A Conversation with BAM Leadership

Craig Aquart questions to BAM Founders Craig Aquart, AIA, NOMA, and Naomi Harrison, Assoc. AIA., NOMA. They founded BAM in 2016, after seeing the need to have a program with a mission to mobilize architects that are passionate about their craft and serving communities where predominantly black families live, learn, and play to engage students in a creative and inspirational way.

While BAM’s primary focus is to reach African-American students, it is an equal opportunity program and as such all students regardless of race and ethnicity, are welcome to participate.

Craig Aquart is a licensed architect, and managing principal at MCHarry Associates, a firm that specializes in public sector projects. He has over 25 years of experience in the industry and is best known for his passion for the community and profession. This is best demonstrated through his leadership and commitment to the Architects in the Making (AIM) Program where he mentors young students exploring architecture as a possible career. He realized that educating middle and high school students about architecture is vital to the industry’s future and he is especially determined to improve diversity and inclusivity in the profession. On observing the lack of Black American presence in the industry, he founded BAM in 2016. BAM consists of dedicated professionals who immerse themselves in existing educational programs in communities where people of color live, learn, and play to enhance students’ knowledge about architecture.

Naomi Harrison

Naomi Harrison is a senior project manager at MCHarry Associates, a firm that specializes in public sector work. She has 20 years of experience in architecture and leads the firm’s mentorship programs. She is the co-founder of BAM, president of NOMA South Florida component, AIA Miami associate director, and the co-chair of the Women in Architecture Committee. Naomi is passionate about promoting diversity and inclusion in the profession and the community she serves.

Shadia Jaramillo (SJ)/Gabriella Bermea (GB): What motivated you to create or join BAM?

Craig Aquart: In 2015, on my first visit to an Architects in the Making summer camp, I noticed only 2 black children, out of about 50 campers, participated. After that, I discovered that less than 2% of architects in the United States identify as black and less than 0.4% were black women. I’m familiar with being one of the only black architects in a room of over 100 architects. At some point, most of us come to the realization that there’s no better person to take action about an issue than yourself.

Naomi Harrison: I like to say I joined BAM in 2016 and 5 minutes. Craig stopped me in the corridors at MCHarry, just outside of his office and said, ‘Hey, I have this idea..’. He got half way through and I said ‘ok, I’m in!’ and as they say, the rest is history. Never ever questioned why he approached me for this,.. hmmm.. that is a question to ask. Sometimes we do not have the idea or even the knowledge that this or that needs to be challenged / changed / promoted, but it is what you do when something so profound and necessary is put before you. Do you dive in? Do you say, ‘eh, someone else is doing it, it’ll get done’. If it piques my interest or aligns with my passions, I am a ‘dive right in and get it done’ person!

SJ/GB: What are your goals and vision for the program?

CA: BAM’s goal is deliberately simple – we deploy black architects along the frontline in communities where black families live, learn, and play to inform students about architecture in a fun, creative, and memorable way. The majority of the students we interact with, heard about architecture for the first time at one of our workshops. The interesting thing about what has happened thus far is, these students are hearing about architecture from black architects. When they think about architecture, they see in their minds professionals who look like them. They can relate and they think of the profession as being accessible to them because of these BAM interactions. They see our passion for architecture, and they get the idea that if they can do it, so can I. This knowledge serves them well as they explore and decide on a profession they’d like to pursue.

NH: I want the program to GROW. Take off and be everywhere in the country, to the point where there is no longer a need to have a BAM! And then we go on to what is needed of us next.

SJ/GB: What are some of the challenges or opportunities that you face or encounter as a black architect/designer in the United States?

