Dear Christine,
I have been thinking about your challenge - "what
should we do next?" . It wasn't easy! However, a
couple of things that I am involved in has led me to think how good it
would be if the
AJ
shone a torch on the discrepancy between the skills architects are
taught when studying and the skills they need when they start work. I
wonder if it might be a factor in the fall off of women in architecture.
Nearly all the women at the
RIBA's
Female Power evening talked about architecture as collaboration,
inviting consideration, adapting and relating. Alison Brooks felt that
the old model of modernism as singular, authoritarian and static had
passed. I have been researching the application of "
BIM" to projects and considering how we can incorporate the approach, software and skills into our
practice
in order to remain competitive. I find it fascinating and there are
many things I could say about it but in this context the thing that
really stood out to me was its embodiment of collaboration. The second
thing was organising a networking/marketing workshop for Cambridge Women
in Construction. This focused on the idea of an 'elevator pitch' -
deciding what's special or memorable about you, your skills, what you
offer and why it's good. We were taught ways to remember people's
names, ways to enter a conversation and ways to leave it. To many of us
it highlighted the need to be direct, succinct, unapologetic and
positive.
In my experience, architecture schools spend the majority of time
teaching how to design and then how to present and defend the design.
Do they still do this? I completed a part time part 2 in 2008 and we
were still doing it then. In
practice,
the buildings we build come out of a process of presentation,
negotiation, collaboration and compromise. Women should, by reputation,
be good at this. However, even for an experienced woman architect, a
room full of suited male consultants / contractors/ clients can be
intimidating and just summoning the energy to go round the room shaking
hands at the end of a challenging meeting can be difficult.
Could/should the structure of teaching architecture be changed to
reflect a collaborative approach, not just to design, but to work as a
whole? Would/could it help the men and particularly women joining the
profession? Would 'architecture' or 'design' suffer? It would be fascinating to hear the arguments.
Meanwhile, we will continue to run
CWiC
training events that cover some of the skills mentioned and find as
many ways as we can to support the women already working in
construction.
Best regards,
Jo
