Saundra Little, FAIA, LEED AP, NOMA, a principal at Quinn Evans, is featured in the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) April article discussing the actions that leaders are taking across the green building sector to promote DEI. Little is the director of equity and inclusion at Quinn Evans and is recognized as one of 14 licensed Black women architects in the state of Michigan.
USGBC’s article, “A 360-degree view of DEI in Green Building,” emphasizes the way that DEI is evolving, specifically in workforce development, mentoring and outreach, universal design, and hiring practices and organizational goals. Little speaks about her experiences as an architect and how she strives to be the role model she lacked earlier in her career.
Some of the pain points you go through in your profession, everybody goes through, but others, you go through because you are a minority in the profession. I had never walked a site with another architect before getting into a firm. Just seeing how the drawn world connects to the physical world, I think that’s really powerful.
Saundra Little, FAIA, LEED AP, NOMA
Little is an award-winning architect and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA)—the organization’s highest membership honor, and she is the second Black woman in Michigan to earn the recognition. Saundra has planned and designed many notable projects in Detroit and throughout the Midwest, including leading a collaborative team to document and honor Black civil rights sites in Detroit for the National Park Service; and the creation of a plan for an underutilized recreation district that leverages the significance of the Negro National League history in Hamtramck, Michigan, that will help celebrate the area’s multicultural heritage. She currently serves as the National Organization of Minority Architects’ (NOMA) Vice President for the Midwest Region (2020-) and is a co-founder of Noir Design Parti, a project documenting design work of Black architects in Michigan.
Little holds a Master of Architecture (1998) and a B.S. in Architecture and Design (1994) from Lawrence Technological University.
Read the full USGBC article here.
