I'm all for celebrating the contributions of great architects, male or female, but when I was working on a residential architecture roundup the other day, it became painfully obvious that the guys far outweighed the girls when it came to coverage on our sites. It makes sense — architecture remains a male-dominated profession, even today.
A 2009 AIA survey showed that women make up about a quarter of the architecture profession, but over 30 percent of that quarter are unlicensed. In the world of "starchitects," the numbers shrink significantly — only 2 women have ever received the Pritzker Prize in its 31-year history: Zaha Hadid in 2004 and Kazuyo Sejima, who shared the prize with her male partner Ryue Nishizawa in 2010.
So, to give female architects a long overdue shout-out, here's a starter list of 10 that deserve recognition. Add your favorites in the comments below.
- Zaha Hadid: This British-Iraqi architect is probably the most famous female working in her field today. She's known for using complex technologies to create fluid, curvilinear forms. Well-known projects include the MAXXI: National Museum of 21st Century Art in Rome, BMW Central Building in Leipzig, and Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg.
- Kazuyo Sejima: This year's Pritzker Prize winner, Kazuyo Sejima, is one half of Japanese firm Sanaa Architecture. She creates subtle, minimal buildings with a strong focus on museums and educational centers.
- Eileen Gray: Irish architect and designer Eileen Gray was a key contributor to the modernist movement. Her adjustable-height side table is an icon of 1920s design, and her later career produced a small but beautiful collection of homes. She was overshadowed by Le Corbusier and her male counterparts during her career, but she re-emerged in the 1970s when Domus magazine published a retrospective of her career and Aram put some of her best furniture designs back into production.
- Maya Lin: Best known as the designer of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington, DC, Maya Lin is an American architect and artist whose work is minimal, but engages the user (or viewer) in quiet ways. For instance, the names of fallen soldiers are inscribed on the DC memorial in small type, so that viewers are encouraged to get up close and experience the monument in an intimate, personal way.
- Jeanne Gang: This Chicago-based architect has produced a number of critically acclaimed small projects (many of which Apartment Therapy has profiled) but it's her recent green skyscraper, Aqua, that's earned her international attention.
- Michelle Kaufmann: This California-based green prefab home designer started out working for Frank Gehry, then set out on her own. Unfortunately, she closed up shop last year, but maintains an active site where you can read her blog posts and commentaries. You can see a tour of her own home here, and the Smart Home she designed for the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry here.
- Rocio Romero: This Missouri-based designer is well known for her minimalist prefab homes, which arrive flat-packed and can go up in a few months' time. Apartment Therapy toured one of her LVL homes — see the photos here.
- Zoka Zola: This Chicago-based architect owns her own firm and has created a number of award-winning homes, including a zero-energy house. Apartment Therapy toured her personal home and studio way back in 2006.
- Winka Dubbeldam: She's the principal of New York-based Archi-Tectonics, where she's been designing commercial and residential projects since 1994. Dubbeldam is well-known for her contemporary loft renovations, and her work has been exhibited at MOMA and the Venice Biennale.
- Yen Ha and Michi Yanagishita: Yen and Michi are the principals behind Front Studio, one of the only Asian-women owned architectural partnerships in New York City. Fun fact — Michi served as a judge for Apartment Therapy's Small Cool Home Contest in 2008.
• RELATED: 10 for the Bookshelf: Women In Design
Photos: (1) Jason Schmidt used under Free Art License via Wikimedia Commons, (2) Wiiii used under GNU Free Documentation License via Wikimedia Commons, (3) Public Domain via Metropolis, (4) Maya Lin, (5) Michelle Kaufmann, (6) Studio Gang, (7) Tracy Roloff, (8) Janel Laban, (9) Archi-Tectonics, (10) Front Studio
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Monica Ponce de Leon of Office dA comes to mind, as does Natalie de Vries of MVRDV.
And now that you've given my gender a long-overdue shout out, you're going to make a special effort to find and write up other, lesser known women in the profession. Right?
Right on embergman! Like Anna-Lulja Praun who died in 2004 and was mostly unsung during her life and at her death. The living room in her Vienna apartment is what I aspire to.
Laurinda Hope Spear and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk of Arquitectonica.
I would like to add Neri Oxman to this list. As a female embarking on a M.Arch I find Oxman's approach to design (through the investigation of nature as way of defining form) to be both intriguing and inspiring.
Check out her TED talk:
http://vimeo.com/7806194
Sarah Suzanka (the Not So Big House) might not be a starchitect, but I believe the concepts behind her work are spot-on.
Sarah Graham, designer of the Portland (OR) Aerial Tram, among other things.
Glad to see a post on this! As a women working on my license in this field it's nice to see a shout-out. I agree on a follow up with some other amazing lesser-known women architects, there are some great ones out there.
Barbara Bestor
Toshiko Mori
Lise Ann Couture of Asymptote
Laurie Hawkinson of Smith Miller Hawkinson
Billie Tsien of Tod Williams Billie Tsien
Liz Dilller of Diller Scofidio and Renfro...hello!!!!
damn. forgot one of my favorites-
Carme Pinos-
who i will have to say is a fox at 50/60 something and i really hope i look like her when i'm her age
Some other inspirational female architects that come to mind:
- Lina Bo Bardi (One of the few female modernist masters. Also an amazing furniture designer)
- Charlotte Perriand (known mostly for her furniture design and collaborations with Le Corbusier)
As a recent graduate from Architecture school, and a woman myself, I am so happy to see this posting as I got onto my computer this evening!
No Elizabeth Diller because her partner is a dude or because her work is too esoteric?
