First African American architect to serve as the national president on the American Institute of Architects in 150 years./ photo National Parks
Marshall Emmiett Purnell, FAIA, NOMA
(born June 8, 1950)
Bachelor of Science in Architecture University of Michigan
Master of Architecture University of Michigan
African American architect. He co-founded the architecture firm, Devrouax+Purnell in Washington, D.C. Its portfolio includes several large-scale sports and entertainment facilities such as the Washington Convention Center; the Verizon Center, formerly the MCI Center; and a new ballpark for the Washington Nationals, which it currently is designing with HOK Sport. The firm also specializes in monuments. It is working with Roma Design Group on the new Martin Luther King Memorial, to be located on the National Mall, and it designed the African American Civil War Memorial
He is former President of the American Institute of Architect’s (2008) and the National Organization of Minority Architects (1985, 1986). As a Principal of Devrouax & Purnell Architects Planners for 35 years, the firm designed more than two billion square feet. More than 30 million people a year live, work, play, or otherwise move through spaces and structures the firm has designed. Firm projects include: the $800 million Washington Convention Center, the $600 million Washington Nationals Baseball Park, the Washington NBA and NHL venue Verizon Center, PEPCO Energy’s corporate headquarters, FreddieMac corporate headquarters, the National Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, a new town in Turkey, a marina, restaurant, luxury housing, and golf course in the Bahamas, and many mixed-use residential, institutional, educational, industrial, transportation, and commercial projects on both the East and West Coasts. The firm has won AIA Design Awards at the local, regional, and national level.
Marshall Emmiett Purnell was born June 8, 1950, in Toledo, Ohio. He was raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is from an African-American family and is the second son of the late Lelia (née Givens) Purnell and Curtis Purnell. He attended Ottawa Hills High School where he played point guard on its state high school championship-winning basketball team.Though he was recruited by the Boston Red Sox, he chose not to pursue sports.
Purnell earned a B.S. degree in architecture and urban planning, and a M.Arch degree from the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
After earning his degree, Purnell taught design until 1973 at the University of Maryland. Following that, he joined the American Institute of Architecture in 1974, working as an executive in the headquarters in Washington, DC until 1978.
In the summer of 1978, four months prior to Purnell leaving his executive position, Paul S. Devrouax, a well-esteemed architect with an already established firm proposed to Purnell, a partnership that would later be known as the firm Devrouax+Purnell. He served as the design principal and vice president of the firm for thirty-five years, until the death of the co-founder, Paul S. Devrouax in 2010.
Purnell was the president of the National Organization of Minority Architects in 1985 and 1986. In 1994, he served as president of the College of Architecture and Planning Alumni Association Board of Governors and was a member of the University of Michigan Alumni Association Executive Committee from 1996 to 2003.
In 2006, Marshall was elected as the first African American architect to serve as the national president on the American Institute of Architects in 150 years; an organization that did not allow membership of African Americans until 1923. His inauguration marked a significant step to diversifying the fields of Architecture and Design.
In 2007, he received the University of Michigan Distinguished Service Award and Michigan’s College of Architecture Service Award whereupon he presented the Commencement Address. In 2009, he received an honorary Doctorate of Architecture from the Boston Architectural College.
In 2014, Purnell joined the College of Design at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He took the position of Professor of the Practice, Teaching Professional Practice, Design Studios, IDP Coordinator, AIAT Board Member, AIAS representative and Advisory Board Coordinator.