Imaginary Places: Video Game Urbanism

I was invited by my dear friend Daniela to visit an exhibition held at a privately-owned Neutra house in Beverly Hills. Daniela and I pride ourselves on an encyclopedic knowledge of Richard Neutra as former student docents at the VDL House in Silverlake, but I had never heard of the William H. Levit House. I had also never heard of the famous celebrity hairdresser who owned the home, and my parents scoffed when I admitted as much in front of the chic docent and his French Bulldog. Feeling a little guilty for wandering into Los Angeles during crisis, we said goodbye and I climbed into the backseat as my parents chauffeured me through Beverly Hills. I’ve been here before, but I couldn’t place it. I recognize Mulholland Drive, but only from that song or that David Lynch movie or - oh no - the Manson family. Then it dawned on me, and I had to explain to my parents that I’ve been in this neighborhood before in Grand Theft Auto V. 

Grand Theft Auto V was originally released in 2013 for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, but I didn’t get my hands on the game until Black Friday in 2020. Grand Theft Auto was one of the few pieces of media my parents (understandably) didn’t want me interacting with as a kid. After Black Friday I sat on the floor, loaded up the game, and stole a sports car in broad daylight on virtual Rodeo Drive. I would find the biggest hill in the game (usually in Vinewood Hills, the game's proxy for Hollywood Hills) and launch the car full speed off a cliff and laugh until I cried. I’ve never actually played the game’s story mode, and I couldn’t tell you why this ritual brings me so much joy. But every few months when I need respite, I will wait an hour and a half for the game to redownload and laugh until my stomach hurts, taking out street lamps and running red lights until it actually becomes more fun to briefly follow the law and try parallel parking in Grand Theft Auto. This habit may be inherited, since my mother is enamored with another game by the same developer: Red Dead Redemption. RDR came out in 2010, and it’s been at the heart of many family jokes ever since. My mom now plays Red Dead Redemption 2 to ride her horse (she calls him Horace) and go sightseeing; she doesn’t care much for character dialogue or shooting bad guys. 

“Vinewood Bowl” in Grand Theft Auto V

Role-playing games such as Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption give the player an immense sense of freedom and exploration, and seem to have impressive replayability because of this. With the design of massive open world maps, game designers make careful, deliberate decisions that often mirror what an architect considers. Decisions about scale, graphic style, perspective of the players, material, light, and time must be made. Game designers must evoke a mood or even an action through design, and this is often done through architectural features. GTA V is set in Los Santos, a virtual proxy of Los Angeles. There are distinct similarities between the Los Angeles of real life and of Grand Theft Auto. While researching, I drove a stolen smart car to Legion Square (Pershing Square), the Rancho Towers (the Watts Towers), the Vinewood Bowl (I’ll let you guess that one), and the Kortz Center (the Getty Center). In contrast, Grand Theft Auto features no traffic at the airport (or anywhere for that matter) and for a game centered around driving, the neighborhoods are surprisingly close to one another - has GTA V solved urban sprawl? My recognition of real life Beverly Hills shed light on a phenomenon of video game urbanism, and digitally designed spaces. In the song “Imaginary Places,” Busdriver advises: 

“Kids, if you want to piss off your parents

Show interest in the arts

Kids, If you really want to piss off your parents

Buy real estate in an imaginary place”

“LS Airport” in Grand Theft Auto V

In some ways, video games such as GTA V are considered low brow entertainment, banned by even the most lenient parents. In many other ways, video games are a form of Gesamtkunstwerk, a total work of art. It took the work of dedicated reviewers such as Action Button and Into the Aether Podcast to teach me to appreciate video game design, and begin to see its similarities to architectural design. Across the pond, the Bartlett School of Architecture has already made this connection and offers a Masters of Architecture program(me) in Cinematic and Video Game Architecture. While architectural projects weigh considerations of constructibility, resilience, and budget, video game architecture is unbound by these restraints, but has added considerations of time and player interactivity. Game designers might use architectural features to enhance spatial awareness - a low, narrow pathway that opens into a cavernous hall means trouble ahead. Games such as Doom, Skyrim, and Borderlands are masters of this tactic, using architectural compression and expansion to heighten a player’s situational awareness. Lighting design also encourages activity, where a player might explore a dark area of a room to find hidden rewards. A private bedroom in an RPG might be a save point or a place to change your character's outfit. Architectural design in a video game is also crucial to establishing setting and tone. An architectural style will give immediate cues to a player of time period, plot, and culture. Red Dead Redemption’s Wild West town of Armadillo is instantly iconic, with a corner saloon, shops, and a humble single cell sheriff’s office at the end of this one-horse town. Whether or not you’ve played the game or even heard of it, you can probably picture Armadillo.

Through BIM or an RPG, digitally designed spaces can occupy your mind even if you have not physically been there. Because I’d never been to Beverly Hills, Grand Theft Auto’s replica held more weight in my psyche than the real thing. Within a real-world context of wealth disparity, natural disasters, and traffic, the Los Angeles of Grand Theft Auto  may be more readily accessible and familiar to some than the real thing. 

“Muscle Sands Beach” in Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto and Las Vegas have the replica in common, and in some cases, their designers have “improved” upon the original to optimize it for a specific purpose. In 1997, architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable observed this phenomenon in Vegas in “Living With the Fake, and Liking It,” claiming: 

“I do not know just when we lost our sense of reality or our interest in it, but at some point it was decided that reality was not the only option. It was possible, permissible and even desirable to improve on it; one could substitute a more agreeable product.” 

 Huxtable passed away in 2013 at 91 years old, shortly before GTA V was released. In Las Vegas, the Great Sphinx in front of the Luxor is 50% larger than the Sphinx at the Giza pyramid complex in Egypt. Grand Theft Auto edits the Getty Center’s visitor experience to be more vehicle-friendly, creating an architectural promenade from the driver’s seat instead of emerging from a parking garage to board a tram. GTA’s “Kortz Center” is nearly identical to the real thing, with an added parking lot at the welcome center. In Grand Theft Auto, there are no speeding tickets, red light cameras, or traffic jams, and you can visit your favorite landmarks whenever you desire. When you move out of California, this becomes increasingly fascinating and absurd. Twelve years after its 2013 release, Grand Theft Auto V’s online multiplayer mode inspired the theatrical release of Grand Theft Hamlet, a film festival favorite Shakespeare adaptation created in, you guessed it, GTA V. 

“Kortz Center” in Grand Theft Auto V

In some corners of the internet, the devastation of the Los Angeles fires are being explained and understood through Grand Theft Auto V’s open world map. The GTA V map encompasses roughly 12,000 acres of land area. In comparison, the Eaton Fire burned approximately 14,000 acres, and the Palisades Fire burned just under 24,000 acres. For some growing up in another part of the world who might be more familiar with the fake Los Angeles of Grand Theft Auto, this may be a scalable way of quantifying disaster: the fires burned a combined area about 3x the size of the entire GTA map. In response, players have also begun to identify real life locations modeled in Grand Theft Auto V that were lost in the fires. We mourn the loss of the real, even if we’ve only met the fake. 

