Woman Architects in Co Kerry

I see.
There mustn’t be any women architects working in Kerry.

Thanks, lads.

Perhaps nobody’s bothered – and what is a ‘woman architect’? I thought there were just ‘architects’.

Rather sexist question ?

@teak wrote:

Anyone know of any woman architects practicing in Co Kerry ?
(House design specialists moreover.)

is a ‘woman architect’ someone who designs women?

teak- I don’t have an answer to your question. I am curious, though, to know what you think a woman could achieve that a man couldn’t, i.e. why is the sex of the architect important?

More efficient kitchens?

*badum-tchh!*

I don’t say that women architects are better or worse than men.
But I’d like to look at the house design portfolios of women.

The kitchens ? – Well I would expect a greater degree of appreciation of home maintenance convenience in a woman – not only round the kitchen but in other things too, stairs, room inter-relation, sound and so on.
Usability things. Things you could often draw down to a woman more easily than to a man.

I don’t claim to be right in this.
And I don’t do this to offend anyone’s professional esteem.
But I do have the right to try and do what is best for myself.

For what its worth I think the best thing for you to do is to look at various architects practices around Ireland, as opposed to just Kerry (May be more practical to have someone who is located more locally though). Some might be male led, while some might be female led, but you will soon figure out which practice you would prefer to do some work for you.

@teak wrote:

But I’d like to look at the house design portfolios of women.

I think it would be an instructive experiment for you – or anyone – to see architects’ portfolios and to try to guess their sex from their work.

@teak wrote:

The kitchens ? – Well I would expect a greater degree of appreciation of home maintenance convenience in a woman – not only round the kitchen but in other things too, stairs, room inter-relation, sound and so on.
Usability things. Things you could often draw down to a woman more easily than to a man.

I was joking about the kitchens thing (really just picking up on the clichéd sexism that says women understand ‘the domestic’ better than men), but apparently we weren’t all joking. :rolleyes:

What’s next? Someone requests the details of a black architect because they want to open a jazz club?

teak: with all due respect, you are unbelievably sexist. On a par with the idiot on radio who opined that, if there had been more women in financial control, they would have taken fewer ‘risks’ than men bcause they’re more ‘cautious’ and the current world financial crisis would have been avoided. If you believe that, you’ll believe anything.
Men do live in, do use and do think about houses. This notion of women designing better kitchens has been around for years, with no obvious impact. I don’t saywomen couldn’t design better kitchens or whatever, merely that your basic premise is flawed.

I do not claim or suggest that women are better architects than men.
Just that I’d like to give them a fair run out.
You could go into a lot of practices in Kerry and find no woman arch there.

I think that my approach is the fairest and least sexist of all to get a fair look at all
at the pre-selection stage.
But in the end I’d have to decide regardless of gender, age, nationality, etc.
Any other way of deciding would be unfair on me.

Is there a fairer way ?

But in the end I’d have to decide regardless of gender, age, nationality, etc.

Is there a fairer way ?

:rolleyes: How about trying to suspend your sexism (or racism/ageism/etc.) at the beginning of your search instead of just at the end?

@teak wrote:

I do not claim or suggest that women are better architects than men.
Just that I’d like to give them a fair run out.
You could go into a lot of practices in Kerry and find no woman arch there.

I think that my approach is the fairest and least sexist of all to get a fair look at all
at the pre-selection stage.
But in the end I’d have to decide regardless of gender, age, nationality, etc.
Any other way of deciding would be unfair on me.

Is there a fairer way ?

if you base your selection on sex rather than ability, then no, theres no fairer way…

You are still talking about ability, Henno.
I or any other non-architect can’t talk ability matters.
To us, it’s a matter of finding someone whose work is to our expectations/taste.
In a house, different designers can give different amounts of importance to different aspects of it.
And they might have their own rationale for doing things their way, developed over years of work and thought on these matters.
And that is all as it should be for any person taking their job seriously.
No one – least of all architects in a rush to do several jobs – want to get into the situation where they are pulling against eachother.
So looking at previous work is desirable.

