By Robert Szudzik, AIA
Robert Traynham Coles
Robert Traynham Coles was born August 24, 1929. He attended Hampton University in 1947 before transferring to the University of Minnesota in 1949 where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951 and a Bachelor of Architecture in 1953. Coles received his Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1955. While at MIT, Coles authored his thesis on urban renewal in his hometown of Buffalo, New York, where he later opened his practice.
Throughout his career, he was involved in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) both locally and nationally. In 1968 at an AIA Convention held in Portland, Oregon in 1968, just 2 months after the assassination of Martin Luther King, he met the keynote speaker, Whitney Young, Executive Director of the National Urban League. Together, from 1968-1974, they recruited more African Americans into the profession and established various minority scholarships, including the Whitney M. Young Jr Award.
Merriweather Library
For his work, Coles was appointed Deputy Vice President of Minority Affairs for the National AIA organization to help stop racism and reduce funding cuts led by the industry. During his appointment, Robert Coles outlined many goals related to professional development for minority architects already in practice, as well as pushing for more minority and majority firm collaboration on larger projects.
In 1972, with Janet & Richard Prosser and Charles Rush Jr, Coles started the organization Community Planning Assistance Center (CPAC) to provide guidance to community groups in local development projects so they could work best for their culture and community. In that same year, with the help of the first African American Vice President of the AIA, Robert Nash, they formed the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). The organization addressed many concerns of Black Architects in America including promoting architectural education in urban and minority communities, as well as inclusiveness of minority firms in all project types.
If that was not enough, he and Robert Wilson founded the Coalition of Black Architects while he was VP of Minority Affairs, and while traveling regularly to NYC for that position, was awarded some projects to add to his firm’s portfolio. During this time, Coles and his partner in this mission, Robert Wilson, President of the Connecticut Society of Architects and the local AIA, worked tirelessly to bring African Americans opportunities to do more “Prominent and Public Design” projects.
Then, in the spring of 1975, Coles and Wilson held a one-day conference through the AIA in collaboration with NOMA to further develop professional goals of minority architects throughout America. There were over 100 representatives in attendance and discussions focused on developing connections between what they called “minority and majority firms.” This led to more involvement of black/minority architectural firms to participate in larger public projects whereas in the past, they would not. They sought to distribute the opportunities for all architects by dividing up workloads, responsibilities, and financial obligations.
Many AIA events helped Coles connect with like-minded professionals, and some lead him to follow the educational path. Charles Kahn, Dean of the University of Kansas School of Architecture, saw something promising in Coles and invited him to be a critic at one of their final critiques, which he happily accepted. In 1989, he was offered a teaching position as a distinguished professor and again worked to reverse the decline in minority enrollment.
Persuading everyone at the AIA and in the industry to support his vision was not always easy for Bob, as my father referred to him, but he was persistent. His primary goals were to grab the attention of the industry and pull together resources to help small Black firms survive and thrive.
In 2002 he addressed the AIA with the following:
My great concern and fervent goal is to make this profession look more like society it has to serve. Of particular concern to me [are] the African American architects who number no more than 1,500 out of over 100,000 registered architects, or no more than 1.5 percent.” Architecture + Advocacy; Pg 39.
Among many awards Robert Coles received over his lifetime, our Chapter has given him our most prestigious honors, such as the Louise Bethune Award, the Diversity Award, and the James William Kideney Award through the New York State AIA.
According to the Buffalo State College E.H. Butler Library Archives, Robert Traynham Coles, FAIA passed away on May 16, 2020, leaving a legacy of change that continues today. With the recent nomination of the first ever African American and Female Supreme Court Judge, Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden echoed Robert Cole's message of inclusion by saying this:
For too long, our government, our courts haven’t looked like America. And I believe it’s time that we have a Court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation with a nominee of extraordinary qualifications and that we inspire all young people to believe that they can one day serve their country at the highest level.
Remarks by President Biden, www.whitehouse.gov; February 25th, 2022.
Additional information on Robert T. Coles can be found by accessing the following websites:
https://buffaloah.com/a/humboldt/321/nom.html#Coles
If you are interested in getting involved in diversity in our profession, join our Diversity Committee.
To find out more about the National Organization of Minority Architects NOMA, click here.
References
“Archives and Special Collections: Coles, Robert” ( February 17, 2022). E.H. Butler Library: Buffalo State College, https://library.buffalostate.edu/archives/mfc/robert_coles
Biden, Joseph R. “Remarks by President Biden on his Nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to Serve as Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court” February 25, 2022. Click here.
Robert T. Coles and Sylvia Coles, Architecture + Advocacy. (Buffalo, New York: Buffalo Arts Publishing, 2016).
Wikipedia Contributors, “Robert T. Coles.” Wikipedia, (October 24, 2021), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_T._Coles