FALL 2021
WOMEN AND DESIGN Women Who Lead The ‘Other’ Philadelphia School Designing Motherhood Experts:
Redesign the System! Transforming Architecture
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FALL 2021
IN THIS ISSUE, we explore Women + Design by highlighting women designers, how design impacts women, and how equity, diversity, and inclusion learnings can improve the profession and the built environment.
FEATURES 22 Educating Women at the University of Pennsylvania (1950-1977): The ‘Other’ Philadelphia School by Franca Trubiano
DEPARTMENTS
7 EDITORS’ LETTER 14 COMMUNITY 20 UP CLOSE 40 EXPRESSION
42 DESIGN PROFILES
28 Designing Motherhood Experts: Redesign the System by Zoe Greggs
CONTEXT is published by
A Chapter of the American Institute of Architects 1218 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 215-569-3186, www.aiaphiladelphia.com. The opinions expressed in this – or the representations made by advertisers, including copyrights and warranties, are not those of the editorial staff, publisher, AIA Philadelphia, or AIA Philadelphia’s Board of Directors. All rights reserved. Reproduction in part or whole without written permission is strictly prohibited. Postmaster: send change of address to
32 Women Who Lead Philadelphia’s Schools of Architecture by Franca Trubiano
AIA Philadelphia, 1218 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 Published JUNE 2021 Suggestions? Comments? Questions? Tell us what you think about the latest issue of CONTEXT magazine by emailing context@aiaphila.org. A member of the CONTEXT editorial committee will be sure to get back to you.
36 Belonging, Bridging, Leveraging, Letting Go: A Case Study of EDI Learnings Applicable to the Profession and the Built Environment by Mary-Margaret Zingren
AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2021 3
4 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
Attend this inaugural FREE conference for architects! Enjoy a CEU-accredited course, networking opportunities, food and drink, and plenty of ideas and inspiration — all in a unique, newly renovated party barn. Sponsored by AIA Philadelphia member B&D Builders. Friday, September 24, 2021 | 12:00 pm – 4:30 pm Party barn in Chester Springs, PA Visit custom-conference.com to learn more and RSVP.
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AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2021 5
2021 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Soha St. Juste, AIA, President Jeff Goldstein, FAIA, President Elect Robert Shuman, AIA, LEED AP, Treasurer Paul Avazier, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, NCARB, Past President
Rich Vilabrera, Jr., Assoc. AIA, Secretary Brian Smiley, AIA, CDT, LEED BD+C, Director of Sustainability + Preservation Phil Burkett, AIA, WELL AP, LEED AP NCARB, Director of Firm Culture + Prosperity Stephen Kuttner Potts, AIA, Director of Technology + Innovation Erin Roark, AIA, LEED AP, Director of Equity, Diversity + Inclusion Fátima Olivieri - Martínez, AIA, Director of Design Kevin Malawski, AIA, LEED AP, Director of Advocacy Rob Fleming, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Director of Education Timothy A. Kerner, AIA, Director of Professional Development Danielle DiLeo Kim, AIA, Director of Strategic Engagement Michael Johns, FAIA, NOMA, LEED AP, Director of Equitable Communities Clarissa Kelsey, AIA, At-Large Director
photo courtesy of WRT
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Sophia Lee, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP B+C, At-Large Director Scott Compton, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, AIA PA Representative Mike Penzel, Assoc. AIA, Director of Philadelphia Emerging Architects Ross Silverman, Assoc. AIA, LEED Green Associate, SEED, Director of Philadelphia Emerging Architects Tya Winn, NOMA, LEED Green Associate, SEED, Public Member Rebecca Johnson, Executive Director
ARCH RESOURCES, LLC.
CONTEXT EDITORIAL BOARD CO-CHAIRS Harris M. Steinberg, FAIA, Drexel University Todd Woodward, AIA, SMP Architects
BOARD MEMBERS David Brownlee, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania Julie Bush, ASLA, Ground Reconsidered Daryn Edwards, AIA, CICADA Architecture Planning Clifton Fordham, RA, Temple University Fauzia Sadiq Garcia, RA, Temple University
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Sally Harrison, AIA, Temple University Timothy Kerner, AIA, Terra Studio Elizabeth Miller Jeff Pastva, AIA Eli Storch, AIA, Looney Ricks Kiss Franca Trubiano, PhD, University of Pennsylvania David Zaiser, AIA, HDR
STAFF Rebecca Johnson, AIA Philadelphia Executive Director Elizabeth Paul, Managing Editor Jody Canford, Advertising Manager, jody@aiaphila.org Anne Bigler, annebiglerdesign.com, Graphic Design Consultant Laurie Churchman, Designlore, Art Director
6 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
EDITORS’ LETTER
Women + Design AIA Philadelphia is pleased to feature this issue focused on Women + Design. The fact that we have chosen to highlight the role played by women in shaping the built environment speaks to their ever-increasing numbers in design schools and the profession. However, we are also aware that an issue so focused Co-Editors
may elicit comments such as “I’m not a Female Architect. I’m an
REBECCA JOHNSON
Architect” or “Are you going to do a Men + Design issue?” This
Executive Director AIA Philadelphia | Center for Architecture and Design CONTEXT Editor FRANCA TRUBIANO
Associate Professor | Department of Architecture, Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania CONTEXT Editor
sentiment, even when expressed by a woman, ignores many of the facts that persist about women designers and women in general. Women are still not equally represented in leadership positions in the architecture profession; women still earn less than their male counterparts, generally, and in the architecture profession; 2020 was the year when the number of licensed African American Women architects finally crossed 500 nationwide; and women, but especially women of color, still report that the culture in their offices does not feel inclusive or like a place where they can grow and thrive as designers. Until the factual reality changes, it’s important to highlight and celebrate women + design; an on-going practice that acknowledges the reality of continued inequity and the complicated, and sometimes unwelcoming, culture of the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. In this issue we are proud to celebrate women in design by highlighting the impact of individual careers and projects, by
ON THE COVER:
remembering the early history of women educators, and by sharing
SHARON LESHNER, ARTIST.
two important conversations about inequality for women in the archi-
THIS PIECE IS AN ABSTRACT
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PAINTING ENTITLED,
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“LIBERATION” — A MODERN PAINTING PORTRAYING A MOTHER AND CHILD.
AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2021 7
Fall 2021 Public Lectures
September 8 - December 2 www.design.upenn.edu/calendar 8 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
Discussion
Department of Architecture Department of City and Regional Planning Department of Fine Arts Graduate Program in Historic Preservation Department of Landscape Architecture Urban Spatial Analytics Program Center for Safe Mobility Center for Public Art and Space Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites The Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology Kleinman Center for Energy Policy
Open for
Fallon Aidoo Fia Backstrom Maan Barua Mia Bay Camille Boggan Felecia Davis Lucas Davis Winka Dubbeldam Kecia Fong Sydney Goldstein Michael C. Henry Starr Herr-Cardillo Georgina Huljich Hina Jamelle Ferda Kolatan Norbert Kühn Candice Lin Jeff O’Neill Stacey Peeples Lex Powers Leslie Richards Akira Drake Rodriguez Megan Ryerson Marcelo Spina Ken Steif Kate Thomas John Tuomey Thaïsa Way
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COMMUNITY
Equity, Climate Crisis, & Public Health take center stage at the 2021 Forum on Architecture + Design. Designers focused on the built environment are uniquely positioned to positively impact three of the most pressing issues facing our communities: Equity, Climate Crisis & Public Health. Over the past year and a half – the entire world has been focused on these three issues in one way or another. It is TIME for the design community to leverage its expertise and pitch in to make a difference. This year’s Forum on Architecture + Design takes place over three days: October 8th, November 12th, and December 10th.
PHOTOS: KENDON PHOTOGRAPHY
COMMUNITY
MORE INCLUSIVE PROFESSION October 8th Led by AIA Philadelphia’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee This half-day program will focus on the need for the design profession to create a more inclusive culture – so that there are more diverse perspectives in design studios and throughout the AEC landscape. Joining the Forum for this discussion is one of architecture’s leaders on equity in the industry, Rosa Sheng, FAIA, LEED AP BD + C. Rosa is a Principal at SmithGroup serving multiple roles as Higher Education Studio Leader in Northern California and national Director of Justice, Equity, Rosa Sheng
Diversity, Inclusion.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING November 12th Led by AIA Philadelphia’s Housing Committee Solving the affordable housing problem in Philadelphia and beyond goes hand in hand with attaining sustainability and equity goals. Join keynote Daniel Aldana Cohen, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the Socio-Spatial Climate Collaborative for his program entitled: “A Green New Deal for Housing: An Anti-Racist Building Agenda for a Decade of Struggle.” Daniel Aldana Cohen
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE December 10th Led by AIA Philadelphia’s COTE Committee The Climate Crisis impacts all of us. However, lower-income communities and communities of color disproportionately bear the brunt of environmental hazards and toxins threatening public health. Designers have a lot they can contribute through projects and advocacy to create more justice in environmental impacts. Join us for a keynote program presented by Antoine Bryant, the new director of Planning and Development for the City of Detroit. Bryant previously served as business development and project manager for architecture firm Moody Nolan in Houston, where he worked
Antoine Bryant
on projects in historic African-American neighborhoods.
AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2021 15
COMMUNITY
Dear Friends and Colleagues: Welcome to Fall 2021. I’m writing this in mid-July, and I’m struggling to remain optimistic about what the fall season will bring as COVID cases are surging again around the country. I hope to see many of you in person at the DesignPhiladelphia Kickoff Party on October 6th or at the in-person Design Awards Celebration on December 2nd. Here’s hoping that this post ages well over the next few months, and we’re celebrating, not grimacing as another fall and holiday season becomes overshadowed by the pandemic. The Center for Architecture and Design will open to the public again on Tuesday, September 7th, in time for the launch of the Designing Motherhood exhibition. The exhibition will be up until November 13th, 2021, so be sure to come by the Center and check it out. When the Center reopens, we will have the ability to have fully hybrid meetings and events. During the summer, we made a few updates to the Center by installing cameras and microphones that make video conference meetings and larger events accessible by Zoom. Many of our committees grew engagement over the pandemic due to the ease of hopping on a Zoom call vs. traveling to the Center for a meeting or event. Moving forward, we expect Zoom Committee meetings and events will continue, along with getting back together in person. Forum on Architecture + Design This fall, the Forum on Architecture and Design is back, but this time, we’re stretching the conference over three months. Feedback from attendees and members suggested that it would be easier to attend a half-day conference
vs. commit to two full days out of the office. The conference will be virtual again this year and will focus on three themes: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (October 8th); Housing (November 12th); and Environmental Justice (December 10th). New Online Community Coming in Early 2022 Another investment we made during the pandemic was to switch to an association management system, which has a robust online community portal for our members. The community will empower and amplify the work of committees, as well as streamline registration for events, paying for member dues (firm dues, not individual), and provide a beautiful, intuitive membership directory. The “FIND AN ARCHITECT” section of our current website is the highest clicked area of our website along with our job board. When you get the invitation to create your personal profile and join the community, or if you get an invitation to update your firm’s profile, DO IT! It will be a great way to engage with our larger community and promote yourself and your firm. Cheers,
Rebecca Johnson Executive Director AIA Philadelphia Center / Architecture + Design
Design Awards SAVE THE DATE. Join us on Thursday, December 2, 2021, for our final social event of the year as we celebrate the esteemed firm winners of our annual Design Awards competition and honor the individuals that help shape our organization. The 2021 Details about the event are still in flux with current COVID-19 cases surging, but we hope to be able to convene and celebrate in person. Keep an eye information.
