black-architects-blog

[black-architects-blog]

Name: Horace King

Life: 1807-1885

Education: Self-taught

Horace King was quite the renaissance man for his time. He was an architect, engineer, and bridge builder. He was born a slave in an African, European, and Native American ancestry (Catawba) in Chesterfield District, South Carolina. At a young age, Horace taught himself to read and write, and became a prominent carpenter by the end of his teenage years. When his original owner passed, he was sold to John Godwin, who was a contactor that had work all across the southern states at the time. Together, they worked on a variety of different construction projects, including houses and bridges. One well-known documented project that King worked on was a bridge across Pee Dee River. While it’s unknown whether King helped in constructing the bridge or designing its replacement, the lattice design in this structure became a hallmark for future King designs.

When King purchased his freedom in 1846, he wanted to remain in Alabama (despite the manumission law at the time that stated newly freed slaves cannot remain in their state more than a year after freedom). With the help of his previous owner, he was able to get an appeal for his case, and remained in Alabama. When the Alabama State Capitol burned down in 1849, King was hired to construct the framework for the new building, as well as to design and build the twin spiral entry staircases. King used his bridge-building expertise  to cantilever the stairs' support beams so that the staircases could appear to "float," without any central support. Another notable project he worked on was Moore’s Bridge between Newnan and Carrollton, Georgia, where instead of taking a commission fee, he asked for stock from the bridge. This lead to residual income that King would receive after the project's completion.

As the Civil War made its way in, King wanted to keep his architecture and bridge construction business open. Despite opposing Confederate ideologies and being an Unionist, he along with other freed slaves were assigned to build naval ships for the war. As a result of warfare, many of his naval boats and bridges throughout the South were destroyed. This destruction opened up lots of opportunity for King post-war. He would go on to construct everything from bridges to courthouses to factories throughout the south. He also attempted to create a freedmen colony in Georgia (which unfortunately didn’t succeed). King even had a stint as a Representative for the Alabama House of Reps. He eventually moved his family to LaGrange, Georgia to build more bridges and pass his business to his children, where they would go on to create the King Brothers Bridge Company.

[black-architects-blog]

Name: Phil Freelon, FAIA, LEED AP

Life: March 26, 1952-

Education: North Carolina State University, MIT

Phil has always been influenced by the arts and sciences, event at a young age. He is the grandson of pioneer African American impressionist Allan Randall Freelon, Sr. He received his Bachelors of Environmental Design from North Carolina State University with top design honors. From there, he went on to earn his Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From there, his professional career took off. After working for a host of architectural firms 13 years post-graduation, in 1990, he began his own practice, The Freelon Group, Inc. His firm has always aimed to engage the community and enhances opportunities for interaction and learning. This has manifested through cultural, civic, and other institutional designs. As a result, he and his firm has created and continue to create imaginative design and foster thoughtful collaboration.

Phil’s impact can be seen academically and professionally. After graduating from MIT, he received a Loeb Fellowship and spent a year of independent study at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. He has also served as an adjunct professor at North Carolina State University’s College of Design and has lectured at Harvard,the University of Maryland, Syracuse University, Auburn University, the University of Utah, the University of California - Berkeley, Kent State University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and currently serves as a professor at MIT. Some projects that he would be more well-known for is being the project lead for the design team (alongside David Adjaye and J. Max Bond Jr.) for the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture, set to open in September 2016. He also was selected to design the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, named after famed architect and politician Harvey Gantt. His firm currently has joined forces with world-renown architecture firm Perkins & Will, where he now serves as the Managing and Design Director of the North Carolina location.

Beyond these accolades, he was selected by president Obama to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. On this board, he alongside 6 other fine arts experts are expected to give “expert advice to the President, Congress and the heads of departments and agencies of the Federal and District of Columbia governments on matters of design and aesthetics, as they affect the Federal interest and preserve the dignity of the nation’s capital.” Some of those duties include advising for the U.S. Mint on the design of coins and medals, and approves the locations and design of national memorials, not only within the US, but across the world.

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[black-architects-blog]

Name: Harold Louis Williams, FAIA, NOMAC

Life: August 4, 1924 - June 21, 2015

Education: Miami University

Williams’ architecture journey was fostered from a very young age. Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, he always displayed artistic abilities. In addition, his father introduced him to a man designing a church at a young age. His minister at his family’s church also told him about Paul R. Williams, the well-known African-American architect at the time. These experiences put him on the trajectory to become an architect. After graduating from Miami University, where he was the university’s only black student at the time, he became a draftsman at a Cleveland architecture firm. From there, he moved to Los Angeles to work under his mentor Paul Revere Williams and design homes for the well-known, such as Frank Sinatra. He then went on to become California's 9th licensed black architect.

