Architecture is traditionally a male-dominated business. Real estate is the same. Investors of note like David Lichtenstein encourage the role of women in both architecture and real estate and it looks as if things are really beginning to change.
Women are generally on the up in the architectural world. They’re still to achieve a completely equal footing but the role of women in building beautiful buildings is absolutely nothing new. In America in the 19th century, for example, it was commonplace for women to design and commission their own homes to exacting specifications.
And the famous Frank Lloyd Wright’s first ever employee was a woman who in turn became the world’s first woman to be licensed as a practicing architect. Called Marion Mahony Griffin, she contributed hugely both to Frank Lloyd Wright’s ‘s career and to the career of her husband, Walter Burley Griffin, the American architect and landscaper best known for his role in designing Canberra, Australia’s capital city.
More recently, the Japanese female architect Kazuyo Sejima launched a Tokyo-based firm that designed award-winning buildings around the world.
In fact, she and her partner, Ryue Nishizawa, shared the 2010 Pritzker Prize for Architecture.
The first ever female winner of the prize, though, was Baghdad-born (in 1950) Zaha Hadid. Her work in new spatial concepts encompassing all fields of design from urban spaces and buildings to products and furniture deservedly earned her the honour.
And finally, what about, Maya Lin (born in October 1959) who is perhaps best known for her large, minimalist sculptures and monuments? When she was just 21 years of age and still just a student, Lin created the winning design for the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Washington, DC.
Women bring something to the world of architecture that men don’t. This may be a sweeping generalisation, but it’s also very true.