16 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
PHOTO: FLICKER & ELM
on the AIA Philadelphia website for updates and more
COMMUNITY
Architecture and Design Education Update. As fall approaches, Michael Spain, the Center’s director of architecture and design education, prepares partner schools and volunteer design educators to launch the Center’s Architecture and Design Education in-class instruction program. All that planning comes on the heels of a busy spring and summer activating partnerships, spreading the word about the ADE program, and expanding the Center’s mission to provide every student access to design education. In the spring, Michael teamed up with Laura Casaccio of Cicada to provide a 5-day design challenge for The Crefeld School’s high school students. The challenge addressed the issue of neighborhood and community with exercises that culminated in a neighborhood master plan. Students focused on the roles of designers and how to use design as a tool to impact the built environment. As we head into September, keep an eye out for: • The Center’s ADE modular mobile parklet — designed and constructed as part of
a partnership with the Community Design Collaborative and architecture firm
Looney Ricks Kiss — will make an appearance at Parking Day 2021.
• Speaking of Parking Day, SAVE THE DATE September 17, 2021. • Volunteer opportunities for individuals and firms to participate in the ADE program
through in-class curriculum or Saturday workshops at the Center. Contact Michael
Spain at michael@philadelphiacfa.org for more information.
The 2022 Edmund N. Bacon Urban Design Challenge, challenges students to think critically about a present day concerns. This year the challenge centers on the intersection of Broad Street and Lehigh Avenue, a major transportation corridor in North Philadelphia. The area serves as a hub with connections to Amtrak, SEPTA’s regional rail, buses, and the Broad Street Line. Surrounded by underutilized open lands, how can this area thrive again? The full project brief will be available the end of August and the competition will close in December. Winners of the competition will be honored along with the recipient of the Edmund N. Bacon Urban Design Award in a program in early 2022.
AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2021 17
COMMUNITY
30 YEARS OF DESIGN FOR EQUITY On June 5th the Community Design Collaborative commemorated 30 years of service to Philadelphia communities honoring our 20 founders at Leverage our annual fundraiser. Reflecting on the Collaborative’s history and impact, leadership, volunteers, and staff we reviewed 1700+ projects and selected 30 that represent the breadth of our design impact. All 30 projects are on view until the end of 2021 in a digital exhibition “30 Years of Building Community Through Design” hosted on our website. Featuring some of our greatest hits, the exhibit features results of clients visions that came to fruition as a result of completing the Collaborative Design Grant process. The Collaborative’s core design grants help nonprofits succeed in the challenging arena of community and economic development. We match nonprofits with skilled volunteers from fields of architecture, engineering, and construction. Our volunteers provide nonprofits with the design process and tools they need to engage their communities, put their visions down on paper, and advance to the next stage: gaining support, raising funds, and building projects. In addition, we offer limited scope design services or consultations (technical assistance) to help nonprofits with key steps related to different stages of the design and development process. We move forward into the next decade with a renewed focus and dedication to our core mission providing pro bono preliminary design services to nonprofit organizations in greater Philadelphia, creating engaging volunteer opportunities for design professionals, and raising awareness about the importance of design in revitalizing communities. For the remainder of 2021 we will be looking introspectively to prepare for our next era. We invite our network of supporters and volunteers along for this self-reflection. In the coming months, the Collaborative will be hosting charrettes, interviews, and focus groups with our clients and volunteers to evaluate the organization. From this process we will define our equity goals, strategize how to improve and increase services, and test new ideas about ways to increase our audience, address 18 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
issues affecting our city, and broaden our reach. We will be asking questions about equity in design and planning strategically to evaluate how all communities can have access to the critical resources necessary for driving development of their own built environment. Our network is constant proof that design matters and is an incredible tool in strengthening our neighborhoods!
HONORING OUR FOUNDERS
Mara Baird, ASLA M.L. Baird & Co. Landscape Architecture
Sally W. Harrison, AIA Temple University, Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Alice K. Berman, AIA Alice K. Berman Associates, LLC
David W. Hinson, FAIA Auburn University, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture
Patrice Carroll, APA Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development
Scott J. Kalner, AIA Jacobs
Alice Dommert Prasada, Whole Being@Work
Emanuel Kelly, FAIA Kelly Maiello Architects
Linda C. Dottor, AICP Roxborough Development Corporation
Robin Kohles Consultant
Susan W. Frankel
Don Matzkin
Dan Garofalo, AIA Consultant
Robert H. Shamble, AIA Ramla Benaissa Architects, LLC
Sandra L. Garz Stephen Gibson, AIA, LEED AP The Penn Group of Companies Mary Ellen Yuhas Hagner
Howard V. Lebold, AIA, MAI Design
Susan F. Smith, sfs office design, llc Jan Strouse
COMMUNITY
PRESERVING CARPENTERS’ HALL As a past president of both AIA Philadelphia and The
proved drainage, paver replacement, brick, millwork and roof re-
Carpenters’ Company, I am excited to request your support for
pairs, and upgraded lightning protection (the Hall’s first lightning
a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the architecture community
rod was made by Ben Franklin!).
to come together to help preserve and restore Carpenters’ Hall.
Given the Hall’s architectural significance and its connection
Founded in 1724, The Carpenters’ Company is the oldest trade
to the history of Philadelphia’s built environment, AIA Philadel-
guild in the nation and the proud stewards of Carpenters’ Hall,
phia is proud to partner with The Carpenters’ Company to raise
a National Historic Landmark in Philadelphia’s historic district that
awareness of this project. The Company has already raised about
hosted the First Continental Congress in 1774. This gathering,
$1.6 million of the $2.6 million project cost, mostly from its cur-
which included George Washington, John Adams and Patrick Hen-
rent members, supplemented by some state funds. They are now
ry, culminated two years later in the Dec-
reaching out to the broader community to raise the remainder.
laration of Independence and the forging
I was proud to support the Carpenters’ Hall preservation proj-
of a new nation. In 2019 over 130,000
ect, and I encourage you to join me. Anyone who gives $500
people visited Carpenters’ Hall to experi-
or more will receive a complimentary copy of Charles Peterson’s
ence this history.
coffee-table book Robert Smith: Architect, Builder, Patriot 1722-
In addition to playing a significant role
1777. Smith was the master builder of Carpenters’ Hall, St.
in the founding of our nation, Carpen-
Peter’s Church, Christ Church Steeple, Powel House and many
ters’ Hall is also the historical epicenter of
other architectural gems of the 18th century. Gifts of $10,000
the building professions in Philadelphia, a
or more will be recognized on a new donor plaque to be perma-
stunning example of Georgian architec-
nently installed inside Carpenters’ Hall in conjunction with the
ture and a wonderful showcase of 18th-
300th anniversary in 2024.
and 19th-century design. The Carpen-
I am hopeful that Philadelphia’s architecture community will
ters’ Company operated the nation’s first
join together to preserve the historic significance of our most icon-
school of architecture in the 1820s, and Carpenters’ Hall is where
ic local landmark and ensure that Carpenters’ Hall stands proudly
our profession’s leaders have met to advance our craft and build
to serve many future generations of Philadelphia visitors and build-
camaraderie and community for nearly three centuries.
ing professionals. Thank you for your consideration.
Today The Carpenters’ Company is composed of leading architects, builders and engineers, and later this year it will embark
Sincerely,
on the first comprehensive preservation project at Carpenters’ Hall in over 40 years. The preservation project will ensure that Carpenters’ Hall is ready for a surge in visitation and interest in 2024, when the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the
John Campbell
First Continental Congress and the building industry commemo-
President, FCA
rates the 300th anniversary of the founding of The Carpenters’ Company. The project will include new mechanical systems,
P.S. To make a one-time gift or multi-year pledge, please visit
excavating and waterproofing the original rubble foundation, im-
www.carpentershall.org/aia. AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2021 19
UP CLOSE
DESIGNERS YOU SHOULD KNOW
BY REBECCA JOHNSON
In this DesignPhiladelphia issue, UP CLOSE highlights three extremely talented women designers here in Philly. There are so many women who deserve to fill up these pages and many other “lists” of Philly women designers — but I chose these three women because their work inspires me and challenges me to learn more. Shannon Maldonado’s work challenges me to question how spaces can inherently make people feel more included. Her projects (and her YOWIE shop) always have something I didn’t expect or haven’t seen before – it’s super intriguing. Valentina Miller’s work taught me how interactive designers can really DESIGN experiences for people…she doesn’t just use fancy technology to bring other’s work to digital life — it’s deeply rooted in the design process and discipline. Julia Michalski’s work is simply striking. Like most great modern design, her work is deceptively simple, yet alluring. Her work immediately prompted me to google her and learn more about what she has done. Julia has been recognized and honored for her work — but I am glad to include her in this feature because her work is exceptional and she is a local furniture designer that folks should know about.
Shannon Maldonado YOWIE Shannon Maldonado is the founder and owner
idea of building on the legacy of past people of color generations, making the space both inclusive and aspirational.” The Dye House in Providence, Rhode Island, is another project featuring Shannon’s interior design and creative direction. A boutique hotel and event space, this project is reminiscent of her work at The Deacon in South Philadelphia, yet her unique take on “New England Prep” and the incorporation of lots of local Providence artists and makers makes the project another stunner. 20 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
PHOTOS: CARO RAMIREZ (PORTRAIT), HIEDI’S BRIDGE (ROOM), BRE FURLONG (CHAIR)
Dye House, Providence, Rhode Island.
of YOWIE, a home and lifestyle brand and shop which focuses on curating small collections from friends, independent artists and designers. Shannon is a designer, with experience working in New York for Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren, to name a few, before she moved back to her hometown and set up shop at 716 S. 4th Street in Queen Village. In recent years, she has successfully completed several interior design projects in Philadelphia, New York City, and Providence. As her YOWIE brand expands into different products and services, she continues to deliver her exquisite taste Ethel’s Club, Brooklyn, NY. in every project she touches. Her two most recent projects demonstrate her design acumen and her curatorial eye. An interior design project shown here, Ethel’s Club in Brooklyn, NY, is a social and wellness club for people of color. The YOWIE website describes the project design process, “Throughout the design process, she wanted to call upon the
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF JULIA MICHALSKI
PHOTOS: NIGHT KITCHEN INTERACTIVE
Valentina Miller NIGHT KITCHEN INTERACTIVE Valentina Miller is an Interactive Designer at Night Kitchen Interactive with expertise in project management, animation, visual effects, and interactive design. Valentina is enthusiastic about enriching real spaces with playful and meaningful digital interactions. Valentina’s experience and research in VR and AR production allows her to make these experiences accessible to a broad audience through her design work at Night Kitchen. What does that mean? In these images, you can see how Valentina is taking measurements for an augmented reality project in the Rare Books department at the Free Library of Philadelphia (August 2019). Another project featured here was a virtual reality video shoot aboard Maryland Dove, an interpretive sailing vessel in the Chesapeake Bay. (May 2019). As you can see Valentina is in full costume in the image, this is because the little 360-degree camera sees everything, and she was on a very small boat! Therefore, she had to blend into the background and pose as a sailor while shooting this video. Valentina also worked with Naper Settlement in 2020 to create an immersive video shoot for virtual field trips of the Settlement. Naper Settlement is a family-friendly outdoor history museum featuring 13 acres of learning and interactive opportunities for all ages. I had the opportunity to work with Valentina during the 2020 DesignPhiladelphia festival and she created interactive elements to our Establishing a New Centennial Exhibition. I was so impressed with the way Valentina and her teammate (shout out Fatma!) took us through the design process to make sure the technology was enhancing our message and the designers’ intentions about their work.
Block Light Moosch Stool
Aboard the Maryland Dove for a virtual reality video shoot.
Creating the virtual field trip for the Naper Settlement.
