Last night I had the opportunity to present this year’s worth of study as I ended my VEB fellowship. It’s a surreal experience trying to quantify all that has gone into this year, but I am so encouraged by the support of everyone I meet and am excited to move into the next phase of developing the Designers Build_pdx mission. I have summarized my recap here and included useful resources. I’m so grateful to the Architecture Foundation of Oregon and the Oregon Community Foundation for supporting impactful work by the architecture community. Congrats to this year’s fellows: Jackie Santa Lucia and Harley Cowan!
Habitat for Humanity - Women Build
Several times a year Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro organization hosts a Women Build event that pairs a day of volunteering at a building site with speakers focusing on a topic related to their mission. This past month I had the opportunity to participate in Women’s Build where we helped put the finishing touches on a community of houses in the Cully neighborhood. This month 15 families will move into these houses and start the new year as home owners! There were two speakers, one was a representative for the Oregon Food Bank and one was a gentleman who had moved, along with his family, into a home built by Habitat for Humanity. He had also been donated a plot of land and the whole family started an urban farm. The farm is a big success and they now sell at farmer’s markets and donate to the Food Bank. The Oregon Food Bank rep discussed the connection between the high price of housing and the need for food subsidies. It was such a wonderful day of learning how to cut & install cement siding. There were some math crisis’ on my part, but there was such great camaraderie it all worked out - #nojudgement! In January Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro group will be posting the dates for next year’s Women Build events. Spots fill up quickly!!
AIA Women's Leadership Summit 2019
Earlier this month I had the opportunity to attend the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit in Minneapolis. It was the third time I had gone to this bi-annual event and, though I always find elements I enjoy & value, the prospect of going solo to a conference always fills me with a bit of trepidation. As an introvert I get nervous about the crowds, the new faces, the small talk but this year I committed to leaning into the uncomfortable to see what the other side held. Here are my five top take aways from this year’s WLS event, not only do I enjoy relaying some great content I also appreciate looking back at this to maintain the forward momentum this event always promises.
“Every project has the inherent ability and capacity to be great and not be hindered by lack of money or lack of client vision.” Architect Julie Snow (one of my personal favorite designers!) shared this mantra as the one she used to lay the foundation to her iconic practice. Building on this, she reminded us that our role as architects are to pose interesting questions to our clients, to challenge them and offer a breadth of exploration from our experience. Architects create clarity and being able to be clear about a project’s intent with deep conviction is a learned skill that is honed through the mess of innovation.
Accept that there’s no playbook, Figure out the next thing…. not the final thing. Deliberate shifts or transformations are done by taking action. Trust that you are not lost and this is not a mistake.
Negotiation is important but pre-empt by making a 90 day plan and a target - show investment into the firm by taking on as much as you can - “do the job you have and the one you want.”
Effect change by placing these elements in motion:
Be curious
Celebrate creativity
Chat, create conversation
Coalition building & cooperation
Convene people
Keep your word, the choices you make are critical, be honest
Use common sense
Believe in chance, give it space
Have courage
Have a cause bigger than yourself
Reframe self promotion. We should broadcast the value and importance of design & the built environment on many different mediums and channels. Design has the power to change lives and help clients change their world - it is transformative. Our shared collective purpose is to shape our built environment for a better future.
The long-game
Why is it important to offer hands-on construction workshops or professional development classes to women in the profession of architecture? Why is having a safe place to experiment, problem solve and innovate matter?
Intuitively I know that these opportunities would be beneficial, and the response I’ve gotten from the design community defends this, but that’s not enough. Believing that these circumstances will promote equity, empower women and ultimately stem the attrition of talent caused by the “leaky pipeline” is a lofty goal. We are used to tackling messy design problems, creating solutions that inherently change the way people live and experience space, so this is no different. Our design education and professional experience has taught us processes and given us a language to better understand the problem, a design toolkit if you will. Providing opportunities to learn a new language, one describing construction and clarifying the components of materiality, imparts methods that can influence design and encourage innovation. A common construction language promotes empathy and connectivity, bridging industries and craft cultures.
What matters is opportunity, in whatever form it takes, and more opportunities for women to widen their process leads to empowered professionals. As I’ve said previously, the elements taught in a shop class translate into a variety of tangental wisdom. These teaching moments transcend the class and are useful in our every day profession. The necessary steps to introduce someone to a skill, the individual’s role in negotiating the tools, the collaborated efforts towards figuring out a roadblock or considering an innovative change. The route to success is knowing your strengths, by flexing these skill building muscles and leaning into the methods that led to a successful outcome, it allows you to call them up when you are challenged. So although the short-term goal of Designers Build_pdx may seem related to providing clarity around construction to women in the profession, it is only one step towards the larger goal of collectively shaping our built environment for a better future rooted in impact.
