Renee Kemp-Rotan Archive

  • haiti-20

    Black Design News Network (BDNN): Its evolution and how it became involved in Haiti

    Posted on October 12, 2010 | No Comments

    by Atim Annette Oton, co- Founder, BDNN

    “Architecture is Revolution. Architecture is Social Change. It is about changing the world for the better through design and action”.   – The late architect, J. Max Bond [1]

    Dateline: October 8, 2009 – St. Louis, Missouri

    A panel discussion on African Design History at the 2009 NOMA Conference with Jack Travis, Renee Kemp-Rotan and William Stanley spurred the desire for a need for a funded “institute, place, vehicle or organization” to document the work of black architects, do research and promote the work of black architects”. At that meeting, I spoke about taking that the mantle and I committed to search for funds. I also asked for a commitment of support from the three panelists and from Dr. Curtis Sartor, Dean and Professor of Art, Design and Architecture at Judson University, and the only African American Dean of an architecture school in the US, who was in the audience.

    Dateline: October 15-December 15, 2009 – Brooklyn, New York and Birmingham, Alabama

    By the end of October, and back in New York, I began conducting an extensive grant search process to create the institute which I envisioned as online news agency and distribution service. By November, I had a series of grants and zeroed in on a distinct one that could potentially seed, develop and fund the project. The Knight Ridder News Challenge Grant was the perfect vehicle to create this new venture. The grant was to “seek innovations that use new or available technology to distribute content in local communities with three rules to apply: Use digital, open-source technology; distribute news in the public interest and test your project in a local community” [2].

    Over the month, I reached out to Renee Kemp-Rotan, Jack Travis, Bill Stanley and also to Curtis Sartor for support. Renee Kemp-Rotan eargerly jumped on board to fully participate in the process as she saw the “astronomical potential” of the project while the others committed to supporting the project. The idea became Black Design News Network (BDNN) and over about a month, Renee Kemp-Rotan (based in Birmingham, Alabama) and I (based in Brooklyn, New York) diligently and creatively crafted and evolved BDNN. For the grant, we evolved that:

    “Using an interactive open-source online platform, Black Design News Network (BDNN) will create and disseminate local stories and content about our target group – black designers (African, African American and Caribbean) and underserved designers (Hispanic) in the fields of Architecture/Interiors; Industrial/ Product Design; Visual Communications/Graphics, and Fashion/Textiles.” [3]

    Since of the number of black architects was about 2000, we recognized that the community small compared to what the grant focused on and we expanded the idea to include black and underserved designers. We saw the potential of BDNN as a think-tank, a generator of projects and enterprising research institute. We envisioned it as “a creative hive, a “work-space” hub for designers to develop projects, exchange ideas and share expertise across disciplines, without regard to geographic borders” [4]. We idealized about social change and ironically, the connection to Haiti was this bold statement we wrote below:

    “This collaborative work space offers new ways to produce projects that benefit the public interest.  These might include creating possible design solutions for sheltering the homeless in New York City, constructive solutions for recovery in New Orleans and other areas where natural disasters occur on a regular basis (the Carribean, etc.) or a Sustainability Model for Lagos, Nigeria that could be investigated by a team of interdisciplinary designers.” [5]

    On December 15, we submitted the grant proposal expected a decision either way by January 15. It was clear to Renee Kemp-Rotan and I, that we had created, innovated and pioneered a extraordinary idea that needed to be a start-up in the genre of Silicon Valley ventures. Thus, we took our cue and began to look at the business as a Silicon Valley start-up and searched for grants, and venture capital funding.

    TIMELINE: Jan 12, 2010: THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE


    On January 12, as I watched the Haiti Earthquake unfold on CNN like so many others, I could not stop feeling powerless but by the next day, I realized, as a trained designer, I was not helpless. And I went back to my roots and philosophy on why I studied architecture – a belief in architecture as a social change engine – and as a student of the late architect Max Bond, a belief in something he was said to me when I was deciding to attend City College: “Architeture is Revolution. It is about changing the world for the better through design and action”. I recalled September 11 when I was watched the towers fall down from infront of Parsons School of Design and how I as a product design department associate chair – lead by the chair Anthony Whitfield, reconciled to have our students act and deal with the tragedy as designers.  Thus, when it came to Haiti, I had to take action and began by “pressing the button” and sending emails to black architects and design thinkers about the need to engage in Haiti.

    Dateline: January 13, 2010, Brooklyn, New York

    GROUND ZERO – BDNN ENGAGING AND CONNECTING THE DOTS – INITIATING NOMA

    I sent the following email to Steven Lewis, president of NOMA, Renee Kemp-Rotan and 35 others, other designers and design thinkers including 10 black architecture firm owners like William Stanley, Curtis Moody, Phil Freelon and Jack Travis.

    “Steven, I have 2 key suggestions:

    1.  I think a statement from NOMA and a press release calling black architects to consider to assist, volunteer, contribute funds to Haiti, Haitian organizations such as YELE, FOLKAI, Doctors without Borders, etc.

    2. I would like to suggest that NOMA and Black Architects consider contacting USAID to see what help and assistance can be given to Haiti – based on the earthquake.

