A student group involved with promoting women in architecture will meet at Café
Perugino today at 6:30 p.m. to drink coffee and wine and discuss the café’s interior with its
designer, a University architecture professor.
The Student Association of Women in
Architecture will meet with JoAnne Hogarth, an adjunct assistant professor in the
architecture department, to discuss elements of her design within the café.
SAWA Public Relations Coordinator Jennifer Midthun said the group, which started three years ago but is receiving student fees for
the first time this year, has approximately
30 regular members and is comprised of
undergraduate and graduate architecture
students. Tonight will be the group’s first
public event for the school year, she said.
Hogarth said she plans to give attendees a tour of the café and discuss the decisions she made in the design. The architecture and
metalwork, as well as the art that surrounds the café, is primarily from and by Eugene
architects and artists. Hogarth said the design was inspired by cafés throughout Italy.
Midthun said the group started in the
2002-03 school year when a few female
students saw a need to promote female architects on campus. She added that the group has seen increased interest and membership in the last three years, allowing it to reach out to more students in the architecture program.
Midthun said female architects are often overlooked when discussing design. She would like the group to bring awareness about this problem not only to architects but also to University students.
“Recognition sometimes doesn’t go as far for female architects,” Midthun said.
She added it wasn’t until 2004 that a female architect, Zaha Hadid, won the Pritzker Prize for Architecture, considered to be the Nobel Prize of the field.
“She has been putting out some amazing stuff for a long time,” Midthun said.
Midthun said SAWA is not limited to female students and is actively
trying to recruit more men.
SAWA plans to bring in additional guest speakers and to network
with groups outside the University, such as the National Association
of Women in Construction.
Events Coordinator Jenna Fribley said the group also intends to show the movie “My Architect,” about
the life of architect Louis Kahn, and invite University professor Gary
Moye to speak at the event about his work with Kahn.
SAWA tries to have a general
meeting once per month and
has plans to sponsor a forum
titled “Beyond the White Picket Fence,” at the Holistic Options
for Planet Earth Sustainability
conference April 8-10. The group is currently discussing the lack of
high-quality, affordable housing in Eugene and plans to carry that theme into the HOPES conference.
The public is invited to attend tonight’s free event, held at
767 Willamette St.

[email protected]