Newsletter | Nov/Dec 2017

Note from the editor - Rebecca Friedberg

ACE Mentoring Update - Cameron White

** OWA+DP Library ** - Rebecca Friedberg

Member Spotlight : Nastaran Mousavi - Nastaran Mousavi

Recent and Upcoming Events - Rebecca Friedberg

Women In Architecture and Design | Online Wanderings - Rebecca Friedberg

Welcome New Members! - Rebecca Friedberg

The ACE Mentoring program in Oakland will begin on January 24, kicked off by a mentor meeting on January 10. ACE stands for Architecture, Construction and Engineering, and is a program designed to introduce high school students to the industry, with an emphasis on diversity and students that might otherwise not be exposed to the field. Several OWA-DP members are participating this year: Rebecca Friedberg, Rachel Slonicki, Mui Ho and myself. The program will be held at Laney College.

In the 2017 season, OWA-DP generously provided a $1,000 scholarship to a young woman graduate who was interested in going into the field of architecture. The winner was Akshata Atre of Cupertino High School. Another young woman who was on the Oakland team also won a $1,000 scholarship: Karen Gonzalez. One of the students from a past year, Samantha Huang, has gone on to college and is now a mechanical engineer, and is going to be a mentor herself this year!

What is the commitment to be an ACE Mentor? Generally, it’s being available most every Wednesday afternoon from 4:30-6:45, from January 24 through May 9, 2018 to help the students with their projects and teach them about skills in architecture, construction and engineering. Another way to participate is as a judge of the final projects at the end of the season, or as a guest speaker or leader of a hands on activity.

I have found mentoring with ACE to be a rewarding experience. It’s fun to meet the students, get to know them better, and help them in deciding about careers.

If you’re interested in mentoring this coming year on the Oakland team, please let me know at cammyjwhite@gmail.com. There are ACE programs starting up in many other parts of the Bay Area, too. More information is available at acementor.org.

Did you know OWA+DP has a LIBRARY??? We do!

The OWA+DP Library has books that were read in the OWA Book Circle under programs facilitated by Wendy Bertrand. The Library is at Hamilton + Aitken Architects: 525 Brannan Street, San Francisco 415 974-5030

The library includes books on architecture and feminism, some written by our very own members. Reach out to Susan Aitken at the number above to set up borrowing from the OWA+DP Library.

The available titles include the following:

Early Women Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area by OWA's Inge Horton

Discrimination by Design: A Feminist Critique of the Man-Made Environment, by Leslie Kanes Weisman

Women and the Making of the Modern House by Alice Friedman

Architecture: A Woman's Profession edited by Tanja Kullack

Women and the Everyday City: Public Space in San Francisco, 1890-1915 by Jessica Ellen Sewell

Enamored with Place: As Woman + As Architect by OWA's Wendy Bertrand

Various Articles on Gender and Architectural Discourse

Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

Women in Green: Voices of Sustainability by Kira Gould & Lance Hosey

Feminism and Architecture video by Susana Torre

Gender Intelligence by Annis & Keith Merron (HarperCollins Publishers, 2014)

See Book Circle link under programs for more discussion.

A few months ago I came across OWA and I am so pleased to announce that I am officially a member of this organization! I have recently become a licensed architect in California and came a long way to be a practicing architect and a founder of my own architectural firm in San Francisco.

I was born and raised in Sari, Iran and made my way to the United States to continue my education in Architecture. All my life, I had hopes to become an influential individual and contribute something to the world that will last long and make a change. Having the platform of my own company is allowing me to think more freely about opportunities to advance the architecture industry for a safer and more sustainable world we live in.

I am proud that with my husband, we were able to contribute to our community by working on a range of small projects on a pro bono basis for non-profit organizations in the Bay Area and have been making more conscious design decisions towards a more efficient and sustainable built environment.

I am sharing a few sketches that I have done through design process of some of our recent projects: