An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that have human occupancy or use as their principal purpose. Etymologically, the term architect derives from the Latin architectus, which derives from the Greek, i.e., chief builder.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Its headquarters are located in Washington, D.C. The AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach programs, and collaborates with other stakeholders in the design and construction industries. The current leadership of the AIA includes Lakisha Ann Woods, CAE, serving as EVP/Chief Executive Officer, and Emily Grandstaff-Rice, FAIA, serving as the 2023 AIA President.
The American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) is an independent, nonprofit, student-run organization providing programs, information, and resources on issues critical to architecture and the experience of education. The core focus of AIAS membership supports architecture students in collegiate schools across the United States, a population of approximately 25,000 students annually enrolled in accredited degree programs. In recent years, the AIAS has also expanded into international academic programs.
Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) is a postnominal title or membership, designating an individual who has been named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
Formerly called the Intern Development Program (IDP), the Architectural Experience Program (AXP) is a comprehensive training program created to ensure that candidates pursuing licensure in the architecture profession gain the knowledge and skills required for the independent practice of architecture. The program is developed, maintained, and administered by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) and is required by most U.S. architectural registration boards to satisfy experience requirements for licensure.
Boston Architectural College is a private college in Boston. It is New England's largest private college of spatial design. The college's main building is at 320 Newbury Street in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood.
The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture (UTSOA) is a college within The University of Texas at Austin, with its major facilities located on the main university campus in Austin, Texas, United States. UTSOA's dean is Michelle Addington. In 2016, the school's former dean, Frederick "Fritz" Steiner, stepped down citing Texas Government Code Section 411.2031, also known as "Campus Carry," which entitles licensed individuals to carry concealed handguns onto the campus of an institution of higher education.
Sharon Egretta Sutton, is an American architect, educator, visual artist, and author. Her work is focused on community-based participatory research and design. She is a professor emerita at the University of Washington. In 1984, she became the first African American woman to become a full professor in an accredited architectural degree program while teaching at the University of Michigan. She has also taught at Parsons School of Design, and Columbia University.
Marshall Emmiett Purnell,, , is an American architect. He co-founded the architecture firm, Devrouax+Purnell in Washington, D.C. In 2008, he was the president of the American Institute of Architects.
John Saunders Chase Jr. was born in Annapolis, Maryland, to John Saunders Chase and Alice Viola Hall. He was an American architect who was the first licensed African American architect in the state of Texas. He was also the only Black architect licensed in the state for almost a decade. He was also the first African American to serve on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which reviewed the design for the United States Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Ivenue Love-Stanley,, , is an American architect. She co-founded Stanley, Love-Stanley P.C., an Atlanta-based architecture and design firm. She was the first African-American woman to graduate from Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Architecture, and in 1983 she became the first African-American woman licensed architect in the Southeast. Love-Stanley's projects include the Aquatic Center for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, the Lyke House Catholic Student Center at the Atlanta University Center, the Southwest YMCA and St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the Auburn Market in Sweet Auburn and the National Black Arts Festival headquarters.
Roberta Washington, , is an American architect. She founded the firm Roberta Washington Architects in 1983, which, at the time, was one of very few architecture firms in the United States led by an African-American woman. She was a Commissioner of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission from 2007 to 2015. She is a past President of the National Organization of Minority Architects (1997) and is a Director and Treasurer of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) Foundation. She has been a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects since 2006.
African-American architects are those in the architectural profession who are members of the African diaspora in the United States.
The Association for Women in Architecture and Design (AWA+D) is a nonprofit professional association based in Los Angeles, California. The organization aims to support women working in the fields of architecture and design through educational programming, networking, and mentoring. The history of the AWA+D dates back to 1922.
Robert Traynham Coles, FAIA, was an architect, educator, and social justice activist. Coles was the first African American to win the Rotch Traveling Scholarship awarded by the Boston Society of Architects, the first African American Chancellor of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the first AIA Vice-President for Minority Affairs, and a founding member of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA).
Kimberly Nicole Dowdell, AIA, originally from Detroit, Michigan, is a Chicago-based architect, real estate developer, and educator. Dowdell is currently a principal at HOK's Chicago office, and she served as the 2019-2020 national president of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). On June 15, 2022, Dowdell was elected as first vice-president and president-elect of the American Institute of Architects. She will be the 100th president of the American Institute of Architects and the first Black woman to serve in the role.
During the middle of the 20th century, various women’s auxiliary groups were formed to support local and state chapters of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The names of these groups were usually a variation of Women’s Architectural League (WAL) or Women’s Architectural Auxiliary (WAA) depending on the location of the chapter. WAL groups were active from 1941 through the early 1980s. Membership usually included the wives of AIA architect members and sometimes women architects. The groups were most often involved in public education, architectural scholarship fundraising, political lobbying, assisting with the hosting of national or state AIA conventions held in their home city, and hosting social events for women associated with the field of architecture.
Rainy Hamilton Jr. is the American president, owner, principal in charge of architecture and co-founder of Hamilton Anderson Associates, a multidisciplinary architectural firm that integrates architecture and site design as the basis of sustainable architecture and planning projects. HAA is one of the largest African-American owned architectural firms in the United States.
Wendell Campbell was an African American architect who studied under Mies Van Der Rohe and Ludwig Hilberseimer while attending the Illinois Institute of Technology. Campbell graduated in 1957 with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and City Planning, and after difficulty in finding work due to racial prejudice he founded his own firm in 1966. Campbell is noted for his contributions to several building projects throughout Chicago and Gary, Indiana as well as his redevelopment plans for major US cities. In 1971 Campbell co-founded and served as the first president of the National Organization of Minority Architects. In 1976 he was awarded the prestigious Whitney Young Medal of Honor by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and designated as a fellow of the AIA in 1979.
Pascale Sablan is an American architect and designer. She is an associate principal at Adjaye Associates and became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2021. Sablan advocates on behalf of women and BIPOC people in architecture as the founder and executive director of Beyond the Built Environment. She previously worked for FXFOWLE and S9 Architecture.
