Susan Szenasy, Editor-in-Chief Metropolis Magazine, was the keynote speaker at the recent AIA Women’s Leadership Summit in Kansas City. BWAF Executive Director Wanda Bubriski interviewed Szenasy on her return to New York, and asked her about concerns for the design practice and her thoughts on what industry leaders should be thinking about. This interview launches a new blog series that questions existing ideas and practices of those working within the built environment.
BWAF: Which firms, individuals, and trends did you highlight in your topic, Design Report, and why?
SS: Among the many different design practices I covered in my talk, I would say that, for me, the most memorable ones are SHoP for their smart, progressive use of technology and fruitful collaborations amongst themselves, and with their contractors and manufacturer partners; Anna Dyson, whose commitment to researching high-performance architectural materials, points to some major breakthroughs in how architecture needs to be made in a sustainable world; and, Leers Weinzapfel whose work is beautiful, and whose humanist treatment of their diverse staff is equally impressive.
BWAF: In addition to your keynote, you also moderated a panel composed of architectural editors and writers about ho to be part of the Buzz. So, what two things should a firm, individual, or organization do to get Buzz?
SS: Remember that the best of publishing, be it paper or electronic, is about advancing the conversation on the subjects they cover. If you want your project to be in the Buzz, figure out how it adds to your fellow architects’ and designers’ knowledge base, how it improves life on an over-stressed Earth, and pulls together a distracted community.
Remember that publishing, like everything else in life, is about relationships. Get to know the editors and writers at the various news outlets, find out who covers what and how deeply their stories delve, and then think about the story your work tells. If it’s a new building, it may be worth a short announcement somewhere. But if your design offers a breakthrough solution to creating a healthy, beautiful, memorable environment, you have a story.
BWAF: You and Beverly Willis attracted a group with your bar chat at the AIA Summit– what was the buzz there?
SS: Bev is the leader of most interesting discussions on design, she is tough and always right on the mark.
We were very much interested in how women and men today could create a public dialogue around the built environment and how design can improve public health. We advocated for raising awareness of the desperate need for materials research (not only in terms of performance but toxicity). The current knowledge, even of those who claim to be doing sustainable designs, feels to us to be primitive, needing a lot more serious attention, scholarship, and experimentation.
As far as women’s role in such advocacy, we talked about the amazing women who came before us: in the 19th century and early 20th century it was women’s groups–supported by their wealthy sisters–that pushed to right the wrongs of the industrial revolution–child labor, tainted food, toxic water and air. These used to be called “motherhood” issues. They still are, and still needing urgent attention.
BWAF: Sounds like heady topics for a chat at the bar. Are these topics being covered in the public conversations?
SS: What’s missing from these summits is provocation- some economist or futurist or tough design thinker challenging us to stop talking about ourselves, and start talking about the large issues that concern every human being, in fact every creature on earth, in fact every type of life on earth. The built environment should be at the center of this larger, societal conversation.
The AIA seems stuck in trying to figure out buzz words like diversity and sustainability. The national organization, as well as its local outposts, need to put the built environment at the center of the major conversation of our time, otherwise risk irrelevance. But that conversation needs to be much more informed, much more disturbing, much more thought-provoking, much less comfortable than the discussions we have today.
BWAF: Susan, thank you for your time. A great conversation, as always.
