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.

New Year, New You: Headshots!

It was a huge success and the Headshots are wonderful.

A special Thank You to the services of pro photographer Joe Wright, Makeup Artist, Danielle Rotella; Event photographer, Trajan Todoran; and of course Frederick Fisher and Partners' office, for the beautiful location.

Cheers to a New Year and a New You!

AWA+D + WiA Mixer at Louis Poulson

Our holiday party was truly a night to remember! The lights were glowing, the wine was flowing, and the best part was seeing the joy and cheer of our AWA+D and WiA friends.

We are so thankful for our supportive and inspiring community!

Special thanks to Louis Poulson and the Helms Bakery District for hosting us in a space that simply exudes the festive, warm and cozy holiday spirit.