Julia Michalski MOOSCH DESIGN
Julia Michalski is an architectural designer and furniture maker. She spent much of her youth constantly experimenting with drawing and sculpture, but also developed a strong love of nature. These early passions led her decision to pursue a B.Arch professional degree and spend her summers interning at architectural firms. In 2015, she went on to receive her M.Arch II from Harvard Graduate School of Design, in order to broaden her design experience to include larger scale environments. Much of her work involves a deeper investigation into the physical properties of materials (wood, ceramics) to define a set of variables that shape detailed geometries in the overall design, based on varying internal/external conditions. In 2016, Julia founded Moosch Design with her brother Alex while renovating a house for their parents on a wooded lot in Bucks county. Working with a low budget they managed to source materials either locally or by salvaging wood from fallen trees on site. They continued to explore sustainable building practices while setting up a prototyping workshop with the goal of producing little to no waste. Alex used his engineering expertise to embed LEDs into several lighting designs, including the “block lights” which highlight the beautiful features in the wood. In the following years Julia’s furniture designs won several awards, including: the Emerging Artist Competition Philadelphia Furniture Show in 2017, Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft emerging artist in 2017, and The Wharton Esherick Museum Woodworking Competition and Exhibition, “The Art of the Stool” in 2018. As these selections of her work demonstrate, her designs are crisp with confident geometric and organic shapes, while the materiality of the wood is prominently featured. The images shown here include the Moosch Stool and the Block Lights. The stool is made of solid hardwood and can be fabricated with an embedded LED light. This stool was the award winner in the Esherick Museum’s competition. The Block Lights are remnants of an old chestnut tree which has fallen during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. They are carefully selected and arranged to reflect light off each other and highlight the interesting natural features of the wood. n
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BY FRANCA TRUBIANO, PhD., OAQ.
EDUCATING WOMEN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA (1950-1977):
THE ‘OTHER’ PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL
MIMI LOBELL, STANISLAVA NOWICKI, AND BLANCHE LEMCO
Some stories are well-known because they are often repeated. One such local story reminds us of the passing of architect Louis Kahn who on March 17th, 1974, in transit between India and Philadelphia, suffered a fatal heart attack at Penn Station in New York City. One can only imagine how arduous his travel must have been from Ahmedabad to Mumbai to London, and to New York. Sadly, his body was identified by police using his passport, and the news of his passing made the front page of the New York Times. Obituaries written by Paul Goldberger and Ada Louise Huxtable memorialized his work and influence on an entire generation of architects. As Goldberger noted, Kahn had been on his way home “to meet his Monday morning class in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.”
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PHOTOS: COURTESY OF ARCHITECTURAL ARCHIVES, WEITZMAN SCHOOL OF DESIGN (NEAR RIGHT), UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ARCHIVES
•• Mimi Lobell in 1962. •• Architecture students in studio class
of G. Holmes Perkins discussing a model for women’s campus, 1952.
That same year in the fall of 1974, a visiting adjunct professor at the School of Architecture of the Pratt Institute published a brief text in the journal Oppositions 4 titled, “Kahn, Penn, and the Philadelphia School.” The “Postscript” authored by Mimi Lobell (1942-2001) referenced the growing call by some to recognize an educational axis forming between Yale’s School of Architecture and the School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. On many fronts, it was undeniable that a unique culture was permeating the halls of the School of Fine Arts. As early as 1961, when Progressive Architecture published the lengthy thirty-five-page article “Wanting to be… The Philadelphia School,” Kahn’s reputation as a progenitor of ideas about design, form, and spirit in architecture was cemented. Kahn’s reputation was not what Lobell had issue with in publishing her short piece. What she did disagree with was the idea that in 1974 architectural education at Penn had much in common with Yale’s. For Lobell, the two schools had far too many differences to be aligned along an axis of mutuality. As a 1963 and 1966 graduate of Penn, she would have known this to be the case. She attended the school receiving both a Bachelor of Art with a Major in Architecture and a Master of Architecture degree during the heady days of Edmund Bacon, Robert Geddes, Romaldo Giurgola, Ian McHarg, and Robert Venturi—national celebrities in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, and city planning. Lobell recalled how contrary to the culture at Yale, at PENN “people
aren’t good at promoting themselves… Penn was educating anonymous architects.” Yale, with its focus on “visual or formal gyrations, was “grooming virtuoso formalists and highly visible “stars” like Paul Rudolph, Charles Moore, Jacquelin Robertson, Bob Stern, Jonathan Barnett, and Vincent Scully.” According to Lobell, at Penn a “building was evaluated for the quality of its contribution to human experience and for its sensitivity to the surrounding contextual fabric.” I reference Lobell’s 1974 text not only to remind us of how quickly things can change, but to recognize how influential the architecture and city planning curriculum had been at Penn during the 1960s. According to Jan C. Rowan who authored the piece in Progressive Architecture, the group of educators who had gathered in Philadelphia offered “a powerful new movement with a powerful gospel.” Their work was highly local yet universal: it “herald[ed] a new renaissance that might prove to be at least as important to the course of architectural history as the emergence of the Chicago School in the late 19th century.” Beyond the traumas of postindustrial neglect which had befallen the city at mid-century, according to Rowan, in the 1960s Philadelphia offered a fertile ground for the renewal of architecture amidst
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•• Siasia Nowicki desk crit
and teaching (below).
•• Nowicki studio, student
work compilation.
a culture of city building. This was undoubtedly facilitated by enlightened mayors and an informed planning policy. It was no coincidence that the city’s Planning Commission Chairman (1958-1968) and the Dean of the School of Fine Arts was one and the same person, Holmes G. Perkins (1951-1971); and it was also no accident that Edmund Bacon was the Executive Director of the Planning Commission (19491970) and a faculty member in City Planning (1948-1980). According to Inga Saffron, “together, they pushed an often-reluctant Philadelphia to change from a smoky red-brick industrial city, sectioned by railroad lines, into a metropolis dotted with glassy modernist skyscrapers and greenways.” This too is a narrative we know well. Less well known, however, is the fact that during the zenith of ‘the Philadelphia School’ a small handful of women had, for the first time, become a vital part of the teaching culture at Penn. In Lobell’s professional Resumé from the year 2000, written a year before her death, she listed Denise Scott-Brown amongst the larger cadre of male teachers who had been influential in her education. Scott-Brown had been both an instructor and assistant professor of City Planning between 1960 and 1965, clearly coinciding with the years of Lobell spent at Penn. Yet she was not the only woman to who had been charged with educating the new generation of architects. In 1951, nearly a decade before the arrival of Scott-Brown, it was a Polish émigré—Stanislava Nowicki-Sandecka (1912-2018)—who arrived at the Graduate School of Fine Arts (GSFA) to teach architectural design. To an entire generation of students, she was known as Siasia. When she retired in 1977, she had been the first woman full professor at the GSFA. A committed modernist, Nowicki arrived in Philadelphia at the invitation of Dean Perkins, who himself having just arrived from Harvard, set out to
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build his vision of a school in the true spirit of a collaborative practice. Nowicki would prove to be central to his mission. A decade later, in the 1961 GSFA catalogue of faculty and student work exhibited as part of the AIA Convention held that year in Philadelphia, it was Nowicki’s work that was prominently featured. As communicated in the opening spread, her presence in the school was unmistakable. Her design philosophy was clearly legible in the student projects used to illustrate the ‘Basic Design’ curriculum of the undergraduate major in architecture and of the professional program in architecture. Nowicky had been educated in Poland where she received a Master of Architecture from the Polytechnic of Warsaw. In 1937 she was co-recipient of the Gold Medal and Grand Prix award in Graphic Arts for the Polish contribution to the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts. In 1946, alongside her husband Maciej (Matthew) Nowicki (1910-1950), she secured passage to the United States. In 1948, both husband and wife began their teaching careers in Raleigh at North Carolina State University where, until his untimely death in 1950, Matthew was the acting Head of the Department of Architecture. An accomplished architect, Matthew was tragically killed in a plane crash over Egypt on his way back from Chandīgarh, India. He was returning home from having consulted on the design of the new capital, a project subsequently completed by Le Corbusier. Another project which had been left on the drawing boards due to his passing was the Dorton Arena at North Carolina State. Matthew left sketches of the project, but as engineer and historian Henry Petroski noted, “The office of William Deitrick took over the supervision of the detailed work of design and construction, with Stanislava Nowicki apparently providing considerable insight into the creative intentions that her late husband had shared with her.” When Nowicki arrived at Penn in 1951as an associate professor, she was caring for a ten-year old child
•• Siasia Nowicki with teaching colleagues
PHOTOS THIS SPREAD: COURTESY OF GEORGE POHL, 1961ARCHITECTURAL ARCHIVES
and a newborn. In 1958 she was promoted to full professor of architecture as the first woman in the country to achieve this recognition. In 1976, a year before her retirement, Charles Kahn, the then Dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Design at Kansas State travelled to Philadelphia to interview Nowicki. The conversation was fascinating, if at times, awkward. Repeatedly, during the hour-long interview, Nowicki insisted on staking out her intellectual independence. She discounted on more than one occasion the influence which the Bauhaus had had on her Polish education, as well as the impact which abstraction had had on her teaching method. When the interviewer finally asked Nowicki about her own work (as opposed to her husband’s), she offers the listener a wonderful first glimpse into her architectural imagination. In matters of design, Nowicki preferred to think of figures, symbols, and other forms of abstraction as representing ‘things’ themselves. A window, for example, was not a stand-in for positive or negative space, it was quite simply a window, or “a hole in the wall.” Abstraction certainly freed the mind of pre-conceptions and it allowed beginning design students to think of things more creatively. However, as Nowicki herself stated: “I couldn’t possibly work with just squares on a white paper chasing each other. To me it’s a building right away.” And speaking at the cusp of the movement that was to become Postmodernism, Nowicki was highly impatient with students who treated structure “as a decorative element.” This was her design philosophy which, sadly, she never communicated in text or print. At the close of her career, she was fittingly rewarded and celebrated. In 1978 she received an AIA Medal at the annual convention; in 1987 she was honored as a distinguished professor by the ACSA
and student work (left).
(Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture); and in 2017 she received the Gloria Artis gold medal conferred by the Polish government for her role in design education. Her career had been exemplary with so many important firsts and when she passed away in 2018, she was an incredible 105-years young. Her story, unfortunately, is one that is less well known for being far too infrequently repeated. The evidence of which is that as a member of the Penn community, it took me twenty-five years to learn of her important work. In fact, Nowicki was joined by another inspired woman who taught architecture in the early 1950s at Penn. Blanche Lemco (b.1923), another émigré, this time from London, England and Canada, also shaped the course of architectural education at the GSFA. She was the second woman hired by Perkins during the first year of his deanship, arriving in Philadelphia by way of Harvard where she had just completed her Master’s in City Planning. By 1951, she had two degrees and was very well-travelled. She had been one of the first women to receive a professional bachelor’s degree from McGill University in 1945, and she had worked for William Crabtree in London in 1947 and Le Corbusier’s Atelier in 1948. She remembers having participated in the design of the ventilation stacks at the Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, by far one of the most celebrated projects of the post-war period. At Penn, she was appointed assistant professor in the newly formed City Planning department and remained on the faculty until 1957. She left Philadelphia, returning to Montréal to establish a professional office with her husband Harmen Peter Daniel (Sandy) van Ginkel. Her years at Penn were highly productive having taught design studios in urban planning and building structures. In the spring of 1953, she chaired a committee charged with organizing the exhibit
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•• Blanche Lemco receiving
film award in 1956.
