National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA)
NOMA was founded in 1971 with the mission of providing fellowship among minority Architects, advocating for positive changes in the field of Architecture, and to inspire the next generation of Architects. NOMA held the first national Project Pipeline camp in 2012.
NOMA of Central Texas
Our local NOMA chapter was founded a little over three years ago and covers the region surrounding Austin and San Antonio. There are also NOMA Student organizations at UT Austin and UT San Antonio.
https://www.nomacentraltx.org/
Project Pipeline Camp 2023
The purpose of Project Pipeline is to show youth that there are career opportunities in the field of Architecture and related design and construction industries. We especially want to reach out to populations that have been historically underrepresented in the profession of Architecture. We pair the campers with mentors that are professional Architects, college Architecture students, and other design professionals so they can share their educational and professional experiences with the campers.
Our chapter began participating in Project Pipeline in our first year. Albert, of Studio Plearn, volunteered as a mentor for that first camp and then joined the Board of NOMA to help with organizing the camps for the next two years. As our chapter covers two cities, the camps have been held at UT Austin and UT San Antonio and we have tried to expand our reach to more areas in Central Texas. Our attendance has grown from 25 students in the first year to 65 students in our third year.
During our 2-day camp, the campers create a Lego construction and create drawings of it as if it were a habitable building. We play a game called “Mind Your Neighbor” where the campers must think about how buildings relate to each other in a neighborhood context. For the final project, campers are asked to design a building and create a physical model of their design. This year we partnered with City of San Antonio initiatives to promote Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) for our project focus. ADUs add additional housing units to pre-existing housing lots. The campers designed tiny houses, units for college kids to live in when they return home, assisted living units for the elderly, dog care facilities, and many other things.
