Archinect - News

Sir David Adjaye accused of sexual misconduct by three former employees

2023-07-04T10:58:00-04:00

The prominent architect Sir David Adjaye has been accused of sexual misconduct by three former employees. The claims were reported first by the Financial Times, in which the three women accuse Adjaye and his firm, Adjaye Associates, of “different forms of exploitation — from alleged sexual assault and sexual harassment by him to a toxic work culture — that have gone unchecked for years.”

In response, the architect has denied the claims of sexual misconduct, abuse, or criminal wrongdoing, while stating that he was “ashamed” to have entered into relationships that “though entirely consensual, blurred the boundaries between my professional and personal lives.”

The three women, whose names are changed by the Financial Times to protect their identities, told the paper they came forward in order to “prevent other women from encountering similar abuse and to make public the architect’s private behavior.” To corroborate their accounts, the Financial Times interviewed colleagues, family mem...

UK architect banned after making antisemitic comments towards colleagues

2022-11-10T14:16:00-05:00

The UK’s Architects Registration Board (ARB) has found a British architect guilty of unacceptable professional conduct after the architect made “a series of offensive and antisemitic comments and gestures.” The architect, Justin Rooney, was also found guilty of making “a series of inappropriate and offensive and antisemitic public posts on his Instagram profile.”

Rooney stood accused of the charges while employed at London-based GRID Architects in 2021, where he was recruited as a temporary architect through an agency. A complaint was submitted by GRID to ARB’s Professional Conduct Committee in December 2021 in relation to Rooney’s comments.

The committee accepted evidence from two witnesses who claimed Rooney said he had “joined a practice of f*cking Jews” and that he had been placed within the office “with f*cking Jewish freaks.” Colleagues also accused Rooney of telling on...

More accusations of bullying at The Bartlett plague UCL ahead of leadership transition

2022-08-09T13:37:00-04:00

Weeks before its next Director steps into office, another faculty at UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture has fallen into scandal after The Guardian recently leaked new accusations of bullying and harassment from within the School of Sustainable Construction.

A group of nine school faculty members was reportedly the signatories of the damning letter, which includes accusations of nepotism in addition to further complaints about the same kinds of harassment, age-based discrimination, racism, bullying of older staffers, and other tactics that have embroiled The Bartlett since last summer.

“We have seen our own academic careers and lives and those of our colleagues destroyed through bullying, harassment and other predatory practices and know that any effort to raise the issues of misconduct or fraudulent behaviour would lead to retaliation endangering our own careers and lives,” a portion of their statement reads.

Earlier on Archinect: UCL issues an apology and published report on the...

Is the AIA doing enough to address sexual harassment in architecture?

2019-08-06T14:05:00-04:00

Post-Meier, the AIA has centered its efforts to stop sexual harassment by affirming good behavior in the profession. It’s using positive reinforcement to address sexual harassment and discrimination by saying the best work emerges from firms that embody equitable practices, and using that as the foundation of its strategy to incentivize better behavior.

Curbed's Diana Budds takes a deep dive into the efforts being undertaken within the architecture community to eradicate sexual harassment in the workplace in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

According to the report, although the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has worked to update its Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, the organization has largely avoided taking punitive measures in their efforts to reform the profession's workplace culture. The report brings into question the effectiveness of AIA's current role in addressing delicate and difficult issues like workplace harassment, and whether architectural workers might be better served through the existence of a more official "secondary avenues" for reporting harassment, abuse, and other ethics issues.

The reactive approach, according to Gabrielle Bullock, director of global diversity at Perkins and Will and a member of the AIA’s Equity in Architecture commission, is to be expected. Bullock told Curbed, “The AIA is g...

The AIA works towards improving how it awards architects in conjunction with the rise of the #MeToo movement

2019-06-06T13:57:00-04:00

The plight of sexual harassment claims and news of misconduct within the profession continues to surface as more practicing architects stress the importance of equity in the workplace, representation, and accountability. The global rise of the #MeToo movement has impacted several industries, the architecture profession included. More women and men have voiced their opinions and stressed the importance of fostering better professional standards as well as reassessing professional character in practice and during award recognition.