•• Lemco studio, student
“The Row House in Philadelphia” which highlighted the city’s vibrant history and character, for the most part predicated on the ubiquitous presence of the rowhome. It also spoke to the city’s over densification and at times disfunction. In response, the photographic essay explored possible solutions for redesigning the typical Philadelphia rowhome by accommodating the arrival of the car and by acknowledging a new culture of child rearing. In the same year, Lemco and Nowicki collaborated on a studio focused on the rowhome. In fact, it was alongside Nowicki and Robert Geddes that Lemko established the Philadelphia chapter of CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne), where she attended the 1953 (Aix-en-Provence), 1957 (Dubrovnik), and 1959 (Otterlo) meetings. In 1956, Lemco was awarded the Grand Prix for Film at the 1956 International Federation of Housing and Planning (IFHP), an event she attended with Dean Perkins. That same year, she was named Mademoiselle Magazine Woman of the Year. It goes without saying that Lemco’s years at Penn were prolific and accomplished. They were also a font of cherished memories. In email correspondence from 2011 with architectural historian Mary McLeod, Lemco remembered with much acuity the exemplary teaching abilities of her colleague Nowicki who was ten years her senior when they both started at the GSFA. Once again, in 2016, she recalled with fondness how Nowicki had befriended her while they were both at Penn. Lemco’s professional career in Canada was equally successful. In partnership with her husband, she was central to the planning of Expo’67—the World’s fair held in Montréal which featured Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome, housing the American Pavilion—and the campaign to save le Vieux Montréal from the fate of a high-speed expressway. Her professional accolades include an Order of Canada received in 2000 and a Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal awarded in 2002. Lemco was the author of several papers and publications, and while she may have left Philadelphia to pursue a professional career in Canada, she was never too far from the halls of a university. She continued to teach at Harvard, l’Université de Montréal, McGill, and Rensselaer Polytechnic before becoming
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work compilation.
a professor of architecture in 1977 at the University of Toronto. She served as Chair of the Architecture Program from 1977-1982 and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Architecture from 1980-1982. This too is a story I was not told when I attended McGill University and when I graduated from Penn. Lemco was long gone from Philadelphia when Lobell arrived as a student, and while I have yet to find evidence of an intellectual connection between Lobell and Nowicki, I can only hope that Lobell was partly inspired by these and other women who were teaching at Penn during the mid-twentieth century. After all, Lobell chose a career in teaching as well. Having served as a visiting adjunct professor from 1972 to 1976, by 1986 Lobell was only the second woman, after Sybil Moholy-Nagy, to achieve tenure at Pratt. While there, she established the ‘Myth & Symbol in Architecture Study Center’ and authored numerous texts including “The Buried Treasure: Women’s Ancient Architectural Heritage,” and “The Philadelphia School: An Architectural Philosophy.” These are but three of the women who in the 1950s and 60s forever altered the gender, character, and values of architecture at Penn. They too gave rise to a ‘Philadelphia School’ even if we have yet to retell their story as often and as proudly as others. Let this brief narrative inspire us all to continue the work of remembering their life and contributions to the history of architectural education in Philadelphia. n Dr. Franca Trubiano is an Architect (Ordre des Architectes du Québec) and associate professor at the Weitzman School of Design of the University of Pennsylvania. Her manuscript Building Theories, Architecture as the Art of Building will be published by Routledge later this year. Acknowledgments: The author wishes to thank the Penn University Archives and Records Center, the Architectural Archives of the Weitzman School of Design, and the Fisher Fine Arts Library for their kind use of images. Special thanks to William Whitaker of the Architectural Archives whose extraordinary attention to the history of mid-century architecture in Philadelphia and to that of the Weitzman School of Design never ceases to amaze. Lastly, initial findings were made possible by a research grant sponsored by MGA Partners in Philadelphia which facilitated the work of 2020 graduate Susan Kolber who has been studying the history of Penn alumnae from 1950 to 2020.
•• Mimi Lobel in New York City,
PHOTOS THIS SPREAD: COURTESY OF ARCHITECTURAL ARCHIVES
Citations: 1. Paul Goldberger, “Louis I. Kahn Dies; Architect Was 73,” New York Times, (March 20, 1974): 1,64; Ada Louise Huxtable, “Kahn’s Building’s Blended Logic, Power and Grace,” New York Times, (March 20, 1974): 64. 2. Goldberger, “Louis I. Kahn Dies,” 64. 3. Mimi Lobell, “Kahn, Penn, and the Philadelphia School,” Oppositions 4, (1974): 63-64. 4. Jan C. Rowan, “WANTING TO BE ... THE PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL,” Progressive Architecture, 42, n. 4 (1961): 131-63. This article was written coincident with the AIA National convention held in Philadelphia in 1961. See the later, Thomas Hine, “Reflections on the ‘Philadelphia school’ and the architects who made the grade,” The Philadelphia Inquirer (September 29th, 1991): 1C, 6C. 5. Lobell, “Kahn, Penn, and the Philadelphia School.” 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. 8. Rowan. “WANTING TO BE ... THE PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL,” 131. 9. Ibid. 10. Inga Saffron, “G. Holmes Perkins, 99, chief of Phila. Planning Commission, Obituaries,” The Philadelphia Inquirer (August 29th, 2004): B07. 11. Ibid. 12. Mimi Lobell Resumé, Archive for Mimi Lobell, The Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania. 13. Her bio entry in the 1961 GSFA publication claims the date of her master’s degree was 1932; her obituary published in the University of Pennsylvania Almanac identifies this date to be 1938. University of Pennsylvania Almanac 64, n. 27 (March 20, 2018). 14. University of Pennsylvania Almanac 64, n. 27 (March 20, 2018) accessed at https://almanac.upenn.edu/articles/stanislawa nowicki-architecture 15. Henry Petroski, “DORTON ARENA, On the occasion of its 50th anniversary and its dedication as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark,” American Scientist, the magazine of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society (November-December 2002): 503-07. 16. The Nowicki connection to Penn had been forged in the years prior to Siasia’s arrival. Matthew had been in correspondence with
October 1968.
Lewis Mumford between 1947-1950; the latter, a visiting professor at Penn between 1951 and 1961. Lewis Mumford papers at the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Coll. 2. Finding Aid (2020); 208, 335. 17. Charles Kahn Interview of Stanislava Nowicki (1976), Audio Recording accessed at https://ncmodernist.org/kahn.htm. 18. Ibid. At 24 minutes in the conversation 19. Ibid. 20. Ibid. At 38 minutes in the conversation. 21. University of Pennsylvania Almanac 64, n. 27 (March 20, 2018) accessed at https://almanac.upenn.edu/articles/stanislawa nowicki-architecture 22. Annmarie Adams and Tanya Southcott, “Blanche Lemco van Ginkel” Pioneering Women of American Architecture, accessed at https://pioneeringwomen.bwaf.org/blanche-lemco-van-ginkel/ 23. Ibid. 24. Ibid. 25. Evidence of which can be found at the Architectural Archives, “Architecture Lemco and Nowicki Studio. Spring 1953 Row House Exhibit No. 1”, http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/fisher/ n2015100226. 26. Evidence of which can be found at the Architectural Archives, “Architecture Lemco and Nowicki Studio. Spring 1953 Row House Exhibit No. 13”, accessed via http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/ fisher/n2015100238 27. Adams and Southcott, “Blanche Lemco van Ginkel” Pioneering Women of American Architecture. \ 28. BLANCHE LEMCO VAN GINKEL CM, FRAIC, RPP, RCA, Hon.FAIA, FCIP, Resumé, https://raic.org/sites/raic.org/files/blanche_lemco_ van_ginkel_statement_of_achievements_1.pdf 29. This sentiment was noted in an email Lemco wrote to Mary McLeod (Professor of Architecture at GSAPP, Columbia University), on February 2nd, 2016, and which Prof. McLeod shared during a presentation she made during “For her Record: Notes on the work of Blanche Lemco van Ginkel,” (Thursday November 12, 2020), University of Toronto, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. 30. Ibid. 31. BLANCHE LEMCO VAN GINKEL CM, FRAIC, RPP, RCA, Hon.FAIA, FCIP, Resumé 32. Adams and Southcott, “Blanche Lemco van Ginkel.” 33. Mimi Lobell, “The Buried Treasure: Women’s Ancient Architectural Heritage,” Architecture: A Place for Women, eds. Berkeley and McQuaid (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989): 139–57. Mimi Lobell, “The Philadelphia School: An Architectural Philosophy.” Louis I. Kahn, l’uomo, il maestro, ed. Latour (Rome: Edizioni Kappa, 1986): 381–397.
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DESIGNING MOTHERHOOD EXPERTS:
REDESIGN THE SYSTEM
Maternity Care Coalition team.
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THE EXPERTS ZOE GREGGS: Can you describe for the readers, who you are, what you do, and why you entered the maternal child health sector? SABRINA TAYLOR, MCC’s Child Development Coordinator for Early Head Start: I recently found my old yearbook from my senior year when I graduated high school. When asked about my future profession, I wrote, ‘Helping women and children in the future.’ Now, I am a Child Development Coordinator for the Early Head Start (EHS) Program at MCC. Our program serves children, from birth to the age of three, providing developmentally appropriate lessons and activities to incorporate school readiness. PORSCHE HOLLAND, MCC’s Training Coordinator for Maternity Care Coalition’s Community Doula and Breastfeeding Programs: We provide direct services to families in the community: a birth doula, postpartum doula, and lactation support. We also train individuals in the community to do that work as well — to be community doulas, breastfeeding peer counselors, and perinatal community health workers. What brought me into the maternal child health sector is that I’ve always been intrigued by pregnant bodies, children, and families. My own pregnancy and birth experience sparked a desire to impact maternal health and the maternal mortality crisis specifically for the Black community. ADRIANNE EDWARDS, MCC’s Healthy Families America Coordinator: I am the Program Coordinator for MCC’s Healthy Families America program serving Montgomery and Bucks County. I am also a part time birth doula and graduate student studying clinical counseling. My goal is to provide counseling services to couples and families. The Healthy Families America program offers home visiting services to families who are pregnant and parenting children up to age 3. Our goal is to prevent child abuse and neglect and support children with school readiness. Each participant is provided with an advocate — who they meet with weekly to discuss parenting and prenatal topics, child development topics, connect to resources, develop goal plans, and from time to time provide essential items as diapers, wipes and formula. TEKARA GAINEY, MCC’s Community Doula & Breastfeeding Program Associate: I am currently the Program Associate for MCC’s Community Doula and Breastfeeding Program. My role is to coordinate most of the back-end operations of the program to ensure accessibility to doulas to ALL birthing people and communities, that means connecting with community partners, hearing from prospective clients, and onboarding new doulas who have been called to do this work. My curiosity around the pregnant body has kept me engaged in wanting to better understand, protect and advocate for the autonomy of reproductive bodies. My personal experiences navigating the healthcare system and witnessing many of the challenges of others navigating their own health called me to do this work.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF MCC AND THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LIBRARY ARCHIVES (MSCOLL760, BOX 44, FOLDER 56)
ZOE GREGGS IS A FULL TIME STAFFER AT PHILADELPHIA’S MATERNITY CARE COALITION (MCC), a forty year old nonprofit that helps birthing people and families in this city thrive. Over the last three years she has worked as the linchpin between intersecting teams that have brought to life a first-ofits-kind project, Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births. As Curatorial Assistant on the endeavor, part of which is currently live as an exhibition at the Center for Architecture and Design, she is referred to as the team “glue.” Here, she speaks to the DM project’s long-standing advisors, all of whom are MCC direct service experts in maternal-infant health and are proof-positive that what MCC does within birth advocacy and support and family policy is a form of systems design. Her interviews highlight and confirm that the design of our society and healthcare system, as well as the design of physical objects and the built environment have created painful, unjust obstacles for all mothers, but particularly for black women and those with intersectional identities. This project is as powerful and illuminating as it is because of the expertise and vision of Zoe, Sabrina, Porsche, Adrianne, Tekara, and the entire
BY ZOE GREGGS
PHOTO: BY JERRY MILLEVOI. COURTESY OF MCC AND THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LIBRARY ARCHIVES (MSCOLL760, BOX 44, 56
MCC AT WORK Maternity Care Coalition staff serving their clients in Philadelphia, 1980s.