    The first priority seems to be a need for doctors but in times of crisis, and as the country goes forward, there will be a need for reconstruction, urban planning, development and architecture. Any thoughts” [6]

    This trigger was the impetus for engaging in Haiti personally and professionally as the co-Founder of Black Design News Network (BDNN). The responses I received tell the story of how designers gather as a collective to develop strategies for social change even in crisis and are best read below:

    Re: Black Architects, NOMA and Haiti Earthquake

    From: Steven Lewis To: atim oton

    Brilliant. Can you draft something for me to use as the basis for such a statement? I have inroads at USAID, so can probably get it in front of the right folks, but am time-challenged right now. Any help would be great to expedite this important mission. thanks, Steve

    I agree with the two suggestions!      Curt Moody

    I can recommend the organization Building Goodness out of Charlottesville. They have experience in design/build community work in Haiti, and in disaster recovery after Katrina on the Gulf Coast. They do not have plans yet but will post news here:  http://www.buildinggoodness.org/index.php/news/. At some point they will be looking for volunteers.                Bryan Bell

    Those of us who have done business with USAID and its associated agency ASHA (American Hospitals and Schools Abroad) might consider co authoring a letter to both agencies offering our assistance. While it is true that planning and development efforts logically follow some time after the rescue and retrieval efforts, the centuries of neglect of that country probably warrants a mammoth rebuilding effort akin to the  Marshall Plan (or at the very least the Katrina effort). I will be in that part of the Caribbean for the next five days and will inquire of other practitioners what their plans of action might entail. Another idea is to utilize the services of our members who have specific experience with design in seismic regions.

    Thanks. Bill Stanley

    Atim, Following on the thought in Bryan Bell’s earlier email, Architects Without Borders and Architecture for Humanity are both groups that would have core initiatives to assist in this endeavor. We may even want to align ourselves with architect organizations in the Caribbean, e.g., Jamaica Institute of Architects, Barbados Society of Architects, etc. as well as organizations like OECS. Patrick Williams[7]

    Steven Lewis’ response to my initial email set off the development of a press release by Renee and I for NOMA, the creation of the program and a committee to discuss how to engage in Haiti. What was set in motion ironically is what Renee Kemp-Rotan and I had conceived – an entity like BDDN to initiate action and involve designers. Thus, BDNN became a news bureau, online magazine, digital library and ‘workspace’ hub for designers.

    The opportunity to create the press release also made us aware that Haiti was tri-lingual and we distributed in English and French – to 200 press people. We never did get it translated into Creole. We proved our thesis and the viability of BDNN as a news bureau as the press release got about 35 write-ups from Architecture Record to architecture blogs.  BDNN participated and assisted NOMA in the creation of its Service in Solidarity (SIS) Committee on Haiti (of which Renee Kemp-Rotan and I were committee members as BDNN co-founders and NOMA members) and we were on board for spearheading the donation $10k for CHF International (an organization already working in Haiti) rather than the original idea of having initial members collect and send tents to Haiti (a good idea but logistically problematic when the country was in crisis).

    Photo shows the damage after an earthquake measuring 7 plus on the Richter scale rocked Port au Prince Haiti just before 5 pm, January 12, 2010. Photo Credit: UN Photo/Logan Abassi, United Nations Development Programme

    As a think-tank, Renee and I saw BDNN’s core focus on Haiti to get designers involved – socially, ethically and responsibly and to create new ways of thinking about disasters and crisis. We activated strategic thinking as core to seeking viable and well-thought out solutions. In this vain, the strategy was to get NOMA to the table with the decision makers in Haiti and in the US.

    BDNN – The Plan and Projects: Pioneering Innovation

    For BDNN to be a think tank and location for information, an online “beta site” (blog) was launched just after the Haiti Earthquake with the goal to have a fully developed comprehensive site by December 2010.  The goals for BDNN this year include:

    • Utillize Social media as a tool for spreading the news, BDNN is on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin

    —  Focus on being an issue oriented site: We settled on on Disasters this year. And n this vain, BDNN developed DISASTER SOS: HAITI, a panel discussion at NECON in June 2010; produced an all-day Haiti Conference Post-Earthquake Haiti : Disaster + Design in the Diaspora at the NOMA Conference in October 2010, applied for grants entitled DA BRONX SOS and CITIES UNDER SIEGE: Disaster in the Diaspora is an online publication led by members of Black Design News Network (BDNN) and victims of disaster to collectively investigate the impact of natural and made-made disaster in chronically underserved communities, worldwide; and  targeting citizens of communities of color suffering ‘disaster’: The Earthquake & Port Au Prince, Haiti; Katrina, The Flood & New Orleans; Blight & The Bronx.

    • —  Develop initiatives with designers and organizations via a Partnership Strategy and model.

    As of today, we have worked with Rodney Leon supporting the Haiti Softhouse, NOMA, Lesley-ann Noel and Trinidad designers on their Big Give for Haiti, The Archive Institute on its competition, “Kay e Sante nan Ayiti”, Housing and Health in Haiti; Brooklyn Fashion Gallery on Haiti discussions. We have also partnered with Focus on Design, Designers 421, and Project Osmosis on Disaster SOS: Haiti, the Bronx Council on the Arts on several grants and their partnership with the AIA Diversity and Inclusion on sponsoring Post-Earthquake Haiti : Disaster + Design in the Diaspora in Boston.

