Hi, I'm a magazine writer/editor researching female architects for a major magazine.
I'm trying to identify a female architect to feature in a larger package about influential, inspiring women in design. This feature runs annually and last year, for example, we profiled Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA.
So far this year, I'm looking at people like:
”¢Â Farsheed Moussavi @ Foreign Office Architects
”¢Â Lise-Anne Couture w/Asymptote
”¢Â Hina Jamelle of Contemporary Architecture Practice.
”¢Â Monica Ponce de Leon of Office DA in Boston
Couple questions for you brilliant guys:
1) Which of these gets your vote for the woman most worthy of being singled out and celebrated in 2006? And WHY?
2) In most of these cases, their firms seem to have created a multitude of impressive, algorhythm-driven computer renderings, but few actual built buildings””which has raised the question: is their work actually buildable?
3) Is this buildability issue one of the big debates in the architecture world today?
4) Do you feel I've overlooked any equally worthy women? (Apart from Amanda Levete of Future Systems, and Lindy Roy, who've been covered before)
Please feel free to respond to any/all of these questions. Thanks
4) you should add Carme Pinós from Barcelona, Catalonia to your list
check out her work from the 1980's and 1990's -together with Enric Miralles- to discover how "impressive" and complex architecture is absolutely buildable
4) Do you feel I've overlooked any equally worthy women?
YES!
Lina Bo Bardi (Brasil)
Liz Diller (New York)
Carme Pinos (Barcelona)
Brigitte Shim (Toronto)
Shelia Kennedy (Boston)
Jennifer Siegal (Los Angeles)
Martha Schwartz - landscape architect (Boston)
Julie Bargman - landscape architect (Virginia) to name only a few
And as for your previous list - at the risk of overstatement - I would say only Monica and Farshid are worthy of the feature. Lise-Anne remains very much in Hani's shadow. And I dont think CAP has made significant contributions to the discipline yet - time will tell.
2) In most of these cases, their firms seem to have created a multitude of impressive, algorhythm-driven computer renderings, but few actual built buildings—which has raised the question: is their work actually buildable?
who cares. anyone can do algorithms these days - building is far more challenging. ask liz diller or sheila kennedy about that ///
Thanks for the list of other women to explore, Lifeform. Is your skepticism about the algorithm-queens fairly representative of your colleagues in general?
Marion Weiss of Weiss/Manfredi,
Billie Tsien of Tod Williams Billie Tsien,
Winka Dubbeldam of Archi-tectonics,
Merril Elam of Mack Scoggin Merrill Elam Architects,
They've all actually built things which are, in my opinion, better than the work of the offices you listed.
2) In most of these cases, their firms seem to have created a multitude of impressive, algorhythm-driven computer renderings, but few actual built buildings—which has raised the question: is their work actually buildable?
3) Is this buildability issue one of the big debates in the architecture world today?
Throughout history there has been lots of work that has been designed, but not built. Its nothing new to architecture. In order for these deisgns to be built, the building industry has to change and someone has to have the money to do so. For anyone to be important to architecture, it does not mean they have to build in order to add value. There are lots of architects like this particularily in academia. Building though is a way to test these designs so it is an integral part of the profession. Some of these women are younger, in tems of architects, so for them not have built much is commom as well. Even if your 40 your still considered a young architect.
Thanks, deluganmeisslfan, for offering that perspective. You're absolutely right. I'm dealing with the lay audience of a mainstream magazine, however, and that audience can relate more easily to the concrete reality of a building they could potentially see or visit.
Yes, when dealing with the general public, they usually don't consider something unbuilt architecture, which usually perpetuates the idea that architects are dreamers and not builders, which needs to change. The public also thinks that some buildings are architecture when they aren't, but that is another issue. With that said I would look for a female architect that builds, which might back up the choice to the general public, as well as shows her position in a field traditionally dominated by men. The intellectual aspect of the unbuilt projects is key though because it shows a necessity to push boundaries and remain up to date with technology. It can also lead up to a built project that otherwise might not had happened if the unbuilt wasn't conceptualized. I think someone like Monica Ponce de Leon of Office DA in Boston is a great choice because she works in both realms. I really like Carme Pinos work as well. In addition, a lot of these choices work in teams, which some might view as weaker than being on their own, which is something to consider. Just so you know where I am coming from, I prefer the built work, but being young means that I don't have the opportunity to build on my own, however, my unbuilt projects are still important to my personal development. I am not that big a fan of algorhythm-driven architecture, but see its importance within the field.
Lekizz: Actually, someone did mention Zaha Hadid upthread a ways.
AP: If you check in again, I'd love to hear more about why you'd back Ponce de Leon. I personally love her architecture because it's often sensual and organic without becoming predictably futuristic/blobby.
But I haven't confirmed yet whether she has newsworthy projects in the works right now, which is key.
Maya Lin is also worth mentioning granted she's shun the limelight
Eva Jiricna and Zaha Hadid both have an increasing portfolio of large projects. Arquitectonica run by Laurinda Spear however might be the most successful of the bunch, but has taken a turn for the more commercial side of architecture vs her more daring work in the 80s
I think deluganmeisslfan touched on a good point about practicing with other people. MVDRV, Tsien + Williams, Mecanoo, Shim-Shutchiffe, FAT, Studio DA, Future Systems, to name a few all have women co-running the ship - I think it brings a great parallels with new-feminism, the idea of "as good as."
ya, Maya Lin just had a beautful house in this month's issue of ArchRecord - the yearly Record Houses issue. She came out with a bang, winning an incredible job at such a young age...but she's continued to produce noteworthy, albeit small scaled, architecture.
kolorado,
Office da also had a house in the same issue. since it is built, not sure if it qualifies as "in the works" as you said above... I do agree that the work of Office da is sensual and employs technology with integrity. Her involvement in both practice and academia gives her increased potential to "influence and inspire," as you call for in your original post.
Out of your original list of 4, I would be, personally, most interested in reading about Ponce de Leon. I would be interested to know what magazine you write/edit for.
Maya Lin is a great choice because the Vietnam memorial is so well known. Plus she has an interesting story about being so young and finding success. I did see her house in record and liked it a lot. She would be a great choice.
As an aside, why oh why do architecture firms outdo themselves to create the most useless websites ever!? Yes, the sites are beautiful, yes they are "innovative" and experimental, but my god, they are *absurdly* non user-friendly. I was just trying to check out the website of Benedetta Tagliabue's firm, and simply gave up because, despite its coolness, it's HOPELESS.
I've now decided to eliminate from the running any architect who is willfully making it impossible for me to see their work online. FAO's website is also ridiculous, just to mention one.
Please any of you who are constructing websites, I plead with you: Don't overdo it!
kolorado, I enjoyed reading your frustration and resulting decision re: overdone websites. So true.
Can I ask what you are trying to accomplish in writing an article specifically profiling female architects? Do you write for a women's magazine? For some reason I still hesitate about making a distinction between the work of male and female architects. I'm interested in reading about architects who do good work, and don't find the work of any woman architect I know of to be particularly compelling because she's a woman. Though I suppose an article could try to spin that way.
Are you planning to try to make a case that one of the female architects listed above's work is the way it is because she's a woman? Not that I think the architects listed above don't do good work, I just wonder what makes them more interesting being women. Will a man want to read your article, or is it geared towards women?
If you are trying to write about women working in a traditionally male field, profiling an older woman might be more interesting, as they had to really fight for what women now have been able to take for granted. Merrill Elam or Carme Pinos, as noted above, or of course Denise Scott Brown, who according to rumor actually was the first woman to receive the Pritzker. Or Judith Chafee, who is no longer with us but could be seen as a precursor to the "Arizona School". Or the amazing Florence Knoll Bassett.
I'm not trying to start a fight, it's just a topic that interests me a bit, a distinction I can't quite get my head around.
