Norma Sklarek, FAIA, Wins 2008 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award
The “Rosa Parks of Architecture” is honored by her peers

by Zach Mortice
Associate Editor

Summary: Norma Sklarek, FAIA, will receive the 2008 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award. The first African-American woman to become a registered architect and an AIA Fellow, Sklarek received the AIA’s premiere social action award for her long record of quality architecture and legacy as a pioneer in the profession.

The AIA Board of Directors bestowed the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award to Norma Sklarek, FAIA, on December 13 for her pioneering work as an architect, a woman, and an African American. The Whitney M. Young Jr. award is given annually to the architect or organization that best exemplifies the profession’s responsibility to be a positive force of change. Sklarek will be presented with the award at the AIA 2008 National Convention in Boston in May.

With tears in his eyes, 2008 AIA President Marshall Purnell, FAIA, the first African American to hold that position, raised his voice in support of the woman that Board member Anthony Costello, FAIA, called the “Rosa Parks of Architecture”—Norma Merrick Sklarek. “She made me possible,” Purnell said. “She made Bill [Stanley, FAIA, the 1995 Whitney Young Award winner and current Board member] possible. She is mentally the strongest person in this profession that I know. Everywhere she went she was first.”

A litany of firsts
Over Sklarek’s entire career she again and again shattered barriers and stunned expectations of what an African-American woman could be. Her litany of firsts is nearly a half century long. She graduated from Columbia University in 1950 with a BArch, and was the first African-American woman to do so. She was the first registered African-American female architect in New York and in the entire nation. When she moved to California in the early ’60s, she repeated the feat. In 1980, she became the first black female Fellow of the AIA. Five years later, she was at the head of the first architecture firm to be formed and managed by an African-American woman—Siegel, Sklarek, Diamond.

In her letter of support for Sklarek, former firm partner Katherine Diamond, FAIA, recounted an anecdote that illustrated Sklarek’s determination in the face of adversity. After graduating from Columbia, Sklarek took the New York City civil service exam for a position in the city’s engineering department. She earned the top score, but instead of being hired, the managers froze hiring for the position. Even this overt racism could not dissuade her.

“I am thankful to Norma Sklarek for being Norma Sklarek,” wrote Gail Kennard, the daughter of Robert Kennard, FAIA, the 1991 Whitney Young Award winner, in her letter of support. “[She is] an accomplished and generous professional whose quiet determination in the face of adversity has made it seem so much easier for those who have come after her.”

Life and accomplishments
A New York City native, Sklarek graduated from Columbia University in 1950. After a brief stint working for Skidmore Owings and Merrill, she moved to Los Angeles to work for the Gruen Firm. During her 20-year tenure there, Sklarek completed some of her most important projects, including Fox Plaza in San Francisco, the American Embassy in Tokyo, and the Queens Fashion Mall in New York. From 1980 to 1985, she was a vice president at the Welton Becket firm, where she designed the Terminal One building at Los Angeles International Airport. Sklarek headed her own firm for four years after that, and in 1989, she became a principal with Jon Jerde Inc., now known as the Jerde Partnership, where she worked on the Mall of American in Minneapolis, the largest shopping center in the nation. Sklarek has been semi-retired since 1996.

In his letter of support, Jack Travis, FAIA, wrote, “Norma Merrick Sklarek’s whole professional life has been a series of pioneering efforts advancing not only her cause, but the cause for minority involvement in mainstream matters of the profession and of the AIA.”

Established in 1972, the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award has honored architects and organizations that exemplify the profession’s proactive social mandate, ranging from issues such as affordable housing, minority inclusiveness, and access for persons with disabilities. The award is named after the civil rights-era head of the Urban League who confronted the AIA’s absence of socially progressive advocacy head-on at the 1968 national convention. Past winners have included J. Max Bond, FAIA (1987), Habitat for Humanity (1988), Curtis J. Moody, FAIA (1992), and the National Organization of Minority Architects (2007).

Sklarek’s previous awards and honor include:

• A resolution from the California State Legislature honoring her (2007)
• Appointment to the California Architects Board by the governor of California (2003)
• The Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs’ Outstanding Business Role Model Award (1987)
• The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards’ Leadership and Assistance as a Master Juror (1987).