Blog %

There has been much discussion raised about "Why are women leaving Architecture? and more broadly, Why is the profession losing key talent?" Both women and men practitioners are disillusioned by the myth of work/life balance: Women are grappling with "have it all" expectations of juggling family time with the demands of full-time work. Men are struggling to support their families solely on an architect's salary and fall back on asking spouses to maintain their jobs. The lack of affordable childcare and high cost of living only magnifies the challenges. How did we end up in this modern family dilemma? What can we do to improve the situation?

I’m prejudiced. So are you.

February 20, 2017

There. I said it. Boom.

By Sharon Portnoy, AIA

But, wait, you’re thinking. Me? How could I be prejudiced? I’m a well-educated, forward-thinking Bay Area resident, a member of an historically persecuted minority, and a card-carrying member of the ACLU! Heck, my formative years were spent memorizing the soundtrack of “Free to Be, You and Me!” I’m not prejudiced! Like so many others who are speaking, marching, writing, dialing, and donating, I feel deep in in my bones that now, more than ever, we must work urgently to promote values of equity, diversity and inclusion in actions large and small, revolutionary and incremental. But to do this, we must recognize bias not just in what’s outrageous, but in what is ordinary.

Let me explain. Overt examples of racism, sexism, homophobia and many other and -isms and -phobias are easy to see, to name, and to call out. We all know that it’s wrong to discriminate against people based on their age, ethnicity, or gender-identity, and we can institute policies to protect against these abuses. But have you ever, just for a split-second, assumed that the man in hospital scrubs was a doctor, and been brought up short when it turned out that he was a nurse? This is an example of implicit bias, one of many that were exposed, explained and examined last week at the Equity by Design workshop on Implicit Bias at AIA SF. Implicit bias is the invisible lens through which we see the world, the unconscious assumptions we make based on what we’ve absorbed from our culture over the years, and sometimes over generations. It’s the water we swim in, the air we breathe.

The workshop began with a series of slides designed to expose the often-misguided snap judgements and assumptions we make based on appearances. Who knew that the guy who looked like a nightclub bouncer, all biceps and tattoos, was actually the mayor of a Pennsylvania steel town? Or that the respectable looking gentleman in a white lab coat who could have passed for Marcus Welby, M.D., was actually a notorious fraud? We learned, in case after case, just how much unconscious prejudice we all carry with us. I, for one, am quick to name and point out bias when I see it in others, but it’s considerably more challenging to recognize and confront it in myself.

The indefatigable Rosa Sheng, a founder of Equity by Design and one of the workshop’s organizers, explained the brain science behind implicit bias, and Julia Mandell, the organizer of the 2016 EQxD Symposium, asked probing questions of four remarkable panelists, each of whom has channeled their understanding of and experience with implicit bias into the work they do. After a short break, we worked in smaller groups to practice identifying and naming implicit bias in a variety of scenarios and to propose solutions and strategies for correcting it.

In a world where everyone is shouting, #EQxDisrupt Implicit Bias Workshop's thoughtful conversation was both a welcome respite and an energizing forum. Each of us in the audience was there to learn about implicit bias so that we can work towards building a more equitable workplace in architecture and allied fields. It was encouraging to learn, both from the panelists and from our group work, just how much can be done to address implicit bias. Small gestures, like asking instead of assuming, or pausing to examine one’s own bias before reacting to a situation can go a long way to build awareness and to promote understanding of oneself and others. Approaching clients and co-workers with an attitude of openness, curiosity, and genuine interest are habits of mind that can and should be cultivated. To learn more about implicit bias and to test and uncover some of your own implicit biases, check out the links below.

and stay tuned for more resources from Equity by Design.

http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/research/understanding-implicit-bias/

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/opinion/sunday/the-roots-of-implicit-bias.html

EQxD Metrics: Key Findings from the 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey

February 16, 2017

In the United States, while women represent approximately 45% of students enrolled in NAAB-accredited architecture programs, they account for only 31% of architecture staff, and 20% of principals and partners in AIA member-owned firms. Meanwhile, people of color account for 56% of all students, and 43% of US Nationals, enrolled in NAAB-accredited architecture programs, but only 21% of architecture staff, and 11% of principals and partners, working in AIA member-owned firms. With today’s graduating classes far more diverse than the architectural profession as a whole, the architectural community has a responsibility to reexamine our studio cultures, values, and ways of working to ensure that we are cultivating professional environments that actively expand the definition of who an architect is, and what an architect does.

