Join us on February 22, 2023, between 4:30pm - 6:00pm for a panel discussion on equity and belonging in Architecture.
This discussion will bring together black professionals from all stages of their careers including emerging architects, firm principles, and educators; to share their experiences and insights on creating a more equitable and inclusive environment. Participants will engage in a candid exploration of the challenges, successes, and best practices for promoting equity in Architecture. Register here.
Moderators:
Ashley Marshall, NOMA- Project Architect/ Architectural Designer at Ennead
Ashley Marshall is an Architectural Designer at Ennead Architects, and the founder of the architectural jewelry brand AMYTHYST. Hailing from Texas to New York, Ashley has worked in residential, institutional, and healthcare architecture. Ashley believes the power of design affects people of all walks deeply, from the clothes we wear to the structures we live in. As a designer, Ashley has a passion for both changing the built environment, and the language of geometry, power, and beauty.
Yimika Osunsanya, NOMA, AIA Associate, Architectural Designer at Ennead
Yimika Osunsanya is an Architectural designer at Ennead Architects. Her role includes the design and development of concepts for multiple project types. She has experience working with international and local clients on projects of varying sizes ranging from museums to commercial complexes. She considers herself to be a modern-day storyteller, dedicated to creating avenues and conducive atmospheres for people and objects to act and react. Well-designed space affects not only how a user sees but also how one feels and thinks. With this in mind, she invests her time in ensuring that conceptual ideas about space directly translate into well-designed containers that carry the ability to mold and hold peoples' experiences. She is also engaged with studies for Ennead Lab, a research group within the firm that explores creative solutions for environmental and socioeconomic issues in architecture.
Panelists:
Lisa Cholmondeley, AIA, LEED® AP BD+C, CDT, NOMA – Design Manager , Principal at Gensler
I’m motivated by understanding what connects people in the built environment. There is an invisible bond between who we are, how we occupy space, and what space looks like. I’ve been grateful to have had the opportunity to work across four continents with diverse project teams. Diversity in people, culture, and places serve as reminders that we always have new ways to experience the world. I began my architectural career at Cornell University. After graduating, I worked in Washington, D.C. then had incredible teaching opportunities in Knoxville and Washington DC. Following graduate School in London at the Architectural Association, I spent several years at a variety of firms across London before joining Gensler in 2008. While at Gensler I participated in a research program where I was able to work on an education project with our office in Sao Paulo. Previous to transferring to our San Francisco office, I was part of the Gensler team that delivered a 6 million square foot portion of a large mixed-use development (Hospitality, Office, Retail, and Residential) in Qatar. I have delivered projects in the US, the UK, the Middle East, and Africa. I’ve spent almost half of my career working on interiors, but most recently have been focused on large-scale, mixed-use commercial projects in the Bay Area. I believe the most powerful way to connect with people is by breaking bread. I am an avid traveler, and I always find myself joyfully inspired when I am outside of my comfort zone, exploring new cultures and places, forcing myself to navigate my surrounding in different ways.
Ibrahim Greenidge, RA, NOMA, AIA, NCARB , - Managing Partner & Co-founder of BOLT Architecture
Ibrahim Greenidge, RA, NOMA, AIA, NCARB, co-founded BOLT Architecture in 2012 and serves as the Managing Partner. In his decade of experience, Ibrahim has designed more than $150 million of building construction. In 2017, he was appointed to serve as President of the New York Coalition of Black Architects. A winner of the 2015 Jumaane Stewart Recognition Award, his designs have been featured in the UN’s Remembering Slavery Exhibit and the Center for Architectures “Say It Loud: Distinguished Black Designers of NYCOBA|NOMA.'' In 2017, Ibrahim was acknowledged as the Top 20 Distinguished Minority Architects and Designers by Architizer. He received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the New York Institute of Technology.
As of 2022, Ibrahim currently sits on the Black Gotham Advisory Board and ONEnyc Advisory Board. Ibrahim is a 21st-century philanthropist. He contributes countless hours as a mentor, and volunteer, attends career fairs, delivers guest talks and lectures, and serves as an assistant coach for a local NYC championship high school boys lacrosse team. He is also a global citizen, having traveled to four continents and over 20 countries. This father of two is working on a book entitled “It’s Going to Be Brick: being black in architecture” to be published in 2022.
Troy Monroe, AIAS, NOMAS – Architectural Designer, Ennead Architects
Troy Monroe is an Architectural Designer from Tallahassee, Florida. He is currently pursuing a B. Arch degree from Florida A&M University where he is an active member of the student body and past AIAS president. He is interested in using the power of data and collective experience to inform good design, in and beyond the field of Architecture. A proud alumnus of an HBCU, Troy appreciates the value of diversity and difference in the design community and hopes that his experience can help provide new perspectives and opportunities to Architecture.