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ZOE GREGGS: THE COMMUNITY ADVISORS ARE SUCH AN INTEGRAL PART OF DESIGNING MOTHERHOOD, THE HEARTBEAT. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCE BEING AN ADVISOR ON THIS PROJECT? PORSCHE HOLLAND: It’s been a joy and privilege to be an advisor for the Designing Motherhood team and project. I’d call it a movement more than anything. I am very passionate about civic engagement and community life and having the voices, the buy-in, the support of those that shared lived experience — supporting and serving them is impactful.
MOTHERS AT WORK Ford Motor Company’s “Tot-Guard” 1973. Grandmother pushing grandchild through a parking lot in Clapham Common, South London, 1996. (below)
Adrianne Edwards: Collaborating with Designing Motherhood has given me an opportunity to experience birth work in a way that I had not yet done; through design, while also having the opportunity to contribute ideas towards shining a light on the dynamic role of women and caregivers in society. It’s been rewarding to play a role in this transformative work.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE COLLECTIONS OF THE HENRY FORD MUSEUM
SABRINA TAYLOR: If I had to describe my role as a community advisor, I would say that I’m a team player. I remember seeing things getting set up at the Mutter Museum and I’m like, ‘Got a hammer? What do you want me to do? Anything else that I can do?’ So many people need education on maternal health and all the things that women go through, to see how far we’ve come and how much more work we have to do.
TEKARA GAINEY: I wasn’t sure what to expect when we first started this journey, but it has unfolded in ways beyond my imagination. I see my role as twofold: to hold the stakeholders accountable and to remain accountable to the communities I serve. To be in space where our voices
PHOTO: BY AND COURTESY OF SVEVA COSTA SANSEVERINO
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are valued, heard, respected, and showcased in a way that preserves the integrity and craftsmanship of this laborious work, is a privilege and being able to bring that to the forefront of Designing Motherhood and share, engage, and resonate with others who explore aspects of Designing Motherhood has been so worth it. ZOE GREGGS: AS DESIGNING MOTHERHOOD HAS DEVELOPED, HAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO YOUR OWN WORK CHANGED IN ANY WAY? SABRINA TAYLOR: This project has brought me back full circle to remember why we’re doing this, for the development of young children and to educate and support women. Sometimes we don’t know why someone is acting the way they do; we don’t know why a mom didn’t bring their kid to school for a couple of days. But when you talk to them, they discuss different maternal or women-related issues that I can relate to. I understand what’s happening in their households. ZOE GREGGS: In your personal opinion, how can we decolonize conversations around reproduction, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum? What do you wish to see discussed more — either globally or locally — regarding reproductive agency? TEKARA GAINEY: If we are going to be serious about decolonizing discourse around reproduction, we need to be critical of the systems in which reproductive care is embedded and do the work to first know and understand the historical and cultural forces of disjointed power and oppression on which these systems were founded and dismantle them. We are all familiar with the statistics: The maternal mortality rate for Black women is 4x higher than that of white women. This number is even higher for Black women with intersectional identities (i.e LGBT, immigrant, differently abled, etc). This number doesn’t shed light on the stark history of sterilization, wet nursing, experimental procedures, roadblocking of Black midwives establishing themselves and credible medical providers, withholding pain medication because of a perception that Black women don’t feel pain, and some of the other practices that lend to this numbers we hear today. So, when we talk about decolonizing reproductive discourse, especially as it pertains to birth work, we need to talk about how we can be intentional about restructuring the systems in which we receive health care in a way that honors and promotes autonomy, preserves cultural and indigenous practices, and places value on intuitive knowledge. If this past year navigating through a pandemic has shown us anything, it is that our health care systems need a complete overhaul, and it needs to start with not policing and creating obstacles for midwives to practice and expand options for out-of-hospital births. ZOE GREGGS: Objects are reflections of our external environments, beliefs, culture, and larger society. What and who do you see highlighted in the objects in the DM exhibitions? How do you feel oppressive structures (ie. settler colonialism, patriarchy, etc.) and, conversely, resistance shape everyday objects and systems designed for the arc of human reproduction? PORSCHE HOLLAND: The first thing that comes to my mind is Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey and what happened at the hands of someone whose name I don’t even want to say ... because it’s so disgusting. As
are the many people that have followed him. Objects have great value and meaning; they can be sources of offense or can be held tightly and desired. Having physical objects in spaces (such as an exhibition) showcases these topics and can have a greater impact than words. These designs have had a generational impact, and are still impacting people today. What does that say about the makers versus others that have crafted designs to be more inclusive, gentle and loving?” ADRIANNE EDWARDS: The range of experiences that we have had as women were on display from the beginning of life all the way to giving life. There were a lot of things I wasn’t even aware of that took place over the years especially when it comes to the various tools and gadgets that we’ve used or that were used on us. It was amazing and sometimes jarring to see. I found a new appreciation for those who came before me. ZOE GREGGS: What keeps you all going in your work? What makes you hopeful? SABRINA TAYLOR: I got my first job in childcare just after my senior year and about four or five years ago. Between last year and this year, I began watching my previous students graduate from college. One of the reasons why I keep going is because of the children and parents who I’ve remained in contact with. For me, it is seeing their growth, instilling in them from a very early age that they have a future, and that they can do it. MCC’s mission and vision are dear to my heart. This is definitely what I’ve always wanted to do and here I am doing it. PORSCHE HOLLAND: What keeps me going is several things. The list of names of Black women who have died unnecessarily at the hands of ignorance, lack of care, neglect, and racism. What also fuels me is being woken up from my sleep at night, thinking of those that I currently help and support and grieving over the circumstances that they face in what should be a beautiful time in their life - if they so choose to be pregnant. Often, there is no justice in maternal health and perinatal health in the U.S. where I live, unfortunately. I’m here to make sure anything I touch has a justice lens. What makes me hopeful is the support that I get, spaces like Designing Motherhood, and other birth workers that I see moving in this same way, etc. People are getting it, even if it’s taken a while for the system to change. ADRIANNE EDWARDS: My desire to do this work was born out of my personal experiences as a single mother. Therefore, my desire to do this work is tied to my desire to see women like myself and children like my son be supported, connected to the community, and thriving! I continue to do this work because it is part of my contribution to my time here on earth. TEKARA GAINEY: What keeps me going is being a witness to the transformation that people go through when they are given the opportunity to honor their pregnancy as they want, birth in a way that makes them feel whole, and parent with dignity and pride. For me, as a birth worker, my work goes beyond rubbing backs, diffusing essential oils, and talking nutrition. It’s about building community, showing up for communities, healing generational wounds, making space for confident and conscious parenting, and believing in one’s own power to make decisions for their own health and wellness. One day, this will be the norm and not the exception or something that needs to be fought for. n
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WOMEN WHO LEAD PHILADELPHIA’S SCHOOLS OF ARCHITECTURE RASHIDA NG AND ULRIKE ALTENMÜLLER-LEWIS BY FRANCA TRUBIANO PhD., OAQ. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, WEITZMAN SCHOOL OF DESIGN, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
It has been an exceptional time in the recent history of architectural education in Philadelphia. Women are at the helm of all four of the city’s accredited schools of architecture. At Jefferson, students in the College of Architec-
ture and the Built Environment are led by Dean Barbara Klinkhammer, while students in the Department of Architecture at the Weitzman School of Design are headed by Chair Winka Dubbledam. They are joined by Rashida Ng, who most recently completed a six-year tenure as Chair of Architecture and Environmental Design at Temple University, and Ulrike Altenmüller-Lewis, the Architecture Program Director in the Department of Architecture, Design & Urbanism at Drexel University. Not only is this level of all-female leadership historically unprecedented, it also heralds the arrival of a new spirit of engaged critique of the discipline and profession. As expected, changes in leadership occasion changes in perspective. It is not entirely surprising, therefore, that these leaders have initiated serious and timely challenges to how schools of architecture are administered and governed, to how and what they teach, and to the larger question of diversity amongst the student body and faculty. The following essay collects two reflections on the subject solicited by Context Issue co-editor Franca Trubiano from Associate Professors Rashida Ng and Ulrike Altenmüller-Lewis.
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CHANGING THE CULTURE OF TEACHING AND LEARNING IN DREXEL’S ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM
PHOTO: JOSEPH SMERINA
DR.-ING. ULRIKE ALTENMÜLLER-LEWIS
This is a critical time for our profession and architectural education: we are facing major challenges due to climate change, social and racial inequity as well as demographic shifts. Simultaneously, we observe accelerating change in the realities of practice. Innovations in the use of data and technology in construction, alternative work processes, new expectations for employment, and increased mobility have all impacted the structure of firms. And yet, these challenges offer exciting opportunities for critical reflection and renewal. They offer us a chance to embrace a culture of open mindedness, inclusion, and change in the academy that will also serve as a catalyst for a renewal of the architectural profession. Joining Drexel University’s Architecture Program in 2008 as Associate Program Director and Assistant Professor on tenure track, there were only a handful of women on the fulltime and adjunct architecture faculty. Today roughly one third of our full-time and adjunct faculty members are female. At the time, I was charged with assessing and reforming the curriculum; an exciting but challenging opportunity that allowed
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR & ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN & URBANISM, DREXEL UNIVERSITY
1
2
PHOTO: COURTESY OF DIANA NGUYEN AND RAPHAELLA PEREIRA
PHOTO: COURTESY OF DREXEL AIAS
1 Joanna Smerina on a Construction Site. 2 Drexel 2021 Graduates with Mario the Magnificent, the Drexel Dragon. 3 Drexel AIAS Leadership 2019.
