In October 1991, guided by Editor Deborah K. Dietsch, Architecture magazine* published an entire issue focused on Women in Architecture. In the "Technology & Practice" section, including an article on A Firm of One’s Own (p39), focused on “women who are flourishing away from the restrictions of male-owned practices, in firms of their own.”

Another article called Women in Corporate Firms, (p79) focused on eight women. At that time, a few of the women were quite well known, and several were new to me. As I was reading through the article, I was interested to see that Ruth Gless — a senior associate at Perkins & Will in Washington DC — had an undergraduate degree in English and a master's in architecture.

Over the years, I’ve met a handful of architects who — like me — had undergraduate degrees in English, Journalism, Philosophy, Music, and a number of other liberal arts curricula. Inevitably, they were, well, interesting people, and I enjoyed getting to know them.

I reached out to Ruth, who was originally taken aback. But we had many common interests and grew to be very good friends, as we are to this day.

Ruth not only studied English, but she taught it at the high-school level for several years. If I were ever on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, I would ask Ruth to be my "phone a friend," because she has an encyclopedic memory, particularly of literature (Shakespeare) and films (The Godfather).

But back to her story —

After being a classroom teacher for several years, Ruth realized that she wanted to be an architect, and she entered the graduate program at the University of Virginia. Then she began working at P&W in their original DC office. In 1990, P&W closed the office, and Ruth transferred to Chicago, where she worked on many educational projects, including the New Albany High School, which had a remarkable curriculum as well as design.

She subsequently joined NBBJ as the first female principal in their Columbus OH office, and after a few years, joined her husband Frank Elmer FAIA in Lincoln Street Studio. Her design experience includes projects in K-12 and higher education, education programming and planning, research and technology, and corporate headquarters.

Ruth has been an active advocate within the profession, serving as the 2011 President of the Columbus Chapter of the AIA, and on the board of the Columbus Center for Architecture and Design. In 2016, she was elevated to Fellow in the AIA, and in 2019, she was honored with the AIA Ohio Mentor Award.

In 2021, Ruth was honored as the recipient of the AIA Ohio Gold Medal — the highest honor that AIA Ohio can bestow on a member. It recognizes “the exemplary contributions and significant accomplishments of AIA Ohio members….”

Today, my friend Ruth is an architect who paints.
As she says, "Architecture and painting are forms of language, but they are also ways of seeing.... As an architect and a painter, I celebrate space, especially urban space."
Needless to say, she continues to be an inspiration to generations of women in architecture. She also continues to teach.
As she said in her AIA Ohio Gold Medal Submission, "Once you've been a teacher, you can't not teach. You're a teacher for your whole life."
*View Ruth's gallery and exhibitions* *here*.

Ruth the Globetrotter

Ruth also loves new adventures. In 2023, she went to Egypt and made a new friend.
This year, she’s going to South America, to experience Macchu Picchu. We’re looking forward to hearing all about it!

NOTES

Once the official magazine of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Architecture was one of the main journals on the subject until it closed in 2006, replaced by Architect Magazine.
For a compendium of magazines about architects and architecture, go to USModernist, which has a complete index of PDFs for issues of AIA Journal, Architecture, and ARCHITECT.

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An Architect Who Paints

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