“Legion Square” in Grand Theft Auto V

Special thanks to Jeff Melgar, Devan Guzzetta, and Hunter Hawkins for their input for this blog, who are all better at video games than me.

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Aryana Leland is a designer based in Denver, Colorado. She studied Architecture + Art History at Cal Poly Pomona, and loves lowercase “a” architecture.

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Bartlett School of Architecture | Cinematic and Videogame Architecture MArch

@freddyprops on Instagram Reels | “So this is how big the LA fires are compared to the Grand theft Auto V map”

Game Rant | GTA 5 Locations That Are Based On Real-Life

Grand Theft Hamlet

Huxtable, Ada Louise. “Living With the Fake, and Liking It.” The New York Times, March 30, 

1997, National edition, sec. 2. 

Malamud, Margaret. 2000. “Pyramids in Las Vegas and in Outer Space: Ancient Egypt in 

Twentieth‐Century American Architecture and Film.” Journal of Popular Culture 34: 34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3840.2000.3401_31.x

Discussion of The Brutalist - an Imperfect Achievement

From newcomer director Brady Corbet, The Brutalist is a three-and-a-half hour magnum opus centered around architecture. The monumental film earned ten Academy Award nominations for: Actor in a Leading Role, Actor in a Supporting Role, Actress in a Supporting Role, Cinematography, Directing, Film Editing, Music (Original Score), Production Design, Writing (Original Screenplay), and, the most anticipated award, Best Picture.¹ The film finds itself in good company among the nominees for Best Picture and was one of the most nominated films of the year, along with Wicked and exceeded only by Emilia Pérez. Despite critical acclaim and its architectural focus, I’ve been hard pressed to find any friends who have seen the film. With a whopping three-hour and thirty-five minute runtime and a built-in intermission, it’s understandable that many have not found themselves rushing to the theater since its December 20th release date. The film also competed with Nosferatu’s Christmas Day release (which, even I admittedly made time to see before watching The Brutalist in the new year). With that said, this discussion will contain significant spoilers for The Brutalist. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you find some local arthouse cinema (I went to Alamo Drafthouse in Denver) and hunker down - Brady Corbet earned his three and a half hours. 

The Brutalist was filmed using VistaVision, a higher resolution film process developed by Paramount Pictures in the 1950’s that runs 35mm film horizontally through the camera, rather than vertically.² Cinematographer Lol Crawley explains that VistaVision originally helped lure audiences into the cinema as home televisions became more popular, drawing parallels to today where simultaneous theatrical and streaming releases for films have become more common (The Brutalist is rumored to be withheld from streaming services until February 25th, so go to a theater).³ This filming process creates uniquely cinematic vantage points and high resolution that’s tangible throughout the movie. Director Brady Corbet explained that VistaVision also lends itself to a film about architecture, since the unique film format can capture an entire building in one frame. 

The film follows fictional Hungarian-Jewish architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody) as he immigrates to America post-WWII. The film is separated into two parts, with a prominent fifteen minute intermission. The intermission is built-in to the film and becomes part of the viewer’s experience, with an accompanying composition by Daniel Blumberg and pianist John Tilbury included in the original score. Part Two is punctuated by László being reunited with his wife and niece, who were separated from him in Budapest. This is the first time we actually see László’s wife in the film, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), who is revealed in a wedding photo. 

With the introduction of Erzsébet in the second half of the film, the role of women in The Brutalist is brought to the forefront. Off the top of my head, I couldn’t tell you if it passes the Bechdel Test in the entirety of the film’s runtime. For those who aren’t familiar, the Bechdel Test examines how women are portrayed in media and is based on three simple rules: 

1. The movie has to have at least two women in it,

2. who talk to each other,

3. about something other than a man

Unsurprisingly, many films do not meet these basic criteria. As a woman working in the field of architecture, I loved The Brutalist - I found it to be a nuanced examination of the persona of the artist/architect, power dynamics, and the notable influence of post-war immigration on American architecture and design. With this said, we should examine what might be considered as the persona of the architect, conjuring images of a (typically white) man with a sense of unwavering, artistic genius. Men like Frank Lloyd Wright or Le Corbusier become the ideal of the architect, and in this way The Brutalist perpetuates this outdated vision through László Tóth, while many women in the film lack characterization. 

In the first half of the film, women seem to be merely a presence (or a distraction). We get bureaucracy-laden letters from Erzsébet, the overbearing presence of Harrison Van Buren‘s late mother (who we never meet), and László’s cousin’s uptight, disapproving Protestant wife, a blonde woman with an American drawl that contrasts with László’s Hungarian accent. László’s cousin and his wife allow him to graciously stay in a windowless storage closet, and she offers that she has “a friend to fix his nose;” later, her insecure lie gets László kicked out of the storage closet. Eventually, we meet sister Van Buren, whose character turns out to be a flash in the pan, a spark that fizzles out as the film goes on and she loses her nerve. We are supposed to grow into her a bit towards the end of the film when she helps Erzsébet stand back up into her walker after her brother, Henry Van Buren, assaults her, but she quickly reassesses her alliances when Daddy is pronounced missing. 

When we meet Erzsébet in Part Two, she is a complex, independent character who complements László’s artistic vision and demeanor. We learn that Erzsébet is a talented writer, caretaker, and survivor, but her art is not a part of the film. Her artistic merit is expressed in her passing approval of László’s design for Van Buren’s community center. In an interview, actress Felicity Jones described Erzsébet as “defiant and quite confrontational,” which surprised me.⁴ I would’ve more readily described László with these adjectives, but these qualities align with the perception of a male artist and if attributed to a woman, they become interrogated. 

László’s niece Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy) is actually the first character we meet in the film’s opening scene, where she is mute as a result of the war. In the film’s epilogue, a now-adult Zsófia is mysteriously body-swapped with another actress, while the original actress who played her younger self, Raffey Cassidy, now stands in the background as her daughter. Zsófia now speaks confidently about the impact of her uncle’s work at the 1980 Venice Architecture Biennale, and László is wheelchair-bound. The new actress has the unintended effect of giving the viewer a sense of unfamiliarity - who is this woman? In The Brutalist’s closing scenes, Adrien Brody has the pleasure of portraying László at a later age, but Zsófia is confusingly recast. 

