Episode 51: Verma Panton
The time was April 17, 1936, the place St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. Verma Wevlyn Panton was born. Her parents were Laura Louise and Vernon George Panton. As a child, Verma attended the Claremont Primary School and then to two high schools, first Carvalho High School, and then she graduated from the prestigious Ardenne High School. Right after graduation, she got a job as an Assistant Land Surveyor in the Survey Department in the government, from 1956 to 1958. While working, she was awarded a scholarship to attend the McGill University School of Architecture in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. When Verma graduated from architecture school, she became the first woman architect in Jamaica and the Anglo-Caribbean. She went back to Jamaica in 1964 and became the Project Architect for the Ministry of Education for about 4 years and then moved on to be an Associate Partner with the firm of McMorris, Sibley, Robinson more popularly known as MSR. In 1974, she was Chair of the committee organizing the Pan American Federation of Architects Conference. In 1982 she left the MSR to be a Partner and the Director of the Landmark Development Company. Two years later she began her own architecture practice.
Verma was one of the founding members of the Jamaican Architects Registration Board in 1987. Throughout her career, she won several accolades such as a Certificate of Recognition for Pioneer Woman in Architecture and Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Architecture. Verma passed away on 18 January 2015 in Jamaica.
Caryatid: June Grant
June Grant is a Jamaican architect that practices in Oakland at her firm blink!Lab Architecture. She has a master’s degree from the Yale School of Architecture. She was president of the NOMA Bay Area Chapter and she is also a member of the Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture a.k.a. ACADIA. : She presented at Obama 2010 Green Conference and was a YBCA100 honoree. Her practice blink!LAB Architecture focuses on environmental and social justice, so she is really committed to making a difference in our field just like Verma was.
For more information on June make sure to check out:
References
BLINK-LAB ARCHITECTURE. “Who We Are.” BLINK-LAB ARCHITECTURE, www.blink-lab.com/about.html. Accessed 17 Apr. 2022.
Lawton, Jacquiann T. “About the Caribbean School of Architecture — UTech, Ja.” University of Technology Jamaica, 23 Aug. 2021, www.utech.edu.jm/academics/colleges-faculties/fobe/csa.
“Personalities.” Discover Jamaica, Gleaner, www.discoverjamaica.com/pnames.htm. Accessed 5 Apr. 2022.
“Verma Panton News Archive - Jamaica - Who Is Popular Today?” Who Is Popular Today?, www.whoispopulartoday.com/Verma-Panton/jm. Accessed 5 May 2022.
Wikipedia contributors. “Verma Panton.” Wikipedia, 27 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verma_Panton.
Images:
Lumsden, Joy. Jamaica-History. Accessed 7 July 2022. https://jamaica-history.weebly.com/the-old-h-w-t-courthouse.html
