#Meta abandons #racialdiversity programs in further #rightwing shift

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-01-meta-abandons-racial-diversity-wing.html

Minority architects body "remains hopeful" of change two years on from George Floyd murder

Several of America's largest architecture studios have taken steps such as mandatory unconscious bias training and partnership schemes with Black-owned firms in the two years since George Floyd's murder, Dezeen research has found.

The National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) told Dezeen it "remains hopeful" in the push for greater racial equality across the architecture profession despite "stagnant" progress in wider US society.

Two years after the murder of Floyd at the hands of police shook the world, NOMA praised work by some studios to improve racial inclusion and help historically sidelined communities.

"A step towards realised change"

"I'm hopeful by what I've witnessed within the building and design industry, and the new support and resources dedicated to the planning and development of underserved and marginalised communities," said Jason Pugh, NOMA president and principal at Gensler.

"The purposeful tracking of metrics by global firms to increase the low number of minority design professionals beyond administrative roles, and the transparency, by some, in sharing those numbers publicly to track our progress is a step toward realised change," he told Dezeen.

Worldwide protests against systemic racism erupted after Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was suffocated when white police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nearly 10 minutes in Minneapolis on 25 May 2020.

[

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](https://www.dezeen.com/2020/06/05/debora-silva-3d-scans-black-lives-matter-protestors/)

Several major US architecture firms shared with Dezeen the action they have taken in the past two years to address racial inequality and racism, detailed below.

Pugh warned that notwithstanding advancements within the design industry, US politicians are failing to grapple with institutional racism while Black people are still being killed by police and racially motivated assaults are on the rise.

"Seven hundred thirty days [have passed] since the 'racial awakening' and recognition of this country's deeply rooted sins," he said.

"Yet we seem to be stagnant, making questionable progress towards change, as we take one step forward and two steps back."

In the architecture profession, NOMA hailed "inspiring" efforts by studios to work with Black and women-led firms on projects.

And Pugh cited NOMA's growing list of partner organisations as a cause for optimism.

Measures to improve inclusivity of workplaces and designs

Research conducted by Dezeen identified several large US architecture firms that have taken action to improve racial equality in the last two years.

To coincide with the second anniversary of Floyd's death, we contacted the 15 largest US architecture firms, as determined by Building Design's WA100 list, to ask them about changes they have made or accelerated that were prompted by Floyd's murder.

Seven practices responded. DLR Group, Perkins Eastman, HKS, ZGF Architects, PBK, Page, Corgan and Fentress Architects did not respond.

[

Read:

Fourteen Black architects and designers you should know

](https://www.dezeen.com/2022/02/01/black-history-month-architects-designers/)

Five of the seven firms that responded mentioned setting up councils, committees or groups aimed at improving diversity and inclusion in their workplaces and designs through things like awareness training for staff and publishing data about employee characteristics.

HDR and CannonDesign said they had hired directors for a similar purpose as well as setting up employee groups for staff from underrepresented demographics.

Multiple firms said they had launched scholarship and mentorship programmes or are working with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) on recruitment and education initiatives.

Three said they have set up processes to partner with companies owned by ethnic minorities and other marginalised groups, while others said they are working on projects that aim to address historic injustices.

Here is what the studios said:

Gensler

Gensler said it has increased its level of investment in racial equality over the past two years. It is now reporting diversity metrics annually and has created a Global Race and Diversity Committee. It has also established the Rising Black Designers Scholarship & Design Challenge, the Center for Research on Equity & the Built Environment, and a Diverse Consultant and Supplier Program.

"When we witnessed what happened to George Floyd, and the racial awakening that ensued, we knew we had to take the next step," the studio told Dezeen. "We understood the size and scale of our firm could positively shift the industry. We recognised that we were in a unique position to lead the way in transforming how we build the future."

HDR

HDR said it appointed a global inclusion, diversity and equity director in early 2020 who has since accelerated several initiatives aimed at making the firm more inclusive. That includes the formation of Employee Network Groups, which allow staff to join based on shared characteristics, experiences and interests to get support and career development.

