Women Working in Architecture

This week, Curbed is looking at the careers of women who work in architecture. They recently profiled Courtney Brett, who at 24 became the youngest architect to be licensed by the American Institute of Architects:

Brett’s ascent as an architectural whiz kid was set in motion, ironically, by her parents’ worries over her future. “I have an anxious personality, and they realized that if everything depended on standardized testing, I might panic and not do very well,” she says. To get her comfortable with the SAT, her parents signed her up at the age of 11 and assured her that the results didn’t matter. Based on her score — which Brett says she doesn’t remember, but which was obviously quite good — Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, recruited her for their early-college program. She was 13, attending eighth grade in San Angelo, Texas, when she got the offer to enroll. “It was so outside what I thought was available to me,” says Brett. “And I wasn’t ready to leave home. I relied on my family for everything. My mom was still helping me style my hair.” But the following year, her father got orders to move to Florida. Brett, who was not keen on the idea of starting over in a new high school, made the leap.

Curbed will be profiling more women at different career stages this week, and you can read an overview about women in the field here.

Photo: Dennis Hill

Support The Billfold

The Billfold continues to exist thanks to support from our readers. Help us continue to do our work by making a monthly pledge on Patreon or a one-time-only contribution through PayPal.