Defying the Maintstream: Louise Braverman on Entrepreneurship, Multitasking, and Being Positive

By Julia Gamolina

Louise Braverman FAIA is a New York based architect who is passionate about creating sustainable architecture of art and conscience. A graduate of the Yale School of Architecture, she founded her firm, Louise Braverman Architect, to design aesthetically inventive projects that are situated in their time, place and culture. Practicing locally and globally, the firm has won numerous design awards and received multiple invitations to present installations at the Venice Architecture Biennale, both at international exhibitions and at the United States Pavilion.

Recent work that embraces diverse communities include Centro de Artes Nadir Afonso, an art museum in Boticas, Portugal that encourages public participation with art; the Derfner Museum, an art museum in Riverdale, New York that facilitates multi-generational engagement and Village Health Works Staff Housing, an off-the-grid dormitory in the post-genocide village of Kigutu, Burundi. In her interview with Julia, Louise talks about being entrepreneurial, positive, and outside the mainstream, advising young architects - female and male - to get comfortable with multitasking.

JG: What was the first seed of your interest in architecture?

LB: I grew up really not knowing the first thing about it - I didn’t know what an architect did, I didn’t think of being an architect. I ended up in art and was very interested in large scale concept driven art - Robert Smithson, and the Spiral Jetty, and these sorts of things. Then I realized that this type of art ultimately wasn’t as human centered maybe as something I might like. Then out of the blue, I just said, “I know! I’ll become an architect!”

When was that?

It must’ve been right at the end of college, because I applied to architecture a little while after I graduated. I was fortunate on choices of where to go, and I went to Yale because it seemed the most elastic of schools, at the time. It seemed supportive, artistic, multimodal, and emphasized the value of public service. I said, “Ok, I’ll try this for six months, and if it works out, great!”

By six months I knew that it was ultimately a good fit, particularly because of its breadth of learning opportunities. It was an environment where I could take part in the thought-provoking open dialogue of the historian Vincent Scully’s architectural history seminar and at the same time participate in our class design-build project, a health clinic for the community of Cabin Creek, West Virginia. That really summarizes the basis of how I saw architecture. Architecture was not a lifelong dream of mine, because I didn’t know enough about it, but I tried it and found that it was for me.

Centro de Artes Nadir Afonso, Boticas, Portugal. Photography by Fernando Guerra

What did you take away from your time in architecture school?

The first is that I noticed that there weren’t very many women in my class, which was odd to me because I was brought up in a very entrepreneurial family. My sister was an early techie, and I was brought up with a “you-figure-things-out” mentality.

Looking back, not being in the mainstream in my class, just by being a woman, was actually a very good learning experience! I realized what it was to not be in the mainstream, and it made me more empathetic to others. I saw that architecture was this great thing that could apply to lots of people, and I think it also allowed me to take more risks. I’ve always been a calculated risk-taker, and that continued there, because there wasn’t much expected of women at that point. It was a great education for me.

What did you do after you graduated?

I worked at a few jobs in large firms and realized that they weren’t really for me. They weren’t for me because I didn’t know all of the building skills yet, as I was more inclined towards the conceptual and artistic. Eventually I got an opportunity to work for a small firm, which was great for me. My boss was busy with a residence for a New York City family who was very involved with Japanese art. The family decided that the ground floor of their new home would become a center for teaching the Japanese tea ceremony and designing the entry space into the center was delegated to me. I had an opportunity to go to Japan, and work with Japanese craftsmen, and there I realized that the craft - the putting together - of architecture was so important. Great execution.

“...not being in the mainstream in my class, just by being a woman, was actually a very good learning experience! I realized what it was to not be in the mainstream, and it made me more empathetic to others.”

At that point I spent a lot of time learning about the making of architecture. I would go home and study HVAC on my own! Then I started my own firm as soon as I could because I felt that that was in keeping with what was natural to me. Clients came in naturally too, so that was fine, and early on, I ended up being asked to do an affordable housing project here in New York. I said, “Sure!” We got the thing built, and it ended up exhibited as a model of affordable housing in the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. From there, I moved in all kinds of directions in terms of building typologies. I said yes to whatever came in, while also looking for opportunities to think outside the perimeter about how these projects could be done differently, from libraries to schools to then working in different countries.

Tell me about that, the international work.

We did a project, Centro de Artes Nadir Afonso, an art center and museum built to honor and exhibit the work of the distinguished Portuguese artist, Nadir Afonso. It was also very cool because the museum is located in a small Portuguese village close to the town where the artist’s foundation was simultaneously being designed by the inspirational architect, Alvaro Siza.

When we went to the site, I realized that there was an opportunity to make it not only an art museum, but urbanistically, given that it was across the street from the new municipal building, a town center. We took the initiative to recommend putting a green roof park on top of the museum, a totally sustainable roof. It became the equivalent of Central Park for this small village! We always look for the opportunity to elevate that which the clients want into something with further reach, and we also look for ways to keep going and make it interesting and fun for ourselves.

Village Health Works Staff Housing, Kigutu, Burundi. Photography by Iwan Baan.

Louise with local team at stone quarry in Burundi

That was definitely the case for our healthcare project in Burundi. I was completely surprised when out of the blue I was asked to design a building in Kigutu, a post-genocide village on a 40-acre rural site. After a mere two weeks of conversations with our client, I found myself on a 26-hour flight to East Africa.

