Feature
Interview
Jack Travis, FAIA, is an African-American architect, author,
and educator with a deep commitment to exploring Afri-culture
in architectural expression, and investigating “blackness” of
culture, mores, and sensibilities. Concerned with the dynamics of
how people, particularly people in black and other under-served
communities, use space and react to formal expression, Jack
focuses on architecture, interiors, and urban planning that exudes
a strong black cultural impact visually and tactilely.
He recently spoke with www.Afritecture.org
STHETIC
A
fter graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Arizona
State University in 1977, and a Masters in Architecture from
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1978, Jack established
his namesake firm in 1985, after working in the New York offices
of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, the Switzer Group and Sidney Philip
Gilbert.
Jack Travis Architect specializes in architecture and interiors fused
with African iconography. Despite an impressive client roster that
includes Giorgio Armani, Time Warner Inc., corporate spaces for
Spike Lee’s Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks, and residences for Spike Lee and
Wesley Snipes, the firm maintains an ardent commitment to public service, primarily
in underprivileged communities.
He is the author of African American Architects in Current Practice, Princeton
Architectural Press, published in 1992. In 2004 he received the prestigious honour of
being inducted into the American Institute of Architects (AIA)’s College of Fellows.
Driven by the idea of inclusion in a world of exclusion, Jack’s devotion to the
education of cultural dynamics in architecture led him to found the Studio for
Africulturism in Architecture and Design in 1994. Coupled with being an adjunct
Professor at four New York City design institutions, Jack also runs six-week
workshops for students of all races to study Afrocentric design themes and design
issues relating to black communities where he engages and challenges young people
to think about social directives.
Foremost of his many roles is that of Messenger, believing that assimilation into
the prevailing architectural discourse ignores the wonderful differences between
cultures and does not provide the groundwork for the respect and celebrations of
these differences.
Describe your first impulse to become an architect.
JT: The story I tell, whether it is accurate today or not, is the following:
I remember being in fifth grade at St Joseph’s catholic elementary school, in Las
Vegas, Nevada, when Sister Juanita Marie asked the class to write on any subject
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