Designing for Diversity
Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Architectural Profession
Published on 22. October 2007
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-0-252-07395-3 (ISBN)
Description
A powerful statement about the repercussions of discrimination and the benefits of diversity in architecture
Providing hard data for trends that many perceive only vaguely and some deny altogether, Designing for Diversity reveals a profession rife with gender and racial discrimination and examines the aspects of architectural practice that hinder or support the full participation of women and persons of color.
Drawing on interviews and surveys of hundreds of architects, Kathryn H. Anthony outlines some of the forms of discrimination that recur most frequently in architecture: being offered added responsibility without a commensurate rise in position, salary, or credit; not being allowed to engage in client contact, field experience, or construction supervision; and being confined to certain kinds of positions, typically interior design for women, government work for African Americans, and computer-aided design for Asian American architects.
Anthony discusses the profession's attitude toward flexible schedules, part-time contracts, and the demands of family and identifies strategies that have helped underrepresented individuals advance in the profession, especially establishing a strong relationship with a mentor. She also observes a strong tendency for underrepresented architects to leave mainstream practice, either establishing their own firms, going into government or corporate work, or abandoning the field altogether.
Given the traditional mismatch between diverse consumers and predominantly white male producers of the built environment, plus the shifting population balance toward communities of color, Anthony contends that the architectural profession staves off true diversity at its own peril. Designing for Diversity argues convincingly that improving the climate for nontraditional architects will do much to strengthen architecture as a profession. Practicing architects, managers of firms, and educators will learn how to create conditions more welcoming to a diversity of users as well as designers of the built environment.
Providing hard data for trends that many perceive only vaguely and some deny altogether, Designing for Diversity reveals a profession rife with gender and racial discrimination and examines the aspects of architectural practice that hinder or support the full participation of women and persons of color.
Drawing on interviews and surveys of hundreds of architects, Kathryn H. Anthony outlines some of the forms of discrimination that recur most frequently in architecture: being offered added responsibility without a commensurate rise in position, salary, or credit; not being allowed to engage in client contact, field experience, or construction supervision; and being confined to certain kinds of positions, typically interior design for women, government work for African Americans, and computer-aided design for Asian American architects.
Anthony discusses the profession's attitude toward flexible schedules, part-time contracts, and the demands of family and identifies strategies that have helped underrepresented individuals advance in the profession, especially establishing a strong relationship with a mentor. She also observes a strong tendency for underrepresented architects to leave mainstream practice, either establishing their own firms, going into government or corporate work, or abandoning the field altogether.
Given the traditional mismatch between diverse consumers and predominantly white male producers of the built environment, plus the shifting population balance toward communities of color, Anthony contends that the architectural profession staves off true diversity at its own peril. Designing for Diversity argues convincingly that improving the climate for nontraditional architects will do much to strengthen architecture as a profession. Practicing architects, managers of firms, and educators will learn how to create conditions more welcoming to a diversity of users as well as designers of the built environment.
Reviews / Votes
"Ground-breaking. . . . Deserves a place on the bookshelves, bedsides and desks of all educators, managers, [and] design principals. . . . Anthony is an unrepentant idealist, calling for nothing short of a 'transformation' of the culture of architecture; what she offers her readers are the tools by which . . . to begin the process."--Alice T. Friedman, Women's Review of Books"Anthony offers a comprehensive, hard-hitting study of problems that women and minorities face as architects in the US. She surveyed and interviewed some 400 architects and outlines various problems and discrimination against women and minorities, including lower salaries and more responsibility without a rise in position; being kept from contact with clients, field experiences, or construction supervision; and being confined to certain aspects of architecture."--Choice
"This book is more than a . . . wake-up call. In a mundane, nuts-and-bolts sense, it provides a solid bibliography for further research on the contributions made by women and people of color to twentieth-century architecture. . . . The author's work articulates the human cost of professional discrimination."--Ludmilla Pavlova, Multicultural Review
More details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Illustrations
14 black & white photographs
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 146 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
286 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-252-07395-3 (9780252073953)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Kathryn H. Anthony is ACSA Distinguished Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is the author of Design Juries on Trial: The Renaissance of the Design Studio along with Defined by Design: The Surprising Power of Hidden Gender, Age, and Body Bias in Everyday Products and Places. She is a winner of the Chicago Women in Architecture (CWA) Lifetime Achievement Award and the American Institute of Architects (AIA)/Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Topaz Medallion Award for Excellence in Architectural Education.