Architecture has one of the worst track records for attracting minority practitioners. Why that is true, and what can be done to change it, was the topic of a two-day conference at MIT, "Architecture Race Academe: The Black Architect's Journey."
Only 1.5 percent of registered architects in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) are black, a statistic only marginally higher than it was 40 years ago, according to keynote speaker Ted Landsmark, director of Boston Architectural College. Architecture is in danger of becoming a shrinking niche profession and not providing service to all the people of the world who need architects, he said.
This kind of thread always makes me think of Steve Martin....Hey are there any Colombian Architects...are there any Chilian Architects....are there any Indian Architects.....Sorry dude no Black Architects. Just kiddings....An Architect is an Architect, he isn't a race.
Go find one you can work with or for and enjoy your life and get over the hangup.
Snooker--"an architect is an architect, he isn't a race."
Where do I even begin with what is wrong about that statement? "Go find one you can work for". Well that's the problem, there is obviously a shortage! "Get over the hangup"? That's what you consider this? A "hangup"? What if only 1% of architects in America were caucasian? Would you then consider that a "hangup" as well? "HE isn't a race"? Well there are also SHE architects as well, or do you not count them? All people have an ethnicity, including architects, and to overlook the shortage of African American architects and dismiss this issue altogether is nothing short of close-minded and ignorant. Sure this thread has been discussed before, but contemax is asking a serious question about a real issue which deserves more than a snide dismissal. If you can't contribute to the thread then don't bother posting.
read the previous threads before jumping on the high horse. It has been something debated and debated before. There are a few givens;
1. it's getting better....it was less that 1.5% in the US
2. it's better in other countries (esp where blacks aren't minorities)
3. architecture is not about race
breathe
what is the ratio of architects to their respective ethic groups...I think that would be a more worthwhile demographic to look at. You will see it is not as dismal a picture as is painted.
race + architecture, specifically the number of black women in architecture, was the subject of the cover article in last month's 'architect', for those of you that missed it.
I thought the Architecture cover story was a good one. I was especially shocked at the comparison to other professions - specifically, doctors and lawyers - that have significantly higher percentages of Black women.
I'm too lazy to go find the issue right now to see the exact numbers. But it does seem to reflect that there is something specific to architecture that makes it a less desirable professions for Blacks, male or female.
Is it as simple as that we still appear like an old white boy's club? Or is it something else? I think it's worthy of discussion, though I know I have no answers.
wangsta: Please let me clarify, My thoughts are why does race make a difference when you looking for a place to work. I have worked in a number of minority owned firms and have worked with a number of minortiy owned firms over the years. Yes the profession is seriously lacking a number of "Black Architects," however I'm suspect of someone wanting to work for only someone of their racial profile, what ever it might be.
People tend to get upset whenever there is mention or concern about race and underrepresentation.
I just want to address the "An Architect is an Architect, he isn't a race." statement.
The truth is that people draw from their experiences when solving problems, in this case designing buildings. Race in the context of this discussion happens to effect that life experience and so will make a difference in point of view and at some level final result. This is more a matter of "different" than "better or worse".
Point of view, in my opinion, is an important factor in adding something of value to architectural (or any other) discourse. Exposure to differing points of view is an important part of testing your own ideas.
While race is not the only thing that forms a point of view, it is too important a factor in a pluralistic society to be dismissed.
Architecture is not about race, but...
Architecture addresses the needs of the user. If it effects the needs of the user then it should in turn effect architecture.
i think black people are just smarter than us crazy ass white folk who wanna put ourselves through the trials and tribulations of becoming an architect.
I am kidding, by the way.
I posted at length about this in another "why are there no black architects thread". I think that when people come up out of poverty they typically try to go get jobs that pay the most and require the least intial investment, like business, and with a little more money law and medicine. Typically i dont think you see people trying to enter professions that require huge investments up front and pay out realtively little until they have a safety net to fall back on, like a weathly family and community to fall back on. I'm not saying this is true for everybody, but if i'd grown up in poverty I'd be getting a finance/business degree. The more black people can elevate in the U.S., and they are, the more blacks we are going to see in architecture and engineering.
