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There has been much discussion raised about "Why are women leaving Architecture? and more broadly, Why is the profession losing key talent?"  Both women and men practitioners are disillusioned by the myth of work/life balance: Women are grappling with "have it all" expectations of juggling family time with the demands of full-time work.  Men are struggling to support their families solely on an architect's salary and fall back on asking spouses to maintain their jobs. The lack of affordable childcare and high cost of living only magnifies the challenges.  How did we end up in this modern family dilemma? What can we do to improve the situation?

EQxD Recap #AIACon16 - "PhilAIAdelphia Architect Ninja Warriors"

by Rosa T. Sheng, AIA, LEED AP BD+C

This year's AIA National Convention in Philadelphia was memorable in so many ways and inspired us to IMAGINE the future of Architecture with new energy, new ways of approaching challenges and taking action to improve our profession. Philadelphia holds a dear place in my heart; my first city after graduating from Architecture School, my first job, first apartment, and the place I developed my voice and professional identity.  And last year, I was fortunate to participate in TEDxPhiladelphia "And Justice for All" in 2015, where I shared my TEDx talk "Why Equity in Architecture Matters" to an audience of 1200 about the value of architecture in our daily lives. 

PhilAIAdelphia Ninja Warriors - "Architect Style"

Not sure if everyone had a full convention itinerary, but given the amount of choices provided for convention programs, tours, expo floor activities and related networking events, the whole week felt like the architect's version of American Ninja Warriors. While I was really excited that Philadelphia is such a walkable city with the Convention Center located in the heart of a thriving urban center, (which meant less time commute time between convention activities, hotel, tours and networking events) getting to the right place at the right time required both mental focus and physical stamina. In some cases there was added complexity of events overlapping or completely being double booked. In the course of week, I am sure that I (and many of you) clocked more than 10,000 steps. But even with the busy hectic pace (as in life), sometimes you have to remember to slow down, stop and take a look around. Some of the most memorable moments at convention occurred during those intentional pauses. 

Innovators, Disrupters & Risk Takers

Julia Louis Dreyfus, Neri Oxman and Rem Koolhaas resulted in a trifecta of Keynotes about Innovators, Disrupters, and Risk Takers.  While one could say that Julia Louis Dreyfus interview with Terry Gross had nothing to do with Architecture, there were compelling life lessons in her stories about career progression that struck a chord about having conviction to drive a meaningful career by taking risks and finding your own voice. Neri Oxman's talk on how "Biology Is Key To Unlocking The Future Of Design" was captivating. There was a lot of positive feedback from attendees that had mentioned their brains had been "stretched, twisted and stretched some more." And finally Rem Koolhaas' conversation with Mohsen Mostafavi on how "Architecture has a serious problem today in that people who are not alike don't communicate." Rem continued is role as provocateur in postulating that Architecture's greatest value in the future may not even be architecture given the rapid disruption of technology and advancements in fabrication and Silicon Valley's influence on business.

Innovating Architecture starts with the Perfect Pitch

In line with the keynote speakers' spirit of innovation, disruption and risk taking, EQxD hosted the 2nd Hackathon pre-convention workshop following its debut last year in Atlanta. Channeling the spirit and tech mindset of "hacking" from Silicon Valley WE315 EQxDHackathon - Architecture And the Era of Connections asked the participants to leverage design thinking skills to define a challenge in architecture practice and propose a solution. In the next 2 weeks, we will be featuring our post-hack blog series with contributions from our panelists, our jurors and each of teams "elevator pitch" of their business plans. You can get a sense of the event from the "Storify" recap so you can view the top tweets from the event. Wanda Lau of ARCHITECT Magazine also provides a great summary of the event. Notably, we had TEDxPhiladelphia Alumni and Tech Entrepreneurs lead an invigorating panel discussion on the the experience of taking risks in forging new paths. 

Equitable Practice Seminars - Curated Collection

Based on a discussion at AIA Women's Leadership Summit in Seattle regarding the general lack of AIA Convention seminars on equitable practice and low representation women and people of color on panels, we had encouraged groups around the nation to submit seminars for consideration. Out of 11 proposals, 7 were selected and many of them had high attendee counts between 100 to 200. 