3 me to also foster a more inclusive culture. While the majority of faculty and students welcomed the prospect of progress and renewal, some colleagues veiled their frustration, somewhat thinly, that a “girl” would question how and what they taught. In 2011, I became the first female architect leading Drexel’s Architecture Program and, at that time, the only female full-time faculty member. The following year, I became a mother and our first fulltime faculty member in architecture to request maternity leave. While support was mostly strong, I faced some of the same biases and challenges many women and working mothers face; having to prove that you are (still) qualified and capable to do the job, balancing complicated schedules at work and at home, working twice as hard and at crazy hours. During that time, I understood that as a female with leverage, I had to be a role-model and a catalyst for change to instill a culture of inclusive-
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ness and to encourage opportunities for more systemic transformations. Since 2008, enrollment of female students in Drexel’s Architecture Program has increased to approximately 45%. During the same period, enrollment of minority students has roughly doubled from 16% to 35%. In fall 2020 we welcomed the most diverse freshmen class to date, with 50% non-white students. I hope that the days when non-white students are a minority in any architecture class is a thing of the past! While we continue to face many challenges—and increasing the diversity of the faculty is currently one of my strong priorities—it is good to see how this increase in diversity in the Drexel community is giving us positive impulses to continue to evolve in this direction. I am enthusiastic to work with other like-minded leaders, colleagues, and students towards lasting transformation in how we build just space and inclusive environments, shaping a society that affords a sense of belonging, well-being, and opportunities for everyone. Based on conversations with Drexel’s inspiring students, faculty, and professionals, we are currently rethinking our pedagogical models for design education, working towards providing more expansive and inclusive paths that allow for flexibility and individualization in the curriculum. The latter is particularly important for female and BIPOC students, who still face more challenges completing their education and advancing their careers. While the Drexel AIAS chapter and the Drexel University Black Architecture Student Society DU.BASS have a history of energetic and successful female leaders, together we need to expand the avenues for advocacy, scholarships and financial support. Between new NAAB accreditation criteria, college and university strategic initiatives, a generational change of our faculty, and fueled by the pandemic, stars are aligned for Drexel’s Architecture Program to embrace new and unique opportunities and bring exciting change. Through our work-study model, Drexel’s Architecture Program has a history of providing an accessible and flexible path to becoming a registered architect with a robust practice-oriented education. This part-time legacy program is strong and highly valued by applicants, students, alumni, and
employers. For many students this path is the only feasible option to fulfill their dream of becoming an architect: evening classes and the option of working during the day helps some students meet family schedules and alleviates financial constraints. Adding the “Integrated Path to Professional Licensure (IPAL),” has afforded our students the ability to accelerate their journey of becoming licensed architects– something that is particularly important and appealing to our female students who have been trailblazers of this unique opportunity to accelerate professional licensure.1 However, the need to provide additional, more nimble pathways to employment in architecture and related fields is increasingly obvious. This fall, Drexel will launch a new Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies that provides exciting opportunities for increased interdisciplinary collaboration, something that the professional degree program cannot easily accommodate. Also, we are carefully calibrating the lessons learned from teaching online during the pandemic to better support our students—particularly those in the parttime evening option of the B.Arch. degree. Any time we can increase flexibility and accelerate professional pathways, we help women and underrepresented minorities succeed in reaching their professional goals. Charged with the responsibility of preparing the next generation of architects for an uncertain future, I am very interested in advancing and creating models of education in architecture, both traditional and innovative, that support and empower students in their endeavors—particularly those marginalized, underrepresented, and unconventional—to make sustainable improvements and lasting positive changes in the world. n Citations: 1. The Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure (IPAL) is an opportunity for Drexel Students to concurrently complete their accredited degree in architecture, log their Architectural Experience Program (AXP) hours and sit for the Architectural Registration Examination (ARE) while students and achieve licensure upon graduation. https://www.ncarb. org/become-architect/ipal /. Women and BIPOC graduates are still signi ficantly less likely to become registered architects as data by ACSA shows.
BY RASHIDA NG ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND CHAIR OF ARCHITECTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN (2016-2021) TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
A PAINFUL TRUTH: REFLECTIONS ON THE PATH TO JUSTICE IN ARCHITECTURE We are at a crossroads. We can continue walking on a path guided by historical systems of privilege, or we can turn towards justice by prioritizing the needs of all people and the planet. Considering the immense challenges of environmental, climate, and racial injustice facing architecture and the world, I am hopeful that the architecture profession will select the path towards justice. I am encouraged that our collective consciousness has awakened our ethical responsibility to address the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis on blacks, indigenous people, and other communities of color. I am also heartened by the sincerity of recent efforts to initiate meaningful and lasting change. However, we have not yet risen to this challenge. With few exceptions, twenty-first century architecture pedagogies
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can largely be traced to nineteenth century traditions. As we deepen our understanding of the history of racial oppression and environmental neglect, the fundamentals of the curriculum and how we teach it must be reformed. It is our ethical responsibility to current students and future generations to disrupt the status quo. How long will we continue to greet students with courses that embrace a history of colonization and domination without critical review of these practices? Given the holistic impact of architecture on our quality of life, how can we teach future professionals to design for communities without routinely partnering with them in our programs? While responding to the needs of our clients, we must teach students to embrace our civic obligation to the public at large.
As a woman of color in a position of 1 Rema Amin Qasmieh, a Tyler M. leadership for the past six years, I have strugArch student, documents site gled to find opportunities to disrupt deeply conditions for a community embedded practices in architecture that reengagement studio focused on inforce the patterns of power and privilege housing justice and conducted in of our society. I have faced the painful truth partnership with North Philadelphia that my personal identity has not automatRegistered Community Organizations. 2 Urban design proposal by ically wired me to advance justice within a Tyler students that promotes social system that is oriented otherwise. Unless I am interaction, avoids exclusion, and actively addressing injustice, I am continuing attracts a diverse array of services to perpetuate inequities. There is no neutral to foster multi-level employment position. However, the most important lesson within the community. Authors AleI have learned is that this is not the work of a jandra Carolina Munoz Amezquita, Ting Kuo, and Mazin Mohammed. single administrator. We all have more work 3 Yasmeen Amira Brahimi (Tyler M to do. Today’s challenges require each of us Arch ’21) celebrates oral histories of to learn, to listen, and to act. the North Philadelphia community Despite the urgency of the social and through collage imagery, created to environmental crises, I appreciate the imporinspire her thesis project. tance of thoughtful and measured action. I am grateful to my colleagues at Tyler for their partnership as we have begun a deliberative process of educating ourselves about the systems and history of racial oppression, which may have been absent from our schooling. Through this faculty-led initiative, we are reviewing the content of our curriculum and pedagogies to develop our lens of equity and anti-racism. I am also grateful to the students in our program who continue to hold us accountable for these changes that are long overdue. Progress is slow, yet we remain committed. But architecture has been here before. Although we recognize these systemic problems, will we sustain our efforts over the months, years, decades, and even centuries to come? In the well-known speech given two months after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Whitney M. Young Jr. chided architects for their silence and indifference at the 1968 AIA Convention. He stated: “You are employers, you are key people in the planning of our cities today. You share the responsibility for the mess we are in terms of the white noose around the central city. It didn’t just happen. We didn’t just suddenly get this situation. It was carefully planned.” 1 Now, over fifty-years later, people of color within cities—including Philadelphia— still shoulder the burden of poverty, crime, extreme heat, and health disparities that are further exacerbated by climate change. Architects are called to advance a more equitable, just, and healthy world than the one that exists today. The remedy to systemic injustice begins with the individual commitment of many, especially those in positions of power and with identities of privilege. We must collectively question norms and practices that have been previously overlooked. We can only find our way to justice together. n
1
PHOTO AND GRAPHICS: COURTESY OF TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
2
2
3
Citations: 1. Whitney M. Young, Jr., Remarks at the AIA Convention in Portland, Oregon, June 1968 https://content.aia.org/sites/default/files/2018-04/ WhitneyYoungJr_1968AIAContention_FulLSpeech.pdf
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BELONGING, BRIDGING, LEVERAGING, LETTING GO: A CASE STUDY OF EDI LEARNINGS APPLICABLE TO THE PROFESSION AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT BY MARY-MARGARET ZINGREN, CAE In 2015, AIA Minnesota – our board and staff team – set a variety of goals related to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). In the years since, we have grown in knowledge and skill, and we’re more aware of and curious about what we don’t know. The organization has made real strides and our momentum is strong. The learnings from our work to date are the foundation we are building upon, and they illuminate a potential path forward for other architecture-related organizations and for the profession of architecture. They may also be useful when applied to the creation of a more resonant and just built environment that is better for people and for the planet.
BELONGING: REJECT “WAIT YOUR TURN” APPROACHES
“THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SINGLEISSUE STRUGGLE BECAUSE WE DO NOT LIVE SINGLE-ISSUE LIVES.” — AUDRE LORDE
among women — differences of race, in particular — were ignored, subtly downplayed, or explicitly rejected. Women of color often didn’t feel welcome among other women in architecture. This realization led us to reject the idea that EDI efforts had to be sequential; a “wait your turn” approach that had to start with a focus on gender before other issues could be addressed. If the profession broadly, and especially groups and events focused on women in architecture, don’t create spaces and experiences of belonging for marginalized women, those women are more likely to exit traditional practice and to take their skills to other fields. And if young women of marginalized groups continue to not see themselves represented within the profession, they will also gravitate toward fields where greater progress is being made.
IN THE PROFESSION
IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
When I welcomed more than 700 women in architecture to the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit we hosted here in Minneapolis in 2019, I spoke to the unique challenges faced by Black women and other women of color, women with disabilities, and LGBTQIA women in architecture. Response to my talk confirmed what we had been learning from our research: there were many gatherings of women in architecture where differences
So how does what we’ve learned about respecting intersectionality relate to architects’ work of shaping the built environment? Women who hold additional marginalized identities are exponentially more negatively
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affected by standard design solutions, regularly encountering spaces that convey a sense that “you don’t belong here.” And when those same women are on design teams and are comfortable bringing their whole selves to their work, they can draw upon lived experience to create more inclusive spaces that resonate with a wider array of people. We can also broaden the concept of intersectionality in relation to converging needs and challenges, such as affordable housing and the impacts of climate change. In the recent past, housing advocates have focused on the volume of affordable housing, asserting that climate concerns related to housing solutions would have to wait. Now, in the midst of the nation’s current reckoning with systemic racism — and flowing from that, attention to environmental justice — when we talk about intersections of race, income, health, housing, and climate action, heads nod and support is voiced; we are finally getting some traction.
BRIDGING:
GROW YOUR ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE AND ADAPT TOWARD DIFFERENCE HOMOGENEOUS VERSUS DIVERSE TEAMS
the cultural competence of our staff team, and by providing architecture-specific training to AIA members in Minnesota and beyond. Our Foundations of Intercultural Development program has been implemented numerous times in Minnesota and in partnership with AIA Philadelphia. Our more in-depth National Intercultural Development Program was beta-tested in partnership with AIA Seattle, and the first cohort included participants from 11 states, including from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. What we’ve seen over the years since we’ve worked to grow the cultural competence of our staff and volunteer leaders is a dramatic increase in the feelings of belonging expressed by AIA members and non-members who have long felt marginalized. While there is still much improvement needed, many people of color have gone out of their way to express how the culture of the AIA Minnesota organization feels more inclusive.
Number of teams Homogeneous teams
Diverse teams managed poorly
IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT Diverse teams Diverse well teams managed managed well
Team performance 1. Creating value with diverse teams in global management, J.J. DiStefano, M.L. Mazneski, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 29, No. 1 2. Dr. C. Kovach’s research, UCLA
IN THE PROFESSION Intercultural development is the theory of change we adopted as foundational to our work. The core skillset related to intercultural development is cultural competence – one’s ability to recognize and adapt toward difference. Cultural competence bridges the gap between diversity and inclusion, and catalyzes the benefits of diversity on a team (see graphic above). As described in the first chapter of the AIA Guides for Equitable Practice, For differences to have a positive impact, people must have the skills to work across and gain from heterogeneity. Mixed groups are more productive, creative, and innovative than homogeneous groups if they have developed the capacity to leverage what everyone has to offer. In applying intercultural development to our EDI work, we started with growing
Cultural competence skills are also applicable to the work of architecture itself. As clients and current and prospective users become more and more diverse, architects and designers who do not reflect the population can struggle to hear all that is being conveyed – the “music beneath the words”. Representation in architecture is the more direct and effective path to true understanding. The next best solution is the ability to connect across difference. And as the architecture community works to address climate change through the built environment, cultural competence is critical. Decades of politicization of climate science and disputes over the best solutions to address climate change are inextricable from the broader polarization of our society. The Intercultural Development framework suggests that finding common ground and shared goals – like energy efficiency – can be a way to move beyond polarization. For truly impactful design solutions that benefit people and the planet, architects and designers will need to be adept at bridging difference, in order to gain support.
