Good morning.
Hi.
I think we are going to
go ahead and get started.
I know people are filtering
in from breakfast and probably
from the rain too, but we want
to stay on schedule today,
because we have a lot going on.
So good morning
again, and welcome
to the second day
of the Convergence
at the Confluence of Power,
Identity, and Design.
For those who were not
able to join us last night,
we'd like to quickly introduce
ourselves and give you
all a brief rundown of
our mission statement
and today's agenda.
Again, my name's
Adelle York, and I'm
in the Master in Design Studies
program studying urbanism,
landscape, and ecology.
And I'm Cynthia Deng, and
I'm in both the Master
of Architecture and Master
of Urban Planning programs.
And I'm Sarah Diamond, and
I'm in the Master of Landscape
Architecture program.
So I'm just going to
quickly go over our mission
statement for you this morning.
This Convergence is
meant to be a first step
in a broad and concerted effort
to reimagine design culture
and bring the issues
of identity and equity
into mainstream
design discourse.
So many people have contributed
their time, enthusiasm,
and labor to make
this weekend happen,
and we hope that this
collaborative spirit
can inspire a new design
practice and ethos.
Addressing and acknowledging
the prevalence of sexual assault
and harassment is fundamental
to the social transformation
we believe necessary.
However, that is not and cannot
be the only behavior addressed.
The design community must
face and come to terms
with, among other things,
the deeply gendered values,
conventions, and theories
of our disciplines.
And before we get
started, we want
to turn your attention to
the program really briefly.
You all should have
the pamphlet in hand.
There are some components of
that we'd like to explain.
On the outside, clipped
on, is on a tan piece
of paper an annotated
version of Zoe Leonard's poem
"I Want a President."
So if you could, please take
a moment today or tomorrow
to reflect--
or today, rather-- to
reflect on these statements
and convey your thoughts
on the back of the page,
and that will be included in
our upcoming reader marginalia.
The second component to
note is the blue slip
within the pamphlet.
That blue page is a space for
reflection after each session,
so please write your
immediate takeaways or action
ideas, things that come to
mind as you're listening
to the panel and part
of this conversation,
and please write those down
and post them onto the rolling
board in Stubbins.
So we'll have that
aggregate over the day.
Your input is going to
be an essential artifact
of these discussions,
and it's going
to help guide our collective
actions as we move forward.
And finally, at some
point in the day,
if you could spend 30
minutes or so in Stubbins,
which is room 112, to
annotate and inscribe
your thoughts on the
foam blocks that we
are going to be using for
the final build later today.
Some prompts for how
to annotate the foam
blocks are on the orange
page of the program.
Each attendee can
express themselves
through painting,
writing, collaging
on a piece of what is
going to come together
to be a larger
whole and eventually
travel to other
institutions where
more participants can
add pieces and rebuild
in new configurations.
One last note, not all of
the workshops are filled up,
so after this, it
will be first come,
first served for
the four workshops.
And in addition, if you are
not signed up for a workshop
and don't manage to get into the
workshop you want or whatever,
we encourage you to phone bank
with the Harvard Urban Planning
Organization in room 310.
That will be at the same time
as the workshop sessions.
So thank you.
We are going to be starting
the Power Panel now.
Please keep in mind that
when we open for questions,
we'd like to prioritize
questions from women of color
first and then open
it to everyone.
So I'd like to introduce
the Power Panel,
and I'm really
honored to do that.
Our moderator is Stephanie Lee.
Stephanie is the
co-founder and CEO
of Spaceus, which transforms
vacant storefronts
into collaborative and
creative workspace.
She is currently finishing
her M art degree at MIT.
So we have five
panelists joining us.
Amber Wiley is an
assistant professor
of art history at
Rutgers University.
[applause]
She specializes in
architecture, urbanism,
historic preservation, and
African-American cultural
studies.
Her research
interests are centered
on the social aspects
of design and how
it affects urban
communities-- architecture
as a literal and figurative
structure of power.
Bryony Roberts is an
architectural designer
and scholar.
Based in New York, her
practice Bryony Roberts Studio
integrates methods
from architecture, art,
and preservation to respond
to complex cultural sites
and has been awarded
the Architectural League
Prize, the Rome Prize, as well
as support from the National
Endowment for the Arts,
the Graham Foundation,
and the MacDowell Colony.
Roberts teaches architecture
and preservation
at Columbia University GSAPP.
Chandra Russ is an urban
development strategist
who works to reimagine
and redesign space,
including physical,
social, and virtual,
to make cities more
just and sustainable.
Her research
focuses on relations
between infrastructure
and economic development,
sociospatial inequality, and
race and gender politics.
