"Architecture has run out of excuses when it comes to explaining a lack of gender parity"

Despite an increase in the number of women in architecture leadership roles, the industry needs to work harder to attract and retain women in senior positions, says Christine Murray.

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The improvement in the number of women in senior leadership roles in the past five years revealed by Dezeen’s survey of top 100 global architecture firms is a surprise win, with the proportion of women in the highest-ranking jobs having doubled from ten to twenty percent.

The rate of growth suggests some firms are actively tackling the lack of female designers at the top. Dezeen’s survey, although a bit crude in its methods (counting headshots on websites) will add welcome heat to simmering concerns that an all-male leadership team is a business and PR liability.

Fifty-two per cent of the practices in the global top 100 boast exactly zero women at the top table

But let’s not get carried away. It’s still just 20 per cent, and most of the top 100 global firms in architecture and design still have no women in senior leadership at all. An incredible 52 per cent of the practices in the global top 100 boast exactly zero women at the top table. Almost half (45 per cent) of the firms have failed to improve the number of women in senior leadership in the past five years. And nearly a fifth (17 per cent) of practices have no women in their second tier of management.

Architecture has run out of excuses when it comes to explaining a lack of gender parity. In the US, two out of five new architects are women, according to the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). In the UK, the gender split of architects under 30 is exactly 50/50, according to the Architects Registration Board (ARB) annual report 2020.

Is it just a matter of time before these women ascend to senior management? Maybe. But in 2002, the Royal Institute for British Architects proudly reported that architecture students were 38 per cent female. Twenty years later, where are these women now?

[

Read:

Women make up just one in five top positions at biggest architecture firms despite "huge jump"

](https://www.dezeen.com/2022/03/08/women-top-positions-biggest-architecture-firms/)

Thinking positively, Dezeen’s research does show an increasing number of senior positions for women at the highest levels of the profession. So what can design firms do to attract and retain women in management? A closer look at the more balanced firms in the league table suggests changes to benefits, pay and workplace culture for a start.

Taking 50:50 as the sweet spot, twelve firms have a proportion of women between 44 and 67 per cent at senior leadership level. It’s no surprise to find three of these are headquartered in Scandinavia: CF Moller, White Arkitekter and Link Arkitekter. There are also three in the USA: CannonDesign; DLR Group and Gensler, with one a piece in Bahrain (KEO), Hong Kong (Leigh & Orange), India (Morphogenisis), the UK (Purcell), China (Capol) and France (Wilmotte).

Gender parity can happen anywhere

The global spread shows that gender parity can happen anywhere. However, the disproportionate representation of Scandinavian countries in the top 12 points to a systemic gap that practices need to breach: the financing of care. Nordic countries have subsidised childcare, generous parental leave and eldercare.

"Globally, women do 75 per cent of unpaid care work," says Alice Brownfield, an architect at Peter Barber Architects and co-founder of Part W action group for gender equality. "This is exacerbated by the gender pay gap and the lack of work opportunities that fit around life’s other demands."

In short, if the welfare state doesn't enable high-quality, flexible and affordable social care, your architecture practice will have to make up that difference in salary or perks, plus a working culture that doesn’t penalise employees with kids, parents or other caring responsibilities.

"A work culture that assumes long hours, late nights, and complete focus on a project is more likely to put women in a position of having to choose between family and work, or having one or both suffer," says Leslie Kern, author of Feminist City and director of women’s and gender studies at Mount Allison University.

For example, some architecture practices host design crits with their top brass weekly on Friday nights at 6pm, forcing employees to cede what should be family or social time. While women suffer disproportionately in these work/family clashes, they are just canaries in a creative-industry coalmine.

Work and life becomes intertwined in a way that makes creative workers likely to self-exploit

In the architecture studio, a love of design and the collegiate atmosphere is supposed to supersede the need for a living wage and a social life – and for many women it does, until other responsibilities get in the way. Long hours and intense collaboration on projects turn bosses and co-workers into friends and family. Work and life becomes intertwined in a way that makes creative workers likely to self-exploit, and easier to manipulate into working extra hours for no pay.

Because all work is collaborative, it’s hard to argue the merit of an individual contribution: the creative fruits are the work of so many hands, the value of each individual worker is considered marginal, even non-existent.

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In his paper on the neoliberal creative economy, Ashley Lee Wong writes: "Through promotion of lifestyle, recognition and fame, the creative industries makes jobs desirable and at the very same time creates the conditions for self-exploitation and exploitation by employers. We may love the work, but we hate the stress and lack of financial security. It is difficult to find stability in a highly competitive environment where one constantly has to promote oneself in order to secure the next job."

As a cog in the property industry, architecture is just one part of an expensive machine that extracts value from land, under pressure to make the largest possible return. Depressed wages and exploitation of creative workers are part of the economic model. Women are squeezed out of top management where the working culture, or lack of state support and employee benefits, mean they can’t afford to play. Firms that do not address this will be forced to choose from a less-talented pool of the privileged who can.

The visibility of women at the top is important

As Kern says, "A cooperative culture where all contributions are valued is more likely to retain women and others who typically either lose in the male-dominated competitive world or opt out of this kind of culture."

The visibility of women at the top is important. Seeing women in management positions might encourage others to stay. But this can also lead to added pressure on women to be role models, activists or counsellors in addition to their day job. I’ve heard of women architects being asked to write their company’s maternity policy or start mentorship programmes, despite having zero experience in these areas and an already challenging workload.

After I was appointed editor of the Architects’ Journal halfway through maternity leave with my first child, I was asked what I would do to improve the status of women in architecture. I was also expected to serve as a "role model" for future mothers in the media company. Would a male editor have faced these pressures, or been expected to do any job other than that of editor?

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"Relying on senior women to do unpaid work as mentors, equity consultants, and policy makers increases their workload and likely pulls them away from the kind of projects that get recognition and compensation," says Kern. "This could contribute to burnout, frustration, and a desire to leave the field."

This year’s top 100 list proves that alternative approaches are available and that change is possible. With public bodies and private capital increasingly looking to hire design firms with ethics and values, if only for selfish reasons, practices should improve gender parity in the senior ranks.

Dezeen’s count of the numbers reveals strong growth on feeble progress. To retain these women and add to their ranks, the design studio culture must change. Practices should seek to adopt a working culture in which there is more to life than architecture. You can love design and work hard, but architecture should not, like an abbiamo boyfriend, demand to be your everything.

Christine Murray is the founding director and editor-in-chief ofThe Developer and The Festival of Place. She was formerly editor-in-chief of the Architects’ Journal and The Architectural Review, where she founded the Women in Architecture Awards, now known as the W Awards.

The post "Architecture has run out of excuses when it comes to explaining a lack of gender parity" appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #opinion #womeninarchitectureanddesign #christinemurray

Women make up just one in five top positions at biggest architecture firms despite "huge jump"

The percentage of women in top jobs at the biggest architecture firms has doubled over the past five years – but men still occupy four out of five key roles, according to research conducted by Dezeen to mark International Women's Day.

