Women in Architecture

To foster a stimulating design and professional practice exchange, AIA New Orleans will host a full-day symposium of design presentations and discussions of professional practice strategies, centering the voices of women in architecture from New York and New Orleans as a means to develop and promote women leaders in architecture and the allied design and building industries, with goals and initiatives to the advancement of women in the architecture profession.

Architects from each city will showcase projects in the context of the communities they serve, followed by a lively and engaging series of discussions focused on Design Leadership, Workplace Culture, Professional Practice & Development, and Advocacy & Activism.

Please register here.

Please feel free to share the event on Facebook using this link: https://www.facebook.com/events/2432143180198104/

Friday, 27 September 2019 | 8:00 am to 5:00 pm

AIA New Orleans Center for Design | 1000 St Charles Ave, New Orleans

Morning Session | Design Presentations: “Centering Communities by Design”

• Pre-Exchange Program (8:00 am)

Breakfast, Presenters Briefing

• Opening Remarks & Introduction (9:00 am)
• Design Presentations: Urban Design

AIANO: Prof. Fallon Samuels Aidoo | University of New Orleans

AIANY: Vivian Lee | Richard Meier & Partners

• Design Presentations: Education & Environment

AIANO: Emilie Taylor Welty | Colectivo

AIANY: Sara Lopergolo | Selldorf Architects

• Design Presentations: Community & Housing

AIANO: Tracie Ashe | StudioWTA

AIANY: Wells Megalli | Deborah Berke & Partners

Networking Lunch | Catered by City Greens | 12:00 pm

Afternoon Session | Roundtable Discussion: “Equity in Practice” | 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

• Roundtable discussions to be facilitated by NO + NY practitioners

Design & Leadership | Jennie Cannon West (studioWEST) and Cameron Ringness (FXCollaborative)

Workplace Culture | Angela O’Byrne (Perez) and Rosalind Tsang (RAMSA)

Professional Practice & Development | Paula Peer (TPA) and Alexandra Cuber (Fogarty Finger Architecture)

Advocacy & Activism | Sue Mobley ( Colloqate) and Arielle Weiss (Urbhan Architects)

Networking Reception  | 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

• Venue designed by women and owned/operated by women, catered by female chef/caterer

Saturday, September 28 | 9:00 am to 12:00 pm

Women Built Central City Tour

• Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard roughly between Felicity Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
• Featuring neighborhood history, projects, and spaces designed/built/developed/led by women

Snow Kreilich Architects is excited to share with you an opportunity to participate in a discussion on design leadership with Sara Lopergolo (Partner, Selldorf Architects) and Vivian Lee (Principal, Richard Meier & Partners and AIA New York Women in Architecture Committee Co-Chair). They will both be in Minneapolis for the Women’s Leadership Summit on 9/12, arriving a day early in order to meet and engage with local women architects in a stimulating conversation about Women Leadership in Design.

The Design Salon is an informal event (not organized by the AIA), that is intended to provide a platform to learn about the design work by women design leaders, and to share the initiatives in how we are collectively doing to elevate and promote women in design leadership roles. Sara, and Vivian, along with Jennifer Yoos (Principal/CEO, VJAA), and Mary Springer (Senior Associate, Snow Kreilich) will present selected projects for 5-10 minutes each, followed by a lively discussion on topics that are pertinent in Design and Leadership.

What: Design Salon

Where: Snow Kreilich Architects, 219 N Second St, Suite 120, Minneapolis, MN, 55401

When: Wednesday, September 11, 7:30-9:00 pm

Who: 25 people will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis

RSVP: Email Karen Lu at karen@snowkreilich.com if you would like to attend. Please bring a favorite beverage and/or snack to share with others.

The AIANY Women in Architecture Committee in conjunction with the Classic Harbor Line organized a special networking architecture cruise that focused on a wide range of waterfront projects designed or built by women. AIANY guide Julie Engh, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, provided lively narration covering architecture and engineering landmarks from all eras of the city’s history, as well as current urban planning and environmental issues impacting urban waterfronts. She spoke about women’s contributions to the recent transformation of an industrial waterfront to one of booming real estate development, ecologically-driven landscape design, and resilient infrastructure while touring the Hudson, East and Harlem Rivers. Tour features included iconic Art Deco spires, historic engineering marvels, adaptive reuse, and waterfront parks.

We thank our speakers, Signe Nielsen, FASLA, Principal at Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, Hayes Slade, AIA, the 2019 AIANY Chapter President and Principal at Slade Architecture and Ayumi Sugiyama AIA LEED BD+C, the Director of Cultural Projects at SHoP Architects.

Featured women-led projects included the Statute of Liberty Museum, Pier 55 (a dramatic public park and performance space in the Hudson River), Governors Island, Hudson River Park and Long Island City waterfront projects, Pier 42 (a critical missing link of public access along the shoreline), Rockefeller University, the East River Waterfront Esplanade, the new Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport, the Domino Sugar Refinery Development, and American Copper Buildings.

A big thank you to everyone who was a part of the boat tour on one of the hottest days New York City has had this summer. It was certainly a great way to cool off!

On July 17, the AIANY Women in Architecture Committee had the pleasure of organizing three office tours, to firms not only varying in size, but also office culture, research methodology and design processes.

The participating firms were Susan T. Rodriguez Architecture, Weiss/ Manfredi and Cannon Design. We are grateful to the firms for taking the time to present their projects, discuss and answer some great questions the attendees had. We were happy to have had architects and designers from various offices come together for this exchange which was engaging, inspiring and truly highlighted how great design gives back.

We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events in the Fall.

