Architect Pascale Sablan: "I'm working to remove the systemic and unjust obstacles."

Pascale Sablan is an American architect and designer, CEO of Adjaye Associates New York, and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. She is an activist architect and founder of Beyond the Built Environment LLC, an organization that advocates for increased visibility of women and BIPOC designers. Most recently, she's the author of GREATNESS: Diverse Designers of Architecture, a book exploring the contributions of diverse architects in shaping equitable and sustainable environments. She is also a board member and the immediate past president of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA).

iF: On the the BBE website it says that you first found your passion for architecture as a child while you were traveling. How do you keep passionate about architecture these days?

Pascale: Absolutely—these days, my passion for architecture is deeply rooted in the people who are impacted by it. It’s not just about the final product; it’s about the process. What keeps me inspired is the opportunity to explore and evolve the tools and resources we use to engage communities—especially those outside the design industry—and to bring their voices into the making of a project. That collaborative journey is what fuels me. It’s where architecture truly comes to life.

iF: You've recently published GREATNESS: - Diverse Designers of Architecture with Oro Editions Press. Why is it so critical to talk about greatness in a broader sense and to include diversity into the definition?

Pascale: I'm not redefining greatness, I'm working to remove the systemic and unjust obstacles that have historically prevented women and people of color from being recognized and celebrated as great. When you type “great architects” into a search engine, what you overwhelmingly see are white men. That’s not a coincidence, it’s a result of long-standing erasure and exclusion.

I actually visited Google’s headquarters and raised this exact issue. Their response was honest but troubling: “There just isn’t enough content out there that refers to women and people of color in architecture as great”. That was a turning point for me.

Through my nonprofit, Beyond the Built Environment, I had already been curating the SAY IT LOUD exhibitions to elevate the work and identities of BIPOC and women designers. But I realized that celebrating our greatness needed to go further. So I created the Great Diverse Designers Library, a free, permanent, accessible archive of excellence, and launched the SAY IT WITH ME(dia) campaign. This campaign invites publications to track how many women and BIPOC professionals they feature annually—and then commit to increasing that number by 5% per year until they reach at least 15%. But just as importantly, it asks them to call us great—in the same way our white male counterparts are described. Because if you're featuring us in your publication, our work speaks for itself.

The goal is simple but profound: when we hear the word “great,” we don’t automatically picture a certain gender or ethnicity. Instead, we imagine someone—anyone—who has meaningfully contributed to our world through design.

iF: What is greatness in architecture in your view?

Pascale: One of my favorite quotes is by Bryan C. Lee, Jr.: “For nearly every injustice, there’s an architecture that has been designed to sustain it.” [https://www.archdaily.com/942250/bryan-c-lee-on-design justice-and-architectures-role-in-systemic-racism] This insight has profoundly shaped how I define greatness in architecture. For me, greatness lies in architecture’s capacity to heal, to repair injustices, and to challenge the systems that have historically marginalized communities.

But greatness isn’t only about buildings, it’s about people. Part of my commitment is to help others, especially young people, see greatness within themselves. That’s why I’m donating 500 copies of GREATNESS: The Diverse Designers of Architecture to elementary and high school students around the world. I’m currently identifying schools where I can engage directly with students and share this resource. My goal is to inspire the next generation of great, diverse designers to see themselves in this profession, and to know that their perspectives are not just welcome, but essential.

iF: How significant is that Francis Kéré finally won the Pritzker Prize Architecture Prize in 2022 as the first person of color?

Pascale: I think it’s incredibly important and significant, especially when you consider the kind of work Francis Kéré does, which is deeply rooted in and reflective of the cultures he’s a part of. His work is not only technically excellent, but culturally resonant, community-driven, and profoundly human. I’m so proud of him, not just because of his accomplishments but also because of who he is. Francis is a beautiful soul who engages generously with people and audiences wherever he goes. He shares knowledge openly, and that kind of leadership matters.

I hope that his recognition will help open doors for many others who are equally deserving of this prestigious honor. But I want to be clear: Francis receiving the Pritzker doesn’t mean the bar was lowered for him, it means the definition of excellence was expanded to truly include greatness that has always been there, but has been too often overlooked.

That’s why I continue to challenge the narrow ways we define greatness in architecture. Greatness isn’t just measured in revenue, square footage, or how tall a building is. Great architecture can also be defined by how deeply it engages with people, how it responds to culture, and how it gives back to communities. We have to widen the lens and tell a fuller, more honest story about who gets to be called great—and Francis is a brilliant example of that.

iF: In a recent interview with Lisa Gralnek for The Future of XYZ Podcast you mentioned some of the alternative materials used by the three Adjaye offices. Would you talk for a moment about sustainability in architecture?

Pascale: Sustainability in architecture must go beyond reducing harm: It should also be about giving back. At Adjaye Associates, we prioritize environmental justice in our work by integrating both passive and active strategies that honor the local environment. This includes building orientation that naturally invites in light and wind, rather than resisting the elements, as well as thoughtful MEP systems and fixtures designed for long-term efficiency and resilience.

In my conversation with Lisa Gralnek on The Future of XYZ podcast, I was especially excited to dive into our material explorations across the firm’s three studios. We’ve been working with rammed earth, mass timber, and low-carbon concrete. These are materials that may not yet be mainstream, but hold immense potential for reducing our carbon footprint and rethinking what responsible building looks like in different communities around the world. [image: Mjøstårnet or Ascent MKE as mass timber example]

Sustainability, for us, also means recognizing the value of what already exists. Adaptive reuse has become an important part of our practice—reviving existing structures in a way that honors their histories while reimagining their futures. The act of questioning, ideating, and experimenting is where so much of the power lies. It’s not just about doing less harm, it’s about designing in a way that restores, responds, and redefines what a sustainable built environment can truly be.

Examples for mass timber projects below:
First: Mjøstårnet Tower by Nina Rundsveen, second: Ascent MKE by Sidewalk MD

iF: One final question: What advice would you give to young designers looking to get started in the field?

Pascale: I would say my number one advice is your classmates, who will be your colleagues and professional network throughout your career. How you show up in school, your reputation and how you do your work, it matters. If you go above and beyond the bare minimum, that follows you. And when you graduate, everyone is going into different places. So it's important to stay connected, and not see your classmates as competitors but rather as collaborators.

Also, nothing in the world takes one person to do, it always takes a village and a team. So be generous with the credit and the praise, don’t try to hold onto all of the credit. Be collaborative in the way that you work and the clients with whom you engage.

And finally: your client isn't just the person who cuts the check, it's also anyone who's impacted by your work. So when you're strategizing and designing the inputs that you need is beyond your direct like client, but it's also community members who are impacted by the project. So ask yourself how you weave into your process ways of of having real discussions and discourse and learning how architecture can heal that community, and design that into your project.