Women now make up 21 per cent of the highest-ranking jobs at the 100 largest architecture firms around the globe.

The figures was just 10 per cent in 2017, when Dezeen published a landmark survey of the gender balance at the world's 100 biggest practices, meaning the proportion has doubled.

Looking across all senior roles, women account for 29 per cent of staff, compared with 18 per cent five years ago. This represents a 60 per cent increase.

"A huge jump"

Former Royal Institute of British Architects president Angela Brady described the change as "a huge jump".

"An 11 percentage point rise in women in senior roles is a huge jump and very welcome," said Brady, who is director at London studio Brady Mallalieu Architects.

"With the increasing numbers of women graduating from universities, it is only a matter of time before we achieve further parity."

"It is good news that the total percentage of women in management positions is up," agreed Alexandra Hagen, chief executive of Sweden-based White Arkitekter, which was the only top-100 firm with more senior women than men in 2017.

However, gender parity remains a long way off in the architecture industry. Half of the 48 companies for which information was available had no women in their top management team. Twelve firms did not have any women at all among the senior staff listed on their websites. This figure is down from 16 in 2017.

"There is no excuse"

Sadie Morgan, co-founder of London studio dRMM, said progress was too slow and that "little seems to change".

"The data shows there is clearly much more as an industry we need to do, yet time goes by and little seems to change," she told Dezeen. "There is no excuse. Fifty-fifty should be a given. The industry needs to move on from the gender debate."

Only four of the firms surveyed employ as many or more women than men in senior positions. These are Gensler, GF & Partners, Sweco and White Arkitektur.

That compares with just two in 2017, one of which was White Arkitekter. The other company, Tengbom, has since dropped out of the world's top 100 largest studios and therefore was not surveyed this year.

Above: Gensler, the world's largest architecture firm, is among a handful of the biggest studios with an even gender split on its top team. Top: illustration is by Leyla Reynolds

The new survey follows the format of the original survey from November 2017, when Dezeen published research on the number of women in top roles at 100 leading architecture firms.

It found that just three of the world's 100 biggest architecture firms were headed by women and only two had management teams that are more than 50 per cent female.

2017 survey revealed "shocking" lack of women in senior roles

Women occupied just 10 per cent of the highest-ranking jobs at the world's leading architecture firms, the survey revealed, while 16 firms had no women at all in senior positions.

The stark figures were met with horror from the industry and described as "quite shocking".

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Five years on, to mark International Women's Day, we have updated the research to see how far the dial has moved.

To gather the data, we visited the website of each of the 100 biggest studios in the world as defined by the World Architecture 100 (WA100) list of international practices ranked by size, compiled annually by Building Design magazine.

There we counted up the number of senior men and women listed in the "People" sections, breaking them down into three tiers. Since structures vary widely between firms, categorising staff into these three tiers makes comparisons between companies easier. We used our own judgement based on names and photos to determine gender.

The top tier includes roles such as founders, presidents and C-suite executives. The second tier mainly consists of board members, principals or partners. The third tier is consists of associates, department leaders and other equivalent titles.

The research shows how things have changed at the 67 firms that appeared in both the 2017 and 2022 WA100 lists, where the relevant information was available.

Women in management positions increases from 18 to 28 per cent

Looking at all three management tiers together, there are 1,516 women out of a total of 5,319 people listed in senior positions on the websites of the 100 companies. This equates to 28 per cent, compared to 18 per cent in 2017.

As in our previous survey, the proportion of women is higher in the lower management tiers.

"The increased number of women in tier three suggests that more women are being trained for senior and executive management," said White Arkitekter's Hagen.

In the top tier, a total of 628 top-tier staff are listed. Of these, 132 are women, equating to 21 per cent. This compares to a figure of 10 per cent in 2017.

Out of the 1,528 second-tier staff listed, there are 388 women. This equates to 25 per cent. This compares to a figure of 18 per cent in 2017.

Out of the 3,045 third-tier staff listed, there are 950 women. This equates to 31 per cent. This compares to a figure of 21 per cent in 2017.

Number of senior women has decreased at 11 companies

At 16 of the firms surveyed, the proportion of women stayed the same or increased by less than one percentage point, while the proportion decreased at another 11 companies.

There are also examples of companies where the proportion of women in senior jobs appeared to have dramatically increased.

In many cases, this surge seemed to be related to a restructuring at the top of the company, often to a flatter management model with reduced emphasis on a very small number of people.

In 2017 (left) Foster + Partners had only one woman among its senior staff. Its website today (right) shows multiple women among its senior partners, although there are still significantly more men

However, at some firms, the increasing gender balance appeared at least partially the result of women being promoted to higher positions. For example, Foster + Partners had just one female senior partner in 2017, whereas now there are 13.

Anna Schabel, chair of Women in Architecture UK, argued that architecture firms should be as transparent as possible about the gender balance of their senior staff.

"We applaud the increase in top-level women and the increasing number of role-model movers and shakers at all levels," she said but suggested that some firms have simply changed the way their websites list senior staff in order to "gender-wash" their diversity figures.

"However, the carefully curated face of websites can obfuscate the issues and, dare we say it, gender-wash," she said. "We call on companies to provide more data on women's roles, particularly at the highest level."

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"The practices that don't provide equal opportunities for women are limiting themselves," said Hagen. "They will eventually find they are not attractive employers to half of the talent available. This will be a disadvantage to their business."

Schabel issued a similar warning: "Unless we enable further change, we know that women will gravitate to the organisations that walk the talk – or out of our industry."

Below is the data for each of the 100 companies, in alphabetical order:

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10 DESIGN

China

Top tier: one woman, two men

Second tier: three women, 19 men

Third tier: five women, two men

Overall there are nine women and 23 men in senior positions, meaning that 28 per cent are women. This is down from 31 per cent in 2017.

www.10design.co/profile/people

---

A26

France

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: two women, six men

Third tier: no women, two men

Overall there are two women and nine men in senior positions, meaning that 18 per cent are women. A26 was not in the 2017 survey.

www.a26.eu/agence

---

Aedas

China

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: one woman, 11 men

Third tier: 13 women, 48 men

Overall there are 14 women and 60 men in senior positions, meaning that 19 per cent are women. This is up from 11 per cent in 2017, driven by an increase in the number of women in the third tier.

www.aedas.com/en/about-us/our-people/global-board

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AHR

UK

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: seven women, 23 men

Third tier: one woman, 11 men

Overall there are eight women and 35 men in senior positions, meaning that 19 per cent are women. This is up from 16 per cent in 2017.

www.ahr.co.uk/People

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Aidea

Philippines

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: not listed

Third tier: not listed

The only member of staff mentioned on Aidea's website is now its CEO, who is a man. It did not respond to our request for further figures. In 2017, it listed three women and 12 men in senior positions, meaning that 20 per cent were women.

www.aidea.com.ph/about

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Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

UK

Top tier: no women, five men

Second tier: five women, 10 men

Third tier: 16 women, 55 men

Overall there are 21 women and 70 men in senior positions, meaning that 23 per cent are women. This is marginally up from 22 per cent in 2017.

www.ahmm.co.uk/people/

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Allies and Morrison

UK

Top tier: one woman, no men

Second tier: one woman, 16 men

Third tier: 20 women, 38 men

Overall there are 22 women and 54 men in senior positions, meaning that 29 per cent are women. This is up from 23 per cent in 2017.

