Let’s Talk About Women in Architecture

At the close of Nora Ephron’s 2010 book, I Remember Nothing, she included a list titled “What I Won’t Miss.” Down at the bottom, between “Small print” and “Taking off makeup every night” was this zinger, “Panels on Women in Film.” I like the way she capitalized the letters, capturing the organizers’ formal sincerity while maintaining her distance from the whole enterprise.

Next week, on October 3, I find myself playing both roles. I am the moderator for a panel titled Women in Design as part of New York and Dwell magazines’ weeklong City Modern series. The series includes discussions, lectures, panels and on the weekend of October 6 and 7, house tours. My panel, which should more properly be called Women in Architecture, features Galia Solomonoff, Marion Weiss and Claire Weisz. And the first question I am going to ask them is about Architect Barbie.