Both husband and wife teams and if you're going to make a big deal about her being a woman it would be more desireable to find a woman who doesn't have a male partner. But they do have relatively large bodies of built work.
Off of your list of four my vote is for Monica Ponce de Leon. I have to agree that her and Farsheed Moussavi have the greatest contributions thus far, Monica was one of my instructors, so I may be a bit biased not knowing Farsheed.
Liberty Bell: It is a women's magazine, hence the (I agree) somewhat forced distinction "female architect." Sejima, whom I interviewed last year, refused to address the question of "femaleness" in her work, which, of course, I respected. The article's goals are to showcase great designers/design (in up to 10 differed subfields of design) and also to present role models.
BOTS: I am charged with finding outstanding women in several diverse fields of design (from lighting design to book design to architecture) in less than a week. This sort of research involves soliciting opinions from larger communities, as I am doing here. I am also interviewing countless individuals via phone and email. That is just the beginning of a long process.
BOTS: Actually, it looks like Kolorado came her with a specific question and some information from her previous research for us to comment on, not to suggest to her what she should write about. If you know anything about journalism it usually involves lots of questioning towards specific groups since their background is in journalism and not architecture.
I agree with liberty bell. I want to see some GOOD architecture get publicity.
btw, I've been meaning to ask this question to everyone, and please, PLEASE don't get upset or anything over this, because I honestly want to know about this; if someone or some group of people want to publish something like, "top 10 male architects," would this group get into some trouble?
I agree with that this profession was once male-dominated, but by looking at the recent (like past 10+ years) number of male/female students ratio in college, I would say it's pretty even in younger side of the profession.
man was I surprised and really happy to see Lina Bo Bardi come up by the third post - great stuff lifeform.
how about deborah berke?
Apr 24, 06 12:35 pm ·
·
"In the future, everything will be an advertisement [especially journalism?]."
or
"I'm now wondering if all the built environment of our planet is
'progressing' towards becoming a global (virtual) theme park, while
cyberspace becomes the place where 'actual' 'real' data takes up residence."
Since college I've been hearing about "women in architecture" again and again and again. Always questioned it since my class graduated equally as many women as men.
Why don't I ever hear about "leading men in interior design" as its more female dominated. Or what about "top 10 male nurses."
Can we please move beyond further sub-dividing of this profession and judge everyone's talents together.
are you kiddin' me? Rita would shred that paperback and use it as a heat insulation to protect pedestrians going by her floor plans...
Apr 24, 06 1:41 pm ·
·
Oh come on, I thought you would understand I'd do something more radical than that. How about a journalistic advertisement for Helena and Eutropia as the first "leading" female architects ever? Or, if that's too radical, I could suggest you all go to some virtual museum website and really read a novel or two.
The National Building Museum in Washington, DC recently had Women's Architecture Month this past March with a series of events / lectures / symposium on women in architecture. I'm sure you could get some additional information from them.
Apr 24, 06 2:53 pm ·
·
Eutropia and Helena love the National Building Museum!
if i answer this thread, i will have to bill the magazine for my time. thats just the way i work these days. what kind of shoes do women architects wear? now thats a story...
nevermore, comments like that are uncalled for. in another thread recently, you posted a picture of a series of cars that had crashed and made some comment on it's relationship to women's driving or parking skills or something stupid like that.
You might want to look at the Lady who is at the helm of John Lautners office or the Lady at the Helm of Fay Jones office. I'm sure they are both doing wonderful things in a quite way.
You might want to look at the Lady who is at the helm of John Lautners office or the Lady at the Helm of Fay Jones office. I'm sure they are both doing wonderful things in a quite way.
not year specific but my vote goes to Mary-Jean Eastman, co-founder and principal at Perkins Eastman Architects in New York for her humanistic work.
e
1) I can understand your angst since the gender issues of architecture are amazingly complicated and highly emotionally charged.