"One of the things [we] communicated after the death of George Floyd was a continued commitment to use our voices to ensure Black employees are heard, understood and supported," the studio told Dezeen.

CannonDesign

CannonDesign said it released a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) framework in June 2020, setting out five commitments and its strategy for improving equality within the organisation. It has since hired a DEI director, held 18 "internal listening sessions" for employees to share their expectations for the framework and launched its first DEI annual survey to measure the effectiveness of its initiatives, as well as launching a DEI Report Card to assess its leaders' performance on these issues.

In addition, it has launched mandatory unconscious bias training for all staff and set up Employee Resource Groups for underrepresented groups of people. It has also hosted fellows through NOMA's fellowship programme, which seeks to increase minority architect licensure.

For its project work, CannonDesign said it created the "first-of-its-kind Inclusive Partner Program to build deep-rooted relationships with XBE firms" and has had 19 participate to date. XBE refers to business that are owned by ethnic minority people, women, veterans or disabled people.

"We believe we are doing a strong job laying the foundation for improvement, but recognise we are at the beginning of our DEI journey and there’s much more work to be done," the studio said.

SmithGroup

SmithGroup said it established a Justice, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) committee in 2020, which reviews its policies and processes with a view to dismantling injustices in the firm and its work. This committee is supported by committees in each of its local offices.

It has also created an index to track the diversity of its workforce, conducted pay analysis to find and resolve any inequities and reviewed its promotion processes. In addition, the firm is changing its hiring practices to better reflect the local communities it works in, which it said is diversifying the staff in its leadership roles.

A third-party consultant was appointed to carry out a diversity and inclusion assessment of the organisation with the findings currently being analysed, while an internal website containing educational resources about equality and diversity was launched.

Last year, SmithGroup began partnerships with architecture programmes at three HBCUs that intend to increase the number of Black students with architecture degrees.

It has also issued a statement to say it does not work on mass incarceration facilities and taken on more projects that involve restorative justice, such as the Richmond National Slavery Museum in Virgina and Michigan State University Multicultural Center.

"SmithGroup has been actively engaged in addressing the equity issues in our profession for many years, but the events of 2020 made it clear that we needed to escalate and accelerate our efforts," the studio said.

HOK

HOK said that since Floyd's murder it has put more resources into its Diversity Advisory Council established in 2013, which is made up of volunteers from across its offices and devises actions to make the firm's work environment and designs more inclusive.

Recent initiatives by the council include scholarship programmes for minority design students, mandatory unconscious bias training for all staff and a new online portal aimed at helping to assemble more diverse project teams and partner with minority- and women-owned businesses.

The firm also set more ambitious diversity goals for its leadership positions in 2020, which it said have since mostly been realised or surpassed and consequently raised.

A "Designing for Equity" initiative, which will roll out this year, will reshape HOK's "design culture, design principles and design approach" to make sure people that live in its projects have equal access to shelter, health and nature, the studio said.

HOK released a report summarising its efforts to advance diversity, equality and inclusion in June 2021.

NBBJ
NBBJ said it has formed a formed a Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Advisory and Ambassador Group. It also holds regular diversity training sessions and company-wide town halls about unconscious bias and inequity with Kwame Christian, director of the American Negotiation Institute.

The firm has established partnerships with the Hip Hop Architecture Camp, which introduces architecture to underrepresented young people, as well as NOMA, and worked on projects aimed at addressing historic racial inequalities, such as the Seattle Children’s Hospital Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic.

Leo A Daly

Leo A Daly said it has established an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council composed of diverse employees to make policy recommendations to its leadership. The council has set up partnerships with HBCUs and NOMA, recruiting interns and graduates and hosting fellows from underrepresented backgrounds.

The firm is also providing staff training on social justice issues and unconscious bias and working on setting up a youth mentoring program.

In addition, it has a supplier diversity programme that sees it proactively partner with minority- and women-led enterprises on its projects.

The top image of tributes at the site of Floyd's murder is by Vasanth Rajkumar.

