Yes, I’m part of the Rolex mentoring programme for the 2023-2024 season, and my mentor, the architect Anne Lacaton, is actually the one who suggested I should do a project here. I explained in my application about how much influence it’s had on me, so she told me we should take advantage of this time together and work on something in my hometown. Her guidance has been so crucial, especially because I have such strong personal ties to the area, she’s been extremely helpful in reminding me of what my role is as an architect.

Totally. I’d say parents, brothers, sisters, and don’t go far beyond that for the moment. If you’ve had a long-term relationship with an agent, that’s a whole different thing, because that agent is there to care.

Try to retain some of the finest parts of the African American culture, some of the sweetest parts. The fact that people kind of drop their voices and become almost musical when they talk to a friend, or to a preacher, or to a teacher. They say, “Hey! How you doin’?” Remember that. Keep the melody in your mind and in your spirit. It will keep you tender in the tough times, which is very important.

My mother made the same brilliant impression upon my childhood's eye. She shone for me like the Evening Star. I loved her dearly—but at a distance. My nurse was my confidante. Mrs. Everest it was who looked after me and tended all my wants. It was to her I poured out my many troubles, both now and in my schooldays.