Archinect - News

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 ...

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...

Autodesk breaks ground on new Technology Engagement Center at Cal State Northridge

2023-04-18T17:00:00-04:00

Autodesk has shared a video of an extended reality (XR) walkthrough animation to coincide with their recent groundbreaking ceremony for the new Autodesk Technology Engagement Center at California State University, Northridge.

The 32,000-square-foot facility will support research labs and other endeavors essential to the College of Engineering and Computer Science while serving as the new home of the Global HSI Equity Innovation Hub, which aims to increase underserved communities’ participation in the STEAM fields over time.

Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost was instrumental in organizing a $5 million gift to the institution, which is his alma mater. This gift kicked off the project that is particularly meant to help cement the university’s place in a network of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). As a press release noted, currently, only 8% of all workers in the STEAM fields identify as Hispanic or Latino.

Video courtesy Autdodesk

“In the world of technology, it is common to celebrate...

What's behind the record share of women in the construction trades?

2022-11-23T14:00:00-05:00

The share of women in construction has hit a record high, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Women surged into the industry starting around 2016, even as the number of men in construction lagged. ... What the heck changed?

Florida, D.C., and Arizona lead the country in terms of the percentage share that women occupy in construction industry labor markets for each state, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This can be partially attributed to a 117% increase in the number of Hispanic women employed primarily on job sites over the past six years, though sustained low unemployment rates combined with a “chronic shortage of skilled labor” and an increase in job training programs have been contributing factors along with better hiring practices overall.

“It feels like this is the moment where all of the preparation that the tradeswomen movement has been making over the years is finally being met with a huge opportunity,” National Center for Women’s Equity in Apprenticeship and Employment associate director Lark Jackson told WaPo before adding that last year's Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill was an additional “game changer for women’s inclusion in the trades.”

...

San Francisco's new Presidio Tunnel Tops project could serve as a case study for women in project management and construction roles

2022-09-07T18:53:00-04:00

By any count, Presidio Tunnel Tops had an unusual number of women in construction and project leadership. They say there are good reasons for that.

Led by Kerry Huang of James Corner Field Operations, the recently-opened new addition to San Francisco’s public parks portfolio was in the works for the better part of 30 years before being completed in July.

As Landscape Architecture Magazine highlights, the number of women employed in leadership positions was uncommon and created an atmosphere that could serve as a case study for an industry that is (to its considerable detriment) sadly still beset by systemic occupational challenges and a prevailing misogynistic work culture.

“We’ve all worked so harmoniously together,” Rania Rayes, a senior project manager for the Presidio Tunnel Trust, said of the benefits of working on such a diverse site. “Having many women on the team may make that possible. We’re very patient, we have some great communication skills…. I just think that these are attributes that a lot of women have, and they want to be team players.”

RIBA's diversity & inclusion chief is stepping down after only a year

2022-03-22T17:39:00-04:00

Change has come to the UK’s leading architectural association as The Architects’ Journal is reporting that RIBA’s current Director of Inclusion & Diversity Marsha Ramroop is departing from the organization after just 13 months on the job.

The institution is going through an administrative restructuring after reporting an £8 million ($10.8 million) budget deficit late last year. Ramroop’s budget had reportedly been significantly impacted by the cost-saving efforts, which so far includes a round of layoffs and the sale of its 78 Portland Place office.

The former BBC journalist’s year-plus tenure has seen the development of initiatives like RIBA communities, its new Inclusion Charter, the institution of official guidance for employees on a host of sensitive issues like pronoun usage, and the creation of a live radio channel that broadcast EDI-related content as part of RIBA’s second annual fe...

Biden formally reverses controversial Trump mandate on the government's Art in Architecture program

2022-02-01T15:35:00-05:00

The Biden administration on Monday reversed a Trump-era rule dictating what kind of art can be commissioned for federal buildings as part of an effort to have public art better reflect America's diversity. The new rule removes content and style restrictions that Biden administration officials say excluded many artists from consideration for the Art in Architecture program, which commissions visual art in federal buildings.

The rule is a holdover from the Trump administration, which enacted the measure late in 2020 with the vague but distinct guideline that commissions must depict “historically significant Americans or events.” Critics immediately saw the mandate as a racist attempt to whitewash public art in the aftermath of protests that swept the nation following the death of George Floyd.

Biden’s move echoes a previous decision to reverse another controversial order regulating the architectural styles allowed on large-scale federal projects. Trump was notorious for his assault on varying federal arts and humanities programs, most notably the National Endowment of the Arts, which he made repeated and ultimately empty threats about eliminating before leaving office. The General Services Administration (GSA) says its hope is that the reversal will increase the amount of diversity and representation in Federal projects across the country.

Previously on Archinect: Biden repeals Trump's classical archite...

London Mayor Sadiq Khan announces ADUP 2 replacement panel application in push for increased diversity

2021-10-21T17:18:00-04:00

The Greater London Authority is looking for architects to form a representative body in a new scheme formally announced by London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Monday.

The mayor’s Architecture + Urbanism Framework will debut next spring with a fifty-member panel taken from the design community that will work within a four-year timeframe with a slate of the GLA’s public sector development partners who can commission projects directly from the panel. The panel is a follow-up to ADUP 2, the second phase of a program launched in 2012 in order to “make it quicker and easier for organisations like councils and housing associations to commission high-quality consultants for certain types of projects.”

It is also a part of Khan’s fifty-member Good Growth by Design program launched in 2017 to investigate the coming challenge of population growth to the city. Though some commentators in the UK have been critical of his development pursuits overall, the two-term mayor has a stated interest in incorpora...

