Gabrielle Bullock’s childhood straddled two disparate New York worlds. There was Riverdale, the picturesque enclave in the Bronx where “my mother moved us because she knew that the public education system would be better there,” says the principal and director of global diversity at the Los Angeles office of Perkins and Will. Then there were Harlem and Queens, home to relatives and friends she visited on the weekends. When her family settled in Riverdale in 1968—the first Black family in the neighborhood—Bullock noticed the striking disparities between those majority white surroundings and the largely Black ones. “I recall feeling a little out of sorts when I went to visit my grandmother, like I didn’t fit in. I intrinsically understood the equity issues that existed between the white and Black communities.”
Propelled by the significant social and racial gaps she regularly observed, particularly manifested in the design of public housing projects and the conditions they fostered, Bullock knew by the time she was 12 that she wanted to become an architect. “I was intrigued by the difference in how people of color, specifically Black people in New York, lived,” she recalls.
After attending the former High School of Music & Art in Harlem, Bullock headed to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). The second Black female architect to graduate from the program, Bullock remembers the frustration of not seeing her perspective or motivations acknowledged in the curriculum. “I had to internally figure out how to take what I call the Eurocentric education model and apply it to my experience to make better living environments,” she explains.
Destination Crenshaw will be anchored by 10 public parks and feature an outdoor art gallery that celebrates Black LA
Bullock joined Perkins and Will in 1988, where she worked on healthcare spaces that satiated her need to design for the greater good. Then, in 2013, prompted by the completion of several projects in Saudi Arabia and recognition of the importance of cultural competency in creating relevant and meaningful design solutions, she approached the company about launching—and leading—a program that addressed the industry’s lack of diversity by emphasizing inclusiveness in-house. It’s a position that feels especially salient today.
Perkins and Will now touts 50-50 gender parity, but Bullock admits that while 31 percent of employees are people of color, Black employees account for only 4 percent of that number. In an effort to advance Black talent into leadership roles, Bullock and Perkins and Will are helping to build a pipeline of Black architects by reaching out to elementary and middle school students and supporting such youth initiatives as Project Pipeline, the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) summer camp program.
A series of gardens and courtyards are a highlight of the King Saud bin Abdulaziz University (KSAU) for Health Sciences in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Then there are the firm’s projects—the engaging, purposeful ones like Destination Crenshaw that reflect Bullock’s unwavering drive, cemented all those years ago. This forthcoming outdoor museum and cultural experience—led by Black team members Zena Howard and Drake Dillard—is aimed at reducing the impact of gentrification by celebrating Black Los Angeles. “The stories to be told through the art and the design are unapologetically Black,” she explains.
As Bullock climbed the ranks of her company and profession, she made it a point to leave her personal life outside of the workplace as a protective mechanism. Though it has been hard, and exhausting at times, she says she learned early on to let her work speak for itself. “If you are the only one in the room, take advantage of that and shine. All eyes are on you anyway,” she says. “But it’s not going to be an easy road.”
KSAU Jeddah boasts daylit corridors and ample room for socializing
Photos and renderings by Nick Merrick and courtesy of Perkins and Will
This article originally appeared in HD’s July 2020 issue.