  • EQxD Hackathon : Architecture And...The Era of Connections
  • EQxD What's Flex Got to Do with Success
  • EQxD Negotiation is your Power Tool
  • Establishing the Business Case for Women in architecture
  • Moving the Needle: Achieving Equity starts with Architecture Schools
  • Attract, Engage, Retain, Promote: Recommendations for Equitable Practices in Architecture
  • Future Firm Culture: Defining a Path to Success

Equity Jeopardy: Learn the Lexicon

The AIA National Diversity and Inclusion Council launched a new initiative to spread awareness about equitable practice issues in architecture with a game that plays similar to Jeopardy, the TV trivia game show. The game is meant to be a fun way to start the conversation about equity, diversity, inclusion in the workplace while also giving colleagues an opportunity to understand that the words we use may have different meanings to others depending on their background. The game was introduced at the Town Hall convention booth with visitors of all walks interested in getting a copy to share. The council will further develop the game based on feedback and provide a distributable version in the near future.

Learning from Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown -AIA 2016 Gold Medal Recipients

And finally, we were witnesses to the most auspicious occasion of the convention - the celebration of dynamic duo Robert & Denise for their lifetime contributions to the Institute, Architecture and Urban Planning. They were also the first pair to receive recognition of the true collaborative spirit of the profession; which has been long perceived and awarded as an individual's lone achievement of creative expression and execution in the built environment. Personally, I can't help but think of Denise as the embodiment of Melinda Mae from the Shel Silverstein poem who ate her whale! Well there is certainly more than enough whale to go around, so let's all commit to grabbing our forks and getting others to come to the table so it doesn't take another 89 years to attain our goals.

Save the Date 10/29 - Equity by Design: Metrics, Meaning & Matrices

“Architecture has a serious problem today in that people who are not alike don’t communicate. I’m actually more interested in communicating with people I disagree with than people I agree with. To have a certain virtuosity of interpretation of every phenomenon is crucial. We’re working in a world where so many different cultures are operating at the same time each with their own value system. If you want to be relevant, you need to be open to an enormous multiplicity of values, interpretations, and readings. The old-fashioned Western ‘this is’ ‘that is’ is no longer tenable. We need to be intellectual and rigorous, but at the same time relativist.”
— Rem Koolhaas
Photos from Equity by Design Symposium 2014 at SF Art Institute

Photos from Equity by Design Symposium 2014 at SF Art Institute

Please save the date for the 4th Symposium of AIA SF "Equity by Design: Metrics, Meaning & Matrices" on October 29, 2016 at the San Francisco Art Institute. The conversation that began in 2011 of the “missing 32%” in regards to the lack of women leaders in architecture has become an international movement with much broader depth and farther reach. Equity by Design is dedicated to achieving equitable practice in architecture in order to retain talent, advance the profession, and engage the public in understanding architecture’s true value proposition in creating accessible and just communities. 

This year’s symposium theme: "Metrics, Meaning & Matrices" builds upon the last five years of advocacy and sets an exciting path for our next chapter.

“Equity - Just and fair inclusion. An equitable society is one in which all can participate and prosper. The goals of equity must be to create conditions that allow all to reach their full potential. In short, equity creates a path from hope to change.”

Why Equity in Architecture Matters.

Equity is the ethos of our work. It is the ability to recognize difference and provide fair and just access to opportunities. Equity also speaks to a collective ownership, vested interest and knowledge of our worth. Equitable practice promotes the recruitment and retention of the most diverse talent while building stronger, successful, sustainable practices. The equitable representation of professionals allows us to better represent the people we are meant to serve. Equity is for everyone - architects, design collaborators, clients, and our communities.

We must leverage metrics to make any substantial progress towards changing the ratios within our profession. We are committed to conduct research and compare data occurring at regular intervals to track progress and maintain accountability over time. In order to move the needle, we must create benchmarks for comparison and make time to review, discuss, and adjust our course of action based on the findings.  

We seek meaning at many levels in the discovery of significance in one’s career, in the personal connections we make with others, in our own reflection upon research findings that can positively transform the workplace culture. Having meaningful work plays a significant role in improving professional satisfaction, increasing talent retention, and raising awareness of architecture’s true value within our global society.

We can adopt matrices to inspire a new mindset for advocacy and action. By nature, we are makers, observers of patterns, problem solvers, creators of connections, and synthesizers of dissimilar elements. Matrices enable us to become originators of new approaches and constructs. We can create more equitable environments within architectural practice and the places we design.