She holds a BA in environmental
sciences and policy
from Duke University
and is currently
pursuing a master's
degree in urban planning
with a concentration in real
estate finance at Harvard GSD.
Teresa Gal -Izard is an
associate professor at Harvard
GSD and principal of
Arquitectura Agronomia.
She defines herself
as a translator
of the hidden
potential of places.
Her research and projects
focus in the integration
of living systems into
the logics of design,
looking for new beauties and
contemporary new languages.
She is the author of The
Same Landscapes, Ideas
and Interpretations.
And finally, trained as an
architect, Meral Ekincioglu--
I worked on that--
began her PhD
dissertation research
at Harvard University
and Columbia University
before obtaining her degree
at Istanbul Technical
University in 2011.
Following this, she pursued
her academic research
at the MIT History and
Critical Theory Program
and has presented this
work at various conferences
internationally.
Dr. Ekincioglu created and
developed the first collection
of Turkish women
architects for ARCNET,
an online resource at
MIT, and more recently
has conducted
short documentaries
and is a contributor to two
international publications
focusing on women architects.
And now I'll turn it
over to Stephanie Lee.
[applause]
Hello?
OK, great.
Thanks so much for
putting this together.
I'm so excited to see
everyone here and also
be able to moderate
this amazing panel.
Just to begin with, I would
love if each of the panelists
could define power and the
framework of power in which you
operate, and potentially, also
how that relates to capital.
Hello?
Is this on?
Oh, it is.
OK.
I was just saying we don't
have to go in order if anyone
feels particularly compelled--
or I can--
OK.
I brought up the issue of
capital in our conversations
that we had before this
panel, because obviously it's
a broad topic, but
we could be talking
about economic capital, social
capital, even cultural capital,
and how that is directly
related to power in the ways
that we employ it or
deploy it, but also,
in the United States
where we're operating
on a capitalist system.
So thinking about how those two
things are irrevocably entwined
in a way, and how we operate.
So I do see power as
directly related to capital
and how it's used
in various ways,
but I also see
power as something
that we can mold and shape.
A lot of my research is
changing the narrative.
As an architectural
historian, I was in classes,
I got my BA in
architecture at Yale,
and I was in
classes where people
were talking about things
that didn't necessarily
relate to me, thinking
about urban renewal
and these big grand schemes of
Le Corbusier and his visions
for Paris.
And I was really
frustrated, because I
know about urban renewal, but
we were on the other side.
They tore down my grandmother's
house for a shopping mall.
And I was continuously
frustrated with that.
And so what happened, and
I've said this before,
is that I went from being
the frustrated student
to the professor.
And in that, I was able to gain
some power in a sense of help
change the narratives
that I was seeing.
And really talking
about, like she
said, the social
aspects of design,
how people are affected.
And really reorienting the
narrative in a way that says,
look, people are just as
important as the design
that we create.
And we have to center
them and not just
centering buildings,
but centering people,
because those are the folks
who we're building for.
So that was one way that I
saw this relate to narrative,
and how we talk about our
history and our present,
and whose stories get told.
Nice.
It's such a pleasure to be here.
It just really warms my heart
that this is even happening,
to see you all in this room.
So to build on that, I
thought this question of power
is really interesting, and I
was thinking that, for me, it's
about reframing
what power can be.
As a practitioner, thinking
about it in terms of efficacy,
and also as an individual,
that I think power
is the ability to have choice
and to have the resources
to make those choices possible.
And so I think, as
practitioners, we
do need the efficacy
to enact change,
but it doesn't have to be
through a power of dominion.
I think it can be
a power that's more
about a mutually
supportive collaborative
model of working with other
people and other practices.
And I can talk more
about this later,
but I'm teaching a studio
right now at Columbia
called "What is
Feminist Practice,"
and so we're looking at
how, historically, people
have looked at this question
through restructuring what
a design practice is
internally, but also
the way you relate
to users, to clients,
so that the power
structure in that
shifts or is more equitable.
But also thinking
about planning,
the planning of cities, a
program, and then a building,
how to share responsibilities
of the household of care
across a whole city.
And then even
materiality, how to shift
the way we relate to materials
and use and fabricate them.
So I think power is
important, but it
can be redefined, and
used by, and shared.
Thank you again for having me.
So I think, generally,
when I think about power,
I'm really talking
about authority,
meaning confidence,
rights, and status
of people and collective
groups to then promote
action or change.