In matters of taste, I’m prepared to look at the work of some women.
Just as I’d compare work of younger and older, local and foreign, if such people were known to me.
To me, it’s worth looking to see if they bring something different to the taste end of home design.
Just in exploration. No commitment to choose based on anthing other than my own criteria.
And no conclusions to be drawn beyond myself and my taste.

If I can find them.
Wouldn’t it be handy if every house should have its designer listed on a local register !
That way we’d just go looking at houses and nail our man/woman that way.

I’ve gone looking at a few houses in my time in the hopes of nailing a woman, but dinner and a movie can be equally effective.

@igy wrote:

*badum-tchh!*

teak- I agree largely with your first paragraph, but it does not lead logically to your conclusion re women. Also, age and nationality are not the same as sex in this regard.

Re your previous posts, these sentiments seem to me to be mutually exclusive:

@teak wrote:

I don’t say that women architects are better or worse than men.

and
@teak wrote:

I do not claim or suggest that women are better architects than men.

VS.

@teak wrote:

I would expect a greater degree of appreciation of home maintenance convenience in a woman – not only round the kitchen but in other things too, stairs, room inter-relation, sound and so on.
Usability things. Things you could often draw down to a woman more easily than to a man.

Also:
@teak wrote:

Just that I’d like to give them a fair run out.

I’m sure women architects everywhere are very grateful for the chance at ‘a fair run out’. If only the rest of us were so enlightened. :rolleyes:

@teak wrote:

Wouldn’t it be handy if every house should have its designer listed on a local register !
That way we’d just go looking at houses and nail our man/woman that way.

There is a register. It’s called “Bungalow Bliss.”:D
K.

I worked with a few but can only really recommend one!

I came across a small project lately by Gottstein architects which I think looks great; its called the Ellenvale extension (in the ‘work’ section of their website)
http://www.gottsteinarchitects.com/
They’re a partnership based in Killarney. They also did the Hotel Europa in Kerry.
My experience is that most architects will be only too glad to travel for the sake of a project, so keep your options open- look at architect’s work you like who are based in Limerick, Cork and Dublin.
A lot of small firms would be delighted to get involved in a domestic project, you could look at some interesting projects in the AAI awards from the last few years-
http://www.irish-architecture.com/infobase/aai/24.html

Good luck

Thanks for response & links.

I know they’ll travel from outside the county.
But KCC in my view are hostile to new/outsider architects.
Matter of fact they’re hostile to all decent architects. 🙁

There is a belief widely held by the general public that one should use a local architect (or engineer or woodwork teacher) to satisfy the whims of the Local Authority, and a number of friends have said that they would like to enage our firm but hat they had been advised to stick with local advisors. In every case I have persuaded them that this is not necessary, and obtained satisfactory permissions, (except in one case), mostly for what planners describe as “unashamedly modern” (why the hell should we be ashamed?) buildings. Counties include Sligo, Monaghan, Roscommon, Galway, Cork, Wicklow, Kildare, Clare and Longford. The planner will probably be from South Africa or somehwere and will only be staying a few weeks anyway.

As for your preference for female architects, that’s your privilege and no worse than my aversion to female airline pilots, surgeons, drivers, etc.

In every case I have persuaded them that this is not necessary, and obtained satisfactory permissions, (except in one case), mostly for what planners describe as “unashamedly modern” (why the hell should we be ashamed?) buildings. Counties include Sligo, Monaghan, Roscommon, Galway, Cork, Wicklow, Kildare, Clare and Longford.

Tá go breá.

But have you dealt with KCC yet ?:(

Eh….No!

But seriously, can they be that bad? Do they not have the same guidelines for rural housing as every other county and do their planners not come from all over the world and usually stay for a short time, just like verywhere else?

We’ve found they’re mostly open to modern architecture, though not always, I admit.

😮
It is not the regulations.
It is the interpretation of them in any given instance.
By an individual planner looking over his shoulder at his/her boss.
Utterly contrary and inconsistent in KCC.
And supremely indifferent to themselves.

Carson and Crushell architects.
good architects, lovely people.

http://www.carsonandcrushell.com/