I currently attend an HBCU (Historically Black culture Unviversity)architecture program but I'am not an African American. I'am a Pacific Islander since were being political correct. Even though it is a HBCU the crowd here is totally mixed. Race is of no issue here but we are constantly reminded of how many minorities are registered architects. We have this "1.5%" speech at least twice a year and it serves as a motivational tool. The faculty is adamant in bringing in minority speakers to help serve as important role models. I remeber Elizabeth Ogbu from Public Architecture coming to speak about their mission statement. I didn't see an African American woman. I saw someone with a message and a sense of determination to help and play her part in architecture. Snooker is right about "An Architect is an Architect"
Here are Hampton these numbers are thwrown at us to uplift but we do realize that just because we are minorities we are not alotted any priveleges from any other race.
I had a professor at VT who was black. He was really good and had amazing credentials and connections. He went to Michigan for his b-arch, and Columbia for his m.arch. He worked with SOM for 20 years, helped in establishing Mississippi State's architecture program, and taught at Columbia, Yale, MIT, and then settled down at VT. He also worked for E. Fay Jones for a while.
Right now I believe he teaches 5th year thesis studio. I took a 3d modelling and rendering class with him in which he is also known to have expertise in.
Another black architect I know designed this new state-of-the-art recreation center in my hometown of Morgantown, WV. His last name is Moody of Moody Nolan associates out of columbia. Truly an amazing facility. It's about 300,000 sf and cost abour 30 million.
Personally, I think that the field of architecture is the least racially charged of any profession. I would argue that architecure programs accross the board would love to have even more diversity. I can attest personally to this because I have an "exotic" name and was born in a country that has a shit reputation, but in the profession of architecture it's something that is so far distant from peoples' minds that I even forget about my "origins."
i guess i could be considered a "latino" "architect" - (non-registered "architectural" designer born in Brazil, now a US citizen practicing in the midwest)...although i do thicken my accent when speaking to most clients, I consider myself an "architect", not a "latino" "architect"...but that's me...i don't like to play the minority card.
I dont think that minorities play "the minority card" at all-I just think it's a term made up by the powers that be to dismiss legitimate issues and concerns and a lot of people have bought into it.
I know this is kind of an old topic, but I'd like to chime in.
Apurimac, i totally agree when you made the statement about people who came from poverty wanting to get jobs that pay the most from the beginning without a large initial investment.
I wanted to go to architectural school when I graduated from high school, but my parents didn't have to money to send me to a university, and my grades weren't good enough for a scholarship.
I ended up going to a vocational school and taking drafting, then attending a two-year college and getting an associate's degree in visual communications. I was lucky enough to get a typesetting job while I was still in school, which I am still doing to this day, however, I wish I had bitten the bullet and gotten into architecture school somehow. My parents were afraid of setting out a whole lot of money for me to go to architecture school and my not being able to find a job after graduation, and I think that's the case with a lot of folks, especially folks who came from a background where money wasn't easy to come by. I came from a lower middle class family-mum was a housewife, dad a dockworker for a trucking company, so even though we weren't dirt poor, we weren't exactly living in the lap of luxury.
Oh, and I happen to be Black/Indian/White. And female.
are there some Black Architects
Architecture has one of the worst track records for attracting minority practitioners. Why that is true, and what can be done to change it, was the topic of a two-day conference at MIT, "Architecture Race Academe: The Black Architect's Journey."
Only 1.5 percent of registered architects in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) are black, a statistic only marginally higher than it was 40 years ago, according to keynote speaker Ted Landsmark, director of Boston Architectural College. Architecture is in danger of becoming a shrinking niche profession and not providing service to all the people of the world who need architects, he said.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/architecture-conf-0321.html
...does anyone know black architects with a good contemporary portfolio?
Firm out of Charleston: http://www.huffgooden.com/
There have been previous post about this issue. You may want to search for them because they have good information for you.
check out
The Freelon Group
Raleigh, NC
David Adjaye
thread
Black Starchitect thread
blacks in architecture thread
Hampton University School Blog
good luck, contemax!
This kind of thread always makes me think of Steve Martin....Hey are there any Colombian Architects...are there any Chilian Architects....are there any Indian Architects.....Sorry dude no Black Architects. Just kiddings....An Architect is an Architect, he isn't a race.