And it's really an
action oriented frame,
but again, echoing
what Amber said,
looking at my own
positionality, what
it means to have an
intersectional frame,
I think a lot of my work
centers on what that means,
to hold multiple truths
as I reimagine power,
and the specific kind
of grounding that
within a capitalist society
thinking about dispossession
and displacement and
labor exploitation,
and the ways in which I
study racialized geographies,
and how capital then interacts
at the intersection of race
and gender.
So really beginning
to shift paradigm,
so that I can have even the
confidence in the rights
and build that status
to acquire power.
So a lot of it is thinking
about shifting those frames,
but as well as understanding
that credit is important,
but it has to come with change.
And so you can't really use
your credit or your credentials
to enact power without having
that change to underlie it.
OK.
So I'm going to read
what I wrote, because I'm
going to be more comfortable.
But the first thing
that I want to say
is that when I was
invited to this panel,
that it's about power, I
thought, why am I in this panel
if I don't care about power.
But why I don't
care about power?
And it's because
I associate power
to arrogance, to dictatorship,
to a continuous need
of demonstration of ego.
And we all know,
but I will repeat,
that all of those attributes are
associated with fear, weakness,
and insecurity.
So the expression
of power for me
is the expression of weakness,
of insecurity, of fear.
But let's talk about
power in a positive way,
because I really
believe that there
is another kind of
productive power--
a [inaudible] Brazilian
and long time power.
And I think that
I agree with you
that we are lucky
to have choices,
and because we have
freedom and choices,
we have responsibility.
So I want to talk about
the little invisible power
most of us have in this room,
and this is the reason why
we are here today.
In my case, as a
woman, as a landscape
architect from the south in
a world of male architects
from the north.
I have to clarify
that I am from Europe.
So these are some of
the powers of my list.
The power of being
loyal to yourself.
The power of sustaining an
ethical position of our time
and being consequent to it.
The power of listening and
being open to evolve and change.
We choose the power
of being alive.
The power of empowering others.
We choose the power of teamwork,
collaboration, and democracy,
including natural systems
and other creatures.
The power of mother nature.
The power of good education,
which sacrifice individual
over general and
that teaches people
how to renounce to their own
interests for the general ones.
The power of the journey
towards excellence,
not excellence itself.
The power of honesty,
generosity, love, and care.
The power of being
aware and ready
for the uncertainty
of the future.
The power of critical thinking.
And I will finish this list
with the invisible powers that
are specific to us
as designers, which
are the powers of imagination
and the powers of creativity.
I wish we could redo this panel
based in those forms of power.
I think that it
would be much bigger.
First of all, thank you for
this organization and panel,
and before sharing my
comments about your question,
I would like to say that my
scholarly journey began here
in 2006 when I was a special
Turkish fellow for my PhD
dissertation research
at Harvard University.
But at that time, I would
never recognize myself
as a woman architect
or woman scholar,
and I had no plan to
conduct an academic research
project on women architects.
But I opened my
eyes to the world,
and in particular, architecture
criticism here in the United
States and at this university as
a PhD candidate from Istanbul.
In particular, in the final
process of my PhD dissertation
research between 2009 and
2011, I began to think deeply
on power structures,
and status, and role,
and visibility of women
architects and women scholars
in architecture, and decided
to come back to United States--
back again--
to conduct my new independent
and advanced academic research
project on women architects.
And today, I am very happy
to be here as a woman scholar
and woman architect.
And for your question,
in general, power,
I think, refers to official
or legal authority,
and influence, and
control over others.
But for me, the powers
means the ability
to act together in a collective
way with a diverse, inclusive,
and equal groups,
organizations, or institutions
in architecture.
And for capital, I
think that we have been
discussing economic capital.
And architecture--
as we know very well,
architecture is not only
about architectural creativity
and different from
artistic creativity,
this is a design-centered
profession,
and in particular, large-scale
commercial clients,
and their aggressive
marketing strategies,
and some profit-oriented
expectations
have a very strong pressure on
design leaders, design teams,
and design organizations
in architecture.
But in particular, I would
like to underline in this panel
the potential of feminist
scholarship in architecture,
architectural history, and
critical historiography,
because feminist
scholarship really
can help us to reveal,
analyze, and criticize
power structures--
in particular,
masculine dominance
and their strong
networks in architecture,
and how gender politics operate
within these power structures
and complicated networks.
Without supporting and
promoting feminist scholarship,
I think that it's very difficult
to discuss these issues
and criticize power structures.
And in particular,
in today's world,
finally, as reports, data,
and surveys shows us,
racial and ethnical
diversity has
been increasing in
American architecture,
and we have been
reading and watching
some critical arguments
by political leaders
for equal and diverse
society, and it has
some effects on architecture.
And within such a critical
landscape, immigrant women
architects, minorities,
and underrepresented groups
and communities, I think
deserve particular attention
and support as a critical
attitude for power.