At the symposium this fall, we will present the early findings of the Equity in Architecture Survey 2016 with a series of panel discussions throughout the day. Interspersed with these sessions we have designed a series of diverse and interactive break-out workshops that encourage participants to engage in a dialogue of what is meaningful in their career experiences. And most importantly, we will experience the power and impact of action by learning and applying matrices as individuals, firms and in our professional networks.

Call for Symposium Thought Leaders - 

We seek Thought Leaders on equitable practice to participate in the Symposium sessions which range from panel discussions of key findings from the Equity in Architecture survey to interactive break-out sessions geared toward action-oriented outcomes. We are looking for dynamic, collaborative, articulate thinkers with a unique perspective on the spectrum of topics involved with achieving equitable practice. We will begin accepting submissions starting May 31, 2016. Please look for the next blog post which will provide the link to the Thought Leader application.

 

 

EQxD Hackathon 2016 Jurors: Our “Venture Capitalists”

By Lilian Asperin Clyman

The situation is: we love our profession but it stands the risk of losing talent, compromises our ability to integrate work with passion and family, and at times feels like a throwback in time. The solution: we are re-designing our design profession. This year at the AIA National Convention, AIA San Francisco’s Equity by Design Committee will be hacking for good. We are gathering as a group to work with the mindset of entrepreneurs; to encourage one another to explore wild and exaggerated ideas, to ask better questions, iterate, self edit, and move quickly. This is all so we can have a spark of curiosity towards what our lives as architects could look like as soon as the first Monday after the Convention. To explore the viability, relevance, and emotional resonance of each idea pitched by teams participating in the Hackathon, our team of jurors will be adopting the mindset of venture capitalists.  Which is the idea we think we can get fully behind because we are convinced it’s a game changer?

“How do we disrupt? Where do we focus attention to identify a universal knot to untangle in our industry? What are the lessons we can gain from others outside Architecture or those who are collaborators? Are we able to propose a whole new business case?”

Each one of my fellow Jurors lives by the mantras of “Why Not?”, “Because” and “Together”. Ours are the stories of following intuition first and then pausing to augment that gut feeling with data and discourse, which when sparked by curiosity, lead us to delight.  We love to play along the edges of things. We share a passion for working on “firsts” and not being afraid to find the path (or the connections and support network) to move from idea to realization.  Our team of Jurors is diverse by design - representing three realms: a practicing Architect, a leader in our allied field of Construction, and an entrepreneur working in a field unrelated to Architecture. Together, we  represent a collective and multivalent triad informed by gender, cultural background, and the points of view that emerge from the environments we work in and  the work we each do.

Lilian Asperin-Clyman, AIA,LEED AP BD+C

Lilian is an Associate and Project Director at WRNS Studio and Co-Chair of Equity by Design. She is a licensed Architect interested in being part of a multidisciplinary design environment that embodies a culture of collaboration, is connected to the community, takes risks and fosters talent. On March 2013, Lilian attended her first Hackathon. A year later, she organized a Hackathon for MOOCs as part of the SCUP Pacific Regional Conference and the third for last year’s AIA Convention in Atlanta. As Co-Chair of Equity by Design, she is tinkering yet again, this time helping to design the experience for the upcoming 4th Symposium on October 29, 2016.

 

Anthony Gold

Anthony Gold is a serial entrepreneur, investor, author, advisor, and board member for several companies in the Philadelphia region - both for-profit and non-profit. He began his career designing supercomputers for Unisys, then created an open-source software and services startup that was recognized by the industry as the “largest open source systems integrator in the world.” Anthony was honored to be named one of the Top Leaders in Open Source Business by LinuxWorld magazine. As the co-founder, COO and CTO of ROAR for Good, Anthony is recombining skill with passion in service of social good through the design of ATHENA, a discrete accessory envisioned to protect women from threats to their safety.

 

Frances Choun

Frances is an established and trusted leader as Vice- President of McCarthy’s Northern Pacific Division. Her visionary leadership has propelled the company forward as one of the largest commercial contracting firms in California. Frances launched her career in Architecture, where she developed an interest in the construction side of the business. As an industry expert, Frances is regularly called upon by local, trade and national media to address new and projected trends, and is considered a pioneer in advancing women in the construction field. Last year, Frances was in the pioneering class of the Equity by Design Hackathon at the AIA Convention in Atlanta. This year, her fervor for hacking continues and she will help us select a winner.