    • BDNN has worked on a series of grant applications to help us develop the site and develop its content and perspective. We have applied for a Knight News Challenge Grant, Graham Foundation, MacArthur J-Voices, NYC Seed Start, and other grants for BDNN with projects that would expand the reach and scope of what we currently cover.
    • Support Design Research. The Haiti Culture Code is one such initiative, authored by Renee Kemp-Rotan, co-Founder of BDNN. She launched a call for papers in July.

    As early as February, BDNN lead the charge in black design to identify the key players and decision makers in Haiti and its Reconstruction. We outlined who black designers should look to: Haitian Government; Haitian people – in Haiti and across the Diaspora; United Nations (UN); World Bank; Clinton Foundation/Clinton Bush Foundation; Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); Congress- in particular Yvette Clarke and Ed Towns in Brooklyn and US Government. They also included: France, Canada, South American and Caribbean Countries; UNA-HAITI – Haitian American/Haitian Diaspora Organization.

    To do this work, Renee Kemp-Rotan and I attended meetings over February 2010 until July 2010 on Haiti – and represented NOMA at some and BDNN at some. These meetings include events held by the UNA-HAITI at the UN; Haitian Cultural Exchange at the Brooklyn Museum; Brooklyn International Development Trade Center (BIDTC) at Brooklyn Borough Hall; Congresswoman Yvette Clarke and USAID event in Brooklyn; Haiti Invitational Summit organized by the American Institute of Architects/Puerto Rico (AIA/PR), and Organization of American States (OAS) Meeting of Haitian Diaspora in Preparation for International Donor Conference in DC.

    In October, BDNN unveiled its Post-Earthquake Haiti:  Disaster + Design in the Diaspora, a one-day conference to update NOMA, Boston design comnmunity, the Haitian Diaspora and others about Haiti. We presented four panels:

    • PANEL 1- Post-Earthquake Haiti as a Physical System: Rebuilding the Country: The Full Monty Update
    • PANEL 2: Post-Earthquake Haiti as a Social System: Rebuilding the Family: Women and Children at Risk
    • PANEL 3 Post-Earthquake Haiti as a Cultural System: Rebuilding Identity: The Haiti Culture Code- Architecture, Disaster + Cultural Identity
    • PANEL 4 – Post-Earthquake Haiti as an Economic System: Rebuilding the Economy: Getting Work in Haiti

    More details on this one-day conference will be online soon.

    On Haiti and at our website, www.blackdesignnews.com, BDNN has and is continually gathering information, seeking articles and content on Haiti, Design and Reconstruction. Our goal was also to become the culture experts on Haiti and the place to go to for information on Haiti. In that end, we created an online newsletter to reach our audience – black designers and to begin to create a database of subscribers.

    As we evolve, BDDN will identify black designers who ‘infuse unique identity into creative culture’ and transform ‘the aesthetics of dominant culture’, via 4 web-based components:  1.) a digital news bureau to broadcast; 2.) an online magazine to document the work; 3.) a digital design studio/workspace to collaborate; and 4.) a digital library to archive exemplary design, education, practice projects that serves to promote the worldwide contributions of designers from the African Diaspora.

    We consider BDNN as a clearing house, and have coined the slogan: BDNN is the 411 of the black design diaspora, as envision a global reach.

    __________________

    [1] This is an excerpt from my discussion and meeting with the Dean Max Bond in 1987 at City College when I was trying to decide to attend City College.

    [2] Retrieved from Knights News Challenge Website: http://www.newschallenge.org/

    [3] Oton, Atim Annette and Renee Kemp-Rotan (2009), Black Design News Network (BDNN), a proposal for the Knights News Challenge Grant, Submitted December 15, 2009.

    [4] Oton, Atim Annette and Renee Kemp-Rotan (2009), Black Design News Network (BDNN), a proposal for the Knights News Challenge Grant, Submitted December 15, 2009.

    [5] Ibid.

    [6] Oton, Atim Annette, Personal Haiti Email Archive, Discussions, January 13, 2010 – July 2, 2010.

    [7] Oton, Atim Annette, Personal and part of BDNN’s Haiti Email Archive, Discussions, January 13, 2010 – July 2, 2010.

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  • haiti-disaster-sos-610

    BDNN produces Post-Earthquake Haiti: Disaster + Design in the Diaspora at 2010 NOMA Conference

    Posted on August 4, 2010 | No Comments

    BDNN produces

    Post-Earthquake Haiti : Disaster + Design in the Diaspora

    SPONSOR:   AIA Diversity & Inclusion

    Event Location:

    Boston Marriott Copley Place, 110 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02116

    Room: Fairfield

    Fees to attend: Haiti Day long Event: Yes, details to follow soon.

    THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7,  2010


    9am: Black Design News Network (BDNN) The Launch

    Exposing the World to Designers of the Diaspora: A Digital Expose

    Atim  Annette Oton                    Disaster in the Diaspora – Overview of the Last Six Months of Initiatives

    Renee Kemp-Rotan                   Overview of the Panel System/Overview of the Code

    9:10am – 10:10am

    PANEL 1- Post-Earthquake Haiti as a Physical System: Rebuilding the Country: The Full Monty Update

    Renee Kemp-Rotan, Co-Founder, Black Design News Network/Moderator

    • Ambassador Leslie Voltaire, U.N. Special Envoy/Government of Haiti
    • Jean Emile Simon, President Society of Haitian Architects

    Above: Ambassador Leslie Voltaire, U.N. Special Envoy/Government of Haiti

    Description: This Panel focuses on what is being done in Haiti since the devastating earthquake of 2010. Through PowerPoint presentations, a Haitian Envoy and government dignitary and Haitian architect who participated in the Haitian Summit sponsored by AIA/Puerto Rico in April 2010 will update the entire NOMA membership and others on proposals and plans for Haiti’s redevelopment. Maps, Images, plans will be shown.

    10:20am – 10:30am – Break -

    10:30am – 11:30am

    PANEL 2: Post-Earthquake Haiti as a Social System: Rebuilding the Family: Women and Children at Risk

    Atim Annette Oton Co-Founder, Black Design News Network/Moderator

    Diane Jones, Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture, Morgan State University; Dowoti Desir, Founder, Durban Declaration Programme of Action Watch Group, (DDPA Watch Group); and  Ella Ayiti Turenne, Assistant Dean for Civic Engagement, Occidental College

    Description: This Panel focuses on what issues are facing women in Haiti since the devastating earthquake of 2010. Presentations will update the entire NOMA membership and others on how women will be involved in Haiti’s redevelopment.

    11:30am – 12:30pm

    PANEL 3  Post-Earthquake Haiti as a Cultural System: Rebuilding Identity: The Haiti Culture Code- Architecture, Disaster + Cultural Identity

    Renee Kemp-Rotan, Co-Founder, BDNN/Presenter/Moderator

    Jean Emile Simon, President Society of Haitian Architects, Benjamin Vargas, FAIA, Architect and  2010 Whitney M. Young, Jr. Award Winner, Bettina Byrd Giles, Interculturalist, The Birds Nest, LLC, Erica Rioux-Gees, Architect, AIA National Board Member and Disaster Expert,  Anthony Whitfield, Associate Dean, Parsons The New School for Design; Mabel Wilson, Associate Professor of Architecture, Columbia University, Architect Rodney Leon, Rodney Leon Architects, Jenna McKnight, Architecture Record, Dale Joachim, MIT Media Lab, Haiti and Social Media, Max Beauvoir, President of International Brotherhood of Voodoo Priests,Michel DeGraffe, MIT, Linguistics Expert on Kreoyl and Atim Annette Oton/BDNN.

    Description: This panel focuses on a review of the Culture Code by Haitian Architects, African American Architects, Disaster Experts and Interculturalists. It will look at the rebuilding of post-earthquake Haiti as an opportunity to create Haiti as the new utopia for the African Diaspora. The Culture Code is a fully documented design and development kit being constructed by Renee Kemp-Rotan who will outline the Culture Code as a comprehensive framework of 100 cultural considerations advanced across the socio-economic geography of pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial and post-earthquake Haiti, in a way that informs all future design, development and resettlement. Panel and audience participation will review the usefulness of such a code during times of resettlement and rebuilding of post-disaster environments.

    12:30pm – 1:30pm

    Lunch (not provided)

    1:40 pm –

    2:40 pm

    PANEL 4 - Post-Earthquake Haiti as an Economic System: Rebuilding the Economy: Getting Work in Haiti

    Atim Annette Oton, Co-Founder, BDNN/Moderator

    Jim Paul, Director, U.S. Commercial Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Mauricio Vera, Director, OSDBU, USAID and Renee Kemp-Rotan/BDNN.

    Description: This panel focuses on ways to get work on Haiti for design professionals from the Haitian government, the US government and non-profits working in Haiti

    2:50 pm -3:50 pm

    BDNN Final Comments: Rebuilding International Relationships

    For more details, please contact Atim Annette Oton at atim@blackdesignnews.com

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  • firstfloor

    BDNN speaks on the Proposal to Terminate Southern University’s School of Architecture

    Posted on July 22, 2010 | 1 Comment

    UPDATE:

    School Closure is Discontinued – Read letter from Southern University’s Provost, Dr. Mwalumu Shujaa.

    Reconsideration of School of Architecture Closure

    From: Dr. Sudhir K. Trivedi, President of the Faculty Senate

    To: atim oton <atim@blackdesignnews.com>

    Architecture is off the list of programs targeted for termination. TRIVEDI

    Dear Colleagues and Followers of Black Design News Network/BDNN:

    Disaster in the Diaspora does not just apply to New Orleans Katrina and post-earthquake Haiti, anymore. Soon and too very soon the need to focus on the man-made disaster at the Southern University’s School of Architecture, will create an endless series of ‘victims and survivors’ of underserved communities, once again. At what point does a Black university decide that its school of architecture is ‘obsolete, unneeded, unwanted, unproductive, invisible’?  And through  whose  beholding eyes does this particular brand of ‘ugliness’ begin to be seen as truth? Whose responsibility it is to insure that our ‘want-to-be’ diverse nation continues to produce architects, planners and developers of color for our underserved communities and for the world? At what point does the AIA, NOMA, ACSA , NCARB place at the top of their list, the importance of supporting and sustaining schools of architecture  for  minority communities?  Preventing the closure of Southern’s School of Architecuture may be the most important diversity effort yet for the above-named institutuions, combined !