Equity by Design has embraced this mandate, and is proud to present the results of the 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey as a tool to support this dialogue. Equity by Design is focused on achieving equitable practice in architecture in order to retain talent, advance the profession, and engage the public in understanding architecture’s true value and impact. Equity's impact in the designed and built environment has the potential to improve the quality of life, reinforce sustainability and concurrently benefit the economic outcomes of the communities that adopt it.

Formed from the desire for sustained and informed discussion about equitable practice in architecture , the Equity in Architecture Research Project represents a commitment to change the status quo for practitioners by conducting research, publishing best practices, and fostering peer-to-peer accountability and collaboration among firms regionally and beyond. Of primary importance is attracting and retaining the profession's best talent pool by providing equitable conditions that empower individuals to thrive.

The 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey was designed to generate a comprehensive national dataset detailing current positions and career experiences of architecture school graduates. With the assistance of architecture’s national collateral organizations, AIA component chapters, firms, and academic institutions, survey invitations were sent out to a broad cross-section of the profession. The resulting dataset -- the largest ever collected on equity within the profession -- documents the experiences of 8,664 individuals representing all 50 states and nations on six continents. The survey sampled for race, ethnicity, sexuality and gender identity. Key Findings reflect areas of statistical significance. Please see our article on survey demographics for more information on our survey population.

Two frameworks are used to provide insights on equity within the profession today: Career Dynamics, and Career Pinch Points. This analysis offers insight into ways in which individual practitioners, employers, and the industry as a whole can make changes on a policy and culture level that promote satisfying careers in architecture for women and men alike, improve employee retention, and ultimately, improve companies’ bottom lines.

Career Dynamics

Career Dynamics explore underlying tensions that persist throughout our professional lives, and the factors that drive career perceptions. The main categories we have identified as Career Dynamics include Finding the Right Fit, Work-Life Integration, Professional Development, Beyond Architecture and Pay Equity. Key findings related to each of the Career Dynamics are as follows: (please use the toggle arrows on the top right part of the window below to view all 5 categories)

Infographic Slides 2017

Finding The Right Fit, Key Findings, Finding the Right Fit Career Perceptions

On average, male respondents’ career perceptions were more positive than those of their female counterparts. When asked about the relative positivity or negativity of their career perceptions across 14 categories from “work –life flexibility” to “promotion process ”to their likelihood of staying at their job for the next year,” male respondents’ average perceptions were more positive than female respondents’ in every category. The largest gender gaps indicated significant differences between men’s and women’s likelihood of feeling energized by their work (male respondents 7% more likely), likelihood of “having a seat at the table”, or being included in one’s firm’s decision-making process (male respondents 6% more likely), and likelihood of planning to stay in one’s current job for the next year (male respondents 6% more likely).

There were also areas of work-life that tended to be viewed more positively or negatively by all respondents: average perceptions of autonomy, satisfaction, and confidence tended to be most positive for respondents, while respondents’ average perceptions of their firms’ promotion processes, their work-life flexibility, and their workloads were least positive, on average. Male respondents perceptions were more positive, on average, than female respondents’ perceptions in each of these categories. We did not observe significant differences in career perceptions on the basis of race or ethnicity.

Finding The Right Fit, Key Findings, Finding the Right Fit Career Perceptions

Professional Development, Key Findings

Mentorship and sponsorship -- and especially having access to career advice from a senior leader in one’s own firm -- emerged as important predictors of career success in the 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey. We found that male respondents were more likely than female respondents to report turning to someone senior within their own office for career guidance.. Meanwhile, female respondents were more likely than their male counterparts to turn to senior leaders outside of their offices, family & friends, and their peers for guidance. They were also more likely to consider gender as a factor when describing their mentors.

