Atlanta architect Cheryl McAfee FAIA, NOMA and her sisters, Charyl and Pamela, grew up in a home shaped by leadership, civic activism, and transformative architecture.
Their mother, Gloria McAfee, had a distinguished career as a Wichita, Kansas public school educator and principal while their father, architect Charles McAfee FAIA, NOMA, is noted as one of the first African American architects in the state of Kansas. The History Makers, a digital repository of the African American Experience, described McAfee in 2022 as one of the most important African American architects in the United States.
Decades before today’s tiny homes, Charles McAfee established McAfee Manufacturing Company, Inc. in 1994 in Wichita to design, manufacture, and market high-quality, affordable, modular homes nationwide and abroad. He envisioned architecture as a catalyst for a better quality of life for African Americans and anyone affected by racial inequality or economic disenfranchisement.
His architectural firm Charles McAfee Architects and Planners received national design awards for projects such as the Beloved Modernist McAdams Swimming Pool (c.1969) and the McKnight Art Center and Ulrich Museum (c. 1970).
Charles McAfee Architects and Planners established an Atlanta office in 1974 and designed projects for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and MARTA. One of his most iconic projects is located in Midtown Atlanta. Reflecting his interest in the sculptural forms of modernist architecture, McAfee designed the Atlanta Midtown MARTA Station in 1982 with a prominent concrete waffle slab at the entry. The 1996 Olympics allowed the firm to tap into its past recreational project experience in Wichita.
One of the first female registered architects in the state of Kansas, daughter Cheryl led the program management team for the design and construction of all 32 sports venues for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Upon the completion of these games, she and her team managed the conversion of the Olympic Stadium into Turner Field and other legacy projects from the Olympics. Firm ownership transitioned to daughters Cheryl and Charyl of the renamed McAfee3 Architects in 2006. All three architects have been nationally recognized as Fellows by the American Institute of Architects for their impact to the architectural profession: Charles in 1981, Cheryl in 2003, and Charyl in 2013.
With the sixtieth anniversary of McAfee3 Architects in 2023, the firm’s recent redesign and modernization of six library branches of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System animates Cheryl. She recognizes libraries as essential to meet the diverse needs of minority and poor constituents in the Atlanta region through spaces for educational resources, community gathering spaces, technology training, and voting sites. “Architecture has the power to transform lives. I’m thankful for the opportunities to put my passion into practice.”
For more information about Cheryl McAfee, Charles McAfee, and their projects tune into the Uplifting Places podcast hosted by Melody Harclerode on Spotify.