Architecture students help preserve erased and forgotten Black voices

Students in the School of Architecture graduate knowing how to design buildings, but it is fieldwork and interacting with people through opportunities like the Appalachian Futures Lab that adds depth to their work.

“Getting to know the people and their stories completely changed my design process,” said architecture student and project participant Madelyn Privett.

The Appalachian Futures Lab focuses on place-based and community-engaged design work that incorporates regional travel. Last fall, Hokies collaborated with the University of the South and Virginia Commonwealth University on a project known as Sewanee Praises.

The effort seeks to recognize and honor the history of Sewanee, Tennessee’s African American St. Mark’s community by designing an outdoor commemorative classroom called St. Mark’s Grove that will serve as a gathering place at the site of the former segregated Kennerly School.

The results of this project go beyond the designs for a classroom memorial, shaping “a place of community gathering and activity, a place to lift up voices and tell stories that have been erased and forgotten,” said Associate Professor of Practice Kevin Jones.

Community members now will raise funds to construct the design they chose for their memorial. The College of Architecture, Arts, and Design students also gained much from the experience.

The power of communication and connection

“It was important to get out and talk to people and listen before we started to act,” said Jones. “We met with the community, did design workshops, moved pencils around with them, and put Post-it notes on the walls. What we heard were ways to mark the presence of the Black community in this small university town.”

“I took what they said and thought about it a lot more, made word webs, and focused on their stories and past before jumping into the work,” said Privett. “That was really important to me.”

Courtney Towle, a fourth-year student in architecture, said this semester was the first time she had the opportunity to work with real clients on a real project.

“I was able to improve my communication, listening, and teamwork skills through collaborative project work and talking with the St. Mark's community about their history and what they are looking for in a memorial,” Towle said. “This studio also expanded my knowledge of what architecture can be. It's not just the building itself — it's the landscape, master planning, program, and signage. Architecture includes every detail that goes into a structure. It's the complete package.

“Appalachian Futures has given me so much, from improved skills to an expanded view of architecture to new friendships, but most importantly, it gave me the opportunity to work with a community and a team to design the St. Mark's Grove that will shine light on the history of the St. Mark's community and be a space for anyone and everyone,” she said.

For Glenn Pinchback, this semester working with the St. Marks community has been an accomplishment he won’t forget.

“I can confidently say this was the most rewarding experience of my 3 1/2 years at Virginia Tech,” Pinchback said. “Witnessing the joy and gratitude of the St. Mark’s community members as they saw our final product was the most rewarding aspect of the entire process. Their smiles were even more special to me, as I felt a personal connection to their struggles through the shared history of my Black ancestors. This was definitely a better accomplishment at the end of the semester than receiving an A on a final studio pin-up."

A unique collaboration and creative process

Although the project culminated last fall with the finished designs for the outdoor memorial classroom, Sewanee Praises has been an ongoing project for more than a year and a half, supported by the University of the South’s Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation.

Approximately 50 students from Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University have been involved at various stages, engaging directly with the community and contributing to the project.

The project was spearheaded by Woody Register and his team from the University of the South. Register is the Francis S. Houghteling Professor of American History and the director of the Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation. The design team was led by Assistant Professor Laura Battaglia of Virginia Commonwealth University and Associate Professor of Practice Kevin Jones of Virginia Tech.

“The work – both the process and the outcomes – was designed to be immersive, collaborative, and innovative with an emphasis on being multi-institutional, multidisciplinary, and multidemographic,” said Jones. “The project featured many components that expanded the traditional boundaries of architecture and design, including aspects of building design, landscape, commemoration, master planning, graphics and communications, and activity-based programming.” 

Construction on St. Mark’s Grove is slated to begin in the next 18 months and will feature places of memorialization, education, and gathering. Once complete, the memorial and surrounding landscape will resist the erasure of the historically Black community of Sewanee while serving as a tangible marker of their lives and contributions, both in the past and in the future.

The Appalachian Futures Lab is an example of the transformational learning experiences that the college and university aims to provide to all Hokies, regardless of their personal financial situations, through the ongoing commitment to  Virginia Tech Advantage.

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