Update
posted Mar 6, 2009 by mannda
In the last two years we have added 91 newly registered architects to the data base. Of those 91 new architects 33 have been women. This represents 34+%!
Posts
Phil Freelon
posted Jan 27, 2009 by mannda
The 2009 AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Private-sector architects: Philip Freelon, FAIA, founder of the Freelon Group in Durham, N.C., is a native of Philadelphia. He graduated from North Carolina State University's College of Design with a bachelor of environmental design (architecture) and top design honors, and then earned his master of architecture degree from MIT. In 1989, Freelon was the recipient of the Loeb Fellowship and spent a year of independent study at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Freelon currently serves as a visiting lecturer at MIT in the School of Architecture and Planning. Founded in 1990, The Freelon Group has grown to 65 total staff members, including 21 licensed architects. Focusing on college/university, transportation/aviation, and museum/cultural center projects, Freelon’s firm has successfully delivered award-winning building design within a collaborative and innovative studio environment and has won dozens of regional and local design awards. The firm has completed major museum projects in Baltimore and San Francisco and recently was selected (along with Davis Brody Bond of New York) by the Smithsonian Institution to lead the pre-design and programming team for the new National Museum of African American History and Culture to be located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. University clients include the University of North Carolina, Duke University, Yale University, MIT and Morgan State University.
How Comprehensive is the Directory?
posted Nov 13, 2008 by mannda
While our goal is for the Directory to be 100% comprehensive in the listing we know this is not possible? Why? First, because we know that everyone is not aware of the web site and second, because our network is not as broad as we would wish. For instance we currently have a list of nine people who we will add as soon as we can get more information. SO IF YOU KNOW THEM please direct them to the web site and the PLEASE ADD ME link at the top of the home page. Those people are: Ganiyu Oyinade Abdul (NY); Avant Jones, Jr. (Cornell grad.); Colin Mitchell (DC in Jamaica?); Karen D. Murrell (GA); Nicholas Nganga (CA); Mark A. Saunders (TX).
Stephen A. Kliment, Architect and Writer
posted Sep 21, 2008 by mannda
Stephen A. Kliment, FAIA, an architect and writer whose work influenced what was built and how buildings were received, died on September 10, while traveling in Ebersberg, Bavaria. He was 78. The cause was cancer, his wife Felicia Drury Kliment said.At the time of his death he had been working on a book on African-American architects, representing a long-time commitment to making the architectural profession more diverse and inclusive. He was an honorary member of NOMA, the National Organization of Minority Architects. NOMA President-Elect R. Steven Lewis, AIA, said, “He will certainly be missed by all who came to know him and to appreciate the support that he gave as a champion of black architects.”
Stephen A. Kliment, Architect and Writer
posted Sep 21, 2008 by mannda
Stephen A. Kliment, FAIA, an architect and writer whose work influenced what was built and how buildings were received, died on September 10, while traveling in Ebersberg, Bavaria. He was 78. The cause was cancer, his wife Felicia Drury Kliment said.
Tribute to Wendell J. Campbell, FAIA
posted Jul 24, 2008 by mannda
REMEMBERING A GENTLE GIANT. WENDELL J. CAMPBELL, 1927-2008
I attend too many memorial service and funerals these days, but I am inspired by the sermons that describe the lives of the people that I will so sadly miss. One service that stays in my mind is “The Dash”-- what is important in one’s life is not the date of your birth or the date of your death, but “The Dash” that connects them, and what you did with “The Dash”.
Wendell Jerome Campbell was the gentle giant who led the formation of what I feel is the most creative thing that African American Architects have done –the formation of the National Organization of Minority Architects, in 1972. He served as its first President and led the organization as it struggled with its name—Black Architects or Minority Architects, its financial viability, and its stability. For his efforts, he became the third recipient of the AIA’s Whitney M Young, Jr. Citation in 1976, the second highest award of the American Institute of Architects, and in 1979 was elected Fellow, the 17th African-American architect to achieve the AIA’s highest membership category.—Paul R. Williams, FAIA, was, of course, our first in 1957.
I recall helping put together Wendell Campbell’s application for the 1976 Whitney Young Award as the AIA’s First Deputy Vice President of Minority Affairs in 1974-1976. It was a labor of love as Wendell would bring me pieces and snippets of his remarkable life, and I would try to weave them into the document that finally became his Whitney Young application. In working with him on that document, I really got to know and love Wendell, the Gentle Giant, and his achievement in life and in architecture.
Between 400 and 500 people crowded into the Gothic cathedral of the First Unitarian Church of Chicago, in Hyde Park, near the campus of the University of Chicago, to honor the life of Wendell Jerome Campbell. It is a block away from the Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, and the Rockefeller Chapel where the Investiture of Fellows was held during the Chicago Convention of 2004. That may have been the last time that I saw Wendell alive.
