Female Architects Announced for New Angle: Voice Season 2 Podcast, by BWAF
With a fast-growing audience, a second season has been announced for the in-depth new podcast series New Angle: Voice, which sheds light on the lives and careers of some of the most influential women in the history of architecture. Starting this fall, the new stories on famed women in design will include modernist industrial designer Ray Eames, Boston’s legendary TAC founders Jean Bodman Fletcher and Sarah Pillsbury Harkness, the African American hidden talent Amaza Lee Meredith, inventor and suffragist Anna Wagner Keichline, and the first-ever winner of a Pulitzer Prize for architecture criticism, Ada Louise Huxtable.
The premiere season of New Angle Voice, available now, reveals the intimate details and challenges faced by other legendary names: Julia Morgan, Natalie de Blois, Helen Fong, Florence Knoll and Norma Sklarek. (Details follow, below.)
Created by the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF) and hosted by executive director Cynthia Phifer Kracauer, AIA, the acclaimed new series has gained a fast-growing audience, jumping from 4,000 to nearly 30,000 thousand listeners over the last two months. New Angle: Voice has been presented by leading design outlets including 99% Invisible and on the Apple Podcasts browsing page for Women’s History Month.
Behind these successful and fascinating stories is San Francisco-based producer Brandi Howell, known for award-winning shows for NPR’s Kitchen Sisters and Afropop Worldwide, among others, and the nonprofit BWAF, with its mission to elevate women in architecture and related fields.
Current episodes can be found on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/3t9xUqP
About New Angle: Voice, Season One
The debut season presents five episodes, each focused on a legendary architect or designer and her special contributions to the fields:
Episode 1, “Finding Julia Morgan”
The debut episode of New Angle: Voice fittingly opens the series featuring the lifework of a true pioneer in the field of architecture, Julia Morgan. Morgan was the very first woman to attend and graduate from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, and the first to win the AIA Gold Medal — making her the first woman to be awarded the honor in its 107-year history. Over the period of her decades-long career, Morgan designed over 700 buildings, leaving a lasting legacy in California.
Episode 2, “Natalie de Blois – To Tell the Truth”
The design eye of Natalie de Blois was an important influence on the postwar architecture of New York City. In addition to her outstanding professional achievements in the very male-dominated field of architecture, de Blois was also an important advocate for the feminist movement of her time. Much of her career was spent at the firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM), during which she completed work on the Hilton Hotel in Istanbul, the Terrace Plaza Hotel in Cincinnati, as well as the Union Carbide Headquarters and the Pepsi-Cola Building in New York City, among other projects.
Episode 3, “Fast Food & Radical Rooflines: Helen Fong Shapes Los Angeles Coffee Shops”
Helen Fong’s design influence on the American strip is large and undeniable: Her vision defined the alternative, futuristic appearance of fast-food and modern America. In her work creating iconic coffee shops and diners throughout Los Angeles, Fong defined the modern look that is still established across fast food and coffee shops around the country. Learn more about Fong’s iconic vision in this fascinating episode of New Angle: Voice.
Episode 4, “Norma Sklarek: An Extremely Bold Hand”
Celebrated as one of the first African American women to break into the architecture field, Norma Sklarek is an important representation of the work women often do behind the scenes. Although she was kept from a leading position, the great influence Skalrek wielded from a managerial role is an excellent reminder of the power of the work women often do behind the scenes– she was the powerhouse making sure things got done. In 1980, Sklarek became the first African American woman elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), making her the very first woman of the Los Angeles Chapter to be awarded the honor.
Episode 5, “Florence Knoll: Total Design”
Diving into the life and architectural work of the inspiring Florence Knoll Bassett, the fifth episode of New Angle: Voice shares the work of this visionary female architect who is celebrated for her radical integrated design concept: Total Design. With a career that demonstrates incredible perseverance and ingenuity, Knoll is often remembered for her creation of “open plan workstations,” which were essential to freeing modern workers from stuffy cubicles. With many awards and honors including the Good Design Award from MoMA and the AIA Gold Medal for Industrial Design, as well as many major projects including work with the Rockefeller Family Offices and General Motors, Knoll’s legacy is extensive and impressive, and hers is certainly a name worth knowing.
With season two currently in the works, promising to cover some truly inspirational and sometimes racy histories of several additional women in architecture. The second season will grace podcast platforms in the next year, with a projected release date of October 5.
New Angle: Voice is sponsored by Knoll, a MillerKnoll company and SOM.
