Aerial photo of Mass MoCA, Simeon Bruner, architect; PHOTO © NICHOLAS WHITMAN "The Many Lives of Factory Buildings," the next installment in the Weissman CenterŐs yearlong series, will give special attention to MASS MoCA of North Adams.

Four women actively engaged in the creation of public space came together October 4 to share their experiences, concerns, and visions in "Women and Public Space," the first event in the Weissman Center's yearlong series Building Meaning: Architecture and Public Space in the Third Millennium. Led by College trustee Alma Tina Hogan '74, the panel discussion touched on topics ranging from women's opportunities in architecture to what should be done at the site of the recent World Trade Center attacks.

"It was a very intense evening, with the attacks of September 11 adding a sense of urgency to questions about the meaning of public space," said Christopher Benfey, codirector of the Weissman Center. "The interaction of the speakers, with their differing perspectives on the building process, was really terrific, with disagreements yielding to further clarification."

The first to speak was Boston-based architect Sheila Kennedy. "I want to go on record here and say that public space is not merely shaped by external forces," Kennedy told the crowd of 100 students, faculty, and guests. "Public space needs to be imagined and reinvented. And more than ever, I think we need a compelling contemporary vision of what public space should be."

She gave several examples of the strategies her firm uses to reimagine public spaces, including the redesign of Columbus Square in New York, which would feature clear panels embedded in the ground to show the underground pipe gallery that sits just below the asphalt, connecting passersby with the infrastructure that supports the building. Following Kennedy was Paula R. Collins '71, founder and CEO of WDG Ventures, Inc., a prominent San Francisco real estate development firm.

"As a developer, I am focused on the how of getting it done, because so many plans stay on the drawing board," she said. "And so much of how we get it done is about partnerships," she added, describing her work as the art of bringing together corporations, city planners, architects, and community residents, each with their own vision of what should happen in a given space. The final speaker, urban planner Ann Forsyth, spoke to the role of women in the professions, as well as the current and future state of public space. Author of Constructing Suburbs, she is an associate professor of urban planning at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Forsyth made the case that planning has long been a profession in which women could find the acceptance, and even notoriety, that has been denied to them in the related professions of architecture and landscape architecture. "Planning has had the most talked-about women," she said.

Forsyth also spoke to the idea that women's role in planning was to champion social issues overlooked by men. "I want to caution against the simple notion that women bring social concerns," she said. "Social planning was on the table long before there were women involved." She also said that women are among the movers and shakers in planning, as they make up a large portion of the neighborhood groups, environmental advocacy organizations, and other entities involved in the planning and design of many public spaces.

Questions from the audience focused on the growing debate about what to do with the World Trade Center site, with many sharing their concerns that the site would be mishandled and would not reflect the wishes of the people. Citing a personal tie to the tragedy that made the question difficult to address, Kennedy said, "there's been a gross misplacement of emphasis by the media. What is so terrible is not only the loss of the towers, but the way so many of us were unwittingly made into a witness to their destruction." But on a practical level, Kennedy noted that "the most significant damage has not even been fully assessed yet, and that's the slurry wall that's holding back the Hudson River."

From a developer's standpoint, Collins expressed hope that the people's will would be honored, as it was after earthquakes destroyed significant parts of San Francisco's infrastructure. "This is when cities are at their best, this is a collective experience," Collins said. "You have to have faith in the process."

Other questions touched on the growing use of surveillance equipment in public spaces, the expanding opportunities for women architects, and the development of public space in communities of color. Student response was overwhelmingly positive, as many gathered around the presenters at evening's end. Students expressed an interest in the fields of architecture and planning, and said they were inspired by the women's presentations.

"It was exciting to learn about the new technologies that they were talking about and the care that they've taken to integrate people and places. That's so important," said Claire Treat '05. She especially enjoyed the presence of Collins, she said, "because she is an alumna and she's amazing."