Despite The Brutalist’s shortcomings with female characterization, the film is poignant in its emphasis on power dynamics: architect and client, working class and old money, Jewish and Protestant, immigrant and well-established American “royalty.” As an American viewer, the client Harrison Van Buren’s name evokes wealth and a clear association with the eighth president, Martin Van Buren, and a direct line to one of America’s earliest leaders. This contrasts with László and Erzsébets’ Hungarian names, which are certainly misspelled and mispronounced by their neighbors at Van Buren’s elaborate dinner party. As a client, Harrison Van Buren is a violent man who also places the most faith and support in László’s artistic vision. He stands behind László’s monumental, brutalist design in the face of his community and sons’ disapproval, but not when faced with a press scandal and financial threat due to the train derailment. In this way, The Brutalist also deals in architectural losses. In the design of the community center, László must relinquish his own fees in service of his artistic vision to achieve the rooms’ high ceilings, and he must return to work in New York as a draftsman when Van Buren halts construction of the community center. Additionally, László was a successful architect in Budapest before immigrating to America, and his cultural and civic work was destroyed in the war. Once again, power dynamics come into play when Van Buren, the wealthy patron, locates images of László’s work that he himself didn’t know existed, and László is moved to tears when he is reunited with photos of his work and asks to keep them. To Van Buren and the viewer, the photos serve as proof of László’s qualifications and merit as an established architect from another country with a Bauhaus education. Now, we can imagine his architectural education in Gropius primary colors, and his minimalist redesign for Harrison’s personal library early in the film is justified. 

Although the film purportedly traces the life of a fictional architect, there are distinct parallels between László Tóth and architect Marcel Breuer. Breuer was Hungaran-Jewish architect who received a Bauhaus education and immigrated to America in 1937, and was once tasked with designing a Catholic church as a Jewish architect. In contrast with The Brutalist (and to the ire of some architectural critics), Marcel Breuer immigrated to America prior to the start of WWII and had a successful architectural career in the states.⁵ This story holds true for many of Breuer’s contemporaries as well, including Walter Gropius, Richard Neutra, Eero Saarinen, Rudolf Schindler, and Mies van der Rohe. Meanwhile, László’s architectural career in America hinges on a single patron, without whom he is shoveling coal or designing bowling alleys.

At the film’s conclusion, László loses the ability to speak for himself both literally and figuratively. Erzsébet and Lászlós’ intimate heroin bender revealed the violent truth of Harrison Van Buren‘s assault on László, and it is Erzsébet who boldly confronts the Van Buren family (and a shrunken table of embarrassed dinner guests). Harrison Van Buren disappears in the chaos, presumed suicide but unaccounted for; he is lost to the viewer in the mausoleum intended for his mother. László is not pictured again until the epilogue in Venice, where he is wheelchair-bound and it is now his niece Zsófia that speaks for him - a reversal of roles as she adjusts a microphone from wheelchair-height to her own standing-height.
Overall, I found that The Brutalist is an imperfect, but monumental film. I can’t wait to see more from Brady Corbet - and maybe a female architect can consult on the next one.

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Aryana Leland is a designer based in Denver, Colorado. She studied Architecture + Art History at Cal Poly Pomona, and her current interests are public transportation and The Lord of the Rings.

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¹ “The 97th Academy Awards | 2025.” Oscars | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, January 31, 2025. https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2025.

² McGovern, Joe. “What Is VistaVision? How ‘the Brutalist’ Revived a Beautiful but Cumbersome Film Format.” TheWrap, December 23, 2024. https://www.thewrap.com/the-brutalist-cinematography-vistavision-explained/.

³ Lammers, Tim. “Did Oscar-Nominated Epic ‘The Brutalist’ Already Get a Streaming Date?” Forbes, January 31, 2025. https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2025/01/30/did-oscar-nominated-epic-the-brutalist-already-get-a-streaming-date/.

⁴ Letterboxd. “The Brutalist: Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce, and Felicity Jones on the Construction of Their Characters.” YouTube, January 9, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErTUFRabM9M&t=263s.

⁵ Wainwright, Oliver. “Backlash Builds: Why the Architecture World Hates The Brutalist.” The Guardian, January 29, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/29/architecture-the-brutalist-marcel-breuer.

Selective Histories: Eileen Gray and Modernism

I stumbled upon Eileen Gray by accident. The Denver Central Library - designed by Michael Graves - recently reopened after four years of major renovations, and I was excited to finally see the inside. In the sunlit main hall, a graphic novel was propped up in the “Recently Returned” section: Eileen Gray: A House Under the Sun. I’d heard of her in architecture school, but only ever in connection to Le Corbusier. I brought the book home and became enamored with her story. Through the format of a graphic novel, author Charlotte Malterre-Barthes and illustrator Zosia Dzierżawska have made Gray’s exceptional history more accessible and personal, and honor her as a pioneer of architectural modernism. The graphic novel begins with Le Corbusier’s death, who drowned beneath Eileen Gray’s most famous work: E-1027.¹

Cover for Eileen Gray: A House Under the Sun, 2019. Courtesy of Nobrov/Charlotte Malterre-Barthes and Zosia Dzierżawska

If you asked my favorite architect in school, my answer would have been Richard Neutra, and I took weekend pilgrimages to see his projects throughout Southern California. Neutra and modernism were my entrance into architectural history, but it became clear that women were missing from this canon. The most famous women in modernism seemed to be clients, or wives of clients. I held on to stories of Ray Eames’ work - never devoid of Charles - and Charlotte Perriand, who was (also) most often contextualized in her relation to Le Corbusier. Eileen Gray is no exception, and she was absent in my architectural case study lists and decorative arts classes in college. Through the story of E-1027, it became clear to me that her erasure from the history of architectural modernism was strategic and, at times, deliberate. 

An early chapter in the graphic novel called “Little Eileen” emphasizes her somber, but unique upbringing. Gray was the youngest of five children to Irish and Italian parents, and eventually moved to London and later Paris to study art. Eileen Gray studied under artist Seizo Sugawara, and became highly skilled in traditional Japanese lacquer techniques. Her work flourished in Paris, and Gray became renowned in salons and her own showroom that she opened in 1922: Jean Désert. The showroom’s name was a male pseudonym that helped the business (the graphic novel even references “Mister Désert”), and she continued her work in lacquered furniture, rugs, screens, and other decorative arts.¹

In my research of her early work, Caroline Constant’s biography of Eileen Gray curiously opens with a poem from Aleister Crowley. This odd reference led me to his 1905 collection of poems Rosa Mundi: And Other Love Songs, and the thirteenth poem in the collection is titled “Eileen.” Surprisingly, Gray and Crowley - yes, Mr. Crowley - were briefly engaged in 1902 in Paris.² With her endlessly fascinating history, Eileen may have dodged a bullet with Mr. Crowley, but her design work was later influenced by another person she was romantically involved with: Jean Badovici.

While I want to refrain from solely contextualizing Eileen Gray within her romantic relationships, E-1027 was designed for Jean Badovici and named for their partnership - “Eileen Jean Badovici Gray.” The name E-1027 is a riddle: “E” for Eileen, the 10th letter in the alphabet being “J,” the 2nd being “B,” and the 7th being “G.” ² The design of E-1027 was also fundamentally altered by Badovici’s later association with Le Corbusier, making it difficult to discuss her work without including how it was vandalized by more famous men.