P.S--The worldwide percentage of women in technology professions
( which includes architecture ) dropped from 27% to 21 % between 1997-2005 .
which is quite surprising cos considering that the realm of aesthetics ,comfort, security,intuition and a sense of optimism ( all of which are integral to architecture ) have long been considered feminine attributes.
maybe feminity does get a raw deal ..a petty image in our profession .
( even Philip Johnson reffered to himself as a 'whore'..designing pretty buildings for money )
2) & finally, Dear e,
Humour has no gender ..so quit biting me.
nevermore: I can understand your angst since the gender issues of architecture are amazingly complicated and highly emotionally charged
But what are the "gender issues" of architecture? Men have long been designing buildings that exhibit aesthetics, comfort, etc etc. I don't see any contemporary design - as a problem-solving exercise - being approached significantly differently by women vs. men.
I'll reiterate again (as I have on other threads) that I think the things that make practicing architecture difficult and challenging for women are the same things that make it difficult for anyone who is a member of a family: time crunches, weekend work, low pay, need for good health insurance, etc.
(I do think it's funny that there are so many cute little cartoons of women parking, etc. similar to those you post, whereas there don't seem to be as many poking fun at men. I thought I might post one or five as a rebuttal to you. But my assumption is that since I don't have time to go look for them other working women must not have time be making them, either.)
those joke images may be a defense mechanism. men gotta find SOMETHING women do that they can pick on. but if women are such bad drivers/parkers, why do you suppose that men's insurance rates are so much higher.
nevermore,
I think there's a problem if it is only humorous for one specific gender or ethnic group, don't you think? I guess it's like the subject that gets covered in Sexual Harassment Seminar; it doesn't matter what your intention was, or how funny you thought it was, if people who heard your joke think it was offensive, then it is offensive.
Then again, if there's like "guys only" magazine and people see stuff like that, then it would be fine.... wait a minute, isn't kolorado working for some women's magazine? how's that... owww, nevermind. It's hard to be a politically correct in these days.
fulcrum, I intended to respond to your comment above and forgot: I think people might be offended at the idea of a "Top 10 Male Architects" article. But it might also be written as a satire to underscore how silly it is to make the gender distinction.
I'm currently involved in a Decorator's Show House project that is a charitable fundraising event for a local hospital. There is essentially no difference between the work of the male interior designers and the female interior designers at the project. I will say, however, that the room my partner (gay male) and I did is not only a distinctly masculine room but is also significantly different from all of the other work - and frankly I attribute this to us both being architects, not interior decorators. (Now there's a comment that might piss people off.)
But yes one of the strengths of women's magazines is that they can offer inspiration to young women who may not have professional female role models in their lives, so profiling women of achievement is a good idea. It irks me a little more when someone like Record or Architecture publish similar articles. And it doesn't even really irk me that much, I just find it a curious distinction to make.
sorry nevermore. i do not take your repetitive negative comments about women as a joke. when you consistently make these types of comments towards one sex, as you have, they come across as sexist. the same would be true if you were singling out one race too. insert black, chinese, or maybe indian for women and they would have the same wrongful negative connotations towards those groups. i just fail to see what is funny about it.
Magazine writer trying to identify the "leading" female architects today
Hi, I'm a magazine writer/editor researching female architects for a major magazine.
I'm trying to identify a female architect to feature in a larger package about influential, inspiring women in design. This feature runs annually and last year, for example, we profiled Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA.
So far this year, I'm looking at people like:
”¢Â Farsheed Moussavi @ Foreign Office Architects
”¢Â Lise-Anne Couture w/Asymptote
”¢Â Hina Jamelle of Contemporary Architecture Practice.
”¢Â Monica Ponce de Leon of Office DA in Boston
Couple questions for you brilliant guys:
1) Which of these gets your vote for the woman most worthy of being singled out and celebrated in 2006? And WHY?
2) In most of these cases, their firms seem to have created a multitude of impressive, algorhythm-driven computer renderings, but few actual built buildings””which has raised the question: is their work actually buildable?
