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The Origins of the Steering Committee - Lucia Bogatay

Julia Morgan and Feminism: Letter to the OWA/DP Editor, April 1974 - Peggy Woodring

Julia Morgan Tour of Chinatown - Northern California Chapter Society of Architectural Historians

Book Review of Gender Intelligence by Barbara Annis and Keith Merron - Wendy Bertrand

In Memory of Sigrid Lorenzen-Rupp - Uta Lorenzen-Rascon

The Berkeley-Rupp Architecture Professorship and Prize - From the UCB website

Sheila Kennedy, 2014 Recipient of the Berkeley-Rupp Prize - adapted by Lucia Bogatay from the Berkeley-Rupp Prize website

Responding to a review of the Berkeley lecture by Richard Longstreth in an earlier issue, Ms. Woodring had the following few choice words to say:

Dear OWA,

First, many thanks to all those responsible for the OWA Newsletter. It is not always possible for me to come to meetings, so I depend on the Newsletter to keep me informed.

Second, you may remember the review of Richard Longstreth’s lecture on Julia Morgan in the December issue. I would like to give another view of the Longstreth lecture which I heard at the Heritage Lecture Series in San Francisco.

My suspicions were aroused when Longstreth gave a short biographical sketch which included the following statement, “Julia Morgan was the son of an engineer.” SON! The fact that Julia Morgan’s father was not an engineer should not concern us here. What does concern us is the worldview which is represented in the lecture.

Mr. Longstreth made reference several times in the evening to his notion that Julia Morgan should not be considered interested in Women’s Lib. His insistent allusions that Morgan was not a proponent of feminism must be questioned. In fact, the statement tells us more about Mr. Longstreth than it does about Julia Morgan.

The slide material presented at the lecture said more about Julia Morgan’s interest in women than any amount of rhetoric could. Julia Morgan did buildings, not words.

Many buildings done by Julia Morgan were for women – women as clients, and women as users. Her relationship with women as clients has never been documented to my knowledge, but the clients ranged from women’s clubs, colleges and the YWCA to residences. Her contribution to the communal life style offered to women by the YWCA has never been documented. She did many residences for the YWCA; one can only assume that the users and the clients were pleased with the buildings produced by Julia Morgan.

Julia Morgan interacted well with other women from college presidents to Phoebe Apherson Hearst, from her model-maker to others on her staff. She designed good building, some even great buildings for women and was by all these means supportive of women. Julia Morgan was interested in action. She contributed to women what she could do best.

Judged in this light, Julia Morgan simply cannot be seen as indifferent to feminism.

“In observance of the AIA’s posthumous Gold Medal award to Bay Area architect Julia Morgan, in long-overdue recognition of her distinguished career, the NCCSAH will present a two part program of events. The first of these, taking place this spring, will recognize her works in San Francisco’s Chinatown. These are the Chinese YWCA, 965 Clay Street, now home to the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum; the YWCA Residence (940 Powell St.) and the Gum Moon Residence (940 Washington St.). We will view these within the context of a comprehensive tour of Chinatown’s historic architecture. We are pleased that San Francisco- born Philip Choy, who was raised in Chinatown, will lead our program. Mr. Choy, a retired architect and historian, is author of San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide to its History & Architecture (2012). After service during WW II, he earned a degree in architecture at UC Berkeley and in a fifty-year career did residential and commercial design. Mr. Choy has devoted much effort to the cause of researching, preserving and telling the history of Chinese Ameri- cans. In 1969, he co-taught the first college-level Chinese American history course in the nation, at San Francisco State. He vigorously advocated the preservation of Angel Island Immigration Station, the point of entry for thousands of Asians, be- tween 1910 and 1940, and produced the case report that resulted in its designation as a National Historic Landmark (1997). Mr. Choy has served five times as president of Chinese Historical Society of America and served on the San Francisco Landmarks Board and the California State Historical Resources Commission. Awards he has received include the Oscar Lewis Award for Western History (2011).

“We are offering identical programs on two successive Saturdays, May 30 and June 1, in order both to limit each group to a size that can be easily managed in a dense and busy neighborhood and meet what we expect will be a high level of interest. We are grateful to Philip Choy for generously agreeing to lead both tours.

"Morgan - Chinatown Tour Registration
The cost, $35 per person for NCCSAH members, includes an introductory overview by Mr. Choy, beginning at 9:30 a.m., at the CHSA Museum, and an approximately four-hour walking tour with time out for dim sum lunch at City View Restaurant, at 662 Street. A charge of $55 for nonmembers also includes a one-year NCCSAH membership. Driving and parking in and around Chinatown are challenging. We recommend taking public transportation. Muni lines 1, 8X, 10, 12, 30, 45, and the Powell and California Street cable cars all will take you within easy walking distance of our meeting point, at 965 Clay. If you do choose to drive, best choices for parking are the Sutter-Stockton Garage and the garage at Portsmouth Plaza. To register, print the form below and send with a check.