The post Minority architects body "remains hopeful" of change two years on from George Floyd murder appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #architecture #news #usa #racialdiversity #georgefloyd

Theaster Gates and Prada announce first Experimental Design Lab awardees

Artist Theaster Gates and fashion house Prada have revealed the inaugural cohort for their Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab, a three-year incubator programme aimed at supporting Black designers.

Announced in Chicago today, the 14 awardees were chosen by industry leaders including Gates, Prada Group founder Miuccia Prada, writer and director Ava Duvernay, late designer Virgil Abloh, and architect David Adjaye.

The designers and artists of colour were selected for demonstrating extraordinary achievements in their respective fields.

The first Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab cohort gathered in Chicago in March 2022 to meet with Theaster Gates (top image) and share their work with one another (this image)

The majority are based in Chicago, including Damarr Brown, culinary arts; Maya Bird-Murphy, architecture; Brandon Breaux, fine art and design; Summer Coleman, graphic design; Catherine Sarr, fine jewellery design; Norman Teague, product design; and Kendall Reynolds, footwear.

Those based in New York include Kyle Abraham, dance; Yemi Amu, agriculture; and Salome Asega, art, technology and design. Architect Germane Barnes is from Miami, and visual artist Kenturah Davis is from Los Angeles.

London fashion designer Tolu Coker and Niamey architect Mariam Issoufou Kamara round out the cohort of creatives, who will each receive financial support to work on new or continuing projects.

After gathering as a group in Chicago last month, they will be given further opportunities to foster relationships with one another, as well as with global organisations and design leaders.

[

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](https://www.dezeen.com/2022/03/21/diversity-in-design-designed-by-youth-fair-detroit/)

"For too long, there has been an evident pipeline and visibility barrier for designers of colour working across the creative industries, and the Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab not only challenges the notion that Black talent is hard to identify, but also serves as an inescapable answer to it," said Gates, who is co-chair of Prada Group's Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council.

"I'm so proud of this cohort, and it is a tremendous honour to be able to celebrate, support, and amplify the work of these designers working to enrich our collective understanding of and interactions with design," he added.

Gates has worked extensively on regeneration and community arts projects in Chicago's South Side, his home neighbourhood, which has a predominately Black population.

These include the transformation of a derelict bank into a public arts centre, where the artist formally presented the cohort today, 5 April 2022, during a public conversation. He also founded Dorchester Industries as an artist-led manufacturing platform in the city.

The awardees will be given further opportunities to foster relationships with one another during the three-year programme

Gates was named as the designer for this year's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, and recently revealed his proposal for the commission, the Black Chapel.

Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab is one of several initiatives set up over the past two years to promote and foster the development of Black designers, following the impactful rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

Others include the Diversity in Design collaborative, which held its inaugural youth design fair in Detroit last month, and First 500, an online platform dedicated to showcasing the work of Black women architects working in the US.

The photography is byChris Strong, courtesy of Rebuild Foundation.

The post Theaster Gates and Prada announce first Experimental Design Lab awardees appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #design #news #prada #racialdiversity #theastergates

HKS releases design for "one of the largest" Black-owned real estate projects in Hollywood

HKS Architects has released plans for a plant-covered structure in the middle of Hollywood to be built for CMNTY Culture as an entertainment and tech hub.

The 500,000-square-foot (46,500-square-metre) project will form a creative campus for LA-based CMNTY Culture, an organisation founded by musician Philip Lawrence in partnership with business manager Thomas St John, which will be one of the largest Black-owned organisations in Hollywood according to the founders.

The proposed building will occupy a two-acre (0.8-hectare) site at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue. It will house creative offices in order to bring together tech and media companies as well as production spaces, music studios and venues.

CMNTY Culture Campus will be one of the largest Black-owned real estate projects in Hollywood

"Now, we live in a new era where creatives and their audiences seek opportunities to collaborate and interact, not just in the digital sphere, but in-person," said Lawrence. "Content creators need a physical epicenter, a place that celebrates their work and the power of community."

The structure itself will have two towers connected by an elevated green space.

