Michael Spain, NOMA

by Heather Livingston
Contributing Editor

Summary: Michael Spain is a senior project architect with Agoos/Lovera in Philadelphia and the current president of the Philadelphia chapter of NOMA, the National Organization of Minority Architects. One of Spain’s initiatives as president was to create Camp Sustain.Ability, a six-week summer camp for rising eighth and ninth graders in Philadelphia to expose the city’s youth to the design professions. Twenty students enrolled and completed the program in 2008, with approximately half of the students now continuing their design education at CHAD, Philadelphia’s Charter School for Architecture and Design.

Education
I have a BArch from Cornell University. I graduated in 1985 and immediately started to practice after that.

Why did you become an architect?
I guess that’s twofold. My brother, who was an artist, got me exposed to the graphic and drawing side, and being a child of the ‘70s I was exposed to Mike Brady, who was an architect on The Brady Bunch. The interest that I had in art and being exposed to the profession got me started. I attended a Vo-Tech high school that had a three-year architecture program and that got me on my way.

Who has inspired you?
I would say more the people I’ve worked for than any famous, notable architect. The firm where I work now is really progressive; socially conscious. I think they are good designers and also generalists, where all aspects of architecture are considered. You’re not just pigeon-holed or forced into one thing.

Why did you become a member of NOMA?
As you may know, there are not a large number of minority architects. This was not only a way of feeling a bit more socially responsible in trying to increase those numbers, but the fellowship is probably the main thing for me: To be able to talk to other architects and design professionals of color about some of the issues that might be important to us, but also to maintain our visibility in the profession. This is a conduit and a structure to do that.

How do you think the AIA is meeting its diversity challenge?
I think the AIA in the past five years has done a really good job at making themselves available, letting us know that they are aware of this issue, and taking some steps to address it. I think they have done a pretty good job, but I think it’s upon us—NOMA, designers of color—as well as the AIA to keep it going.

We just had our convention this past week. Current AIA President Marshall Purnell [FAIA] is a NOMA member, and he was a keynote speaker at the convention this year. Seeing that happening and the AIA being conscious and aware of it does say a lot.

Other black architects have told me that they “saw themselves” when they read about or saw an architect of color when they were young. How do we get more young people of color to identify with design professionals?
That’s one thing I think the profession really hasn’t done historically. You look at medicine. You look at law. You look at business. I think they’ve been very aggressive in going out and recruiting young people. I don’t think the architecture profession has done that as well until recently, but I do think it’s our responsibility to go out to the schools be visible, to be involved in your neighborhood, to do career day for fourth graders, fifth graders. The camp program that we did was created to expose these kids to us, and you wouldn’t be surprised that they haven’t seen an architect of color before. It’s just good to get out there and make yourself visible. I think it really is our responsibility to do that.

Kids probably also see more examples of doctors and lawyers on TV.
That’s true. I would agree with that. I think the profession for a long time has been in the background for whatever reason. I don’t know if it was an unspoken law that we’re not supposed to promote and advertise ourselves or if it had been seen as such an exclusive profession, but all of those things need to change along with society, so we can be visible and better market ourselves by being involved.

Why did PhilaNOMA found Camp Sustain.Ability?
Actually it was an idea started by our national organization—just a summer camp for students, period. I believe our Cincinnati chapter had actually done one. We contacted national and decided to do our own program, but we wanted to focus on the sustainable aspect. In a six-week program, we had 20 students. Every week we introduced either design concepts or concepts of sustainability, energy, green growth, and all of that so that they may take all this information and, by the end of the program, produce a model, a project that actually shows some of that.

They worked in teams of five-plus. Throughout the six weeks, we were giving them information and prepping them, so during the last week and a half they actually started to put together a model from all the architectural concepts we taught them and the sustainable issues we presented to them. They presented their projects in the sixth week in a commencement ceremony.

Will you offer the camp again next year?
Yes, it will be an annual thing. We’ve already started planning for next year, and the success of last year’s camp has given us a lot of material and ammunition to go out and do some more fundraising and get people behind this. There’ve been two firms who already have said they would like to support us, just by seeing what we’ve done so far.

Will you be able to increase enrollment?
We’d like to. The logistics behind getting another space might prove to be challenging, but we definitely would like to get a few more students.

What advice would you give to design professionals seeking to improve diversity within their firms?
My firm has been very supportive of my outreach activities: lending me their office space, letting me use the copy machine, having meetings here. I would say first you have to convince your firm—if they’re not already aware—of the benefit of creating a diverse profession, and that could be hard to do depending on the culture of the firm. Looking at society as it is now, it’s more universal than I think it’s ever been.

Beyond trying to explain the importance of diversity to the firm, I think it’s up to the design professional to go out individually to join the AIA Diversity Committee, to join a NOMA, to join DV: Delaware Valley Building Green Council, to get involved in those things so you are visible and people see you. Then I think you get more ammunition to go back to your firm and show them why this is important and hopefully be able to convince them. I think I’ve been fortunate to work here and for them to allow me to do as much as I do in that regard. It’s also a really good marketing tool for your firm. That’s another thing you can say to the firms who may not be quite on board.