Category: Justice, Equity, Diversity + Inclusion

Practice + Design Conference 2020: Day 3

Posted on by Jon Bell

Just Architecture 2020 Practice + Design Conference Day 3 Recap: “Justice Equity, Diversity + Inclusion”

By Victor Gonzalez

History seems to be repeating itself, and we cannot wait any longer to make architecture influence equitable change around us. Day three of the AIA Colorado Just Architecture 2020 Practice + Design Conference highlighted the constant effort in creating a more equitable practice, showcased by the AIA Colorado Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness Committee. The committee itself realized that we needed an action to make sure there are more entryways into the field of architecture and were determined to increase awareness and access to architectural education. This continuous effort was highlighted nationally through the presentations of, “Just Speak Up,” by Carole Wedge and the importance of women leading the future of the profession. Following her presentation was, Milton S. F. Curry, who voiced his vision for the future of the design field through, “Just Constructions” presentation showcasing the power in outsourcing architectural education to other underserved communities. Day three of the keynotes closed with a powerful keynote, Pascale Sablan, who explained the various mediums in which the current and future generations of BIPOC designers have empowered themselves in order to shape the future of “Just Architecture.”

Over the noon hour, students joined members of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness Committee for a virtual “Ask an Architect” event, where architects with diverse backgrounds answered questions on architecture as a profession and higher education. The afternoon featured three lively breakout discussions with the panelists, encouraging us all to become more self-aware and step in in our firms to begin to create change. A panel discussion with all presenters left attendees with powerful takeaways, and the event culminated with a virtual livestream of the “Women in Architecture” projection, which takes place in downtown Denver all through October.

Once again, the Practice + Design Conference left us informed, connected, and above all, inspired. Check out some of the key takeaway moments below, and we’ll see you next year.

PANEL DISCUSSION CAPTURE

SESSION NOTES

Carole Wedge | Just Speak Up

  • Find your confidence and your voice
  • Things that I have experienced made me realize that it is valid and important to learn to build your own capacity and ability to speak up.
  • Alumni from CU Boulder – BENVD
  • Alumni from Boston Architectural College – BARCH
  • Kemper Award 2020
  • CEO in 2018
  • FAIA in 2008
  • President in 2004
  • Principal in 2000
  • College and University Leadership 2000
  • Library Leadership 1994
  • Joined the firm in 1986 working in the mail room as a student at the Boston Architectural College.
  • Was inspired by her father’s word that was finding her own confidence in the world
  • “Journey of your career and your life is one you have to design and make happen.”
  • “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world, Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
  • Having that voice to have that conversation in order to open up that opportunity.
  • “Stay open to learning.”
  • Learning to speak up for things and learning to advocate
  • How do women lead, how do people of color lead?
  • “The culture and the people define the type of firm you are.”
  • Any woman in America has experienced a sexist comment.
  • You have to build your muscle through empathy.
  • “Our core values guide us.”
    • They shape our vision, our culture, and reflect our beliefs as a company, and as individuals.
    • Passion: celebrate your passion for design.
    • Diversity: Embrace different perspectives, listen to every voice.
    • Empathy: realize the impact of what we do.
    • Integrity: Do the right thing, the right way, every time.
    • Balance: Whether it’s in design or in work and life, we strike balance in everything we do.
  • Building culture:
    • Inspire: we encourage each other to do better, be better.
    • Foster: we empower the next generation of visionaries with a passion for design.
    • Respect: we recognize the ideas and work of our peers with the highest regard.
  • Shepley Bulfinch is women-owned and led.
  • A more diverse team will be a naturally more successful team.
    • Makes better design and makes a better field.
  • The diversity needs to be measured at different levels.
  • What is the interculturalism of the firm?
  • There needs to be a pipeline built on where your employees come from.
  • There should be an extensive outreach to BIPOC communities.
  • We have to go look at other places that we are not accessing, because how are they supposed to access us if we are not present?
  • AIA Convention
    • Carole Wedge was inspired to create a scholarship stipend to get students to travel to the convention center in Boston.
  • Justice and equity lead to diversity, inclusion and belonging.
  • Racial justice is climate change.
  • Designers can have a powerful impact on the environment.

