Sexism and the Star System in Architecture - Essay Example

? Sexism and the Star System in Architecture Word Count: 2750 (11 pages) I. Introduction Women have, for a long time, struggled in architecture because they have not been given fair chances to participate within the profession. With the advent of having to have a degree in architecture as well as licensure for the profession, many women who had previously been involved in architecture found that they were shut out from the profession. This kind of discrimination, unfortunately, is quite common in the profession and continues up till this day and age; it is still a major dilemma. Here, it will be attempted to describe various elements of sexism as well as those who have overcome such barriers inherent in the field of architecture, which include—but are not limited to—sexism and the star system in architecture; womens’ roles in architecture and the ideal architect profile; how kingmakers in architecture are usually men; and what it would look like if a woman were to be a kingmaker in architecture. II. Sexism and the Star System in Architecture The star system has, for a long time, dominated the way that architecture is run. The star system in architecture dominates who are the most sought-after design gurus in the field. Unfortunately, many times this system has favored men more than women in a statistical sense. Denise Scott Brown’s article Room at the Top?: Sexism and the Star System in Architecture is found in Dana Arnold’s book: “[S]exism and the star system in architecture [exists because] ‘[s]tar [q]uality’ [is] a ‘mysterious amalgam of self-love, vivacity, star, and sexual promise…Although architecture is both science and art, architects stand or fall in their own estimation and in that of their peers by whether they are ‘good designers,’ and the criteria for this are ill-defined and undefinable.”1 Fig. 1. Courtesy Google Images: Denise Brown Scott. Denise Scott Brown also mentioned that her husband, Robert Venturi, was credited for work that she actually completed in various capacities in architecture. She was frustrated by the fact that she was doing work and other people—including her husband and other men—were taking credit for what she had done herself. Of course, anyone who would co-opt someone else’s work and take credit for it or give credit to the wrong person is just discrimination. III. Womens’ Roles in Architecture and The Ideal Architect Profile The reason one needs to get a good architect is paramount.  A good architect on the project lays the foundation for everything else. Ideally, one wants to choose an architect for the project who has character.  In the same way this architect’s character is, so shall your structure be. Women have been at the forefront of architecture for years, but have been relegated to the shadows. “For centuries, women have designed and built works of architecture around the globe. But when architecture officially became a profession requiring professional education and licensure, the doors were slammed shut to women…A less-than-welcoming educational environment and a hostile [and discriminatory] work environment awaited them.”2             Women who are able to be professional in their field underscore the need for professionalism in the field of architecture. “The absence of women from the profession of architecture remains, despite the various theories, very difficult to explain and slow to change. It demarcates a failure the profession has become adept at turning a blind eye to, despite the fact that it places architecture far behind the other professions with which architects frequently seek to align themselves.”3 One wants an architect who will be able to see the project through from inception to completion.  Therefore, this person is going to have to envision the project as well as bring it to fruition. Maya Lin designed the Vietnam War Veterans’ Memorial when she was a 21-year-old student. The memorial now serves as a reminder of those who fought in Vietnam and lost their lives as a result. Fig. 2. Courtesy Google Images: Vietnam War Memorial.             The architect has to have a good idea in mind of what the finished product is going to look like.  Therefore, one must choose an architect who not only can produce physical plans for what a building will look like—but someone who has a vision.             By vision, this doesn’t mean that one can see well.  By having vision, one connotes that this architect should ideally have a good grasp of architectural principles such that he or she knows what makes a striking building, and how that knowledge can best be applied to one’s particular project.             One should always look for an architect with solid experiential knowledge in designing larger structures, such as schools, churches, mosques, and yes, of course, stadiums.  If one is designing a large building, if one can find someone who specializes in building large complexes, that would be even more highly advisable.             In short, one wants to hire someone for the position of architect that is going to be competent—whether it be a man or a woman. One also wants to hire someone who knows what he or she is doing.             Ideally, you are looking for an architect who not only knows his or her facts, but also ideally specializes in building the kinds of venue or venues that are planned for being built.  You don’t want this architect to come fresh out of school with no experience.             For a major project, one should seek an architect who has at least 10 years’ worth of experience under his or her belt.  That, however, is just the beginning.              This architect should have either:  1)  gone to one of the top universities in the country; or 2)  have graduated in the top 5% of his undergraduate class.  