A notable change at this firm is that it is now led by a female managing partner.

www.alliesandmorrison.com/people

---

Archetype Group

Vietnam

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: one woman, 13 men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there is one woman and 15 men in senior positions, meaning that six per cent are women. This is down from eight per cent in 2017, when there were three fewer men at the second tier.

www.archetype-group.com/about-us/people

---

Arcplus Group

China

The information for this firm was not available online and it did not respond to our request for the figures. Arcplus Group was not in the 2017 survey.

---

ASYA

Philippines

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: not listed

Third tier: not listed

The only member of staff mentioned on ASYA's website is its founder and leader, who is a man. It did not respond to our request for further figures. ASYA was not in the 2017 survey.

<https://asyadesign.com.ph/about-asya>

---

ATP Architects Engineers

Austria

Top tier: one woman, seven men

Second tier: not listed

Third tier: not listed

Overall there is one woman and eight men in senior positions listed, meaning that 13 per cent are women. There were no women listed in 2017.

www.atp.ag/integrated-design/about-atp/partners/

---

Aukett Swanke

UK

Top tier: one woman, three men

Second tier: three women, 14 men

Third tier: two women, 8 men

Overall there are six women and 25 men in senior positions, meaning that 19 per cent are women. This is down from 24 per cent in 2017. It had not responded to our request for comment at the time of publication.

www.aukettswanke.com/studio/people

---

AXS Satow

Japan

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: not listed

Third tier: not listed

The only member of staff mentioned on AXS Satow's website is its president and chair, who is a man. It did not respond to our request for further figures.

In the 2017 survey, it listed eight other senior staff, all of whom were men.

www.axscom.co.jp/en/company/

---

Azusa Sekkei

Japan

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: not available

Third tier: not available

Azusa Sekkei's website lists only the names of its senior staff, without pictures. Dezeen was only able to verify the gender of its president and CEO, who is a man.

It did not respond to a request to confirm the figures. Asuza Sekkei was not in the 2017 survey.

www.azusasekkei.co.jp/en/company/management/

---

B+H Architects

Canada

Top tier: 14 women, 30 men

Second tier: 15 women, 27 men

Third tier: 27 women, 27 men

Overall there are 56 women and 84 men in senior positions, meaning that 40 per cent are women. This is up from 18 per cent in 2017, driven by an increase in the number of women at all tiers.

<https://bharchitects.com/en/people/>

---

BDP

UK

Top tier: four women, 26 men

Second tier: two women, six men

Third tier: 25 women, 79 men

Overall there are 31 women and 111 men in senior positions, meaning that 22 per cent are women. This is up from 5 per cent in 2017, mostly driven by the number of women at the third tier, which was not counted in the previous survey.

www.bdp.com/en/about/people

---

Boogertman + Partners

South Africa

Top tier: two women, 11 men

Second tier: one woman, three men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are three women and 14 men in senior positions, meaning that 18 per cent are women. Boogertman + Partners was not in the 2017 survey.

<https://boogertmanandpartners.com/team>

---

Broadway Malyan

UK

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: eight women, 19 men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are eight women and 21 men in senior positions, meaning that 28 per cent are women. This is up from 11 per cent in 2017, driven by an increase in the number of women at the second tier.

www.broadwaymalyan.com/people/our-people/

---

CF Møller

Denmark

Top tier: two women, two men

Second tier: one woman, four men

Third tier: one woman, six men

Overall there are four women and 12 men in senior positions, meaning that 25 per cent are women. This is the same as in 2017.

www.cfmoller.com/f/About

---

CannonDesign

US

Top tier: six women, 10 men

Second tier: five women, four men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are 11 women and 14 men in senior positions, meaning that 44 per cent are women. This is up from 18 per cent in 2017.

CannonDesign said the increase in the proportion of women was related to its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion framework which see it invest in initiatives aimed at fostering equality. It also told Dezeen that at its third tier of management 33 per cent of staff are women.

www.cannondesign.com/leadership/#management

---

Capol

China

Top tier: one woman, one man

Second tier: no women, eight men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there is one woman and nine men in senior positions, meaning that 10 per cent are women. Capol was not in the 2017 survey.

en.capol.cn:9000/about.aspx

---

Chapman Taylor

UK

Top tier: no women, seven men

Second tier: five women, 24 men

Third tier: 10 women, 27 men

Overall there are 15 women and 58 men in senior positions, meaning that 21 per cent are women. This is up from 15 per cent in 2017.

www.chapmantaylor.com/people

---

Corgan

US

Top tier: one woman, two men

Second tier: three women, four men

Third tier: three women, 21 men

Overall there are seven women and 27 men in senior positions, meaning that 21 per cent are women. This is up from 20 per cent in 2017.

www.corgan.com/about-corgan/leadership

---

CP Kukreja Architects

India

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: not listed

Third tier: not listed

CP Kukreja Architects' website only lists its founder and its managing principal, both of whom are men. This means that there are zero women in senior positions, which is the same as in 2017.

www.cpkukreja.com/about-us.html

---

Dewan Architects + Engineers

UAE

Top tier: no women, four men

Second tier: one woman, 10 men

Third tier: five women, 23 men

Overall there are six women and 37 men in senior positions, meaning that 14 per cent are women. This is down from 20 per cent in 2017.

www.dewan-architects.com/people/

---

Diamond Schmitt

Canada

Top tier: five women, 16 men

Second tier: 14 women, 30 men

Third tier: seven women, two men

Overall there are 26 women and 48 men in senior positions, meaning that 35 per cent are women. Diamond Schmitt was not in the 2017 survey.

dsai.ca/people/#categories=directors

---

DLN Architects

China

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: three women, 11 men

Third tier: four women, four men

Overall there are seven women and 16 men in senior positions, meaning that 30 per cent are women. This is up from 18 per cent in 2017, driven by a balancing of the proportion of women in the third tier.

www.dln.com.hk/html5/?section=firm&lang=en

---

DLR Group

US

Top tier: four women, five men

Second tier: four women, 15 men

Third tier: two women, 19 men

Overall there are 10 women and 39 men in senior positions, meaning that 20 per cent are women. This is up from 12 per cent in 2017, driven increase in the number of women in top tier roles.