The stepped terraces of the towers are shown full of plants in the renderings released by HKS, which worked with landscape designer Hood Design Studio for the proposal.

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A screen of louvres made of "custom-formed" aluminum panels will drape the whole structure, swooping down from the towers to the lower elevation like a curtain.

The louvres will provide controlled shading, but also be filled with lights that will illuminate the whole structure at night.

"This will not only improve the energy model of the CMNTY Culture Campus but will also allow for lighting and media to 'broadcast' along the outer surface," HKS told Dezeen.

The main veranda of the complex which will sit between the two towers will be covered by wooden walkways with a bow-like light sculpture at one corner.

The building's exterior will be able to light up at night

"The balconies will provide excellent shading for the southern and southwestern exposure and CMNTY Culture's outdoor spaces reinforce wellness and provide ample locations for access to fresh air and the shaded daylight around the perimeter will increase comfort of visitors and artists," said HKS.

The greenery is meant to "capture water and cool the roof".

The plant-covered terraces will also soften the stepped terraces into slopes as the two towers frame the hills outside of LA.

"It was important to keep the building lower at the corner to reflect the scale of neighboring commercial buildings and open up views to the Hollywood Hills," said HKS.

[

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](https://www.dezeen.com/2022/01/19/1000-trees-heatherwick-studio-drone-video/)

"The stepped building is meant to allow darling to penetrate the site, and overall improve the street life and pedestrian experience in the surrounding area as well," the architects added.

Within the ground floor of the building will be many of the studio spaces as well as the 500-seat venue which can all be seen from the street.

"This was an effort to reinforce porosity at the pedestrian scale," the architects noted.

HKS was founded in Dallas, Texas, in 1939 by Harwood K Smith. The studio's most noteworthy projects include Atlantis Paradise Island Hotel in the Bahamas, as well a renovation of a 120-year-old steam plant into a medical company headquarters in Toledo.

Other plant-covered buildings in the works across the world include Ole Scheeren's "hanging gardens" and a mass-timber building in Toronto by Adjaye Associates.

The images are courtesy of CMNTY Culture/HKS.

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#all #architecture #news #losangeles #california #usa #performancevenues #hollywood #musicstudios #racialdiversity

Diversity in Design holds inaugural youth design fair in Detroit

Diversity in Design, a collaborative group of designers and brands working to increase racial diversity in the field, has launched the first in a series of educational fairs.

The Designed By fair opened on 18 March 2022 in Detroit, and was created to address the lack of representation in design. According to MillerKnoll, which founded DID, less than five per cent of the industry is made up of people identifying as Black.

Diversity in Design (DID) was founded as an outcome of discussions on racial diversity in design after the George Floyd protests in 2020. Detroit was chosen as the inaugural city for the fair because of its majority Black population, as well as MillerKnoll's roots in Michigan.

The programming, headlined by "hip-hop architect" Michael Ford, offered students the chance to speak with practicing architects and designers.

Michael Ford headlined the By Design fair in Detriot

DID invited over 200 students in grades 9-12 the opportunity to meet and listen to prominent Black members of the field such as Estelle Bailey-Babenzian and Christion Banks. The talk by Banks, the CSO of Ronin, was moderated by Neala Muniz, a 15-year-old member of the Detroit Institute of Arts Teen Council.

In the time since the founding of DID, the many collaborators – including Adobe, Dropbox, and a number of architecture and design firms – have been working on creating a sense of urgency and accessibility.

Removing obstacles

DID director Todd Palmer envisioned the fair as a way for students to connect with a field that many might see as elite or unreachable.

"You're in a school with broken windows and you're thinking architecture 'what does it have to do with me here?It's gleaming buildings downtown. It doesn't relate to my life'," he told Dezeen on the motivations for the event.

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Based on the usual trajectory of designers, Palmer believes that there are missed connections for Black designers in high school and in college, and the aim of Design By is to try and show students what's possible.

Meeting students where they are at

Palmer, who started his career as a high school teacher, understands the importance of strategy when it comes to early education initiatives, basing his approach on the obstacles he had to overcome.