Photo courtesy of illustrator, Arnelle Woker
Yestermorrow Design Build School
This past week I, along with 10 other women, built a shed. The Carpentry for Women course at Yestermorrow Design Build School did not disappoint. Led by veteran women carpenters, Lizbeth & Patty, each day succeeded the last in gleaning more information and skills around building a successful structure. Day #1 began with an overview of virtually every tool in the shop. Willing to listen and give generous advice, Lizbeth & Patty were peppered with questions about the breadth of measuring, hand and power tools. Students varied in age from their 20’s to their 60’s, all from the East coast except for two of us. The motivations which brought us to this remote Vermont design build school varied: some had old houses they wanted to fix up, some wanted to build a personal tiny house escape and others where considering a career shift towards building. The rest of that initial day was spent practicing cuts with the circular saw in an outdoor hangar that had become our remote shop. For over three hours we practiced how to cross-cut, rip, bevel, notch and plunge cut. My notes for the day confirm that my experience practicing plunge cuts was “terrifying”. As Day #2 began with a recap of circular saw cutting it was unclear how we were going to move from this task towards building a shed. As a group we broke down the tasks for the start of the construction, which was to assemble the floor. A quick education on framing sizes, span tables, floor sheathing and nail types. A lot of time was given to making sure the floor was square and level, measuring and checking diagonal dimensions. The day ended with a cold swim (more like a slow dip) in the Mad River just across the street from the school and a bonfire. The next couple of days were spent framing the shed, learning the variety of nails to be used and how often to nail flooring and wall sheathing. We visited a local lumber yard and learned about what products were available and for what purpose. The importance of working in modules that aligned with your material became readily apparent! Parallel to that we visited a local hardware store and toured the aisles asking questions. The final day was a mad rush to finish, with multiple people on the top of the shed attaching metal roofing and groups on both sides framing in windows. Looking back it’s interesting to note the parts and pieces that lent themselves to teamwork and those that were better for a couple of individuals to focus on. For instance cutting the corrugated metal roofing panels with electric shears was a task relegated to a focused few, to limit the inevitable sparks. Also, the double swing door was relegated to two people that spent the better part of the day making sure their element was square and plumb to the rest of the structure. Applying the sheathing, face nailing the battens, installing the windows and casing seemed to be better suited to the team - although truth be told, Lizbeth and Patty saved us multiple times when things started going south and not according to plan. Their decades of building experience and ability to guide us was in itself part of the learning experience. Although one was partial to taking risks, while the other was more conservative in her approach, they both graciously explained their reasoning every step of the way. I’m still amazed it took 10 of us close to a week to finish a simple shed, which gives me a whole new perspective on doing anything much larger or more complex! This experience was one in a million and it has already influenced my daily design problem solving - now the challenge is how to distill this into a local venture to share with all of you!
Progress
Recently I was chatting with my daughter’s piano teacher after her spring recital and she commented on how important learning an instrument was. I initially jumped to the benefit of being able to play the piano at any point where you might, you know, encounter a piano. But she listed off the more pertinent reasons including the fact that music stimulates your brain improving memory and abstract reasoning skills, builds confidence and patience as well as encouraging good time management. Summers have historically been a nightmare for piano, between camps & family travel, so she was smart to lean into the many benefits to be had by sticking with it. But this notion of multiple benefits stemming from a singular action, is actually something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Ever since that eureka moment… in the wood shop.
So, initially at the start of this project my intention was focused on opportunity. Speaking broadly, women do not have as much opportunity to learn building skills as men do and this impacts women in the field of architecture. That was my premise, gained from both anecdotal and factual data. Women early in their career aren’t able to get enough time on the job site to complete their mandated experience hours and in turn cannot get licensed. Women further on in their career are tracked in positions of project management while most of the architects responsible for design are typically men. Giving opportunities for women in the profession to build confidence around construction and the details relevant to building would provide a leg up for those wanting to branch out. Creating a wide breadth of coursework and workshops would allow me to meet women at whatever level they were at. This is still my pursuit and I’m confident that Designers Build can create that opportunity, but it’s clear that this is a much more nuanced issue.
Why are women early in their careers not given enough opportunities to see buildings through construction and why are most designers men and women are largely project managers? Architecture is still a male dominated field with a prevalence towards gender discrimination. Progress towards eradicating the gender pay gap and creating a less toxic work environment will go a long way in leveling the playing field. Providing classes and carving out space/time towards creating community around our love for ‘how’ to build and the ‘why’ to build will create a momentum towards progress. Progress means more women and under-represented groups leading firms and having a seat at the table. Small victories that evolve from creating something, learning something, communicating something are the small steps that will allow the profession to evolve. Construction workshops are simply one tool in the toolbox towards further progress.
