Brad Grant

Bradford C. Grant is the Associate Dean of the College of Engineering, Architecture, and Computer Sciences, and the Director of the School of Architecture and Design at Howard University, Washington DC. He is the former Chairperson and Endowed University Professor of Architecture in the Department of Architecture at Hampton University, Hampton, VA. He received his Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and the Bachelors of Architecture 1st professional degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo CA. A registered architect, Mr. Grant has extensive experience in housing and community design through his research, teaching and architecture practice as principal of the architecture firm AGWA Architects, Hampton, VA. His research on cultural environmental design practice can be found in his work titled “Accommodation, Resistance and Appropriation in African American Building”, in Craig Barton’s Sites of Memory (Princeton Press, 2000) and in the Directory of African American Architects/Survey of African American Architects, co authored with Dennis Mann (University Cincinnati, 3rd edition released as web site . Mr. Grant was the Director of Hampton University Department of Architecture’s Urban Institute, the community design center and a service learning arm of the University. As part of the Urban Institute, Mr. Grant conducted many urban and community design studies including the North King Street Urban Corridor, Hampton, VA., the Monticello Street Corridor, Norfolk, VA., and the Poindexter Street Commercial Corridor in Chesapeake, VA. along with architecture design assistance work with the City of Virginia Beach’s office of Housing and Community Service. His community design work has earned him the Hampton Clean City Commission Award, a Proclamation of Appreciation from the City of Hampton, the Universal Design Education Award from Adaptive Environments, Boston and Award of Merit from the Virginia Downtown Development Association. Professor Grant is past president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), current Chairperson of the board of the District of Columbia Humanities Council and a board member of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. He is involved in research, practice and teaching of architecture accessibility, Universal Design, contemplative practices in design education and cultural issues in architecture. He is a past Fellow and participant of the Contemplative Practices in Higher Education program. He has completed several commissioned projects and planning assignments including the addition the Guiding Light Church, Portsmouth, VA, the Blair Middle School addition, Norfolk, VA and Arbor Music, a site specific environmental sculpture for the Botanical Gardens, Norfolk, VA.

Dennis Alan Mann

Dennis Alan Mann was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on July 8, 1940. He is married to Garda Sommer Mann who has had a long career in Cincinnati as an Interior Designer. They have a married daughter, Akira, (Political Science UC1991) and two grand daughters living in Portland, OR and a married son, Nicholas, and two grand sons living in Cincinnati. Garda is an UC grad (Interior Design 1965) and Nicholas is also a UC grad (Industrial Design 1994). Dennis went to public school in Cincinnati, received his B Arch degree from the University of Cincinnati and his M Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania where he studied under Louis I. Kahn. He is an emeritus architect in Ohio and New Mexico. He taught at the University of Cincinnati from 1967 and until he retired as an Emeritus Professor in 2009. He had three careers while at UC. His first career revolved around practice including a large volunteer project in Lincoln Heights (multi-service center) with five faculty colleagues. This project won a Cincinnati AIA Design Award. Later he joined Smith Stevens Architects and worked with them until they closed their practice. He was involved in the Downtown Senior Citizens Center project which also won a local AIA Design Award. His second career centered around writing numerous published articles about the relationship between architecture and popular culture as well as design process pedagogy. His most recent career (since the early 1990’s) has focused on research (with colleague Professor Brad Grant at Howard University) in tracking licensed African American Architects. Their web site http://blackarch.uc.edu is the most popular site when searching for African American Architects. Their work in this venue garnered them a National AIA Award in 2007 for Collaborative Achievement. He now lives in Taos, New Mexico building the Mann Family Compound, an off-the-grid 1650sf straw bale house on the mesa (elev. +7400). He spends his time as a design/builder adding on to the family dream while he continues to update the African American Architects web site. He has attended 15 NOMA National Conferences and stays in touch with many of his friends that he has met through NOMA.