Thank you.
So going off of that,
it seems that everyone
here is interested in
shifting a paradigm of power,
but also, to do that, you must
have navigated an existing
structure.
What was that process like?
And also, how do you reconcile
that with how you practice now?
When you think about authorship
and sharing, giving credit,
how does that play a
role in your process?
It's difficult. It takes time.
I think that this is
why, personally, I
am very interested in
empowering the student.
I think that if
the students know
that there is somebody
that supports them,
so I think that
this is a first step
to start creating this
network of different values.
I think that it's also
a question of values,
but I was worried when I saw
this panel, because in a way,
it's like continuing the
same pattern of masculinity,
of power as a title.
When I was introducing myself,
I expressly erased my titles.
Who cares who you are?
Who cares if I am associate
or lecturer or whatever?
Who cares?
I really don't care.
I can say that because I'm
from Europe, and I'm protected.
Really, I don't suffer
capitalism in my country,
so I respect people that put
the title, because they need
that in order to
survive in this system,
but I really believe there
are always a plan B, a plan C,
and we have the
power to change it.
So I'm really happy
that this now generation
is doing this panel.
I think that we have to
support them, because in a way,
I feel that I am done, and
my responsibility, it's
the next generation.
So it's in our hands
and it's possible.
So I think when I
reflect on changing
dominant narratives
around power,
I think about it
in three frames.
The first is the
confrontation phase.
That's like when you
walk into the risk,
and thinking about "I may be
the only woman in this space,
the only person of color, the
only student in this space,"
and what it really
means to sit with that
and recognize all the
structures that play into what
got you in that very
particular position.
And only then you can move to
the challenge space, that's
really having the
information to ask
the hard questions, and also
the really simple questions,
like why is there not
certain aspects of power
that you want to see as a part
of the definition of the space
or the dominant culture.
So really using
your own narratives
and threading that
through to come
from a place of authenticity.
And once you begin
to challenge that,
then you can start with
the construction phase.
That's when you begin
to build and reimagine
your alternative framework for
what power could look like.
And I think it's
important to think
about the elements
of accountability,
so who are you accountable
to in that space,
being really clear about what
you want your role to be,
and how you fit into that
larger arc of change,
but then also, who are
you in community with.
This work can be
incredibly isolating,
navigating really
opaque power structures,
so that point about
accountability and community
is going to help you
work from, really,
a space of where you're
trying to get to and not
from a space of pain.
So looking at it
from a place of hope,
and always thinking
about how you
have one hand to fight
whatever you're doing
and one hand to build.
So as we deconstruct,
we have to continue
to build what we want that
alternative to look like.
Yeah, I would agree with the
things that have been said,
and it's interesting that
when we were defining power,
a lot of the folks
up here mentioned
collaborative efforts
and equitable efforts.
And I thought that was
really interesting,
because that is not usually
the dominant framework that we
talk about power necessarily.
I guess in my practice, my
practice as a professor,
centering students is
definitely one of those things--
letting them teach me sometimes.
I'm like, oh, I
didn't know that.
That is a new term.
OK, great.
And putting them
in those networks
that we talked about,
because I have students
who have certain
interests, and I
said, OK, let me hook you
up with so-and-so who's
the CEO of this thing or who
does this thing over here,
and they're like, can I
really talk with that person.
And I'm like, yes.
Send them an email.
Tell them I told you the email.
Creating those networks
for my students
even is really powerful.
Opening the door.
So I think that we talked
about relative power
before the panel started, and
I feel powerful in this room.
Not just because it's set
up this way, but it is.
But if I walk out that
door, I feel differently.
It depends.
I'm walking on Harvard
Yard, and I'm like,
these people probably don't
even know what I'm doing here,
and they probably--
I'm just another tourist.
Touching the John
Harvard statue I
didn't know I wasn't
supposed to touch.
And so power is relative.
And we can use what
we have where we are
and build on that in the
different ways that we can.
So the collaborative efforts,
I just say putting people on.
That's what I like.
I don't see other women
scholars as competition.
I don't.
I'm like, what do you do, what
do I do, where do we connect.
Where do we diverge and how
can I put you on to something?
That is part of my practice.
Yeah, I want to talk
about it on a sort
of personal psychological level,
because I think the question is
really interesting of how you
get through situations where
you're, for example, the
only woman in a room.
And for me, it's been
interesting to also watch it
generationally, because
my mother is an architect,
and she has her own practice,
and she built that up
in the '70s and '80s, and it was
a very different environment.
And I think there's
a danger when you're
in those situations of trying
to compete on that level
by being as tough, and cold,
and impenetrable as possible.