Dorian Moore, FAIA, Vice President at Archive Design Studio
Dorian Moore, FAIA, a partner in Archive Design Studio, has been involved in a wide range of large-scale architecture and urban design projects. Mr. Moore was a member of an international team of architects and urban designers invited to develop a vision for the underutilized “portlands” in Toronto, Canada. Dorian was among a select group of architects and planners invited to Mississippi as part of the charrette planning team for 11 cities along the Gulf Coast that were ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. He was also a member of the Core Support Staff for the Mayor’s Detroit Land Use Master Plan Task Force in Detroit, Michigan. Mr. Moore was featured in the PBS documentary: Designing Healthy Cities and was consulted on the documentary Beyond the Motor City discussing the future of the Post Industrial City. Mr. Moore was also featured on the public affairs television programs Spotlight on the News and Back to Back discussing architecture and urban design in Detroit. He has been interviewed by CBC Radio and CTV regarding development and urban design in Windsor. Mr.Moore has lectured, recently, in Tucson, Poughkeepsie, Savannah, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Windsor, Toronto, and other cities nationally to Universities and professional organizations on the solutions for the urban environment. Mr. Moore is also a retail entrepreneur. He is a co-owner of Pure Detroit a retail venture that specializes in the promotion of Detroit artisans and the sale of works about Detroit and works by Detroit creators. Mr. Moore graduated from the University of Michigan and also studied at the Technical University in Vienna, Austria. He has also spent many years traveling to and studying the urban character of more than 400 cities worldwide. Mr. Moore has taught at the University of Windsor/University of Detroit-Mercy in the cross-border Visual Arts and Built Environment program, Lawrence Technological University, and Wayne State University. Dorian’s commitment to city-building extends beyond design practice, entrepreneurship, and education. Dorian is a Fellow in Urban Design for the Canadian Urban Institute where he advises on research and initiatives that increase the dialogue regarding cities. He is also a member of the Windsor, Ontario Planning Subcommittee of Council and The Windsor Enforcement of the Arts Board of Directors where he has provided leadership and guidance on municipal and cultural issues.
Malachi Pursley, AIA Associate, NOMA – Architectural Designer, Ennead Architects
Originally from Louisiana, Malachi moved to New York to work for Ennead and has not looked back. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a B.Arch and a minor in Architectural History. He currently works as an Architectural Designer assisting his project team with concept development and project visualization. His design experience is primarily in higher education, but he also has a passion for fabrication and research. Malachi is currently a leader of the Environmental Justice Cohort, a research group under Ennead Lab centered around finding mediated Environmental Justice solutions. EJC has become an outlet to push not only our firm but the profession in a more equitable way to approach sustainability. Outside of work, I enjoy creating art and biking throughout Brooklyn.
Shawn Rickenbacker – Director, J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures, Spitzer School of Architecture CCNY
Shawn L. Rickenbacker is a trained architect, urbanist, and urban data researcher. He is currently the Director of the J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures where he directs the Center’s sponsored and partnership research and is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the CCNY Spitzer School of Architecture. His research and work at the Bond Center directly confronts the complex urban intersection of spatial equity and the social and economic impacts of place-based policies, programs and design through the lens of urban data, forensic and design research. He’s served as Senior Research Fellow at the Phyllis M. Taylor Institute for Social Innovation, where he researched ‘Artificial Intelligence and The Future of Social Urbanism’, The Favrot Chair in Architecture at Tulane University, Gensler Distinguished Professor at Cornell University and Director of the Motorola Sponsored Future Interactions Lab at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Design. His work and research have been published in The New York Times, NY Daily News and Global Architecture, Wired, and exhibited at Studio Museum of Harlem. As a frequent lecturer and presenter, he’s appeared at Regional Planning Association, MIT, Cornell University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Southern California, AIA NY - NOMA NYCOBA, Rutgers University, Enterprise Community Partners Design Affordable Housing Leadership Institute, and New Museum — New Inc. Shawn holds a MArch with a Certificate in American Urbanism from the University of Virginia where he was the Dupont Scholar and a BArch from Syracuse University.
Katherine Williams, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP - Assistant Director in Capital Projects at Georgetown University Katherine Williams, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP is a licensed architect in Northern Virginia and is currently an Assistant Director in Capital Projects at Georgetown University. Her career path includes work in traditional architecture firms, community development, and managing commercial construction for a general contractor. Katherine has written extensively about the architecture profession, diversity in the industry, and community development. She has edited multiple publications. She is a collaborator for the award-winning Riding the Vortex series.