Milton Curry | Just Constructions

  • USC School of Architecture
  • Focus on the process of making and becoming
  • Making and constructing culture through the creation of buildings and spaces.
  • From Fresno, CA (1960s)
    • Parents had migrated from Denver.
  • Born during the Civil Rights Movement
  • As a profession you are not a profession that has distinguished itself from the causes of the Civil Rights Movement and you are most distinguished from your thunderous silence and…” (Whitney Young)
  • I was going to have to view my life through activism.
  • Individuality activism is not accessible to all and it is not guaranteed to be a success.
  • Just constructions is a way of attending to our basic needs and our access to the natural world.
  • I know how justice looked like and how people that were ethical constructed their lives and careers.
  • There is power and meaning of protesting through structural change.
  • Although the 13th Amendment outlawed slavery, it was a gateway to replace this form of racism and oppression entrenched in our infrastructure.
  • The university must be an ally on how we enable to build these social bonds with a common sense of values.
  • Accessibility to all is what creates opportunities for all.
  • Educating ourselves of the nature of the harm that was inflicted on us.
  • Why is it that the urgency of now gets shifted to another business cycle.
  • “I want to engage a social, political conversation about the contemporary world that I live in or my relationship to it, and at the same time I want to abstract it.”
  • If we want our profession to change, we have to make the construction of our profession to change.
  • Modern values were bonded together by myth.
  • Rethinking architecture theory in order to recount how our profession has segregated and discriminated against certain communities.
  • The same modern works have inflicted harm on indigenous communities.
  • USC school of architecture is emerging as a global platform for cultural heritage architecture and urbanism. Our school is returning to the experimental DNA.
  • USC is second among the top 30 raw numbers for diversity related to BIPOC.
  • We are diverse, but we are not diverse as we need to be.
  • Architecture development programs targeted at the high school level
    • Pipeline for attracting underrepresented students continues to be a challenge.
    • This issue is complex and recognize that systemic racism is determinate of educational outcomes and opportunities.
  • Affirmative action is one of the ways to attain equity.
  • The average Black and Latino students have to fight other influences such as educational inequality, food deserts.
  • 2015 started a high school program that has launched the A-LAB.
  • ACSA Diversity Award.
  • Paul Revere Williams Archives Program:
    • Involved in the transformation of the urban fabric of LA.
    • He was the first Black American appointed to the AIA Fellows.
    • He was the first Black American to attain the AIA gold medal.
    • The Getty Foundation and USC School of Architecture
      • Will be a multiyear of symposium that will leverage USC School of Architecture.
    • Allows scholars the opportunity to view these archives and preserves the legacy left behind by Revere Williams

