Podcast host Nakita Reed, AIA, is breaking down silos

Everything is more connected than we think.

Nakita Reed, AIA, an associate at Quinn Evans, works at the intersection of architecture, historic preservation, sustainability, race, and gender. On her podcast, Tangible Remnants, she nerds out with experts on ways to expand possibilities for women and minorities within the architecture industry, among other topics. Nakita earned her Bachelor of Science in architecture from the University of Virginia in 2006. She went on to receive a Master of Science in historic preservation and a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010.

Reed co-founded an architecture firm in 2012, and after seven years as a principal, she departed her company to enjoy the benefits of a larger firm. At Quinn Evans, she excels at project management. “I'm much more interested in how all the pieces come together—making sure that it's still beautiful and all—but it's the process that really excites me,” she says. Below, she talks about her unique positioning in the architecture industry and how connecting with people and living her truth is increasingly becoming her superpower.  

Q: In your first podcast episode, you talk about how abandoned buildings in D.C. sparked your interest in architecture. Can you elaborate?  

When I was younger, I spent a lot of weekends riding between Fairfax, Virginia and Georgetown. At that time in D.C., there were a lot of vacant buildings, a lot of homeless people, and I always wondered why that was. My mom also worked at a homeless shelter, so I always had this vision of fixing up buildings for people to live in so that they didn't have to be homeless.

I also used to take the train from D.C. to Pittsburgh. I would see dilapidated buildings in old towns and think, “The building is still here, but what happened to the people? Where did the town go? What did the town look like when it was vibrant? And how did it get to the state that it's in now?”  So, I always had a thing for abandoned and dilapidated buildings and wondered what they could  be turned back into.

Q: As a Black woman, have you experienced challenges in the architecture industry?

When I was a principal at my own firm, I met a lot of white males in the industry. I would introduce myself as an architect and they would ask, "Are you licensed?" I'd say yes—because legally I'm not allowed to call myself an architect if I’m not licensed. So they [would] say, "Oh, well, who's your boss?" I'd tell them I own my own company. They’d ask, "Well, what kind of work do you do? What school did you attend?" There was always this credential checking and belief that a young Black woman couldn't be an architect running a firm in the profession.

Q: How do you think the industry is dealing with racial justice issues today?

Whitney Young spoke to the AIA back in the late sixties and read them for filth. Things started to change, slowly. The awakening in 2020 has caused many design firms to pay more attention to the fact that design is not neutral, the built environment contributes to different injustices, and if racist people are designing spaces then some of that racism is going to seep through. The fact that firms are starting to look internally makes me cautiously hopeful. Optimistically hopeful, even.

Q: Do you consider yourself an advocate in the industry—whether it's for historic preservation,sustainability, or racial or gender issues?  

Yes, because I think everything is connected. I really enjoy having conversations with people who don't necessarily see it that way. Part of the reason I started my previous firm was that I got tired of contractors and other architects thinking that historic preservation and sustainability were mutually exclusive. I get really excited when I'm able to have conversations to help people see that existing and historic buildings absolutely need to be part of the climate action conversation for sustainability and greenhouse gas reduction. And the way that we're designing spaces for different groups of people needs to be taken into account—even the way we run our community engagement. We need to make sure we're not asking the community to take off work, find childcare, or figure out dinner options to join us at a meeting. We are meeting people where they are.

Q: What made you start the podcast?

For many years, I had shied away from being the Black architect talking about Black things. Mainly because in a predominantly white situation, I didn't want to get pigeon-holed. I also feared people would accuse me of playing the race card or only wanting to talk about race—negating all the other contributions that I bring to the field. So it was the cluster that was 2020 where I thought, "Everything could end... I need to stop being afraid to use my voice."

Q: Has there been anything super interesting that you learned from one of your guests that you’d like to share?

One of my guests on an upcoming episode, Monica Rhodes, the director of Resource Management at the National Park Foundation, told me about the Union’s contraband camps, which is something that I didn't realize existed during the Civil War. Basically, enslaved persons were able to be captured by Union soldiers, then become contraband of war. There were a number of newly freed Black people at these contraband camps in the South. So I started digging into that because I hadn't thought about the logistics of freedom during the Civil War.

Q: What do you hope listeners gain from your podcast?

I realize that there's so much information that is siloed. I want to use my podcast as a way to tell more stories and connect more people because we're all more similar than different. I'm hoping that it’s helping people who span different disciplines to think more broadly about the impacts of the work we're doing.