With changing generational interests in mind, the fair's booths and speakers looked beyond the traditional horizons of architecture and design. The programming in Detroit included product design, UX, urban design, and graphic design in addition to the more traditional focuses.

Estelle Bailey-Babenzian, founder of Dream Awake, also spoke

"Listening and holding back and realising that different generations come with their own sense of genius and their own sense of priority, and really meeting those young people where they are has been important," Palmer told Dezeen.

Instead of following the traditional job fair model, Palmer organised the day around themes, so that students could be as inspired as possible by fields close to their own interests.

Dealing with informal structures

The programming of By Design works to address what Palmer refers to as the "informal structures". These include obstacles to skill-building and networking that are additional to the already present disparities in higher education for people of colour.

Though aspects of disadvantage locally and globally are top of mind of Palmer, he insists that "it's really important not to think in a deficit model while we recognise the disparities". Instead, recognising potential and trying to bring local initiatives to scale while still focusing on the specifics of the local is important to the fair, and the practices of DID in general.

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"One of the great parts of design thinking is as you do it, you pilot at a scale, you learn, you iterate, and then you begin to grow," he said, "And we're taking the centre very intentional, iterative approach to all the actions".

Designed By Detroit was the first of many initiatives soon to be implemented in order to further address the disparity of racial representation in the fields of architecture and design.

To read more about Black designers currently working in the field, see Dezeen's round-up of 14 Black architects and designers you should know.

The cover image is of Todd Palmer. Images courtesy of Diversity in Design.

The post Diversity in Design holds inaugural youth design fair in Detroit appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #design #news #usa #education #detroit #hermanmiller #michigan #racialdiversity

Fourteen Black architects and designers you should know

To celebrate Black History Month 2022, we asked 12 renowned Black architects and designers to select a fellow Black contemporary who deserves greater recognition.

Each of the established architects and designers was asked to nominate another Black creative, as a way of championing Black architecture and design. Some chose to nominate more than one.

Some took the opportunity to nominate architects or designers that live in the same country and work in similar fields with London-based Yinka Ilori nominating artist Eve de Haan and Nkwo Onwuka nominating fellow Nigerian-based fashion designer Emmy Kasbit.

[

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Others decided to delve further into the African diaspora by selecting someone from a neighbouring African country such as Nairobi architecture studio Cave Bureau, who nominated Ugandan-based Doreeen Adengo.

See below for the 14 architects and designers that you should know:

**Eve de Haan
**Nominated byYinka Ilori

"If you haven't heard of Eve de Haan yet, expect to be hearing a lot more from her over the next year. Based in London and working predominantly in neon, I've been following her works for Half a Roast Chicken for a number of years now – a powerful mix of electric colour and charged words bringing a modern take on personal storytelling.

"From The Saatchi and The Neon Gallery, Eve has been steadily gaining attention also with campaigns with Browns, Monica Vinader and billboard projects around London, and her latest neon exhibition 'Don't Cry Over Spilt Milk' was a slice of pure, colourful joy in the centre of Canary Wharf. Excited to see what she does next."

**Terrell Griffith
**Nominated by Mitzi Okou,Where are the Black Designers? (WATBD)

"This is a love letter to my WATBD team. Terrell Griffith is a huge part of the beating heart of the WATBD community. He is a silent force that has uplifted and contributed to the major milestones and impact that this organisation has made.

"Griffith is the most thoughtful designer and person I know. He is a quiet spirit whose wisdom has brought such care and thoughtfulness to WATBD products. His practice has really taught me to be caring and respectful towards others. As a master of his craft, he has truly uplifted WATBD to beautiful heights and this community is so blessed to have someone who cares so much.

"The love and passion that both of these creatives have in their heart towards Black creativity has and still continues to elevate not only the WATBD community but Black creatives period."

**Melissa Kacoutie
**Nominated by Dominique Petit-Frère,Limbo Accra

"Melissa Kacoutie is one of the most prominent Ivorian architects of the moment. In 2016, she opened her own architecture firm – Jeannette Studio Architecture based in the Cocody district of Abidjan. Through her practice, her greatest pride is to hire different people from young women who prove in fact that it is possible for women to work in a sector considered as male-dominated in Africa.

