Today is International Women’s Day…

There will, no doubt, be plenty of articles written about the working and home lives of women, and how inequalities and prejudices are still all too common. How research shows that success and likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women (when a man is successful, he is liked by both men and women. When a woman is successful, people of both genders like her less). How women are not making it to the top of any profession anywhere in the world.  Least of all in government –  women make up less than 18% of all government ministers in the world. How, when a woman and a man work full-time and have a child, the woman does x2 the amount of housework the man does, and the woman does x3 the amount of childcare than the man.

You’ll read much of that elsewhere. However, I want to focus on our industry. The creative industries must be better, right? With our progressive attitudes and predilection towards non-conformity? I have to say, my own experiences don’t paint a pretty picture, nor did a quick canvas around my female friends and colleagues in the industry.

A few examples...

Early on in my career as one of the professional ‘public faces’ of a top tier architectural practice I was asked, instead, if I would cover reception on lunch breaks for a while. Surprised to be asked, but young and new and wanting to seem obliging, I agreed. That was until it was pointed out to me by a senior female in the practice that there were plenty of people that could have been asked. Many more junior, freelancers, contractors. That it might not give the greatest impression to our regular visiting contacts, if I was greeting them on reception, only to then hold a meeting with them. Plenty of other options in fact, but….male. They were not asked. As an aside, a recruiter I know in the gaming industry was recently asked to hire a receptionist, female only ”under 30 with big boobs.”

Or the MD of an agency who had a wonderful talent for hiring women and being super-friendly with them in the workplace, yet clearly didn’t take them or their work seriously. It never “quite worked out” having senior women in the agency.  It was clear that they were perceived to be a little ‘pushy’, mirroring the findings of a recent US study that found that women who are seen as nice, modest and self-effacing lack ‘executive presence’. But if they’re hard-driving or ambitious, they’re ‘unlikeable’.

The MD, who, after a dalliance with one of his female members of staff at the office Christmas party was heard saying shortly after “well, I suppose I could always fire her”.

The Chairman and Partners of a practice, who were heard guffawing at the existence of a Women’s Prize for Architecture, “I mean, what on earth are they going to win – a lifetime’s supply of tights?”

The Partner of a practice who, when conducting an Annual Review with a senior female architect who was asking for a pay rise, exclaimed “What on earth do you need that for, your husband is minted, he works in Property!” Speaking of which, data released only last week in the 2016 AR Women in Architecture Survey, show significant discrepancies among male and female salaries at the top of the profession. UK men at director, partner or principal level are earning 31% more. For the creative industries as a whole, the figure from the Office for National Statistics shows a 12% salary gender gap. People – this is more than four and a half decades after the Equal Pay Act was introduced!

But, wait, there is some good news!

Studies show that households with equal earning and equal responsibility for childcare have half the divorce rate. They also have more sex. Is that good enough motivation for everyone?

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Grafton Architects

Grafton Architects

Everyone seems to have an opinion on ‘Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined’ on at the Royal Academy right now. It appears to be so popular, I wonder whether it will do for the public appreciation of architecture what Anish Kapoor’s hugely visited 2010 exhibition did for sculpture.  It left me however, a little cold.

Kengo Kuma

Li Xiaodong

Stepping into the abyss…

Diebedo Francis Kere

Utter bewilderment…

Diebedo Francis Kere

Pezo von Ellrichshausen

With the exception of Grafton Architects and their voluminous mass of structure that seemingly pins you down to the floor, the others were just too esoteric for a public audience. Its the same old problem – architecture exhibitions are notoriously hard to do well.  The standard fare of models, photographs and drawings tend to distance us from the reality of actually experiencing a piece of architecture. Brownie-points to Kate Goodwin then, the curator, for trying something new. For me, I simply felt that it was a shame that the quality of the content was not up to scratch.

Architecture and design students will no doubt love it. As did most of the critics from the broadsheet and trade press. Joe Public – from the looks and comments from baffled fellow visitors- I’m not so sure.

It runs until 6 April 2014: Seven architectural practices from six countries and four continents. 23,000 square feet. 72 days. One monumental exhibition.

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Just when you thought you could write off the Southbank, in servitude to encroaching developers, it comes up trumps. Until 4 February you can catch the breathlessly beautiful Landscape Photographer of the Year exhibition at the National Theatre – my pick of the best are featured here.

Photography by Paul Wheeler – Winter Walk, Burnham-on-Sea, East Sussex (above)

Photography by Ian Taylor – Must be an Angel, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear (above)

Photography by David Lyon –  Ferry leaving Newhaven harbour in storm, East Sussex (above)

Photography by David Breen – Rannoch Moor, Scotland (above)

Saunter along the promenade, past the booksellers under Waterloo bridge, up towards the Oxo Tower and you may stumble across a circus performer, practising his handstands and somersaults, falling from a great height down on to the beach of The Thames.

You may also have the good fortune to stumble across the most loquacious busker there is.  A man, so proud of his conquests and fine blues-y voice – he lies on a sun lounger in a silver sparkly sequin jacket, in the middle of Winter, on the banks of the Thames, serenading us all. Worth the giggle for sure. Check it out…

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Lucky enough to attend the opening of this new terminal by Studio Fuksas in Shenzhen, China, I can honestly say that the overall effect was DAZZLING.

Incredible light that reaches the terminal floor through the perforated honeycomb roof structure above. Designed and constructed in less than 3 yrs too. The Chinese – they don’t hang around….!

Part of the team responsible for the worldwide publicity of this project, it would be remiss of me not to include contact details! Contact Caro Communications to learn more.

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Delightfully topsy-turvy. What else can I say…?

Find it at 20 Blackfriars Rd, London. It’s not easy to miss!

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Serpentine Pavilion 2013, Sou Fujimoto

The Shard, worm’s eye view!

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Large erection of light spits out delight…! Or so we were promised.

The Shard fired lasers from some of its 95 stories at eleven of London’s best known landmarks including  St Paul’s Catherdral, Canary Wharf, the Houses of Parliament and the Tower of London. The thing is, nobody could see them! What a letdown.

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Over the Bass Strait, lies Australia’s answer to the Tate Modern. Only darker, dirtier and joyously more disconcerting. A unique museum experience, its owner the multi-millionaire and local man David Walsh has decided to share his private collection of art for all to see.

Contained within a subterranean bunker, courtesy of Fender Katsalidis (who surely must have been jumping for joy at this commission), this $150 million ‘museum‘ is more a “subversive adult Disneyland”, as Walsh himself likes to call it. Sex, death and defecation are regular features of the collection and all humorously narrated by Walsh himself. He entertains us with his ‘art wank’ through iPhone touch screen technology – the first system in the world designed to replace traditional artwork wall labels.

He has collected many of the most notable names of the moment, Damien Hurst, Erwin Wurm, Chris Ofili, Wim Delvoye… There is no order here, no captions, no themes, just random-ness – if he liked it, he bought it.  And he wrapped it up in a movingly, spectacular building, carved out of a sandstone cliff.

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In the mean time, check out this clever re-use of a derelict petrol station on Clerkenwell Road: the Cineroleum. Tweaked and altered by a bunch of twenty something architects, designers and artists, all with a common goal. They’ve created a pop up cinema- an homage to the golden age of film, with decadent interiors, flip down seat, neon lights and proper tickets. One of apparently 4000 redundant petrol station forecourts currently in the UK, its a wonderful and curious experiment.

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Images by Heatherwick Studio

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