Thanks archinerd. Knew I could depend on someone with a name like yours. Sorry for not readin the comments first.
As a female architect, I will say that this list really could have used more thought. Disappointed.
Marion Mahoney Griffin !!
One of the first women in the U.S. to get a degree in architecture and maybe the first to practice architecture. Worked for Frank Lloyd Wright and later with her husband. Most of her work was signed with the name of the men she worked for.
I'm surprised Deborah Berke isn't on the list... she gets a lot of media coverage.
One of the biggest architectural champions is Phyllis Lambert, herself an architect and a member of Canada's Bronfman family.
She is responsible for bringing Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in to design the Seagram building, she designed the Sadie Bronfman Centre in honour of her mother, founded Heritage Montreal (she is very vocal about architectural conservation), and established the Canadian Centre for Architecture, a museum and research centre in Montreal. She was also the developer on the restoration of LA's Biltmore Hotel.
There's a great documentary about her too:
http://www.artfifa.com/index.php?option=com_film&task=view&id=670&year=25&Itemid=349&lang=en
In large part, women architects face many of the same challenges as female film directors, and it is high time that this situation changes.
I remember when Maya Lin won the competition for the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. It was a hugely controversial choice and I was in awe of her because she was so unbelievably young and forced to defend her vision in the face of so much opposition, thrusting her from obscurity into the middle of the public controversy over her work. And just look at how popular the Memorial became, and how the design drew viewers in, and allowed such a personal, tactile connection.
MansardRoof -- I'll never forget it... and now look at how many designs are "inspired" by her work... I remember that 60 minutes report too...
Denise Scott Brown, whose design partner/husband Robert Venturi received the Pritzker as an individual, is missing from your list.
Julia Morgan
Yes I am surprised by the absence of many that posters have mentioned, especially historically impotant figures like Julia Morgan. Having just finished arch grad school I would like to point out that the numbers may be reversing in the future. There were far more female students than male, and from what I've heard this is the case in most schools today. This doesn't mean things will change overnight, and lord knows old boy networks don't fall easily, but there is hope.
I'd also like to second the mention of Sarah Susanka; her convictions and values are more important to her than the need to be a star. In terms of what AT professes to be its own values she wouldrank very highly.
"would rank," obviously. Stupid iPhone keyboard!
I also should have mentioned Nelle Peters. She was one of the first women architects in the country and much of Kansas City looks like it does (at least the parts that haven't been torn down) in large part because of her. I'm privileged to live in one of her buildings.
I third Elizabeth Diller-- and she's not all that esoteric anymore! There was an article about her work in the New York Times today, for crying out loud.
The absence of those historical names is as sad as the 'need' for this list at all. It's like waiting for the 'black architects' list... and all of our society's sad niches, sad Starvilles.
Though not yet a historical name, I believe a nod to Michelle Kauffman as just one -for her work in bringing green design in Architecture to our current reality.
Though the current economic slamdown has halted her production of semi-affordable ('semi' for I am poor as dirt, is all) absolutely lovely, efficient and energy saving pre-fabs- she continues on with her work and educating.
With Susanka's Small House work, I also re-list her name- for as much as a Hadid struggle may inspire in it's immensity (huge museums/a woman hitting those heights far and wide, etc) - I think Susanka's ideas speak for the wide spread needs of the planet right now- and I only wished that 'small house' was as legally widespread as it is well thought-of.
I also have to say that this list does seem to be as predictable as listing rock groups and stating - U2, the Stones, Beatles ...kinda obvious, bit sad. It's a start though, and appreciated - and hopefully expounded upon in the future as much the comments do demonstrate a need for. It's always easier to follow up with comments than it is to write the original article. Especially the underbelly going back: not just overshadowed by Corbusier, Eileen Gray threatened him and he went out of his way to bring her misery -personal and professional. Stories like this cannot be allowed to die off for they speak to the struggle then and ongoing now.
Thanks to Sarah Coffey for starting a well needed discussion.
I'm just going to pretend that someone snuck in there and added #6 afterward, BTW. Thanks to my buddy who pointed out this insidious fashion of altering a post. In reality, kaff kaff, I was just reading an Unplggd post where the very first comment was really downright mean. And I thought ...wouldn't it be nice for people like ___________ if they could come back after there were 18 comments following theirs that pretty much said 'Wow, you are mean!' or simply negated their comment with positivity... and either 'take it back' or best of all: edit your comment? As perhaps the uhm person above me might want to do?
But no: Lo! Behold! I am shown: ye look like an arse, by the by and there be no fixin' that, y'argh... (I miss Disneyland, the Pirates ride, sorry...)
"Fourth grade smile!"
(Which is the awful rictus-frozen fake smile of childhood when plopped in front of a camera -most especially on school picture day- and/or merely told to smile and with a childish lack of nuance sort of bares one's teeth in that 'smile' way at the camera person.)
This has been fun. Look! More crow over there...
If there are not many awarded women, that might mean that the "award" system is not good, not that the women are not as talented as men. Don't change the women, change the awards. When I was in school in the 70s, we had 5 girls among 100 guy's. Look in the schools now !! And look at the student's awards
I just experienced an exhibit of a very famous lady architect from India called Sheila Sri Prakash. She has done magnificent work for poor people and designed beautiful sustainable buildings with Indian techniques. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Sri_Prakash
She also was first woman architect from India and I definately think should be on such a list as this one.
As a German architect, I think Europeans must learn from people of different cultures who are doing fabulous work in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
Ana Maria Manzo from Venezuela - also a wonderful writer