Archinect - News

The ASLA Fund selects ten women as 2023-2025 Women of Color Licensure Advancement Program recipients

2023-09-08T18:28:00-04:00

The Fund of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has just announced its second class of the Women of Color Licensure Advancement Program recipients for 2023-2025.

The program provides each with a $3,500 stipend to cover the costs related to the Landscape Architectural Registration Exam (LARE), along with exam prep, other resources, and 1-on-1 mentorship experience from a licensed professional landscape architect.

Cornell AAP Associate Professor Valerie Aymer, Curtis + Rogers Design Principal Aida Curtis, and Alexandra Mei of the St. Louis-based Christner Architects selected ten winners of the program’s second cycle, which is funded by a $100,000 donation from former ASLA President Wendy Miller and three others from the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB).

“[The] ASLA has steadfastly supported and defended licensure across the country, and the Woman of Color Licensure Advancement Program is a natural extension of this commitment,” CEO Torey C...

Join Archinect for an important panel discussion, "Creating a More Diverse Future in A&D"

2020-11-04T15:46:00-05:00

Do the architecture and design industries represent the same diversity as the population it serves? This panel takes a look at this critical issue, and will address ways to make positive changes to ensure we push towards justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in A&D.

We invite you to join us for a special discussion this upcoming Monday, November 9th, from 1-2 pm EST / 10-11 am PST, featuring a panel of industry leaders that have dedicated their work towards reshaping our industry into one that better represents the communities at large.

Distinguished panelists include Karen Compton, Principal at A3K; Kimberly Dowdell, President at NOMA; Julia Gamolina, Founder at Madame Architect; Todd Heiser, Managing Director at Gensler; & Ann Rolland, Partner at FXCollaborative. The panel will be moderated by Paul Petrunia, Archinect's Founder/Director.

To RSVP for this virtual panel, please click the "reserve" button at this link. Space is limited and registration is required to attend.

...

Fundació Mies van der Rohe launches 2nd Lilly Reich Grant for Equality In Architecture

2020-06-17T12:15:00-04:00

Marking the 135th anniversary of the birth of German designer Lily Reich, Fundació Mies van der Rohe presents its 2nd edition of the Lily Reich Grant for Equality In Architecture. Reich was Mies van der Rohe's close collaborator for many years and was a key player in the conception and execution of the Barcelona Pavilion and other projects. However, her legacy has historically been forgotten, overshadowed, and even non-existent.

This grant aims to promote the study of contributions to architecture that have been forgotten or suppressed as a result of discrimination. The grant also seeks to promote equal access to the practice of architecture as a whole.

This year's grant also includes a section for senior high school student research project centered around the same theme of equality and inclusivity. "We are thrilled to present the new call of the Lilly Reich Grant for equality in architecture, and we are especially happy to include the teenage community in this fight for equality t...

See-through floors at new Cornell Fine Arts Library alienate users

2019-11-22T14:45:00-05:00

In a HyperAllergic opinion piece, Sarah Rose Sharp details the shortcomings of the recently completed Mui Ho Fine Arts Library at Cornell University, where "Architect Wolfgang Tschapeller says the library was designed with books in mind — but the grated floors fail to account for slushy snow boots, skirts, assisted mobility devices, and more." The Detroit-based writer outlines how users "inclined to wear skirts are feeling even more on display than the 100,000 books" held within the space.

Sharp writes that the slatted gratings at the upper levels, which are meant to allow air and light through the space, instead encourage indecorous sight-lines. Additionally, the perforated surface presents challenges for guests wearing heels as well as those with assisted mobility devices, writes Sharp.

According to the article, second-year graduate student Nicole Nomura, told Metropolis, "Knowing that I have to think about what I’m wearing as I enter the library is off-putting to me. What was Co...

Breaking down NCARB's 2019 findings on Diversity and Licensure

2019-08-08T19:00:00-04:00

"NCARB by the Numbers", provides new insights into the makeup of candidates and metrics relating to the pursuit of architectural licensure. The 2019 edition reveals updates regarding the number of U.S. architects, the time it takes to earn a license, diversity in the profession, analysis on attrition along the path to licensure, and a look back at historical data celebrating the organization’s 100-year history.

NCARB's latest annual data report includes several record-setting or near-record statistics:

For the first time, over half of newly licensed architects started their NCARB Record while in school.
Nearly 5,000 candidates completed the Architect Registration Examination (ARE) in 2018, the second highest number on record.
Gender equity improved along most career stages. Women now make up 50 percent of candidates beginning the AXP, the first time equity has been seen at any career stage.
Diversity continues to improve along early career stages—46 percent of new AXP candidates and 35 percent of new ARE candidates now identify as non-white.
On average, it takes 12.8 years to complete the core licensure requirements, which include earning a degree, completing the experience program, and passing the ARE.