NH: Being a black designer in the architecture industry has been a good journey for me. I have been blessed in that I have never really encountered direct challenges or discrimination. Although I have also said, I never realized my blackness until I came to the U.S. where race is so divisive. Growing up in a Caribbean country, Jamaica, race never really played a part. I came to Miami and went to an architecture program that in the 90s had great diversity, in ethnicity, culture and demographics, with a lot of Caribbean students, and then I started working for a firm where I was accepted as Naomi, not as a quota to be filled. My 2 greatest and earliest mentors are white males, and to this day over 20 years later we are still in touch with each other. But outside of these two silos, race was such a factor even, or especially, in Miami. Those earlier years in my silo were my greatest opportunities, unbeknownst to me at the time. It wasn’t until I was immersed into the community at the start of BAM that the realization hit me that I came from a place of privilege - a Caribbean privilege - and I needed to do a reassessment of myself and mindset to better serve. BAM has been a tremendous learning experience for me.

One of the greatest challenges I have faced also stemmed from my work in the community and having to carve and claw my way into recognition as, outside of work and the organization itself, I am often not recognized as a key component of BAM and my contributions and significance in it. This is not an easy thing to say or even experience as I do not do this for the recognition, but I also don’t want to be erased, especially as a black female.

SB: A challenge I face as a black architectural designer is having to educate my community on what it is that I do. Oftentimes when I mention architecture to my community, it is affiliated with interior design or even engineering. It used to annoy me, but now I recognize that not many people in my community can clearly identify with what we do as architects. That said, I find myself having to break it down for them. In addition to that, I find myself having to explain the value of what we do and bring to the built environment. This is not just in my community but across the industry.

CA: I think our challenge is also an opportunity. The challenge is there is so much work to do and there are not many black architects to do it. The solution is to replicate ourselves. We all have an opportunity to make a difference. You don’t have to be black to understand we all benefit from a diverse profession. We all have a role to play in making the profession more accessible and inclusive. One of the solutions to our challenge is to surround ourselves with like-minded people, it does not matter our ethnicity, empower ourselves to contribute in our own way towards the solution, and we need to do this as quickly and as often as possible.

SJ/GB: How do you mentor and inspire young black students who are interested in architecture? What are some of the topics or activities that you share or facilitate with them?

CA: We each have something unique to contribute – our purpose. If we can somehow explore and discover our purpose, I believe we can be inspired to make our unique contribution to society. This does not need to be enormous. Our contribution can be small and at the same time impactful. Sometimes, all it takes is being a good example in your circle of influence. Now, an understanding about architecture and its importance to nation building is key to understanding the role of an architect in the community. This role can be enormous, and it can also be small and impactful. I find that when you listen intently long enough and ask the right questions, the mentee often finds their own. Oftentimes the inspiration comes from within with little or no direction from the mentor.

NH: I cannot stress this enough, SHOW UP. We show up to these students and the community - where the students are. We try not to be lofty, using pretentious words. We show them the world so that they can imagine that they can be anything they want. Speaking of architecture and how they know so much more about it than they even imagined they did. Make analogies to their everyday life and how the topics we speak on will help them in school projects, with problem solving, with interviewing or presenting projects, even if they don’t have an interest in architecture. Be transparent. Transparency is so important in our industry, but especially with those we mentor. We answer the questions asked of us, we do not make it seem like it’s an invalid thought or question. We encourage whomever we are speaking to and when we see or know there is a spark somewhere we nurture that.

Workshops:

• Introduction to architecture. Verb like an architect

• Speak like an architect

• Model like an architect

• Draw like an architect

• Sketch like an architect

• Write like an architect

SJ/GB: What are some of the projects that you are most proud of or excited about? How did you contribute to them?

CA: BAM has reached over 1,000 students since its inception in 2016. While the program started with a simple goal of informing students about architecture through creative presentations and memorable workshops, it has grown to include mentorship, scholarships, internships, and employment opportunities. However, if I had to identify something I’m most proud of, I’d say it is the replication of the program. We’ve created a model that is easily replicated. Playing a role in the diversification of the profession and replication of the program in various cities throughout the nation is exciting. We are on the cusp of launching multiple BAM affiliates. We are working right now on how to do so efficiently and effectively.

