Architecture News

Architectural Record Women in Architecture Forum & Awards 2015

By Anna Fixsen, Miriam Sitz

RECORD editor-in-chief Cathleen McGuigan bestowing the New Generation Leader Award to Meejin Yoon.<div id='_mcePaste'> — Architectural Record Women in Architecture Forum & Awards 2015
RECORD editor-in-chief Cathleen McGuigan bestowing the New Generation Leader Award to Meejin Yoon.

Photo by Anna Fixsen

RECORD editor-in-chief Cathleen McGuigan and Design Leader Award recipient Billie Tsien.<div id='_mcePaste'> — Architectural Record Women in Architecture Forum & Awards 2015
RECORD editor-in-chief Cathleen McGuigan and Design Leader Award recipient Billie Tsien.

Photo by Anna Fixsen

Educator Award recipient Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Dean, School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania.<div id='_mcePaste'> — Architectural Record Women in Architecture Forum & Awards 2015
Educator Award recipient Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Dean, School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania.

Photo by Anna Fixsen

The crowd at the awards luncheon in the Time-Life Building.<div id='_mcePaste'> — Architectural Record Women in Architecture Forum & Awards 2015
The crowd at the awards luncheon in the Time-Life Building.

Photo by Anna Fixsen

Pat Sapinsley, the managing director of the Cleartech Initiatives at New York University’s Urban Future Lab, received this year’s Activist Award.<div id='_mcePaste'> — Architectural Record Women in Architecture Forum & Awards 2015
Pat Sapinsley, the managing director of the Cleartech Initiatives at New York University’s Urban Future Lab, received this year’s Activist Award.

Photo by Anna Fixsen

This years honorees Billie Tsien, Meejin Yoon, Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Anna Dyson, and Pat Sapinsley.<div id='_mcePaste'> — Architectural Record Women in Architecture Forum & Awards 2015
This years honorees Billie Tsien, Meejin Yoon, Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Anna Dyson, and Pat Sapinsley.

Photo by Anna Fixsen

New Generation Leader Award winner, Meejin Yoon.<div id='_mcePaste'> — Architectural Record Women in Architecture Forum & Awards 2015
New Generation Leader Award winner, Meejin Yoon.

Photo by Anna Fixsen

Anna Dyson, professor of design at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Architecture, received RECORD’s Innovator Award.<div id='_mcePaste'> — Architectural Record Women in Architecture Forum & Awards 2015
Anna Dyson, professor of design at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Architecture, received RECORD’s Innovator Award.

Photo by Anna Fixsen

Architectural Record Women in Architecture Forum & Awards 2015
Sylvia Smith, senior partner at FXFOWLE, speaking at the morning symposium.
Photo by Anna Fixsen

A morning symposium, titled Designing Women: Getting Ahead in Large firms, was moderated by RECORD editor-in-chief Cathleen McGuigan.<div id='_mcePaste'> — Architectural Record Women in Architecture Forum & Awards 2015
A morning symposium, titled Designing Women: Getting Ahead in Large firms, was moderated by RECORD editor-in-chief Cathleen McGuigan.

Photo by Anna Fixsen

Panel participants Hana Kassem of Kohn Pedersen Fox, and Julia Murphy of SOM.<div id='_mcePaste'> — Architectural Record Women in Architecture Forum & Awards 2015
Panel participants Hana Kassem of Kohn Pedersen Fox, and Julia Murphy of SOM.

Photo by Anna Fixsen

Architectural Record’s annual Women in Architecture awards program is intended to acknowledge the increasingly visible role of women in the profession; to encourage firms to promote women architects and their work; and to provide an opportunity for women in the field to come together to celebrate their contributions to the design of the built environment.

During a morning symposium titled "Designing Women: Getting Ahead in Large Firms," three panelists discussed the past, present, and future of women at architecture firms.

Sylvia Smith, FAIA, senior partner with FXFOWLE, described how gender discrimination at architecture firms can be "overt, but also subtle," calling for the need to tackle both kinds.

Hana Kassem, AIA, director with Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, noted how design is inherently not a field of right and wrong, black and white. "Design is a subjective thing. It lives in the gray," she said. "You must love navigating the gray." She also encouraged women to advocate for other women in their firms.

Julia Murphy, AIA Associate with Skitmore, Owings & Merrill, displayed promotion and human resource metrics from SOM, which equip management with dispassionate data to use in decision making. "We've been able to track where women are through various levels in the firm," she said, noting a mid-career drop off for women.

Following the forum, a luncheon honored this years Women in Architecture Awards winners: Billie Tsien, Design Leader; Meejin Yoon, New Generation Leader; Anna Dyson, Innovator; Pat Sapinsley, Activist; and Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Educator.

Read more about the second annual award recipients and view updates from the event below.

KEYWORDS: women in architecture

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Anna Fixsen was a staff writer and editor for Architectural Record from 2013 to 2017, during which time she covered topics ranging from new projects to human rights, and edited Firms to Watch—a special section devoted to emerging architecture firms.

Miriam Sitz was a staff writer and editor for Architectural Record from 2015 to 2020, during which time she served as the web editor, then senior news & web editor.