When Harvey Gantt arrived in Cambridge in 1968 to study for his master’s degree in city planning, he was no stranger to turbulence. In 1963, after a federal court suit, he had been admitted to Clemson University as its first African-American student. The ’60s were a transformational time to be in Cambridge, too, with the convergence of a war, a presidential election, and student protests on college campuses nationwide.
“Somehow we managed to continue to focus on urban policy, which seemed to be in vogue at that time simply because so much was happening in cities,” says Gantt. “My education at MIT broadened my notion of what architects could do, particularly if they understood the importance of what’s happening in cities around the country.”
Gantt’s focus has remained constant. After earning his MIT degree, he spent a year helping develop federally funded new communities. In 1971, he moved to Charlotte, NC, where he cofounded Gantt Huberman Architects; it served as an influential force in that city’s growth for more than three decades. The firm designed Charlotte’s first neighborhood center for low-income communities, the first major downtown mixed-use development project, and the Charlotte Transportation Center, a countywide bus terminal that has become a catalyst for major redevelopment.
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