to be an all-black town, but rather, a multi-racial community built and managed by black people. [But] Portions of the area resemble a ghost town, rotting – or perhaps waiting. Could Soul City ever be resurrected?

Read up on the rise and halt of Soul City, a suburb that attorney and civil rights activist Floyd McKissick envisioned for North Carolina's Warren County in the late 1960s-70s.

Weeksville Heritage Center by Caples Jefferson Architects

2013-11-06T15:41:00-05:00

Following a strong architectural language of repetition, movement, rhythm, and proportion the ‘weeksville heritage center’ designed by American firm caples jefferson architects PC serves as a gateway to a 19th century african-american freedman’s settlement. the sustainably built complex is located in brooklyn, new york and features a new two-story, 23,000 sq ft building and 41,000 sq ft of landscape that redefines the site’s context.

Weeksville Heritage Center is a new sustainable cultural center designed by Caples Jefferson Architects PC. It is a two-story, 23,000 sq ft new building and 41,000 sq ft interpretive landscape, located at the intersection of Buffalo Avenue and Bergen Street in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. In the 1960’s, four remaining buildings from this Brooklyn settlement were rediscovered. through 40 years of impassioned community support, the site eventually grew to serve as a focal african-american heritage site.

The primary purpose of the new structure and landscape is to serve as a gateway to the historic houses on the premises - remnants of the 19th century free African American community of Weeksville - with state-of-the-art exhibition, performance and educational facilities, as well as to provide a green oasis for visitors and the local community. The main lobby includes introductory exhibits and leads to a gallery, a lecture and performance space for 200, classrooms...