This not only demonstrates that the architect cares about his or her education but places a value on education.             You should be concerned that your architect is the sort of person who has an educated mind.  He or she will be open to new and fresh ideas, while at the same time will be somewhat of a traditionalist as far as thinking about the scope of the project, what one requires on a macro level, and also what one is thinking that the ultimate end-product should look like in terms of the finished building, holistically speaking.             One’s architect should definitely have a sense of style and what is trendy in terms of buildings.  At the same time, one’s architect should have a very keen sense for what is traditional in architecture, and perhaps he or she knows how to best blend those two worlds in order to create a unified, new vision.             The architect should consider everything one is thinking about, whether it be deciding what kind of materials the beams should be constructed from to whether one’s structure should be “green,” i.e., environment-friendly, or not.  From inception to fruition, a building is going to be something that represents one’s name-brand image forever (or at least for the foreseeable future), and so one should plan carefully what is the style and essence one wishes to show the world.             A building not only represents one’s organization or personality, but it says a lot about what one views the world.  For example, a company or individual that strives to build a green—or environmentally-friendly—building, stresses the fact that one cares about the environment.             Thus, many people do notice those kinds of things in whether to choose to support one’s particular establishment.  Thus it would behoove one well to consider things like that as one goes about in one’s decision how to hire an architect—whether it be a man or a woman that one ultimately decides to choose.             If one decides to “go green,” there are numerable architects one can choose who would be well-suited to help one do this.  On the other hand, if one chooses not to be environmentally-friendly in one’s choice of building, there are plenty of old-fashioned architects who will still cater to one’s particular needs and interests.             Really, whether one decides to go green or not depends on the type of image one is willing to display to the public.  It is becoming increasingly popular for organizations to build sustainable buildings because the public they are seeking to gain support from supports eco-friendly atmospheres.             The ideal architect for one’s project is someone whom one knows will be suitable for one’s purposes and for the overall project at hand.              One’s architect has to be someone reliable and trustworthy.  He or she needs to be the type of person one could call in the middle of the night and say, “No, I want to scrap those plans,” and one knows he or she would do it in a second.             This is not to say that the person should be at one’s every beck and call.  However, that architect should be available to oneself whenever one needs to get a hold of the person, just in case one wants to change any of the plans.             The ideal architect should be willing to bend to one’s whim a bit and cater to one’s needs.  If one’s architect is not willing to work with the client, then one should not work with that person. The architect must understand that his or her work is a reflection of who he or she is, and anything less than that architect giving his or her personal best is not good enough for one’s many enterprises. IV. The Kingmakers in Architecture Are Usually Men Kingmakers, or people who make others become celebrities or revered artists in their own, small, intimate groups, basically are men, for the most part. “The critic in architecture is often the scribe, historian, and kingmaker for a particular group. These activities entitle him to join the ‘few,’ even though he pokes them a little. His other satisfaction comes from making history in his and their image. The king-maker critic is, of course, male…There is even less psychic reward in crowning a female king.”4 The idea that women were discriminated against in architecture didn’t really register until a speech was made at a conference which galvanized women in the industry. In 1973, “Scott Brown….[gave a] talk to the Alliance of Women in Architecture in New York in 1973, on sexism and the star system in architecture…”5 V. Woman as Kingmaker in Architecture Dominique Francon, a female protagonist and daughter of a famous architect who is an architecture critic for a newspaper in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, epitomizes what it means to be a woman in the architectural field. She takes the stand in court, and the lawyer addresses her, in the following manner: “We are indeed fortunate to have you with us, since you are our only woman witness, and women have always had the purest sense of religious faith. Being, in addition, an outstanding authority on architecture, you are eminently qualified to gives us…the feminine angle on the case.”6 Miss Francon proceeds, continuing to say that Mr. Stoddard should have sued for demolition costs. Also, she notes how Howard Roark built his buildings: “[Roark, a male architect protagonist in the story] thought that a place built as a setting for man is a sacred place. That is what Howard Roark thought of man and of exaltation.”7 Fig. 4. Courtesy Google Images: The Stoddard Temple from The Fountainhead. This kind of statement which Francon makes about Roark, the male architect, speaks volumes about how women are viewed in architecture. It was