Women in Architecture: A Symposium

Tour of St. Louis, organized by Dan Royse, Chairman, Urban Design Department, Washington University School of Architecture

Buses leave from the front of Givens: 2:00, 2:15, 2:30.

Housing assignments, hosts and guests

Dinner, Brown Lounge, School of Social Work

Gertrude Lempp Kerbis, F.A.I.A., "Architecture: Male, Female or Neuter"

Ms. Kerbis' presentation will deal with her concepts of design morphology as demonstrated by her own work. Ms. Kerbis has been principal of her own firm in Chicago since 1962. Her professional experience also includes work for the Chicago firms of C.F. Murphy, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Loebl Schlossman and Bennet, Bertrand Goldberg and Associates, and Carl Koch and Associates of Boston. She names as her most successful contribution to architecture "the synthesis of innovative structural ideas with architecturally significant spaces," including her 1955 design for S.O.

Professor Whitney Gordon, A Psychological Profile of the Architect

Whitney Gordon is a professor of sociology at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He will base his talk on his research. In a recent correspondence he stated, "...while I did not focus on women in architecture, my findings certainly speak to their condition within the profession." Professor Gordon has recently spoken at the regional A.I.A. Conference in Chicago.

Kay Standley and Dr. Bradley Soule, Women Professionals in Architecture, Law and Medicine

Kay Standley and Dr. Bradley Soule, a psychologist and a psychiatrist from Washington, D.C., have recently completed a study dealing with professional women in the fields of law, medicine, and architecture, under the auspices of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. They have previously presented this study to the A.W.A. in New York. Kay Standley received her A.B., M.A.Ed. and Ph.D. at Washington University. Bradley Soule completed his undergraduate work at Amherst College and received his M.D. at the University of Vermont. Both have written numerous papers on professional women and have contributed publications to journals including The American Bar Association Journal and The Journal of Vocational Behavior.

Panel: Role Problems Facing Professional Women

Panelists: Whitney Gordon, Gertrude Kerbis, Kay Standley, Bradley Soule, and Leslie Weisman

Moderator: Judith Edelman

Leslie Weisman is Professor of Architecture at the University of Detroit. She is also currently Director of Admissions and Area Coordinator for Communications Design in the School of Architecture and Environmental Studies. Ms. Weisman has an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts. She received her graduate degree from the University of Detroit in Urban Studies. Ms. Weisman recently initiated a study entitled "The Effects of the Predominantly Male Architectural Academic Environment upon the Self-image of the Female Architecture Students."

These workshops will deal with the "psychological" concerns of professional women. In addition to Whitney Gordon, A Talk With... and Drs. Standley and Soule, Men and Women Professionals, A Dialogue, the following workshops will be held:

Conflicts for Women Leaving Their Traditional Roles
Led by Joan Pearlman, counselor for women at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, and Instructor at Washington University. Her workshop will include a vignette from a film on assertive training. Ms. Pearlman received her M.A. from Washington University.

Assertive Behavior in Women
Led by Patricia Jakubowski Spector, Associate Professor of Education, Department of Behavioral Studies and Resources, University of Missouri, St. Louis.

In Fiction Architecture
Which is also the title of a novel currently being written by F. Corrine Kutsenkow, an architect from San Francisco, California. Ms. Kutsenknow is a graduate of Carnegie Tech (B.Arch 1949) and The University of California at Berkeley (M. Arch, 1968). She has been involved in the theater and has held numerous teaching and professional positions.

Role Conflicts: Professional, Mother and Wife
Conducted by five women who have experienced all these roles. Along with Gertrude Kerbis, Lois Langhorst, and Natalie DeBlois, there will be:
Mary Jane Fournier, a registered architect married to an architect and the mother of four children. Ms. Fournier and her husband are principals in the firm, Fournier Inc. She is also presently head of "Architectural Interiors," a subsidiary of Fournier Inc. Ms. Fournier attended Washington University and obtained her B. Arch in 1948.
Ida Scott is an architect, wife and mother of two sons. She is presently working in St. Louis for Erwin Carl Schmidt. Ms. Scott attended the University of Texas for 3.5 years and has previously worked for architectural firms in Austin, Texas, Ft. Worth, Texas, Tarrytown, N.Y., and Hingham, Mass.

