CREATING A LEGACY

Much national excitement has been generated by the selection of African American architect Allison Williams of the San-Francisco based firm Perkins & Will (formerly Ai) to design the AACC facility. U.S. News & World Report (December 29, 2003) and more recently the New York Times (June 24, 2004) have championed her selection. Ms. Williams has also been featured in Black Enterprise (May 2005) and the San Francisco Chronicle (April 2005).

Ms. Williams is Design Principal for Perkins & Will, where she sets the design strategy for the San Francisco office's major projects including corporate headquarters facilities, cultural institutions and urban, high-rise and civic mixed-use developments. She has served as the office's principal and director of design since 1997.

Allison has led the design of such nationally significant projects as The San Francisco Civic Center Complex, The San Francisco International Airport Terminal, and currently The African American Cultural Center of Pittsburgh and The International Museum of Women in San Francisco. Throughout Allison Williams' 27-year career, she has distinguished herself as an exceptional designer, sensitive collaborator and articulate leader within the architectural profession. Her work has been recognized consistently with national awards, by her peers and through numerous positive critical press reviews.

Ms. Williams, elevated to Fellow in the American Institute of Architecture (FAIA), holds a Bachelors Degree in The Practice of Art and a Masters of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. Recently appointed to theHarvard Design Magazine advisory board, Allison is a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and also serves on the University of California, Berkeley's Capital Planning Design Review Committee, and on the boards of directors for The Museum of the African Diaspora and The Exploratorium.