MEETING OF THE MINDS An inspired conversation about social equity in architecture between Toshiko Mori and Pascale Sablan. Written and edited for length and clarity by Michael Wilson
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o the casual observer, architects Toshiko Mori and Pascale Sablan seem to occupy different realms of the architectural world. Mori has four decades of influential projects under her belt—her innovative use of new materials and technologies is underpinned by a thoroughgoing attention to historical context and design tradition. Her eponymous New York–based firm has worked across a broad range of cultural, institutional, and residential contexts, and it recently produced master plans for major clients including the Brooklyn Public Library and the Buffalo Botanical Gardens. Past projects include a school building in Senegal designed in collaboration with the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and its sibling nonprofit Le Korsa, and Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake’s first freestanding boutique in the United States. At just 38, Sablan is one of only 315 licensed female Black architects in the United States today. She joined Adjaye Associates this year, having previously designed at FXFOWLE Architects and S9 Architecture. Working closely with the National Organization of Minority Architects, she combines her architectural practice with advocacy work, paying particular attention to issues faced by women architects and architects of color, and prioritizing teaching and mentorship. Although Mori and Sablan have diverse backgrounds and belong to different generations, they share a 88
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fierce commitment to understanding and engaging with the communities in which they work. Often, this involves taking a critical look at the assumptions, conventions, priorities, and lingering biases of their profession and insisting—sometimes in the face of stubborn resistance—that it must change with the times. From Sablan’s curation (in collaboration with AIA New York’s Center for Architecture) of the 2017 exhibition SAY IT LOUD, in which she showcased the work of 20 minority architects, to Mori’s longstanding advocacy for female architects (in 1995, she became the first woman to earn tenure at the Harvard Graduate School of Design), each woman’s contributions to the field combine a deep passion for people with the skill of placemaking to produce spaces that are the epitome of human-centric design. In this, longevity—achieved not only through functional design and solid construction, but also through consideration of the social, economic, and environmental impacts of their work—is a central consideration. GRAY paired up these two industry powerhouses, and a passionate and wide-ranging exchange ensued, in which Sablan posed some characteristically searching questions to Mori to tease out some of the ways in which architects might better listen and give voice to the needs and concerns of those they serve and, in doing so, transcend what she describes as their “villainous” reputation. »
