When asked about his favorite projects, Vince Myers does not mention the buildings of the Digrouparchitecture’s civic portfolio, not even a passion for life projects. Instead, the co -founder and president of the majority black property architecture exposes customer relationships. “I am not someone entering and opens a wallet or brings anything or anyone to a meeting,” says Myers. “I am confident that I can let my character come out and believe confidence.”
The 65 -year -based approach helped the new Brunswick, the NJ -based firm, to successfully open a Philadelphia office in 2019 after completing only a few small projects. Myers and his team rapidly reached contracts through the reconstruction of Philadelphia, an initiative to renew libraries and recreation centers in dismissed communities. The firm’s work in two libraries of the city funded and built by Andrew Carnegie Industrial-Filial Andrew Carnegie before the mid-1920’s, the branches of Paschalville and Cobbs Creek-Falend Preservation with modern functionality. At the end of 2023, Digrouparchitecture won more than two dozen contracts in the city. “We care about community -based work, non -profit work,” says Myers, “and this message resonated immediately.”
The firm also contributes to the efforts of developing the city’s workforce. In collaboration with Rebuild Philadelphia and a local high school, Myers hosted a design competition for students, whose winning mural design would be integrated into a recent renewal branch of local libraries. In addition, a high school student was selected for a practice and worked with the signature during the design of the Paschalville Library project.
Myers also offered Pro Bono design services for two non -profit in Philadelphia. The Enterprise Center is included, which supports the growth of several small companies and partners with the West Philadelphia communities on revitalization strategies, as well as one day at a time, which is used for low -income and homeless families and families affected by addiction.
The architectural firm of 45 people, two thirds of which are licensed architects, supports the diversity and the inclusion of women and colored people. Women make up 40% of the team of architects, compared to an average of the 17% industry. Also 30% of the firm’s staff are minorities. Myers recently won the 2025 Diversity in Business Leader Award from Philadelphia Business Journal.
The firm does 80% of their work for repeated customers, including the Plymouth group for the last five years.
“Natural positivity, creativity and energy of Vince make it a wonderful partner for a developer who faces countless challenges and detours as a project progresses,” says Asher Schlousselberg, a Plymouth group partner. “It can reach the heart of the problem in a few minutes, order challenges and present a way to follow efficient and often simple.”
The $ 22 million renovation of Edwin Forrest Elementary School in Philadelphia included the auditorium, where the design of an existing mosaic outside the building was replicated as an interior mural graph.
Photo by Lorianne M. Jones, Director of Senior Projects/Digroupchacture
Discouraged
The son of one of the first black architects licensed in New Jersey – the late Harvey Myers – was fascinated by his father’s sketches and models.
“I have been around architecture since I don’t remember,” he says. “I always liked to draw regardless of architecture and I always liked writing, and I always liked the architecture process.”
Myers worked for his father during the summers and joined his company, EHM Architects, after graduating from the University of Syracuse in 1984. From the lessons he learned to see his father build a practice during a period of intense racial spirit. “I am a reflection of what my father believed,” He continues to work and there will always be challenges. “”
But he says just because his father, who calls a “unicorn”, succeeded without government programs for minority companies does not mean that MBE initiatives should not help at the level of the pitch today. Myers says large companies often land large projects that help build generational wealth. “Historically, people have been careful to safeguard these opportunities,” says Myers. “This is a different social breakthrough that is not talked about in the same way as a [MBE] Program that offers opportunities. “”
Rupture
In the early 2000’s, a lawsuit against the state of New Jersey for not providing equitable education resulted in an initiative of $ 8 billion to improve schools in the dismissed communities.
Myers and his father joined a consortium of several other small businesses to provide services to the New Jersey School Development Authority called NJK-12 Architects. The coalition, which merged to form Digroupchitecture, landed the Cycely Tyson School of $ 143 million for performing arts at East Orange, NJ
Years later, Dr. Bibi Taylor, a former member of the East Orange School Board, involved with the Cicly Tyson project, called Myers after playing a leadership role in Union’s next county. He needed an architect to design a $ 120 million government complex. Now under construction, it is expected to end next year.
“We are concerned about community -based work, non -profit work, and the message resonated immediately.”
—Rencent Myers, co-founder and president of Digroup-Architectors
Taylor was impressed by the “Labor Ethical approach and first customer”, according to her, who was “deeply rooted in him” by his father. “His legacy is not only in the buildings he designs, but in the trust and respect he gains with all the projects.”
Myers, as the main head of Digrouparchitectors’s main life study, Myers also undertakes to educate others in the complex housing needs of a new generation of aged adults. He is a former member of the Council and President of Springpoint Senior Living, a non-profit organization, led by missions, committed to serving the elderly. The communities in their life plan include higher care facilities, affordable homes and home care options at the age.
Myers recently began to think about his own retirement, as his company began succession planning.
“I want to deliver the reins absolutely and find a way that I could continue to work at some level and still provide value,” he says. “I will always want to do it because there is only one kind of DNA.”
