Viewpoint: Technical Women

Specialized technical skills—such as expertise in sustainability, computational design, heritage, energy modelling, and construction detailing—are often associated with male architects. As Vice Chair of the Advisory Committee of BEAT (Building Equality in Architecture Toronto), I had the pleasure of supporting a recent seminar that aimed to counter that bias. The day-long event featured five women who have developed in-depth technical knowledge as a key part of their career journeys.

The day’s moderator—and the curator of the panel—was Jennifer Davis, strategic business development lead at WZMH Architects. Jennifer spoke about how she began stacking skills sets in a succession of personal and professional projects—taking on construction detailing in architecture offices, then applying those abilities to her own public art projects, which in turn led to the development of a proficiency in proposal-writing. At WZMH, she wrote her own job description for a role where she creates business development opportunities based on the firm’s technical expertise. A recent project involved leading a publication and presentation series that showcases the firm’s extensive experience in re-cladding towers.

Dima Cook, a principal and director at EVOQ Architecture, described how, early in her career, she lucked into being part of a project team rehabilitating the Harbour Commission Building in Old Montreal, which she had studied in university. Over time, she built up the expertise and appetite for detailed on-the-ground investigation that characterize her work. She has long had the benefit of a female mentor—heritage doyenne Julia Gersovitz—but still encounters friction on construction sites, where crews are predominantly male. “I come across the guy who says, ‘I’ve been mixing mortar for 30 years,’” says Dima, “and I say, ‘so have I, and we’re doing it my way.’”

Kendra Kusick is a project manager and digital tools expert with Teeple Architects. Her work is also research-intensive, involving diving deep into Excel spreadsheets and Revit errors, often through online forums, and persisting until finding a solution. She advocates for the value of good work to speak for itself, referring to times when her office has taken up efficiency-oriented processes she’s developed, without her having to explicitly advocate for their adoption. But she is also on guard about being pigeonholed in her specialty, or taking on tasks because others are complacent about learning basic skills—a sentiment echoed by the other panellists.

Sophie Tremblay, an associate at LGA Architectural Partners, built up her abilities through hands-on work detailing energy efficiency retrofits for a series of city-owned social housing projects. Wanting to go further in developing her expertise in envelope detailing, she approached the partners to support training for Passive House certification at an advantageous time: the firm had just missed a few opportunities because they didn’t have a certified Passive House designer. 

Olivia Keung, an associate at Moriyama Teshima Architects, came to a specialty in sustainability out of a desire to make the greatest positive impact in the profession. The intersection between social and environmental sustainability is evident in projects she is involved with—including an expansion to Sudbury’s Science North—as well as her committee work as sustainability advisor for the City of Toronto’s Design Review Panel, and on the RAIC’s Advisory Committee for Promoting Equity and Justice.

Advocating for women to take on more technically oriented roles is part of Olivia’s passion: early in her career, she observed how men were often picked to take on “meatier” tasks and projects, and how that led to them making quicker gains in expertise, status, and salary. “If they can do it, so can I,” she concluded—as did the other panellists. They hope to inspire other women to follow in parallel paths—and to encourage allies in the industry to support the diversity of people looking to put in the time, hard work, determination, and brain power needed to gain specialized technical expertise.

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