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LEVERAGING: UTILITIZE SYSTEMS THINKING TO CREATE CHANGE TOOLS OF A SYSTEM THINKER
Parts
Interconnectedness
Wholes
Linear
Analysis
Circular
Synthesis
IN THE PROFESSION We also have embraced systems thinking — in particular, leverage points analysis and complexity theory — as part of an effort called the Culture Change Initiative. Over the course of 2018-2020, we worked with more than 70 members of the architecture community to analyze the current culture of the profession, to define the desired culture, and to determine how to accelerate the pace of change. We came to define the desired culture as rooted in authenticity, equity, and collaboration (AEC). To move from the current culture to this desired culture, we conducted a leverage points analysis of the profession through the lens of culture change. We recognized that firms, schools of architecture, and AIA chapters like ours were primarily focused on leverage points related to the pipeline, which are essential but have little effect in changing the system itself. To accelerate change toward the culture we seek, we need to address the information flows, rules, power, goals, and mindsets of the profession – the leverage points where even small changes can have significant impact. We also applied complexity theory to this work, recognizing that change cannot be simply directed; it must be cultivated through everyday interactions and decisions, and by people of all identities, levels of seniority, and positions of power. We created the Community of Practice for Culture Change (CPCC) to foster this work of cultivation. It is a group of nearly 100 architects and designers who are applying systems thinking to their EDI work and are experimenting with interventions in the system.
Silos
Emergence
Isolation
Relationships
IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT How might the application of systems thinking relate to the built environment – beyond the systems thinking already inherent to architectural design? Architects and designers are often stymied in their efforts to realize just, equitable, sustainable, resilient, and regenerative design solutions. If the architecture community is to be an effective collaborator in creating built structures that benefit all people and living systems, we need to deepen our understanding of the context — the systems — within which we do our work. We need to be asking more expansive questions, like:
• Who has access to what types of information about a built project — before, during, and after its design and construction?
• What rules constrain the lic’s engagement in and economic benefit from a project?
•
How can changes in goals — like from
pure ROI to a triple-bottom line of profit, people, and planet — flow through and reshape the rest of the system?
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GRAPHIC COURTESY OF DISRUPT DESIGN
Disconnection
LETTING GO:
“FIXED PIE” FEARS TO EMBRACE NEW POSSIBILITIES FIXED VS. EXPANSIVE PIE CHART
intercultural development programs. I’ve noticed that the questions asked by this board tend to go deeper. On some topics, more divergent opinions are being expressed. The end results are strengthened because of debate and have more board buy in. We are beginning to truly realize the boost in performance that comes from diverse and representative teams that are culturally competent. Where you have the power to shape a team — whether it be the staff you hire, the consultants you bring on, or the partners you engage — staying true to a goal of demographic representation, paired with skill in cultural competence, can move you into that next level of creativity, productivity, and impact.
IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
IN THE PROFESSION One last learning of note: Constrained, “fixed pie” thinking keeps us from realizing the tremendous potential to be gained from growing the pie; from adopting new mindsets and transcending paradigms. Those who express fears of displacement seem to most often be responding to the manifestation of representation as an organizational priority. For the past four years, the demographics of our 100+ Annual Conference speakers have reflected those of Minnesota. The same is true of the juries we seat for awards programs. And our small staff of ten now includes two women of color. Perhaps the most the dramatic change has been in the composition of the AIA Minnesota Board of Directors. Compared to 2015, there are twice as many women on the board (just over 50%, vs. 20% of the membership – AIA, FAIA, and Assoc. AIA) and seven times the number of people of color (34% of the board members – compared to 21% of the Minnesota population, and just 4% of the AIA Minnesota membership). Now is the first time that the positions of Past President, President, and President Elect are all filled by women of color; next year, the first Black woman will serve as AIA Minnesota president. Representation doesn’t have to be viewed as displacement. Yes — the number of positions on the board has not changed. But at the same time, we’ve grown the number of knowledge communities, task forces, and programs and thereby created more opportunities for positional leadership. The benefit to the architecture community is that, by fostering demographic representation of the broader public within AIA Minnesota’s leadership and programming, we create the opportunity for members to experience what it would be like if the profession itself were representative. We’re six months into our experience with our most diverse Board of Directors to date, and with a high percentage of board members having gone through one of our
And when it comes to the most significant challenges facing the built environment today — among them, climate change, lack of affordable housing, and systemic racism — constrained, “fixed pie”, zero-sum thinking won’t get us far enough, fast enough. We need let go of this mindset and become expansive in our thinking and our approaches. There’s room for all to be successful because there’s so much opportunity for innovation and for the application of design thinking, systems thinking, and architectural expertise in addressing these and other seemingly intractable issues. What we’re doing here in Minnesota, with partners nearby and throughout the nation, dovetails with the efforts of other organizations that are also focused on furthering the profession and the built environment. We’re excited to continue our work with members of AIA Philadelphia, AIA Pennsylvania, and beyond. As has always been true, the experiences and learnings members have within the AIA and its components have the power to transform the profession and the built environment for the better. n To learn more about the Culture Change Initiative research, the Community of Practice for Culture Change, or the National Intercultural Leadership Program, check out https://www.aia-mn. org/get-involved/equity-profession/ or contact AIA Minnesota at info@aia-mn.org.
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EXPRESSION DENISE SCOTT BROWN:
BY CAROLINA VACCARO AND NOA MAILAR
LEARNING TO SEE
THIS SUMMER, T YLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE AT TEMPLE UNIVERSIT Y PRESENTS AN IMMERSIVE SHOW OF PHOTOGRAPHS, Learning to See: Denise Scott Brown. The show examines Denise Scott Brown’s defining views on architecture and urbanism understood through the volumes of snapshots she took of cities and landscapes throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The exhibition is open to the public through September 19, 2021.
2 Learning to See documents Denise Scott Brown’s iconographic legacy as a parallel storytelling of her thoughts and ideas on architecture and the
BIOGR APHIC AL AND EXPLOR ATORY IMAGES ARE SHOWN SIDE BY SIDE:
rural Africa and the vast veld of her youth, her
environment. THE EXHIBIT CREATES A CIRCUL AR VISION THROUGH THREE CONTINENTS
European education at the Architectural Association
AND DEMONSTR ATES HER PR AC TICE OF “LEARNING FROM WHAT’S AROUND YOU.”
in London, her encounters with the New Brutalism of
The images not only track chronological relationships but also offer a cross-reading of social,
Alison and Peter Smithson, and the Mannerist style
cultural, spatial, symbolic, and dynamic architectural concepts.
of “breaking the rules” as a relevant way of approaching the complexity of life.
5
Denise Scott Brown’s LIFE IN SOUTH AFRIC A HAD A DECISIVE INFLUENCE
ON HER INTEREST IN POPUL AR AND MARGINALIZED CULTURES. The “Learning from Las
Vegas” study aimed to understand the aesthetics of urban sprawl in its purest and most extreme form, then evolve techniques to handle this “New Form of the City.”
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PHOTOS: TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE
1
3
4 THIS SEQUENCE OF LINKED IMAGES EXPRESSES SCOT T BROWN’S INTEREST IN THE “IMPERFEC T WORLD AROUND US” — the edges of things, vast spaces and voids,
wastelands as juxtapositions between urban systems and places of freedom, architectural patterns, and patterns of activity.
IN THE L ATE 1960S, DENISE SCOT T BROWN STARTED TO
DOCUMENT A “NEW FORM OF THE CIT Y” — ONE DOMINATED BY AUTOMOBILES — and
its related architecture. America ‘s gas stations, billboards, roadside stores, signs, advertisements, and deserts offer Scott Brown fertile material to research American identity through the extraordinary and the everyday.
7
While photographs play and overlay throughout the gallery space,
HERE THE INTIMAC Y OF PL ACE AND HISTORY FORM A SIMULTANEOUS DIALOGUE.
6
Academic and professional work in Philadelphia echo Denise Scott Brown’s more personal narraContinuing from the larger gallery space, VISITORS MEANDER FROM LAS VEGAS INTO A MORE
tive at the center, punctuated by the sound of her
PERSONAL PHILADELPHIA SPACE containing an intimate room-within-a-room waiting to be discovered.
voice from her 2018 Soane Medal lecture.
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DESIGN PROFILE
CHANDLER ULLMANN HALL
MGA Partners
42 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
PHOTOS: HALKIN MASON PHOTOGRAPHY
At the historic center of Lehigh University’s campus, Chandler Ullmann Hall stands out with iconic red brick chimneys that identify it as one of the first collegiate chemistry buildings in the country, unique for its innovations in ventilation and safety. The original T-shaped building, designed by Addison Hutton, opened in 1883 with later additions for a West Wing in 1919 and an East Wing in 1937. While continually occupied by academic departments for over a century, during the past several decades it became tired, ineffective, and unloved. The entire building has been renovated and selectively restored for new use as the home of the Department of Psychology and the Department of Math, both popular undergraduate programs requiring classrooms, faculty offices, and labs. Reviving the durable but rather inflexible masonry building presented several essential challenges. Originally built with little infrastructure, Chandler Ullmann Hall had endured over a century of accretive layers of ductwork, wiring, devices, and lighting—all of which had lost its usefulness. Unlike a contemporary building with chases and service zones, new infrastructure pathways are carefully introduced into the renovation so that the character of existing masonry walls and original ceilings are compromised to the least extent possible. While the program called for a large number of faculty offices, many key spatial features of the original building were honored by improving circulation patterns, by re-establishing relationships to the grand windows, and by planning large activity spaces such as classrooms in key locations. n
PROJECT: Chandler Ullmann Hall LOCATION: Bethlehem, PA CLIENT: Lehigh University PROJECT SIZE: 88,500 sf PROJECT TEAM: MGA Partners (Architiect) Ground Reconsidered (Landscape Architect) Langan (Civil Engineer) CVM (Civil Engineer) Langan (Systems Engineer) Wilson Consulting (Specifications) The Lighting Practice (Lighting Design) Metropolitan Acoustics (Acoustics) Lerch Bates (Elevator Consultant) Becker & Frondorf (Cost Estimator) GeoStructures, Inc. (Geotechnical Engineer) Turner Construction (General Contractor)
AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2021 43
ITALIAN MARKET PASSIVE HOUSE
BluPath Design
44 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
ventilation (meets or exceeds COVID recommendations). The compact core design increases synergies of efficiency in water and energy. Changing the status quo is not easy. Unaccommodating consultants threatened to derail critical design and technical elements. The client and builder’s commitment and collaborative problem-solving team spirit were essential to overcoming obstacles. Among the rescued elements were the unique insulated flitch beam supporting the 3-pane façade fenestration, the sunshade, and the airtightness goal for PHIUS certification. Building well and solving problems need not be a rare experience. Innovative re-use of urban buildings is essential to address our global climate crisis. This project demonstrates how outside-the-box thinking can result in new hybrid typologies to create more durable and resilient cities. The Italian Market Passive House makes evident that 2030 energy and resiliency goals can be met today with existing materials, methods, and technologies, just add knowledge and desire. Opportunity abounds. n
PHOTOS: SAM OBERTER
The Italian Market is one of Philadelphia’s unique, diverse, mixed-use neighborhoods. The Italian Market Passive House project is the first PHIUS+ certified custom single-family home in Philadelphia. There are no fossil fuels at this property: the all-electric building meets Energy Star V3, Zero Energy Ready Homes, has a HERS index of 34, and a post-completion rooftop solar array. This design incorporates future adaptability in a ‘loose-fit layout, including an aging-in-place future elevator, a potential return to mixed-use mercantile functions of the market locale, structured for the green roof“carbon farming.” By building atop an existing warehouse, both the place’s embodied energy and cultural memory are sequestered. Beyond energy efficiency, other sustainable features include water conservation; low toxicity materials; recycled, repurposed, and reused materials, such as milled beams for treads and dining table; low-carbon envelope systems; several Declare label products; highly efficient lighting, heat pump, hot water with PEX manifold, and energy recovery