And I catch myself
doing that all the time.
When you're on a
final review jury,
and there's eight
men and me, and you
have to get your comment in, and
it's this constant interplay,
I think, between trying
to make space for a voice,
but also trying to be
true to who you are.
And I think what's the opposite
of that is vulnerability.
Like you were talking
about, acknowledging
what you don't know, learning
from the people you work with,
and obviously, it's important
to stand in your own knowledge
and your own expertise.
But I think, for me, I do a
lot of collaborative work,
and it's just wonderful,
it's enjoyable,
to be working with people
who I'm learning from.
That's the power dynamic,
rather than singular authority
looking down.
For my experience in
my academic research
project on immigrant
women architects,
I would like to share that
in the beginning process,
some women architects
were open to dialogues
and very supportive, but
sometimes, it was a little bit
difficult to establish
dialogues with some women
architects for this research.
And some family members of
women architects pass away.
Some family members seemed
to be very supportive
in the beginning of
my research, and they
received my detailed
research questions,
but then, it was difficult
to establish some information
or materials about
this women architects.
In addition to this, some
schools of architecture,
they are open to scholarly
dialogues and communication,
but sometimes, it was
a little bit difficult
to establish a
scholar that looks
with some schools of
architecture related
to my research findings.
And in addition to this,
in particular, feminist
scholarship to support,
and promote diversity,
and inclusion about
minority groups,
and underrepresented
communities,
and groups in architecture,
we need archives.
We need collections-- in
particular, digital collections
and archives.
One of the critical
facts, as I understood,
even some leading
schools of architecture
in the United
States or in Turkey,
they are still far
away to recognize
their first or early
women architects.
They don't have,
as I understood,
a documentation
practice on their women
students from
different countries,
from different
ethnicities, and so on.
And when I completed my academic
research project at MIT,
then I wanted to share
my findings and projects
with a scholarly community
in academia in architecture,
but according to my experience,
public lectures and talks
organized by schools
of architecture
usually focus on, still,
star or male profiles.
And in the beginning, when I
completed my research at MIT,
in the beginning, rather
than schools of architecture,
women and gender
studies programs
were much more open
to establish dialogues
with me and for my public
talks and presentation.
I think this notion of how to
make space for other voices,
and how to be inclusive, and
fold more narratives into--
giving more people
a platform seems
to be something that
everyone feels either
that they feel passionate about
or that they've benefited from.
I guess I would be
curious to hear more
about this notion
of responsibility,
and how you feel
responsibility now
as someone who has
been invited to speak
on a panel about power.
I'm sure you were also speaking
about other exciting things
on other days, and so
I'm curious how you
figure that responsibility in.
I personally take very
seriously the responsibility.
I have to say that in the very
long journey in my career--
I am here.
I have my family in
Spain, but I'm here
because I know that this is
a very powerful place where
I can make a change.
I would prefer to
be in Barcelona
with my sons and my
husband, but in a way,
I am really here because
I know that it's needed.
And I really take very
seriously the power,
because we have power.
I'm totally sure.
And about what you are saying,
about the way that we present,
I think that we have to
put a lot of creativity
here, and erase this
idea of superstar system.
I know that this is part of
the culture of this country,
but I want to say
let's stop that.
Let's stop just going
to lectures and you,
please, students, be
critical about the lectures
that you have in
this school where
they present an architect
talking about nature,
but we look at the news and
we see this hurricane that
is blowing houses and nature
and amazing design that
has nothing to do with the
reality of this country.
So I would be very critical.
You need to have your
voice here and not
accept certain ways of
presenting architecture.
This is not the point.
I'm sorry.
So we are all humans.
We are all learning.
All the architects that are
superstars are learning,
and by terming
them as superstars,
we are putting all
the pressure on them,
and we are creating these
monsters that are arrogant,
that don't treat you well.
Don't accept an arrogant
architect talking bad to you.
So they are learning
like you are
learning, so don't accept that.
I would design a
protocol to each time
that I'm not around
a person to talk--
I've done that.
I said that an arrogant
person talk to me,
I don't listen to him.
So I have a technique.
Of course, this
takes a lot of time.
This is why I want
to share that.
So don't accept a certain tone.
Ask for a change of tone.
We are all learning.
It makes me laugh if somebody
says that they know something,
because we're learning.
Keep learning.
If not, we are dead.
So I would talk for creativity.
You, students, ask
for a new protocol
to relate with these figures
that are figures of power.
OK, they're going to fire me.
[applause]
So I'll borrow something from
last night's keynote speaker.
Remember the why.