    Perhaps we should rehash the dialogue by taking brief tab of the extent of minority representation within the majority schools; or within the HBCU’s; or within the profession; or within American cities in general; or within cities with highly diverse populations, in particular. When is the last time the profession did a complete assessment of the health of the institutions that are largely producing black architects for the nation? We recently learned that the disparities experienced by black architects are many. By last count we identified approximately 200+ black women as  licensed architects in  the nation. Many are underpaid and invisible.Then we have the numbers of African American men and women with degrees in architecture– who  make  considerable contributions to the field in ‘non-traditional’ ways,  but who seldom make the ‘field count’. So, how might we measure our contribution as a tribe to this noble profession? And how might these contributions be quantified-so as to actually give those contributions (not just a listing) but also a value? What have we accomplished and what will occur if we stop those contributions in the building and re-building of America???

    As a profession, we have only recently attempted to name and account for the numbers of African American academics in schools of architecture cross-country. Some are tenured; many are not. Some do research; but few are published. Who will teach and make stick the lessons of diversity in any school of architecture if, in the broad brush, we are not far-sighted enough to secure tenure for ourselves and for those very ’founding schools’ that early insisted that we as black folk could read, think, draw, vision, plan, design, construct and even finance the building of homes, gardens, buildings, monuments , universities and nations?

    The long gone bodies of Booker T. Washington and DuBose would surely wince at our troubles, as they were much closer to the bane of slavery that once was so very obviously an ‘obstacle’ to our success.We have lost count and we have lost sight of the relevance of what it means to build civilizations that truly represent the diversity that we so often insist that we need. Where are the alumni in this cause? How many graduates of Southern can be named and accounted for? How many are employed? How many are unemployed?

    Just as the fire and fervor once inherent in the American civil rights movement has dissipated …the same could be said  about similar imperatives at Southern and at many of our schools…We, as a people, never did stop to prepare for the long-range plan–for the institution-build—for the real nation-build.  We assumed that the need to preserve our truth was ‘self-evident’.  While most majority institutions continue to notarize their 25 year plans at board meetings annually, we as a people and as a profession  did  not assemble our thinkers as well as our doers on a regular basis to talk about the long-term keeping of our private homesteads, private practices or public institutions. Whatever shall we do to keep our boats from sinking ?  Too soon, the greatest numbers of us (ever), will turn on the eve of our 50th anniversary in the profession only to look back at those wind-blown villages of dust that we created–much like the villages of Haiti that crumbled under the might of the natural disaster of a 7.0 quake— Our villages have often been well-populated, but too seldom well-reinforced.

    Many will say, “If only we had known….”.

    Harriet Tubman was once asked why she did not free more slaves .  And her response?  ”Had they only known they were slaves, I could have saved more.”

    We have seen many HBCU architecture schools tremble at the thought of accreditation-without the resources needed to consistently feed the minds of the young or free the lowly paid instructors from subsistence.

    We have seen many HBCU architecture schools fold into schools of engineering-where corporate sponsors financially saluted and employed black engineers-digital, electrical, mechanical and chemical. And because they kept the research going; they kept their coffers filled. Seldom do these same corporations support schools of architecture for people of color . So where are our public/private partnerships in  this  instance?

    Indeed we have created a black professional class and have gone far to create many personal friendships in very high places within many corporations and  places of power - but seldom have those personal relationships translated into corporate or government partnerships that will SUSTAIN THOSE INSTITUTIONS  that we still hold so dear.  Where are the endowed chairs?  And where are the endoments? Surely, we must begin to design better mousetraps.

    In addition to our slowly fading architecture schools, we also face another interesting dilemma-namely the fading of those multi-generational minority firms -where  many  ( father and sons;  father and daughters; or brother and brothers )  fought hard to create competitive architecture firms not so very long ago–but are now faced, (but one generation later) with fading founders. Almost too late, once again,  we raise questions nationwide as to who will be  next  heir to those swiftly disappearing  but hard-earned  thrones? Who will inherit those business relationships, those rolodex, those lessons, those wisdoms, those  enterprises , those self-made institutions….what will become of the the African American architect and the African-American owned architecture firm?

    We all are to blame for such short term-thinking.(We have forgotten that we are still ’enslaved’-by our passion for the profession with no proper bones/infrastructure  in place.) While it is true that architecture, more than most professions-really  insists  upon the support of grand worthy patrons to  guarantee success–seldom  do we  ever secure patrons for ourselves, our businesses, our schools or for the next generation of  intellectuals and craftsmen so needed to build the first fully diverse American civilization–yet to come.

    (Too soon in June we crooned.)

    Perhaps when we collect at the next NOMA conference we can set up one workshop that includes all past presidents of NOMA and all generations who come to NOMA to talk about what we intend to leave behind as our long range and comprehensive 25 year plan–especially now that glaring prejudice is not  overt.   Until we stop to talk about structural inequity and the building of lasting institutions…our numbers will indeed continue to dwindle and we shall, in a few short generations, just poof and disappear–with very few physical monuments, long-lasting enough to be left behind.  (Not so many pyramids, since the Egyptians, you dig?)

    So while in Boston might we attempt to come to terms with the real business confronting our members, our communities, our firms, our careers, our schools and our institutions?  Does this nation need our service-or not? What might Obama say about this dilemna-while serving as the first Black President of this nationa and while living in a White House built by us?