DESIGN PROFILE
PROJECT: Italian Market Passive House LOCATION: 827 Carpenter St, Phila PA CLIENT: Mark and Liana Ottaviani PROJECT SIZE: 2293 sf residence, 2150 sf workshop PROJECT TEAM: BluPath Design (Architect) Mark Ulrick Associates (Mechanical/Electrical/ Plumbing Engineer) Bevan Lawson, PE (Structural Engineer) Cedarville Engineering (Geotechnical) Spyglass Design (Kitchen Cabinet Design) Hanson Fine Building (General Contractor)
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DESIGN PROFILE
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46 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
FDU SPIRIT BRIDGE
Viridian Landscape Studio
PROJECT: FDU Spirit Bridge LOCATION: Teaneck/Hackensack NJ CLIENT: Fairleigh Dickinson University PROJECT SIZE: 200 foot long pedestrian bridge
PHOTOS: SAHAR COSTON-HARDY PHOTOGRAPHY
PROJECT TEAM: Viridian Landscape Studio (Landscape Architect) Maser Consulting (Structural/Civil Engineer) BigR Bridge (Bridge Engineer/Fabricator) BEAM (Lighting Design) Bruce E. Brooks & Associates (Mechanical/Electrical Engineer) ROOFMEADOW (Green Roof Consultant)
The new Spirit Footbridge strengthens FDU’s identity, unites its campus, and showcases its commitment to sustainability. Spanning 200 feet across the Hackensack River, the densely planted garden path replaces a crumbling concrete-and-chain link walkway connecting FDU’s split campuses. It affirms the University’s commitment to river stewardship and embodies the ongoing transformation of their campus into a sustainable eco-park. With generous shaded seating areas, outlooks for birdwatching or enjoying river views, and lush native plantings, the new bridge is more than a passage; it’s a destination. Viridian led a multi-disciplinary team to create the new footbridge, which reuses existing piers to save on cost and resources. To maximize plantable area within challenging height and width limitations, Viridian designed a lightweight soil matrix and used hanging planters for added vegetation outside the railing. Materials were selected for their lightness, durability, and sustainability, including recycled teak sourced from an
elephant conservation program in Myanmar. Plants were selected for year-round visual appeal, suitability to the bridge microclimate, and their ability to attract native birds, insects, and turtles. The tiered landscape feels like an extension of the riverbanks. By showcasing beautiful native plants, the footbridge is changing perception on campus of what a “sustainable landscape” can be. It’s also changing campus culture. Historically, FDU has been a car-centric commuter school with few distinguishing architectural characteristics. The popular bridge quickly became a signature feature of the campus increasing pedestrian activity and giving the school a bold new space that enriches the student experience. It’s inspiring of new sense of place and a new sense of pride. As a central piece of Viridian’s larger FDU landscape master plan, the bridge helps restore the historic river landscape, and raise application and retention rates. The Spirit Bridge doesn’t just connect the campus; it connects FDU’s past, present, and future. n
AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2021 47
DESIGN PROFILE
PROJECT: Congreso Health Center (A Partnership with PHMC) LOCATION: 216 West Somerset St. Philadelphia, PA 19133 CLIENT: Congreso de Latinos Unidos PROJECT SIZE: 6,800 sf PROJECT TEAM: FIFTEEN Architecture and Design (Architect) Antoine Johnson, LLC (Owners Representative)
CONGRESO HEALTH CENTER (A PARTNERSHIP WITH PHMC)
DEDC, LLC (Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing/Fire Protection Engineering)
FIFTEEN Architecture + Design FIFTEEN Architecture + Design was the design partner for programming through construction administration for this complete demolition and fit-out of the new Health Clinic for Congreso. This project is through a partnership between Congreso de Latinos Unidos and the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation (PHMC) and is a Federally Qualified Health Center focused on primary adult and pediatric care, family planning and behavioral health. The center aims to encourage patients to make well-informed decisions with regard to their
Boyd Project Controls (Cost Estimator) SM&W (Acoustic Consultant) Bittenbender Construction, LP (Construction Manager)
health, by providing a comprehensive and educational approach. Through this renovation, the Congreso Health Center relocated from it’s previous location at 4th and Lehigh, to the first floor of the Congreso headquarters building in the Fairhill neighborhood of Philadelphia. The goal was to expand their space in order to meet the demands of the community and to provide amenities, such as a community room and specialty behavioral health consult rooms, that would allow Congreso to continue to serve and educate their patients. The design of the space was centered around the vibrant colors of the community and the abundant daylight and industrial character that the existing building had to offer. This project began during the early stages of the local stay at home order due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The entire project team programmed, designed, presented and documented this facility in a 100% remote environment. Construction began in September 2020 and was completed by January 01, 2021, at which time the facility quickly pivoted to become a vaccination site serving the community. FIFTEEN and the entire team is proud to have contributed to such a meaningful project, and at a most impactful time for our city. n
PHOTOS: FIFTEEN ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN
48 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
Cloud Gehshan (Signage/Wayfinding)
DESIGN PROFILE PENN FIRST PLUS + PAIDEIA RENOVATIONS IN COLLEGE HALL
Purdy O’Gwynn Architects, Inc Located in the first purpose-built academic building on Penn’s West Philadelphia campus, The Office of Penn First Plus is a new community gathering place and resource center for first generation students who come from modest financial circumstances. The project also includes a shared conference room and a suite of offices for the SNF Paideia Program, which integrates wellness, service and citizenship into a holistic education. When College Hall was built in 1871, the suite now occupied by P1P was a large, open room used as a gym featuring 4 cast iron columns, high ceilings, and tall Gothic style windows with wood wainscot below. The aim of the renovation was to recapture the lightfilled simplicity of the historic room through liberal use of laminated glass and flush detailing of wood, acoustic gypsum board and quartz aggregate surfaces. Existing mechanical ductwork and piping were relocated above a dropped wood soffit in the center of the space that allowed the original high ceilings at the perimeter to be recovered. The modern transparency of the interior was intentionally contrasted with the heavily ornamented Second Empire and Gothic exterior of College Hall. It was important to Penn leadership that the entry to The Center be clearly visible and welcoming from Penn Commons. The existing recessed porch was renovated, an enormous masonry chimney blocking the way was demolished, and a glassy vestibule was constructed to make a properly inviting entrance for the Penn First Plus community. n
PROJECT: Penn First Plus + Paideia Renovations in College Hall LOCATION: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania CLIENT: University of Pennsylvania PROJECT SIZE: 3,498 SF PROJECT TEAM: Purdy O’Gwynn Architects, Inc. (Architect/Interiors/Signage) Keast + Hood Co. (Structural Engineer)
PHOTOS: HALKIN MASON PHOTOGRAPHY
H.F. Lenz Company (Mechanical/Electrical/ Plumbing/Fire Protection Engineer) Metropolitan Acoustics LLC (Acoustic Consultant) Wolfe Scott Associates (Construction Manager)
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DESIGN PROFILE
PROJECT: Southwark Schoolyard - Our Park LOCATION: 8th and Mifflin Streets, Philadelphia CLIENT: The Trust for Public Land PROJECT SIZE: 43,560 sf PROJECT TEAM: A K Architecture (Architect) Durkin Associates (Civil Engineer/Stormwater Management Design) PlayCare, Inc (Playground Consultant) The Trust for Public Land (Developer/Community Engagement/Project Visioning) Philadelphia Mural Arts (Community Engagement/ Project Visioning)
SOUTHWARK SCHOOLYARD - OUR PARK
A K Architecture
50 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Water Department (Technical Review/Funder/Partner) D’Angelo Brothers Inc. (General Contractor)
PHOTOS: DANIELLE DENK
Starting in 2018, A K Architecture with ThinkGreen and Durkin Associates designed a new community park with green schoolyard stormwater infrastructure improvements at the Southwark School. The Trust for Public Land managed the project development with two partners: The Philadelphia School District and the Philadelphia Water Department. Southwark Elementary School is an ethnically diverse K-8 community school of over 700 students located in South Philadelphia, providing resources to the community as well as to the students who attend the school. The construction was completed in January of 2020. The construction budget was $735,000. The design vision for the schoolyard was to weave together the unique cultural conditions of the neighborhood ethnic communities in a conceptual and literal way. Through a participatory community design engagement process lead by The Trust for Public Land in coordination with Philadelphia Mural Arts, three-way weaving was identified as a common cultural thread to be incorporated as an organizing principal for the site layout. The design team advanced this three-way weaving concept in the design development of the project. The overarching goal for the schoolyard is to be welcoming and safe for people of all backgrounds. This community park in the schoolyard accommodates celebrations of food, music, and dance. The completed site improvements include playgrounds for 2-5 year olds and 5-12 year olds with porous safety surfacing, an outdoor classroom, a shaded picnic area/maker space open pavilion, an asphalt soccer pitch, and a large perimeter rain garden/stormwater infiltration basin. The stormwater management improvements direct stormwater through the grading design and porous surfaces to the large green infiltration bed that wraps the space and is landscaped with indigenous plantings. The infiltration bed is designed to capture the first 1 ½ inches of stormwater runoff from the site. n
The School District of Philadelphia (Owner/Funder/ Partner)
DESIGN PROFILE FABRIKA
Woodcock Design, Inc. Fabrika Dinner Theater occupies a former ice cream manufacturing plant owned by Ken Margolis, who wanted the adaptive reuse of the structure to be synergistic with the Fishtown Community. Ken’s family enjoyed the building in its ice cream manufacturing days, but what should it be now? Lasha Kikvidze and his partners Ylia Dzlieri, Alex Gritsyuk and Boris Khanataev, had the right answer according to Ken: Theater with a dash of dining (rather than the other way around). In a neighborhood growing with a plethora of new social and entertainment spots, it would be hard to stand out, yet Fabrika has, for its wide variety of live entertainment. According Dzlieri, the “show” can be anything from burlesque to Shakespeare plays, to poets, to sword swallowers. varying greatly and always vivid. The main hall features a round levitating stage affording visibility from all seats. Flanking the main hall are support spaces, a large commercial kitchen on one side and restrooms, complete with piano lounge, on the other. Above the piano lounge are green rooms and dressing rooms for the performers. The mezzanine is hung from the original structure above, leaving the space column-free below. An existing box crane is fixed in place, signage intact. Throughout the building, the signs of the earlier use are evident and visible. Soon auxiliary spaces will be open for use, including a private event space over the kitchen and an outdoor “cabana” adapted from the Covid winter to a hopping summer patio. n PROJECT: Fabrika LOCATION: 1108 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia CLIENT: A L Investors, LLC PROJECT SIZE: 11,000 sf PROJECT TEAM: Woodcock Design, Inc. (Architect) Space by Spielman, LTD (Kitchen/Bar Design) BHG Inc. (Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing Engineer)
PHOTOS: MAT WARGO
Cook Brown, LLC (Structural Engineer) AL Investors, LLC (General Contractor)
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52 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
What is the Forum on Architecture + Design? AIA Philadelphia’s regional education conference is evolving from a consecutive three-day conference to three half-day symposiums over three consecutive months. The Forum focuses on curating multidisciplinary educational content for designers, civic leaders, product manufacturers, technology providers, and real estate developers - all the industries that contribute to shaping our built environment. October 8th | More Inclusive Profession - Led by the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee November 12th | Affordable Housing - Led by the Housing Committee December 10th | Environmental Justice - Led by the COTE Committee For more information about each session, see pages 14-15 of this publication. www.aiaphiladelphia.org/forum-on-architecture-and-design
AIA Philadelphia | context | FALL 2021 53
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54 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
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56 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
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