E-1027. © Manuel Bougot, Courtesy ArchDaily

Badovici was a Romanian architect and writer, and the land for E-1027 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France was purchased in his name. Jean Badovici’s influence in the design of E-1027 is visible in the implementation of Le Corbusier’s Five Points of Architecture throughout the home, with subtle use of pilotis, horizontal strips of glass, access to a rooftop deck, and a free, open-plan in the entertaining spaces.² In contrast, Eileen Gray was vocal in her opposition to Corbusier’s idea that a home was a “machine for living in,” and approached the design of the home with a consideration of bodily awareness and sensuality through material use.¹ Gray meticulously designed the form and furnishings of the home, implementing sensual textures and nautical imagery and schema in E-1027. The silhouette and design of the home resembles a boat in many ways, and Corbusian “horizontal windows” are actually created with the use of canvas that fronts full-height windows. Gray also designed her famous Transat chairs to be used on the outdoor terrace, which were inspired by the deck chairs used on transatlantic steamship travel.³

Interior, E-1027. © Manuel Bougot, Courtesy ArchDaily

Despite the home’s name evoking a catalogue item number, Gray used Corbusier stencils to add phrases throughout the house as an amusing commentary on machine imagery. The phrase “défense de rire” is included in the entry - roughly translating to “no laughing matter.” In addition to being the home’s architect, Gray designed many iconic furniture pieces and interiors for the home, such as the Bibendum chair which was influenced by the Michelin Man.³ Eileen Gray’s wit, character, and sense of Gesamtkunstwerk is clear throughout the design of E-1027, a testament to her skills as an artist and architect. A life preserver hangs from the terrace deck, but too far from the ocean to save anyone. 

Interior, E-1027. © Manuel Bougot, Courtesy ArchDaily

E-1027 was completed in 1929, but Eileen moved out of the house shortly after in 1931 when her relationship with Badovici dissolved with his infidelity and alcoholism.³ Gray once stated “memories cling to things, so it’s better to start anew,” and later designed her own retreat: Tempe á Pailla.¹ She continued her prolific architectural work, and her hypothetical design for a Vacation and Leisure Center was displayed in Le Corbusier’s Pavillon des Temps Nouveaux at the 1937 International Exhibition in Paris.² Meanwhile, Jean Badovici remained in the home, and in 1938 he invited Le Corbusier to paint murals on the walls - Gray was not consulted. Corbusier stripped naked and ornamented the home with large-scale murals, some overtly sexual and featuring nude figural forms of Gray without her permission. Corbusier created a total of eight murals, with color schemes and subject matter that misaligned and clashed with E-1027’s original design intent. In Eileen Gray’s own words, the murals in E-1027 were an “act of vandalism.” ¹ ³ ⁴ In Corbusier’s later publications, Eileen Gray’s name and design of the house were omitted entirely and, perhaps in an effort to save his own work, Corbusier had an admirer purchase the home. In the 1950’s, he added the Cabanon de Le Corbusier and five holiday cabins for Etoile de Mer on the site, looking down on E-1027.³ These additions served to contextualize her most famous work within Corbusier’s legacy. 

Le Corbusier Mural in E-1027. 

© Fondation Le Corbusier / ADAGP / Manuel Bougot

E-1027 is now owned and preserved by non-profit foundation Cap Moderne, which advertises the site as “Eileen Gray and Le Corbusier in Cap Martin.” ⁶ Corbusier’s death in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin further solidified his legacy at this site, overshadowing Gray’s original design for E-1027 on the secluded hillside. His murals remain.

Eileen Gray died on Halloween in 1976, and E-1027 developed a storied history beyond her time in the home. Gray’s narrative is long overdue, but Charlotte Malterre-Barthes and Zosia Dzierżawska’s graphic novel honors her work and impact on architectural modernism through a truly unique, accessible medium. 

Eileen Gray, 1926. Courtesy of Berenice Abbott/Getty Images. 

You can learn more about Charlotte Malterre-Barthes and Zosia Dzierżawskas’ graphic novel Eileen Gray: A House Under the Sun here

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Aryana Leland is a designer based in Denver, Colorado. She studied Architecture + Art History at Cal Poly Pomona, and her current interests are knitting and creative writing.

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¹ Malterre-Barthes, Charlotte, and Zosia Dzierżawska. Eileen Gray: A House Under the Sun. London: Nobrow, 2019. 

² Constant, Caroline. Eileen Gray. London: Phaidon, 2000. 

³ Saunders, Frances Stonor. “The House That Eileen Built.” The Guardian, July 20, 2001. https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2001/jul/21/weekend7.weekend5.

⁴ Courcy, Anne de. “How a Naked Le Corbusier ‘vandalised’ a Modernist Masterpiece.” The Telegraph, June 16, 2019. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/architecture/naked-le-corbusier-vandalised-modernist-masterpiece/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20contented%20always%20have%20little,painted%20them%20in%20the%20nude. 

⁵ Stukin, Stacie. “Photos: The Architect of Desire.” W Magazine, June 17, 2015. https://www.wmagazine.com/gallery/eileen-gray. 

⁶ “Cap Moderne, Eileen Gray and Le Corbusier at Cap Martin - CMN.” Cap Moderne, Eileen Gray et Le Corbusier au Cap Martin, n.d. https://capmoderne.monuments-nationaux.fr/en. 

Community and Development: Populus, Studio Gang

In early May, the Denver Art Museum unveiled a new exhibit titled Biophilia: Nature Reimagined. Organized by Darrin Alfred, Curator of Architecture and Design, the exhibit featured digital installations, furniture pieces, models, and other works by contemporary designers that focus on how human design is intertwined with the natural world¹. The Member Preview Event for the exhibit was accompanied by a talk by Dixon Lu, the Associate Principal of MAD Architects, which provided more insight to their project in the RiNo Art District in Denver: One River North². The new luxury apartment development was completed earlier this year and features a vaguely organic facade, quickly becoming a neighborhood landmark - an Uber driver once asked me if I knew anything about the building when we drove by it. After the talk, an audience member asked about the project’s sustainability practices, which was met with a deflated explanation. 

While the exhibit had moments that felt unfocused in tackling such a broad subject, Biophilia prominently featured models, renderings, and diagrams of architectural works that bring nature into their design. The exhibit included models of the Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center in China by MAD Architects, Metropol Parasol in Spain by J. Mayer H., and Populus by Studio Gang. Centered in the gallery, the model of Populus allowed visitors to come face-to-face with a recognizable facade, which was under construction just down the street. 