DLR Group told Dezeen that its website is designed to demonstrate the full range of services it provides in order to attract talent, and said that its true senior team is 36 per cent women.

www.dlrgroup.com/firm-2/leadership/?ref=menulist

---

DSP Design Associates

India

Top tier: no women, three men

Second tier: one woman, seven men

Third tier: three women, six men

Overall there are four women and 16 men in senior positions, meaning that 20 per cent are women. This is up from 15 per cent in 2017 when figures for the third tier were not recorded.

dspdesign.co/about-us.php

---

DWP

Australia

Top tier: no women, three men

Second tier: one woman, three men

Third tier: 19 women, 19 men

Overall there are 20 women and 25 men in senior positions, meaning that 44 per cent are women. DWP was not in the 2017 survey.

dwp.com/profile/our-people-design-leaders

---

EHAF Consulting Engineers

UAE

No information about EHAF Consulting Engineers' senior staff was available online and it did not respond to our request for the information. This was also the case in 2017.

www.ehaf.com/

---

EPR Architects

UK

Top tier: no women, five men

Second tier: one woman, 11 men

Third tier: 19 women, 32 men

Overall there are 20 women and 48 men in senior positions, meaning that 29 per cent are women. This is up from 24 per cent in 2017.

www.epr.co.uk/people/

---

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

UK

Top tier: seven women, 19 men

Second tier: 11 women, 30 men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are 18 women and 49 men in senior positions, meaning that 27 per cent are women. This is up from 21 per cent in 2017.

fcbstudios.com/about/people

---

Fentress Architects

US

Top tier: one woman, three men

Second tier: five women, eight men

Third tier: no women, one man

Overall there are six women and 12 men in senior positions, meaning that 33 per cent are women. Fentress Architects was not in the 2017 survey.

fentressarchitects.com/people

---

Foster + Partners

UK

Top tier: 13 women, 48 men

Second tier: 25 women, 90 men

Third tier: 176 women, 309 men

Overall there are 214 women and 447 men in senior positions, meaning that 32 per cent are women. This is up from just three per cent in 2017 when the survey captured 29 people, among whom there was only one woman.

Foster + Partners' website only lists the names of people in the third tier and not pictures, but it confirmed the gender breakdown to Dezeen.

www.fosterandpartners.com/studio/people/senior-partners/

---

Gensler

US

Top tier: one woman, one man

Second tier: six women, six men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are seven women and seven men in senior positions, meaning that 50 per cent are women. This is up from 43 per cent in 2017 and makes Gensler one of only five companies in the top 100 where at least half the management staff listed on its website are women.

It is also the world's largest architecture firm according to the WA100 list.

www.gensler.com/people

---

GF & Partners

Philippines

Top tier: one woman, no men

Second tier: three women, three men

Third tier: no women, one man

Overall there are four women and four men in senior positions, meaning that 50 per cent are women and making GF & Partners one of only five companies in the top 100 where at least half the management staff listed on its website are women. Notably, its managing partner is a woman.

GF & Partners was not in the 2017 survey.

gfparchitects.com/gf/about/

---

GHDWoodhead

Australia

Top tier: one woman, no men

Second tier: no women, five men

Third tier: three women, seven men

Overall there are four women and 12 men in senior positions, meaning that 25 per cent are women. This is up from 13 per cent in 2017. Notably, GHDWoodhead's national practice leader is a woman.

www.ghdwoodhead.com/who-we-are.html

---

GMP Architekten

Germany

Top tier: no women, six men

Second tier: one woman, 15 men

Third tier: 14 women, 29 men

Overall there are 15 women and 50 men in senior positions, meaning that 23 per cent are women. This is up from six per cent in 2017, driven by information on a wider pool of staff becoming available.

www.gmp.de/en/office/35/management

---

Gulf Consult

Kuwait

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: no women, two men

Third tier: two women, one man

Overall there are two women and four men in senior positions, meaning that 33 per cent are women. Gulf Consult was not in the 2017 survey.

www.gckuwait.com/leadership/

---

Haeahn Architecture

South Korea

Top tier: no women, six men

Second tier: no women, one man

Third tier: no women, two men

Overall there are no women and nine men in senior positions, meaning that zero per cent are women. This was also the case in 2017.

www.haeahn.com/en/about/member.do

---

Hames Sharley

Australia

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: two women, 11 men

Third tier: 11 women, 63 men

Overall there are 13 women and 76 men in senior positions, meaning that 15 per cent are women. This is up from five per cent in 2017 when figures for the third tier were not available.

www.hamessharley.com.au/people

---

HDR

US

Top tier: two women, six men

Second tier: not listed

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are two women and 76 men in senior positions listed, meaning that 25 per cent are women. This is up from 13 per cent in 2017 when there was one less woman.

These figures only cover HDR's board of directors, who are the only staff listed on its website. The firm told Dezeen that across all 579 staff in its top three management tiers, 27 per cent are women.

<https://www.hdrinc.com/about-us/board-directors>

---

Heerim Architects & Planners

South Korea

Top tier: no women, three men

Second tier: no women, 10 men

Third tier: three women, 35 men

Overall there are three women and 48 men in senior positions, meaning that six per cent are women. This is unchanged from 2017.

www.heerim.com/en/about/leadership.php

---

Heinle, Wischer und Partner

Germany

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: one woman, 10 men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there is one woman and 11 men in senior positions, meaning that eight per cent are women. Heinle, Wischer und Partner was not in the 2017 survey.

www.heinlewischer.de/buero/

---

HKS

US

Top tier: two women, five men

Second tier: seven women, five men

Third tier: five women, 17 men

Overall there are 14 women and 27 men in senior positions, meaning that 34 per cent are women. This is up from zero per cent in the 2017 survey when there were no women listed.

www.hksinc.com/people-directory/

---

HOK

US

Top tier: one woman, six men

Second tier: 13 women, 44 men

Third tier: 46 women, 78 men

Overall there are 60 women and 128 men in senior positions, meaning that 32 per cent are women. This is up from 25 per cent in 2017 when a much smaller pool of staff was listed.

www.hok.com/people/

---

HPP Architekten

Germany

Top tier: one woman, five men

Second tier: one woman, nine men

Third tier: four women, 12 men

Overall there are six women and 26 men in senior positions, meaning that 19 per cent are women. This is up from 12 per cent in 2017.

www.hpp.com/en/who-we-are/team/

---

Hyphen

UK

Top tier: one woman, two men

Second tier: two women, eight men

Third tier: nine women, eight men

Overall there are 12 women and 18 men in senior positions, meaning that 40 per cent are women. Hyphen was not in the 2017 survey.

