The American Institute of Architects - Architect Barbie Makes Her Debut

Check out this recent edition of the AIA newsletter, which I have excerpted here:

Mattel is spotlighting architecture as its ‘’Career of the Year’’ for Barbie and hopes to educate and encourage girls to consider the field when thinking about what their jobs could be when they become adults.


With the launch of Architect Barbie by the AIA and Mattel comes a chance for architects to design a Dream House that meets her guidelines, including room for an office, open living and dining areas, and plenty of room for her five pets, including her giraffe.


The competition began on May 16. The AIA and Mattel will announce five finalists on July 12 and the public will be able to vote for their favorites between July 12 and August 1. The winner will be announced by the AIA on August 2.

‘’For more than a century, women have chosen to become architects to express and give form to new ways of living. Yet some still consider architecture an unusual profession for a woman. Architect Barbie salutes the many generations of women architects and encourages young girls to imagine a better world they can design and build,'' said Despina Stratigakos, Assoc. AIA and Professor of Architectural History at the University at Buffalo.


Mattel held a convention for girls to explore the ideas.  Here is a window into that event:
‘’One of my favorite floor plans, created by a seven-year-old girl, included a room for monsters; by acknowledging their presence and giving them their own space, the rest of the house would remain monster-free - a design solution to an eternal childhood problem that would have put Freud out of business,’’ said Stratigakos.


To read the whole article and view the convention, click here:
http://www.aia.org/practicing/AIAB090142

To view the fabulous designs, and vote, click here!!

http://info.aia.org/aia/architect-barbie.cfm

And now I have to reveal something....My profile on my website states that I have been an interior designer since the age of twelve, when I drew my first architectural plan for a doll house.  Yep, it was a Barbie house!   My parents had just completed a design/build home project with a local architect in Louisiana, and I had seen the plans and watched the construction.  That was my first exposure to architecture.  When I enrolled at Northwestern University I entered their Interior Architecture and Design program.

Here is a photo of the house that my parents built, and we lived in so happily for many years:

I've heard is said that "you can't go back".  But I did....this past June I visited my family in Louisana, and when I drove past the house it was FOR SALE.  So I got out of the car and took a walk around.  All the memories were still there, and have filled me with a deep peace.