Dima Cook speaks as part of a day-long BEAT event on women architects in technical roles. Photo by Romina MehrbodSpecialized technical skillssuch as expertise in sustainability, computational design, heritage, energy modelling, and construction detailingare often associated with male architects. As Vice Chair of the Advisory Committee of BEAT (Building Equality in Architecture Toronto), I had the pleasure of supporting a recent seminar that aimed to counter that bias. The day-long event featured five women who have developed in-depth technical knowledge as a key part of their career journeys.The days moderatorand the curator of the panelwas Jennifer Davis, strategic business development lead at WZMH Architects. Jennifer spoke about how she began stacking skills sets in a succession of personal and professional projectstaking on construction detailing in architecture offices, then applying those abilities to her own public art projects, which in turn led to the development of a proficiency in proposal-writing. At WZMH, she wrote her own job description for a role where she creates business development opportunities based on the firms technical expertise. A recent project involved leading a publication and presentation series that showcases the firms extensive experience in re-cladding towers.Dima Cook, a principal and director at EVOQ Architecture, described how, early in her career, she lucked into being part of a project team rehabilitating the Harbour Commission Building in Old Montreal, which she had studied in university. Over time, she built up the expertise and appetite for detailed on-the-ground investigation that characterize her work. She has long had the benefit of a female mentorheritage doyenne Julia Gersovitzbut still encounters friction on construction sites, where crews are predominantly male. I come across the guy who says, Ive been mixing mortar for 30 years, says Dima, and I say, so have I, and were doing it my way.Kendra Kusick is a project manager and digital tools expert with Teeple Architects. Her work is also research-intensive, involving diving deep into Excel spreadsheets and Revit errors, often through online forums, and persisting until finding a solution. She advocates for the value of good work to speak for itself, referring to times when her office has taken up efficiency-oriented processes shes developed, without her having to explicitly advocate for their adoption. But she is also on guard about being pigeonholed in her specialty, or taking on tasks because others are complacent about learning basic skillsa sentiment echoed by the other panellists.Sophie Tremblay, an associate at LGA Architectural Partners, built up her abilities through hands-on work detailing energy efficiency retrofits for a series of city-owned social housing projects. Wanting to go further in developing her expertise in envelope detailing, she approached the partners to support training for Passive House certification at an advantageous time: the firm had just missed a few opportunities because they didnt have a certified Passive House designer.Olivia Keung, an associate at Moriyama Teshima Architects, came to a specialty in sustainability out of a desire to make the greatest positive impact in the profession. The intersection between social and environmental sustainability is evident in projects she is involved withincluding an expansion to Sudburys Science Northas well as her committee work as sustainability advisor for the City of Torontos Design Review Panel, and on the RAICs Advisory Committee for Promoting Equity and Justice.Advocating for women to take on more technically oriented roles is part of Olivias passion: early in her career, she observed how men were often picked to take on meatier tasks and projects, and how that led to them making quicker gains in expertise, status, and salary. If they can do it, so can I, she concludedas did the other panellists. They hope to inspire other women to follow in parallel pathsand to encourage allies in the industry to support the diversity of people looking to put in the time, hard work, determination, and brain power needed to gain specialized technical expertise.As appeared in theDecember 2024issue of Canadian Architect magazineThe post Viewpoint: Technical Women appeared first on Canadian Architect.