Staying true to the Hackathon format, there will be a winner! To evaluate each team and their proposition of what the Architecture Firm of the future looks like, jurors will be looking through the lenses of: User Experience (human-centered insight), Impact (innovation and relevance), Metrics (plan for action, deployment and evaluation), and Pitch (quality and uniqueness of message). Much like venture capitalists, we will be looking for teams who arrive at new modalities, create emotional resonance, and have a plan that garners our vote.


Join us for the reveal of the EQxD Hackathon: Architecture and the Era of Connections Winner during Happy Hour at Smokin' Betty's (116 South 11th Street) near the Philadelphia Convention Center from 5:30-7:30pm.

Join us for the EQxD Hackathon - WE315 May 18, 1-5pm (Happy Hour Included) or come to EQxD Happy Hour Only - May 18, 5:30-7:30pm 

Join us for the EQxD Happy Hour Only - May 18, 5:30-7:30pm 

 

THANKS TO OUR EQxD HACKATHON SPONSORS!

We greatly appreciate our EQxD Hackathon and Happy Hour sponsors for their generous support!

"Unpack it, Before you Hack it." WE315 EQxD Hackathon 5/18

By Rosa T. Sheng, AIA

In the 2 weeks prior to the EQxD Hackathon Workshop at AIA National Convention, we have compiled a flipped classroom reading list for attendees. Each panelist has provided a list of Hackathon resources to better prepare everyone for the intense 4 hour workshop journey. And even if you are not able to attend the Hackathon, (and why not????) you will be able to gain a lot of worthwhile and inspiring resources from the curated list below to apply to any hacking you do outside the workshop.

Our time together is brief. So let’s make the most of it. Typically hackathons last 2 -3 days. In our case, the program only lasts 4 hours. In order to help bridge the ramp up time, we recommend reading prior to the event, to get into the innovation mindset. We ask that you pick 3 resources to "unpack" prior to the big day.

Phillip Bernstein, FAIA - VP Strategic Industry Relations at Autodesk

Phillip G. Bernstein is a Vice President at Autodesk, a leading provider of digital design and engineering software, where he leads Strategic Industry Relations and is responsible for setting the company’s future vision and strategy for technology as well as cultivating and sustaining the firm's relationships with strategic industry leaders. An experienced architect, Phil teaches Professional Practice at the Yale School of Architecture. He is co-editor of Building (In) The Future: Recasting Labor in Architecture.

Phil's Resources

 

Robert Yuen, CEO & Co-Founder at Section Cut

Robert Yuen is the Co-founder and CEO of Section Cut. Trained as an architect, Robert’s design practice has developed over the past 6 years into a dual focus on Architectural services and recently in entrepreneurship. Robert is currently focused on Section Cut, a web-based platform committed to empowering designers and demystifying design culture to the public. Section Cut is a crowd-sourced, finely curated collection of design resources and beautifully designed objects with an educational agenda.

Robert Yuen

 

Yasmine Mustafa, CEO at Roar for Good

Yasmine Mustafa is passionate about leveraging technology for good. She’s the CEO and co-founder of ROAR for Good, a social impact company aimed at empowering women to live their lives boldly and without fearing using fashionable safety jewelry, mobile technology, and education. She’s the co-leader of Girl Develop It Philadelphia, an international organization aimed at lessening the gender gap in technology by providing low-cost web development classes for women.

Yasmine's Resources

 

Rosa Sheng, AIA LEED AP BD+C - Senior Associate at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

Rosa is an architect and Senior Associate at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson with 20 years experience. Rosa has led a variety of award winning and acclaimed design projects. Rosa serves as an AIA San Francisco Board Treasurer, the Founding Chair for AIASF Equity by Design and creator of the Equity by Design Symposium 2014. Rosa has traveled nationally to present the findings of the 2014 Equity in Architecture Survey; featured in the Wall Street Journal, Architect Magazine and a TEDxPhiladelphia talk.

Rosa's Resources

 

Join us for the EQxD Hackathon - WE315 May 18, 1-5pm (Happy Hour Included)

 

Join us for the EQxD Happy Hour Only - May 18, 5:30-7:30pm 

 

THANKS TO OUR EQxD HACKATHON SPONSORS!

We greatly appreciate our EQxD Hackathon and Happy Hour sponsors for their generous support!