Gabrielle Bullock Lecture

She was born in Harlem and raised in the Bronx and knew from the time that she was twelve years old that architecture would be her calling. Her motivation to enter the profession was a direct response to the design of public housing and her strong desire to positively impact the lives of African Americans and people of color living in her community. Her career path was driven by a passion to design for others and foster access to the design industry for all genders and racial backgrounds.

As the second black female to graduate from the architecture department of the Rhode Island School of Design, Gabrielle has been a key player in our firm's success for over three decades, working in both the New York and Los Angeles studios where she became the first African American and first woman to rise to the position of Managing Director. Over the course of her career, she has led numerous complex and high-profile projects, including Destination Crenshaw, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.

Her unique role as the firm's Director of Global Diversity and an award-winning principal, enables her to combine her passion for architecture and social justice to effect positive change.

In 2014, she was elected by her peers as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and served on the AIA’s Equity in Architecture Commission. She is a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), a board member of the IIDA, Rhodes Island School of Design and the USC Architectural Guild. She is a past board member of the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles, and the Center for Architecture and Urban Design Los Angeles. She served as the 2018-2019 President of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). Gabrielle is the recipient of the 2020 AIA Whitney Young Jr award for her commitment to advancing diversity in the architecture profession.