I met Wendell in 1971 when we attended the AIA Convention in Detroit, where for the first time, a sizable number of African-American architects attended.. At the AIA Convention in Portland in1968 where Whitney Young spoke, only six African-American architects attended, but it was in Portland that the seeds of growth were planted for us, led by Robert Johnson Nash, FAIA who later became the AIA’s first African-American Vice President. In Detroit, the African- American architects caucused in the office of black architect Nathaniel Johnson to discuss their unique concerns in practices that were primarily focused on housing and churches, as opposed to the corporate and private practices that their white counterparts had. Several members of the group decided to meet in Nassau in the fall of 1971,
“To analyze the contribution of practicing Black architects in American might make toward assisting to resolve resolve problems which affect the economic, civic and social environment.”
As a result of the Nassau meeting, a group of African-American Architects met in Chicago in March 1972-- in the Playboy Club, of all places. — probably Wendell’s choice -- to give birth to the National Organization of Black Architects, whose name was later changed to the National Organization of Minority Architects to embrace all people of color in the profession.
The service for Wendell was impressive with a subdued now infamous Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Senator Barack Obama’s former pastor and June Campbell’s Pastor leading the processional and the recessional, and giving the main sermon. Both of his daughters, the oldest who is a graduate from architecture school, spoke at the service. Afterwards, congregating in front of the First Unitarian Church and later at the reception at the nearby Quandrangle Club were most of Chicago’s African American Architects and Fellows. 2008 President Marshall E. Purnell, FAIA, the first African-American President of the AIA, was in attendance as were elusive Chicago Architects Andrew Heard, FAIA, and future Fellow Vernon Williams who led early AIA advocacy efforts. Carolyn Armenta Davis, who curated the exhibit, “Black Architects and International 1970-1990” during the Chicago Convention in 1993, where gentle giant Wendell Campbell, FAIA, hosted Olufemi Majekodunmi, The Nigerian President of the Union of International Architects, in a city that he truly loved. Wendell J Campbell—your dash was a wonderful and inspiring adventure. We will miss you. Robert T. Coles, FAIA , July 17, 2008.
Interview with David Lee
posted Jun 13, 2008 by mannda
Please go to the following web site http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek08/0613/0613dp.cfm for an interview with Boston architect and urban designer David Lee. It is an article that both aspiring students and practitioners ought to read.
Unlisted Licensed Architects
posted May 14, 2008 by mannda
I have a short list of architects who are (or were) licensed but not yet listed. I can't list them because I don't have enough info. They are
Karen Murrell (was licensed in Georgia but license has lapsed) Mark A. Saunders (licensed in Texas) Nicholas Nganga (licensed in California) Avant Jones, Jr. (lapsed license in DC but in Philadelphia area) Ganiyu Abdul (licensed in New York) Colin Mitchell (lapsed license in DC)
If you know any of these people, please let me know or ask them to Email me (mannda@uc.edu)
Building a Legacy: John Chase
posted Apr 28, 2008 by mannda
See http://www.utexas.edu/features/2008/chase/ for a story on John Chase's life and career.
Steve Lewis
posted Feb 11, 2008 by mannda
See the Feb. 8, 2008 AIArchitect story on the incoming NOMA President; http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek08/0208/0208dp.cfm
Current Statistics
posted Nov 21, 2007 by mannda
Overall Totals of Where (at least one) Professional Degree Was Granted
HBCUs* 573 34.3% MAJORITY SCHOOLS only 968 59.6% NO DEGREE (or Assoc. degree) 54 3.3% INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Only 22 1.4% UNKNOWN 6 0.4%
TOTAL Number Licensed 1623
Male 1414 87.1 % Female 209 12.9 %
- We included North Carolina A&T, Tennessee State, Central State, and Lincoln University in these totals.
Interesting Web Site
posted Aug 1, 2007 by mannda
A student of ours at Cincinnati came upon this excellent reference web site. Have a look.
Sweet Auburn Avenue
posted Jun 3, 2007 by mannda
The following article in Sunday June 3 NY Times discusses the revival of the Sweet Auburn Avenue neighborhood of Atlanta. J.W. Robinson, architect and principal of J.W. Robinson & Associates is featured in an interview.
SEE http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/business/yourmoney/03natreal.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin
Statistic Update
posted Apr 24, 2007 by mannda
Overall Totals of Where Professional Degrees were Granted
HBCUs* 556 34.9% MAJORITY SCHOOLS only 956 60.1% NO DEGREE (or Assoc. degree) 54 3.4% INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Only 21 1.3% UNKNOWN 6 0.4%
TOTAL Number Licensed 1593
Male 1390 87.2 % Female 203 12.8 %
African American Women
posted Mar 30, 2007 by mannda
The March issue of ARCHITECT Magazine has an excellent article on the increase in the number of African American women in the profession of architecture. Raye McDavid, a young New York architect, is featured on the cover of the magazine. The link is
http://www.architectmagazine.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=1006&articleID=456447
June Grant and Zevilla Jackson Preston
posted Mar 16, 2007 by mannda
In an AIArchitect article entitled "Young African American Women Architects Sharpen Ties to their Communities" Author Stephen Kliment interviews June Grant and Zevilla Jackson Preston. The link is http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek07/0223/0223rc_face.pdf
Fact
posted Mar 8, 2007 by mannda
At least 190 of the 1286 (12%) architects listed on our web site were born outside of the USA with a large majority from Nigeria.