Shaking up the profession

{"version":"0.3.0","atoms":[],"cards":[],"markups":[["em"],["a",["href","https:\/\/keiarchitects.com\/","target","_blank"]],["a",["href","http:\/\/architecture.set.hamptonu.edu\/","target","_blank"]],["b"],["strong"]],"sections":[[1,"p",[[0,[0],0,"In the first installment of a new series that features mentors and mentees speaking together about experiences and challenges in their careers, we interviewed Founding Principal of "],[0,[1],1,"Kelso \u0026 Easter Inc. (KEI) "],[0,[],0,"Robert Easter, FAIA, and KEI Managing Principal Marcus Thomas, AIA. The pair met at "],[0,[2],1,"Hampton University "],[0,[],1,"where Easter is a professor and Thomas was a student. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[0],1,"The duo discuss what it means to be Black men in the world of architecture, what drew them to the profession, and the urgent need for diversity in the field."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"Why did you decide to become an architect?"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[4],1,"Robert Easter"],[0,[],0,": I chose architecture because I liked\nto draw and I didn\u2019t like to read. I was told architecture was one major at\nHampton University that didn\u2019t require a foreign language and I assumed it\ndidn\u2019t require a whole lot of reading. Little did I know that I\u0027d be reading and\nwriting ever since. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"Marcus Thomas"],[0,[],0,": I sort of fell into this by\nhappenstance, I\u2019m a country boy who grew up in the backwoods of Virginia. My\ndad isn\u2019t a contractor by trade, but he is very handy. The house my parents\nstill live in was built by my dad. He was the go-to person for all things that\nneeded to be built around town. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"I grew up watching him do that, so my first inclination was\nconstruction, I wanted to be a contractor. When I got to high school and my\nmentor in high school introduced me to a technical drawing class. I loved it,\nand the follow up class was architectural drawing. At this point I was in my\njunior or senior year, and my mentor came up to me and said \u201cYou know you can\nmake money off this.\u201d "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Lo and behold, I got into Hampton and fell into it and fell\nin love with architecture. I\u2019ve been infatuated with the built environment ever\nsince. \n\n"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"What continues to excite you about architecture right\nnow? "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"Marcus Thomas"],[0,[],0,": Architecture is an old profession. It\u2019s one that\ndoesn\u2019t really lend itself to change, there are a lot of people in the industry\nwho like to do things that have worked in the past over and over again. But now\nwe\u2019re seeing an evolution of the profession. We\u2019re seeing technology get\nintroduced and leveraged in the field."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"I think we\u2019re seeing different types of people and different\ntypes of personalities enter the field. We\u2019re starting to think how we can\ndeliver each project differently. How can we increase the impact of the\nbuilding, not only in the context of the environment of which it\u2019s built, but\nthe grander scheme of sustainability. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"Robert Easter"],[0,[],0,": I\u2019m excited to watch Marcus and a lot of the\nother young architects who I\u2019ve had an opportunity to teach and influence take\nover this profession. The young generation can make architecture better by\ntaking on roles of social responsibility, and roles of leadership. "]]],[1,"blockquote",[[0,[],0,"Representation is more than ethnic. When we consider diversity in this profession we\u2019re underrepresented by women, by other cultures, by other religions. We aren\u2019t impacting a white male environment; we\u2019re impacting a human environment. - Robert Easter, FAIA"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"Only about 2% of architects in the United States are\nBlack. Can you describe your journeys to where you are today?"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"Robert Easter"],[0,[],0,": My journey is different from Marcus\u2019s, but it\nalso paved the way to ensure his journey was a bit easier. When I came out of\nschool it was easy for me to send a resume and get an interview because my name\nis very non-descript. But when I showed up it was clear that folks weren\u2019t\nready for me being in their office. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"I went to graduate school at Virginia Tech, I gained\nexperience working for a Black-owned firm in Baltimore with my mentor Paul\nFord, I was licensed to practice architecture two years after I got out of\ngraduate school, but I was still denied opportunities to get work. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"I ended up starting a firm with a graduate school classmate,\nJohn Kelso. We became friends and he told me \u201cdon\u2019t worry about those other\nfirms, lets\u2019 just start our own.\u201d It was a denied opportunity that created a\ndifferent opportunity. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"Marcus Thomas"],[0,[],0,": I can\u2019t say enough about how much I appreciate\nRobert and his willingness to step out. If he doesn\u2019t step out 40 plus years\nago, the future could look different for me. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"I got to Hampton in 2008, and guess who\u2019s first year it was\nas chairman of the department? It was Robert. That\u2019s how we initially crossed paths.\nFast forwarding through graduate school, I started my career in a\nnon-traditional route. I was at the University of Richmond in their Facilities\nDepartment, I had a great time, but I started testing and decided I needed to\nbe at a more traditional firm to get experience, so I went to a larger national\npractice. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"I ended up at a firm in South Carolina and I got introduced\nto business development and I started to do things outside of what my peers\nwere doing. That led me on a random trip back to Hampton and I thought why\ndon\u2019t I stop in the department and talk to Robert. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"KEI was my first internship and my introduction to\nBlack-owned firms. We sat at Hampton for an hour and towards the end of the\nconversation we were talking about KEI. As a throwaway comment, I made a joke\nthat \u201cif you\u2019re ever ready to retire give me a call.\u201d I figured I wouldn\u2019t hear\nfrom him again. A year later, my phone rings. It\u2019s Robert and here we are\ntoday. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"If you had a magic wand, what would you do to make it\neasier for underrepresented groups to stay in the field of architecture?"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"Marcus Thomas"],[0,[],0,": It is much more difficult for groups\nof color to get registered than others. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"At the same time, architecture is a labor of love. You have\nto love what you do. I think one thing that architecture school does well is\nforcing that upon you. School is going to weed people who don\u2019t have a passion\nfor architecture out. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a bad thing early on. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"But for those individuals who make it through and still find\nit hard to matriculate to licensure, I think a lot of that has to do with\nresources. If I had a magic wand, I\u2019d make sure all students have resources to\nprepare, to get experience with firms, to be able to make decisions on the\npaths they want to take. Some students don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like being at an\narchitecture firm until they get to one and they hate it. We need to dedicate\nresources to ensure underrepresented students aren\u2019t lagging behind. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"Robert Easter"],[0,[],0,": To attract underrepresented groups to the\nprofession you\u2019ve got to make it clear that the profession wants you. My magic\nwand would start with eliminating racism, that would be one heck of a magic\nwand. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The second thing is leveling the playing field. Some of our\nstudents start with one hand tied behind their back and when you\u2019re in a\nprofession that requires you to draw, having one tied behind your back is\ndifficult. So many of our students have to work full time when they\u2019re in\nschool and they\u2019re expected to produce the same quality of the students who\ndon\u2019t have those challenges. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"We\u2019re an open enrollment program, all you have to do is meet\nthe requirements for being accepted into the university. That doesn\u2019t change\nrequirements. You still need to pass math, you need to pass physics. Our\nstudents do that doing more than the labor of love, but also the labor of\nsurvival. Another wand I\u2019d wave is the magic wand of financial support. It\u2019s\nnot cheap being in college for five years, it\u2019s not cheap paying for housing,\nfood, shelter, and books, along with a tuition that keeps rising while working\na job making minimum wage."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The University requires that students have a GPA at some\naccelerated level to ensure they keep a scholarship. It\u2019s difficult to have a\n3.3 GPA when you\u2019re working 40 hours a week at McDonalds. I would make it\npossible for students to not have to experience the anxiety that goes with the\ncost of the education."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"To get students to want to stay in the field you\u2019ve got to\nmake firms understand that even if Sally or Joe\u2019s portfolio isn\u2019t as strong as\nMary or Sam\u2019s, Sally and Joe will outwork Mary and Sam any day of the week\nbecause they\u2019re used to working 40 hours a week and coming into school and\ndoing their work. My third magic wand would be changing the mindsets of those\nin the profession. These students work hard and will be successful with or\nwithout them. Our kids want to be architectures, but they don\u2019t always have the\nchance. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"Why do you feel like diversity is especially important\nfor the future of architecture?"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],0,"Robert Easter"],[0,[],1,": "],[0,[],0,"I\u2019m a football fanatic. I\u2019ve watched every Super\nBowl since Super Bowl 3 when I was rooting for Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore\nColts. But I\u2019ve watched Super Bowl since, usually sitting on my couch by myself\nbecause it wasn\u2019t a big deal in those days. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The first time my friends wanted to get together and watch a\nSuper Bowl party was when Doug Williams was the quarterback of the Washington\nteam, we must\u2019ve had 50 people at that party in the room watching that game\nbecause the game had become more accessible because there was a Black man\nplaying quarterback."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Can you imagine the NFL today if there were no Black\nquarterbacks? If Kansas City or Philadelphia didn\u2019t have Patrick Mahomes or\nJalen Hurts? Can you imagine what that game would have been like? Can you\nimagine the NBA if there was no Michael Jordan, or Lebron James, or Kareem\nAbdul-Jabbar. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"That\u2019s what architecture is today. It\u2019s a profession that\nthinks they have stars because they don\u2019t know what they could have. They\ncelebrate stars who do good work because they haven\u2019t yet seen stars that can\ndo great work. It\u2019s 2023, and the Jackie Robinson of architecture still hasn\u2019t\nplayed his first game yet."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"At some point firms, communities, and businesses will\nrealize there is star potential that is being denied. Like I said, my first\nmagic wand would end racism, and then architecture would be on the rise. "]]],[1,"blockquote",[[0,[],0,"\u0022The people who are building the buildings that influence communities should represent the individuals within that community.\u0022 - Marcus Thomas, AIA"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"Marcus Thomas"],[0,[],0,": Mic drop. I can\u2019t say much to follow that. All of\nthat."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Where I sit nowadays, my primary role is to meet with\nclients, be out there with a community and figure out how to strategically\nposition ourselves for upcoming projects. It\u2019s good to go into a community and\nthe people that are responsible for the buildings that shape the community look\nlike the people in that community. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"You talk about underrepresentation and getting groups\ninspired? That\u2019s the start. KEI has recently been pulled onto project teams\nbecause a school district is majority Black and the firm feels like it needs\nrepresentation on the team to win the job. True, maybe. Maybe there\u2019s some\nlevel of impact, but maybe there are other ways to fill the void. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"But to me that that that\u0027s why diversity is important is\nthat the the buildings, the people who are building the buildings that\ninfluence communities should represent the individuals within that community."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[3],1,"Robert Easter"],[0,[],0,": Representation is more than ethnic. When we\nconsider diversity in this profession we\u2019re underrepresented by women, by other\ncultures, by other religions. We aren\u2019t impacting a white male environment;\nwe\u2019re impacting a human environment. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"We can design buildings that are attractive or we can design\nbuildings that respond to the needs of the community and the ones that are\ngoing to be more lasting are the ones that respond to the community and the\npeople in those communities who have a role to play inside those buildings. If\nit\u2019s a monument to an architect who got a lot of good pictures, did the\ncommunity improve as a whole?"]]]]}