Professional Development, Key Findings

Male respondents’ increased likelihood of turning to senior leaders is especially significant because, compared to those who received no career guidance, those who turned to a senior leader within their firm were more more optimistic about their professional futures, more energized by their work, more likely to plan to stay at their current job. These correlations were stronger for female than for male respondents, suggesting that female respondents have more to gain by finding a senior mentor from their own firm.

Professional Development, Key Findings

Key Findings, Pay Equity

The next career dynamic, pay equity, documents the wage gap between our male and female respondents. At every level of experience, our male respondents made more, on average, than our female respondents, with the highest differences at the top of the experience spectrum.

One of the most important ways of looking at the wage gap is to assess whether respondents are receiving equal pay for equal work. Our data showed a gender-based wage gap for every project role, with the largest gap between male and female design principals.

Key Findings, Pay Equity

Work-Life, Key Findings

Not only did our female respondents make less money on average than their male counterparts, but they were more likely to report having faced a host of work-life conflicts, from poor health and neglected personal duties to turning down travel or even leaving a job. It’s also important to note that our respondents, both male and female, were much more likely to report facing personal setbacks in the face of work-life conflict than they were to report making professional trade-offs in these situations.

Work-Life, Key Findings

Beyond Arch, Key Findings

The last career dynamic, Beyond architecture, tracks individuals who are currently working in settings other than firms or sole proprietorships, as well as full-time caregivers and those who are unemployed. We also consider those who have spent time away from a firm or sole proprietorship in the past, whether to pursue another career opportunity, or to take a sabbatical or leave of absence.

Overall, 17% of our male respondents, and 18% of our female respondents, we currently working outside of an architecture setting, full-time caregivers, or unemployed. Most of these individuals were working in another setting, but still influenced the built environment in some way.

Beyond Arch, Key Findings

Career Pinch Points

Career Pinch Points offers insight into personal and professional milestones that can either hinder career progression or influence employee retention. The main categories we have identified as Career Pinch Points include Education, Paying Dues, Licensure, Caregiving, and Glass Ceiling. (please use the toggle arrows on the top right part of the window below to view all 5 categories)

Infographic Slides 2017

Education, Key Findings

The curriculum that both men and women say was most instrumental in preparing them were Design and Design Thinking, Construction Materials and Methods, and Building Systems. Meanwhile, respondents were most likely to say that Professional Practice/Business, Construction Materials and Methods, and Building Systems weren’t addressed fully enough to prepare them for a career in architecture. Women were more likely than men to report needing additional curricular focus on Construction Materials and Methods, and on Building Systems.

Education, Key Findings

Paying Dues, Work-Life, Key Findings, Paying Dues Why it Matters

Even within the first several years of one’s career, there were clear gendered divisions in the office management tasks that respondents took on, with female respondents with less than 5 years experience more likely than their male counterparts to take on planning office events and managing the office library and less likely to take on more strategic tasks like firm project standards, strategic planning, or firm operations and management.

Paying Dues, Work-Life, Key Findings, Paying Dues Why it Matters

Licensure, Key Findings

The survey demonstrated that licensure presents many professionals with challenges, with long work hours, the high cost of registration and exams, and low perceived rewards as the most frequently cited challenges. Female respondents were more likely than male respondents to experience every one of these challenges to licensure.

Licensure, Key Findings

Caregiving, Key Findings

The next major career pinchpoint – working caregivers – impacts many of our respondents. Amongst those currently practicing architecture, female respondents were less likely to have children than their male counterparts at every level of experience. This could suggest that female practitioners who have children are more likely than male practitioners with children to leave the field, resulting in a higher likelihood of being a practicing father than being a practicing mother. It could also suggest that women who pursue architecture are simply less likely than their male counterparts to become parents. Neither hypothesis can be confirmed by this survey, but this question is worth exploring in future research.