The Member Preview Event competed with the vibrant Cinco de Mayo Festival held in Civic Center Park that same day, just outside the museum. At this time, the Populus Hotel was already making its presence known in the Denver skyline, notable for a facade that mimics the patterns on aspen trees. Aspens are native to Colorado and widespread, bringing tourism in the fall months with what Coloradans (unironically) call “leaf peeping” to see their vibrant, changing colors. As someone who grew up outside of Colorado, I was fascinated with aspens and their growth patterns when I moved to Denver - a group of aspen trees share one extensive root system, and are part of a singular organism. This feels appropriate for Populus, which joins a campus of other architectural gems, including the Denver Public Library by Michael Graves, the Denver Art Museum by Daniel Libeskind and Gio Ponti, and the Clyfford Still Museum by Allied Works Architecture. Studio Gang finds itself in good company in Denver’s Cultural Center, with Populus visible from many points in the city. Above the tents, scents, and crowds at the Cinco de Mayo Festival, the white, aspen-eyed facade peeped above the Colorado State Capitol Building. 

 The design for the Populus was unveiled in December 2020, with detailed renderings that were later included in the Biophilia exhibit³. The aspen facade creates rhythm and depth, while also blurring the floor plates of the 13-story hotel. An unrolled elevation reveals a type of modularity with the windows as well, where groupings become recognizable as a flattened drawing, but flow organically onto the building⁴. The facade design also lends itself to the triangular site, with frontage on three prominent streets in Downtown Denver.  The windows, looking like eyes or portals, reach a height of 30 feet on the ground floor, giving a glimpse into public uses on the ground floor including a restaurant, lobby, and coffee shop. Guests on the upper levels are granted views of Downtown Denver and the Rocky Mountains to the west, and the windows become occupiable as seats, creating more permeable space between the hotel and the city beyond. 

Studio Gang is no stranger to a skyline. The Aqua Tower in Chicago exemplifies their skill with facade design, earning its place on architectural case study lists and boat tours along the Chicago River. Populus is Studio Gang’s first project in the Southwest, with offices in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Paris. Founder Jeanne Gang’s latest work focuses on the concept of architectural grafting, and how it can promote more sustainable design practices⁵. With little to graft onto at the existing, constrained site in Downtown Denver, Populus became a sustainable case study in its own right as the first carbon positive hotel in the country⁶.  A carbon positive building removes more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits in construction and operation, going beyond net-zero or carbon neutral construction. The design team achieved this by incorporating locally sourced materials, reducing carbon emissions created during transport, as well as being conscientious of carbon in the materials themselves; the use of fly ash reduces the amount of cement in the concrete structure. The building is targeting LEED Gold certification, and sustainable practices are prominent throughout the design and use of the building. 

At the Cinco de Mayo Festival, a series of lowriders and classic cars, immaculate and shining, were on display in front of the entrance to Populus as it was under construction. The lowriders were displayed with reverence and care, with some featuring memorials for family members and harm reduction resources. A dog named Loca sat proudly as friends took photos of minitrucks with dancing beds. In that moment, it felt like Populus was living up to its name, serving as an effective backdrop for bustling community activity. In a rapidly growing city it becomes increasingly important to examine how new developments can be used by the community, organically, and provide for future communities through sustainable design. Even unfinished, the project asserted a quiet confidence in its presence as a new part of the Denver skyline. 

The Biophilia exhibition at the Denver Art Museum ran from May 5 to August 11, but an extensive Online Exhibition Guide allows you to see the works from anywhere⁷. Populus opened officially on October 15, just in time with the aspen (Populus tremuloides) leaves changing color for the season. 

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Aryana Leland is a designer based in Denver, Colorado. She studied Architecture + Art History at Cal Poly Pomona, and her current interests are new recipes, walkable cities, and books from the library.

¹ “Biophilia.” Denver Art Museum. https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/biophilia.

² “Talk with Dixon Lu, Associate Partner of MAD Architects.” Denver Art Museum.  https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/calendar/talk-dixon-lu. 

³ “Studio Gang Completes Populus, a New Hotel and Social Hub in Downtown Denver.” Studio Gang. https://studiogang.com/now/studio-gang-completes-populus-a-new-hotel-and-social-hub-in-downtown-denver/.

⁴ “Populus.” Studio Gang. https://studiogang.com/projects/populus/.

⁵ “The Art of Architectural Grafting.” Studio Gang. https://studiogang.com/publications/grafting/.

⁶ Han, Gregory. “Populus Opens in 2024 as the Nation’s First Carbon Positive Hotel.” Design Milk, December 13, 2023. https://design-milk.com/populos-opens-in-2024-as-the-nations-first-carbon-positive-hotel/. 

⁷ “Biophilia: Nature Reimagined Exhibition Guide.” Denver Art Museum. https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/biophilia-exhibition-guide.

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AWAF Mid-Career Fellowship 2023 Information and Insights

Recollections from the Information Session held on March 9, 2023

Each year, the AWAF awards a mid-career fellowship to a woman who has practiced in the design field for a minimum of five years in California. The awardee pursues a research or design project of her choosing, with funding to aid the research process, outreach, and dissemination of project materials to a broader audience. The award year culminates with a presentation at the annual AWA+D Spring Symposium. 

To spur the momentum for this year’s applications, open until April 28, 2023, the Awards Committee recently hosted a ‘Fellowship 101: Mid-Career Professional Development Information Session’. Set up as a Q&A-style roundtable discussion, the event invited past winners to share their experiences on how they did it. From conceptualizing the idea to organizing a project for the application or making time outside of daily obligations to maintaining time and energy for passions and interests, the event provided several key takeaways and insights for prospective and future applicants.

The session’s Q&A allowed interested applicants to listen in on real-life, candid takeaways, and retrospective thoughts from lived and tried experiences with the fellowship process and opportunity. If you are interested in applying for this year’s AWAF Fellowship, please consider the following advice and accept the open invitation to apply. AWAF, as a non-profit organization, strives to build professional and personal growth through the annual Fellowship.

Here are some key insights from the Q&A session:

Q: How did you come up with the idea for your project and application materials?

A (Melissa Anderson): My main question for the fellowship application was: can 3D printing be affordable? I work in single-family residential architecture, and the price per square foot is incredibly high. I began to question how the standard moving forward could impact positive change. I was working with somebody that was really interested in using the technology to build something, but we found it difficult to find precedents to provide clients the confidence to invest in a long-term design solution. My goal was to be able to teach other architects, clients, and the design community how to use 3D printing technology and apply it to projects. 

A (Anna Neimark): My fellowship year was in 2021, during COVID, which as we all know, was a special time. I was interested in being able to work outside of normal daily routines, and one of the things I was doing was trying to develop smaller exhibition projects. I was practicing and teaching at Sci-Arc – and when I was applying for the fellowship, I was in the middle of a project with the Museum of Toulouse (France). We brought multiple prints of the megalithic dome and monuments to Los Angeles, and I wanted to understand how to translate these 6000-year-old structures into contemporary construction techniques. I began to imagine the project as an office project as well as an exhibition project. The fellowship allowed me the time to expand on my writing. My main question for the exhibition was: how do we contextualize this within historical research as well as in a pedagogical space? During COVID, there wasn’t much we could do in the field, such as photograph the sites and subjects, but we could write about it. 