    In the meantime ….however….just what shall we do between now and Friday to attempt to save Southern? Should the Board of Directors for NOMA dispatch representatives to meet with the President of Southern? YES. Should the letter that we send by Friday to  Southern’s  President request a meeting with the NOMA Board of Directors to discuss the glaring imperatives of saving black schools that ‘build’? YES. Should we send to Southern a list of names of black graduates of schools of architecture nationwide who will join in ‘that meeting’ to have ‘that discussion’, at a time and place certain? YES. Shall we ask the President of Southern for a postponement of that decision until they meet with the Presidents of NOMA, ACSA and AIA?  YES. Might that letter with a secured, scheduled meeting stop the clock short term? COULD BE.

    BUT DO NOT FORGET THAT, the university is a corporation with corporate concerns. How do we save Southern/Architecture from a corporate point of view? What are the corporate concerns? What underlies the fiscal uncertainty that befalls the school of architecture, there? Why can it no longer be sustained?  Where is the desk audit? What are the options? When might the face-to -face meeting between the FOUR Presidents occur? Which of our professional institutions is willing and able to make commitments to insure a plan of institutional stability at Southern? And what other schools of color are about to fall into that same abyss? It is time for true accounting in this the year the national census.

    Black Design News Network is eager to ask: ”What say we…the best and brightest thinkers amongst us? And what ever–really–shall we do? ”

    Please give us your thoughts via atim@blackdesignnews.com . Then go to ww.blackdesignnews.com

    to participate in the exchange.

    Renee Kemp-Rotan, NOMA

    Co-Founder BDNN

    Atim Annette Oton,NOMA

    Co-Founder BDNN

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  • haiti-1

    The Haiti Culture Code: An International Call for Papers

    Posted on June 30, 2010 | 1 Comment

    TOWARDS A POST-EARTHQUAKE DEVELOPMENT MANUAL

    by Renee Kemp-Rotan, author of the code

    A Culture Code for Haiti: The Rebuilding of National Identity through Architecture (NIA) assumes that culturally informed architecture can help to fulfill new national ideals, through rebuilding Haiti as a utopian civilization with NIA/purpose.

    First, The Culture Code will outline a comprehensive framework of 100 cultural considerations advanced across the socio-economic geography of pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial and post-earthquake Haiti, in a way that informs all future design and development.

    Second, The Culture Code is an international call for papers to address 100 topics on Haitian culture, politics and space for:

    • cultural anthropologists
    • geographers
    • policy planners
    • urban designers
    • architects
    • developers
    • economists
    • historians
    • disaster experts

    Third, The Culture Code will meld ‘form and content’ data collected above to propose a series of design principles structured to influence all future and permanent master plan efforts in the rebuilding of post-earthquake Haiti. Thus both quantitative and qualitative design decsions can be made.

    Fourth, The Culture Code will develop specific ‘pilot prototypes’ that lead to a system of development contracts that follow best practices for town planning/settlement building/housing designs (macro and micro) that  are culturally significant, replicable, yet influenced by population capacity, location, geography, transportation, communication and resources.

    The code is authored and edited by Renee Kemp-Rotan, co-Founder of Black Design News Network.

    More details, visit http://www.haiticulturecode.com

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    Disaster SOS: Haiti – Framing 13 Questions

    Posted on June 15, 2010 | No Comments

    by Renee Kemp-Rotan

    Questions to reflect on:

    1. how can trained designers make a special contribution to the rebuilding of Haiti?

    2. how can trained designers who are also from the Diaspora make a special contribution to the rebuilding of Haiti?

    3. list those actions that need to occur in order to efficiently rebuild the country of Haiti, post-earthquake.

    4. how does the world tend to deal with immense natural disasters throughout the world; and within the Diaspora?

    5. how might you compare the disaster response to Katrina with the disaster response to Haiti?

    6. what do you think of the idea of developing post-earthquake Haiti as the new utopia for the Diaspora?

    7. what cultural principles must not be overlooked in developing a sustainable post-earthquake Haiti?

    8. how might your firm or organization better contribute to a more sustainable culture in Haiti?

    9. does your firm recruit culture experts to collaborate with its technical experts on on how to rebuild a civilization?

    10. how might authorities on culture and authorities on infrastructure best strategize long-lasting solutions?

    11. how might the effectiveness of that collaboration be best planned, prioritized, measured and implemented?

    12. might your company wish to collaborate on the design of a pilot project in Haiti that tests the principles of ‘a culture code’?

    13. in what ways might your understanding of Haitian culture inform the design decisions that your firm produce there?

    Disaster SOS – HAITI

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    Disaster SOS: Haiti, a BDNN panel discussion at NEOCON in Chicago, June 15

    Posted on June 10, 2010 | 1 Comment
    DISASTER SOS: HAITI
    Date: Tuesday, June 15 Time: 2-4 p.m.
    Presented by: The Black Design News Network
    Location: IIDA Learning Center, 567 Merchandise Mart
    Fee: $15 at the door CEU: 0.2
    A thought provoking forum on Haitii with some experts from the fields of design, planning, international development and cultural anthropology. The forum will involve critical thinkingabout shelter and disaster with a focus on planning, cause and effect, and risk management after a disaster.

