The winners of this year’s AIA Associates Awards, Tiara Hughes, Oscar Lopez, and Ricardo de Jesús Maga Rojas, all share a commitment to the communities they serve and a steadfast belief in architecture’s ability to extend beyond aesthetics and help bring about real change. Here they are in their own words.
Remote portrait: Shayla Blatchford
Tiara Hughes, Assoc. AIA
Senior urban designer
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Chicago
“Design firms and the industry at large often discuss ‘equality of opportunity’ as a remedy to systemic racism in America. Equality is not the solution; many Black employees have experienced decades of economic and emotional trauma stemming from redlining, policing, environmental exploitation, pay inequity, and more. An equal approach provides all employees with the same resources for success without acknowledging previous burdens. An equitable approach means meeting people where they are and addressing their needs accordingly. Equity is always my approach to everything my platform stands for, including architecture.
“As the founder and executive director of FIRST 500, I travel the country to raise awareness of the importance of Black women architects throughout history and their contributions to the built environment. These women serve as inspiration and motivation for the Black women looking to become licensed and those studying in our universities to graduate and enter the field. I’m proud of meeting the milestone of 500 licensed Black women architects, but this is only the beginning. We have a lot of work to do to cultivate the next 500 Black women architects in the U.S.
“I am currently teaching a course at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where my colleagues and I have essentially flipped the traditional studio culture on its head. Typically students are given a prompt, site, and program to design for. But we jointly chose a community to work with and had our students perform research and connect with local residents. Based on their findings, students then selected their own sites and program while continuously touching base with the community throughout the semester. This approach not only bridges the gap between the academy and how we work in the real world, but also introduces an equitable design methodology into academia.”
Remote portrait: Shayla Blatchford
Oscar Lopez, Assoc. AIA
Design principal
Space Bureau
Tucson, Ariz.
“My approach to architecture is to think through experience, mood, and atmosphere—working through narrative to craft the use of space and the relationship between materials; searching for the sensualness within architecture, the balance between a lingering haptic experience and the fleeting qualities of the ephemeral. I’m a sucker for sentimentality and how a space, if designed well, can stay with you and become a part of you.
“Architects (and architecture) are at a moment in time when we need to decide which side of history we want our profession to be on. We need to move beyond aesthetics and accept that we need to play a greater role in supporting the communities that we serve. Our dedication and our commitment to the underserved and underrepresented is one of the most important issues facing our profession.
“Architecture needs to slow down. We need to regain our ability to practice thoughtful iterative design without the fear that we are not working fast enough. We need to do a better job of selling the value of a slower process to our clients—that it benefits them and their goals if things are done with a heightened level of care, passion, and rigor.”
Remote portrait: Shayla Blatchford
Ricardo de Jesús Maga Rojas, Assoc. AIA
Senior project coordinator
GFF
Austin, Texas
“I think that the disconnect in the pipeline that leads into architecture practice needs to be revisited. We cannot afford to bring in the next generation of architects and designers with antiquated practices that hinder people of color. Let’s revisit examination and the student performance criteria to create a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive profession.
“I think climate change is one of the biggest issues facing architects to date. If we want to sustain the communities we thrive in, we need to invest in designs and policies such as green technologies and sustainable production.
“I would like to explore the nexus between architecture and urban planning to understand the politics of space, social issues, race and gender systems, and urban redevelopment. Architecture is political, and by understanding the end user and perspective of the end user’s surroundings, we can begin to make these spaces sustainable for communities to thrive.”
