Designing Women
Frank Lloyd Wright was known for flexing his male ego by nailing down the furniture in his clients' projects. Is it any wonder more women architects are branching out on their own?
On a recent evening at the Brookline restaurant The Fireplace, seven local architects and two interior designers, all women, jammed themselves around a table to eat and drink and talk. There was much to discuss, including Julia Morgan, the trailblazing architect who designed Hearst Castle in the early 20th century; the rigors of "archi-torture school"; and the differences between men and women in the architectural world.
On this last point, everyone was careful not to overgeneralize - the sour aroma of the Larry Summers affair had lately hovered above such conversations - but the women did have stories. Some cited former male bosses prone to exaggeration and aggressiveness, traits they try to avoid now that they run their own companies. Nearly every one of the nine women attending this networking group was self-employed, chiefly in residential architecture.
The American Institute of Architects found in 2003 (its most recent analysis) that the proportion of partners or principals in firms who were women nearly doubled in recent years, from 11.2 percent in 1999 to 20.7 percent in 2002. According to Kermit Baker, chief economist for the institute, the numbers don't tell the whole story: "A lot of this growth was at smaller firms, so our sense is that much of this growth was due to downsizing over this period at larger firms - this period covered the national economic recession - where some of the downsized architects established their own firms."
These women are helping to redefine a field shaped, some said, by aggressive male ego. Wendy Polins, whose WDP Design operates out of Swampscott, told the women at the table: "Frank Lloyd Wright used to nail down the furniture so his clients couldn't move it." The women here said they are considerably more responsive. Chris Chu of Newton said she provides "counseling" to her residential clients - "hand-holding that helps them see each step of the way." Many of these women said they succeed with residential work because they understand the home in a way that most men don't. Said Polins: "I've had so many clients say to me, 'I'm so glad that you're a woman.'"
Richard Fitzgerald, executive director of the Boston Society of Architects, who didn't attend the restaurant meeting, says: "There is no doubt that women's impact on a traditionally male profession such as architecture has been and is immeasurably valuable not only because women are particularly strong in math and science but because diversifying any profession, any human group, is by definition an intellectually and professionally enriching step forward that benefits not only the profession but the communities it serves."
Back at the table, Sharon Jacobson, who co-owns the two-woman Newton firm Jacobson Spear, said her former male bosses tended to rely on hype. That is, in initial meetings, these guys waved their arms and threw out design ideas and radiated a confidence that impressed clients. This observation was seconded by Silvana Sawaya, also of Newton. When she worked for various local architecture offices, male colleagues would get more challenging work, she said, "because they were good about pretending to know more than they actually knew."
"My tendency," said Jacobson, "is to be more honest and say, 'It's really hard to design on the fly.' " Rather than give dramatic though not necessarily realistic ideas in early client meetings, as she's seen men do, she tends toward the cautious and the practical. Sometimes, said Jacobson, "I have to say to myself, 'Sharon, be more male now!'"
Those at the table laughed.
