Business
& Labor
Future AIA President Discusses Race and Architecture
(archrecord.construction.com - 07/10/2006)
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| Photo Courtesy Kenneth
M. Wyner |
At this year’s AIA convention Marshall
Purnell, FAIA, a principal at the Washington D.C., firm Devrouax
+ Purnell Architects and Planners PC, was elected AIA 2008
president. In a recent interview with Record contributing
writer Sam Lubell, Purnell discussed the need for architects
to lead the sustainability movement, called for improved relations
between the AIA and local components, suggested ways to raise
salaries, and discussed the challenges of moving toward the
Building Information Model system. But much of the conversation
with the AIA’s first African American president related
to race and architecture.
AR: Do you plan to address diversity
as AIA president?
MP: That’s certainly an
issue that the AIA needs to address. We haven’t been
very effective at it. Our numbers have changed substantially,
but they’re not where they should be. With women there
has been a three- to four-time increase, African Americans
have stayed stable at 1 percent. We also need more Latinos.
We need to go into the schools and into
urban areas. For instance, in San Antonio, where we’re
holding the next convention, there are urban communities where
there are kids who have never talked to an architect in their
lives. We have the potential to inspire them. We need to get
out into the communities to engage these kids and turn them
on to the profession.
When I was president of the National
Association of minority architects in 1985 and 1986 we had
our convention in Atlanta and initiated an architectural design
competition for students. Architects from our convention judged
the work. We sent architects to nine schools. Just seeing
an architect, and seeing someone who maybe looked like you,
got students interested. Our convention resources are often
wasted. I think much of our membership would volunteer for
something like that.
AR: How effective are AIA scholarship
programs?
MP: We do have scholarship programs,
and we decide every year how to distribute the money. It’s
a big number. I was chairman of the AIA’s national scholarship
program in 1986. We gave $2,500 to each student. That made
a difference in 1986, but not today. Today trying to go to
an architecture school can cost as much as $35,000 a year.
My contention is that it’s not
funding alone keeping African American children from going
into architecture. For instance, none of my children have
chosen architecture. They could have had a great start. Getting
a scholarship had nothing to do with it. They looked into
this profession and saw what the profession has offered as
far as how it has treated minorities at entry level, mid-career,
and beyond. They said, “That’s too hard. I don’t
want to do that.” There aren’t more than 10 African-American
principals of majority-owned firms in the country. Why is
that? What’s keeping people from advancing? I’ve
always said that if it’s a pipeline you’re trying
to work on, you need to work on both ends of the pipeline.
You can’t just stuff people in the pipeline and not do
anything on the other side. You need to make sure opportunities
are open on the other side. People need the ability to practice
with an even playing field.
AR: Is the AIA at fault for having
such a small minority leadership?
MP: Minorities represent 1.2
percent of AIA membership. Who can you expect to be leaders
when 99 percent of profession is non-African-American? You
can’t fault the membership for who they pick as leaders.
You have to fault the entire profession as far as who is in
the membership.
Still, in terms of African Americans
on a per-capita basis, we have a very high number of AIA fellows.
The overall numbers say to me that as an African American
in this profession, if you aren’t displaying leadership
and aren’t one of the better students in your class you
can’t afford to stumble. You’ve got to be better
than your counterpart just to stay even. It’s amazing
how few African-American architects are working for corporate
America and at the federal level. If we’re not being
used in numbers there, what’s left? Who in the private
sector is hiring African-American architects? Decisions are
made in the boardroom. If you don’t work to open that
up, then what is the point of getting into this profession?
The ceiling is so low that you can’t bust through it.
What you need at that point is a good client. You still need
the job. You can get the degree but now you need a job. We
need to make sure the client base is open to everybody practicing
architecture and not just a certain number of people.
AR: Do you find American architecture
too conservative?
MP: Look at who is producing
it. Our music, by contrast, is a result of our entire culture,
because we have taken advantage of our diversity. If architecture
is still music frozen in time, then we’re doing classical
music. There’s no R&B, no jazz, no rap. What kind
of architecture would a Miles Davis have given us? What kind
of architecture would Duke Ellington have given us? When you
look at who is contributing to the architectural fabric of
American it’s often boring. It’s the same old, same
old. What kind of architecture would Jay-Z give us if he got
turned on by that creative mode? We need clients who are looking
for those creative modes. It’s one of the only modes
of artistic expression where you need someone to commission
it. If you’re a painter you just paint. With architecture
you need a patron. Architecture would get better if we involved
people from the inner city. It would get enlivened and enriched.
What would dance be without African Americans? What would
our music be? When you start limiting who practices, that’s
a problem.
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