Architecture is Political

Barry Farms and Hillsdale community is one of Washington, DC’s most historic black communities. Originally founded after emancipation by the Freedmen’s Bureau, the legacy of this community included the development of public housing.  Designated as a historic landmark, an advisory committee was formed to integrate the original architecture and preserve residents’ stories. In this episode, Sabi...

Kelly Beamon has spent 18 years producing architecture and design content, with focuses on historic house styles, building materials, and kitchen and bath trends for Architectural Record, This Old House, Interior Design, Surface and HD magazine. An additional area of constant research and curiosity has been the impact of the A&D community on such issues as affordable housing, building decarbonizat...

Reverend Christopher Tobias is the Executive Director of Hands Up Outreach Ministry (HUOM), a faith-base organization that is meeting the needs of individuals living in underserved communities.  Guided by a servant’s heart, HUOM seeks to empower and strengthen their journey towards an improved quality of life. Hands Up Outreach Ministry has worked extensively with Tyler House through social e...

“What if Black neighborhoods were defined by the beauty of the architecture that represents Black  culture?” This question is on the ‘About’ page of the OffTop Design website. In this episode, we explore answers to this question with Demar Matthews, a Los Angeles based architectural designer, founder/Principal of OffTop Design , as well as the benefits and challenges of running a design firm....

Earlier this year, Architecture is Political Podcast had the opportunity to present at Pyatok's Skull Session, a weekly meet-up where various guests come to discuss topics related to architectural practices, emerging innovations, and everything in between. Pyatok is an architecture and urban design firm in Oakland, California. Topics discussed in this episode include displacement, housing and gent...

Gabriela Gonjon and Nicole Bass are undergraduate B. Arch students and NOMAS (National Organization of Minority Architecture Students) chapter members at City College of New York. Together, they are host/producer of Talks at NOMAS CCNY , a podcast about architecture school, professionalism and entrepreneurship.

Anna earned her Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from The Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University and a Masters in Architecture from The Virginia Polytechnical Institute. She is Senior Project Manager at Beyer Blinder Belle in Washington, DC.  She has worked on complex projects, focused on design, documentation, and construction for multi-family residential, commercial, a...

Christina Schaller is a passionate and ambitious project designer currently pursuing licensure in the state of Massachusetts. At her role at Flansburgh Architects, her work focuses on designing K-12 schools that encourage a desire for learning as well as address the needs of the greater community. She holds a B.S in Architecture and Environmental Design from Morgan State University and a M.Arch fr...

Through her work as a speaker, organizer, and activist, Paula Brooks has devoted herself to educating residents, community and elected leaders, civil servants, and others on environmental justice issues in Indiana. She has led successful campaigns to stop projects that would expose marginalized communities to additional pollution. Her efforts have helped raise awareness of the disproportionate env...

Designing in Color (DCo) , a collective of architects and designers of culture. Their mission aims to diversify the way architecture is taught and practiced to amplify marginalized communities who’ve been historically silenced and erased throughout the design process. ​Opalia is a Massachusetts based designer, advocate, and one of the Co-founders of Designing in Color. She enjoys residential archi...

In the context of multifamily and affordable housing, does the architecture aesthetic represent the culture or the historical context of the neighborhood? Melissa explores this topic with two articles: A city within a city and Architecture and Racism: A Conversation . 2Z8EjPA3JRiMMDbWWnMs

Through her first love, Architecture, Dominican-born and raised designer and entrepreneur Ellen Abraham aims to push the needle forward.  This MBA graduate and Senior Project Technical Lead at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, nurtures her passions through leading various community-building initiatives, design-based philanthropy and high impact social justice & design advocacy projects. She co-founded a...

Carolyn Swope MPH, Well AP, is a doctoral student at Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Her research interests focus on the relationship between housing and health disparities, with particular attention to historical housing policies producing present-day housing inequities. Prior to pursuing doctoral studies, Carolyn worked at various organizations promoting heal...

‘Decolonise Architecture’ is a collective of students and alumni from the University of Bath driven to tackle institutional racism within architecture and its education. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/decolonisearchitecture/?hl=en Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/decolonise-architecture-uk/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DecoloniseArch TANYARADZWA CHIGANZE (@Tanya.etc_) Background: Z...

Tenille Bettenhausen is a business developer serving the Los Angeles market for the American Institute of Steel Construction. She earned her BS degree in Architecture from Arizona State University. After graduation, Tenille started her career in architecture with Callison Architecture, where she worked on a wide variety of projects including design rollout projects for Nordstrom and Washington Mut...

Anzilla Gilmore's passion for architecture manifests itself through service. When she graduated from Prairie View A&M University in the late 90’s, she entered a profession where very few people looked like her.  She felt the lack of representation acutely and decided to take action to ensure that no black female that came after her would want for lack of representation.  Gilmore has dedicated hers...

Please note that this Desiree V. Cooper (DVC) Memorial Scholarship Foundation is not the same as the Architects Foundation Desiree V. Cooper Memorial Fund. (Confusing… I know). Desiree was one of my dearest friends until she tragically passed away a couple of years ago. 2021 will be the fourth year of the Desiree V. Cooper (DVC) Memorial Scholarship offering assistance to those taking the architec...

Primaverarch is a grassroots organization committed to stimulating change for the recognition of women in architecture and related fields. Inspired by the renaissance era and the symbolic idea of spring, Primaverarch is a movement of rebirth, revival, and renewal. Primaverarch is created by four minority-women who recently graduated from the Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of Ne...

Devanne Pena ("Dev-in Pee-nuh") is an Architect Entrepreneur. She is proud to be among the first 400 African American women living history to be licensed to practice architecture. A fourth generation Cape Verdean, Devanne conducted independent research in her native West African islands to define future architectural service for the culture. She is the owner of a design consultancy, Archidev LLC,...

Sam Smith is a writer, activist and social critic who has been at the forefront of new ideas and new politics for more than five decades. He covered Washington under nine presidents, edited the Progressive Review for over 50 years, wrote four books, helped to start six organizations including the national Green Party, the DC Humanities Council and the DC Statehood Party. In this episode, we talked...

Here is a rebroadcast of my interview with Tangible Remnants, a podcast that explores the interconnectedness of architecture, historic preservation, sustainability, race & gender. Host Nakita Reed and I met at a women in architecture event years ago. Check out Tangible Remnants on Apple & Spotify Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TangibleRemnants/

Derrick Ward is a general assignment reporter for News4.   A native of the District of Columbia, Ward grew up in Marshall Heights and the H Street Corridor in Northeast. He lived through the 1968 riots and documented his experiences on News4 as part of the station's 40th anniversary coverage. Ward attended HD Woodson High School and the University of Maryland.  Ward's journalism car...

Shelly-Anne Tulia Scot, AIA and Shani Chambers, AIA are both graduated from the Caribbean School of Architecture and graduated from Florida A&M University. In this episode, they share their Caribbean experiences, culture shock and racism. Become an insider by supporting the show at https://glow.fm/archispolly where you can support the show on a recurring or one-time basis! Shani Chambers is a...

No intro music, no fancy mic, just a cellphone and recording app. This episode discusses current events, personal journey and podcast updates.

Janelle Brookes and Ethan Perrotte are a couple of black architecture students from Canada. They created POC Architecture to support architecture projects done by people of colour. During the course of their education, Janelle and Ethan noticed a lack of architecture projects from people of colour being taught. As a result, POC Architecture Instagram page was created to promote diversity in the fi...