Yesterday, New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum hosted a series of discussions about why so few female designers have made it into history books, print or digital. Attendees were then encouraged to change that phenomenon by adding Wikipedia entries about women who have made significant contributions in architecture, design, urban planning, and construction.
The event kicked off with a presentation by Arielle Assouline-Lichten and Caroline James, Assoc. AIA, the pair of Harvard Graduate School of Design students that started the grassroots campaign in 2013 to award Denise Scott Brown the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Assouline-Lichten and James discussed their efforts to retroactively gain recognition for the famed architect, who they believe was overlooked for her share of the Pritzker when her husband and business partner Robert Venturi, FAIA, solely received the prize in 1991.
The presentation was followed by a panel discussion on why history has disregarded the contributions of women in American architecture and moderated by Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation professor Mary McLeod and Columbia University senior associate dean of academic affairs and adjunct associate professor of English and comparative literature Victoria Rosner. Panelists included: New Jersey Institute of Technology architectural historian and associate professor of architecture Gabrielle Esperdy; State University of Campinas architecture historian and research collaborator Anat Falbel; Yale University professor of architecture, urbanism, and American studies Dolores Hayden; University at Buffalo, State University of New York architecture interim chair and associate professor Despina Stratigakos; and Roberta Washington Architects principal Roberta Washington, FAIA.
Following the panel, participants edited Wikipedia pages with help from ArchiteXX, an independent, unaffiliated organization supporting women in architecture.
Below, we recap some of the best social media posts from the event. You can track all of yesterday's Wikipedia edits on articles relating to women in architecture by following the Twitter account @guggathonbot.
Homepage image used via a Creative Commons license with Flickr user Jules Antonio.