A (Ashley Margo): My formal education is in architecture, but I’ve worked between the AEC entertainment and education industries. I’m a multimedia designer with a focus in graphic design. In 2016, I started noticing places around the city that made me realize “I should have been there.” These places weren’t on my route, and I didn’t have a reason to go there. I proposed to a group of friends to pick out a particular color. From that color, I would take them on a surprise tour of the city. Between 2016 and 2019, I went on 15 different tours around Los Angeles, each one specifically designed for the guest in mind. I didn’t have an end goal; it was just about getting to know Los Angeles in a different way. When the opportunity arose to apply for the AWAF Fellowship, I had a few ideas about what the project would turn in to. Ultimately, each of the tours ended up in a separate color ribbon, along with an associated map for each one. This fellowship was important for me because I fell between a few different industries, so to have a professional organization that is well respected, and as a platform to share the project, was truly meaningful. 

A (Audrey Sato): For my fellowship project, I proposed a podcast where I would interview women around Los Angeles. I was interested in speaking with women who I saw as being successful, to try and find out more about them. This was important to me, because as a solo practitioner, and having worked in firms in a male-dominated environment, it was critical for me to understand what the different paths were and the different types of leadership that existed. 

A (Janica Baker): The project was called 1200 Play Yards. We (myself and Caitlin, my project partner) were working with a very large client, LAUSD, and they had this wonderful ambition of master planning their sites, bringing new facilities to their students, dreaming of what could become of their aging spaces, aging infrastructure. Along the way, we would present ideas that has to be tucked away in a little box because they simply weren’t feasible. We were wondering how we could push the envelope more, and when the fellowship opportunity came up, we thought we could make a thesis for ourselves. I was out of school for six years, and at that point, I didn’t want to have boundaries anymore. For us, the fellowship was a way to explore ideas for a year – the work became a chapter in both of our books. The fellowship let us play!

Q: How did your project evolve beyond the Fellowship year? Are you still working on the same project, or has it sparked a new idea?

A (Anna Neimark): I was able to publish an essay that came out in a book edited by Michael Hays and Andrew Holder at the Harvard University Press. In ‘Inscriptions Architecture, Before Speech,’ they published the photographs we took as part of the fellowship, with specific texts that provided context. There was another set of images in an edited volume by Viola Algo, who also helped publish this project in AD Magazine. 

Following that, we were able to take the exhibition back into practice. Christopher Hawthorne initiated a project where we made this project part of the standard ADU program here in Los Angeles. This project lives on as something I’m able to teach at Sci-Arc as part of the pedagogy and continue to work with in the office. I thought this would be a short-term project, but it turned into a longer effort that allowed me to take it in multiple directions. 

A (Ashley Margo): Since completing the project, I won a design award from the Architecture and Design Museum, and I have continued to experiment with different forms of representation. I imagine there will be a longer life to this project, but time will tell where it goes.

A (Audrey Sato): The project lived on for quite a few years. I published a couple episodes last year, and it’s on pause right now because I had a child. So, right now it’s on pause, but the podcasts are still available online. 

Q: What was difficult about the application process?

A (Melissa Anderson): In retrospect, I wish I had a partner for this project. With work becoming very intense, sometimes I find it difficult to manage both commitments. It would be interesting to split the idea generation and project process between design and project management, and research and experimentation.

Q: Do you have any advice on how to create a project budget?

A (Anna Neimark): When you think about the budget, think of things that are not usually covered by clients – translation fees, copyrights, fees (especially for publishing), exhibition costs, insurance costs, photography, rendering, etc. With a good set of allocations within the budget, there are many ways in which the quality of the work rises. Architects tend to do things themselves, in-house, so it can be helpful to use fellowship funds to outsource some important process elements to make your workflow more efficient. The moment we start collaborating and working with professionals and fabricators, our process becomes more dynamic. 

Q: How can one go about asking for recommendation letters? Did you find it useful in your application process?

A (Melissa Anderson): The process of asking for recommendation letters was important for me. Because it was the first time I was sharing this project with people that were outside of my friend group, it was helpful to hear their initial thoughts and gave me motivation to move forward with the application. I found it useful because those people are still on the journey with me, they check in periodically, and they have invested time and energy into my project.

Q: Does the fellowship offer awardees a chance to learn from other mentors’ experiences doing similar projects? What are the mentorship opportunities while doing the fellowship?

A (Megan Horn): Yes, you get paired up with members of the board to check in and ideate with. They might not be directly aligned with your field, but it still provides the value of bouncing your ideas off someone else and keeping the pace of your project intact and moving forward.

For the full Event Recording:

NCARB Letter

AWA+D is committed to its mission to advance and support women in the allied fields of architecture and design. To advocate for equality in the field of architecture we wrote a letter to the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) with specific suggestions that we believe would greatly improve the number of licensed women. Thank you to all our collaborators and contributors who helped with this letter.

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Dear NCARB Representatives:

We, the Association for Women in Architecture and Design (AWA+D), are writing to insist that equity gaps within the licensure process be addressed and removed to increase the number of licensed women identified individuals in efforts create equal access to the Architecture profession. An equitable licensure process is the key to inclusive professional advancement in our profession. We cannot continue to be underrepresented; thus, we urge you to act beyond surveying strategies and create a tangible and accessible process that can be measured and will be inclusive to all women and underrepresented communities.

The unfortunate truth is that the wage gap for women still exists. In combination with discrimination and systemic injustices facing many women, and disproportionally affecting women of color, economic hurdles are a significant reason for our absence from the profession. According to narrowthegap.co: “Women who worked in architecture and engineering occupations made 85 cents to the dollar men earned in 2020. That’s $244 out of a weekly paycheck, which means she got paid $12,688 less doing the same job in 2020. This wage gap is the same as it was in 2011.”

Based on the NCARB’s “Baseline to Belonging” findings and recommendations from AWA+D’s licensure study group, we demand that the following key points concerning education, examination, and experience be considered and implemented to increase accessibility, opportunity and ultimately the number of women in the profession. Included with each category are a few examples of hurdles from AWA+D’s community that relate to the topics:

Education

1. More relevant education
Many candidates find a disconnect between education and examination content. Collaborate with NAAB on education requirements that prepare students and provide knowledge to be successful ARE candidates. Courses that refer to specific exam materials should be offered while in school. Many candidates rely on work experience to learn topics such as contracts and project management, but such experiences are not offered to everyone, especially early in the career.

2. Better transition from student to ARE candidate
Understanding the process and benefits of becoming licensed can be out of reach for many candidates after completing their intense architecture education process. NCARB should offer educational programs / bootcamps to better prepare candidates for what is expected in terms of time and financial commitment and offer courses to prepare recent graduates for the professional world.