"What I love most about Kacoutie's work is her efforts to blend traditional and raw minimalistic style in a repetition of simple elements to mimic complexity, all endowed with a touch of femininity."

**Doreen Adengo
**Nominated by Kabage Karanja and Stella Mutegi,Cave Bureau

"Doreen Adengo's teaching, research and practice unearths and critiques latent pre and postcolonial architectural manifestations of the African city, enriching her contemporary projects with historical depth and grounding off the shores of Lake Victoria."

**Moran Carl Munyuthe
**Nominated by Kabage Karanja and Stella Mutegi, Cave Bureau

"Moran Carl Munyuthe's artisanal practice and artist's residency on the ancient island of Lamu sets a timely reading of Swahili craft, critically inseminated with his contemporary sensibility of furniture design and space production on the East African coast."

**Hassan Rahim
**Nominated byIni Archibong

"When I think of Hassan Rahim I think of a pure unbounded talent that has all of the raw DIY grit that is familiar to any of us who grew up black and on the fringes in southern California. This is highlighted by the fact that he is completely self-taught.

"Rahim is a shining example to young black creatives that you don't have to go the traditional route to achieve success in a field where we aren't necessarily highly represented. I had the pleasure of working with Rahim on a campaign recently for Ultimate Ears."

**Nifemi Ogunro
**Nominated by Nifemi Marcus-Bello,NM Bello Studio

"Nifemi Ogunro is a designer who throws a great deal of her emotions into her pieces. This means a lot of her products have soul and there is an emotional attachment you tap into when you encounter them and hear about her unique design approach.

"Her unconventional yet contemporary forms also speak to her fearlessness to explore unconventional use of simple and accessible materials."

**Albert Williamson Taylor
**Nominated by Remi Connolley Taylor,Remi CT

"Albert Williamson Taylor is supporter and collaborator of innovative internationally reclaimed structures.

"He is a constant advocate to celebrate the beauty and possibilities in the built environment. He has been a long term talent, teacher, innovator and champion to the architectural industry."

**Yohance Harper
**Nominated by Remi Connolley Taylor

"Yohance Harper is an advocate for the framework and support which is needed to create a design-led built environment. Celebrating and collaborating in what it means to bring it to life within the multiple places he has his hand in.

"He is an inspirational thinker on how development can be handled, with care and detail. He has a creative passion for the education of how to create an innovative development proposal and is the right person to be doing it within the educational field currently an honorary lecturer at The Bartlett School."

**Dina Griffin
**Nominated by Tiara Hughes,First 500

"Dina Griffin, fellow of the American Institute of Architects has been a fierce and phenomenal example of an architect leading in practice through her firm Interactive Design Architects.

"Additionally, she has been a personal mentor of mine for most of my professional career. I can call her anytime for advice or guidance in a space with so few Black women. First 500 is lucky to have her as an advisor!"

**Jean Servais
**Nominated by Bibi Seck,Birsel + Seck

"Jean Servais creates objects that look like us. His creations are unique firstly because he leaves his genetic imprint on them by sculpting them himself, and then because he revisits everyday objects in Africa.

"He is a humble and essential designer in my opinion who does not keep his point of view in his pocket, but puts it at the service of the objects he creates and the result is just divine. At each of his exhibitions, I discover a sensitive person whose primary interest is to pay homage to the wood he transforms."

**Emmy Kasbit
**Nominated by Nkwo Onwuka,Nkwo Design

"Emmy Kasbit has revived and almost lost art of textile weaving that is peculiar to the south east region of Nigeria. He works it into modern clothing and in so doing he provides a livelihood for the women in that weaving community."

**Zariah Cameron
**Nominated by Roshannah Bagley,Something Media

"I'd like to nominate Zariah Cameron. Based in Atlanta and only a junior in college, she recently made the move from graphic design into UX. An inspiring & passionate force of nature she's a fantastic advocate for young Black women and designers.