Go find one you can work with or for and enjoy your life and get over the hangup.
snooker, give me a break... trying to be political correct?
marlin, thanx for the links.
Snooker--"an architect is an architect, he isn't a race."
Where do I even begin with what is wrong about that statement? "Go find one you can work for". Well that's the problem, there is obviously a shortage! "Get over the hangup"? That's what you consider this? A "hangup"? What if only 1% of architects in America were caucasian? Would you then consider that a "hangup" as well? "HE isn't a race"? Well there are also SHE architects as well, or do you not count them? All people have an ethnicity, including architects, and to overlook the shortage of African American architects and dismiss this issue altogether is nothing short of close-minded and ignorant. Sure this thread has been discussed before, but contemax is asking a serious question about a real issue which deserves more than a snide dismissal. If you can't contribute to the thread then don't bother posting.
Hah hah newbies trying to stand up (funny)
white basketball players...... professional redneck pool players.... fat ping pong players......
read the previous threads before jumping on the high horse. It has been something debated and debated before. There are a few givens;
1. it's getting better....it was less that 1.5% in the US
2. it's better in other countries (esp where blacks aren't minorities)
3. architecture is not about race
breathe
what is the ratio of architects to their respective ethic groups...I think that would be a more worthwhile demographic to look at. You will see it is not as dismal a picture as is painted.
race + architecture, specifically the number of black women in architecture, was the subject of the cover article in last month's 'architect', for those of you that missed it.
in danger of becoming a shrinking niche profession??? say it ain't so...
quincy jones
i work in the office with the woman on the cover of architect magazine...i'll go tell her "he isnt a race", wont she be relieved!
say it loud. im an architect and occasionally proud!!!
I thought the Architecture cover story was a good one. I was especially shocked at the comparison to other professions - specifically, doctors and lawyers - that have significantly higher percentages of Black women.
I'm too lazy to go find the issue right now to see the exact numbers. But it does seem to reflect that there is something specific to architecture that makes it a less desirable professions for Blacks, male or female.
Is it as simple as that we still appear like an old white boy's club? Or is it something else? I think it's worthy of discussion, though I know I have no answers.
wangsta: Please let me clarify, My thoughts are why does race make a difference when you looking for a place to work. I have worked in a number of minority owned firms and have worked with a number of minortiy owned firms over the years. Yes the profession is seriously lacking a number of "Black Architects," however I'm suspect of someone wanting to work for only someone of their racial profile, what ever it might be.
People tend to get upset whenever there is mention or concern about race and underrepresentation.
I just want to address the "An Architect is an Architect, he isn't a race." statement.
The truth is that people draw from their experiences when solving problems, in this case designing buildings. Race in the context of this discussion happens to effect that life experience and so will make a difference in point of view and at some level final result. This is more a matter of "different" than "better or worse".
Point of view, in my opinion, is an important factor in adding something of value to architectural (or any other) discourse. Exposure to differing points of view is an important part of testing your own ideas.
While race is not the only thing that forms a point of view, it is too important a factor in a pluralistic society to be dismissed.
Architecture is not about race, but...
Architecture addresses the needs of the user. If it effects the needs of the user then it should in turn effect architecture.
snooker: thanks for your clarification. sorry if i jumped the gun...had a bad day
wangsta....btw....me anglo poor white american-euro trash boy married to Brazilian. So race isn't an issue with me.
oh, I forgot....she is also an Architect.....
i think black people are just smarter than us crazy ass white folk who wanna put ourselves through the trials and tribulations of becoming an architect.
I am kidding, by the way.
I posted at length about this in another "why are there no black architects thread". I think that when people come up out of poverty they typically try to go get jobs that pay the most and require the least intial investment, like business, and with a little more money law and medicine. Typically i dont think you see people trying to enter professions that require huge investments up front and pay out realtively little until they have a safety net to fall back on, like a weathly family and community to fall back on. I'm not saying this is true for everybody, but if i'd grown up in poverty I'd be getting a finance/business degree. The more black people can elevate in the U.S., and they are, the more blacks we are going to see in architecture and engineering.
