From Symposey | The Birmingham Times
Asked a question that most students get in primary school or middle school – “What do you want to be when you grow up?” – Jeremy Cutts remembers that he was “not safe”. But that would change in a large way soon.
“My father was an electrical engineer, so maybe I thought. But then someone said to me: 'Hey, man, you like to draw and you are good in math. Have you ever thought about being an architect?'”
Cutts said he looked up an architect's career and thought it was something he wanted and “the rest is history,” he told Birmingham Times in a recent interview.
“I made the decision that I [was] I wanted to do it and it turned out that I was something I love, “he added.” I was lucky in this regard. “
Cutts is a graduate of Auburn University and Associate at Williams Blackstock Architects, an architecture design company based in Birmingham with full-service design with specialist knowledge on projects of different sizes and scope. He has been in the company for 14 years.
His work in all of Alabama includes a project manager on some great efforts – Lott Middle School in Citronelle; The historic Ramsay McCormack Building in Ensley; the Tuskegee Center for Genomics and Health differences in Tuskegee; And the equal initiative (EJI) pavilion in Montgomery.
And for his work on these and several other projects, Cutts was recently recognized by the MFE magazine (Multifamily Executive) on the star of the year as a national honor that recognizes a person in the housing industry, has proven the vision, innovation and strong leadership and at the same time makes significant contributions to their company, the community and the industry as a whole.
The 2 percent
The 38-year-old cutts are part of a small group in a specialized area Afro-American architect. The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), a non -profit organization that helps to build state guidelines for exams and license, reported that from 2023 121,603 architects in the USA had worked in the USA. The proportion of black or African American architects has only changed to minor changes, and black architects only made 2 percent of the exercises.
“I am proud to be part of this small group, but I also feel a feeling of responsibility to expand this percentage,” said Cutts. “I think I am aware that there are not many black architects, I do my best to honor this truth.”
He added his chosen profession: “Most people don't know what architects do and even less know that architects take care of it. [many] The landmark that we love, like the Baptist Church of the 16th Strasse [were designed by Black architects]. “”
The historic House of Adoration, which was organized in 1873 as the first colored Baptist Church of Birmingham, Alabama, was the first black church in Birmingham. In 1880 the community moved its current location in 16th Street and 6th Avenue North, and Wallace Rayfield, Alabama's only black architect, was commissioned to design the new church building.
Love to return
Cutts grew between Huntsville, Alabama, where he spent most of the year with his mother Tammy Allen and two younger sisters and Atlanta, Georgia, where he spent summer with his father Raymond cutts, an engineer.
While he took part in the now closed Edwards H. White Middle School in Huntsville, the young cutts had to write a paper about what he wanted to be when we grew up. To become an architect, “only stood up as something that I really spoke,” said Cutts, whose educational path led him to the Auburn University School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (Apla), where a Bachelor of Architecture completed in 2010.
During the college he developed a love for his craft and gave back something: “I saw the opportunity when I got on [architecture] To be able to influence people in communities in a way that I always wanted. “
“I started traveling a little more,” added Cutts. “I was in different rooms and learned something about architecture and realized that there were some really wonderful rooms, only the room quality that, when I grew up in the places I grew up, was never exposed to.”
These experiences led to voluntary tasks with designalabama, a non -profit organization that helps local managers to imagine new forms of living space to improve the design and quality of life in Alabama. His work with Designalabama enabled him to work in smaller cities across the state and to give him a personal insight into the need for compassionate solutions for affordable apartments.
One of his most memorable projects was working on the Pavilion of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, said Cutts.
“It was aware of it [EJI Executive Director] Brian Stevenson and all the work done by him and his group, I mean, I can't even put the appreciation that I have for it, ”he said.
The EJI is a non -profit organization based in Alabama, which is committed to racist and economic justice by questioning the death penalty to those who were wrongly condemned or convicted and people who leave prison began to re -enter.
“It's something that will live with me forever,” said Cutts.
“The housing laboratory”
Cutts currently lives with his wife Sierra and two sons Justice (8) and Juda (5) in Birmingham, with whom he likes to make music. The family has several instruments, including a keyboard, drums and guitars, but “my children really brought into use [artificial intelligence (AI) tools] Creating music, ”said Cutts.
“First you become beatbox, [imitate the sounds of a drum machine using the voice]Or buzzing a melody, then we can load it into a AI generator that creates a whole track. “
One of the career goals of cutts is to expand quality design to people in places that are often outside the range of typical architects.
“There is quality levels for design and the quality of space can have real effects on the quality of life of a person,” he said. “This is what really causes me to turn to communities that often serve many people in the same skills again. Whether it is voluntary work … or just to assume and be in these communities, they learn about people who have needs.
Another goal is to spend time in Mexico to study a project called Housing Laboratory, a small campus with 32 affordable housing prototypes in the city of Apan.
“The intention of the housing laboratory is to serve as a place where architects can visit the relevant aspects on affordable living ideas in their home country, study and then use it,” said Cutts, adding that his focus is on redesigning the future of the apartment building, especially the affordable communities, through thoughtful, favorable design.
“At the center of my ambition is the desire to bridge the gap between rental apartments and home ownership,” he said. “Design can enable residents to be proud of their houses and to become stakeholders in their neighborhoods over time. The aim is to integrate paths in order to have future apartment models and give the residents the opportunity to benefit directly from the improvements and the economic dynamics of the communities that build them up.”