Pascale Sablan | Justice Through Action

  • I was asked to stand.
  • It didn’t just happen to me.
  • Google “Great Architects”
    • First 40 start from contemporary to historical.
    • How many are women?
    • How many are Black?
    • How many are minorities?
    • Zaha Hadid holds it down in two categories.
    • Why was this the result?
      • Google stated that this was the case since there was, “not enough content for BIPOC to be showcased.”
    • Say it Loud exhibition
      • Feel our impact and show our work through the great caliber that we have had.
      • “Say it Loud” has even been brought to the United Nations.
      • “Say it Loud” exhibition became an international movement.
      • Say it Loud has a traveling activation.
      • AIA team to put their exhibition in a mobile app.
      • Say it Loud Virginia
        • Has been brought as a set of lectures and presentations.
      • Say it Loud Pennsylvania
        • Selected in a venue for communities to have access to
        • How to engage our communities into the exhibit work
      • Say it Loud Georgia
      • Say it Loud United Kingdom
        • February 2020.
        • The issues and challenges we face here are also found across the world.
      • Beyond the Built IG takeover
        • There are multiple ways of attaining this design profession.
      • Great Diverse Designers Library
        • Showcases as a resource to elevate us to collaborate on projects.
        • This is also a way of protecting our history.
        • Being strategic with our relationships with publications in order to preserve our history.
      • Great Diverse Designers Textbook
        • International designers featured.
        • Leveraging the content of which we inspire.
      • Learn Out Loud – Kids Books.
        • Lego Collaboration.
        • It is a way of inspiring children to see their identity in the profession.
      • Say it with the Media.
        • Asking publications to take a position to increase a 5% every year on the amount of BIPOC content is held in their publications.
      • Architecture as Advocate.
        • The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
          • “The lynching museum”
          • Each medal has the name of the person that is lynched.
          • This is not of the past, but of the present.
          • As publications are going away from the term “slavery” we need to make sure that architecture is a way of a permeant statement.
        • National Museum of African American History and Culture
          • It creates a place for celebration of Black history and culture.
        • National Center for Civil and Human Rights
          • Showcases the current rights we have today because of previous efforts.
        • Max Bond Highway.
        • African Burial Ground National Monument
          • First project as an intern.
          • 800 bodies found at this site of buried slavery.
        • Haiti Campus
          • ACE mentoring allowed us to create a campus for the underserved communities.
        • Dismantling oppressive spaces.
        • Project Pipeline
        • 400 Forward
          • Having more one on one mentorship with students.
        • Design Justice
          • Allows an online platform on how architecture can help resolve these issues.
        • Hip-Hop Architecture Camp
          • A gateway of music to architecture.
        • See it Loud Camp
          • Educating and empowering through design augmented reality.
          • Embed information, young kids, augmented reality.
        • Beyond the Built Environment
          • See it loud camp
          • Say it loud
          • Learn out loud

Women in Architecture Projection

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Do Not Try to Blend: Recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month

Posted on by Jon Bell

Somos nuestra memoria, somos ese quimérico museo de formas inconstantes, ese montón de espejos rotos.”

Jorge Luis Borges, “Cambridge,” Elogio de la Sombra, 1969

According to the most recent census, the Hispanic population in Colorado accounts for 21.8 percent, although only 2 percent of AIA Colorado license holders are from that ethnicity. This percentage can look small, but the number of Hispanic architecture students currently enrolled in Colorado schools of architecture is promising to change AIA’s DNA for years to come. The AIA Colorado Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness Committee honors Hispanic Heritage Month by highlighting our Hispanic members’ commonalities and by extending an invitation to the next generations of architects to embrace their heritage.

It is extremely difficult to either extract the specificities of Hispanic architects in the Colorado context or to connect a minority to a specific way of doing architecture. Robert Adam’s survey of early Colorado Hispanic heritage architecture is now part of our past. Cultural assimilation shaped many of our Hispanic architects’ ideas, and yet some parallels are visible in their inherited multiculturalism, their altruistic desire to build communities, the strengths developed thanks to their family bonds and their bilingualism.

As a country, we’ve started acknowledging the inaccuracy to consider Hispanics under a single ethnic umbrella. Neither force nor constitution ever united the Hispanic population. Hispanics from Latin America and Europe can refer to multiple ancestors at the same time thanks to the combination of native and colonialist pasts. If America’s indigenous architecture has many forms and levels of development, the architectural cradle for many Latinos remains in the colonialist neighborhoods, the neoclassical governmental landmarks, and the 1950s metropolises. European Hispanics will complete the mental landscape by adding influences from the Roman Empire, the medieval times, or the Arab culture, among others. It is under this global imagery that Hispanic heritage becomes so inherently diverse. For a Hispanic born in the U.S. or abroad, the sense of belonging to a wider culture, and therefore to represent and use such information in architecture is a part of his/her life experience. As Juan Gabriel Luna principal of Rogue Architecture explains, “The thought of ‘leaving’ roots and family, the thought of ‘finding and making’ a new identity, these are formative processes that have changed my views. That affects how I see the world as a malleable, pulsating, organic environment, that I have control over.”