3) Is this buildability issue one of the big debates in the architecture world today?
4) Do you feel I've overlooked any equally worthy women? (Apart from Amanda Levete of Future Systems, and Lindy Roy, who've been covered before)
Please feel free to respond to any/all of these questions. Thanks
4) you should add Carme Pinós from Barcelona, Catalonia to your list
check out her work from the 1980's and 1990's -together with Enric Miralles- to discover how "impressive" and complex architecture is absolutely buildable
don't forget Zaha too
YES!
Lina Bo Bardi (Brasil)
Liz Diller (New York)
Carme Pinos (Barcelona)
Brigitte Shim (Toronto)
Shelia Kennedy (Boston)
Jennifer Siegal (Los Angeles)
Martha Schwartz - landscape architect (Boston)
Julie Bargman - landscape architect (Virginia)
to name only a few
And as for your previous list - at the risk of overstatement - I would say only Monica and Farshid are worthy of the feature. Lise-Anne remains very much in Hani's shadow. And I dont think CAP has made significant contributions to the discipline yet - time will tell.
who cares. anyone can do algorithms these days - building is far more challenging. ask liz diller or sheila kennedy about that ///
Thanks for the list of other women to explore, Lifeform. Is your skepticism about the algorithm-queens fairly representative of your colleagues in general?
Marion Weiss of Weiss/Manfredi,
Billie Tsien of Tod Williams Billie Tsien,
Winka Dubbeldam of Archi-tectonics,
Merril Elam of Mack Scoggin Merrill Elam Architects,
They've all actually built things which are, in my opinion, better than the work of the offices you listed.
2) In most of these cases, their firms seem to have created a multitude of impressive, algorhythm-driven computer renderings, but few actual built buildings—which has raised the question: is their work actually buildable?
3) Is this buildability issue one of the big debates in the architecture world today?
Throughout history there has been lots of work that has been designed, but not built. Its nothing new to architecture. In order for these deisgns to be built, the building industry has to change and someone has to have the money to do so. For anyone to be important to architecture, it does not mean they have to build in order to add value. There are lots of architects like this particularily in academia. Building though is a way to test these designs so it is an integral part of the profession. Some of these women are younger, in tems of architects, so for them not have built much is commom as well. Even if your 40 your still considered a young architect.
Thanks, deluganmeisslfan, for offering that perspective. You're absolutely right. I'm dealing with the lay audience of a mainstream magazine, however, and that audience can relate more easily to the concrete reality of a building they could potentially see or visit.
I am also skeptical of the so called "algorythm queens."
The work of others listed by Medit, lifeform and JerkStore is far more impressive and it's actually Architecture, not paper / computer screen.
my top 5 from those listed on this thread:
Carme Pinos
Martha Schwartz
Bridgette Shim
Billie Tsien
Merril Elam
in no particular order
^that shouldn't suggest that I disagree with del...meis..fan's point
Yes, when dealing with the general public, they usually don't consider something unbuilt architecture, which usually perpetuates the idea that architects are dreamers and not builders, which needs to change. The public also thinks that some buildings are architecture when they aren't, but that is another issue. With that said I would look for a female architect that builds, which might back up the choice to the general public, as well as shows her position in a field traditionally dominated by men. The intellectual aspect of the unbuilt projects is key though because it shows a necessity to push boundaries and remain up to date with technology. It can also lead up to a built project that otherwise might not had happened if the unbuilt wasn't conceptualized. I think someone like Monica Ponce de Leon of Office DA in Boston is a great choice because she works in both realms. I really like Carme Pinos work as well. In addition, a lot of these choices work in teams, which some might view as weaker than being on their own, which is something to consider. Just so you know where I am coming from, I prefer the built work, but being young means that I don't have the opportunity to build on my own, however, my unbuilt projects are still important to my personal development. I am not that big a fan of algorhythm-driven architecture, but see its importance within the field.
ya, that^ being said, Ponce de Leon would be a great choice
...as would Pinos...
the partnership / team thing does make it tricky for most examples...
hopefully Monday will bring more input to this thread. slow weekends.
