How can we go beyond box-ticking on diversity in architecture?
While architecture is starting address its problems with race and diversity, some initiatives have been accused of ‘BAMEwashing’. Is such a label fair or helpful? We asked five architecture professionals how they feel the profession could best tackle these issues
Architecture’s deep-rooted problems with racism have never been in sharper focus. In the past 12 months the industry seems to have finally started acknowledging its issues and begun taking its first real steps towards including more people from non-privileged and non-white backgrounds.
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For instance, a handful of local authorities have tried, admittedly with mixed results, to open up their frameworks so that those designing the buildings better reflect those who will be using them. But there has been criticism that some of these efforts may just be hollow gestures – box-ticking exercises where black architects or practices led by other underrepresented groups are added to give projects and shortlists the paper-thin sheen of diversity.