Trevon West; Alain Codio; Rick D. Chandler, Commissioner New York City Department of Buildings; Zeal Patel, and Timothy Hunter stand with one of the presentations of famous black architects.
Rick D. Chandler, Commissioner of New York City Department of Buildings, presents Zeal Patel with a plaque honoring Zeal’s work on highlighting innovative black architects.
Knowing the history of one’s craft is essential in becoming a more adept professional. Recognizing the accomplishments, struggles, and insights of the trailblazers in a field helps to teach, inspire, and keep ourselves modest. Such education is what some of WHSAD’s students this past month in paying homage to black architects. These students, who aspire to make their own inroads in the fields of architecture and design, gained a greater sense of the efforts required to be a successful professional who leaves a legacy for those who come after to look toward for motivation and role models.
Trevon West, one of those students who participated in the research project, provides his view as to what he learned, the importance of such a project, and how he and his peers presented their ideas.
Trevon West proudly displays his presentations on famous black architects Paul Revere Williams and Wendell Jerome Campbell.
On February 21, 2018, WHSAD students Zeal Patel and Trevon West, along with teachers Mr. Codio, and Mr. Hunter, created an intriguing presentation for Black History Month. With the help of the teachers, Zeal and Trevon each researched two 19th-20th century black architects. Zeal studied Vertner Woodson Tandy and Robert Robinson Taylor, and Trevon studied Paul Revere Williams and Wendell Jerome Campbell. Interesting fact about Paul Revere Williams, he was the creator of the iconic pink and green Beverly Hills Hotel. After its creation, he was actually not allowed inside the structure due to the color of his skin. The goal was to pay homage to these deceased architects, as well as inform people of their accomplishments, struggles, and innovative structure. Some of the more famous structures include the LAX, Sage Hall, and Capers CME Church. The students chose an iconic building from each of the designated architects and modeled those buildings using programs such as AutoCAD, Rhinoceros, and 3d Max etc.; however, only AutoCAD was used to create the models. Along with the models, the students made mini biographies so that people could see the personal life of the architects. These biographies reflect the lives of these minorities and showed the racism and discrimination had to go through in the 19th-20th.