May 2023: Celebrating Five Years of Madame Architect
One of my favorite photos, with Molly McGowan. Photography by Sebastian Mejias, for RBW x Madame Architect for NYC Design Week 2022.
To Our Dear Readers,
Today is a very special day for us at Madame Architect - we are celebrating our five year anniversary! I launched madamearchitect.org on May 3, 2018, and five years later, I am extremely proud to see what the project has become: a platform, a magazine, a media start-up, but most of all, the destination to hear from women in our industry, and a significant virtual mentor for architects around the world.
I started Madame Architect because I deeply believe in the power of mentorship. I moved around a lot growing up - from Siberia, to Toronto, to Colorado, and then to New York - each time, entering new contexts with no built-in relationship network. Before I met the wonderful mentors that would eventually guide me, I turned to magazines; I absolutely inhaled Teen Vogue, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, and ELLE, and then in high school, my dad had the foresight to get me a subscription to Architectural Record. These, along with the coming-of-age novels I read all through the night, started teaching me so much about what it means to be a woman and an architect.
I'm really proud that Madame Architect has become a mentor like this, and here's a little bit of what we've done in these past five years:
We’ve gotten to know extraordinary architects at all stages of their careers and from all over the world - from Pritzker Prize laureates and some of the most formidable architects practicing today, to emerging designers focused on tackling the climate crisis, to students who are some of the most passionate and socially conscious people I've gotten to know in the industry.
Some of our important recent pieces have included spotlights on an architect working in Ukraine all throughout the war, an architecture firm who went to volunteer with refugees at the Polish-Ukrainian border, an architect who traveled to Turkey to help with post-earthquake relief efforts, and various design advocates who created an eponymous organization to do pro-bono work in NYC through the pandemic.
We’ve spent the day with facade consultants, geologists, design journalists and photographers, discussing things ranging from exhibition installation, new work-from-home routines, and daily fertility treatments.
We’ve invited women to write about their design and research interests, from the architecture of Central Park, to stained glass preservation, to design publication management in times of uncertainty.
We also have a historical column where we focus on the Madame Architects of yesteryear because, as we know, history never repeats itself, but it often rhymes.
Our very own design critic reviews new books, films, TV series, and exhibitions.
Looking at female-led team initiatives has also been important for us, including profiling a group working on a residential development in collaboration with the National Black Theatre, an all-female design collective focusing thoughtfully on accessibility, neurodiversity, and child-friendly urban spaces, and industry professionals that are coming together to eradicate slavery in the built environment.
In addition, we've expanded the conversation to engage everyone with the topics of parenthood, caregiving, work-life integration, mentorship - topics that I think should absolutely be discussed by all, because the so-called "women's issues" are really society's issues.
Finally, we started "Ask the Editors" where we respond to anonymous questions from our readers that are looking for guidance in anything from their job applications and school portfolios to career pivots and supporting their children's design inclinations.
None of this would be possible without my terrific team. Amy Stone, Gail Kutac, and Patrick Dimond all conduct feature interviews. Sydne Nance and Julia Chou focus on our communications efforts to bring you our content in all the ways (we are on TikTok!). Kate Reggev is our dedicated historical columnist, and her pieces are insanely well-researched. Kate Mazade is our critic, who takes a careful look at how design and architecture is communicated to the public. Finally, Nina Cooke John has written a number of personal essays for us on the various identities that make up an architect. My deepest gratitude to you all - together, we have created Madame Architect into the force that is it today.
Finally, thank you to our readers and those that have shared their stories with us. You never know when someone needs your guidance, and by both sharing your stories and sharing our content, you've inspired, encouraged, and validated so many.
I encourage you all to keep sharing - the struggles, the milestones, and the celebrations. Doing so does make a difference and helps propel people into their fullest potential. And furthermore, your sharing allows for a written record of women’s work and contributions to the built environment - contributions that are made with sensitivity, care, and empathy but also with innovation, conviction, and power. We are here and we are building a world of which we can be proud of. Thank you and here's to the next five years.
Yours,
Julia