3. Accessible Education
NCARB materials are very expensive and not everyone is in an economic disposition to purchase books and literature as required for the exams. NCARB bootcamps, ARE courses and educational workshops are needed and should be offered at multiple cost tiers, making it accessible to candidates at different economic levels. Courses that can be offered at a minimum cost, or free, will help improve the experience of licensure.

Candidate 1
“I recently graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture and currently do not aspire to become licensed simply because of how strenuous the process would be to study, pay, and take the exams. Although my degree makes me eligible to immediately begin this process, I do not see myself being happy or healthy as I navigate the exams. I am enjoying working in an office that exposes me to every part of the architecture field, and wish this was enough or half of the requirements to be licensed. I wish I could add to the small number of Latinas currently licensed in the U.S. but I do not want to carry the burden of the exams process for up to five years.”

Candidate 2
“I studied and graduated abroad and am currently living and practicing our trade in California. I am also a mother with a busy schedule. I discovered recently that I could apply for a license but am not very familiar with NCARB vocabulary, I was very confused by the website and did not know where to begin. I even contacted them for guidance but never got a response. Finally, I got help from a fellow woman architectural designer. Having workshops and introductions for people who are not familiar with the process will help me better be acquainted with the process without having to take too much time from my already busy schedule just to understand the process and commitment.”

Experience

1. Improve access to variety of professional experiences and opportunities
For many candidates (especially Asian and Latina candidates based on NCARB’s survey), it is hard to find variety or experiences in an office. Many candidates find themselves repeating the same kinds of tasks. Some of the examples of experiences that are not easily accessible include: managerial duties such as fee negotiations, contracts, or construction administration and observation duties. These experiences are vital, but the burden is left to the candidates. NCARB could hold employers accountable or offer incentives so that everyone can have access to those experiences and not just those who possess life experiences that granted them the ability to speak up for themselves.

2. Make maintaining NCARB record accessible
Many early-career professionals earn minimum wages (or lower), due to systemic problems within the profession. $95 per year to maintain records may appear affordable to some, but it is not insignificant to others. Adding up all the other costs associated with the licensure process, including penalties for lapsed fees, deters candidates from pursuing the licensure path, thus excluding them from advancing in the profession. We suggest waiving the lapsed fees, which disproportionately penalizes women who take time off to become caregivers. People who are restarting their careers already face many barriers to re-entry, and these lapsed fees create another hurdle for this population.

3. Provide support for older professionals pursuing licensure
Some candidates take time away from the profession or delay starting the licensure process for various reasons such as family, financial instability, higher education, and many other reasons. When these candidates are ready to start the process, they face many obstacles such as finding AXP supportive employers as NCARB’s surveys show. Offering less stringent requirements on recording hours will help many candidates to fulfill hours. NCARB should consider implementing an honor system for recording hours. This is similar to how the California Architects Board enforces continuing education hours. A random auditing system would keep the process fair and candidates accountable.

Candidate 3
“I only began taking exams once I started working for a firm that provided exam benefits - namely reimbursing exam fees for successfully passed divisions, and additional time off work to take the exams. They were also supportive of offering me varied opportunities that allowed me to complete my AXP hours in a reasonable amount of time. I did not feel like I had the time or resources to begin this process when I was working at a less generous firm.”

Candidate 4
“I have renewed my NCARB record every year at $95 per year. It’s been 6-years and I am finally considering re-testing, but it has been rather difficult with life and school taking a priority to commit to the process emotionally and physically all over again. In addition, I received a notice that I was not eligible for licensure because my last exam was 5+ years ago. But NCARB says they will clear me, as long as I pay them another $100 for their service, which is on top of my renewed membership.”

Examination

1. Fewer exams to reduce the amount of time spent on passing the exams
A candidate with family obligations or someone who wants to start a family cannot dedicate several years of their lives to studying and passing 6 divisions. Fewer exams will help women and those with family responsibilities to dedicate the time necessary to study, test and pass the ARE’s. In addition, reducing the waiting period re-test for a failed exam would help decrease the overall time dedicated to the licensure process.

2. Reduce exams costs and associated expenses to allow access to the profession
Study materials are expensive. Women and people of color on average are paid less. Reduce the cost of exams, offer more scholarships to underrepresented communities. Offer one single source for study materials which consolidates information necessary for the candidate’s knowledge and directly relates to exam questions. Incentivize employers to provide study materials and cover costs of exams. Offer need-based reductions of testing fees. Offer financial incentives for taking the exams or passing the exams in less time.

3. Improve passing rates
Many candidates get discouraged and even turn away from the profession because of failed exams. It is possible to maintain expertise while improving passing rates because standardized tests are discriminatory and often require skills irrelevant to one’s professional knowledge and expertise. Reduce stress by offering more time to take the exams. Recent changes to provide more time to ESL students is a great improvement. Provide scratch paper to candidates at testing sites. Provide feedback to candidates who failed on how to improve for better results.

Candidate 5
”I spent over 5 years studying and taking the exams. I delayed having a family for this reason. I paid the price for putting off my personal life and focusing on the career, specifically taking the exams to get licensed. I know choosing between advancing one’s career or having a child is a choice many of my friends who are women had to face. Having so many exams is a burden on us.”

Candidate 6
“I started testing for the ARE’s 7-years after I graduated architecture school. Part of the reason it took me such a long time was I could not find a firm that would allow to take days off for examination and pay for a passed exam. However, if I passed my licensure exams, there would be no change in my salary or pay schedule, as I came to find out, most employers do not value licensed professionals. Once I failed my first exam, I did not have the motivation or incentive to make the time and emotional commitment to re-test.”

Candidate 7
“I started the process almost 15 years ago. Being a mother I had to, either stay home, study while making sure strangers are not raising my kids or go work long hours in an office and that salary would completely go in hiring a nanny. I chose the first one as I wanted to be part of my kids’ lives. But with not having the right study materials and no one to guide, passing the exams was difficult. Also, since no one likes to share what they study and how they do it, the entire process seemed highly secretive. The costs of these exams and a lack of well-defined list of study materials makes it very challenging for anyone, women in particular, as they sacrifice their work, hence, pay in order to raise a family. Immigrant women (who also face costly immigration/work hurdles) and women of color, don’t have easy access to resources and the network of people around them who could show them the path to licensure.”

Our profession is essential and one of the most responsible industries in providing access and inclusion. “The kinds of spaces we have, don’t have, or are denied access to can empower us or render us powerless” writes Lesle Kanes Weisman, a feminist architect, educator and community activist. If some groups are underrepresented or excluded from these roles, they are left to be excluded from the physical spaces that were not designed for everyone. Making licensure more accessible for women and other under-represented populations can only make the profession stronger and more relevant, especially as climate-change & energy-use become more critical. This is a pressing issue, we urge NCARB to act and look forward to seeing these impactful changes implemented in the near future.

