Solange's Book About Pioneering Black Architect Amaza Lee Meredith Is Here

"Architect and educator Amaza Lee Meredith, a Black queer woman born in Lynchburg, Virginia five years before the turn of the 20th century, masterfully balanced the fluidity of creativity with the rigor building structures requires, cementing her not only as a visionary, but also as an undercelebrated pioneer of creating space as a platform for self-determination, with the foresight to document her process for generations to come."

"Meredith's mark on 20th century Modernism is best preserved through Azurest North, the Sag Harbor, New York, community development she designed as a beachfront vacation destination for the Black American middle class to retreat to in an era when redlining was de rigueur and leisure was a privilege most did not enjoy. She was also the founder of the art department at Virginia State University, which is where she designed her own residence Azurest South (now known as the VSU Alumni House)."

Amaza Lee Meredith was an architect and educator who integrated Modernist International Style principles into projects that served Black communities and enabled self-determination. She designed Azurest North in Sag Harbor as a beachfront vacation community for the Black American middle class during an era of redlining. She founded the art department at Virginia State University and designed her hybrid home-workplace Azurest South (now VSU Alumni House) using modular, minimalist materials like glass and concrete. Her designs emphasize contrast between lightness and heaviness as a metaphor for double consciousness and intersecting identities as a Black queer woman operating in male-dominated fields. A research journal, Azurest Blue, compiles archival materials and essays celebrating her legacy.

Read at Architectural Digest