Surprised noone has mentioned Zaha hadid yet!
Personally I would *highly* recommend Francine Houben of "Mecanoo" and Kathryn Findlay (ex Ushida Findlay 'Soft and Hairy House' etc.).
And Sarah Wigglesworth is well known in the UK for her Straw Bale House.
And there is also Benedetta Tagliabue, catalan architect on the new Scottish parliament.
Lekizz: Actually, someone did mention Zaha Hadid upthread a ways.
AP: If you check in again, I'd love to hear more about why you'd back Ponce de Leon. I personally love her architecture because it's often sensual and organic without becoming predictably futuristic/blobby.
But I haven't confirmed yet whether she has newsworthy projects in the works right now, which is key.
Maya Lin is also worth mentioning granted she's shun the limelight
Eva Jiricna and Zaha Hadid both have an increasing portfolio of large projects. Arquitectonica run by Laurinda Spear however might be the most successful of the bunch, but has taken a turn for the more commercial side of architecture vs her more daring work in the 80s
I think deluganmeisslfan touched on a good point about practicing with other people. MVDRV, Tsien + Williams, Mecanoo, Shim-Shutchiffe, FAT, Studio DA, Future Systems, to name a few all have women co-running the ship - I think it brings a great parallels with new-feminism, the idea of "as good as."
anyone remember Maya Lin?...but I would much rather read about Carme.
ya, Maya Lin just had a beautful house in this month's issue of ArchRecord - the yearly Record Houses issue. She came out with a bang, winning an incredible job at such a young age...but she's continued to produce noteworthy, albeit small scaled, architecture.
kolorado,
Office da also had a house in the same issue. since it is built, not sure if it qualifies as "in the works" as you said above... I do agree that the work of Office da is sensual and employs technology with integrity. Her involvement in both practice and academia gives her increased potential to "influence and inspire," as you call for in your original post.
Out of your original list of 4, I would be, personally, most interested in reading about Ponce de Leon. I would be interested to know what magazine you write/edit for.
Maya Lin is a great choice because the Vietnam memorial is so well known. Plus she has an interesting story about being so young and finding success. I did see her house in record and liked it a lot. She would be a great choice.
The Office DA house is impressive.
As an aside, why oh why do architecture firms outdo themselves to create the most useless websites ever!? Yes, the sites are beautiful, yes they are "innovative" and experimental, but my god, they are *absurdly* non user-friendly. I was just trying to check out the website of Benedetta Tagliabue's firm, and simply gave up because, despite its coolness, it's HOPELESS.
I've now decided to eliminate from the running any architect who is willfully making it impossible for me to see their work online. FAO's website is also ridiculous, just to mention one.
Please any of you who are constructing websites, I plead with you: Don't overdo it!
kolorado, I enjoyed reading your frustration and resulting decision re: overdone websites. So true.
Can I ask what you are trying to accomplish in writing an article specifically profiling female architects? Do you write for a women's magazine? For some reason I still hesitate about making a distinction between the work of male and female architects. I'm interested in reading about architects who do good work, and don't find the work of any woman architect I know of to be particularly compelling because she's a woman. Though I suppose an article could try to spin that way.
Are you planning to try to make a case that one of the female architects listed above's work is the way it is because she's a woman? Not that I think the architects listed above don't do good work, I just wonder what makes them more interesting being women. Will a man want to read your article, or is it geared towards women?
If you are trying to write about women working in a traditionally male field, profiling an older woman might be more interesting, as they had to really fight for what women now have been able to take for granted. Merrill Elam or Carme Pinos, as noted above, or of course Denise Scott Brown, who according to rumor actually was the first woman to receive the Pritzker. Or Judith Chafee, who is no longer with us but could be seen as a precursor to the "Arizona School". Or the amazing Florence Knoll Bassett.
