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Plans revealed for atelier masōmī's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center in Liberia

2023-04-19T17:31:00-04:00

Details of the new Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development in Monrovia, Liberia have been revealed this week by atelier masōmī, the lead designers of an all-female project that will include exhibition designs from Counterspace’s Sumayya Vally and input from local architect Karen Richards Barnes.

The project supports the EJS Center’s mission with workshops, office spaces, exhibition galleries, a café, and a library. The center was formally established on International Women’s Day in 2020 and will now play host to the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize-winning former President’s personal and professional archives.

Image courtesy atelier masōmī

The atelier’s founder, Mariam Kamara, says: “The design is a direct response to the history, climate, cultural, and architectural heritage of Liberia. The project is an introspection on the challenges faced and on the strength and hope brought about by inspirational leaders such as Madam Sirleaf. The first woman Head of State o...

Women-led project team breaks ground on the Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance

2023-04-03T14:47:00-04:00

Seattle welcomes a new basketball performance center that won't just be a "world-class facility" but a space to support, foster, and train female professional athletes. Four-time WNBA champions, the Seattle Storm, celebrated an important milestone as their 50,000-square-foot Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance broke ground on Monday, March 27.

While it's said to "be the first facility of its kind in the United States," what makes this endeavor even more notable is that its project team is 85% female-led, across five firms and practices specializing in architecture, landscape architecture, construction, and real estate.

Female design and engineering team photographed at Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance's groundbreaking. Image courtesy of ZGF Architects/Shive-Hattery Architects

Participating design team ZGF Architects shared: "The goal was to build a world-class facility for world-class female athletes — with women-led teams who are experts in their field."...

L.A.'s 6th Street Bridge: Built by (some) women

2019-12-11T13:36:00-05:00

The 6th Street Bridge team of 170 includes 15 women — the most on any commercial project in Los Angeles and nearly double the Department of Labor’s participation goal of 6.9% female crew members.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the relatively high proportion of women construction workers helping to build the Michael Maltzan Architecture-designed 6th Street Bridge in Los Angeles. The bridge is being constructed via a joint venture between Skanska and Stacy and Witbeck. Skanska recently redesigned some of its construction site protective equipment to make the items safer for women to use

According to Bureau of Labor statistics cited in the article, the construction industry represents a rare bright spot for women with regards to pay equity, where women make 100.8% as much as men do.

Describing the number of women who are working on the project, Rosa Garcia, a carpenter on the project, told The Los Angeles Times, “There’s been jobs where there’s been 800 guys and one female — and I’ve been the only female. This is the first project that I walked on to where I couldn’t believe how many women I saw.”

Expanded federal grants seek to preserve a more inclusive selection of built heritage

2019-11-07T20:13:00-05:00

The National Trust and its partners have led advocacy efforts to increase funding for five competitive grant programs: the African American Civil Rights Grant Program, the Underrepresented Community Grant Program, the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Grant Program, Save America’s Treasures, and the Historic Revitalization Subgrant Program. In total, these competitive grant programs received $41 million in FY 2019.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation breaks down some of the recently expanded funding opportunities that have taken shape at the federal level earmarked for the preservation of diverse and inclusive built heritage.

Highlighted programs include the African American Civil Rights Grant Program, Underrepresented Community Grant Program, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Grant Program, Save America’s Treasures program, and the Historic Revitalization Subgrant Program.

Applications for these funds are available through the federal government via the above links.

20+ Job Opportunities at Women-Led Architecture Firms: Part 1

2018-03-29T10:26:00-04:00

Gender equality is the goal. The architecture industry is making a lot of positive moves in this direction, but we're still far from where we want to be. This week we highlight a number of excellent opportunities on Archinect Jobs at firms wholly run by women, or founded/owned or partnered by women. Come back next week for more, and if you know of a female-powered firm that is currently hiring let us know by sending us an email to jobs@archinect.com

O'Neill Rose Architects is currently seeking a Summer Intern in their Brooklyn office.

Undermountain by O'Neill Rose Architects, located in Sheffield, MA. Image: Michael Moran.

O’Neill Rose Architects is led by Faith Rose and Devin O’Neill. Faith Rose was appointed Executive Director of New York City’s Public Design Commission, which reviews and approves capital projects on city owned property, including architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and industrial design. In addition to her work related to public architecture, she...

Results from The Architectural Review's 2016 Women in Architecture Survey are... not heartening

2016-03-01T13:21:00-05:00

One in five women worldwide say they would not encourage a woman to start a career in architecture [...] dissatisfaction among women is lower in practices where a significant proportion of management are women, and in practices with regular career development reviews and/or mentoring schemes, with mentoring the better of the two. [...] Nearly three-quarters (72 per cent) of women worldwide say they have experienced sexual discrimination, harassment or victimisation during their career

Sigh. For more data on women in architecture, check out Archinect's Salary Poll.

Other related news:

Built By Women NYC is searching for 100 of the best NYC projects built by women

2014-09-10T19:49:00-04:00

Being a woman practicing in the fields of architecture, engineering, construction and the like is already a triumph in itself — let alone leading the design and construction of a built project. To honor this, the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation just launched Built By Women NYC, a project that highlights 100 outstanding buildings or built environments — historic or contemporary — located in New York City that were built/designed/constructed by women.

Until October 31, BxW NYC is accepting nominations of women who were directly responsible for leading the design (architecture, engineering, or landscape) or led the construction (either from the development or construction management team) for the structure or built environment. Projects must be completed or have broken ground and located in New York City.

Anyone of any gender is welcome to make a nomination! Women can also nominate themselves.

The jurors for BxW NYC include:

Deborah Berke, FAIA, Principal, Deborah Berke Partners
Joa...