Creative risks & the wood shop
Yesterday I attended my third class at the ReBuilding Center, How to Frame a Wall. The first two, Building Boxes and Building Sawhorses, were women only classes and a great introduction to the elemental power tools used in woodworking. These have been my first foray back into the wood shop since I was a U of O architecture student back in the late 90’s. Back then I took the coveted two term Furniture Making Studio which typically had a waiting list a mile long. It took several terms of dissapointment before I finally got into the class, but it did not dissapoint. The first term was all about learning about the tools and how to use them safely, through a series of small projects. The second term was devoted to bringing your furniture design to life. For some reason I ingnored the advice to keep my project realistic in scope & size and decided to tackle a 6’ x 6’ room divider/screen/shelf of mixed materials that at some point I nicknamed Hank. I had aspirations that some day I would be living in some type of open loft concept and Hank would be my bespoke room decor game changer. After lugging him around for years, including moving from Eugene to Portland and then from apartments to homes, I had to come to the realization that Hank wasn’t a great fit in any of these spaces & I gifted him to my sister. I still run into Hank when I visit her, and I’m happy he’s apparently become an unexpected family heirloom….
My classes at the ReBuilding Center reminded me of what the wood shop teaches us, wether we are in architecture or not. These are my top five takeaways:
Being in the moment. Walk into any shop class and the main theme is how to work with tools in a safe manner. You can’t really disengage and let your mind wander when you’re around something that could cut your arm off, so working around power tools forces you to be in the moment.
Perfection is the enemy of good. When I started my first class, Building Boxes, I took so much time laying out the peices that I was totally behind the rest of the class. My perfectionism made me anxious and crazy for the remainder of the class and I beat myself up over the quality of the final product versus appreciating what I had learned.
Think holistically. When I took my second class, Building Sawhorses, I made a point to enjoy the process versus being overly perfectionist (read #2). Unfortunately I should have been a bit more perfectionist in my cuts because my sawhorses ended up not stacking on top of each other and taking up twice as much room in my garage! The point though, is to consider the whole of the project, what you can afford to move quickly on as well as what needs to be properly considered.
Practice makes progress. Time spent doing projects and becoming familiar with the tools will reward you with quality projects. There is a pretty direct correlation between time spent and positive feedback/high quality. Plus, working with others in class helps strengthen your problem solving & team building muscles.
Commit. Following through on your cuts, wether it’s on the table saw or with the circular saw, rewards you with clean cuts. Trusting in the framing hammer & leveraging it’s weight rather than your wrist, allows for more powerful hits. Going all in is critical for progress in the wood shop!
I’m sure I had similar takeaways when I was doing my furniture building studio back at U of O but stepping in now, as a career architect, made for a powerful eureka moment. Creativity and stepping up as a designer is all about risk, realizing that there might not be a perfect solution but willing to go all in to figure out the best route. The emotions and anxieties surrounding a wood shop project are very similar to those of a creative problem, so solving one gives you insight into solving the other. So although my five takeaways were directly inspired by my ongoing journey towards building my construction skills, I’m well aware of their relevance in my daily design practice.
(Trouble)makers
One of the best parts about doing this project are the people I have had the opportunity to meet & now share as a resource to the entire design community! It’s as if I’m painting a portrait with each person’s expertise and insight providing additional layers of detail. I am excited to share their stories with you as the year progresses. Recently I met Rebecca Seward-Beamer, architect at BRIC Architecture. Graduating with an undergraduate degree in Urban Design and Architectural History followed by her Masters in Architecture at U of O, she took on the role of construction manager for groups both in New York and then California. While living in Berkeley she became program manager at Project H, an in-school design-build program self-described as using “ the power of creativity, design, and hands-on building to amplify the raw brilliance of youth, transform communities, and improve K-12 public education from within. Our programs teach rigorous design iteration, tinkering, applied arts and sciences, and vocational building skills to give young people the creative, technical, and leadership tools necessary to make positive, long-lasting change in their lives and their communities.”