After receiving his license, he started his firm with two other associates and started working on housing developments and public projects. One of his most well-known projects would be the Compton City Hall/Civic Center. When he received the commission, it was rare at the time for a black architect to take on the project. Over the 10 years that the project was in their court, there were various management changes on the political and contractual level, but he was determined "to bring to that community quality architecture ...because I feel that all people deserve quality architecture." This was more than a project, but served as a way for Williams to give back to the African-American community he cared so much for. Outside of his professional work, Harold is probably well-known for advocating for African-Americans in the design field. He was the organizer, founder and first president of the Southern California Association of Minority Architects & Planners (MAP) in the 60’s. They sought equity and justice and participation in public built environment. As the movement gained more national traction, Harold became a co-founder of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) in 1971. He was president of NOMA from 1981 – 1982, and was a Charter member of The NOMA Foundation and he has served as its President and Treasurer. His legacy and passion for equality for black designers can still be felt throughout the organization and in the profession. Source 1 | Source 2

[black-architects-blog]

Name: Harvey B. Gantt, FAIA

Life: January 14, 1943 -

Education: Iowa State University, Clemson University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Harvey Gantt is a noted civil rights pioneer, award-winning architect, and and overall persistent public servant. He initially began his academic career at Iowa State University. After two years in Iowa he made an intentional decision to return home to attend school in South Carolina, aware that doing so would test the South’s uncomfortably expanding frontier of racial equality. So in 1962 he challenged the courts to get admission into Clemson University, which at the time was racially segregated. The US Courts of Appeals ordered Clemson to admit Gantt into the school, which made him the first African-American student in the university and the department of architecture. After receiving his bachelor degree in Architectural Studies, he applied to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a M.A. in City Planning. From there, he worked in various architecture firms, and eventually starting his own in 1971, Gantt Huberman Architects. Gantt's firm is still active to this day and is successfully engaged in a multitude of projects.

Despite these successes that he had in the architecture field, he still made use of his political knowledge. He began to serve on the Charlotte City Council from 1974-1983 As he got more involved with politics, Gantt used his platform to educate the public about architecture and urban issues. With these skillsets, he was elected as the Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, making him the first African-American mayor of the city. During his two terms as mayor, he focused on programs to preserve old neighborhoods and Charlotte’s city center, and was key in bringing the city a new basketball franchise, the Charlotte Hornets.

Even amongst his host of accolades, including being president of the National Organization of Minority Architects, he was committed to social change for the betterment of America. William J. Carpenter, FAIA, and Jane Frederick, FAIA, directors of the American Institute of Architects’ South Atlantic region, said that Gantt “... has literally opened doors, provided opportunity, and personally mentored generations of design professionals and civic leaders through his life’s work.” His legacy lives on as he continues to write his story and serves as an encouragement for this generation and many more to come.

Source 1 | Source 2 

[black-architects-blog]

Name: Norma Merrick Sklarek, FAIA

Life: April 15, 1926 – February 6, 2012

Education: Barnard College, Columbia University School of Architecture

Norma was an iconic woman of firsts. She was the first licensed black architect in the states of New York in 1954, California, and in the United States. After working for several major firms, Sklarek became the first black woman to receive a fellowship from the American Institute of Architects. In 1985, she helped form an all-female architectural firm, becoming the first African-American woman to establish and manage an architectural firm. Norma's love of architecture was founded at a young age in her passion for art, the sciences and math. When she was older, she decided to transfer and was accepted to Columbia University's School of Architecture after a year at Barnard College. This was an accomplishment all on its own considering that at the time, Columbia only accepted a select few women each year. Still, Norma thrived at the school, eventually shocking school administrators by passing her final licensing exam on her first try.

Despite this track record, she did not initially design most of the huge projects she supervised, "not because she wasn't capable," Marshall Purnell (past president of the American Institute of Architects) noted, but because when she started out in the 1950s "it was unheard of to have an African American female who was registered as an architect. You didn't trot that person out in front of your clients and say, 'This is the person designing your project.' She was not allowed to express herself as a designer. But she was capable of doing anything. She was the complete architect." SHe eventually did work for various big name firms, such as SOM and Gruen Associates. Eventually Sklarek made history yet again in 1985, when she teamed up with two female architects to form one of the largest female-owned architectural firms in the country—Siegel, Sklarek, Diamond—becoming the first African-American woman to establish and manage an architectural firm.