Caregiving, Key Findings

While female respondents were less likely than their male counterparts to be working parents, we found that those who were parents tended to bear more responsibility for childcare. Working mothers were approximately 10 times as likely as their male counterparts to be their children’s primary caregiver (48% of mothers vs. 5% of fathers). Meanwhile, 55% of fathers, and 10% of mothers, reported that their partner did more childcare.

Caregiving, Key Findings

Glass Ceiling, Key Findings

The culmination of all of these pinch points is a glass ceiling that we’ve found persists in architecture. While 8% of our female respondents, and 5% of our male respondents reported working in a firm that was mostly, or completely led by women, the majority of our respondents – male and female—reported working in a firm that was mostly or completely led by men.

Glass Ceiling, Key Findings

Key Findings, Glass Ceiling

While some of this leadership imbalance may be attributable to the pipeline issues (i.e. more men than women entered the field in the past, resulting in more men positioned for leadership in the present), this isn’t the entire story. White male respondents were more likely than non-white men and both white women and women of color to be principals or partners at nearly every level of experience. Men of color were the least likely of any group to be principals or partners in a firm.

Key Findings, Glass Ceiling

Conclusion

The 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey demonstrates that women and people of color continue to lag behind white men in terms of concrete measures of career success like annual salary and likelihood of leading a firm. Male respondents’ perspectives on their careers were also more positive on average than those of their female counterparts. Female respondents were less likely to feel energized by their work, less likely to feel that their opinions were valued, and ultimately, less likely to say that they planned to stay at their current job.

In addition to highlighting stark differences in salary, career advancement and perspective on the basis of race and gender, the survey illustrates that white men are more likely than others to have access to resources and opportunities that predict professional success. Factors like transparency in the promotion process, having access to a senior leader in one’s firm, receiving ongoing feedback about one’s work, sharing values with one’s firm, and having meaningful relationships at work are strongly correlated with attributes of professional success for respondents of all genders and races. In certain instances, like having access to a senior mentor within one’s firm, access to one of these resources is even more predictive of success for a traditionally marginalized group than it is for white men. Nevertheless, white male respondents are currently more likely to report having access to each of these ingredients for a satisfying career in architecture. These findings suggest that one of the best ways to being to build equity in architectural practice is to ensure that access to these resources is provided to all professionals, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation.

EQxD Metrics: 2016 Survey Demographics

February 15, 2017

One of the most important things to ask oneself when looking at the results of a survey is who is represented in the respondent pool, and how reflective that respondent pool is of the broader population being studied. The more representative the sample is, the stronger the evidence is that a survey’s results point to trends that occur in the population at large.

For the purposes of the Equity in Architecture survey, this means that we tried to garner a large number of responses, but more importantly, we worked to create a respondent pool that was as representative of the architectural community as possible. To do this, we worked with architecture schools, professional organizations, and firms across the country to send e-mail invitations directly to these groups’ entire mailing lists, thereby ensuring that survey invitations would go to those who are interested in equity issues, but also to potential survey-takers who haven’t considered equity to be a vital part of their practice. We are extremely grateful to AIA National, NCARB, NOMA, the ACSA, and the many schools of architecture, AIA components, and firms that sent invitations to take the 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey to their mailing lists. Our target survey population was graduates of architectural degree programs, including those who currently work in architectural practice, as well as those who are working in other fields, and those who are not currently doing paid work.

Overall, 8,664 respondents participated in the survey, making this the largest dataset ever conducted on the topic of equity in architecture in the U.S. While the survey population was the largest sample ever studied on this issue, it doesn’t mirror the demographics of the profession. Our sample was younger and more female than the architectural population as a whole. Moreover, our female respondent population was younger, on average, than our male respondent population. To correct for these variations in order to allow for meaningful analysis, we have shown our data broken out by race, gender and/or years of experience for each question in which significant differences in response occur on the basis of one of these factors.