And that's always been
important in my journey,
my scholarly journey,
my professional journey,
is remembering why I started.
What was it that prompted me?
I thought I was going
to be a designer,
but it was a lot about
family histories,
listening to my grandfather
tell me about his neighborhood
and how it used to
be as opposed to what
it was when I saw it,
which people called
it the hood or the ghetto.
I don't go there,
so on and so forth.
And I was like, but
my grandpa said it
was a really good neighborhood.
In understanding
the responsibility,
in terms of what propelled
you, your passions,
it's hard, because
we are in places
that tell you you can't do
this, or you can't do that.
When I was getting my
bachelor's of architecture,
history wasn't something
that was really cherished
or highlighted at Yale.
I'm just going to say it.
And then I was getting
my master's and I
was doing architectural
history, and people said,
that sounds more like
a sociology project
than an architectural history
project, and I'm like,
but we can't talk
about the people too?
Shouldn't we talk
about the people?
And remembering what brought you
to the space in the first place
and thinking about
the greater impact.
I think a lot about my
family and their history
in the landscapes.
Where I literally just
found the shotgun house
where my great grandfather
lived in 1930s Wilson, North
Carolina.
It was a Google Street View.
So the day before I got here,
I posted it on Instagram,
because I was like, yeah,
I may be going to Harvard,
but I know where I'm from.
And that is important,
to remember those roots.
And knowing how my
family in various places
have been impacted by design
helps me tell these stories
that I was struggling to
come to terms with when
I was in design
school, because it's
the other side of the story.
It's the side that
we don't talk about.
And so that's kind of my why.
That's where I see that
part of the responsibility.
Like I said, the other one
is bringing people with you
and helping them
along that journey.
I think along with the
why, I think about the how.
So I think the how is just
as important as what you're
trying to get to, and
modeling the behavior that you
want to see.
So I think when I
feel pressured to take
on dominant behaviors or that
type of normative thinking,
I then have to remember
that I'm trying
to create space for other ways.
So I then have to show up and
be present in my own truth,
so I can bring other
truths along with me.
And to ground it in my
experience in the classroom,
I think about the curriculum
of history and theory,
and I think about
my responsibility
to speak my truth in
that space, or else I'll
actually just cease to exist.
If you take that is all that
there is about the history
and theory of urban spaces,
then I never show up in that.
And that's really scary.
So I think about
the responsibility
of sitting in that
truth, and just
the generations and the
shoulders that I stand upon.
I think that always keeps
me grounded in this work,
and I think about the words
of Sister Stacey Abrams,
"I want to be a good ancestor."
I think thinking about
the generational claims
to the space that I
can now pay forward
is really important
to keep me grounded,
and focus on modeling the
behavior that I want to see,
as opposed to succumbing to the
pressures of becoming something
that I'm actually
fighting against.
I've been thinking a
lot about responsibility
and teaching lately,
and had this opportunity
to teach this studio
on feminist practice
this semester, which was
mainly because I really
just wanted to be talking
about this with my students.
And so in a way,
it's kind of pleasure
as much as responsibility
to really say what
I'm actually thinking about.
But I feel like it's been eye
opening as well, because I
think feminism right now
seems mainstream and cool,
and it's marketed to sell
t-shirts and real estate
and all kinds of things.
But it was eye
opening to see how--
one of my students told
me, well, my friends
wanted to take this
class, but they
didn't want to be labeled
as that kind of woman.
And I think that's still
very much the case.
And even though
change is happening,
I think we really do have
to have direct conversations
about this in schools,
ideally in classes where
you can have the full
spectrum of theory and history
to work from.
As you were saying,
having feminist historians
is part of the conversation.
So this is another reason
why it's so great that you're
having this event now.
OK, for my responsibility as a
feminist scholar, first of all,
during my academic
research project,
I focused on various
profiles of women architects.
In other words, in addition
to star male profile,
I think that another problem
is star or exceptional women
profiles usually in publication
media and scholarly work
as well.
So I studied various
profiles of women
and tried to explain how women
can contribute to architecture
or relevant disciplines
in various ways
with alternative career paths.
And during my academic
research project,
I created and developed
an online collections
on women architects
for ARCnet MIT,
and it was my volunteer
project for two years.
And when I completed my
research, I was in academia,
so it was my
responsibility, I think,
and I shared some difficulties
about feminist scholarship
with the different levels
of people in the university,
from the president
of the university,
for instance, Rafael Reif,
and then head of department
and architectural historians
in the university.
And in addition to this,
as my responsibility,
I made appointments with
some leading figures
on women architects.
For instance, I talked
with Beverly Vilas,
the founder of Beverly Vilas
Foundation, and something
like that.
