BosNOMA: For a better Boston

The past few years have brought a hyper focus to J.E.D.I., EDI, and DEIB efforts. No matter the abbreviation you use, issues of social justice and equity have always been critical to understanding both our society and our built environment. Although these issues have become buzzwords and may feel like a passing trend as many are only just now acknowledging the reality of inequity that exists in the country, the work is no less real. It is well known that architecture has historically been a white-male-dominated industry that has been slow to change. In his famous speech of 1968, Whitney M. Young accused the AIA of being “most distinguished by your thunderous silence and your complete irrelevance.”1 Just three years later, the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) was formed, and in the 50 years since, strides have been made to increase diversity and bring us closer to equity and parity. However, the work is far from done.

BosNOMA (the Boston Chapter of NOMA) holds a critical responsibility in Boston’s design community to further our mission to foster the advancement of equitable practice and minority leadership. 2 With the renewed spotlight, our work has taken on a greater urgency to invest in the next generation through design education, mentorship, and support. With a virtual platform, BosNOMA has expanded membership more than fourfold and continues to grow under the collaborative leadership of the board (Ali Horwitz, president; Gerard Georges, co-chair; Rima Abousleiman, treasurer; Elyse Ayoung, parliamentarian; Julian Phillips, secretary; Ryan Horton, brand ambassador; and Edward “Tony” Ransom, immediate past president and now NE Region vice president).

Above: A sample of BosNOMA’s Minority Report, a curated collection of media highlighting marginalized voices. Graphics created by Ryan Horton.

Above: BosNOMA Project Pipeline site. Image of Nubian Square created by Taylor Johnson.

The past few years have brought immense change for BosNOMA as we focused on providing new perspectives, amplifying marginalized voices, and reimagining the future of our profession. BosNOMA hosted a series of brave conversations inspired by NOMA National’s B.R.A.V.E. statement on racial justice 3, organized panel discussions and podcasts, and curated a collection of books, documentaries, and other media titled the Minority Report. Through all these efforts, we aim for a better Boston by developing a supportive and collaborative community for our members.

Our latest program allowed us to engage with middle school students ages 10 to 15. An age demographic that is often overlooked within design education became an optimal age range to expose young people to architecture and enrich curiosities about their community, neighborhood, and city. Over three days in August, BosNOMA held its first Project Pipeline architecture camp for young designers of color. Project Pipeline, a NOMA National initiative, is a camp with the mission “to empower young people to effect change in their community through design.”4. Through a virtual format, our mentor team of architects, architectural students, and engineers led 27 students through drawing, modeling, and presentation exercises that built on each other over each session. Our sponsors made it possible to send a supply kit to each student that included materials to participate in the camp and to keep the students’ creative juices flowing well beyond and into the school year. In just three days, our campers learned to observe their communities through a critical lens and analyze site context and conditions, created unique design solutions to address specific community needs, and gained a stronger understanding of how they can impact the environments around them.

The value and practice of mentorship are vital to diversifying any profession, especially architecture. Early in planning, we made efforts to define how the virtual classroom setting would operate. We determined that a mentor/mentee relationship would be more beneficial in creating a feedback loop than a teacher/student relationship. The question –– “how do we build mentor/mentee relationships in a virtual environment” –– became less of a concern and more of a charge to encourage discussion by incorporating a real-world scenario as the through-line of the curriculum and being strategic about how small groups work with hands-on activities. Boston is a city of neighborhoods, each with unique histories, culture, and design. Campers learned about architecture and its role in shaping daily life through the lens of Nubian Square, the heart of Roxbury. Nubian Gallery and Black Market were our focal points in the curriculum, and we asked the students to come up with creative solutions for framing or filling in the missing lots along Washington Street just beyond the newly painted Black

Above: Project Pipeline campers explored the building/site scale and the role of the building facade in communicating a story. Campers finalized their facade model and extended their efforts to the sidewalks in a final discussion on street life and placemaking.

Lives Matter street mural. The campers were encouraged to create based on site context given on Day 1 and clients selected on Day 2. A 2-to-5 mentor-to-camper ratio paired with a discussion-based curriculum set the stage for these young designers to create thought-provoking responses to three design challenges: Design a new welcome gate for the community gathering space, build a clay facade embedded within the neighborhood context, and create streetscaping to connect the new building to the city.

In the final session, each student shared their work, impressing the mentors with not only their creativity and craft, but also with the thoughtfulness and care they took to make their spaces inclusive, enjoyable, and welcome to all. Several students paid special attention to their entryways, noting that they had added ramps to “make sure anyone can get inside.” One student made a point to include the term “unisex” in their salon/barbershop sign “so that everyone knows they’re welcome here,” and another gave their space the simple, beautiful name of “Gym for Everyone :)” Unencumbered by the restrictions and hesitations of design professionals, the campers homed in on some of the most critical values that make up a successful community –– accessibility and inclusion. As BosNOMA continues to grow, we will constantly strive for a better Boston in all that we do, but it is through the eyes of our young people that this vision of a better Boston truly feels possible. Footnotes: 1. https://www.aia.org/resources/189666-commemorating50-years 2. https://www.bosnoma.org/mission-2 3. https://www.noma.net/nomas-public-statement-regardingracial-injustice-2020-may-31/ 4. https://www.noma.net/project-pipeline/

Ali Horwitz, AIA, NOMA,

Horwitz is an architect at Studio G Architects in Boston. She is also the president of BosNOMA and a member of the J.E.D.I. Editorial Board for High Profile magazine.

Julian Phillips, NOMA,

Phillips is a designer at Bruner/Cott in Boston. He is also the secretary of BosNOMA and a youth programs instructor at Mass College of Art.