The founder of Project H, Emily Pilloton, went on to open Girls Garage also in Berkeley. Described as shop class for the 21st century, Girls Garage offers girls ages 9 - 18 skill building in after school classes & summer camps. The course work aims to integrate design, engineering, skills and social justice. Both of these programs, Project H and Girls Garage, have so many relevant elements that have the potential of informing the Designers Build curriculum. If you haven’t yet watched the documentary “If you build it” about the origins of Project H in the poorest county in North Carolina, watch it now - it’s bittersweet and amazingly inspiring. Bonus - it also clarifies what the H stands for in “Project H”.
a clearly identified outcome is critical to these classes, even if the internal framework of how to arrive at that goal can be left loose
It was really beneficial to learn about Rebecca’s program manager role and brainstorm ways to inform the Designers Build curriculum. A bulk of the classes were held as part of the school’s curriculum at the charter school were the program was housed. They would have long range projects that would be worked on throughout the year with the same group of students. There were also some classes targeted to adults on the weekends, one example being a “welding and wine” class. Initially I was terrified picturing welding with the addition of wine, but the agenda never really mixed the two. Students started in the morning with lecture highlighting the basic terminology of welding, then progressed to hands-on welding some angle iron book ends and steel tube pencil holders ending with a “gallery” show where invited guests (friends & family) would share celebratory wine. Although the youth curriculum and the adult classes seem very different, Rebecca held fast to the idea that common to both is a goal to reach an understanding at the end of the day and her role was to introduce the tools to get to that goal. This really hit it home that a clearly identified outcome is critical to these classes, even if the internal framework of how to arrive at that goal can be left loose to allow people’s interests to guide the end result.
Now that Rebecca is located in Portland she, along with her firm, has become active with local skills trades camp for young girls, Girls Build. The mission of Girls Build is very much aligned with Project H in the want to empower young women to build curiosity and confidence through the basics of building through after-school programs and summer camps. Rebecca has not only volunteered time with the program, but developed additional coursework focusing on the process of design which is held on weekends within her firm.
Photo courtesy of Project H and Unprofessional Development /Room 402
Roadblocks & creativity
The 2016 Equity in Architecture survey revealed the issue of a leaky pipeline in the profession of architecture. Namely that although men and women were graduating from architecture school at the same rate, the number of women who are AIA members, licensed architects or firm leaders is at approximately 18% of the total. This leaves 32% of women missing from the profession and perhaps victims of a leaky professional pipeline. Although this narrative is a bit limited as it doesn’t take into account the many people, both men & women, who have taken skills derived from an architecture degree and advanced in other professions; this is a baseline metric (based on survey findings) and it confirms that both male and female professionals -- are nine times as likely to work in a firm that is mostly, or entirely, led by men as they are to work in a majority or completely female-led office. The EQxD survey summary goes on to note… “while “glass ceiling” was originally coined to describe the challenges that women face, these barriers within the architectural profession hinder people of color as well as women as they strive to attain top leadership positions within the profession. Both of these groups are less likely than white men to be principals or partners in firms at nearly every level of experience. Even though today’s cohort of emerging professionals includes a significant increase in women and an uptick in people of color (although we still have a long way to go before we reach equal representation), the highest rungs of the profession remain pervasively white, and male.”
The leaky pipeline is a complex system with infinite solutions. There isn’t one silver bullet answer and, unfortunately, many other STEM related careers have similar challenges. Designers Build is one effort in many towards fortifying the pipeline at a local level. From examples of early outreach programs, like AFO’s Architects in Schools program to the Your Street, Your Voice program for high schoolers to professional development courses that build necessary negotiation, presentation, networking, marketing, and business development skills. All of these incremental efforts towards building career confidence, either architectural focused or not, work together in creating a strong foundation that is imperative in retaining talent. The survey findings that detailed the leaky pipeline issue also provided insight into consistent milestones, or pinch points, that either hinder career progression or influence employee retention. These points, marking a career’s progression from graduation through retirement, are seen as pivotal events closely linked to women leaving the profession. Every career path is different and the pinch points effect us all, in different ways and in different chapters of our careers. Yet if each of us zeroed in and applied our skills and creativity towards improving the situation in any single area of the pipeline, we can effect change.
In 2014 an interviewer asked Rosa Sheng, EQxD founder & current AIASF president, where do women end up if they do stay in the profession for 20, 30 years, if they don't have these title roles [in regards to leadership]? She answered with, “well, they do make it to the title role of project manager. Women are good at prioritizing and balancing, so the role seems to be a natural fit. But the last hurdle is the design [leadership] role. Ultimately it takes time. Design isn’t something that happens overnight. It takes a lot of thinking, living, breathing, and eating the project. So if you have an idea, but you have other obligations, and other people have more time to think about design, [your idea] doesn’t always come off as powerful when you’re saying it because somebody else has already detailed or sketched it out.”