Autodesk and the Associated General Contractors of America launch media library to boost diversity in the construction industry

2021-06-29T18:16:00-04:00

Autodesk and the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) have launched the Construction Diversity Image Library, a joint initiative that aims to increase representation and attract a more diverse AEC workforce.

The library is a collection of photographs, for use by media outlets, featuring diverse individuals in the construction workforce. Photos are of real construction teams on real job sites. The library launched with an established collection of photos provided by several AGC member firms. Autodesk and AGC hope to attract and encourage more organizations across the design and building industry to submit their own workforce photos.

This photo was sourced from the Construction Diversity Image Library. Photo: James Kim Photography + PC Construction in Accokeek, Maryland.

As noted in a press announcement, in 2019 and 2020, the annual workforce survey conducted by the AGC and Autodesk highlighted a growing demand for more talent. Eighty percent of contractors reported that th...

Sarah Akigbogun is uncovering the forgotten stories of female architects of color with XXAOC

2021-05-14T18:18:00-04:00

London-based architect, filmmaker, and educator Sarah Akigbogun is bringing to light the stories of female architects of color, a demographic that has lacked adequate representation and acknowledgment.

Akigbogun is the founding director at transdisciplinary practice Studio Aki, Vice Chair of Women In Architecture, and a newly elected London member of RIBA Council. In 2017, she directed the film She Draws: She Builds, a film that amplifies the voices and experiences of 15 female architects.

Sarah Akigbogun. Photo: Twitter

Her current project, the XXAOC Project, is an online, crowd-sourced initiative that serves as a platform to document female architects of color both currently and throughout history. The project started in early 2019 with a tweet by Akigbogun calling out to the internet in search of these women and their stories.

So, new project for 2019 ...I’m starting a project to collect the stories of female #ArchitectsofColour, past and present. Who should I be talking to? Abo...

Three Native American women are changing the narrative at Yale's School of Architecture

2019-07-29T12:06:00-04:00

Architectural Digest recently covered the story of three indigenous women currently enrolled in three different architecture programs at Yale University's School of Architecture. Charelle Brown, Anjelica Gallegos, and Summer Sutton have made history at Yale. Not only are all three women currently enrolled in three academic programs but through their resilience and initiative to represent indigenous people in architecture. Underrepresented groups are using their stories, their struggles, and their own perspectives to change and rewrite the future of the built environment.

Image courtesy of Yale School of Architecture

Brown, currently a senior at Yale, was inspired by her adobe village home on the Kewa Pueblo near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her family traditions propelled her to pursue an architectural degree, striving to accomplish her goal and attend the Ivy League school. Brown shared with Architectural Digest, "I was obsessed. [...] I was doing anything I could to get into spaces peopl...

Announcing Black in Design: Designing Resistance, Building Coalitions—Register Now!

2017-09-11T09:00:00-04:00

This post brought to you by Black in Design

The Harvard University Graduate School of Design African American Student Union is excited to announce the second biannual Black in Design conference on October 6-8, 2017.

The conference promotes discourse around the agency of the design profession to address and dismantle institutional barriers faced by communities of color. The second edition, Designing Resistance, Building Coalitions, builds on the success of the 2015 inaugural conference, which brought together more than 400 design researchers and practitioners from across the United States. The conference will cover a range of topics from Exploring and Visualizing Identities, Communicating Values, Mobilizing and Organizing to Design Futuring, with the aim of serving as a platform to unearth our agency as designers to envision more radical and equitable futures.

Saturday features a full day of a fantastic array of speakers, including Michelle Wilkinson of the National Museum of Africa...

Despina Stratigakos on the emerging "third wave of feminism" in architecture

2016-03-17T18:21:00-04:00

In 2000, women represented 13 percent of registered architects; today, that number stands at 19 percent. If this rate of progress holds, we’ll have to wait until 2093 before we reach a 50-50 gender split...Yet numbers alone won’t ensure retention if architecture’s gender-biased professional culture remains unchanged. Ten or 20 years from now, we may still be asking ourselves, 'Where are the women architects?'

Despina Stratigakos — whose Architect Barbie collaboration sparked heated debate a few years ago — reflects on architecture's glacial progress toward gender equity as well as the profession's emerging "third wave of feminism".

More related to equity in architecture:

Why International Women's Day matters (for architects)

AIA's Diversity Survey shows some progress, but still skewed perceptions

Latent Complexity: Denise Scott Brown and Katherine Darnstadt (Latent Design) on Archinect Sessions #39

Being an architect is sexy, according to modern society

Cutting across the Chicago Architecture Biennial: Sou Fujimoto's potato chips and other found architectures

2015-10-11T12:00:00-04:00

There’s a difficulty inherent to any presentation of architecture in an exhibition context: architecture (it is commonly thought) operates in the physical world, so how do you do architecture inside a gallery space? Hence, it’s pretty inevitable that a survey like the Chicago Architecture Biennial will be met with lots of questions marks and even defiant denouncements: “This is not architecture!” In general, such accusations tend to fall flat: architecture is hardly an immutable object moving through space-time.

But then again, when an exhibit is explicitly tailored to professional, academic, and lay audiences, it’s also difficult to ignore the murmurs of an exiting tourist, “I just don’t get what that has to do with architecture…” For some, the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto’s installation Architecture is Everywhere, comprising a collection of “found architectures” – a pile of potato chips, a cardboard box, an upturned ashtray – left them scratching their heads.

There’s a whole lot...