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Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation opens multi-use 'The Bev' HQ in Manhattan

2024-01-11T13:52:00-05:00

The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF) has opened a new headquarters space called The Bev in Manhattan it says will act as a “beacon for gender equity and innovation” just a few months removed from the passing of its trailblazing founder Beverly Willis at the age of 95.

The new, 2,000-square-foot multi-use space is meant to augment BWAF’s noted professional development, advocacy, and educational programs as well as provide space for its executive and support staff.

Located adjacent to the High Line and Hudson River Park in the SOM-designed Manhattan West development, the space was designed by SHoP Principal Angelica Baccon and overseen by Brookfield Properties Vice President of Design and Construction Sabrina Kanne. The space will also be used to host the BWAF's production of the award-winning New Angle: Voice podcast and special exhibitions, the first of which, the Yay Brigade-designed Pioneering Women of American Architecture, was launched recently.

Photo: Lucas Blair ...

Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation searches for new Executive Director after Cynthia Phifer Kracauer steps down

2023-11-15T11:37:00-05:00

Cynthia Phifer Kracauer, the well-respected longtime head of the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF), has announced she will be retiring from the organization at the end of December after serving as its executive director for more than seven years.

The announcement was made just a month after the passing of the organization’s pioneering namesake at the age of 95. Following this transition, the BWAF has initiated a search for a new Executive Director, a role that offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of architecture and design. Interested candidates can find more details and apply through Archinect Jobs.

Kracauer joined the organization in 2016 after serving as the Managing Director of AIA New York | Center for Architecture for ten years. There, she became a leader in many senses, helping to spearhead a number of award-winning initiatives while guiding the BWAF through the straits of the #MeToo movement and COVID-19. Kracauer has also taught at the University of ...

Trailblazing architect and inclusion advocate Beverly Willis passes away at 95

2023-10-02T20:16:00-04:00

Trailblazing architect, industrial designer, and inclusion advocate Beverly Willis passed away on October 1st in Connecticut from complications related to Parkinson’s disease, the New York Times reported on Monday. She was 95.

The founder of the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation leaves behind a legacy of wide-reaching philanthropic efforts, espousing throughout her career the position of women in the architectural and engineering trades. She pursued a prescient design agenda and building activities that served as valuable early lessons in the development of accessibility concepts, adaptive reuse, historic preservation, and sustainable design.

Willis was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1928, coming of age in a post-war America defined by “self-made people” and influenced heavily by figures such as Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright. She studied engineering at Oregon State University before transferring to the University of Hawaii to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and then ...