<https://hyphen.archi/our-people/>

---

IBI Group

Canada

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: no women, one man

Third tier: five women, 20 men

Overall there are five women and 23 men in senior positions, meaning that 18 per cent are women. This is up from 14 per cent in 2017.

www.ibigroup.com/our-people/

---

Idom

Spain

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: no women, two men

Third tier: one woman, 13 men

Overall there is one woman and 17 men in senior positions, meaning that six per cent are women. This is up from zero per cent in the 2017 survey when there were no women listed.

www.idom.com/en/about/

---

IttenBrechbühl

Switzerland

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: one woman, two men

Third tier: 24 women, 39 men

Overall there are 25 women and 42 men in senior positions, meaning that 37 per cent are women. This is up from nine per cent in the 2017 survey when third-tier figures were not recorded.

www.ittenbrechbuehl.ch/en/company/team/

---

Jaspers-Eyers Architects

Belgium

Top tier: two women, six men

Second tier: six women, five men

Third tier: eight women, 23 men

Overall there are 16 women and 34 men in senior positions, meaning that 32 per cent are women. These figures are not available on the Jaspers-Eyers Architects website but were provided directly to Dezeen.

In the 2017 survey only the two founders, both men, were counted.

www.jaspers-eyers.be/

---

KEO International Consultants

Kuwait

Top tier: one woman, one man

Second tier: two women, 11 men

Third tier: three women, 16 men

Overall there are six women and 28 men in senior positions, meaning that 18 per cent are women. This is down from 20 per cent in 2017.

www.keoic.com/people

---

Kume Sekkei

Japan

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: no women, six men

Third tier: no women, 13 men

Overall there are no women and 20 men in senior positions, meaning that zero per cent are women. In the 2017 survey, only the CEO, who is a man, was counted.

www.kumesekkei.co.jp/en/company/officer.html

---

Kunwon

South Korea

Top tier: no women, three men

Second tier: one woman, nine men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there is one woman and 12 men in senior positions, meaning that eight per cent are women. This is down slightly from nine per cent in 2017.

www.kunwon.com/en/abou/abou3.php

---

Lead8

China

Top tier: one woman, four men

Second tier: not listed

Third tier: not listed

Overall there is one woman and four men in senior positions, meaning that 20 per cent are women. Lead8 was not in the 2017 survey.

www.lead8.com/people

---

Leigh & Orange

China

Top tier: three women, three men

Second tier: one woman, nine men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are four women and 12 men in senior positions, meaning that 25 per cent are women. Leigh & Orange was not in the 2017 survey.

<https://www.leighorange.com/about/our-people/>

---

Lemay

Canada

Top tier: two women, 11 men

Second tier: 23 women, 37 men

Third tier: 14 women, 11 men

Overall there are 39 women and 59 men in senior positions, meaning that 40 per cent are women. Lemay was not in the 2017 survey.

lemay.com/who-we-are/

---

Leo A Daly

US

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: eight women, 21 men

Third tier: 12 women, 25 men

Overall there are 20 women and 48 men in senior positions, meaning that 29 per cent are women. This is up from zero per cent in 2017, when no women were counted among 18 senior staff.

leoadaly.com/about-us/people/

---

Link Arkitektur

Norway

Top tier: four women, two men

Second tier: eight women, six men

Third tier: seven women, 18 men

Overall there are 19 women and 26 men in senior positions, meaning that 42 per cent are women. This is up slightly from 40 per cent in 2017.

linkarkitektur.com/en/key-people

---

LWK + Partners

China

Top tier: zero women, 12 men

Second tier: two women, 25 men

Third tier: nine women, 12 men

Overall there are 11 women and 49 men in senior positions, meaning that 18 per cent are women. LWK + Partners was not in the 2017 survey.

www.lwkp.com/people/

---

Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei

Japan

Top tier: zero women, one man

Second tier: zero women, 10 men

Third tier: zero women, eight men

Overall there are zero women and 19 men in senior positions, meaning that zero per cent are women. This was also the case in 2017 when six senior staff were counted.

www.mj-sekkei.com/en/about/officer.html

---

Morph

Spain

The information for this firm was not available on its website and it did not respond to our request for the figures. Morph was not in the 2017 survey.

morphestudio.es

---

Morphogenesis

India

Top tier: one woman, one man

Second tier: not listed

Third tier: not listed

Morphogenesis' website does not list the roles of staff on its "People" page, so we have only included information about its two founders, one of whom is a woman and one of whom is a man. This was also the case in 2017.

However, of the 89 staff shown on the website, 37 are women, or 42 per cent.

www.morphogenesis.org/about-us/our-people/

---

National Engineering Bureau

UAE

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: no women, three men

Third tier: one woman, seven men

Overall there is one woman and 11 men in senior positions, meaning that eight per cent are women. This is up from zero per cent in 2017 when no women were counted among three top staff.

www.neb.ae/people/

---

NBBJ

US

Top tier: five women, 14 men

Second tier: 31 women, 57 men

Third tier: 90 women, 134 men

Overall there are 126 women and 205 men in senior positions, meaning that 38 per cent are women. This is up from 18 per cent in 2017 when a significantly smaller number of people were counted.

The 2022 figures were provided directly by NBBJ, which said its website is not up to date.

<http://www.nbbj.com/people/>

---

Nihon Sekkei

Japan

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: no women, eight men

Third tier: no women, 16 men

Overall there are no women and 26 men in senior positions, meaning that zero per cent are women. This is unchanged from 2017 when 32 senior staff were counted.

nihonsekkei.co.jp/corporate/officer/?lang=en

---

Nikken Sekkei

Japan

Top tier: no women, nine men

Second tier: two women, 47 men

Third tier: 17 women, 238 men

Overall there are 19 women and 313 men in senior positions, meaning that six per cent are women. This is up from zero per cent in 2017 when no women were counted among 29 senior staff.

The figures for the third tier were provided directly by Nikken Sekkei. Without taking these into account, the proportion of women listed would be three per cent.

www.nikken.co.jp/en/about/people/index.html

---

P &T Group

China

Top tier: eight women, 33 men

Second tier: not listed

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are eight women and 33 men in senior positions, meaning that 20 per cent are women. This is up slightly from 18 per cent in 2017.

web.p-t-group.com/en/about/people.php

---

Page

US

Top tier: one woman, 11 men

Second tier: 23 women, 50 men

Third tier: 28 women, 58 men

Overall there are 52 women and 119 men in senior positions, meaning that 30 per cent are women. This is up from 24 per cent in 2017.

www.pagethink.com/culture/

---

PBK

US

Top tier: no women, seven men

Second tier: two women, 18 men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are two women and 25 men in senior positions, meaning that seven per cent are women. This is down from 14 per cent in 2017.

