FF – Distance Edition: Leers Weinzapfel Associates

The Boston-based practice hosts an online studio visit.

May 15, 2023

Recorded on April 14, 2023.

The League’s FF – Distance Edition events are informal online studio visits offering a behind-the-scenes look at leading design practices.

In this video, Andrea P. Leers and Jane Weinzapfel share the story of how they founded Leers Weinzapfel Associates in 1982—when architecture was still primarily a boys’ club. Joined by principals Tom Chung and Josiah Stevenson and associate principal Ashley Rao, they present the firm’s projects, focusing on Leers Weinzapfel’s pioneering work with energy facilities, adaptive reuse principles, and mass timber.

The presentation is followed by a conversation with Mark Lamster, architecture critic of the Dallas Morning News. Lamster, Leers, and Weinzapfel speak about how the architects found their footing as a young practice, and how they strive for diversity in the office, believing that it makes for  a better working environment and better architecture.

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A Parallel History

In an introduction to 1977 book Women in American Architecture, Susana Torre considers cultural assumptions about women as consumers, producers, critics, and creators of space.

1977 Essay