The ability to dig down into collective and individual memories is a skill practiced by many architects. The Brazilian 2006 Pritzker Price Paulo Mendes Da Rocha condensed this idea in the book Maquetes de Papel: “Our ideas are generated by sophisticated dialogues with our sophisticated universe of interlocutors either if they are dead or alive.” Such ability to communicate in different dimensions, including time, is a skill Hispanics seem to transcend perhaps as a result of their lineage tradition and their inherent bilingualism.

Our interviewees shared a natural desire to serve their communities, a practice in which the respect to family bonds goes beyond their household to reach the borders of duty. AIA Colorado Denver Director Ignacio Correa-Ortiz, AIA, and Senior Architect and Urban Designer at RTD, describes this idea at the center of his work, as it “involves interpreting a community’s aspirations, and therefore community input is at the center of it.” Definitively, strong social ties are resilient skills to function better in the world, as Ely Merheb, Principal of Verso, describes what sets her apart: “The way I interact with everyone—from clients to consultants, from staff to GCs—is heavily influenced by the warmth and familiarity of Hispanic culture. I’ve been able to balance establishing very professional, yet joyous and familial working relationships, where every member of a project is empowered. Valuing and treating people with respect becomes more important to me every day.”

Good relationships are the key to a better more comprehensive and tolerant architecture, a skill popularly connected to bilingualism. According to the Harvard Graduate School of Education, bilingualism is often seen as a brain-sharpening benefit that allows for more exploratory actions, increasing conceptual originality, and enhancing flexible problem solving. If we think of architecture as a universal language, a bilingual mind can relate to wider concepts and therefore reach a larger circle within that universe. A fluent bilingual Hispanic carries the soul of her or his culture, casting a greater impactful shadow wherever she or he goes.

Although there is a common belief that every architect develops an autobiographical architecture, our AIA Hispanic members share the notion that their intangible heritage makes them unique, and therefore, the more we understand who we are, the better we can service people and understand them, the better the architecture we can provide. In today’s world, Hispanics can perceive their heritage as a handful of broken mirrors, and yet our call for the new generations is to reflect on them, and embrace their culture, appreciate its value and share their views, because there is great richness and creativity in diversity.

Design for Healing

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Imperative Deep Dive: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

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Ask an Architect: Career Hour with AIA Colorado

Posted on by Jon Bell

Ask an Architect
Career Hour via Zoom
Friday, October 16 | Noon-1 p.m.
Free with Registration Below

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Resources on Race: September 16 Edition

Posted on by Jon Bell

The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusiveness Committee is bringing to you a new biweekly series on racial equity in architecture. From podcasts to film to Instagram accounts worth following, we’re rounding up the best in relevant resources to keep working toward a more equitable profession.

TO READ

Design for Healing, Dignity & Joy

Research done by Shopworks, Group 14 Engineering, and the University of Denver Center for Housing and Homelessness Research on trauma-informed design to guide an approach to promoting physical health, mental health, and wellbeing.

TO LISTEN

ARCHITECT: No Judgment Here: Starting the EDI Conversation

Questioning the need for equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives should not spark controversy or guilt, says Samantha McCloud, director of community involvement, diversity & inclusion at GastingerWalker& in this podcast episode.

TO FOLLOW

@Counter_Canon

Instagram feed that is working to “reshape the boundaries of our collective architectural memory.” Nominations welcome and there is a survey on the feed on who you think should be included in the canon.

TO MAKE YOU THINK

NCARB by the Numbers

NCARB has been releasing this data publication since 2012. This year’s NCARB by the Numbers includes breakdowns of race and gender representation and in addition, includes a preview of results from a survey conducted with NOMA on equity, diversity and inclusion.

TO-DO

Register to Vote

If you are not already registered to vote, don’t miss the deadline!

Equity in Architecture: A Frank Conversation with Annicia Streete

Posted on by Jon Bell

Annicia Streete

“Every generation has a responsibility to the next generation—and accountability to the previous.”