The following is a description of the demographics of our survey respondent pool, and is intended to help our readers understand and interpret the findings from the 2016 Equity in Architecture survey. Please scroll through each summary below by clicking the arrows at the top right corner of the infographics below. to get a better idea of our respondent identity: Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Sexuality, Geography, Years of Experience, Career Track. We’re looking forward to sharing an overview of of the latest, and best statistics on the demographics of the field as a whole within the next few weeks.

KEY FINDINGS - DEMOGRAPHICS

Equitable Representation

Gender of Survey Respondents

Equitable Representation

Overall, 8,664 respondents participated in the survey, making this the largest survey ever conducted on the topic of equity in architecture in the U.S. Of our 8,664 survey responses, roughly 50% identified as female, and 50% identified as male. We also had a small number of respondents (<1%) with non-binary genders. The non-binary gender sample was too small to allow us to conduct statistically valid analysis on this group on the basis of gender. We hope to over-sample this population in the future in order to be able to conduct more meaningful analysis on this group’s experiences. By comparing this to data from the AIA Firms Survey Report, we can see that the 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey over-samples women, who make up only 31% of architectural staff in AIA member-owned firms.

Equitable Representation

Race/Ethnicity of Survey Respondents

Equitable Representation

While we had a relatively even gender representation in our respondent pool, there was little racial or ethnic diversity, with 78% of respondents describing themselves as “white or caucasian.” According to the 2016 AIA Firm Survey Report, approximately 21% of the architectural staff working in AIA member-owned firms are people of color, suggesting the the 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey sample is fairly representative of the racial and ethnic diversity of AIA member-owned architectural firms. While the sample was representative as a percentage of the field, this also meant that it was quite small compared to the sample of the white population. This sample size, coupled with high degrees of response variability within this population, made drawing statistically valid conclusions on the basis of individual racial or ethnic group impossible for most questions due to insufficient sample size. In future rounds of study, we hope to gather more responses from people of color in order to be able to better understand equity issues as they relate to individual racial and ethnic groups.

Equitable Representation

Sexuality of Survey Respondents

Equitable Representation

The survey population also had little diversity in terms of sexual orientation, with 86% of male respondents, and 92% of female respondents, identifying as straight, or heterosexual. The datasets that we typically use to understand the demographics of the profession -- including those from NAAB, NCARB, and the AIA -- don’t include statistics on the sexual orientations of architectural practitioners, so we can’t make any conclusions about how our sample compares to the architectural community on this issue.

Equitable Representation

Geography of Survey Respondents

Equitable Representation

Our respondents’ geographic location was also fairly representative of the distribution of architectural professionals in the country, with heavy concentrations of respondents in states like California, New York, and Illinois. Overall, we received survey responses from all 50 states, as well as from foreign countries on six continents.

Equitable Representation

Years Experience in Architecture

Equitable Representation

There was an interesting pattern in the experience level of our respondents. While the majority of our less experienced respondents were female, the majority of our respondents with more than 14 years of experience were male. In some ways, this is representative of what’s been called the “pipeline problem” in architecture. For instance, men were much more likely than women to have graduated from architecture programs 25 years ago, and so it makes sense that there are many more men than women with 25 years of experience today. For practical purposes, though, this means that it’s very hard to simply compare men to women in our results without also introducing confounding age and experience-level-related distinctions. That’s part of why you’ll see that we often analyze variables like salary by both gender and years of experience.

Equitable Representation

Current Career Track

Equitable Representation

Because our study sampled architecture school graduates, not all respondents were currently working in architecture firms. The majority - 84% of all respondents - were currently practicing architecture, either within a firm or as a sole practitioner. There weren’t significant differences in respondents’ likelihood of practicing architecture on the basis of either race or gender. There were, however, differences in work setting amongst those who practiced architecture. For those practicing architecture, a firm was the most common work setting. This was especially true for women of color, who were only half as likely (4%) as either white men (8%) or men of color (8%) to work as a sole practitioner. In addition to those who were currently working in a firm or as a sole practitioner, we had a significant number of respondents who weren’t working in one of these settings, and may have been working in a related field or in another industry, providing full-time care for a family member, studying, unemployed, or retired. We have used the label "beyond architecture" throughout our analysis to identify this diverse population.