I'm not trying to start a fight, it's just a topic that interests me a bit, a distinction I can't quite get my head around.
haven't checked out this site for a while but they probably have some names/articles/links about women in architecture too
- Julie Eizenberg (Knoeig Eizenberg, LA)
- Patricia Patkau (husband and wife again...)
Both husband and wife teams and if you're going to make a big deal about her being a woman it would be more desireable to find a woman who doesn't have a male partner. But they do have relatively large bodies of built work.
Off of your list of four my vote is for Monica Ponce de Leon. I have to agree that her and Farsheed Moussavi have the greatest contributions thus far, Monica was one of my instructors, so I may be a bit biased not knowing Farsheed.
HA what a joke! What's with this forum these days?
It used to be:
I am student please do my research for me. That was bad enough.
Now we have:
I am a commercial journalist. Please suggest things for me to write about and do my reasearch for me.
kolorado - they are paying you too much to do too little.
Liberty Bell: It is a women's magazine, hence the (I agree) somewhat forced distinction "female architect." Sejima, whom I interviewed last year, refused to address the question of "femaleness" in her work, which, of course, I respected. The article's goals are to showcase great designers/design (in up to 10 differed subfields of design) and also to present role models.
BOTS: I am charged with finding outstanding women in several diverse fields of design (from lighting design to book design to architecture) in less than a week. This sort of research involves soliciting opinions from larger communities, as I am doing here. I am also interviewing countless individuals via phone and email. That is just the beginning of a long process.
BOTS: Actually, it looks like Kolorado came her with a specific question and some information from her previous research for us to comment on, not to suggest to her what she should write about. If you know anything about journalism it usually involves lots of questioning towards specific groups since their background is in journalism and not architecture.
I agree with liberty bell. I want to see some GOOD architecture get publicity.
btw, I've been meaning to ask this question to everyone, and please, PLEASE don't get upset or anything over this, because I honestly want to know about this; if someone or some group of people want to publish something like, "top 10 male architects," would this group get into some trouble?
I agree with that this profession was once male-dominated, but by looking at the recent (like past 10+ years) number of male/female students ratio in college, I would say it's pretty even in younger side of the profession.
man was I surprised and really happy to see Lina Bo Bardi come up by the third post - great stuff lifeform.
how about deborah berke?
"In the future, everything will be an advertisement [especially journalism?]."
or
"I'm now wondering if all the built environment of our planet is
'progressing' towards becoming a global (virtual) theme park, while
cyberspace becomes the place where 'actual' 'real' data takes up residence."
i think that the magazine article should feature lovely rita novel.
Since college I've been hearing about "women in architecture" again and again and again. Always questioned it since my class graduated equally as many women as men.
Why don't I ever hear about "leading men in interior design" as its more female dominated. Or what about "top 10 male nurses."
Can we please move beyond further sub-dividing of this profession and judge everyone's talents together.
are you kiddin' me? Rita would shred that paperback and use it as a heat insulation to protect pedestrians going by her floor plans...
Oh come on, I thought you would understand I'd do something more radical than that. How about a journalistic advertisement for Helena and Eutropia as the first "leading" female architects ever? Or, if that's too radical, I could suggest you all go to some virtual museum website and really read a novel or two.
agreed
If women controlled the design world
The National Building Museum in Washington, DC recently had Women's Architecture Month this past March with a series of events / lectures / symposium on women in architecture. I'm sure you could get some additional information from them.
Eutropia and Helena love the National Building Museum!
www.quondam.com/01/0063.htm
if i answer this thread, i will have to bill the magazine for my time. thats just the way i work these days. what kind of shoes do women architects wear? now thats a story...
nevermore, comments like that are uncalled for. in another thread recently, you posted a picture of a series of cars that had crashed and made some comment on it's relationship to women's driving or parking skills or something stupid like that.