"At our annual design conference last year she impressed our community and audience and held her own amongst the heavyweights. To support her peers and ensure they're starting their career with the correct tools she's established the AEI Design Initiative Programme. Keep an eye on this one!"

**Alicia Ajayi
**Nominated byStephen Burks

"Alicia Ajayi and I became acquainted when we both found ourselves teaching as adjunct faculty members at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, & Preservation at Columbia University last year.

"Ajayi is a powerful force for radical Black place-making within a mostly white male academic setting. With an uncompromising and critical voice, she designs opportunities for Black agency in an effort to correct accepted historical narratives in favour of Black self-determination.

"Her research is critically important because it seeks to counteract persistent oppressive practices and pedagogies which form the foundation of Western design thought leadership."

The post Fourteen Black architects and designers you should know appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #architecture #design #news #racialdiversity #blackhistorymonth

First 500 launches website that "elevates and celebrates" Black women in architecture

American architect Tiara Hughes has launched the First 500 website, an online platform dedicated to showcasing the work of Black women architects working in the US.

Hughes founded the First 500 organisation in 2018 after learning that less than 500 of the 100,000 licensed architects in the US were Black women.

In October, the architect launched a website to further the initiative's mission in achieving racial justice in the architecture industry.

"First 500 aims to inspire Black women and girls to infinitely increase our licensed representation in the industry to better reflect the environments we serve," Hughes told Dezeen.

"The website is a resource and reference to learn more about the incredible contributions of black women to the built environment."

"We must tackle this disparity as an industry together if we want to see transformative change"

According to Hughes, systemic barriers such as lack of access, support and resources are some of the biggest factors preventing Black female architects from furthering their careers.

In light of this, the First 500 website has a library that consists of books written by Black writers or featuring Black architects. It forms part of the initiative's goal to reinsert some of the contributions of Black architects into the historical narrative – something that is often overlooked in education.

"Our platforms emphasize that this dilemma needs to be supported on all fronts from all parties," Hughes explained.

"We must tackle this disparity as an industry together if we want to see transformative change."

The First 500 website features insights from its leadership board

To that end, the site also provides features on topics such as equity as well as links to scholarship programs and competitions open to Black females.

There is also a section where users can upload their own profiles to a database, helping improve visibility and representation.

First 500 began as an initiative

Initially, Hughes' aim was to increase the number of licensed Black women architects to 500 and begin closing the industry-wide equity gap.

She spent much of her time travelling around the US to raise awareness about the representation of Black women architects, offering face-to-face support and education.

[

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But Hughes found that such low figures were common in countries around the world.

This prompted her to create an online platform that could support Black female architects on an international scale.

Tiara Hughes founded First 500 in 2018

"Today, Black Women Architects make up less than one per cent of all licensed architects in the US," she explained.

"We have since learned that similar disparities exist in countries across the world which is why the platform became global."

"We hope everyone who visits the website will be inspired and spread the word to young Black girls and women interested in learning more about architecture," she added.

"Our collective mindset has to shift from equality to equity"

Alongside the slowly climbing figures, it was events that took place in 2020 that indicated to Hughes that now was the time to launch the website.

"The sudden open-mindedness of the industry towards diversity, equity and inclusion efforts following the murder of George Floyd paired with Covid-19 preventing us from travelling and gathering in large groups signalled the right time to launch the site and create this permanent platform for everyone to connect online," she explained.

Now, Hughes believes that rhetoric and practice must both move from awareness to targetted action.

"Acknowledgement has occurred to an extent following the murder of George Floyd, but our collective mindset has to shift from equality to equity. Equity means meeting people where they are and addressing their needs accordingly.

"First 500 is addressing the most underrepresented group of black girls and black women in architecture directly and unapologetically."

The launch comes amid a rise in projects that address racial inequality in architecture and design. These include a book by Sound Advice and a web plug-in called Something Spaces that showcases work by Black creatives.

The post First 500 launches website that "elevates and celebrates" Black women in architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

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