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| Volume 2, Issue 1: Current Events |
April, 2008 |
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Harvard GSD students present "Progress in Process" Symposium |
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Women in Design students 'take a position' |
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Progress in Process Panelists
Photo by Anita Kan |
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| CAMBRIDGE, MA Women in Design (WiD) at the Harvard Graduate School of Design launched the 4-day Progress in Process symposium on March 13, (perhaps influenced in part by reaction to reviews of the MoMA-BWAF Women in Modernism Colloquium in October, 2007). WiD couched this event within a larger mission, "to make what has already been achieved by women in the profession evident and consequently useful and useable," and to allow students to take "a position on the current state of women in design." Speakers on the kick-off panel included Ines LaMuniere, Beverly Willis, Denise Scott Brown, Sarah Goldhagen, and Monica Ponce de Leon, (pictured above, L to R). Toshiko Mori, Chair of Architecture at the GSD, moderated. The panel focused on how to approach the discussion of women as an active constituency within the fields of design, and specifically the issue of gender in the practice of architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture. The panel also addressed women's roles in academia, as well as society's perception of women designers. Webcasts of the symposium can be viewed online — scroll down to "Women in Design Symposium." |
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Willis and Emily Pearl, one of three student organizers.
Photo by Anita Kan |
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| The title of the symposium, Progress in Process, suggests that this is an ongoing discussion, and similar events in architecture schools around the country hint at the larger future impact these talks will have. The recent Where We Are Now symposium at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), organized by RISD's Women in Design, shows how far academia has come towards embracing the critical role, and addressing the staggering inconsistencies in the status of women of architecture. The accompanying exhibition, Feminist Practices, further explores these issues. |
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Challenging the Paradigm |
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A Conversation with Three Women
Deans of Architecture |
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| WASHINGTON, DC Frances Bronet, Dean, University of Oregon; Karen Van Lengen, Dean, UVA; and Donna Robertson, Dean, IIT; (pictured above, L to R,) explored the challenges, opportunities, and responsibilities of women in the profession of architecture in a public program at the National Building Museum on March 10, 2008. In a conversation moderated by Wanda Bubriski, BWAF Director, the Deans discussed their vision for architectural education, their careers in architecture, and their roles in shaping architecture’s future. The Deans addressed such issues as the importance of women's leadership, and the opportunities and responsibilities that come with positions of power in architectural education. Challenging the Paradigm is part of the Women of Architecture series at the NBM, presented in collaboration with BWAF to celebrate Women's History Month. |
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Lost Histories |
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| BWAF seeks to rescue the contributions of women pioneers in architecture from the dustbins of history. Have someone in mind? Send us the name of a pioneer you would like to see profiled.
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Pioneer Profile: Natalie de Blois |
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Pioneer Natalie de Blois,
(1921-), a graduate of Columbia University, worked as a senior designer for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill for 34 years. Although she played a major architectural role on such projects as the Pepsi-Cola Headquarters (above) and the Union Carbide building, both in New York, her work remains largely unacknowledged. The Alexander Architectural Archive at the University of Texas at Austin, where De Blois taught in the 1980's, houses a selection of her working drawings. Read an interview with De Blois from the Art Institute of Chicago's Oral History Project. |
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The National Building Museum Opens The Beverly Willis Library |
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Honoring a Founding Trustee |
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| WASHINGTON, DC The Board of Trustees of the National Building Museum celebrated the opening of The Beverly Willis Library on March 10, 2008, honoring founding trustee Beverly Willis. Willis and Chase Rynd, Director of the National Building Museum, cut the red ribbon, officially opening the Library which will serve as a resource to the Museum’s curators as well as the center for the NBM's new Fellows Program. The Beverly Willis Library also provides access to Ms. Willis’ electronic archives, which cover her work and research over the past 50 years. View photos of the event here. |
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| At left: Willis cuts ribbon. Photo by Anne McDonough for NBM |
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Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation
2 Columbus Avenue Suite 3A
New York, New York 10023
212.577.1200 | 203.488.9009
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www.BWAF.org
contact the editor
The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation
is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
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BWAF Briefly—all rights reserved © 2008
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USA — Modern Architectures in History January, 2008: Gwendolyn Wright, Columbia Professor and BWAF Fellow, presents a landmark publication. Read about the 
