The Groundbreaking Women Tour, launched in March 2022 in honor of Women’s History Month, highlights women in the Austin architectural community by featuring female-led projects located in the Downtown, East Austin, and South Congress areas. It is important to celebrate these incredible projects led by women as the profession begins to challenge the under-representation of women in the field. Although data shows that today almost half of the students in architectural programs in the United States are women, only 17 percent of nationally registered licensed architects are women.
This tour includes urban, commercial, and institutional projects of various scales and project types. Projects were curated by 2022 AIA Austin Women in Architecture Chair Stephanie Lemmo, Assoc. AIA, and feature work by inspiring women such as Donna Carter, FAIA; Emily Little, FAIA; Heather McKinney, FAIA (twice); Kelly Henson, AIA; Maija Kreishman, AIA; Lucy Begg, AIA; Christy Taylor, AIA; Elizabeth Alford, Assoc. AIA; Elizabeth Baird, AIA; Camille Jobe AIA; Ada Corral, AIA; and Sophia Razzaque, AIA.
Narratives for this tour were put together by AIA Austin’s Women in Architecture Committee members Sadi Brewton, AIA; Sara Alicia Costa, AIA; Kristen Decker Ali; Kalen McNamara, AIA; YsaBella Licciardi; Mariah Green, Assoc. AIA; Heather McKinney, FAIA; Pooja Shetty, Assoc. AIA; and Stephanie Lemmo, Assoc. AIA. Additional editorial and coordination support was provided by Bud Franck; Riley Triggs, AIA; Courtney Mallen, Assoc. AIA; and Julia Brown.
The AIA Austin Women in Architecture (WiA) Committee promotes, validates, and illuminates the role of women in the architectural field through community, fellowship, education, and outreach. The committee began in 2017 with the Shape the Conversation exhibits, which recognized the achievements of women architects in Texas and beyond. Today, this programming continues with the Call to Action advocacy series, the Profiles series, site visits, and more.
