Frances Halsband, FAIA
Frances is a founding partner of Kliment Halsband Architects. Her varied roles as a designer, faculty member, and peer reviewer have provided a unique perspective on the many voices that shape planning and design today. She was the first woman dean at Pratt Institute, as well as the first woman president of AIANY and the Architectural League of NY. She is a former Commissioner of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission and has served as an Architectural Advisor to the US Department of State Office of Overseas Building Operations and the Federal Reserve Bank.
In 2018, Frances initiated the successful movement to amend the American Institute of Architects Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct to state that “members shall not engage in harassment or discrimination in their professional activities on the basis of race religion national origin, age, disability, gender, or sexual orientation.”
Frances received a Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College and a Master of Architecture from Columbia University. She also holds an Honorary Doctorate of Design from NewSchool.
How will lessons from CoVID-19 inform what we do next?
September 17, 2020
Frances will explore the social and professional aspects of the months working through the Coronavirus pandemic to see how adaptations made then can influence what we do next. Socially, we have become much more flexible in defining when and where work takes place. We now welcome working at home, working with children nearby, adjusting working hours to allow for personal needs and family needs to intervene. Men working at home have learned to take responsibility for some aspects of home making and child care. If these trends continue, it should be easier for women to remain in the profession. Professionally, we have learned how to make the most of working time, minimized informal interruptions and replaced hanging out with focused meetings (at least, some of us have done that.) Both of these trends could lead to benefits that will accrue directly to women entering the profession.