Name _______________________________
Affiliation ____________________________
Address _____________________________
City/State/Zip _________________________
Email address ________________________
Registration: $35 members / $55 nonmembers
Check preferred date:
____ May 30 ____ June 6
Total Enclosed ____________
Please make checks payable to NCCSAH and
mail to:
Ward Hill
NCCSAH Chinatown Tour
3124 Octavia Street, #102
San Francisco, CA 94123
For more information please contact Ward Hill
at whill@pacbell.net.
Nonmember cost also includes one year’s
membership in NCCSAH.
Space is limited; reserve your place now!
An e-mail notice around May 1 will provide registrants
with additional tour information.

Part four highlights conditions for success. I have not read all of that yet, but I am seeing my own female brain patterns, and patterns in the men I observe. I am hoping men will embrace some of all this without their competitive nature taking over. I truly believe working together is the best way and look forward to some interesting discussion.

The thrust here is not fairness, but making money which is a little disturbing because there are many areas where gender intelligence is needed where money is not the goal, like producing better architecture, taking care of the planet, care giving, social and political justice, drastic inequality and peace, to name a few that come to mind.

Open not only to OWA members but to anyone (male or female)interested in discussing this book should let Wendy Bertrand (415-648-2713) know as she will announce the Book Circle #11 date and place in April on the OWA website and to you if you call. If your firm would like to host this event please let her know. In the past we have had between 20 and 30 people

In Sigrid’s own words, "I'd like to be remembered for dissenting when everyone else thought it easier to go with the grain even when the grain was wrong. I'd like to be remembered for being a competent architect who did competent work, a competent painter who did competent painting and someone who told good stories. I've enjoyed almost everything I [did], but nothing is enough and time (life) is too short."

Over 10 years later since her passing and Sigrid is still present in our memories, and I think of her daily. Even more so now that I've started working at UC Berkeley as an academic advisor for undergraduate architecture majors. Every morning I walk up the steps of Wurster Hall and I pass by her name etched on the wall. I remember her as an inspiring, humorous, strong-willed, creative and passionate Aunt that served as a strong role model.

She had an inspiring sense of design and creativity, and always had amazing stories to tell about a far off location she had just returned from. Please take a moment and reflect on Sigrid’s life and work, and perhaps toast a glass of champagne in her honor (Sigrid’s favorite!).

As Sigrid noted in her one of her many travel journals, “Buildings speak for themselves, the people are secondary . . . indeed, as the original builder of Chenonceau pointed out: ‘If I build this – and finish it – I will be remembered,' and so he is, and so he is.” And so she is, and so she is.

Ms. Rupp believed that practitioners would benefit greatly from an opportunity to engage in creative and scholarly work away from traditional practice, research and/or teaching. Ms. Rupp was a champion of women’s rights, especially in the profession of architecture, and was a mentor to many women and minorities wanting to succeed in the field. She believed that women bring special values to architecture that emphasize a “triple-bottom-line,” which includes economic, environmental, and social approaches to design and a commitment to sustainability and the community.

Sigrid Rupp was a Palo Alto-based architect. Her fascination with architecture dated back to her childhood in postwar Germany where she witnessed an intensive building boom under way. She later studied architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, where she was mentored by Joseph Esherick, Harold Stump, and Donald Reay. After graduation, she went on to work for several Bay Area firms.

In 1976, Ms. Rupp founded her own firm, SLR Architects, for which she served as president until her death. Some of her significant projects include the Press Building and Storey House at Stanford University; a testing facility for Apple Computer that won an American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor award; and a factory retrofit and rehab for Raychem Corporation. Her work also included retail stores, offices, private residences, and remodels of older buildings.

Ms. Rupp was a member of the Organization of Women Architects, the AIA, and the Union Internationale des Femmes Architectes (see website at http://www.uifa.fr/). In 1998, the International Archive of Women in Architecture honored Ms. Rupp by including her body of professional work in their collection. See the websitehttp://rupp.ced.berkeley.edu/about-sigrid-rupp/

Here work looks fascinating, and I highly recommend visiting the Rupp Prize website (http://rupp.ced.berkeley.edu/2014-sheila-kennedy/sheila-kennedy-gallery/) for a preview of it, which will surely make you want to see the exhibit!

For the Spring 2015 semester, Sheila Kennedy will lead UC Berkeley students in computation, architectural design, engineering, and city planning in a series of hands-on design workshops exploring new urban infrastructure. Using soft materials—from paper to wood to bio-plastic—the group will develop open-source digital fabrication techniques and create adaptable prototypes such as pop-up solar streetlights, soft refrigeration kits for bicycle vendors, and public benches that collect and clean fresh water. These prototypes will be exhibited at UC Berkeley and fabrication kits will be shared with NGOs and the public online.