EPISODE 01- KATE MACINTOSH
Can you tell us about a defining moment for you in your career as a woman? How have things changed?
When she was studying at Edinburgh College of Art she notes that she felt like a ‘foreign body’ as few women studied architecture, she reflected that this has improved.
She travelled to Scandinavia where she noted that you could ‘forget about the sexual politics and just be a woman architect’
Do you see activism in your work?
Activism has always been embedded in her work, from her student days to today where she is active in saving social housing and the climate crisis
Please tell us of a forgotten woman who has inspired you or your work
Rosemary Stjernstedt, for her work on Central Hill. Rosemary was an important public sector architect but remains largely forgotten. Rosemary was an important public sector architect, working firstly designing furniture and then moving to join the London County Council. She designed and built the Alton Estate in Roehampton, which houses 13,000 people and is one of the biggest social housing estates surviving today.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Kate’s advice was ‘don’t be a shrinking violet’ and to ‘seek out the best because, in the best offices, you will meet confident people, who will not be petty-minded enough to try and take you down.’ She reflects throughout the episode that a good office will raise a young marginalised voice and work as ‘it is very hard to build up your self-belief in a hostile environment’
What do you think an equitable city looks like?
Kate refers to Scandinavia for best practice in design and equality throughout
For an equitable city, Kate suggests we ‘suppress the car’ and all amenities should be within walking distance. She notes that if a design is good for children, it is good for women, and then it is good for men.
EPISODE 2- FARSHID MOUSSAVI
Can you tell us about a defining moment for you in your career as a woman? How have things changed?
Farshid refers to the Yokohama Port Terminal in Japan as a significant project, her first competition, which she won. It was also her most challenging as it was their first, but notes that most projects take 6-10 years and face the volatility of politics and the economy- each project is challenging in its own way. Farshid mentions her experience of marginalisation and how this should be considered an advantage, like a tourist in a city they don’t know- they approach things differently.
Do you see activism in your work?
Yes but through her research mostly and her book Architecture and Micropolitics, how through the built environment, the politics manifest themselves. She sensitively refers to her refugee experience where she notes ‘you carry with you a set of attitudes which are subconsciously there’
Please tell us of a forgotten woman who has inspired you or your work
Renee Gailhoustet, a French social housing architect and winner of the 2022 Royal Academy Architecture Prize. She was well known for the design of Le Liégat, Ivry-sur-Seine, (1972) where she lived until she passed away in 2023. The scheme held 80 duplex social housing units and featured ‘interior streets’.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Farshid advises- ‘don’t let anyone decide what architecture is for you’. Be clear about what you do and don’t know. Learn and unlearn.
What do you think an equitable city looks like?
Farshid states that it is a city which is not defined by finance, how diversity is spread horizontally, not by borough and how it is the architects’ responsibility to introduce subversive moments and approaches to projects, to make space for diverse people.
Image: Paul Phung
EPISODE 3- ELSIE OWUSU
Can you tell us about a defining moment for you in your career as a woman? How have things changed?
Working on the Supreme Court. Elsie always avoided away from working in large companies and preferred working for herself or in collectives as ‘if there was going to be a hierarchy, she wanted to be at the top of it!’She advises us never to work for people we don’t like or admire.
Do you see activism in your work?
Elsie talked about how her work followed the work of Doreen Lawrence, Stephen Lawrence’s mother. She asks- would Stephen have been welcome here? (At the RIBA) She speaks of how this work became the RIBA +25 campaign (2017) which Yemi was involved in. This encouraged diverse people to run for council so the RIBA was more representative. Elsie asks us why our profession isn’t as diverse as the England Football team.
Please tell us of a forgotten woman who has inspired you or your work
Ladi Kwali, a famous potter. She is featured on the Nigerian note. Her work was threaded with mathematical undertones, with continuous use of symmetry and her pots soon became known as art pieces, her works are held in collections globally, including in the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Elsie describes how women are told to be ‘good girls’ instead she advises us to be confident, to put yourself forward and to ‘show off’- like Zaha Hadid.
What do you think an equitable city looks like?
Elsie talks about the pandemic and how we had an opportunity to rediscover the city with fewer cars, less business and less pollution. She mentions that perhaps it is how we appreciate spaces more than anything else. It is more our perception. Here she also mentions decolonisation and that we should all become aware of how the empire lives in London. Elsie suggests that if we are to diversify our profession, we need to access children of school age and bring architecture into the classroom.
Image: Grant Smith
EPISODE 4- ANGELA BRADY
Can you tell us about a defining moment for you in your career as a woman? How have things changed?
Getting into Architecture School. She noted that they had to stick up for themselves and that there was always an underlying sexism. She notes things are vastly better for women today.
Do you see activism in your work?