NCARB also celebrated its 100th anniversary as an organization this past May. "As we embark on our second century, we will continue using the information gathered in NCARB by the Numbers, as ...

A collective of architects has started a petition requesting equal recognition of Doriana Fuksas, wife and partner of Massimiliano Fuksas

2018-12-17T19:42:00-05:00

A number of architects are seeking justice for the exclusion of Doriana Fuksas in the recent recognition given to her husband and business partner at Studio Fuksas, Massimiliano Fuksas, for a Lifetime Achievement Award from INARCH Istituto Nazionale di Architettura.

The initiative has been spearheaded by architects Louise Braverman, Caroline James and Francesca Perani on behalf of Italian activistsRebelArchitette and VOW Architects. The petition currently has over 450 supporters, including Massimiliano Fuksas, Denise Scott Brown, Rem Koolhaas, Paola Antonelli, Beatriz Colomina, Gisue Hariri, Toshiko Mori and Bjarke Ingels.

The petition can be viewed and signed here: bitly.com/DorianaFuksas

Stella Lee's story calls for architecture to adopt a new movement

2018-10-12T15:25:00-04:00

Architectural education is plagued by the mentality that suffering is a necessary part of its practice. [...] The acceptance of suffering easily slips into normalizing sexual misconduct and its suppression as simply part of the practice. Cultlike worship of the star architect only exacerbates this condition, and there are plenty [...] willing to sacrifice their time and integrity because they have been conditioned to believe that this mode of production is normal.

The architecture world is known for many movements that have enabled architects to create iconic works. From bauhaus to brutalist, midcentury modern to contemporary, countless movements have impacted the architectural timeline. But in today's climate of inclusivity and representation is there one movement in particular that architecture is too slow to adopt?

Designing physical spaces that depict an artistic representation of form and function is something many architects strive for. However, have firms and institutions lost their way when it comes to designing a space that evokes "an equitable working environment?"

Bureau V team (left to right) Stella Lee, Peter Zuspan, Laura Trevino Image via BureauV

Stella Lee, architect and founding partner of the inclusive award-winning studio Bureau V, recently shared her experiences while working with Richard Meier. Having been accused of sexual misconduct it was announced early this month that Meier would be stepping down from his leadership...

AIA approves new rules specifically addressing sexual harassment and sustainability

2018-09-12T17:54:00-04:00

The AIA Board of Directors have recently approved new changes to the AIA Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct to explicitly address sexual harassment, equity in the profession, and sustainability.

AIA 2018 President Carl Elefante, FAIA stated, “The architecture profession is at a threshold moment. The Board’s adoption of these changes provides us with another step toward ending sexual harassment in the workplace, advancing equity in our profession, and promulgating sustainable practices. I applaud the members who raised their voices to offer these improvements to the code, and the AIA delegates, Board of Directors, and National Ethics Council who acted on their concerns.”

You can find the full list of new and updated rules on the AIA's website here.

UC Berkeley gives three-year suspension to professor of architecture for pattern of sexual harassment

2018-08-20T14:06:00-04:00

UC Berkeley Professor Nezar AlSayyad has been suspended for three years without pay for engaging in a pattern of sexual harassment and abuse of faculty power, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. AlSayyad, a tenured architecture professor and Middle East scholar, sexually harassed his former student, Eva Hagberg Fisher, from 2012 to 2014.

After an independent investigation determined he was guilty of inappropriate and manipulative behavior, AlSayyad was removed from teaching courses but continued to receive a $211,000-a-year salary. He was also allowed to remain serving on academic committees and continued to advise students. Hagberg Fisher agreed not to sue the school, instead agreeing to an $80,000 settlement.

In November 2016, after the investigation's findings were first reported, protests erupted at the school with Graduate students angered by UC Berkeley's handling of the situation and their lack of transparency. Hagberg Fisher wrote a viral op-ed (and must-read) for the the...

Jeanne Gang closed the pay gap at her firm and urges others to do the same

2018-07-05T15:40:00-04:00

Achieving pay equity is a foundational act of building an environment in which creativity can flourish. Taking the first step toward equality via pay empowers us to move forward, together, to address the more complex challenges that await. Comprehensive, math-based tools are available to assess the problem. Let’s put them to work. Follow the money (or lack thereof), and fix pay inequity now.

