National Building Museum 2012

Panelists at the National Building Museum, view from upper level. Photo credit: Wanda Bubriski

On March 8, the National Building Museum (NBM), in collaboration with the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF), presented its seventh annual Women of Architecture program, Architecture and the Great Recession. The program aimed to:

• Examine the current economic situation in historical perspective
• Explore how women have been particularly impacted by the economic crisis
• Consider the opportunities created by this period of retrenchment
• Strategize about the best ways to cope with turbulent trends in the market sectors, from private to public and back again
• Discuss the changing priorities and values in contemporary architecture with a special focus on women and gender

A panel of developers, architects, and design experts examined how the building industry is responding to profound challenges created by the current recession. NPR’s Mara Liasson provided opening remarks and moderated a discussion among the following panelists:

Mara Liasson is a national political correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR). She joined NPR in 1985 as a general assignment reporter and newscaster. Liasson’s reports can be heard on the award-winning news magazines, “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition.” During her tenure, she covered the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections and prior to her current assignment, Liasson was NPR’s White House correspondent during all eight years of the Clinton administration.

Sheila Cahnman is the group vice president / Regional Healthcare Leader for HOK based in Chicago. Her team’s projects include 1,000,000 plus square foot facilities under construction at Eshkenazi Health in Indianapolis and The Ohio State University Medical Center. Sheila is an accomplished writer and speaker on healthcare design including her article series on “Key Considerations in Patient Room Design”. She was recently selected one of the twenty-five most influential in healthcare design by Healthcare Design Magazine and serves on its Board.

MaryAnne Gilmartin is the executive vice president and director of commercial & residential development for Forest City Ratner Companies in New York. During her 17 years at Forest City, Ms. Gilmartin has played a pivotal role in the creation of civic public/private development throughout the city. Ms. Gilmartin oversees the company’s most visible and prestigious projects: The Barclays Center — the future home of the NBA Nets franchise — collaboratively designed by Ellerbe Becket and SHoP Architects.

Cathleen McGuigan is editor-in-chief of Architectural Record, the nation’s leading architecture publication for more than a century. McGuigan is the second female to serve as editor in chief of Architectural Record. The first was Mildred Schmertz, who led the magazine from 1985 to 1990. In addition to guiding Architectural Record, McGuigan also serves as editorial director of GreenSource, a sustainable design magazine launched in 2006, and SNAP, a products publication that debuted in 2009.

Claire Weisz, AIA is an architect and educator based in New York City. Her partnership, WXY architecture +urban design, focuses on the public realm and urban and environmental regeneration. As a design focused practice, their work has been recognized by the profession’s top awards: an AIA NY Honor Award in Architecture (Bronx Charter School for the Arts), The Waterfront Center Top Honor Award (The Battery Bosque), an Architectural League Emerging Voices program in 2011 and a Chrysler/House Beautiful Innovative Designer Award in Architecture. Weisz was featured in the October 2011 issue of Architect Magazine, the magazine of the American Institute of Architects. She currently serves as the treasurer on the BWAF board of trustees.

Check out photos on FaceBook from the event!