By Amy Dvorak, Assoc. AIA

Annicia Streete is an architecture and construction practitioner at Catena Construction and Sprocket Design+Planning. She’s an adjunct faculty member of the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado, serves as a faculty advisor for the American Institute of Architecture Students, served in the ACE Mentorship Program, and is on the founding team of the Colorado Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects. She’s also a Black immigrant.

With statistical odds against her—there are just 17 registered Black architects in the state of Colorado—Streete emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago in 1998 to pursue her education and career in architecture. And she’s done quite well. She remains committed to improvement and enhancement through education and opportunity, as demonstrated through her service in the ACE Mentorship Program and her recent participation as a panelist for the AIA Colorado event, “Let’s Talk About Race.” 


Afterwards, we caught up with Streete to discuss ways to achieve a more equitable profession. Read on as she dives deep on representation in architecture, accountability, and the racism that still exists in our state today. 
 
 

Representation in architecture: Why is it so important? 

Michelle Obama gave a quote at the AIA Conference in Architecture in 2017: “You can’t be an architect if you don’t know architects exist.” For me, that is so specific in what the intent is there. How would we know what we can be if we don’t have an example? 


In Trinidad and Tobago, there were no female architects designers—no influence for me, mostly men. My father was in construction, and my uncle was in engineering. Particularly looking at younger generations, those are formative years to anyone who’s been where you want to be to figure out how to get there. 
 

How has the architecture profession built roadblocks to participation for people of color? 

When I think about pursuing basic opportunities when first starting my journey into the profession, for me I always have a student’s perspective. Even before higher ed, giving students in communities with lesser access to resources that might exclude them is a hindrance and it trickles all the way up to the profession. I say that because the profession has resources to reach communities. If we expect the profession to be fed by communities, we must nurture communities. 


Some other things that have been noted is that licensing—being able to do that in a timely manner, access to study materials, cost of licensure—it’s a hindrance to some. When some get into the practice world, they’re not making enough to even cover normal or daily expenses. Compensation rates when I first entered the field didn’t seem at all commensurate after doing due diligence toward a degree. 
 

What needs to change in the architecture profession to better combat systemic racism?

It should be cyclical. What as a profession can we give into the community so that they’re nurtured, so the product—the students—can be fed back into the profession? It’s extending resources at the community level, making sure there’s adequate mentorship and scholarships for upcoming practitioners and designers. 


The thing not so tangible is the relationships, especially for minorities in the field, so that they have an equitable position in the practice. One of my mentors said, “We’re in the business of architecture, construction, or design. But we’re basic human beings, so we have to be able to relate on a human standard with each other.” It’s not always business as usual.
 

Why is it that we’re so uncomfortable talking about race?

A lot is systemic. Usually when I hear words like systemic racism—and now more frequently—I try to stay rooted in what the words actually mean. There is a system put in place that people have been taught to treat another race differently. Some don’t know how to engage or interact with another race. When that’s been engrained, how would you expect someone to engage on a basic human level if you haven’t been taught that? 


There’s not so much of a willingness to understand another perspective or culture, so the instinct is to shy away versus engage. Some people don’t want to go there. There are three different types of people: Some see themselves as allies. Some see themselves as racist, some as non-racist. And many people are non-racist but don’t have the courage to speak up. You have these systemic factors and some are more personal in how they engage with other people.
 

What opportunities do you see for those who want to create change but aren’t in leadership positions?

Start by adopting activities of not just mentorship but empowerment. You can be mentored in a firm, but the next step is empowerment. Give opportunity for those you mentor to exercise their skills, and there needs to be accountability with that, where you don’t leave someone out to dry. 


I had a good mentor on a well-known project in Denver. During a client meeting, he was tired from talking and he asked me to run the next part of the meeting. I was an intern. He empowered me. By the time I was done with the meeting, I felt proud and accomplished. Just one experience changed the whole outlook on empowerment. 


You have to recognize that you’ve been given a platform and opportunity to make way in  industry, and that has to be redeposited into the industry. If we’re talking about equity, everyone deserves the opportunity to have knowledge passed on. 
 

