The man of whom Stanford Britt, FAIA described as “a demanding, innovative professional whose tenacity, intellect, and dedication make him a leader and servant of his community,” succumbed to cancer.
Mr Bond’s achievements as an architect, a teacher, a mentor, an engaged citizen, and a tireless advocate of civil rights not only survive him, but his distinguished legacy will continue to inspire people of all persuasions.
One of a few, and likely the most prominent and influential African American architects J. Max Bond Jr died last month on the 18th Febrauary. The man of whom Stanford Britt, FAIA described as “a demanding, innovative professional whose tenacity, intellect, and dedication make him a leader and servant of his community,” succumbed to cancer.
At his death, Mr. Bond was the partner in charge of the museum portion of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center. His firm Davis Brody Bond Aedas is the associate architect for the memorial.
Not only recognized for his reputation as a prominent practitioner, Bond was an eminent educator, working as chairman of the architecture division at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture and Planning from 1980 to 1984 and Dean of the school of Architecture and Environmental Studies at City College from 1985 to 1992.
Despite his many credentials Mr. Bond was said to have never lost his critical perspective. An exemplar to younger minority architects, Mr. Bond was a voice of conscience within his profession on issues of racial and economic justice. As seen in his application to early plans that called for public spaces high up in the new skyscrapers at the World Trade Center site in 2003.
“It’s always difficult for young blacks, for young Hispanics, for anyone who looks aberrant to get access to the upper realms of Wall Street Towers. For a city of immigrants, the public realm is more than ever now the street, “ Mr. Bond said. “ Architecture inevitably involves all the larger issues of society”.
A trip to Tunisia opened Mr. Bond’s eyes to North African architecture and came also to develop his love for architecture. Receiving his bachelor’s degree in 1955 and master’s degree in 1958 from Harvard, he was counseled by a faculty member to forego his architectural aspirations because of his race.
Despite the barriers in an all-white profession Mr. Bonds early career took him to France, where he worked with André Wogenscky; to New York where he worked at Gruzen & Partners and Pedersen & Tilney.
Between 1964 to 1967 Mr. Bond worked for the government in Ghana. He designed the Bolgatanga Regional Library in the north of the country. The library consisted of four buildings under a tabletop-like roof intended to eliminate the need for air-conditioning through the use of natural ventilation.
Mr. Bond led the Architects Renewal Committee of Harlem before founding the firm Bond, Ryder & Associates (with D. P. Ryder) in 1970. Mr. Bond’s projects included, to name a few, the Martin Luther King Jr Center for Nonviolent Social change in Atlanta, which includes Dr. King’s tomb; The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem; the Birmingham Civil rights Institute in Alabama; Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park for Colombia University and the addition to the Harvard Club of New york.
Coretta Scott King wrote in a letter of recommendation for the Whitney Young Award, “I chose Mr. Bond as the architect for the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and believe he truly deserves recognition for his many contributions toward social responsibility in architecture”.
Mr Bond’s achievements as an architect, a teacher, a mentor, an engaged citizen, and a tireless advocate of civil rights not only survive him, but his distinguished legacy will continue to inspire people of all persuasions.