    This session will be followed by an interactive discussion and networking hour for potential collaborations and partnerships from 4–5 p.m. Sponsored by IIDA, FocusOnDesign, Designers for the 21st Century (D421), Project Osmosis, and The Black Design News Network

    Speakers:

    • Kerl LaJeune, architect, Founder and Principal at Atelier Azara,
    • Renee Kemp-Rotan - urban designer and co-founder, Black Design News Network;
    • Atim Annette Oton, architectural designer and co-founder, Black Design News Network;
    • Bryan Hudson, Architect, principal at SOMA Design Consultants Inc.;
    • Lee Bey, African American writer/architectural critic.


    RSVP or register contact Atim Oton, co-Founder of the Black Design News Network     atimoton@yahoo.com. Registration also accepted at the door.

    ALSO SEE THESE PARTNER EVENTS:

    Design Interchange: An Avant-Garde Approach to Success [AF8]
    Date: Monday, June 14
    Time: 4 – 5p.m.
    Credits: 0.2 CEU
    Fee: $15, Register on site at the Merchandise Mart

    Design Interchange Networking Event
    Date: Monday, June 14
    Time: 5:30 – 7p.m.
    Fee: $5 at the door (free to attendees of Design Interchange)
    Presented By: The KOHLER Store
    Location: The KOHLER Store, 100 Merchandise Mart
    Sponsored By: Project Osmosis, FocusOnDesign, Designers for the 21st Century (D421) and The Black Design News Network

    For more information go to focusondesign.org or designers421.org

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  • National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) attends Major Summit for Haiti in San Juan, Puerto Rico

    National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) attends Major Summit for Haiti in San Juan, Puerto Rico

    Posted on May 5, 2010 | No Comments

    by Renee Kemp-Rotan

    April 14-19, 2010, The American Institute of Architects/Puerto Rico (AIA/PR) organized a Haiti Invitational Summit to discuss Haiti’s post-earthquake reconstruction. The National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) sent planning expert, Renee Kemp-Rotan, to this high-level conference on Haitian Reconstruction and Master Planning in San Juan.

    Host Chapter, AIA Puerto Rico, sponsored workshops with four Haitian architects/government officials, who provided an assessment of their country’s current condition and shared their insight into the planning, design and reconstruction for Haiti’s future.

    

    Presentations were made by AIA/PR Fellows, two Dominican Republic architects, an AIA US Virgin Island representative along with the AIA Caribbean Regional Director. Florida’s Disaster Assistance Coordinator participated along with AIA National Board Member Erica Rioux Gees, disaster expert in developing countries, serving as tri-lingual conference interpreter. (French, Spanish, English) George Miller, AIA President represented US interest in assisting Haiti with future built-environment issues.

    Over the course of four days, the following Summit goals were realized:

    1) Obtained highly detailed overview of Haiti’s exiting built environment, infrastructure and Haiti’s vision for its future development through the eyes of Haitian design professionals.

    2) Exchanged ideas and gained cultural sensitivity.

    3) Identified strategic areas or issues where AIA, and other groups, such as NOMA, can support Haiti’s design community.

    4) Established possible guidelines for planning and design assistance efforts at local, regional and national level on both urban and architectonic scales.

    The Haiti Summit began with Haitian Architects presenting existing conditions and planning efforts within their specific areas expertise (Architect Leslie Voltaire, Envoy to UN Haiti’s Permanent Mission, Arch. Paul Emile Simon, President of Haiti’s Architecture Society and Ex-Director for Development for Tourism Ministry, Arch. Francois Guignard, Urban Planner, and Arch. Olsen Jean Julien, Ex-Minister of Culture.)

    AIA invitees followed with brief presentations on experiences related to disaster relief, working in developing countries and Omar Rancier, Dean of the School of Architecture for Santo Domingo’s National University closed sharing conclusions and lessons learned from a similar panel recently held at the Dominican Republic.

    The final day 30 invitees were divided into four groups of eight by area of interest and expertise: Housing, Urban Design, Infrastructure, and Historic Conservation. Each group was led by a Haitian architect, an AIA PR Fellow, and an AIA National representative along with the other participants. We envisioned an idea charrette rather than a design charrette where each group discussed general issues and strategies as well as those specific to their field.  After lunch, groups reconvened independently to draft conclusions specific to their topic, which was later presented to all participants followed by a Q& A session.

    As left with an increased understanding of the Earthquake consequences and a more profound sense of direction for future short, mid and long term design, planning and reconstruction initiatives for Haiti. Here, NOMA was given an opportunity to focus on its continued involvement in Haiti ‘s reconstruction at local, regional and national level. Printed proceedings are forthcoming.

    The first quarter of 2010 NOMA via partnerships with AIA, Community Housing Foundation and Architects for Humanity raised more than $10,000 for the purchase of tents for Haiti.