NH: I once had to give a pecha-kucha-like presentation at a conference with seven other very talented women in design. I was immediately after a famous Miami architect who did this beautiful and fabulously designed $100M+ hotel somewhere in the Caribbean and I followed up with a school restroom renovations project and a school window replacement project. I used the tag lines ‘we all have to go, so why not go somewhere beautiful’ and ‘65 year old tired building looking for a facelift’ - I decided to have fun with what I was presenting (we cannot take ourselves too seriously!). I loved the 2 projects I presented. I was very proud of them. I was the team leader, the senior project manager and lead designer on both. I carved design out of a limited budget and went out of the box (the proverbial ask for forgiveness afterwards) on these, using colors and materials that the public school systems didn’t traditionally see, and I was firm with my design and saw it through to completion without value engineering and compromising any of it. Most think of architecture as glamorous new iconic buildings. The day to day design is for the everyday user and most architects and designers never or rarely design a complete from ground up new building. These everyday renovations are the projects I find joy in - how can I take something old, dated, with a limited budget and make it beautiful for the students and the staff that have to be there eight plus hours a day. So I ran through the presentation, got lots of laughs and wow, and afterwards I had so many people come up to me and even years later I will get ‘you were the one with the restrooms project! I loved it!’. The project with the window replacement, I had a student come up to me when I was on site and asked if I was the designer, and when I said yes he was in such awe and said thank you so much for making this place so much better. That is why I do what I do, it makes it so much better and worthwhile!

SJ/GB:What is the future of BAM? Are there plans to expand Nationally or internationally?

NH: We are currently working on creating a National BAM, which then the ‘your city here’ BAMs will fall under. We recently rebranded towards that end and are going through the necessary motions and channels to make BAM National happen as well as launch more BAMs in other communities /cities.

CA: BAM is helping to increase the awareness of architecture in communities where black children live, learn and play. One way to do this is to expand the program. BAM has expanded from Miami to Orlando, Broward, but this is just the tip of the spear. We are in communication with several champions who are interested in launching BAM affiliates in their cities.

SJ/GB: How do you balance your professional work with your volunteer work for BAM? Is there a intertwined relationship between the both? (optional)

NH: A tough question since all the lines between work, community and personal are so blurred; mostly (or most times) in a good way. The people I work closely with, are also those that I serve with, and those that I do life with. So many of the things we do are so intertwined, I find myself hopping on a meeting and saying ‘ok, which committee is this meeting for’, and 9 times out of 10 we end up talking about all the different things we all have going on! I have formed such beautiful connections and friendships through mutual passions and respect with these people. We plan events together, we work on projects together, we serve, we stress on things together, we show up together, we act, we raise our voices together, sometimes we raise our voices at each other - there are disagreements, heated discussions, just like family! We are the shoulders for each other as well as those coming up behind us, we go drinking together (sometimes this is necessary!), we encourage each other, we talk about our families and our lives, we vacation together. With all these blurred lines I have found my village of support in my career and in my personal life. I often say the ‘after hours /free time’ work we do together helps me stay sane in the actual day to day aspects of work and running millions of dollars worth of projects (the monetary paying job) and makes the stress of that life worth it.

Conclusion

As BAM looks to the future, the team hopes to launch the program in cities across the nation, with eventual full time support. Hundreds, if not thousands of students will continually be exposed to the power of architecture and design and its impact on our communities, neighborhoods, and businesses. The value-add of supporting programs rooted in education and equity will continually benefit the profession long after our tenure.

Shadia Jaramillo, AIA

Jaramillo is a pProject aArchitect at Goodwyn Mills Cawood in Pensacola, Florida. Shadia is a member of the AIA Florida and is currently serving as AIA Florida aAssociate dDirector at

Gabriella Bermea, AIA, NOMA

Bermea is an associate and design architect at VLK Architects in Austin, Texas. Gabriella is a board member for AIA Austin, the chair of the Texas Society of Architects EDI Committee, and the 2023 communications director of the AIA Young Architects Forum

Resources

BAM Miami: caquart@mcharry.com nharrison@mcharry.com

BAM Orlando: malcolm@majarchdesign.com

BAM Broward: bambroward@gmail.com

BAM Miami on IG: @bam.miami

BAM Orlando on IG: @bam.orlando

BAM Broward on IG: @bam.broward

BAM Miami URL: www.bammiami.org

BAM Orlando URL: www.bamorlando.org