Jeanne Gang's firm Studio Gang recently scrutinized their office for any existing pay gap. She explains that despite their prioritization of equality there was in fact a small gender pay gap in their office.

Using her own practice as an example, Gang urges every architecture studio to go through the same process. Gang calls for other firms to "use the assessment tools, determine where you are, and make the needed adjustments" citing this step as the the easiest and most concrete way to correct inequality in the workplace.

Architecture students at Harvard's GSD pressure the administration to respond to the Shitty Men in Architecture List

2018-04-10T12:41:00-04:00

On Harvard's campus, students in their Graduate School of Design programs are pressuring the administration to respond to an anonymous spreadsheet that catalogued incidences of assault, harassment and other abuses in the industry. The spreadsheet, known as the Shitty Men in Architecture list, was created after Richard Meier was accused by five women of sexual harassment, ushering in a #metoo moment for the industry. Inspired by the Shitty Media Men list that outed numerous predatory journalists back in October of last year, the anonymous creator(s) launched the crowdsourced document to give the architecture community a platform for sharing their own stories of abuse in an anonymous and safe way. They insist, in a disclaimer that is part of the document, that the content should not be seen as "legally true."

According to the school's paper, The Harvard Crimson, the list "contained anonymous accounts of sexual misconduct and racist acts allegedly perpetrated by more than a dozen GSD s...

AA annual report shows upwards of $1M loss last year

2018-04-04T14:08:00-04:00

The Architectural Association made a loss in excess of £800,000 last year, its annual report has revealed. The cash-strapped school – which made nine redundancies this winter – posted net expenditure of £819,732 for the year ending 31 July 2017, according to accounts due to be filed at Companies House. This compared with a net income of £244,551 in the previous year.

The AA's annual report stated the "Expenditure increased in the year due to one-off costs in governance reform as part of preparation for the TDAP application, together with increased costs of compliance monitoring and property rentals at Bedford Square."

The report also states an income issue with student numbers not meeting their target resulting in a tuition fee income of around $22M for last year.

On a positive note the AA's gender pay gap report showed the school's median female staff salary way equal to its median male salary.

New website champions the remarkable contributions made by 50 pioneering women in architecture

2017-12-20T19:40:00-05:00

Norma Merrick Sklarek was the first African American woman architect to be registered in New York and California. She was also the first black woman to be elected to the prestigious Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and the first female director of Gruen and Associates, where she worked behind the scenes on some their largest architectural projects such as the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, CA. However, despite her immense responsibilities and vital contributions, she was rarely acknowledged on the finished project and you likely weren't taught about her in architecture school.

Seeking to change that, the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation has recently launched a new website that highlights the far too often overlooked history of women in architecture by featuring the stories of 50 trailblazing women, Sklarek included. The website, Pioneering Women in American Architecture, is the culmination of a five-year research effort by the foundation made possible b...

Screening of "100 Women Architects in the Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright" on June 28th

2017-06-22T20:03:00-04:00

Featuring a talk by Dr. Ann Rubbo on the artist and architect Marion Mahony Griffin, this screening of "A Girl is a Fellow Here: 100 Women Architects in the Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright" at the Center for Architecture in New York on June 28th at 6 p.m. investigates Wright's history of working with women, focusing on six ladies who worked with the architect, including Marion Mahony Griffin, Isabel Roberts, Lois Gottlieb, Jane Duncombe, Eleanore Pettersen, and Read Weber. Here's a trailer for the film:

It's Better to Turn on Than to Fade Away; Archinect Sessions #94

2017-01-12T16:46:00-05:00

This week Donna, Ken, and Paul discuss Exhibit Columbus's Miller Prize announcement, gender equality in lecture school lineups, and the recent illumination of Detroit.

This episode was sponsored by PPI - use code ARC17 for 15% off your purchase.

Listen to episode 94 of Archinect Sessions, "It's Better to Turn on Than to Fade Away":

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Only one student enrolled in a Yale course about women architects, despite grievances against poor representation

2016-11-18T15:09:00-05:00

“This is not a position that has been strongly represented in this school historically,” [said Professor Kathleen James-Chakraborty, who believes] The crux of the issue is whether courses that champion diversity in architecture should be taught as optional, specialized seminars or integrated into the curriculum of the school.

