...architecture historian, lecturer, curator, writer, jurist...
Carolyn Armenta Davis, Hon. AIA, is an international architecture historian, lecturer,
curator and writer on contemporary African/Black Diaspora architects. She is an award-
winning broadcast writer-producer; a philanthropy consultant; global business adviser;
and world traveler.
A member of the Society of Architectural Historians and sought after lecturer she has
spoken in over 35 cities globally. Her presentations explore the intersections of design,
culture, ecology, politics and geo-economics informing African American architects,
Afro-Latino architects, Afro-European architects and African architects.
Lectures add to her seminal work the Design Diaspora: Black Architects and International
Architecture 1970-1990TM exhibition on built designs by 50 Black men and women
contemporary African Diaspora architects. it was the first with a transatlantic view of
Black architects post the 1960s catalytic civil rights and de-colonization era. Its 1993
-2000 world tour won accolades from audiences and media on four continents. She produced
the documentary Viewpoints of Diaspora Architects recording interviews with eight project
architects. A Design Diaspora Black Architects book comes out Fall 2014.
Her writings range from articles on the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates to book reviews.
She served on many design juries including the United Nations, UNESCO-UIA, OAU, and
Senegal’s International Competition for Design of the Gorée Memorial Complex; the Chicago
Architecture Foundation’s Newhouse Competition; and AIA Chicago Small Projects Award.
2014 the American Institute of Architects awarded Davis an honorary membership/Hon.AIA.
From 1994-2013 she has been invited to the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Davis created and produced the award winning network radio series, Feminine Footprints,
profiling 65 pioneering Black women. She created, produced and hosted the Black Classical
Composers radio series of 39, 1-hour progams of symphonies, concertos, operas, sonatas,
art songs, etc. created between 1771-1975 by men and women of the African Diaspora.
A global business adviser, Davis served a diverse cliental from Fortune 200 corporations
and foreign governments to family foundations, non-profit groups and multilateral agencies.
Davis has traveled to over sixty countries on five continents. She is a graduate of Indiana
University and a native of Gary, Indiana.
