National Building Museum’s “INTERSECTIONS” Platforms Black Design

On Sept. 16, at the National Building Museum, Demar Matthews kicked off “INTERSECTIONS: Where Diversity, Equity and Design Meet.”

The architectural designer spoke about his efforts to create buildings celebrating Black culture to be built in Black neighborhoods. He’s working on nine case studies, each one drawing from unique inspirations.

“I don’t want it to look alike, because I don’t think — there’s just so many types of Black. So many types of Black people. So many shades of Black,” Matthews says. “I want to explore dance. I’m exploring slang or the way that we communicate. We’re looking at hair, and how we do our hair, the patterns that are familiar to us. We’re looking at cultural traditions and how to abstract that into a design that speaks to us.”

Demar Matthews’ work, inspired by popular African American hairstyles like box braids and curls. Photo courtesy of offTOP Design.

Matthews was the first speaker in the “INTERSECTIONS” series, a new effort to bring leading Black figures in design, architecture and art to the National Building Museum. The series runs from Sept. 16 until Dec. 14, and will include speakers in addition to three workshops and a roundtable discussion. Attendees can go to any or all of the events.

In planning the 2022 offerings at the museum, Vice President of Education and Engagement Jacquelyn Sawyer says she wanted to be sure to amplify people pushing design beyond traditional Western European interpretations.

“We hope that [the series] will provide a space for dynamic conversation and the investigation of broader topics of representation, social justice and equity through the lens of design and the built environment,” she says.

Only about 2% of licensed architects in the U.S. are Black, according to the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. “INTERSECTIONS” aims to make a platform for their ideas and help Black artists find community.

“If [‘INTERSECTIONS’] existed when I was still in school, I don’t even know if I would have felt the need to do exactly what I’m doing,” Matthews says, referring to his work to make buildings Black people can see themselves in. “I didn’t know that there was a community for me. You know, I felt like I was kind of alone in architecture.”

His alma mater doesn’t have an architecture program, he says. So when he dreams of making change, he wants to return to Lincoln University, the first degree-granting HBCU in the U.S.

“I would love to go back there and start that program and hopefully build some Black architecture on the campus of the first Black university,” Matthews says.

Matthews is still getting his career launched: He started his business offTOP Design just over two years ago. He’s one of the youngest “INTERSECTIONS” speakers; many have been established in the design world for decades.

The variety is deliberate, Sawyer says.

“[We were] also really wanting to hit both people who are giants in the field and people who are really just breaking into their own as a practitioner,” she explains. “We wanted to make sure that our audience — both those who are designers, and those who are just the design-curious — were seeing the trajectory of Black design.”

But even with its strong selection of speakers, “INTERSECTIONS” is more than a series of presentations.

Attendees can dive into workshops by the BlackSpace Urbanist Collective, a group focused on creating a future where Black people, spaces and culture thrives.

Emma Osore, the Collective’s co-managing director, says the Collective found synergy with the National Building Museum in encouraging justice-oriented design work that helps Black and other marginalized people thrive.

In the first and second workshops, she says participants will talk about Black spaces in personal and professional life. They’ll learn about the BlackSpace Manifesto and think about how to apply those principles to their own work.

And at the third, which Osore calls a “Design Charrette,” participants can rethink some of their projects to consider possibilities for affirming Black culture.

“We hope to inspire others with our stories of how we’ve practiced unlearning some of the worst practices of our fields,” Osore says. “We also hope to highlight how the power of design can bring us closer to healing and justice in the built environment.”

National Building Museum: 401 F St. NW, DC; nbm.org // @nationalbuildingmuseum

“INTERSECTIONS” runs until Dec. 14. The full schedule for the series is available here.

offTOP Design: offtopdesign.com // @offtopdesign

BlackSpace Urbanist Collective: blackspace.org // @blackspaceorg

Aviva Bechky