Black Women in Architecture Network
for and by Black women in architecture.
An important component of the Riding the Vortex conference sessions is presenting the data on the demographics of the architecture profession to inform and allow attendees to discuss this information.
The data presented at the 2023 NOMA conference can be downloaded. The raw data is from the Directory or African American Architects and NCARB’s By the Number publication.
Riding the Vortex for the 2022 NOMA conference was presented at a 180 turn from the usual sessions and focused on highlighting men and their stories. This was largely because we see int he data that the growth of the numbers of Black men in the architecture profession is flattening.
An important component of the Riding the Vortex conference sessions is presenting the data on the demographics of the architecture profession to inform and allow attendees to discuss this information.
The data presented at the 2022 NOMA conference can be downloaded. The raw data is from the Directory or African American Architects and NCARB’s By the Number publication.
Riding the Vortex accepted the Whitney M Young Jr from the American Institute of Architects at A’22, the Conference on Architecture, in Chicago at the end of June.
Our time there involved presenting a panel session on Wednesday, June 22. We shared a brief history of Vortex and invited Sabrina Herrell to share her career path, as we would do in a traditional Vortex panel. Sabrina is local to Chicago. She has an architecture degree and is a practicing attorney. We had great audience questions and heard from attendees on their experiences being in previous Vortex sessions. We even received kudos from attendee and 2022 Edward C. Kemper Award, Bob Berkebile, FAIA, who was in attendance when Young spoke at the AIA conference in 1968.
The collaborators also had a panel on the Expo floor. This session also highlighted the 15 year history of Vortex and allowed the collaborators to do more Q&A with each other and take audience questons.
The WMYJ Award winners from the past three years were invited to receive their medals as part of the Thursday keynote session. This included WMJY 2020 winner Gabrielle Bullock, FAIA and 2021 Winner Pascale Sablan, FAIA. They previously accepted their award virtually since the 2021 and 2020 were not in-person because of COVID. It was a great moment to be recognized by thousands of our peers.
On Friday, Vortex attended the AIA awards reception at the Chicago Architecture Center and had the chance to meet the other 2022 award winners including Mr. Berkebile.
Last, Riding the Vortex had the opportunity to participate in a photo shoot with President Barack Obama, before he participated in the Friday keynote. This was a great way to cap off our time of celebration at A’22.
Riding the Vortex was presented at the 2020 NOMA conference. Hosted by the San Francisco NOMA chapter, the conference was scheduled to be held in Oakland, CA. The event was transformed to a virtual gathering because of COVID.
2019 BWA Brunch attendees Photo by Harry Connolly
Number of Living, licensed African-American Women Architects Tops 500
Washington, DC – On October 18, 2020, the Directory of African American Architects (blackarchitect.us) added its 500th living, licensed African-American woman architect. African-American women make-up only 0.4% of the over 116,000 licensed architects in the United States.
The National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) relaunched the directory in 2020 and manages the database, a responsibility formerly performed by the Center for the Study of Practice at the University of Cincinnati since its inception. The directory was originally published as a book by professors Brad Grant and Dennis Mann in 1991.
The milestone was marked by the Black Women in Architecture Network which held its annual brunch on the same day. The virtual event provided a venue for over 100 Black women and others to celebrate and encourage participants to continue the collaborative effort to increase the number.
Continue reading “500 African-American Women Architects!!”
Riding the Vortex was presented September 23 at NTA 20/20, the annual national conference of the National Technical Association.
Moderated by Katherine Williams
Panelists: Kathryn Prigmore, Katherine Williams, Melissa Daniel, Devanne Pena
Learn more about NTA, a 90-year ord organization founded by Black, architects, engineers, and technical professionals. Mission: “to diversify the practitioners of science by providing programs to encourage under-represented minority students in middle school, high school, and college, to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.”
Black Women in Architecture & Design
Lifting As W Design: How to Start a Successful Design Practice
Saturday, July 18, 2020, Black Women in Architecture & Design hosted a panel discussion with Black women architecture firm owners. The discussion was the impetus of a desire by Black women to get advice on starting an architecture firm. The lively discussion was attended by nearly 60 attendees of diverse backgrounds. The panel answered scheduled questions and also took audience questions.
Event Host: Mashawnta Armstrong-Boykin
Moderator: Katherine Williams
Panelists: Chandra Moore, Nakita Reed, Saundra Little, and Kathy Dixon
Resources mentioned in the presentation:
Download the CHAT TRANSCRIPT.
Walt Disney Imagineering Announces
Barbara Hammond Bouza, FAIA, NOMA, as President, Business Operations, Design & Delivery
Announcement
LinkedIn post from Robert Weis, President, Walt Disney Imagineering
RAAS Architects-Bement Teklemariam
Domus
“Built projects …. All have the aim of being innovative while using local knowledge, and being sensitive toward the context and landscape that hosts and generates them.
Highly aware of the strong social component of her trade and position, Shawl has been using Raas Architects as an open platform to encourage young female architects working in a male-dominated industry and culture.”
REFLECTIONS from Black women architects:
A list of articles by or about BWA from the last few weeks. The range of topics and thoughts has been great. There are many issues to tackle stemming from the racism built into our systems.
Let us know if you have additions to this list.
Sharon Sutton in Architect Magazine.
Envisioning a Communitarian World House
“We could reinvent ourselves by studying innovations like New York’s Urban Homesteading Assistance Board or Boston’s Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, where affordability stems from sweat equity, share loans, resident management, mutual aid, and energy efficiency.”
“As a black, female preservation architect specializing in sustainability, I occupy a unique space in the design profession. Here are some thoughts and resources from the intersection of multiple vantage points”
Amanda Williams in Architectural Record
Do the Work: Amanda Williams on the Road to Justice
“…many white Americans are only now becoming aware of the racism that underlies much of the built environment. “It’s a metastasis baked into every kernel, from planning and zoning, to multi- and single-family housing, and conversations about public and private space,” she says, pointing out the disconnect…”
Pascale Sablan in Architectural Record
Balancing Act: Pascale Sablan on Advocacy and Action
“I wasn’t sure if I was even allowed to talk about how I was feeling to my colleagues and clients. When I see petitions and calls for action online, are those things that I’m allowed to share with my family at the office?”
“….traditional design practice perpetuates and supports the dehumanization and killing of Black people. The intersection between racism, design and the built environment is a part of the primary building blocks of this country. For generations, urban planning, policy making, architecture and landscape architecture have been used as tools to further oppress and marginalize Black people. Collectively, the related professions determine what resources are allocated to our communities, how communities are planned and designed, and who, ultimately, benefits from these decisions (which, largely, isn’t Black people).”
From Brazil, Stephanie Ribeiro in ArchDaily
“Architecture Must Recognize the Debate Around Race and Gender”
“Architecture that wishes to be truly social must recognize, in addition to class issues, the debate on gender and race. It is known that black women occupy the worst areas in the slums, but we don’t need to undertake any intense research studies to know that we, black women, are the minority in architecture classrooms and city planning throughout the country.”
From the UK, Sarah Osei in Involved Magazine.
How can race have an impact on the architectural language around us?
“In a fiction in which race reversal is at the heart of this slightly dystopian storyline, it was intriguing to see how much influence race has on the design world around us in reality. In light of this, I think it’s important to raise my concerns on how the architectural industry in the UK is limiting itself from creating a racially diverse architectural language.” [Check out the image of the fictional city.]