And then, in addition to
the scholarly studies,
media is one of the
significant environment
to reach the other peoples.
I conducted short
documentary film projects
with Turkish American
TV, and I think
these are my responsibility.
And I still continue
for my efforts.
Just as a final question,
for me, but then also
to open it up to the
audience, one thing I think
about is labor and how,
oftentimes, feeling responsible
leads to a lot of
labor, which may
go unacknowledged or
unpaid, and yet, one
feels compelled to continue
these conversations.
How do you negotiate
this balance,
and how do you also
make time for care
when you want to have
these conversations
but maybe you are exhausted?
I think that this
gives a lot of energy.
So if I can just
survive and eat,
and have just nice
clothes, the rest, it's OK.
I just enjoy being here, and
I enjoy being with people
and seeing that really we're
making something for the world.
So I think that I
don't know if we
realize we are so privileged.
So I feel that they have a
responsibility in relationship
to the rest of the world.
So we are extremely lucky.
So we have to do something.
I don't know if this
is a feminist thing.
I see the whole.
I see the future.
I see people suffering.
I see that we can really
make a difference.
So there is a kind of
energy in love, in caring,
and I need that in
order to feed myself.
I think you're right that
it's also exhausting.
And I think something
that comes up a lot
is how women are socialized
to care and repair.
And I do think that those
traits can save the world.
I think that's what
we need right now,
is that sort of attitude of
sustaining and maintaining
the people and the resources
of the world that we have.
So I guess my hope
is just that it's not
only women that are
socialized to do that,
but that becomes a
shared responsibility.
So I have my 14-year-old
niece with me.
She's in the back.
Shout out to you, yeah.
I always bring her
to things like this,
conversations like this.
I said, you know, gee, do you
know why [korean] does this?
That's Korean for paternal aunt.
She said, because you like it?
I said, no, because I
feel like I have to do it.
Conversations on
diversity and equity,
inclusiveness,
however that works
with any of the identities
that I associate myself with.
And it's true to
a certain extent.
It's the work that
needs to be done.
So that's why I do it, but
it is exhausting, as we know.
And quite frankly,
I'm still trying
to figure out how to make sure
that I take care of myself
as much as I need to
without feeling like I'm
letting the world down.
So I'll say this.
I know it's recording.
There's no shame in
meditation and medication.
There's no shame
in taking a break.
Because if you don't,
your body will make you.
It'll make you.
So working to find that balance
is also a constant struggle.
And I think we've
said it before,
the idea of authenticity,
remaining true to yourself,
and so on and so forth, it also
requires that you sometimes
change your relationship
with various institutions
and various people.
And set boundaries.
I've been in enough therapy to
know to talk about boundaries.
Boundaries with your family,
boundaries with your friends,
boundaries with your job.
So these are the
things that you all
need to work out as an
individual what your needs are.
But it is a constant
struggle, certainly.
But if you don't have your
health, then you have nothing,
and you're of no use to anybody.
So keep those things in mind.
And I would also love to invite
everyone to ask a question.
Maybe not everyone, but
people with questions.
We'd love to hear from you.
Hello.
Thank you for the panel.
It was really great points
that everyone raised.
I was wondering-- there was
a point brought up yesterday
about precedence.
So my question is--
there is a set
canon of architects
that you're usually asked
to refer to and then
make your work off
of, so I was wondering
how you begin to
effectively change or begin
implementing changes
in the canons
that we used to refer
to, and especially
in an educational setting,
since a lot of you teach?
I could pick up on that one.
So I've collaborated with the
scholar and designer Mabel
Wilson, and she writes a
lot about how architecture
is created by people
who have resources
and access to capital.
And so a lot of the histories
of design and creativity
are not always
monumental buildings.
So in my studios I'm
often exposing students
to histories of other
forms of spatial invention
and including work by
artists, by performers,
ephemeral structures,
collaborative community-based
projects.
And there's such an
enormous history of that.
In my studio right now,
this particular one
is focused on the history of
feminist textile and fiber
art, which is often
at a huge scale,
incredibly spatial, and has this
materiality and this richness
that is so different from the
much more controlled language
of a neomodernist
contemporary architecture.
And it's just been
such a pleasure
to spend time with
that work, because it's
just as rich and inspiring
and super complex,
in terms of all the different
histories and identities
that it touches.
So I think if we just
start to look outside
of monumental
architecture, there's
a whole rich world there.
Thank you for being here today.
I wanted to point out something
that was said by Teresa,
but also just opening
up the question
to pretty much everyone.
Not word for word,
but you said, I
am here because there
is more power here.
