Ming Thompson: Our Differences Can Make Us Better

Here, Ming Thompson, AIA, the New Haven, Conn.–based co-founder of Atelier Cho Thompson with Christina Cho Yoo, AIA, shares her realization that her efforts to increase representation in architecture will also have an impact on Asian Americans like her.

I’ve been lucky to be part of architectural groups such as AIA San Francisco’s Equity by Design committee and AIA Connecticut that have been thinking about issues of equity for years and pushing to expand the audience for those conversations. For a long time, these discussions felt like they were occurring in a silo outside of the mainstream. Today, dialogue about equity is at the core of conversations about the future of the built environment. Whether this is in a public meeting about a new downtown skyscraper, a design for a public art installation, or a plan for a farmers market, designers and planners are talking about access and equality in frank and direct terms.

But we have to go far beyond words. As young architects, we have the responsibility to hold our firms and our profession accountable—and we have to push for real action. I know other architects who have suffered professionally for speaking too loudly and too often about what our discipline can do better. We can’t let the energy of this moment die with hollow words in a press release. We need to be actively thinking about how we can use our practice, process, and role in the world to fight for racial justice.

Self-Reflection
I’m Asian American and I used to feel that my interests in building a more equitable architectural profession were about how to improve conditions for others. During the recent wave of violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, I started to turn my lens to my own identity in a way I never had before. What does it mean to be an Asian American? How have my experiences shaped the designer I am today? How has my identity shaped my vision for the future of architecture?

Fewer than 1% of architects in my state are Asian American, and AAPI female firm owners are a rarity. I have been realizing more and more that I have a responsibility to open the door for others like me.

During the recent wave of violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, I started to turn my lens to my own identity in a way I never had before.

My business partner and I both grew up in southern towns, and we were usually the only Asian people in a room. We’ve realized that our experiences growing up, of being different, and of navigating the complexities of identity have strengthened our ability to empathize with and understand the incredibly diverse group of people we serve as architects. I always tell my students that an architect’s first job is to listen. Understand where someone is coming from and together you can chart a better path. Architecture school teaches us to leap in with design solutions, but we need to bring respect for the value and knowledge of lived experiences in the communities where we work.

Engaging the Community and Next Generation
Last March, we realized that, as architects deeply embedded in our community, we had a unique opportunity. On one side, we had our friends and clients in New Haven who were experiencing incredible problems stemming from the pandemic; on the other, we had a group of brilliant design students facing the lack of available summer jobs. We teamed with Yale University’s Center for Collaborative Arts and Media and created a program called Design Brigade.

The program helps solve community design problems and offers students real-world learning opportunities and mentorship. Its work was founded on principles of equity, transparency, and—above all—collaboration, as the students sought to design with their community, and not just for. As architects, we have the privileged role of interpreting the hopes, dreams, and memories of our communities into the built environment. I’ve been most struck by how our Design Brigade students are better able to see the world through others’ eyes. They are bringing a slower, thoughtful, and community-engaged process to their paths as future architects.

In the depths of the pandemic last year, we also worked with elders in a managed care facility to address wellness issues; with shuttered museums to make their resources accessible to children; and with the residents of our city to design a memorial for COVID-19. The first stage of the memorial is rolling out now across New Haven in the form of “Diary Disks,” a large-scale installation of black 6-foot-diameter boards that help foster public conversation after so many months of isolation.

Good design is for all. If we can do a better job showing how great architecture can lead to a more equitable world—and how our work is deeply relevant to society—then we will draw others to our mission.

As told to Wanda Lau via email. The views and conclusions from this author are not necessarily those of ARCHITECT magazine or of The American Institute of Architects.

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