Volume
37—
Feb. 26, 2016 / Barbara
Brown Panel: Building Women
Women who design, build, teach, develop and negotiate.
On a rainy night in February, I moderated a panel discussion with Brown University graduates who are actively changing the built landscape: A builder, a developer, an interior designer, an architect, and a real estate broker…and they were all women. How did these women choose their fields, build their careers and navigate through professions often characterized as male-dominated? What is the reality of being a woman in these fields? Challenges? Advantages? Building is so inherently collaborative and team driven, and the notion of the sole designer -Master Builder- has never been true but is a very seductive myth. Are women more inherently collaborative, problem solvers and consensus seekers, or is that a myth too? Would that quality be a benefit?
I posed these questions to the panelists, and we had a spirited discussion. We pushed back against being labeled, but we also recognized that we need to present ourselves as role models for the upcoming generations: This is what an architect looks like. This is what a developer looks like. We talked about what we had experienced on site and in the office. We speculated on how you have a career and a family…and how we individually, and as employers, dealt with issues of flexibility and inclusion.
Brown Panel: Building Women
Moderated by:
Barbara Laskey Weinreich ’80
- Architect – Principal; MNA
Panel Guests:
Tei Carpenter ’05
- Architect - Principal at Agency-Agency and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University
Charlotte Matthews ‘99
- Developer - Vice President-Sustainability; Related
Barbara Pook ’77
- Builder - Principal and Director of Project Management; Pook, Diemont & Ohl, Inc.
Diana Revkin ’83
- Architect - Associate Principal; TPG Architecture
Suzanne Sunshine ’85
- Real Estate – President; S. Sunshine & Associates
![Brown Panel: Building Women - Neumann & Rudy Field Trip](https://assets.nr.works/media/CACHE/images/articles/IMG_2083/d83eda633f79c6b11e2fde820b4fdfb2.jpg)
![Brown Panel: Building Women - Neumann & Rudy Field Trip](https://assets.nr.works/media/CACHE/images/articles/IMG_1993/46525d6cc621f8fcaf957aa7186da3a5.jpg)
![Brown Panel: Building Women - Neumann & Rudy Field Trip](https://assets.nr.works/media/CACHE/images/articles/IMG_2523/7067273af2a1394106ff49391655c542.jpg)
![Brown Panel: Building Women - Neumann & Rudy Field Trip](https://assets.nr.works/media/CACHE/images/articles/IMG_2029/5f52960cfd4332239726658dfedcdf16.jpg)
![Brown Panel: Building Women - Neumann & Rudy Field Trip](https://assets.nr.works/media/CACHE/images/articles/IMG_2084/dfcba6c92741188a8aed0be279383f46.jpg)
![Brown Panel: Building Women - Neumann & Rudy Field Trip](https://assets.nr.works/media/CACHE/images/articles/IMG_2101/d79ce2bb03b51a1ca3636276eebcd3e2.jpg)