Equitable Representation

To view all the Demographic summaries - Please scroll through each summary below by clicking the arrows at the top right corner of the infographics

#EQxDHack17 - Architecture and the Era of (Disruption) [W304]

February 10, 2017

These are extraordinary times for our country and also our profession. Now more than ever, Architects need to be agile, open-thinking change agents while articulating core values and advocating for just living environments that our communities need and deserve. Future architects will need to develop "HACK" skills in order to adapt with the hyper-rapid speed of today's technology advancements.

What the Hack? - Unpacking the Workshop Experience

Join us Wednesday, April 26 1-5pm at the AIA Conference on Architecture [A'17] in Orlando, Florida for [W304] EQxD Hackathon: Architecture and the Era of Connection (and Disruption). One of the most unique and talked-about pre-conference workshops, we have developed a reputation within the Conference for developing a game changing learning experience that has yet to be rivaled. In it's third year, we celebrate the chance to tinker, ideate and hack at the intersection of design, technology, and equitable practice. We have also fine tuned our "UX" aka User Experience by engaging with the teams before during and after the event to make it the best participant engagement event at A'17 - Conference on Architecture.

The day will begin with a diverse panel of industry leaders and entrepreneurs discussing future architectural opportunities in the new digital economy. Once you're inspired, the "mini-hackathon" format will let you develop a real plan of action for creating a positive impact on the profession. You’ll leverage your design thinking skills to rapidly prototype radical, actionable initiatives and explore future business models for the architecture profession. You will be grouped in teams to "Hack" a problem that you have defined. At the end of the session, each group will present an "Elevator Pitch" to the Jurors.

After the official workshop, the fun continues at Cuba Libre for #EQxDHack17 Happy Hour 5:30-7:30pm a few blocks away to network, recap and announce the winning team!

BE IN IT, TO WIN IT!

10 SCHOLARSHIPS FOR STUDENTS, EP's and Young Architects

Equity by Design is excited to announce that we will be providing our 3rd year of Scholarships to attend the much anticipated Pre-Conference workshop EQxD Hackathon [WE304] at A'17 Conference on Architecture in Orlando. This year's theme will be Architecture and the Era of Connection (and Disruption) on Wednesday April 26th from 1-5pm located at the Orlando Convention Center. The #EQxDHack17 Happy Hour will follow at a nearby location from 5:30-7:30pm to announce the winners.The scholarship is focused on providing access for Architecture School students, recent graduates, emerging professionals, and newly licensed architects to this "not to be missed" un-conventional workshop.

APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP TO #EQxDHack17 by 2/17

Meet the #EQxDHack17 Panelists

This year we will have three new entrepreneurs within the AEC who will share there paths to ideation and deviation in pursuing their passions.

F. Jason Campbell

Architectural Professional | Photographer, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson | Design Director | ELL San Francisco

Jason Campbell is an advocate for inter-disciplinary action. He has paired professional practice experience at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, with academic instruction, and community engagement. He has coordinated architectural design studios at the U.C. Berkeley College of Environmental Design, is an architectural photographer, and is the co-founder and design director of ELL San Francisco. ELL is a flex-use platform for the exhibition of art, architecture, and design, emphasizing the mediation of disparate media and conceptual bases.

Esther Sperber

Founder, Studio ST Architects

Esther Sperber founded Studio ST Architects in 2003 after five years at Pei Partnership Architects, working closely with Mr. I M Pei. She was born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel. Her B. Arch is from the Technion and Masters from Columbia’s GSAPP. Studio ST’s work includes numerous high-end residential interiors, the 14th Street Y community center renovation, synagogues designs and international competitions. Their work has been published in architectural magazines and monographs. In 2008, Studio ST was included in Wallpaper magazine’s list of “World’s 50 Hottest Young Architectural Firms” and their Swell House received Architectural Record’s “Best Unbuilt House”. Esther Sperber writes and lectures on architecture and psychoanalysis, two fields that aim to reduce human distress and widen the range of our experiences. She has lectured widely and her essays have been published in the New York Times, Lilith Magazine, The Jewish Week, Ms Magazine and academic journals and books.

