Black Architects Blast AIA Over Trump Support

Many of the American Institute of Architects’ general members were already taken aback by the tone of a letter from the organization’s CEO, Robert Ivy, congratulating Donald Trump for winning the presidential election and stating that the group’s members “stand ready to work with him.” Ivy received so much blowback as Kriston Capps reported, that he’s given at least two apologies.

Count a growing number of African-American AIA members among the most displeased, despite Ivy’s mea culpas. Bryan C. Lee Jr., education chair for the National Organization of Minority Architects, posted an open letter to Ivy in Medium today on behalf of a group of black architects assembled under the hashtag #AIAforDesignJustice. Lee, who works as the director of Place and Civic Design for the Arts Council of New Orleans, wrote that the architecture profession as a whole “has suffered from a crisis of internal and public confidence for a while and is currently going through a bit of a revolt after Robert Ivy’s ill-advised, unwarranted, and unnecessary letter of support for the President-Elect.”