Diversity among Architects

"People, places and politics are central to all architecture. Social equity and front-and-center participation can only be created if talent can be trained, heard and flourish. Craig’s essays forcefully establish that using bolt-cutters to remove the shackles of our non-diverse architecture profession is essential if the social equity of diverse creation is to thrive. Read these essays with your eyes; understand them with your heart; act with your color-blind choices. Let his messages spread like a virus and infect us all." - Jeffrey A. Scherer,FAIA, Founding Principal, MSR

"Spanning three decades, Craig Wilkins’ essays, ranging in tone from playful and rebellious to critical and combative, reflect his evolving intellectual memoir on the complexities surrounding diversity and architecture. From the historic Million Man March to the trajectory of the Hip Hop phenomenon and its ability to empower the marginalized and disenfranchised in the construction of a just society, Wilkins, a designer with activist tendencies as well as a scholar and cultural critic, challenges conventional lenses that frame our world." - Kathryn H. Anthony, Ph.D., ACSA Distinguished Professor, School of Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Author of Designing for Diversity: Gender, Race and Ethnicity in the Architectural Profession (University of Illinois Press, 2001, 2008).

"Craig Wilkins is a visible man who is so right about what is so wrong in the profession and schools of architecture. The future—our future—will be shaped in the space among monolithic institutions and the people whose roots, passions, and talents are seen by many to occupy the fringe. Risk resides in this space, of course, and Wilkins engages it fully, helping us to imagine new practices, curricula, and potential. As brotha Craig asks: ready for a little sumpin’ sumpin’ special?" - Wes Janz, PhD, RA, Professor of Architecture, Ball State University