A lot of pressure has unfairly been put on BIPOC to create the necessary change. Whose duty is it to make firms more equitable?

All of us—but not all of us have the same opportunities or the same platforms. 


It should come from a position of conscience, from responsibility, to see your fellow designer succeed so the entire field can succeed. When someone is oppressed for so long, fighting and fighting for so long, chances are you want people who have been oppressing to take some action and responsibility. 


Part of the exhaustion comes into play. When being an ally and approaching someone to see how they’re doing, making sure you’re being aware, you might not get the response you think you’d get. You can’t take it personally. There’s so much you might not know about what that person has been through and is different in how everyone handles certain levels of pressure. 
The word that keeps coming to me: needed. 
 

In response to the panel discussion—a prompt for the architecture community to have a conversation on racial inequities—someone commented, “Too late. Action is what’s next.” How do you respond to that? 

Any discussion is always good as a way to make sure you’re putting out the right messages and being heard. I partly agree; action is what is needed. When you think about the amount of years of oppression, we’ve been talking. When I think about people who are not aware, I always give people the benefit of the doubt. That’s my approach as a human being. If you show me respect, expect to get that. People who are unaware, we have to educate and inform. So the discussions become a starting point that should have happened and been acted on years ago. But as a catalyst, let it work as a catalyst, not as an escape that might be used. 


When we think of where we are as a society, we’re late. We’re a few hundred years late. And while it’s never too late to do anything I believe, you have to back it up with action, you have to acknowledge that you’re late. Nothing wrong with acknowledging it using words like listen and engage. 


If your intentions are sincere from the beginning, even if you don’t know what the next step is, you need to understand there is action that can come behind your fence. It’s not that everyone is taking the same action or the same scale of action, whether donating or skills-related or protesting and being present, there are different scales of support to be lent, but to me it’s the core of your intentions. 


I want everyone to be aware. If you realize that this is an ever present battle and stigma. Just because it’s not on news, that doesn’t mean it’s not history. People need to understand that this is an ever present issue. That’s why it’s systemic. It’s been 400 years, 500 years, and still today in modern times, we are still faced with the issue. This isn’t just going to go away. 
 

What concerns you for the future of the profession? 

I had a run-in with a white gentleman who took something away from me. He used the N-word and said, “Trump is gonna get all you out of this country.” I was getting gas in Capitol Hill. He grabbed the hose from me and just went off—in my own neighborhood. Here I thought I had security. This happened first thing in the morning on my way to work. I thought, I have to stand up to this. I spoke intelligently, said what I didn’t appreciate, and asked what examples he was setting for the kids he had in his car. I’m not even safe in my own domain, my own neighborhood, place of work. Then I got to thinking about my family, my students, my black colleagues—are they experiencing the same treatment? 


It’s hard to shut down my brain at night. I try not to live with too much fear. Scriptures are something I really hold onto. One speaks about fear and not letting it take over, but overcoming fear. That helps me calm the mind and think about possibilities.


I think about those kids, sitting there, hearing that. They absorb everything. That’s systemic.


It’s a loaded general concern for loved ones, for friends and family, how they’re going to not just move forward, but also how they may thrive in society as it is right now. 
 

What else do you want those in the profession to know?

We need to just love and understand each other and treat each other for basic human respect. Take steps that promote each other in being able to succeed. Some firms need to have training on diversity on how to be able to do that. And people need to show up. By your actions, we can tell. If your actions don’t align, then I can’t see you in a certain light that you’re an ally or committed to seeing change. 


If you’re white, and you’re seeing these stories on the news, don’t be in such a position of opposition just because it’s being publicized. I see some very non-understanding responses, and it’s unfortunate and unfair, and some of it is disgusting. If I asked you to put the same scenario on yourself, you’d want me to be understanding. 
Every generation has a responsibility to the next generation—and accountability to the previous. 

