People Struggle to Name More Than One Female Architect

Hardly anyone can name more than one female architect, says architect and filmmaker Beverly Willis, director of new movie about women that built New York. The17-minute film Unknown New York: The City that Women Built premiered last week, and showcases the hundreds of female architects and engineers that have contributed to Manhattan's built environment.

Dezeen's Eleanor Gibson says the 90-year-old architect's aim is to raise awareness of women working in the architecture industry, as not enough gain the recognition they deserve, she told Dezeen. "One of the things that I like to do is ask people can they name five women architects," Willis said. "Usually, people can only name one or possibly two, maybe three because people like Maya Lin, Zaha Hadid and Julia Morgan are well known, but past that hardly anybody can name another woman architect."

The American architect says this contradicts the fact that women are making major contributions to architecture, particularly in New York, giving examples like Studio Gang founder Jeanne Gang and Diller, Scofidio + Renfro partner Elizabeth Diller – who was recently named one of the world's most influential people by Time magazine.

"The irony of course is that women are doing some of the very most prestigious work in New York, Manhattan right now," said Wills. "So they're certainly being selected to do the premiere work."