Courtesy of Zócalo.
Gabrielle Bullock is a principal architect and the director of global diversity at the architecture firm Perkins&Will. The second Black woman to graduate from the architecture department of Rhode Island School of Design, she has led numerous high-profile projects in the U.S. and abroad. Before sitting on the panel for the Zócalo/Destination Crenshaw program “How Do You Grow a Rose From Concrete?,” she sat down in our green room to talk about fluorescent hospital lights, DEI work, and the Sankofa bird.
What did you want to be growing up?
An architect. Always—since I was 12. I had some art talent inherited from my mother. And I grew up in New York. I had a visceral reaction to public housing there. While we didn’t live in public housing, I just thought they were such inhumane places, and they’re typically where Black and brown communities live. I wanted to change that. I wanted to change how my people lived.
And you did it. You started as an architect for public housing, right?
I worked at a couple of small firms back East and then the recession hit and so all those firms went under. My next best thing had to be a firm that did meaningful work—that had an impact. At that time—we’re talking mid-to-late ’80s—healthcare and education were that. So I was a healthcare architect for many, many years.
What’s something that people don’t think about that goes into designing healthcare buildings?
The challenge of getting a light to every space in the hospital—it’s almost impossible, but you strive to get it. The other thing that’s interesting, if you’ve ever been in the hospital and you’re being wheeled down a hallway, either to surgery or the ER, you see the ceiling, and it’s just a row of fluorescent lights. So the design of lighting has changed quite a bit so that patients in gurneys don’t get subjected to these running neon fluorescent lights.
What’s a public space in L.A. where you feel at home?
There are too few, and they’re not easy to get to. I do feel at home walking along the boardwalk in Santa Monica. I feel at home at the beach.
What’s the last book you read that you enjoyed?
It’s called DEI C.R.E.D.E.N.T.I.A.L by Jarvis Sam. Each letter is the start of a term or topic related to DEI. Having had to learn how to guide others in this space—a very uncomfortable space for many—this book puts it in such easy-to-understand terms: how you can actually transform your organization or workplace.
What is your go-to karaoke song?
I don’t do karaoke. But I do like 50 Cent’s “In Da Club.” When I’m driving to Palm Springs, and that comes on, I’m just rocking.
Having grown up on the East Coast, and now living on the West Coast, do you have a coastal bias?
New York will always be my home. I have grown to appreciate Los Angeles, but I still compare the two. This project, I think, is a huge opportunity to do some of what some areas in New York have been able to do.
Having worked on Sankofa Park for Destination Crenshaw, what does the concept of Sankofa mean to you?
The Sankofa bird is a West African bird, a colorful bird, and its head turns 360 degrees. One interpretation, and one that we’ve latched onto, is that it means go back and get what was taken. And so, Sankofa Park is shaped loosely like a bird, and it’s designed so that you can go up to the highest part, look south, and see where you’ve come, and look north, and see where you’re going. It’s a metaphor for the migration of the Black community.