On June 5th, the AIA announced it's efforts towards improving review standards on how architects will be selected for awards. "Although the rules and processes governing AIA's awards programs are currently effective at identifying design excellence, the AIA's leadership believes they can be improved to better address issues of professional character, especially related to harassment of any kind, and to send a clear message that inappropriate behavior will n...

Richard Meier steps down

2018-10-09T20:08:00-04:00

Richard Meier is officially out at Richard Meier & Partners Architects, the company announced in a statement titled Leadership Changes this morning.

"Founder Richard Meier will step back from day-to-day activities and support the leadership transition of the firm he founded in 1963," reveals the release. "He will remain available to colleagues and clients who seek his vast experience and counsel. The firm will maintain and develop the rigorous design philosophy that Richard pioneered."

Meier, 83, has been taking a leave of absence since March this year after accusations of sexual harassment were brought forward by five women—four of whom had previously worked with Meier.

The statement lists various senior employees to be taking on leadership positions, most notably Bernhard Karpf as the new Managing Principal of the New York office as well as Vivian Lee, Reynolds Logan, and Dukho Yeon, who were promoted to Principals. Partner Michael Palladino and Jim Crawford will maintain their ...

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...

Why Richard Meier's behavior was known and went unchecked

2018-04-05T15:27:00-04:00

After a report last month by The New York Times detailing a pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Meier, more women have come forward to share their own upsetting encounters with him. But in recounting such experiences, these women said they had also been disturbed by a sense of helplessness that pervaded the firm. Mr. Meier’s behavior was common knowledge, they said, but no one seemed to have the power to stop it.

With the #metoo movement, women have come forward exposing Richard Meier's abusive behavior to his employees. Further investigation has explored why this behavior of powerful men harassing or assaulting women went unchecked at their organizations. The common thread is fear of losing a job.

Many women did not lodge formal complaints with the company for fear of being fired (although some were fired regardless soon after an incident). Other employees in the company who knew what was going on did nothing to stop it for fear of losing their own jobs.

Looking for a job at a women-led firm? Check out our latest job roundups featuring current (at the time of writing) opportunities at firms powered by amazing women.

The Architecture Lobby's statement on #metoo in architecture

2018-03-26T18:28:00-04:00

The Architecture Lobby released the following statement with regards to the #metoo movement in architecture. The organization invites firms to join their Solidarity Network in support of those who speak up against sexual harassment or abuse.

"We, The Architecture Lobby, stand with victims of sexual harassment and assault in school and in the workplace. We decry in no uncertain terms the use of positions of power to perpetuate abominable conduct. We ask all members of the architectural community to join us, and the many victims of harassment, in calling for fundamental change of our culture.

The issue of harassment in the workplace is not limited to any gender, employment status, or age. It has its roots in the relationship between workers and their bosses, as well as teachers and their students, in the power differential created by that relationship that allows harassment and abuse to go unchecked. For too long we have allowed the architecture profession to structurally elevate me...

Connecticut contractor ordered to pay $3M for racial discrimination, harassment

2016-04-04T13:06:00-04:00

A painting contractor based in New England has been ordered to pay two former employees more than $1.5m each by a court in New Haven, Connecticut. The court ruled that the company had discriminated against the men on racial grounds.

The lawsuit alleged that a Sudanese-American employee, Yosif Bakhit, and an African-American employee, Kiyada Miles, of the firm Safety Marking faced a "pattern of abuse," racist harassment including insults and slurs, and racial discrimination, including being passed over for promotions that were instead given to less qualified white employees.

According to allegations, a caucasian colleague painted Miles' arm white and said to him, "That’s the only way you are going to move up in the company.” Bakhit reported an incident in which a foreman asked him to open an aspirin bottle then said, “I just wanted to see a black man pick cotton.”

Following a two-week trial, a federal jury ordered Safety Marking to give $1.4M in punitive damages to each man, as well as compensation from former colleagues named in the lawsuit.

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