Regi Goldberg, Symbolism in Architecture: A Feminist Approach to Design

Regi Goldberg is a New York architect and founder of the Alliance of Women in Architecture. She will comment on her experiences as a woman in the field of architecture. During the summer of 1973 Ms. Goldberg attended the International Conference of Women in Architecture, which was held in Rumania (she has brought videotapes of this event). Ms. Goldberg received her B.Arch in 1967 from Pratt Institute. She worked for Philip Johnson and Ullrich Franzen until she opened her own office in New York City.

Professor Lois Langhorst, A.I.A., Women Architects and Their Potential Roles in Creating Family Environments.

Professor Langhorst's talk, illustrated with slides, will focus on women as architectural decision-makers. She will address herself to the necessity of engaging women in decision-making positions, and to the practical problems of a woman architect as parent. Ms. Langhorst is Professor of Architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She has also taught at the University of Kentucky, and the University of California at Davis and at Berkeley. Her architectural design experience includes numerous award-winning residential projects as well as publication in magazines and journals, including Architectural Forum, Better Homes and Gardens, and Time. She recently received her Master of Fine Arts Degree from Harvard University, where she is a candidate for the Ph.D. degree in Fine Arts in History of Architecture and Urbanism. Ms. Langhorst is the mother of three daughters.

Panel: How the Profession of Architecture Might Change as More Women Enter the Field

Panelists: Irving Engel, Regi Goldberg, Lois Langhorst, Lou Sauer, Suzanne Schwimmer

Irving Engel is Professor of Architectural Structures at Washington University School of Architecture. He received his B.S. in Architectural Engineering at Louisiana State University in 1959, and his M.S. in Architectural Science at Cornell University. Mr. Engel has had extensive working experience with contractors and consulting engineers.

Lou Sauer is a principal in the St. Louis firm Hoffman and Sauer, one of the fastest-growing firms in the St. Louis area. Mr. Sauer received his B.S. (1961), B.ARch (1965) and M.Arch (1967) from Washington University. Presently he is in charge of design for his firm.

Suzanne Schwimmer is Associate Professor at the School of Architecture and Environmental Design, State University of New York at Buffalo. She has had extensive experience with operations research, systems analysis, etc. in relation to architecture. She has worked for I.B.M. in New York, The Systems Development Corporation in California and the Rand Corporation, California. She received her formal education at Barnard College, Columbia University, and the University of California at Los Angeles.

These workshops deal with the professional concerns of women architects.

Archives of Women's Work and History of the Alliance of Women Architects
Workshops will be led by Phyllis Birkby, Marjorie Hoog, Regi Goldberg, and Sue Whilley.

Design and Environment
Led by Phyllis Birkby, a New York City Architect and instructor at the City College of New York. Ms. Birkby did her undergraduate work at Cooper Union and received her M.Arch. at Yale Universeity. Her workshop will include a videotape which describes how the environment is disabling for a woman in N.Y.C. with three small children.

Trends in Architectural Education, Trends in the Architectural Profession, Architecture as a Non-Profession
Led by Marjorie Hoog, an architect active in the Alliance of Women Architects. Ms. Hoog was also a participant at the Conference of Women Architects in Rumania. Ms. Hoog did her undergraduate work at Cooper Union and received her M.Arch. at Harvard.

Discrimination in Education and the Profession and Environments for Women Architects
These two workshops will be led by Regi Goldberg.

A Woman as an Architect and Contractor
Led by Sue Whilley, a New Haven architect and contractor. Ms. Whilley's work is in urban areas. She received her M.Arch. at Yale University.

Architectural Practice or The Rewards of Building Buildings
Led by Natalie DeBlois, Associate Partner, Skidmore Owings and Merrill, Chicago, where she has worked for 30 years as a project designer.