Carlos G. Velazquez

President/CEO, Epic Scan, Ltd.

Carlos Velazquez is the President and CEO of Epic Scan, Ltd. He has grown Epic Scan from an idea into a premier 3D service provider in the architectural, engineering and construction industries. Carlos has been involved with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) since its inception and more recently advanced photogrammetry techniques. He has developed and implemented LiDAR system scanning strategies since 1999, completing hundreds of projects around the world across various industries - including architecture, archaeology, civil, forensic, heritage, marine, mining, nuclear and oil and gas. Carlos has worked in conjunction with equipment manufacturers to develop and improve laser scanning process and methods. A native Oregonian, Carlos loves to be outdoors with his family. His favorite activity is taking road trips across the states in the family RV.

Panel Moderator

Lilian Asperin

Project Director, Associate, WRNS Studio

Lilian values a firm culture that embraces collaboration, connection to the community, risk taking and fostering talent. As one of the studio's Project Directors, she helps lead the design process and build teams that deliver aspirational outcomes. Lilian attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned her BA in Environmental Design and graduated with honors. After completing her studies, Lilian worked at architecture firms around the Bay Area, including Stanley Saitowitz, the City of San Francisco’s Bureau of Architecture, SOM and NBBJ. Recently completed projects include the International Terminal at SFO, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies Master Plan, the Center for Science and Innovation at USF, the L.S. Skaggs Pharmacy Research Building at University of Utah, and the 21st Century Learning Environments Guidelines for CSU East Bay. A leader within the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP), she organized the first-ever Hackathon for MOOC’s as part of the Pacific Regional Conference and is currently the Program Chair for the Pacific Regional Council.

Lilian utilizes her experience as a practice leader and licensed architect to develop synergistic relationships with leaders throughout the architectural and educational communities. Deeply involved with the local community, Lilian works to raise awareness and help break the cycle of poverty in the Bay Area through her work as a Tipping Point Community Partner. Lilian also acts as Co-Chair of AIA San Francisco’s Equity by Design, a call to action for both women and men to realize the goal of equitable practice and communicate the value of design to society.

Jurors

Rosa Sheng

Senior Associate, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Albany, California

Rosa is an architect with over 23 years experience, who has been involved in a variety of award-winning and internationally acclaimed projects, from the aesthetically minimal, highly technical development of the glass structures for Apple’s original high-profile retail stores, to the innovative and sustainable LEED NC Gold–certified Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business at Mills College in Oakland, California. As founding chair of Equity by Design and President-Elect 2018 of AIA San Francisco, Sheng has led Equity in Architecture Surveys in both 2014 and 2016, authored AIA National Resolution 15-1 in 2015, and served on the Equity in Architecture Commission in 2016. She has presented nationally and abroad including Boston, New York, Lisbon, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Seattle. Equity by Design has been featured in Architect Magazine, Architectural Record, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, TEDxPhiladelphia and KQED/NPR

Frances Choun

Vice President McCarthy Building Companies

Frances is an established and trusted leader as Vice- President of McCarthy’s Northern Pacific Division. Her visionary leadership has propelled the company forward as one of the largest commercial contracting firms in California. Frances launched her career in Architecture, where she developed an interest in the construction side of the business. As an industry expert, Frances is regularly called upon by local, trade and national media to address new and projected trends, and is considered a pioneer in advancing women in the construction field. Last year, Frances was in the pioneering class of the Equity by Design Hackathon at the AIA Convention in Atlanta. This year, her fervor for hacking continues and she will help us select a winner.

FAQ's

What is a Hackathon?

You can get a sense of the #EQxDHack17 by checking out the past 2 year's events.

