| 2024.02 |
Explore the Intersection of Diversity and Architecture
Our built environment has become a record of our unified global integration. In our ties with one another, our interconnectedness has revealed to us complex connections in our cultures, perspectives, and ways of living. Yet, in the midst of our connections, the body of practicing licensed architects in America needs to reflect more diversity. This lack of diversity is also apparent in the built environment around us. There are similar approaches in design building aesthetics and an evident lack of diversity in spatial experience. These moments are calling for ways to rethink our approach to design as a whole. Anacapa believes an opportunity to innovate within our field of design lies in us embracing and responding to our need for increased diversity.
“The path to licensure is long, non-linear, costly, and strenuous, but even more so without the appropriate milestones to benchmark successes for people of color—and most drastically for Black and Latina women..”
- Jason Pugh NOMA President and Gensler Senior Associate, AIA, AICP, LEED AP
Black History Month is a time for us to acknowledge a part of our global diversity and reflect on the contributions of the too few but well-renowned black architects of our past. In California, we would be remiss if we did not mention Paul R. Williams: the “Architect of the Stars.”
Born in 1894 in Los Angeles, Williams played a pivotal role in shaping the Southern California building landscape. He had clients of old Hollywood, including Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball, hence the nickname “Architect of the Stars”. Williams designed various types of buildings, and by the end of his professional career, he had designed about 3,000 buildings [SOURCE]. These buildings included international projects, including Hotel Nutibara in Medellín, Colombia. He was an excellent draftsman, and his work was recently jointly acquired by the University of Southern California and Getty Research Institute.
This archive contains over 10,000 of his original drawings. Williams was extremely talented and relentless in his lofty design pursuits, even in the face of racism. Often designing buildings in areas he was unable to visit or live in, he was not discouraged to pursue his craft and service at the highest level. He taught himself to draw upside down because his white clientele of the 1920s did not want to sit next to him
Today, we celebrate Williams because he was an incredible, prolific black architect who had to traverse the roadblocks of racism in the 1920s and still was able to leave his mark in Southern California. The act of professionalization of Architecture is to control access, and this was not just for safety concerns in the past. The field has remained dominated by white male architects, their teachings, and their work. As a black architect working and designing for wealthy white clientele in the 1920s, Williams successfully inserted himself into the narrative and was able to create and exceed expectations.
As a young firm, Anacapa has the ability to define our future. We desire a future where both Anacapa and the field of architecture celebrate and recognize the value of diversity. What makes us rich as people can be found in our varied cultures. We can dig deep into our differences and create provocative, refreshing, and inclusive spaces.
Today, we honor Paul Williams and other notable black architects of our past, present, and future.
Happy Black History Month!
Written by Ochuko Okor
SOURCES:
https://daily.jstor.org/paul-revere-williams-an-architect-of-firsts/?utm_source=pocket_saves
https://www.getty.edu/news/architect-paul-revere-williams-archive-acquired-usc-getty/
https://www.aia.org/sites/default/files/2023-12/aia-demographics-report-12-14-23_0.pdf