I currently attend an HBCU (Historically Black culture Unviversity)architecture program but I'am not an African American. I'am a Pacific Islander since were being political correct. Even though it is a HBCU the crowd here is totally mixed. Race is of no issue here but we are constantly reminded of how many minorities are registered architects. We have this "1.5%" speech at least twice a year and it serves as a motivational tool. The faculty is adamant in bringing in minority speakers to help serve as important role models. I remeber Elizabeth Ogbu from Public Architecture coming to speak about their mission statement. I didn't see an African American woman. I saw someone with a message and a sense of determination to help and play her part in architecture. Snooker is right about "An Architect is an Architect"
Here are Hampton these numbers are thwrown at us to uplift but we do realize that just because we are minorities we are not alotted any priveleges from any other race.
arch+black
- A 365 day archive that presents the wide array of intersections of architecture and black.
I had a professor at VT who was black. He was really good and had amazing credentials and connections. He went to Michigan for his b-arch, and Columbia for his m.arch. He worked with SOM for 20 years, helped in establishing Mississippi State's architecture program, and taught at Columbia, Yale, MIT, and then settled down at VT. He also worked for E. Fay Jones for a while.
Right now I believe he teaches 5th year thesis studio. I took a 3d modelling and rendering class with him in which he is also known to have expertise in.
Another black architect I know designed this new state-of-the-art recreation center in my hometown of Morgantown, WV. His last name is Moody of Moody Nolan associates out of columbia. Truly an amazing facility. It's about 300,000 sf and cost abour 30 million.
Personally, I think that the field of architecture is the least racially charged of any profession. I would argue that architecure programs accross the board would love to have even more diversity. I can attest personally to this because I have an "exotic" name and was born in a country that has a shit reputation, but in the profession of architecture it's something that is so far distant from peoples' minds that I even forget about my "origins."
Wow, that's a hell of a resource, architechno! I'll share it with my architecture discovery students this summer - thanks for posting it.
i guess i could be considered a "latino" "architect" - (non-registered "architectural" designer born in Brazil, now a US citizen practicing in the midwest)...although i do thicken my accent when speaking to most clients, I consider myself an "architect", not a "latino" "architect"...but that's me...i don't like to play the minority card.
I dont think that minorities play "the minority card" at all-I just think it's a term made up by the powers that be to dismiss legitimate issues and concerns and a lot of people have bought into it.
my skin is whitish but my heart is black ...
Do I qualify
I know this is kind of an old topic, but I'd like to chime in.
Apurimac, i totally agree when you made the statement about people who came from poverty wanting to get jobs that pay the most from the beginning without a large initial investment.
I wanted to go to architectural school when I graduated from high school, but my parents didn't have to money to send me to a university, and my grades weren't good enough for a scholarship.
I ended up going to a vocational school and taking drafting, then attending a two-year college and getting an associate's degree in visual communications. I was lucky enough to get a typesetting job while I was still in school, which I am still doing to this day, however, I wish I had bitten the bullet and gotten into architecture school somehow. My parents were afraid of setting out a whole lot of money for me to go to architecture school and my not being able to find a job after graduation, and I think that's the case with a lot of folks, especially folks who came from a background where money wasn't easy to come by. I came from a lower middle class family-mum was a housewife, dad a dockworker for a trucking company, so even though we weren't dirt poor, we weren't exactly living in the lap of luxury.
Oh, and I happen to be Black/Indian/White. And female.
I agree with what 'fromconcentrate' had to say.
a senior partner at foster and partners is of african decent. armstrong yakubu. He's been with the firm for about 20 years.
There should be more, make room people.
HEY CHECK OUT MY MENTOR...http://arelarchitects.com/home.html
If I can get my behind into school, I'll be one :)
Our deans firm...black in name only
Future architects from Prairie View A&M University:
ryanj you go to UT Austin? Does Vernooy still frequent that jazz club on 6th street
I don't know if this one has been mentioned previously , but paul revere williams is one of if not the greatest black architect to have ever lived.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-EMQdkRD7o He was a legend in architecture
yes, and he recently died. npr did a story on him and there is a small slideshow of some of his residential work here: http://www.npr.org/2012/06/22/155442524/a-trailblazing-black-architect-who-helped-shape-l-a
I know a few black architects...nothing fancy though. Gantt Huberman even has a few black female architects. Double bonus. Impressive.
www.moorearch.net
www.gantthuberman.com
www.neighboringconcepts.com
www.vinesarc.com
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