The "Corporate Leadership" section of PBK's website includes a PR officer, who is a woman, among seven men who all appear to have much more senior roles, such as president and co-CEO. We chose not to include the PR officer. PBK did not respond to our request for comment about this.

pbk.com/pbk-people/

---

Perkins Eastman

US

Top tier: one woman, eight men

Second tier: 31 women, 87 men

Third tier: 38 women, 35 men

Overall there are 70 women and 130 men in senior positions, meaning that 35 per cent are women. This is up from 27 per cent in 2017.

www.perkinseastman.com/leadership

---

PM Group

Ireland

Top tier: one woman, two men

Second tier: three women, seven men

Third tier: two women, 12 men

Overall there are six women and 21 men in senior positions, meaning that 22 per cent are women. PM Group was not in the 2017 survey.

www.pmgroup-global.com/about-us/leadership/

---

Progetto CMR

Italy

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: one woman, no men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there is one woman and two men in senior positions, meaning that 33 per cent are women. This is unchanged from 2017.

www.progettocmr.com/en/about

---

PRP

UK

Top tier: two women, eight men

Second tier: five women, 27 men

Third tier: 14 women, 12 men

Overall there are 21 women and 47 men in senior positions, meaning that 31 per cent are women. PRP was not in the 2017 survey.

www.prp-co.uk/about/people/

---

Purcell

UK

Top tier: one woman, one man

Second tier: seven women, 11 men

Third tier: 10 women, 18 men

Overall there are 18 women and 30 men in senior positions, meaning that 38 per cent are women. This is up from 32 per cent in 2017.

www.purcelluk.com/people

---

Richez Associés

France

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: nine women, seven men

Third tier: 34 women, 46 men

Overall there are 43 women and 55 men in senior positions, meaning that 44 per cent are women. Richez Associés was not in the 2017 survey.

www.richezassocies.com/fr/equipe

---

Ronald Lu & Partners

China

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: no women, two men

Third tier: no women, 10 men

Overall there are no women and 13 men among the senior staff listed on the Ronald Lu & Partners website, meaning that zero per cent are women. This is down from six per cent in 2017 when there was one woman and 16 men.

Ronald Lu & Partners told Dezeen it does have two women at director level and six women at associate director level across its staff of 600 people, with more women in senior associate and associate roles.

www.rlphk.com/eng/about-us/people/4/

---

RSP

Singapore

Top tier: two women, six men

Second tier: one woman, five men

Third tier: nine women, 13 men

Overall there are 12 women and 24 men in senior positions, meaning that 33 per cent are women. RSP was not in the 2017 survey.

rsp.sg/leaders/

---

Saota

South Africa

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: two women, four men

Third tier: six women, 15 men

Overall there are eight women and 20 men in senior positions, meaning that 29 per cent are women. Saota was not in the 2017 survey.

www.saota.com/about/people/

---

Scott Brownrigg

UK

Top tier: one woman, four men

Second tier: six women, 16 men

Third tier: 24 women, 34 men

Overall there are 31 women and 54 men in senior positions, meaning that 36 per cent are women. This is up from 25 per cent in 2017 with an increase in the number of women at all tiers.

www.scottbrownrigg.com/company/people/

---

Sheppard Robson

UK

Top tier: five women, 19 men

Second tier: 10 women, 12 men

Third tier: 16 women, 23 men

Overall there are 31 women and 54 men in senior positions, meaning that 36 per cent are women. This is up from 12 per cent in 2017 when only information for the top tier was available.

www.sheppardrobson.com/practice/people

---

Showa Sekkei

Japan

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: no women, one man

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are no women and three men in senior positions, meaning that zero per cent are women. This was also the case in 2017 when four men and no women were counted.

www.showa-sekkei.co.jp/en/about/profile.html

---

Sikka Associates

India

Information about senior staff at Sikka Associates was not available on its website in either 2017 or 2022. The only method of contacting the company displayed on its website was an online form, which did not work after multiple tries.

<http://saaindia.net/>

---

SmithGroup

US

Top tier: no women, three men

Second tier: three women, three men

Third tier: 28 women, 43 men

Overall there are 31 women and 49 men in senior positions, meaning that 39 per cent are women. This is up from 25 per cent in 2017 when information on the third tier was not available.

In 2017, SmithGroup told Dezeen it had developed a six-point plan to increase the proportion of women in its leadership positions. Asked if it felt that this plan has been successful, a spokesperson for the firm said: "We definitely feel like this has been a success, but it’s also the kind of work that is never truly done – it’s all about evolving culture. Over the past two years, we have focused on racial equity as much as gender equity, so this continues to be a priority topic for the firm."

www.smithgroup.com/our-firm/people

---

SSH

Bahrain

Top tier: no women, four men

Second tier: two women, 15 men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are two women and 19 men in senior positions, meaning that 10 per cent are women. SSH was not in the 2017 survey.

www.sshic.com/people/

---

Stantec

Canada

Top tier: three women, five men

Second tier: not listed

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are three women and 5 men in senior positions, meaning that 38 per cent are women. This is up from zero per cent in 2017 when there were no women counted among 15 senior staff. Figures for 2022 only show the firm's corporate leadership team.

www.stantec.com/en/about/corporate-leadership

---

Stride Treglown

UK

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: three women, 10 men

Third tier: 34 women, 97 men

Overall there are 37 women and 109 men in senior positions, meaning that 25 per cent are women. Stride Treglown was not in the 2017 survey.

stridetreglown.com/people/

---

Surbana Jurong

Singapore

Top tier: no women, four men

Second tier: three women, five men

Third tier: one woman, 13 men

Overall there are four women and 22 men in senior positions, meaning that 15 per cent are women. Surbana Jurong was not in the 2017 survey.

surbanajurong.com/our-management-team

---

Sweco

Sweden

Top tier: four women, one man

Second tier: seven women, eight men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are 11 women and nine men in senior positions, meaning that 55 per cent are women. This information was provided directly to Dezeen and is not shown on the company's website. Figures for Sweco were not available in 2017.

www.sweco.co.uk

---

Tianhua

China

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: two women, 11 men

Third tier: three women, 18 men

Overall there are five women and 31 men in senior positions, meaning that 14 per cent are women. Tianhua was not in the 2017 survey.

www.thape.com/leadership

---

Valode & Pistre

France

Top tier: no women, two men

Second tier: two women, two men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there are two women and four men in senior positions, meaning that 33 per cent are women. This is unchanged from 2017.

www.v-p.com/en/dvalode-and-jpistre

---

Visionarch

Philippines

Information about senior staff at this company was not available on its website and it did not respond to a request for the figures. Visionarch was not in the 2017 survey.

www.visionarch-architects.com/

---

White Arkitekter

Sweden

Top tier: nine women, 10 men

Second tier: 11 women, 10 men

Third tier: 33 women, 16 men

Overall there are 53 women and 36 men in senior positions, meaning that 60 per cent are women. This is up from 58 per cent in 2017.