Designers build is not only skill building, it’s an effort in reducing roadblocks and offering opportunities benefitting creativity. The intent of these classes & workshops is to foster a female community of designers willing to take creative risks and collaborate to tackle new challenges. Your creativity & curiosity has led you to become designers and architects, Designers Build is dedicated to progressing your practice by connecting your problem-solving skills with real world building projects aligned with community purpose.
Photo courtesy of SocietyNine, a rad company designing modern boxing gear for the empowered woman with an equally powerful brand manifesto….
Portland Practices / U of O Portland
U of O Portland is hosting a discussion series on the current state of the architectural profession. The kick off event is this Friday afternoon at U of O Portland. It’s free and open to the public and, based on the others joining me on the panel, it should be a fantastic conversation!
Together we rise
It’s opportune that the commencement of Designers Build coincides with the third anniversary of the Women’s March. Many of the same issues that precipitated and have become the focus of international protests are ones that drive the need for these construction workshops. As the Women’s March highlights the need for a societal transformation around women’s rights, the mission of Designers Build is borne out of the professions’ own crisis around lack of opportunity and injustice.
As past Equity in Architecture surveys show, a disproportionate amount of women documented that the Construction Methods & Materials and Building Systems curriculum offered while in college was insufficient to prepare them for a career in architecture. Anecdotal evidence points to the fact that it’s not surprising when women are given marginal field time spent in construction administration as compared to their male peers, even though this is pivotal in gaining enough hours to become licensed. The bias that women aren’t as familiar with construction is real and one that can have detrimental effects on her career. The effects range from prolonging time towards licensure, limiting and directing roles into administration or project management versus design and impeding progress towards leadership roles.
Although it would be wonderful if the skills taught in these construction workshops and courses proved useful in your day to day work. The intent is to provide opportunity for not only skill building but problem solving, tool competency, resource familiarity and community building.
Illustration courtesy of Sam Vanallemeersch at kolkhoz.com
Origin story
Equity.
This research project is the result of an ongoing resolution towards promoting equity in the profession of architecture. Back in 2013, while an active member of the AIA’s Forum for Women in Architecture & Related Design (ForWARD) Committee, our planning group was introduced to the work that AIA San Fransisco was doing with regards to highlighting the lack of parity in the profession. AIA SF had named their project The Missing 32% based on the statistic that women represent less than 50% of the students graduating from accredited architecture programs and the number of women who are AIA members, licensed architects and senior leadership varied between 15% to 18% of the total - leaving unaccounted 32%. Starting the dialogue and asking questions related to the profession’s pipeline issue was the first step, followed by clarifying the baseline by implementing several surveys and finally creating a task force at the AIA National level. Initially The Missing 32% was focused on women in the profession and over time the attention has broadened to encompass all under-represented groups. Similar to our local AIA committee which has since shifted from ForWARD to the Committee on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion.
Before data from that first survey was released, the common stories being shared amongst my work friends about being passed over for a promotion or low pay & long hours or waiting to become a parent knowing that it was career suicide, were just stories. Unrelated series of events that had people feeling isolated in their career and their place of work. In 2015 when the results of the survey data were out for public consumption, the tides turned. All at once we realized there were thousands of people all over the nation feeling the same way and it was a game changer.
Doesn’t the saying go … “The first step in solving the problem is knowing what the problem is? “ or something like that. Well there’s a terrific number of problems contributing to the lack of underrepresented people, including women, staying in the field. And as the work of The Missing 32%, now known as EquitybyDesign (EQxD), and the National AIA EDI Committee has matured and grown so have the strategies for promoting equity and being more inclusive. My intention with this research was to focus on one area highlighted as an issue, lack of opportunity.
There is a much higher chance that a man who graduates from architecture school has had a background in construction or been exposed to the building trades. Although statistics show women comprise approximately 10% of the construction workforce nationally. At a more granular level, on building sites themselves, it is estimated that 99% of workers are men. This lack of constructability know-how plays itself out throughout a woman’s career. Statistically speaking in mid to large firms, the majority of women find themselves in the role of project manager rather than lead designer. There are many components that influence this, but the fundamental lack of construction knowledge is generally noted as a probable factor.
Creating opportunities to advance construction knowledge, empower women and to forge a community allied around collaboration is the mission of Designers Build_pdx. The intent of this site is to document the process: the people met, the stories told, the information learned along the way. I’m grateful for your help and the support of the Van Evera Bailey Fellowship towards progressing equity and inclusion in the profession of architecture.
Read more about the work of EquitybyDesign (EQxD) and the AIA National Equity & The Future of Architecture Committee .
Illustration courtesy of Lisa Congdon @ lisacongdon.com