Space Unveiled Invisible Cultures in the Design Studio

Since the early 1800s, African Americans have designed signature buildings; however, in the mainstream marketplace, African American architects, especially women, have remained invisible in architecture history, theory and practice. Traditional architecture design studio education has been based on the historical models of the Beaux-Arts and the Bauhaus, with a split between design and production teaching. As the result of current teaching models, African American architects tend to work on the production or technical side of building rather than in the design studio. It is essential to understand the centrality of culture, gender, space and knowledge in design studios. Space Unveiled is a significant contribution to the study of architecture education, and the extent to which it has been sensitive to an inclusive cultural perspective. The research shows that this has not been the case in American education because part of the culture remains hidden.

Introduction and History, 1. African American Education: Lifting the Veil (Carla Jackson Bell, PhD) 2. The Background on Architecture Education (Carla Jackson Bell, PhD) 3. "Booker T. Washington’s Architectual Strategies (Ellen Weiss, PhD) 4. Brick Making and the Production of Place at the Tuskegee Institute (Donald E. Armstrong, Jr.) 5. The Education of African-American Architects: Re-Thinking du Bois’ Principles, "About Us, For Us, and Near Us" (Akel Kahera, PhD) 6. 'Blackness': An Architectural Discourse (Carla Jackson Bell, PhD and Melvin L.Mitchell) 7. Once More into the Breech (Craig Wilkins, PhD) 8. The Academic Political Economy (Carla Jackson Bell, PhD) 9. Space (Un) Veiled: Tecne as a Means of Promoting Visibility in the Beginning Design Studio (Donald E. Armstrong, Jr. and Carla Jackson Bell, PhD) 10. Reality-Based Learning in Design Education (Sharon E. Sutton, PhD, FAIA) 11. Design Collaborative Learning in Design Studio Education (Dr. Carmina Sánchez-del-Valle) 12. Piecing Together Place: A Design Process (Sheryl Tucker de Vazquez) 13. Making Every Stich Count: Lessons in Naturalistic Feedback (Magdalena Garmaz) 14. Contested Spaces: Teaching Cultural Competency in the Design of American Cities (Toni L. Griffin) 15. Gender and Race in Contemporary Architecture: Reflections on a Seminar Taught for Over Two Decades (Kathryn H. Anthony, PhD) 16. NOMA Competition: "Design Action" (Kevin Moore) 17. In Situ: Diversifying Design Education Through Green For Life! – A Community Based Environmental Research, Education and Outreach Project (Rebecca O’Neal Dagg and Charlene LeBleu) 18. Working in the Jazz Architectural Workshop (Nathaniel Quincy Belcher) 19. Race and Gender in Architecture Education: A Distance Learning Model (Daisy-Olice Williams, Andrew Chin and Ronald Lumpkin, PhD) 20. Consensus Imagination: Design Competition in a Non-Studio Setting (La Barbara James Wigfall) 21. On Otherness: Looking at (Different Way of) Inculating Diversity (George Epolito) 22. ‘Inside and Out’: Three Black Women’s Perspectives on Architectural Education in the Ivory Tower (Felecia Davis, J. Yolande Daniels and Mabel O. Wilson

Edited by Carla Jackson Bell, Director of Multicultural Affairs and faculty member, College of Architecture, Design and Construction, Auburn University