Now with Deborah Berke as dean, the Yale School of Architecture is working to offer more courses focusing on women in architecture such as “Expanding the Canon: Making Room for Other Voices”, an optional seminar that would've been taught by visiting professor Kathleen James-Chakraborty. But only one student enrolled in the class “despite students voicing grievances about a lack of female representation”, the Yale Daily News reports.

James-Chakraborty questions if such diversity courses should become a requirement in the school's already rigid curriculum. Some female students say that YSoA still feels like “a gentleman's club”, and that the “student body is not well-primed to see the ‘radical nature’ of the course.”

More women joined the profession in 2015 than ever before

2016-06-16T17:27:00-04:00

The architectural design profession continues to grow, with more women pursuing licensure than ever before, according to data released today by the NCARB...The number of practitioners working toward licensure reached an all-time high in 2015 with more than 41,500 individuals either taking the Architect Registration Exam, reporting Architecture Experience Program (AXP, formerly IDP) hours, or both. That’s up from 37,178 in 2014—a record high at that time.

But, as a recent poll conducted by the AIA shows, gender discrimination and harassment remains high. More than two-thirds of women polled in a survey in March reported a lack of gender equity in architecture.

For more on the state of women in the profession, check out these links:

North Carolina loses AIA conference due to anti-LGBT HB2 bill passage

2016-05-04T13:51:00-04:00

Wilmington officials say the cancellation of an architect business conference due to HB2 will cost the city nearly $1 million. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced Monday it will nix its three-day conference scheduled for later this fall at the Wilmington Convention Center. AIA officials cited the passage of HB2 as the reason for the cancellation.

Being a bigot isn't just ridiculous—it's costly! Supposedly pro-business Republican senators in North Carolina have managed to drive away Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and now the AIA thanks to their passage of HB2, which Towelroad describes as a bill that "bans all local LGBT rights ordinances in the state" while introducing "some of the most draconian anti-trans 'bathroom regulations' in the U.S." Talk about pissing it all away...

For more on the fight for equality:

How sexist is architecture? Female architects share their experiences

2016-04-13T12:54:00-04:00

After Ms. Hadid died on March 31 at 65, The New York Times, in an informal online questionnaire, asked female architects among its readers to talk candidly about their experiences in the profession: the progress they’ve made and the obstacles they still face on construction sites and in client meetings. Below are edited excerpts from a few of some 200 responses we received.

Architecture, already a tough field, can be even more challenging if you happen to be female. As Christine Matheu from Bloomington, Indiana recalls in this article, “There was a time when women were not allowed to be members of the Century Club. About that same time, as a young architect trying to survive, I was doing exhibition design and had been hired by an N.Y.C. art collector to do an installation of Piranesi prints for the Century Club. When the club learned that I was a woman architect, I was not allowed to install the exhibit. I, like many other women architects, found it much easier and less humiliating to just strike out on my own. I have been in my own practice now for 20 years.”

Also, a lifetime pro tip: STOP CALLING WOMEN OVER 18 GIRLS. Thanks!

Why International Women's Day matters (for architects)

2016-03-08T15:45:00-05:00

You’ve probably heard that today is International Women’s Day. But what exactly is it? And why is it important?

For many in the global West, the significance of March 8th is probably a lot less familiar than, say, Mother’s Day. In fact, the holidays originated around the same time, during the early 20th century, at the nascence of struggles for equal rights and suffrage. But unlike Mother’s Day, International Women’s Day has always been explicitly political: a day to both celebrate women and to fight for emancipation.

A first iteration of Women’s Day was organized by the Socialist Party of America in 1909, but its international observance began properly in 1911 with large protests throughout Europe, albeit on different days in the different cities. In 1914, International Women’s Day was held for the first time on March 8. Sylvia Plankhurst, the great British suffragette, was arrested in front of Charing Cross on her way to deliver a speech at Trafalgar Square.

Then, on March 8, 1917, R...

"Women in architecture" vs. "now in architecture": Mimi Zeiger on gender and architecture today

2016-03-01T15:56:00-05:00

For a while I’ve held the belief that identifying oneself as an architect is a kind of drag, a mannered persona donned for effect. How else to describe the clichéd sartorial signifiers: extreme eyewear, black daywear and designer footwear? As the education of an architect is so historically weighted to a canon of male practitioners, theorists and educators, a woman entering the field often operates as a kind of architectural androgyne...

"...we are trained to see world of design through black-framed, male-coloured glasses. Gender differentiation, then, comes with a thorny rhetorical question: ‘What’s the difference?’ If the goal is to recognise talent, experimentation and innovation, there seems no reason to create a binary in the field."