Upcoming WIA 2019 Events and Programs | Summer 2019

17 July 2019 | Firm Tours

• Susan T. Rodriguez Architecture Design
• Weiss Manfredi
• CannonDesign

20 July 2019 | Around Manhattan Architecture Boat Tour(10:15 am – 1:00 pm)

• $70 with complimentary beer, wine or champagne, and light snacks
• Signe Nelsen (Matthews Nielsen), Hayes Slade (Slade Architecture), Ayumi Sugiyama (SHoP), Cameron Ringness ( FXCollaborative), Julie Engh (Urban Projects Collaborative)

21 August 2019 | Architectural Practice Panel: Firm Handbook and Best Practices for Office Policies

• Co-Sponsoring with the Professional Practice Committee
• Moderated by The Architecture Lobby
• Panelists: CEO of a large firm, Principal of a small firm, Chief HR Officer, Labor & Employment Attorney
• Soliciting small, medium & large size firms for sample Employee Handbooks

Proposed Fall / Winter Events

• September: Honoring AIA Fellowship Happy Hour, Brownstone Renovation Project Tour\
• October | Archtober WOMEN IN DESIGN: Leadership Breakfast, Committee Meeting Design Presentation, Architecture Design Presentation and Panel Women Design Leaders on International Projects
• November: Practitioner | Student Mentoring Warm-Up Fall Session with Princeton, Cooper Union (TBC), and City Tech (TBC), Committee Meeting Roundtable on Business & Practice
• December: Speed Mentoring

Around Town & Related Events

AIA New York Chapter Honorees (19 June 2019)

• Special Citation Honor Julia Gamolina, Assoc. AIA & Madame Architect Editor

AIA Women’s Leadership Summit, Minneapolis | Reframe. Rethink. Refresh (12-14 September)

• AIA WLS Pre-Conference | Design Salon (11 September 2019)

AIA WIA New Orleans | New York Design & Practice Exchange (27-28 September 2019)

• Morning Session: Design Presentations “Centering Communities by Design” by WIA AIANY & WIA AIANO
• Afternoon Session: Roundtable Discussion “Equity in Practice’ on Design Leadership, Workplace Culture, Professional Practice & Development, Advocacy & Activism
• Soliciting volunteers to facilitate the Round Table  & firm sponsors

A ’20  Call for Proposals | AIANY WIA: “Coast to Coast | Women Design Exchange”

• Seminar proposal deadline: August 5
• Preconference workshop proposals: September 27

Topics & Good Reads

“Highlighting Women in Architecture” | AIA New York State

• Jane Smith, FAIA, Kelly Hayes McAlonie, FAIA, Graciela Carrillo, AIA, Ofe J. Clarke, AIA, Sue McClymonds, AIA, Pascale Sablan, AIA, Mary-Jean Eastman, FAIA

“The Workplace Still Isn’t Equal for Women. Here’s Some Advice to Navigate It” | New York Times

• A field guide for working women by Kristin Wong

“The Working Woman’s Handbook” | New York Times

Rejoining the Workforce After Taking Parental Leave

• Several working mothers will offer their advice and share their experience in how they navigated and negotiated terms of their leave, connected with the office during leave, and what it was like to return from leave, both at work and at home.
• The broad range of perspectives to be discussed will include returning to large and small firms and how some started their own practice. We will also present recent laws regarding Parental Leave and Lactation Room requirements, and talk about how the office and colleagues can support someone taking a leave or someone who has recently returned.

• Discussion Topics: 
  • Preparing for Leave
  • During Leave
  • Returning To The Office & Lactation Laws
  • Extended Leave & Alternate Options
  • Firm Management
  • Lessons Learned
  • Q & A

Preparing for Leave

1. Navigating your firm’s culture.  Are there other mothers at your office?  What is the attitude around pregnancy, leave, etc.?
2. Notify firm leadership/HR.
3. Discuss with your partner how long to plan leave for.
4. Discuss with the firm your intent to return full time/ part time/ slowly ramp up.
5. Conversations to have with teams, clients, consultants before leave.
6. Do not forget this is a great opportunity to set up others in the company to be promoted!
7. Conversations to have with your partner before taking leave.

During Leave

1. Check in with office with periodic updates.
2. Annual reviews.  Is this occurring when you are on leave?  Consider if you want to have that conversation during leave or once you return.
3. Do you want to stay connected during leave?  If so, how?
4. Investigate childcare options.

Returning to the Office

1. Adjust return date if needed (reasons may include childcare or physical/mental health)
2. Making the mental adjustment back to the office.  How to navigate project responsibilities & workload.
3. Navigating promotions.
4. Partner/childcare transition
5. Lactation breaks and NY State law.

Extended Leave/ Alternate Option

1. Taking a longer and/or extended leave from the profession; tackling the challenges of fitting back-in the workforce; staying current with relevant work experience
2. Starting your own practice in order to manage a more flexible schedule and workload to accommodate your parental duties
3. Change your career path to find a profession with better benefits or work schedule

Lessons Learned

1. Effective strategies to juggling new responsibilities and time constraints?
2. Manage work schedule and responsibilities at 1-year after parental leave, 5-years, 10-years…?
3. What attributes do parents have that can also translate to being a better employee?
4. How to manage taking time off from work for parental duties? (sick child, school activities, parent-teacher meetings, late arrivals or early departure due to childcare/school)

Firm Management

1. What benefits and/or policies should the firm provide in order to retain workforce talent after parental leave?
2. How can firms accommodate employees with parental duties while maintaining project demands and deadlines?
3. Are firms aware of the AIA Guide to Equitable Practice?  The first 3 chapters were rolled out by EDI in 2018.