On Architecture and Representation

Posted on by Jon Bell

One perhaps small symptom of the pervasive and systemic racism people are now protesting in the wake of George Floyd’s murder is something most architects experience every day they show up to their office, at least pre-pandemic. That is the conspicuous lack of peers of color, particularly black and indigenous (including indigenous Latinx) peers, known by the acronym BIPOC (black and indigenous people of color).

The dramatic underrepresentation of architects like myself—I’m a biracial African American—is certainly not as urgent a problem as police killings of unarmed black people. However, our profession’s lack of racial inclusivity—however unplanned—is not inconsequential. It is a cog in the larger machine of social injustice that makes police brutality such a common occurrence.


Let me start with a few numbers*:

  • Hispanic/Latino population in Colorado: 21.7%
  • Hispanic/Latino-identifying AIA members: 3%
  • Black/African American population in Colorado: 4.6%
  • American Indian/Alaska Native population in Colorado: 1.6%
  • Combined Black and American Indian-identifying AIA members: fewer than 1%

In a state where more than a quarter of the population are Latinx, black and/or indigenous, fewer than 4 percent of AIA professionals are. While the number is slightly higher when you also factor in black/African American architects who are not AIA members—for a combined  total of a mere 17 according to The Directory of African American Architects—we’re more than a little behind the curve. We need more than 6 times the current amount of BIPOC in architecture for our profession to represent the public we serve. National demographics in architecture play out similarly, a fact that should surprise few in the field.


How does this matter in the broader fight against racial injustice? The answer is that the built environment—and the policies and practices behind its development—have been one of the systemic factors in cementing and reproducing deep racial inequities in policing, health, wealth and other factors. Architects have worked hand-in-glove with urban planners, developers and real estate professionals on mass projects of racial inequity, including redlining, de facto segregated suburban development, a massive and hugely unjust network of prisons, and the gentrification and displacement of low-income communities of color. BIPOC communities have had little to no influence in these projects due to the overwhelming whiteness of the built environment professions. While significant progress has been made from a time when representation was even more dismal than today, it’s worth asking how far we’ve really come since Civil Rights Movement leader Whitney Young, Jr. spoke at the 1968 AIA Convention. “You are not a profession that has distinguished itself by your social and civic contributions to the cause of civil rights, and I am sure this has not come to you as any shock. You are most distinguished by your thunderous silence and your complete irrelevance.”


Our demographics produce a huge blind spot when it comes to advancing racial justice in our otherwise progressive-leaning profession. There is no substitute for having black, indigenous and Latinx architects (and planners and developers) at the table to have a fighting chance of overcoming decades of planned and unplanned racist outcomes. That’s part of why I work on AIA Colorado’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness Committee, to work with my fellow professionals on creating a profession that attracts, retains and supports architects of color. I believe architects sincerely want their profession to be much more inviting and empowering for BIPOC than it currently is. But it’s going to take serious commitment and hard work to get there, including examining our own unconscious biases and changing our workplace cultures.


The AIA has recently produced a fantastic resource: the Guides for Equitable Practice. If you want to do something about injustice in your own backyard, make reading these guides a priority of your professional development this year. Critically, the guides contain far more than dry policy details; they include actual voices of a diverse range of architecture professionals sharing their experiences in the field. These guides, developed by AIA’s Equity and the Future of Architecture Committee, are an indispensable toolkit for taking concrete steps toward more equitable architecture offices and a more equitable profession.


Year after year, architecture programs are graduating the most diverse classes this profession has ever seen. Thanks to the hard work of our educational institutions, the cohort of BIPOC architecture professionals is steadily growing. But we can’t thrive in the profession—and won’t recommend it to other architects of color—unless we find a culture where we feel supported in sharing our voice and creating the change we need to see in the built environment. We can’t increase sixfold the number of Colorado BIPOC architects overnight, but we can proactively make our firms and our profession welcoming and supportive and give architects of color a platform to help shape our society for the better.
 
*The Colorado Department of Regulatory affairs does not collect information about the race/ethnicity of licensed architects, so AIA Colorado statistics are one of the limited few offering a window into the profession’s demographics in the state.

Virtual Connect: Let’s Talk About Race

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