ARCHITECT BARBIE®

Barbie® introduces the 2011 ‘Career of the Year’ with Architect Barbie®. To help Architect Barbie® capture the spirit and style of young designers, two female members of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) — Despina Stratigakos, Professor of Architectural History at the University at Buffalo and Kelly Hayes McAlonie, Associate Director of the Capital Planning Group at the University at Buffalo and the 2011 President Elect for AIA New York State — worked with Mattel’s designers on Barbie®’s professional image.

Architect Barbie® enters the design fi eld on the 125th anniversary of women’s acceptance to professional architectural associations. But even today, architecture remains a highly male-dominated occupation. In fact, as of November 2010 only 17 percent of the members of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) were women. A trailblazer in her own right, Architect Barbie® encourages girls to pursue a career in architecture and explore a world without limits.

About Despina Stratigakos:

Despina Stratigakos is an internationally recognized historian and professor in the Architecture Department at the University at Buffalo. She has published extensively on the history of women in architecture, including her award-winning book, A Women’s Berlin: Building the Modern City (2008), the story of a forgotten metropolis designed by and for women. She lectures publicly on issues of diversity in architecture and in 2007 curated an exhibition on Architect Barbie that focused attention on gendered stereotypes within the architectural profession. Dr. Stratigakos is a Director of the Society of Architectural Historians, a former Advisor of the International Archive of Women in Architecture at Virginia Tech, and a founding member of the Architecture and Design Academy (ADA), an initiative of the Buffalo Public Schools to increase diversity in architecture. She received her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College and taught at Harvard University and the University of Michigan before joining the Department of Architecture at the University at Buffalo.

About Kelly Hayes McAlonie:

After graduating from the Technical University of Nova Scotia, Kelly Hayes McAlonie began her architectural career designing children’s playgrounds and other learning environments for children. She has maintained that interest in the spaces and education of children, and after moving to Buffalo, founded the AIA Buffalo/ WNY Arch & Ed program, which brings architects together with art teachers to introduce children to the world of design, and helped to create the Architecture and Design Academy (ADA) in the Buffalo Public Schools. Hayes McAlonie previously was Associate VP at Cannon Design with the fi rm’s Education Practice. Today, she is an Associate Director of the Capital Planning Group at the University at Buffalo. She is 2011 President Elect for AIA New York State and Past President of AIA Buffalo/WNY. In addition Hayes McAlonie is a biographer of Louise Bethune, the fi rst woman architect in the United States, writing and lecturing on her work. In 2008 she was a recipient of the American Institute of Architect’s National Young Architects Award and in 2006 she won the Young Architect of the Year Award in AIA Buffalo/WNY.