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  • The Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail Project

    The Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail Project

    Posted on April 12, 2010 | 2 Comments

    Taking History to the Streets: Raising Historic Awareness/Harnessing Cultural Tourism

    by Renee Kemp-Rotan

    In 2008, Renee Kemp-Rotan, the Mayor’s Director of Capital Projects, an urban designer, was given the task of inventing a civil rights heritage trail for the once segregated city of Birmingham, Alabama. Not an easy task when one considers that since 1963 many still consider Birmingham to be a “stigma city”.  Some are embarrassed by Birmingham’s gross history of violence but the foot soldiers (led by Reverends Shuttlesworth, King and Abernathy) who won the great American battle for civil rights still bask in the victory of their non-violent actions that brought the walls of segregation in the South-to come crumbly down.

    Early on Kemp-Rotan worked with a major advisory group of historians from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to develop signage prototypes with actual life-sized photographs of the Movement. She then decided to plunk them down on the actual streets where the photographs were originally taken, in 1963. Some thought the 80-inch tall signs to be “too big”. However, for Kemp-Rotan, this size made it plain and simple, ”In this way history cannot be denied. We used the actual photos to help interpret what actually happened here.” Through her connections at City Hall, she was able to get the Mayor and Council to support this effort both financially and politically. The Mayor himself went to the Birmingham News with life-sized photos to ‘ask’ for access to their “unseen” photo archives. At one time, the Birmingham News literally hid the negatives of the Birmingham Movement in the basement of their building.

    Now, years later, these photos have seen the light of day. Kemp-Rotan also saw this as a teaching opportunity. Thus, the signs have photos, dates, quotes and lesson assignments as they wiggle throughout downtown Birmingham. Soon the signs will stretch over several historic districts throughout the city.

    Now in 2010, the Mayor of Birmingham and the Birmingham City Council proudly present The Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail Program to the world. Over the next several weeks and months, downtown will come alive with the history of The Birmingham Civil Rights Movement as told through sites, paths and routes designated by the National Register of Historic Places. Marjorie White of the Birmingham Historical Society years ago had the Civil Rights March Routes and District designated by the National Register. Her work serves at the foundation for the Trail Program.

    Renee also hired journalist Vickii Howell former reporter with the Birmingham News and Big Communications (John Montgomery, Ford Wiles and Satina Richardson) to work with her and the City Planning/GIS Departments to put finishing touches on the signs and Trail. The Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail Program, when complete, will carry you through more than 60 sites of national merit, downtown, so designated by the National Register of Historic Places. Soon you will see, read and know the unforgettable role that Birmingham played in the American Civil Rights Movement.

    “Through the work of the Birmingham Historical Society, The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, The Birmingham Convention and Tourism Bureau; The Birmingham Public Library, the Birmingham Alabama Foot Soldiers, the Mayor’s Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail Advisory Committee, The Birmingham News, Corbis Images, The Associated Press and many certified participants and historians of the movement– we have taken this national history and woven it into an exceptional community experience throughout the Civil Rights District, downtown”.

    The signs were designed to engage the public visually and spiritually. Each sign on the Trail will have a number; a color code; a cut-out; a photograph with date; text; a memorable quote and a lesson assignment for further research to be downloaded on i-pods and cellular phones.

    Here on the streets of Birmingham, we will fully commemorate the contributions of the Reverend Fred S. Shuttlesworth, the African-American Church, the unsung foot soldiers, and the thousands of children who were jailed fighting for voting rights, desegregated school, libraries, parks and jobs as part of The Birmingham Campaign– that highly strategized, ‘non-violent’, African-American civil rights people’s movement that captured the attention of our nation during the 1960’s.

    This Trail is organized around two actual African-American protest routes The March to Government Route A1-A15 will outline the actual footsteps that black demonstrators took to protest unfair Jim Crow Laws at City Hall and the County Government and the Federal Courthouse, during the 1950’s and 1960’s.; and The March to Retail Route B1-B20, that will trace the steps that blacks used to boycott lunch counters and demonstrate against segregated business and stores in downtown Birmingham.

    Here, we begin with The March to Government A1- A3 in Kelly Ingram Park, soon to become A1-A15. This portion of the trail will go along 6th Avenue from 16th street to 20th street, from Kelly Ingram Park to Woodrow Wilson Park (now called Linn Park) and on to Government Square where the seats of power are located –Birmingham City Hall and the Jefferson County Courthouse. Additionally, City Hall was the headquarters of Birmingham’s Public Safety Commissioner, Eugene “Bull” Connor, the arch-segregationist who for 26 years held power over the city’s police force that often intimidated and brutalized Black citizens, especially those who dared challenge city segregation laws.

    The Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail, Downtown, is the first of five city-wide Civil Rights Heritage Trail areas to come. These future areas will include the Bethel Church Area in Collegeville with special commemoration of the life works of Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth; the Birmingham Jail Area focuses on Dr. Martin L. King Jr’s. Letter from Birmingham Jail; the Dynamite Hill Area and the Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport.

    This project is one of three major public interventions developed by Kemp-Rotan since she joined the Mayor’s staff in 2004. The other projects she spearheaded include the new $20 million Railroad Reservation Park and the $55 million New Olympic Village for Children at Fair Park-The old Alabama State Fair Ground.

    __________

    Renee Kemp-Rotan previously worked the Olympics in Atlanta as Director of Economic Development and as Chief of Urban Design and Urban Development for several Mayors in Atlanta. She is the first black woman to graduate from Syracuse with a B. Arch. She also has a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from Columbia University and RIBA II from the Architectural Association in London. She is co-founder of BDDN with Atim Annette Oton.

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