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Dear Janine,
VOICES OF PLURALITY
FLASH MOB IN NYC
AIA Conference on Architecture 2018
When: Friday, June 22 @ 12:30 PM
Where: Outdoor Plaza, Javits Convention Center
***Assemble outside along 11th Ave between 35th St and 36th St.
***Bring a fan to show solidarity and because it’s hot.
...with A.L. Hu, Julia Murphy, AIA, Caroline James, Pascale Sablan, AIA, Rosa Sheng, FAIA, Roberta Washington, FAIA, Beverly Willis, FAIA
CONTACT:
Caroline James
617-595-0974
[log in to unmask]
Design professionals of diverse identities and backgrounds will be assembling
TOMORROW in a spontaneous
FLASH MOB on occasion of the AIA National Conference 2018 in NYC. This opportunity is at the intersection of over 9,000 architects attending from around the United States, in addition
to international attendees.
The
Voices of Plurality FLASH MOB is a collective call to action to stand up and denounce
any forms of discrimination in the fields of Architecture. "Voices of Plurality"
refers to a large umbrella of practitioners dedicated to the pursuit of
equitable practice, equality, recognition, fairness and inclusion in Architecture and related disciplines.
Participants will hold fans to represent a diversity in creativity and expression of many individuals.
This is the second FLASH MOB staged in Architecture. The first one happened in May 2018 on occasion of the Venice Biennale of Architecture
2018. Flash Mobs in Architecture are in the works in Europe and South America.
Architecture is one of many professions standing up for fairness, justness and equity. In the film industry, 82 women
walked the red carpet arm-in-arm at Cannes during the Movie Industry Flash Mob to protest the lack of gender equality and equity. Medicine, Law, Media and Academia are all raising in awareness to the
clarion call for a more equitable and diverse profession that recognizes the talents of all its members.
The goal of the collective action will unite individuals from different walks of life to meet, organize and take action to move forward
our profession in a fair, equitable, inclusive manner that is respectful towards all its constituents.
SPEAKER BIOS:
A.L. Hu is a queer, non-binary person
of color working as an architectural designer at Solomonoff Architecture Studio in New York City. Their activism is at the intersection of architectural labor and gender equity, and manifests in written and visual media forms. They are a member of as well
as a conduit connecting many organizations, including The Architecture Lobby, QSPACE, ArchiteXX, and the AIA. They have a Master of Architecture from Columbia University GSAPP, as well as a B.A. Architecture and minor in Sustainable Design from UC Berkeley.
Caroline James is a Boston-based architectural designer, community organizer and advocate working on a range
of residential and institutional projects. While a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, she launched with Arielle Assouline-Lichten the Petition for Recognition of Denise Scott Brown to the Pritzker Architecture Prize and resuscitated GSD Women
in Design, which is now a thriving student group of over 100 students. Caroline is building global alliances through Voices of Women/VOW Architects, working in tandem with other groups including
RebelArchitette in Italy, and Parity Group at ETH Zurich. She recently orchestrated the successful Voices of Women FLASH MOB at the 2018 Venice Biennale of Architecture.
Julia Murphy, AIA, is Director at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in New York City. She re-started SOM’s
Women’s Initiative in 2010 when she and her colleagues realized the firm didn’t have any women partners. Murphy and her colleagues took the reins and helped the firm confront unconscious bias and make structural changes. They focused in particular on professional
development, including preparing young hires for accreditation exams. After its first year, 33 percent more women became licensed at SOM than in the previous year.
Pascale Sablan, AIA, is an architect and mentor, and the 315th living black female architect to have received licensure in the United States. She is a Senior Associate S9 Architecture.
She is recipient of the 2018 AIA Young Architects Award Recipient, AIANY's emerging Professional Award in 2014, and in 2015 was National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA)'s Member of the Year. She was 2016 & 2017 President of the New York Coalition
of Black Architects. Through NOMA, Sablan has developed programs to educate and empower minority architects. Her chapter’s Project Pipeline introduces elementary school students to architecture by sending design professionals to New York City schools, and
was curator of the AIANY Center for Architecture, and United Nations Exhibit “Say It Loud: Distinguished Black Designers of NYCOBA|NOMA.” In keeping with her beliefs that representation matters, Pascale has given lectures at Universities and Colleges all over
the US including Columbia University, Georgia Technical College, Tuskegee University, Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design at The New School, Madison Area Technical College and California Polytechnic State University.
Rosa Sheng, FAIA, is a Principal at SmithGroupJJR and Director of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion. She is AIASF
President 2018 and Founding Chair of Equity by Design. As a licensed architect with 24 years of experience in architecture and design, Rosa has led a variety of award-winning and internationally acclaimed projects. Rosa’s thought leadership and activism has
been recognized for catalyzing a national movement for equitable practice in Architecture catalyzed by three pivotal surveys and public speaking outreach nationally and abroad. National press coverage of her critical work with Equity by Design include Architect
Magazine, Architectural Record, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, TEDxPhiladelphia and KQED/NPR.
Roberta Washington, FAIA, is founding principal of Roberta Washington Architects, founded in 1983 in Harlem.
She worked as a health facility planner/designer and ran a design studio in Maputo, Mozambique prior to starting her own firm. In her own firm, Roberta Washington has designed and acted as project director for dozens of new and renovated housing projects,
schools, and health facilities. She was President of the National Organization of Minority Architects and past chairperson of the New York State Board of Architecture. For 6 years she served as Housing Committee chairperson and co-chair of the Land-Use Committee
for Central Harlem’s Community Planning Board. She was 2009 President of the AIANY’s Center for Architecture Foundation and currently sits on the Board. In 2006, Roberta Washington was elevated to the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows.
Beverly Willis, FAIA, is a fearless and irreplaceable advocate for the contribution of women to the built
environment. She founded the nonprofit Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF) in 2002, to push the boundaries of the “male dominated, macho culture of the building industry” and support the rise of female executives in the world of architecture. In
10 years, BWAF has grown from providing a grant program for individuals and national organizations doing research to delivering numerous core programs about women in architecture, including education, research and outreach. BWAF has also collaborated on projects
with major exhibitors, including the Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the National Building Museum. Willis is the winner of numerous design and leadership awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from Professional Women in Construction
in 2011 and Top Women in Real Estate from NY Residential Magazine in 2010. Willis is also a founding trustee of the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. and a leader of the BWAF Industry Leaders Roundtable, a group of the world’s largest engineering
and architecture firms.
Hope to see you there!
Yours truly,
Cynthia Phifer Kracauer, AIA
Executive Director
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