For any project that Norma committed herself to, she was beyond rigorous in her work and proud of her role. "She would tell you design was the easy part," says Fairweather. "She would make it real. What kind of concrete. What kind of nuts and bolts. What kind of glass. She was in production, and she would tell you production was the real work." That same level of dedication was seen in her academic pursuits and accolades. In addition to teaching several graduate courses at colleges such as UCLA, Columbia and Arizona State, she's authored several pieces, including "Women in Architecture" for the Encyclopedia of Architecture & Construction. Sklarek also chaired the AIA National Ethics Council. in addition, Howard University has an architecture scholarship in her name, and in 2008 Sklarek was honored with the Whitney Young Jr. Award at the AIA National Convention in Boston. The recognition is given to one architect annually who best exemplifies "the profession's responsibility toward current social issues."

Source 1 | Source 2 | Source 3

[black-architects-blog]

Name: J. Max Bond Jr.

Life:  1935 - February 18, 2009

Education: Harvard University

One of the most prolific architects of his generation, Bond has always had an interest about the built world around him. From curiosity about a Tuskegee Institute dormitory to fascination with construction methods in Tunisia and the Northern Africa region, he has always been one to learn more and apply it accordingly. Some projects that he is more well-known for are the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, and serving as the principal over the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. When opportunities presented himself, he took advantage of them, which often times led him to different parts of the world. His first job out of university was with an architecture firm in France with André Wogenscky. From there he returned back to New York City to work with Gruzen & Partners and then at Pedersen & Tilney. He then moved to Ghana (which was recently liberated from its Great British rule) in the mid 60’s for 4 years, and built a host of governmental building throughout the country. From there, he returned back to New York City and began his firm, Bond Ryder & Associates.

He was an advocate for encouraging students of color in pursuing architecture and breaking down professional and academic barriers, as he has done. With that said, he also worked beyond the professional world and was a professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture and Planning and at the City College of New York’s School of Architecture and Environmental Sciences. His legacy for design and social inclusion will be remembered. Despite the successful and lengthy career that Bond had, it started with some challenges. He counsel from a faculty member at Harvard to not pursue architecture past graduation due to the color of his skin. He did not allow that to stop him from pursuing his passion in architecture. If anything, these challenges show up in his professional career and design choices. While working on the World Trade center during one of his last projects, he said “It’s always difficult for young blacks, for young Hispanics, for anyone who looks aberrant to get access to the upper realms of Wall Street Towers. For a city of immigrants, the public realm is more than ever now the street,... Architecture inevitably involves all the larger issues of society��.

Source 1 | Source 2 | Source 3

[black-architects-blog]

Name: Paul Revere Williams, FAIA Life:  February 18, 1894 - January 28, 1980 Education: University of Southern California

Paul Revere Williams is probably best known as the “Architect for the Stars”. He is known for many residential houses that he designed throughout the Los Angeles region, and a lot of his designs are what many people would call the “Classic Hollywood Style”. Many famous people have had houses commissioned by him - Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Danny Thomas, to name a few - and even some modern-day celebrities have lived or live in Williams houses, such as Denzel Washington, Ellen DeGeneres, and Andy Garcia. 

Growing up and working during the Jim Crow era, he did face some difficulties with his practice. His high school counselor advised against him pursuing architecture because “...he would have difficulty attracting clients from the majority white community and the smaller black community could not provide enough work.” He was the only black architecture student at his alma mater, the University of Southern California, and at the time he didn’t have nor knew of any black architects that he could look up to. Even with his design process, he had to navigate the realities of being black and a designer. As his granddaughter notes, “He taught himself to draw upside down so white clients wouldn't be uncomfortable sitting next to him [during the design process]." Despite that, it came to be something that Paul was well-known for. His designs are praised for how elegant and well-designed his structures are, even to this day.

Source 1 | Source 2

[black-architects-blog]

Black Architects: Why?

So for this upcoming Black History Month, I’ve come to realize that I don’t know as many black architects as I thought I did. I know a few from my involvement with NOMAS during my undergrad years (the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students) and the parent organization NOMA, but it has been overwhelmingly difficult to find an updated page dedicated to specifically listing black architects across the diaspora (for instance, my alma mater has a page for notable black alumni, but to my knowledge it was last updated 10 years ago, and I currently cannot find a link to said page). There are plenty of lists and websites dedicated to listing well-known architects, and they are deserving of that title. But I was wondering why isn’t there a database for black architects? 

As an aspiring black African-American architect, this project is a challenge to myself to learn more about some of those architects, and have it visually listed. It can range from designers that came before me to contemporary designers, and even those in closely allied fields (landscape architecture, urban design, etc). My hope is to make a post once a day during the month of February highlighting an architect of interest. Depending on how well the blog goes, I might continue it past this month. Let’s see.

Whether you call yourself a designer, black, or human, I encourage you to learn with me!