You might want to look at the Lady who is at the helm of John Lautners office or the Lady at the Helm of Fay Jones office. I'm sure they are both doing wonderful things in a quite way.
You might want to look at the Lady who is at the helm of John Lautners office or the Lady at the Helm of Fay Jones office. I'm sure they are both doing wonderful things in a quite way.
...what about (33-year old and solo practitioner) Cassandra Fahey as mentioned in the news.
e.
don't get me wrong..i love women designers..
I really do.
Here in France:
www.manuelle-gautrand.com/
not year specific but my vote goes to Mary-Jean Eastman, co-founder and principal at Perkins Eastman Architects in New York for her humanistic work.
e
1) I can understand your angst since the gender issues of architecture are amazingly complicated and highly emotionally charged.
P.S--The worldwide percentage of women in technology professions
( which includes architecture ) dropped from 27% to 21 % between 1997-2005 .
which is quite surprising cos considering that the realm of aesthetics ,comfort, security,intuition and a sense of optimism ( all of which are integral to architecture ) have long been considered feminine attributes.
maybe feminity does get a raw deal ..a petty image in our profession .
( even Philip Johnson reffered to himself as a 'whore'..designing pretty buildings for money )
2) & finally, Dear e,
Humour has no gender ..so quit biting me.
nevermore: I can understand your angst since the gender issues of architecture are amazingly complicated and highly emotionally charged
But what are the "gender issues" of architecture? Men have long been designing buildings that exhibit aesthetics, comfort, etc etc. I don't see any contemporary design - as a problem-solving exercise - being approached significantly differently by women vs. men.
I'll reiterate again (as I have on other threads) that I think the things that make practicing architecture difficult and challenging for women are the same things that make it difficult for anyone who is a member of a family: time crunches, weekend work, low pay, need for good health insurance, etc.
(I do think it's funny that there are so many cute little cartoons of women parking, etc. similar to those you post, whereas there don't seem to be as many poking fun at men. I thought I might post one or five as a rebuttal to you. But my assumption is that since I don't have time to go look for them other working women must not have time be making them, either.)
those joke images may be a defense mechanism. men gotta find SOMETHING women do that they can pick on. but if women are such bad drivers/parkers, why do you suppose that men's insurance rates are so much higher.
zing!
nevermore,
I think there's a problem if it is only humorous for one specific gender or ethnic group, don't you think? I guess it's like the subject that gets covered in Sexual Harassment Seminar; it doesn't matter what your intention was, or how funny you thought it was, if people who heard your joke think it was offensive, then it is offensive.
Then again, if there's like "guys only" magazine and people see stuff like that, then it would be fine.... wait a minute, isn't kolorado working for some women's magazine? how's that... owww, nevermind. It's hard to be a politically correct in these days.
fulcrum, I intended to respond to your comment above and forgot: I think people might be offended at the idea of a "Top 10 Male Architects" article. But it might also be written as a satire to underscore how silly it is to make the gender distinction.
I'm currently involved in a Decorator's Show House project that is a charitable fundraising event for a local hospital. There is essentially no difference between the work of the male interior designers and the female interior designers at the project. I will say, however, that the room my partner (gay male) and I did is not only a distinctly masculine room but is also significantly different from all of the other work - and frankly I attribute this to us both being architects, not interior decorators. (Now there's a comment that might piss people off.)
But yes one of the strengths of women's magazines is that they can offer inspiration to young women who may not have professional female role models in their lives, so profiling women of achievement is a good idea. It irks me a little more when someone like Record or Architecture publish similar articles. And it doesn't even really irk me that much, I just find it a curious distinction to make.
sorry nevermore. i do not take your repetitive negative comments about women as a joke. when you consistently make these types of comments towards one sex, as you have, they come across as sexist. the same would be true if you were singling out one race too. insert black, chinese, or maybe indian for women and they would have the same wrongful negative connotations towards those groups. i just fail to see what is funny about it.
e's point is of course utterly correct and valid. Thanks e.
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