Sincerely,

AWA+D Board and Community

Mahsa Amini

Contributed by AWA+D Member Sara Moomsaz

I stand in solidarity with Mahsa Amini's loved ones and Iranian women. Just over four weeks ago the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested and killed by the Morality Police for so-called "Unacceptable Hijab", ignited protests throughout Iran and the globe advocating for freedom and justice. Many more women and men have sacrificed their lives seeking freedom and justice in this uprising.

I believe women's rights are human rights, and salute the courage of Iranian women and men who are fighting for these rights. 

I encourage all of my friends & allies to educate yourselves and share this information with your individual communities, and to reach out to political representatives and voice your concern on behalf of these courageous Iranian women.

Here are some links to websites for more information

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/24/middleeast/mahsa-amini-death-iran-internet-un-investigation-intl-hnk

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/03/1126603977/iran-mahsa-amini-solidarity-protests

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mahsa-amini-how-one-womens-death-ignited-protests-in-iran/id1440133626?i=1000580980384

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-62986057

https://twitter.com/i/flow/single_sign_on

Ask Our Membership Director

Ask Our Membership Director

As Membership Director of AWA+D, there are certain questions that come across my desk on a regular basis. Below is a round-up of the most frequently asked questions accompanied by answers that will hopefully shed some light on the various options and inspire you, your firm or your group to join us in our mission to advance and support women in the allied fields of architecture and design. If you have additional questions about membership, please do not hesitate to email membership@awaplusd.org at any time.

Sincerely,Kyra Bauman, Director of Membership

What do the different membership types mean?

Individual explanations of the different membership types can be found here. To further clarify, the Professional Membership offers the same advantages as the Associate and Pre-Professional memberships, including free or discounted admission to all of our events, access to members-only events and a listing in our Member Directory. The Pre-Professional membership offers an option for students and early-career professionals to join our organization at a reduced price. The Professional + Premier membership level provides enhanced exposure in our Membership Directory as well as a "Member Spotlight" feature on our website.

Can my firm join?

Yes! Group memberships can be paid for and managed by the firm while granting each individual their own access to membership benefits. We offer discounted Professional Membership to groups of three or more people. Please email the Membership Director membership@awaplusd.org to inquire for your firm or group. Free and/or discounted memberships are also a benefit we offer to sponsors — please contact our Director of Development or visit our Sponsorship page for more details.

Can a group of students join?

Yes! A school or student group can pay for multiple Pre-Professional memberships for their students in order to grant them access to our robust mentorship and career development focused programming and networking opportunities. Email the Membership Director at membership@awaplusd.org to set this up at any time.

How and when do I renew my membership?

The AWA+D membership calendar runs from October 1st through September 30th of the following year. October 1st is the renewal date for memberships, even if you join or renew your membership mid-year. Membership fees are prorated for members who join us for the first time after October 1st. We offer the option to sign up for automatic renewal billing on our website. You can also renew your membership manually each year on our website, or by mailing a check to our office.

Design Isegoria

On Thursday March 3, 2022 AWA+D held our first ever Design Isegoria. In ancient Athens, “isegoria” referred to “the equal right of citizens to participate in public debate in the democratic assembly [source].” Organized by Magdalena Glen-Schieneman and held over Zoom, our interpretation of the format consisted of an engaging, fast-paced member slide presentation. 

The theme of the night was “Getting to Know Each Other Better.” We had a total of 22 attendees and 11 presenters. Each presenter was responsible for submitting a total of 10 slides — one to introduce themselves followed by nine slides featuring their work and/or the work of their firm. With only three minutes to present the 10 slides, the presenters really made every second count!

In just over an hour, attendees learned a great deal about each presenter — from personal passions and interests to where they find design inspiration, and detailed information about the niches in which they specialize. Members commented that, while they had spent a great deal of time with many of the presenters prior to the event, in many cases they actually didn’t know much about what their work entailed. In just three minutes, they learned more about their colleagues professionally than they had in months of casual conversation. It was an efficient and fun form of networking.

Additionally, events like our Design Isegoria are great for strengthening soft skills — like creative thinking, communication, listening, time management and the ability to perform under pressure — in a safe environment. The overall vibe was supportive, friendly and informative.

As Magdalena wrapped up the event, she polled the audience to see if they would be interested in another Isegoria-style event and the answer was a resounding YES! Keep your eye on the event calendar for more information.

Self Defense Workshop Recap

Note: This blog post was guest written by one of our event attendees and members, Amanda Schwarz. If you are interested in attending and writing about our events, please contact us at info@awaplusd.org.

By Amanda Schwarz

Our group of fearless AWA+D ladies gathered to learn key self-defense concepts from Nelson, our soft-spoken yet fierce instructor from SHEILD. Although this was not an architecture or design event, it was an empowering experience to keep us safe as women in the world.

We began with how to avoid violence:

• Listen to your gut. It knows things that your intellect can’t know.

• Pay attention to your surroundings and walk confidently.

• If you can run, then run.

• Go into a local business.Carry Pepper spray.

• Yell from your diaphragm something like “back off.”

• Many people avoid violence by startling their attacker.
  

Then we learned that if you are attacked:

• Your weapons are your forehead, teeth, forearms, hands, legs, and feet.

• Their weaknesses are their groin (best spot), nose, eyes, or throat. Do not aim for their stomach, chest, or other part of the body, it will not be effective.

• Counterintuitively, if you are attacked and you can no longer run, you should actually get closer to the attacker. Grab them with your own hands instead of pushing away; this gives you more control and makes it more difficult for them to hit you or throw you.

If you only remember one thing: YELL LOUDLY AND HIT THE GROIN.

Pairing off into groups, we practiced a few maneuvers to combat an attacker. One highlight was getting to full-force kick the attacker in the groin (although the protective gear thankfully saved our instructor Nelson from suffering the impact of our rage). In just one morning of practice, we were all starting to get a hang of it. But there is a lot more to learn and more practice will help us be even more ready.

While we hope we’ll never have to use these skills, we have grown more confident in our strength and are prepared to defend ourselves.

Cobalt & Clay Event Recap

AWA+D strives to provide diverse programming to our members. We have many educational events that are great for professional growth but we also realize that having fun is important. One of our recent fun events was handbuilding ceramics over Zoom. 

We partnered with Cobalt & Clay, a woman owned small business based in Frogtown. Nicole, who is the owner, was wonderful at helping us organize our event and Hannah Sy taught the one-hour class.

We started with a ball of clay and first created a bowl shape by pinching and then added height to the vessel by coiling technique. 

At this point we each shaped our vessels to our liking and designs and it was fun to see the variety of different shapes that the participants produced.

The whole process was really creative, relaxing and a little messy but having a drink and good company helped.