David Sharpe, an influential educator and architect, has passed away on June 20, 2020 at age 91.
Born on September 4, 1928 in Decaturville, Tennessee, Sharpe was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Tuskegee Institute after displaying great skill in architecture and engineering, according to Docomomo. He graduated from Tuskegee in 1950 and soon enlisted in the Air Force, where he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant during the Korean War. After completing his military service, Sharpe spent time in Chicago, where he became inspired to apply to the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Sharpe ultimately earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1960 and Master of Science in Architecture in 1962 from IIT.
After studying under notable architects Mies van der Rohe and Myron Goldsmith, Sharpe was hired at the Chicago Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill (SOM) office in 1964, where he worked for over 20 years, ultimately rising to the position of associate partner. While at SOM, Sharpe worked on a variety of the firm's large-scale, high-profile projects, but ultimately left the firm to teach full-time and direct the graduate thesis program at IIT, according to the SOM website.
An obituary published by the IIT School of Architecture, explains that Sharpe was the first Black architecture professor at the school and that as the thesis director, Sharpe would go on to advise 280 thesis projects, influencing multiple generations of budding architects over his 50-year-long career as an educator.
The school explains that Sharpe forged a special intellectual partnership with Myron Goldsmith, his former professor, and the two, as colleagues, advised over half of all theses completed in the College of Architecture during that 50-year period.
Sharpe's intellectual contributions to the field were chronicled in the 2010 book crafted by IIT alumnus Ed Windhorst, High-rise and Long-span Research At Illinois Institute of Technology: The Legacy of Myron Goldsmith and David C. Sharpe.
Longtime collaborator and fellow College of Architecture Professor Mahjoub Elnimeiri, pictured in the photo above, tells IIT the following: “[Sharpe's] being an African American was so important to the College—and to me. In this difficult time, one looks back to see that David helped bring in African-American students, championing inclusion and diversity.”
4 Comments
David was my boss at SOM for many years ... . RIP, my good friend!
Found this, and Fazlur Khan a co-advisor!
The chart is cool.
The IIT student work and research from that period is really wonderful.
its about architecture (woh)man!
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