Early on I realized that the villagers, although superficially different from me, are actually not that different at all. They are mothers and fathers who are committed to creating a better life for their children and their community. Located 100% off the grid and close to the equator, the project brought new meaning to the concept of sustainability. We took on this challenge with our design for a staff dormitory composed of culturally emblematic brightly colored porches that encouraged casual conversation and emphasized natural ventilation, the simplest form of air conditioning.

You sound so positive.

It’s always about how you look at it! Being positive and being different is an asset, and allows you to work with different people towards a good result. The glass is half-full.

I know a lot of our readers are young women who hope to run their own practice some day - how do you get the ground running with that?

Well, I’ve always been very organized and entrepreneurial. When I had my first client, I just figured, “Hey, if I have a client, I have a firm!” So I think you do start with that first commission and build on that. With that, you figure out who it makes sense to have work on your team, and I’ve always tried to bring people on that are a little bit more comfortable with different ways to practice. There are so many ways. I’ve found my approach to generally be, “Okay, we haven’t done this before, but we’ve done all kinds of things that we haven’t done before, and we definitely have a way that we think about things.”

Starting a practice and finding subsequent clients is certainly a challenge, but you just sort of go with it, and generally, we’ve found thoughtful people who can see the larger picture, beyond their one project.

“Being positive and being different is an asset, and allows you to work with different people towards a good result. The glass is half-full.”

With this in mind, I know a lot of our readers are young women who wonder how they’ll be able to integrate family life with a firm of their own. What advice do you have there?

Motherhood is great, and having my own firm was great throughout my daughter’s upbringing because I had a certain flexibility to take care of her school and social issues. I wasn’t traveling to Europe at this point, when she was little, so I was around to go to school events.

It’s interesting because my daughter isn’t an architect, she’s in media, and in some ways, listening to what she wants for her life has contributed to how I work with my clients. You have to listen to what they want, and not impose ideas on them that might not be a good fit. Listening to your clients is so important - listening and understanding. This might go back to not being in the mainstream because you need to understand that people can and will have different ideas than you! You can come up with a solution that you think is right, but you have to also incorporate their wishes, their desires, their dreams, and what they think is right for them.

Where are you in your career today?

I’m feeling very positive. I’m looking around for new work while we have work that we’re doing right now - we like to jump in, no matter what the scale is, and try to do our very, very best. So many people used to say that architecture is an old man’s profession [laughs], but I’ve really found that we, women, are in the thick of it! And we love it! We love looking for opportunities to expand the reach of architecture, especially into mainstream society.

Joe’s, New Milford, Connecticut. Photography by Michael Moran.

Derfner Museum, Riverdale, New York. Photography by Michael Moran.

What have been your biggest challenges throughout your career?

Getting work, figuring out how to do it best, and balancing the family with all of it is certainly challenging. The workflow can be too. All of the normal challenges that business owners face I suppose.

I realized that you just have to stay with it. Throughout all this I’ve learned that it all comes down to authenticity. I think this is what it’s all really about. You have to just be who you are. I can’t turn myself into a pretzel trying to be someone I’m not.

Hayes Slade and I talked about this in her interview - she talked about how you can’t be a different person towards every other different person in your life. You just have to be yourself.

Yes, be yourself! My husband is supportive, but he’s him, and I’m me, and that’s great! And I tell my clients this too - I am who I am, this is what I bring to the table, and this is how we’d love to collaborate with you. We’re very accepting of differences. I really admire Hayes for that - she’s an engineer by training!

Right, talk about being unique and your own person. Who else are you admiring right now?

Since school, I’ve always admired Alvaro Siza. Especially since working in Portugal. He has a way of making spaces that are seamless yet very complex. Having worked in Africa and gaining that understanding, I’ve really admired Francis Kéré and his knowledge of elevating and amplifying what at first glance seem to be quite basic architectural situations. They’re both very different, but they both think on a high level about how the body moves in space. They really get it.

“So many people used to say that architecture is an old man’s profession [laughs], but I’ve really found that we, women, are in the thick of it! And we love it! We love looking for opportunities to expand the reach of architecture, especially into mainstream society.”

What have been the biggest highlights for you?

The biggest highlights are when people just show up and say, “We know how much you’re thinking about this, and we’d love to work with you.” When they’re interested in our perspective, it’s always fantastic. We’re also very proud of coming in on time and on budget - I mean, that’s just a baseline - but what that allows for is, if you understand construction and understand how to do something differently, you can basically help people improve their lives and also reinvent the world in some ways.

Finally, what advice do you have for those just starting their careers?

You have to know who you are. You have to know what your interests and basic capabilities are. Only then can you really expand on this, enlarge your situation, and welcome wonderful opportunities.

Also, multi-tasking is very important in all aspects of life, and women certainly shouldn’t be the only ones doing it. Learning how to multi-task, with family and career, is a very important thing, and in the past, women have had to learn that naturally, but it’s time for everyone else to do this. And there’s no one way! My father once told me, “Do what comes easily to you.” I always thought that what comes easily may not necessarily be important, but I later realized that this is not the case. What comes naturally for me is visual thinking and these sorts of things. Everyone should figure out what comes naturally to them.

For me, it’s writing. It has certainly never been drafting [laughs].

And that has clearly worked! It came naturally and it’s authentic, and that’s important.