White Arkitektur has the highest proportion of women in its senior staff of all the companies in this list. It was also the only firm with more women than men in 2017.

whitearkitekter.com/contact-us/

---

Wilmotte & Associés

France

Top tier: one woman, one man

Second tier: no women, three men

Third tier: not listed

Overall there is one woman and four men in senior positions, meaning that 20 per cent are women. This is unchanged from 2017.

www.wilmotte.com/en/agency/teams

---

Wong Tung & Partners

China

Top tier: no women, one man

Second tier: no women, one man

Third tier: three women, six men

Overall there are three women and eight men in senior positions, meaning that 27 per cent are women. This is up from 14 per cent in 2017 driven by an increase in the number of women at the third tier.

www.wongtung.com/en/our-people/

---

Zaha Hadid Architects

UK

Top tier: no women, five men

Second tier: five women, 11 men

Third tier: 21 women, 42 men

Overall there are 26 women and 58 men in senior positions, meaning that 31 per cent are women. Zaha Hadid Architects was not in the 2017 survey.

www.zaha-hadid.com/people/

---

ZGF Architects

US

The layout of ZGF Architects' website makes it difficult to work out the hierarchy of senior staff listed and it did not respond to a request for a breakdown.

Overall, there are 46 women and 72 men in senior positions, meaning that 39 per cent are women. This is up from 33 per cent in 2017.

www.zgf.com/leadership/

---

Zhubo Design

China

Information about senior staff at this company was not available on its website and it did not respond to a request for the figures. Zhubo Design was not in the 2017 survey.

www.zhubo.com/

The post Women make up just one in five top positions at biggest architecture firms despite "huge jump" appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #architecture #news #womeninarchitectureanddesign #diversity #internationalwomensday

Part W creating map "to draw attention to built projects by women" in London

To coincide with International Women's Day architecture collective Part W has launched a campaign to populate a map titled Women's Work: London.

Part W will be crowdsourcing suggestions to add to Women's Work: London over the next month, with the physical map set to be released later this year.

The group launched the map project to help draw attention to the numerous buildings designed and created by women in the city.

Top: Part W is mapping projects in London created by women. Above: Dawson's Heights, designed by Kate Macintosh, will be included

"For too long the work of women in design has been undervalued and the contribution of women has not been accounted for in mapping studies, written texts and in studies that promote role model examples of who designs our cities," said Part W founder Zoë Berman.

"We aim to draw attention to built projects by women that have not gained the recognition they deserve," she told Dezeen.

The project will build on a map highlighting 20 buildings in London created by women, which was made for the How We Live Now: Reimagining Spaces with Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative exhibition at the Barbican last year.

Maryland House by Remi Connolly-Taylor will also be included

Part W hopes that the expanded map will be the first of many created to highlight women-led projects across the UK.

"This map continues work we've already begun recording built projects by diverse women in London – our aspiration is to achieve funding and support from others that allow Part W to expand this work UK-wide and beyond," explained Berman.

[

Read:

Twenty-two women architects and designers you should know

](https://www.dezeen.com/2021/03/08/international-womens-day-architects-designers/)

The map was designed to encourage individuals, school groups and higher education groups to explore the city and discuss its architecture.

"The final crowdsourced map will be an opportunity to get outside, go and visit these spaces in person and learn more about how women have shaped the city around us," said Part W chair Alice Brownfield.

"The map will highlight lesser-known stories of women's significant contribution to the city around us, and spark conversations about who is (and is not) involved, represented and recognised in the production of our built environment."

Part W was founded by Berman of London-based Studio Berman in 2019 when it crowdsourced suggestions to create an all-female alternative to the RIBA Royal Gold Medal winners list.

The post Part W creating map "to draw attention to built projects by women" in London appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #architecture #news #london #uk #england #maps #womeninarchitectureanddesign #internationalwomensday #partw

Farshid Moussavi awarded 2022 Jane Drew Prize for women in architecture

British-Iranian architect Farshid Moussavi has been named the winner of this year's Jane Drew Prize for elevating the profile of women in architecture.

Moussavi, who is also an educator and writer, founded Farshid Moussavi Architecture in 2011 and previously headed up Foreign Office Architects with Alejandro Zaera-Polo.

The Jane Drew prize is awarded annually by The Architectural Review and Architects' Journal as part of its W awards series, previously known as the Women in Architecture awards.

Moussavi joins Denise Scott Brown, Kate Macintosh and Yasmeen Lari on the illustrious list of architects to have won the prize, which is named after modernist pioneer Jane Drew.

Top image: Farshid Moussavi has won the Jane Drew Prize 2022. Above: she is the architect behind the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. Photo is by Dean Kaufman

"It is a very great honour for me to receive the Jane Drew Prize, which has done so much to draw attention to the achievements of women in the field of architecture," Moussavi told the event organisers.

"There are relatively few role models for women in architectural practice and I believe that this allows them freedom to be more creative in responding to the urgent challenges facing architects today, whether these challenges are finding new and more generous uses for buildings, as well as new languages in which to engage a larger and more diverse public, or addressing climate change to protect future generations."

[

Read:

Farshid Moussavi to design first Ismaili Center in the USA

](https://www.dezeen.com/2019/02/12/ismaili-center-houston-texas-farshid-moussavi/)

Moussavi was born in 1965. She studied to become an architect at Harvard's Graduate School of Design (GSD), University College London and University of Dundee.

Among her key projects is the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, Victoria Beckham's flagship store in London, and Jardins de la Lironde in Montpellier.

She is currently also designing the first Ismaili Center in the USA in collaboration with Thomas Woltz Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, Hanif Kara and Paul Westlake.

Moussavi curated the Royal Academy's Summer Show in 2017 and was awarded an OBE in 2018 for her services to architecture.

While practising as an architect, she teaches at Harvard's GSD and is a board member of New Architecture Writers – a free course in London for aspiring architecture critics from the BAME community.

Coinciding with the Jane Drew Prize, British-Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum has been named by the W awards as the recipient of its Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for 2022.

The award, named after American architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable, honours women contributing to the wider architectural industry. Hatoum was selected in recognition of her explorations of gender through the lens of the domestic world.

[

Read:

Spanish collective Lacol wins Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture

](https://www.dezeen.com/2021/03/16/spanish-collective-lacol-moira-gemmill-prize-w-awards/)

Moussavi and Hatoum will both speak at the W Lunch in London on 3 May, where the winners of two other awards – the Moira Gemmill Prize and MJ Long Prize – will be announced.

The Moira Gemmill Prize is awarded to emerging women architects, while the MJ Long prize recognises excellence in practice. Last year, these were given to the female partners of Barcelona collective Lacol and Peter Barber Architects' associate director Alice Brownfield respectively.

The portrait of Farshid Moussavi is copyright Dezeen.

The post Farshid Moussavi awarded 2022 Jane Drew Prize for women in architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #architecture #news #farshidmoussavi #womeninarchitectureanddesign #janedrewprize

Ten lesser-known designs by women from the past century

Architect Jane Hall's Woman Made book celebrates the work of over 200 women designers from the past century. The author picks 10 items designed by lesser-known women from the book.