For more articles on issues related to gender-parity and -visibility in architecture, take a look at these links:

12 innovative architects (and women) of Maryland

2016-01-07T02:08:00-05:00

We just really felt that it was important to capture these stories, before they disappeared, even when finding information proved very difficult,” says Storms. “You see how history sort of evaporates—and then it’s like it doesn’t exist.

Over at What Weekly, Jessica Kim Cohen reviews an extensively detailed exhibit (launched/organized by the members of the Women in Architecture Committee of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Baltimore Chapter) entitled “Early Women of Architecture in Maryland” which is on display downtown at the central branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library until January 16.

h/t @Fred Scharmen

What would our cities be like if they were designed by women?

2014-12-05T17:13:00-05:00

Nowhere in the world has a city yet been conceived and constructed along the lines that these women planners would like. Nowhere in the world do women, and others who share the inclusive goals of gender planning, have the political power or access to capital that such an urban renewal project would require.

Archinect remains committed to addressing the gender gap in architecture. If you haven't already, listen to our first podcast, which was devoted to the subject.

Editor's Picks #390

2014-10-23T11:56:00-04:00

Amelia profiles the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture aka ANFA and ponders the lessons from her time spent down in San Diego for ANFA’s annual three-day conference at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Does neuro-architecture truly hold the promise of translational design?

midlander dreams "I have a hard time seeing how this provides more meaningful feedback than occupant surveys...That said...I can't wait until I can wear some headset that makes revit models of whatever I'm thinking!" while Chris Teeter a regular advocate for the use of the "the old EEG headset" was pleased "great piece and like how you link all your news posts into a feature story..Although, much of what is going on now is data gathering, it is considerably more useful than just survey stats".

For a more speculative version of Deans List, Archinect spoke with Hernan Diaz Alonso, upcoming Director at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles.

News

"Archinect Sessions" a new weekly podcast hosted by Paul and Amelia, releas...

Big businesses and baby steps: Weekly News Round-Up for September 22 and 29, 2014

2014-10-06T18:43:00-04:00

Friday, October 3:

Eisenhower Memorial clears key hurdle on Gehry design: In a positive step for the Memorial's Approving Process Odyssey, the National Capital Planning Commission has OK'd the Commission on Fine Arts (the other federal body that must approve the design) to vote on the Memorial.
Where are the women? Measuring progress on gender in architecture: A series of infographics on the representation of women in architectural practice and education, courtesy of ACSA.

Wednesday, October 1:

Guggenheim plans New York expansion… again: Not for more art space (Gehry tried that before) but for offices.
Zaera-Polo steps down as dean of Princeton's School of Architecture: From the press release: "the school's former dean, Professor Stanley T. Allen, will serve as acting dean until a permanent successor is appointed and that Professor Allen will chair the search for the new dean."
Tiny Spanish Island to be First Energy Self-Sufficient Island: The 10,000 population island will use renewable e...

Where are the women? Measuring progress on gender in architecture

2014-10-03T13:00:00-04:00

The farther up you look in the world of architecture, the fewer women you see. In this chart, we’ve rounded up some common and publicly available metrics behind this claim. Like thousands of aspiring architects, we’ll start at the bottom and work our way up—while also pausing on the way to consider what these measures mean.

Lian Chikako Chang, ACSA's Director of Research + Information and prolific Archinect blogger, has created a series of infographics charting the progress of women's roles in architecture. The statistics are, at a glance, both depressing and hopeful: compared to overall representation in the population, women occupy a disproportionally tiny slice of architecture's higher tiers, but the numbers do seem to be increasing over time.

Check out all the infographics in our image gallery below. Lian also posted an in-depth look at the infographics over at the ACSA blog, showing how the data was sourced and analyzed.

In Architecture, a Glass Ceiling

2014-08-21T13:19:00-04:00

"There's still a glass ceiling, ironically, in architecture," said Rosa Sheng, senior associate at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson in San Francisco and chairwoman of the Missing 32% Project, a group that promotes equitable treatment of all architects. "There's an influx of more women coming in, but the hurdles haven't changed," she said. It takes roughly 12 years to become a licensed architect, according to NCARB.

How Women Are Climbing Architecture's Career Ladder

2014-03-17T13:48:00-04:00

In 1980, when Marsha Maytum was a fledgling designer at the San Francisco architecture firm EHDD, the majority of women on construction sites were centerfolds. [...] Nearly 35 years later, progress has been measurable but mixed. Women make up 25 percent of architecture staff in the U.S., though they now earn 42 percent of the architecture degrees.