Women in the Built World Symposium: The Men's Perspective

The third annual Women in the Built World Symposium was held this past February in Chicago, and was better than ever. Among the panels were lectures on terra cotta restoration, roofing best practices, the renovations in the Old Post Office, and panels on advocacy and women in construction. One of the more encouraging panels was The Men's Perspective, a panel discussion among principals and presidents of an architecture firm, an engineering firm, and two construction firms. "But wait," you ask, "I thought this event was Women in the Built World - why do we need to hear from more men?"

Your silence is tacit approval

I just had a little teaching moment with a younger male colleague about shutting down an inappropriate "joke" that came on a call he had with a general contractor about a female design team member.

His position (and I think many men go this route when they aren't taught to do otherwise) was to remain silent. As he put it, "do not engage." What he didn't realize, and I know he's not alone in this, is that his silence is tacit approval of this kind of "joke."

The burden of objecting to sexist or racist or ableist or other derogatory "jokes" often falls to the people in the oppressed group, while the people who can leverage their social privilege remain quiet. I will object all the live-long day when someone makes "jokes" like this in my presence, but I know it has more power when that objection comes from someone who has more privilege to leverage. I might get written off as "oh, she's just PMSing" or "she's hormonal" or "it must be that time of the month" or some other sexist nonsense if I speak up, but my white straight cis male colleague will be taken more seriously.

Men out there: gender equity in the workplace is not the burden of women and non-binary people alone. You need to speak up.

White people out there: racial equity in the workplace is not the burden of black and brown people alone. You need to speak up.

Straight people out there: sexual identity equity in the workplace is not the burden of LGBTQ+ people alone. You need to speak up.

Able-bodied people out there:  ableist equity in the workplace is not the burden of disabled people alone. You need to speak up.

Time to rock that boat. (And while you're at it, rock the vote!) 

Please won't you be my neighbor.

The mass murder at Tree of Life Synagogue this past Saturday is tragic, and infuriating, and crushingly close to home for me - I'm from Pittsburgh, grew up in Squirrel Hill, was active in the Jewish community. Although my family only belonged to that congregation for a short while, my sister's Bat-Mitzvah was at Tree of Life and we have friends and neighbors who attend services there.

As a Pittsburgher I'd like to point out something that may not be common knowledge.

Fred Rogers' house is just down the street from Tree of Life. This mass shooting, this hate-filled act of anti-semitism that took the lives of 11 people and irrevocably changed the lives of countless more, literally took place in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood.

Election Day is almost upon us. Please, please, please vote. Please.

Grenfell Tower: Building to Reap the Whirlwind

image by Chris Barker

With the global economy hurtling toward a greater and more insurmountable chasm between the rich and poor, symptoms of these societal structural inequalities will continue to occur. The deadly and terrible fire in Grenfell Tower is just one more in a chain of tragic disasters that continue to impact the most vulnerable people in disproportionate measure.

Public and affordable housing remains a hotbed of political and social strife, in no small part due to the continual implementation of disastrous policies, lack of oversight and regulation, and straight-out malevolence from the governments and landlords of these properties toward those people these projects are meant to serve. The US has more than a few particularly infamous housing projects, many of which have been vacated or demolished as unsalvageable failures.

By now there has been a great deal of press about the flammable cladding, the single stairwell for a 24 story building (completely legal per British building code and ASTONISHING to this US architect), the misinformation given to residents, the previously-aired fears of a disastrous fire, and the overall heartless deregulation to give financial advantage to landlords and disregard the health, safety, and welfare of tenants.

(And you thought this speech by Rik Mayall on "The New Statesman" was satire.)

Perhaps what is saddest and most infuriating is that this largely-preventable tragedy was not the first of its kind, and won't be the last. Remember the Ghost Ship fire - less than a year ago? This fire, in a building that was not intended to house residents but was home to dozens, killed 36 people in Oakland, California.  And like in Oakland, the survivors in London are without much hope of finding a new place to live within the city. London is suffering from its success - in a booming economy and with increased population growth, affordable housing has been sluggish to keep up, resulting in a severe gap between the median home price and median salary. These are not "market forces" at work - this is the deliberate policy of the government choosing not to invest in this desperately-needed sector. This is in stark relief to the "Billionaire's Row", a street of empty and derelict mansions worth millions of pounds. 

While there has been an outpouring of funds and donations from around the world to help alleviate this situation, this is merely a bandaid on the open wound of unjust housing. What would it mean to the UK (and the US, and the rest of the world) if the government were to adopt a Right to Housing as part of a bill of rights for all people in these nations? Not just nationalists, not just citizens, not just legal aliens, but every person would have the right to access adequate housing. How would this be defined? How would it be supplied? How is it to be believed that some of the wealthiest nations on the face of the earth are unable to afford the basic sheltering of their people?

Perhaps I am being hypocritical. I'm an architect that designs in the luxury residential market - highly specialized and profitable, and for the most part ignores the need for affordable housing by building single family residences on oversized lots in the wealthy suburbs and rural landscapes. Then again, the city of Chicago where I practice has an Affordable Requirements Ordinance which demands that residential developers building in the city provide either affordable units within the project itself, or build affordable housing elsewhere in the city. This does not apply to every project, but it does apply to a substantial number of them, one of mine included. While this does not address a right to housing, it does help to ensure that affordable housing exists in the marketplace and is available for those who need it. It's a small step in the right direction.

Building the Resistance

On Saturday I had the great privilege of marching with 250,000 people in Chicago in solidarity with the Women's March on Washington. It was a tremendous demonstration of the country's (and indeed the world's! All 7 continents were represented - including Antarctica!) opposition to the new administration and a loud and many-voiced criticism of the United States as it stands now. I saw signs against Trump and his cabinet of cronies, heard (and joined in with) cries of "Black Lives Matter!" and "This is what democracy looks like!" and "No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here!", saw signs fighting against threats to women's body autonomy, against transphobia, in defense of sex workers, in defense of public education, in defense of the environment, against the repeal of the ACA, promoting gun control, signs declaring "I can't believe I still have to protest this shit!" and "Nasty Woman" and "This is what a feminist looks like!" I saw tens of thousands of pussy hats, in all different hues of pink and red - some sewn, some knit, some crocheted, but nearly all handmade and distinctive.

Architecture vs Shootings: An Impossible Fight

First, I want to express my rage and grief at the mass murder in Orlando on Sunday. This was the act of a man propelled by hate and bigotry against people who have been systematically abused and made vulnerable by the lawmakers in this country. It is obscene for public officials to bleat on about "thoughts and prayers" and in the same breath condemn the queer and POC communities to yet more discrimination. I fear there is no end in sight for these events, and that our country and government will continue to abandon our families, our neighbors, our colleagues, and our friends to men with guns.

There simply isn't enough time or space to list every mass shooting in the US in this blog; we don't even have a confirmed record of the mass shootings in this country. The best we have is the National Violent Death Reporting System, which is a state-based program under the CDC and includes only 32 states. And the House recently vetoed a proposed amendment to allow the CDC to research gun deaths.

But we need to start somewhere. If we use the definition of "four or more people are wounded or killed", there have been more mass shootings in the US this year than days passed of 2016. Let me repeat that.

There have been more mass shootings in the United States this year than we've had days in 2016.