this kind of connection that Ayn Rand—being an objectivist—wanted to connote in her writing. She wanted to show how women were at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of being recognized for their efforts—and how they were spoken to within the field of architecture. The lawyer who is interviewing her about her architectural expertise gives her some rather snide comments, which might be better addressed to someone who had no idea about what the field of architecture represented. It is this continual struggle against Roark’s domineering and dominating personality, and Dominique rails against it—although secretly she also loves him as well. So, it is a seeming battle of the sexes within The Fountainhead. This book is about so much more than just architecture, however—it is about how men and women get along and how they are able to complement or destroy each other, depending on whether they are being creative or destructive elements in the universe. Other women have also been huge leaders in architecture, one Kazuyo Sejima starting up her own architectural business. Another woman, Zaha Hadid, from Iraq, was the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Fig. 3. Courtesy of About.com: Zaha Hadid. The development of women going into the architectural field and surviving and thriving on their own is not just going to be a task for the future which women can bear alone. In fact, men have to step up within the field and help women realize that this is just not only a man’s profession. Women should be given the same consideration as men in terms of being allowed to bid for projects and get projects for which they know they are qualified. If there is a woman and a man bidding on the same project, special consideration should be given to the woman’s proposal, specifically because women have been discriminated against for so long in the field of architecture—similar to the way minorities have been afforded the stipulation of affirmative action which guarantees that they can’t be discriminated against because there is a certain quota of people which must be met which fit the criteria. Similarly, womens’ work should be judged on the work alone and not the fact that they have a different gender from men. Gender politics in the workplace continues to be a source of frustration for women in the architectural field, mainly because it is dominated by and designed for men. Office politics in architecture must change. Women can no longer be relegated to mundane tasks while the big boys take care of the “manly” duties. In other words, gender should not be assigned to certain tasks if they are tasks that women are capably able of handling themselves. Anything less is a disservice to women, being unfair to women and preferential towards men. Women have been routinely overlooked in the search for finding the perfect architect for various projects. It is supposed to be men who allow women to have those opportunities, because they are the ones in power. So, the men have to make a paradigm shift in terms of dynamically altering the landscape of the modern office. No longer can womens’ plans be overlooked simply because they are not part of the discriminatory star system, or do not rank very high on the star system. No longer can women be subject to the same kinds of discrimination that they once faced and continually face in a career field that is wrought with discriminatory practices and creeds. In short, the architecture industry must begin to mentor and support female colleagues with programs that seek to empower women, just as much as any other minority or affiliation that is not used to being proffered in these social circles which deserve just as much chance to succeed in the world of architecture as much as privileged white men. Furthermore, men in this field should go out of their way to attempt to garner support for female colleagues who are trying to better their career and become accomplished architects in their particular fields. VI. Conclusion Here the following items have been discussed: sexism and the star system in architecture; womens’ roles in architecture and the ideal architect profile; how kingmakers in architecture are usually men; and what it would look like if a woman were to be a kingmaker in architecture. The main overall theme of this piece was to try to demonstrate how women have been discriminated against in the field of architecture. A critical analysis was provided of Denise Scott’s predicament as a female architect in her piece Room on the Top? Womens’ roles in architecture are definitely changing and improving, however, much work remains to be completed. While there is certainly a lon way to go in terms of balancing out inequities in treatment in this career field, it is hoped that women will continue to struggle to be the best in their professions—and to summarily be recognized for the work that they have done and that the work they continue to do to contribute to the field of architecture. BIBLIOGRAPHY Anthony, Kathryn H., Designing For Diversity: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Architectural Profession (US: University of Illinois Press, 2001). Arnold, Dana, Reading Architectural History (US: Psychology Press, 2002). Butler, Cornelia, Esther Adler, Alexandra Schwartz, Paola (CON) Antonelli, and Carol (INT) Armstrong, Modern Women: Women Artists at the Museum of Modern Art (US: Museum of Modern Art, 2010). Hughes, Francesca, The Architect: Reconstructing Her Practice (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998). Rand, Ayn, The Fountainhead (US: Penguin, 2005). Rendell, Jane, Barbara Penner, and Iain Borden, Gender Space Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Introduction (US: Psychology Press, 2002). Read More