How the Largest African American Architecture Firm Walks the Talk
Brian Tibbs ‘91 was recently named the managing partner at Moody Nolan, the largest African-American-owned architecture firm in the United States and recognized by AIA as the 2021 Firm of the Year, its highest honor for an architecture office. Moody Nolan was founded in 1984 by Curtis Moody, FAIA, and the late engineer Howard E. Nolan.
Diversity is not what we do, it is who we are. Brian Tibbs, ‘91
"We became who we are by being intentional and understanding the differences in people. We are very proud of the women we have in leadership. We have something like 15 different languages that are spoken in our firm,” says Tibbs. "It is not so much about looking in the mirror as it is about looking out the window to see what is going on."
At Moody Nolan, regular discussions are held amongst colleagues to talk about the hard issues: systemic racism, the lasting effects of segregation, stereotypes, racial covenants and redlining, gentrification, police and policing, mass incarceration and privilege.
The AIA Firm of the Year Award is also an acknowledgment of the diversity of design, not just the ‘who’ of diversity but also the diversity of approaches to design.
“If we are trying to solve something, we want diverse thoughts behind it, to take it to another level by including different cultures, races, genders. Think of the realm of opportunities and whole new depth of design solutions with this pool of different creative minds. Some of the ways people approach design are just different. That's why I think it is so important - we have limited ourselves so much - let's be diverse in all our thoughts and celebrate it,” says Tibbs.
Tibbs has similar advice for students and faculty. “To all the minorities, women as well, there are different challenges that we all have. Because of different cultures there are different obstacles. Everyone has obstacles, stay with the education process and still get your architecture licensure registered. To faculty, understand that it is not just about the color of the faces, it is about design education and understanding people learn differently and that's a good thing. Let’s take where we are and be encouraged and persevere forward. Encouraging me back then would have given my design work more validity and I would not have felt I am alone.”
Tibbs credits one professor at Hillier College for setting him on the trajectory he has found himself on. “4th year, 2nd semester, it was Tony Schuman. In a sense, I owe my whole career to him. He changed everything. We did a lot of affordable housing projects in his studio. It was after Tony’s studio I got that extra momentum and that put me on the trajectory that I am on today. When I was doing the BW Cooper project in New Orleans I remembered Tony and I was like this is the project - this is the one we talked about.”
Tibbs is also clear about the impact of the work he and his colleagues at Moody Nolan have made. “In New Orleans we were one of the firms that designed the big four housing developments - irreparably damaged by Katrina. It was without a doubt the hardest project I ever worked on, coming right after the big recession. As a firm we talked about impacting families. I got to see the homes we were responsible for, and saw the living conditions before. We know we can make an impact when people are living in a place that is respectable and they feel respected.”
One of Tibbs's favorite projects was the Cal Turner Family Center at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, an affordable health care system. Moody Nolan supported the organization who serves a mostly uninsured community to raise the money they needed for the facility. The space they designed is still fully functional and has the same finish 15 years later. “This organization sees people that don’t have insurance, they are in a position where they can effectively impact an entire neighborhood. To make that impact we sometimes feel we have to be on the cover of a magazine. This happens all through studio. As the designer, I am impacting every patient that goes in there.”
Curt Moody, speaking about the Legacy House project and making lasting change in your community, said in an interview in Architect Magazine, follow a simple formula: “We’re pushing this as something that other architectural firms might want to do—either individually or as a group of firms that come together to design and build a house and gift it to some needy family. Do what you can, when you can, with what you’ve got, while you’ve got it. There’s an ebb and flow to architectural businesses—there’s years where firms are doing really great, and they can use those resources for things other than profits for partners.”