#EQxDHack15 Recap

#EQxDHack16 Recap

Thanks to our EQxDHackathon Sponsor

Announcing EQxD Actions!

February 6, 2017

Equity by Design is excited to announce EQxD Actions, a new series of short posts that will provide you with opportunities to act on promoting equity. Every Monday, we will be posting an action describing something you can immediately do to help make our profession (and hopefully, the world) a bit more equitable for everyone. Every post will contain an image that will quickly summarize the action and a text description below the image which will provide details on difficulty level, how to do the action, why it is important, and further reading on the topic.

In addition to posting on the website, the main ways in which we will be sharing these actions are through Pinterest and email subscription. Our EQxDActions Pinterest Board is an especially important option for following these posts as you can use Pinterest’s new “Try It” feature to provide feedback on whether or not the action worked for you!

Please click here to check out our EQxD Actions! Also, if you decide to share any of our actions, please use #EQxDActions to help brand the effort. It will greatly help us on Social Media! We look forward to sharing these actions with you on a weekly basis.

*If you have suggestions for possible future EQxDActions, please email us at EquityxDesign@gmail.com with the subject line “EQxDActions Suggestion”.

Announcing the Metrics Blog Series

February 2, 2017

#EQxDM3 attendees review key findings from the 2016 Equity in Architecture survey

Equity by Design is excited to announce “Metrics”, a new blog series that will unpack and explore findings from the 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey. In this series, we’ll cover key findings from the survey, and will also take a deep dive into each of the Career Dynamics and Pinch Points.

Additionally, we’ll provide further resources and reading so that you can learn more about each topic. These in-depth looks at our survey data will be accompanied by interactive graphics, which will allow you to explore our data even further.

“Metrics” posts will occur about once a month (usually on Wednesdays), and are aligned with this year’s quarterly topics. This will enable us to integrate conversations about survey content into a broader conversation that will be fueled by our quarterly workshops, as well as by other initiatives, including: the Inspire% series, the Equitable Practice blog series, the ACSA blog series, and #EQxDActions (more on this next week!).

For more info on these quarterly topics, please see our post from earlier in the month.

Winter: Disrupt Bias

During the winter quarter, we’ll explore how to disrupt implicit bias. We’ll learn about the unconscious biases we all carry and leverage techniques to overcome our own assumptions about others.

Concurrent with this exploration, the “Metrics” series will provide insight into three issues that are commonly linked with implicit bias: the demographics of the profession, pay equity, and the Glass Ceiling. Also look out for a post on “Key Findings,” which will provide a broad overview of the survey findings.

Spring: Articulate Values

Spring quarter will provide an opportunity to reflect on how to articulate the value that architectural education,training, and the practice of architecture provide to society. We’ll consider the issue from a variety of points of view, exploring divergent career paths, design activism, and the value of professional licensure.

The “Metrics” series will provide context for these discussions by providing in-depth analyses of the following issues: “Education,” “Licensure,” and “Beyond Architecture.”

Summer: Chart Your Path

During the summer our attention will turn to charting your career path and do some serious thinking about how we as individuals organize our lives to achieve goals and stay connected within the profession.

To aid in these explorations, the “Metrics” series will provide analyses of Work-Life Flexibility as it relates to all respondents, and explore the experiences and the challenges of being a Working Caregiver.

Fall: Design Culture

We’ll close out the year with a conversation about the culture of our practices, schools, and profession as a whole by looking into the ways in which we can create culture that fosters creativity, design thinking and inclusivity.

The “Metrics” series will cover two issues that are often deeply linked to culture: Finding the Right Fit and Professional Development. The topics will allow us to explore issues like how “fit” is measured, and correlates with professional success, how cultural satisfaction and professional relationships are linked to success, and how fostering a culture of mentorship and transparency can lead to career satisfaction and increased retention.

We’re looking forward to your feedback as this series develops. Please let us know if you have a burning research question, if you have a great resource to share on an upcoming topic, or if you’d like to contribute a guest post on one of these topics!