Angela often went to the RIBA with issues and they suggested she should chair for Women in Architecture. Angela was RIBA President from 2011-2013. She ensured that unpaid internships were stopped. She was part of the ‘Architects for Change Group’ (around 2000 with Sumita Singha) and held the Diverse City exhibition. They asked- what does diversity mean to you? The exhibition travelled to 34 cities. She also worked on ‘Adopt a School’. During her time as RIBA president, Angela took part in the ‘Drop the Ban’ campaign to name the designers of the 2012 London Olympics who were not allowed to promote their work as part of a marketing agreement. Her campaign dress is now in the Museum of London.
Please tell us of a forgotten woman who has inspired you or your work
Ina Boyle, a composer. Her music was lesser celebrated because she was a woman. Angela also talks of the lesser recognised Eileen Grey and Charlotte Perriand & how Patti Hopkins was airbrushed out. She also mentions Venturi’s Pritzker Prize and the lack of recognition for Denise Scott Brown’s contribution.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Learn to listen, engage and get your communication skills out there- to all walks of life. (Not just architects!) Angela discusses how she found starting her practice with her partner progressive. She advises you to take the chance to get out there on your own if you can.
What do you think an equitable city looks like?
Where everybody feels safe 24/7, where there isn’t privatisation of public space or parks only for the wealthy. A city where you can move about and preferably without any limitations. To generate change, Angela encourages us all to adopt a school.
EPISODE 5- PARLOUR (Justine Clark and Naomi Stead)
Can you tell us about a defining moment for you in your career as a woman? How have things changed?
The Parlour website going live allowed them to open up the conversation more globally. Rosa Sheng made contact and set up Equity by Design. It was a springboard for them and allowed women to realise that it wasn’t them that was the problem. When they were invited to be keynote speakers at the Australian Institute of Architects Conference, as they had launched the Parlour guides, they felt at this point that they had ‘entered the mainstream’
Do you see activism in your work?
Parlour describe themselves as a research-based advocacy organisation. They try to do research into action. They would love to do an international summit with all the groups who are working for change- asking how they can be stronger together?
Parlour explain their work as advocacy more than activism. They are no longer a volunteer organisation, and they could not have done it without the funding they received. They try to pay people for their work now. They mention that they have not burnt out as an organisation because they are paid for their work.
They say they may be considered the ‘friendly feminists’. Naomi asks- What do we do with anger? Justine mentions that there is often a question of tone and how anger will only get you so far, she advises only to use anger in a way that cuts through when you need it
Naomi & Justine explain that having established careers before starting Parlour helped them to have agency to get people to listen. They describe how they have used their outside position to the best effect, whilst also acknowledging that they are not as ‘outside’ as many of the firmly activist groups/individuals. Justine warns us not to get too cosy, that this will cause us to lose our outsider perspective. Justine states that ‘if all Parlour does is make it more comfortable for middle-class women then you are contributing to the problem’ and they are mindful of this in their work.
The interview focussed on this question, and we didn’t reach the rest- but it felt important in this interview, a meeting of two advocacy groups- that the discussion they wanted to have was held.
EPISODE 6- JOS BOYS
Can you tell us about a defining moment for you in your career as a woman? How have things changed?
Jos did not feel she had defining moment, she was more exploratory in her approach to architecture school and her career. She was told she wasn’t allowed to be a photographer, so she had to be an architect, but she was never sure she wanted to be an architect. Jos highlights how class has been an issue for architecture in the past and still prevails today.
Do you see activism in your work?
Jos is inherently activist, she discusses her work with Matrix and how they were trying to work out what was going on for women in construction and architecture. She describes how when she started looking into designing for disability, how there were no disabled people in the discussion. She enjoyed the anger that started both these movements, and how they were just trying to work out what was going on and why injustice kept happening.
Jos speaks passionately of disability activism and its poetic nature, she urges us all to be involved. She wants to reclaim the disability rights movement and states that Part M is not technical but is a distorted translation of disability activist ideas.
Please tell us of a forgotten woman who has inspired you or your work
Maggie Davis, who was a big part of the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS) and was campaigning for disability rights at the start of the Independent Living Movement and was very central to the movement and the design of Grove Road, Ashfield which had housing designed by wheelchair users.
What advice would you give your younger self?
It’s alright not to fit into these normative models, you don’t need to waste a lot of energy worrying about that. Stop letting social policing & unconscious bias bother you.
What do you think an equitable city looks like?
We need to look at what is deemed normative. We need to work towards spatial justice, not access and inclusion. Jos states that to her an equitable city is always emergent, it’s never finished. She discusses gender budgeting and using it to create more equity. She discusses how the investment in cycling isn’t necessarily ‘bad’ but invests more in men and the able-bodied. We need to be more aware of our unconscious bias when designing.