And I'm just curious about
that, because I personally
worry about what it means
for a student, professor,
or professional to
direct their practice
towards a certain place
that has more influence
and has more power, and what
that means to alienate possibly
parts of yourself or
parts of the world that
isn't receiving that attention.
Can you stop
recording one moment?
[laughter]
OK.
I'm going to tell you the truth
because this is why I'm here.
When I came from Spain to
the states, I came to UVA.
And I promised myself
that I would never
go to Harvard, because I
was so upset that everybody
was following what
Harvard was doing.
I thought, OK, you
don't have personality.
What's going on in this country?
Not only in this country,
but in the world.
So they kept inviting me.
I kept saying no, I cannot
come to reviews or whatever.
But one day I took
that seriously.
I was joking.
Again, I'm such a privileged
person, I could joke,
I could play.
Because I am from Europe,
when I go to Spain,
I have medical insurance.
This was incredible for me.
To just realize that here
I had to work for having
this medical insurance.
And I was a bit cynical,
like most of Europeans
are, the ones that come
here to teach, many times.
So there was a
moment that I decided
I had to accept the
invitation to come here,
because everybody is looking
at you, believe it or not.
So it's a place that can say
things, can turn things, can--
it's what it is.
So in a way, this is
one of the strategies
that you have to play
with with the system.
There is always a
way to be there.
And I hope that you
know that as a student.
I hope that, because
since I am here,
I see that this is
like a monastery.
It's very close.
But if you go to
the world, people
look at Harvard all the time.
This is a brand.
It's a very important brand.
So what you do, so
this event, it's
going to be followed
by a lot of people,
and I hope that you know that.
And I'm just taking a
risk here saying that,
but this is the truth, so
I am very loyal to myself,
and this is the truth.
Just to jump on that, you
have time and resources,
and that's something
you pay for,
ostensibly, when
you're at school.
And you have time.
You have resources.
You can channel these things to
create a platform for something
you value, rather than get
sucked into the rat race.
Should we do one last question?
OK, great.
You'll be the last question.
No worries.
I was thinking that if I was
asked the question of power,
that I would say power comes by
being at the table of decision
making, and that one
of the things that's
unfortunate about architects
is that they're not
at the table of
decision making, not
the decision making
that matters,
which is where do
we build, how do we
build, who do we build for.
And so that's a notion
of power that I think
is much more traditional
than what you were saying,
and much less personal.
And so I'm curious to know
whether that interpretation
of power is masculinist or
contrary to what you would say,
or whether there'd be push
back to that issue of power.
And I'll just say vis a
vis the last question,
and one of the reasons
that I'm no longer so
interested in
teaching, is that I
feel like I've sent
so many students out
in the world, architects,
brilliant, smart, talented,
socially concerned, who end up
having small practices where
they build for rich people.
And 20 years later,
they're still
having small practices building
houses for rich people.
And it's not powerful.
So I'm just curious
if the notion of power
runs counter to
other people's views.
I would say that
I think what I'm
really excited about right now
is watching young practices who
are reinventing the
model, the business model,
so that they can have that
role, but do it their own way,
and not get there by repeating
what they've seen before.
Like LA M s' practice
in Los Angeles,
they're a nonprofit
design organization,
so they get grants and funding
to do community-based work
that's working on housing.
But they're also
working on policy
and collaborating with
the city governments.
But because it's a
nonprofit, they're
able to guide their
mission in a way
that a commercial firm
might not be able to.
So those are the practices
I get really excited about,
because I think, yes, we need
to be able to have impact,
but it would break
my heart, personally,
to try to get there following
the models I've seen before.
I have to say that I
have a student from UVA
that they're starting a practice
that it's collaborative.
It's like a cooperative.
I've heard some
student here, they're
starting the practice that
want to be collaborative,
which means, again, making
a network of friends
that are from the university.
And this is really,
really exciting.
But I think that
our responsibility
is to help them, to tell
them that maybe they
have to work for rich people,
but the [inaudible] have to go
for other kind of projects.
So you cannot survive just like
that, but you can navigate,
and I think that we have to
tell them that it's possible,
and it's worth doing that.
It's about being alive.
But I'm super optimistic.
So may I say something?
Since the beginning of my
academic research project,
according to my experience,
speakers, audience,
are usually women.
And in order to
be able to discuss
the significance of
diversity, equity, inclusion
as a power in architecture, if
I think male professors or male
colleagues can join
us, then I think
that it might be much more
effective and productive.
And with that, I want to thank
you all so, so very much.
That was really-- I have
a lot to think about now.
And yeah, I just want to
give it up for this panel.
Thank you.
[applause]
