Exhibition: Ahead of the Curve: California, Politics, and the Rise of Women in Architecture

[Elizabeth Keslacy]

If you find yourself in the Washington DC area in the next couple of months, I invite you to visit my exhibition "Ahead of the Curve: California, Politics, and the Rise of Women in Architecture." It's on view at the District Architecture Center through May 21, 2026. 

Ahead of the Curve explores why California emerged as a uniquely fertile ground for women architects in the twentieth century. Curated by Elizabeth Keslacy, Assistant Professor at the Virginia Tech Washington–Alexandria Architecture Center, the exhibition features work from the International Archive of Women in Architecture and profiles ten architects whose diverse careers unfolded alongside California’s trailblazing legal commitments to women’s rights. Together, architectural projects and a parallel legal timeline ask how expanded freedoms may have shaped professional possibility—and prompt reflection on what equality still requires today.

https://dcarchcenter.org/event/ahead-curve