Illustrated with images of objects made by female designers, including Zaha Hadid and Ray Eames, Hall's book charts 100 years of work using a simple A-Z structure that focuses on one product per designer.

The book serves as an encyclopedia of household objects made by women. According to Hall, the book aims "trace how women's roles have changed throughout the 20th and 21st century".

Woman Made: Great Women Designers includes designers from over 50 countries around the world and with products made by both household names and lesser-known women.

"I wanted it to be as far-reaching as possible in a way that a lot of other books of the same ilk don't really offer or don't really attempt to do," Hall told Dezeen.

"Often these narratives can end up being a little bit one-sided, or just creating a well-known history of women that already exists, so hopefully there are quite a few surprises in this book," said the designer.

Hall is co-founder of Turner Prize-winning architecture studio Assemble. Below, she chooses 10 projects by women designers from her book, most of whom she believes are relatively unknown.

---

Photo by Soft Geometry

Elio light, 2020, by Utharaa Zacharias

"Originally from Kochi in southern India, co-founder of Soft Geometry, Utharaa Zacharias moved to New Delhi to study product design at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, where she met co-founder, Palaash Chaudhary.

"Describing New Delhi as 'ripe with inspiration, materials, tools, and ingenuity', Zacharias and Chaudhary went on to study furniture design at the Savannah College of Art and Design in the US. The Elio Light was inspired by a photo series capturing the interplay between light and transparency on glass, water, skin, and even dust."

---

Photo by hedwig-bollhagen.de

Watering can, 1955, by Hedwig Bollhagen

"At 20 years old while still a student at a technical college, Hedwig Bollhagen became the supervisor of an entire department of 'paint girls' in a stoneware ceramics factory near Berlin.

"Bollhagen created simple, affordable ceramics and in 1934 became the artistic director of a ceramic workshop previously owned by Bauhaus ceramicist Margarete Heymann-Loebenstein.

"The ceramic 766 Watering Can is notable for its absence of a handle, instead featuring two ergonomic indentations. Despite her influential legacy, Bollhagen herself described her work as 'just pots'."

---

Photo by Archivo Privato Gegia Bronzini

Striped fabric, 1964, by Gegia Bronzini

"Gegia Bronzini, fascinated by the work of the female farmers in Marocco, Venice, was inspired to purchase a loom and went on to found a small weaving school there.

"She began experimenting with colour and texture, incorporating unusual materials such as broom bristles and corn husks into natural silk and linen yarns.

"The heavy silk seen here features bands of horizontal stripes in rich hues. Described in 2020 by Domus magazine as a "textile diva," Bronzini also designed furniture for notable Italian designers including Ico and Luisa Parisi."

---

Photo by Modest Furniture / Arne Jennard

Karelia easy chair, 1966, by Liisi Beckman

"Finnish designer Liisi Beckmann is somewhat of a mystery. Although she moved to Milan in 1957 and established a successful career designing for Italian design firms, her designs remain mostly invisible, with the exception of the Karelia easy chair designed for Zanotta in 1966.

"Its undulating form of expanded polyurethane foam covered in vinyl is inspired by the coves of Karelia in Finland where Beckmann grew up. Beckmann's designs from this period are now held in the Helsinki Design Museum."

---

Photo by Design by Leva Kaleja

Milo chair, 2018, by Marie Burgos

"Marie Burgos's furniture designs and product line are inspired by her appreciation of mid-century design and the aesthetics of both the natural landscape and built environment of the Caribbean island of Martinique, her ancestral home.

"A certified master in feng shui, Burgos pairs opposites, such as clean lines with curves, hard textures with soft, to achieve a sense of balance. The Milo Chair, for example, combines handcrafted wood legs with raspberry-hued velvet upholstery; its plush, curvy form is suggestive of a hug."

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Photo by Kartell US

Componibili modular storage system,1967, by Anna Castelli Ferrieri

"Anna Castelli Ferrieri was heavily influenced by European architecture circles; she helped to organise the Congrès Internationale d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) 1949 meeting and edited the architectural and product design magazine Casabella.

"She began working for the Italian postwar Neo-Rationalist Franco Albini, whom she called her 'maestro', and his partner, Franca Helg.

"She was the first woman to graduate in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano and founded the plastic furniture fabrication company Kartell. Many of her designs are still in production, including the popular Componibili Modular Storage System."

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Photo by Eliseu Cavalcante

Dune collection, 2017, by Lisa Ertel

"The Dune collection, described by designer Lisa Ertel as a family of archaic seating, is made from solid spruce wood, sandblasted to create a textured surface throwing the wood's grain into relief. This transforms the annual rings of a tree that reveal its age into a tactile surface.

"The German-born designer based the forms of Dune on traditional German Ruhsteine, stone benches placed on the side of roads where historically travellers would stop to rest and was designed while Ertel was still a student of product design at the State College of Design Center for Art and Media."

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Photo by Hannah Whitaker

Kenny dining table, 2018, by Egg Collective

"Egg Collective began through informal weekly dinner meetings between its three founders, Stephanie Beamer, Crystal Ellis, and Hillary Petrie. The trio chose the name Egg Collective to symbolise the group's creative design incubation while also referencing a naturally occurring sculptural form.

"All of their woodwork is fabricated, finished, and assembled in-house at their base in New York.

"Core designs like the Kenny Dining Table establish confident forms that are then iterated using a variety of materials, such as the walnut top and base seen here. The group frequently promotes the work of women in the industry, as organisers of the exhibition Designing Women for the non-profit arts organization NYCxDESIGN."

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Photo by Blend Interiors

Counter stool, c 1970s, by Cleo Baldon

"Cleo Baldon was already the owner of a successful landscape design business, Galper-Baldon Associates, before she founded a sister company, Terra, to manufacture furniture to accompany some of the 3,000 swimming pools she herself designed across Southern California.

"Baldon drew on the ubiquitous Spanish colonial motifs of Los Angeles, combining wrought natural wood and leather upholstery, as seen in these typical Counter Stools."

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Photo by George Nakashima Woodworkers

Concordia chair, 2003, by Mira Nakashima

"Mira Nakashima's pieces celebrate the knots and idiosyncrasies found in timber, reflecting the dictum of her father, George Nakashima, that there is a perfect and singular piece of wood for each design. Nakashima inherited her father's woodworking studio in 1990 after studying architecture in Tokyo.

"Her approach has introduced more angles and curves to the work of Nakashima Studios, which continues to be based on the craft-based traditions of her father with the richness and texture of wood still very much in evidence. The walnut Concordia Chair was created for a group of local chamber musicians."

The images are courtesy of Phaidon.

The post Ten lesser-known designs by women from the past century appeared first on Dezeen.

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