A+W•NZ is Formed and the Website is Launched!

The A+W•NZ website was launched during the Auckland Architecture Week 2011, held in November that year. The website was designed by Tim Dawson of Ghost Street Interactive Design Studio, and its mainfunction is an ongoing self-loading Database, designed to support the two core aims of A+W•NZ: 'visibility' and 'inclusiveness'. The A+W•NZ Database is free, accessible, and easy to use. It literally makes women and their work visible by providing a Profile Page that each member can edit as they choose.

As well as the Database, the A+W•NZ website provides information on upcoming and past events, research information and publications, and access to our surveys. The website stores a newsletter archive, has links to our social media pages, and importantly shows who all the wonderful individuals, practices and companies are who support our non-profit organisation.

The story of the beginning of A+W•NZ in 2011 begins with a conversation between Julie Wilson and Lynda Simmons, which took place in a suburban mall in the company of several small children. The difficulties of remaining in touch with the architecture community while raising a young family were proving difficult for Julie, and she was considering re-training in another field. After many years in architectural education, Lynda had observed this loss of talent from the profession as a recurring pattern. Julie and Lynda began discussing easy-access ways for those at the threshold of the profession to keep in touch with the architectural community in a meaningful way, and the idea for an exhibition was born. The proposed exhibition was planned to coincide with the 20 year anniversary of the first NZ Architecture and Women exhibition, 'Constructive Agenda', held in 1993 nationwide.

Julie then brought Megan Rule on board and the rest, as they say, is history. By September 2013, Lynda, Megan, Julie and a large and fantastic group of people has installed the Between Silos Exhibition in Auckland's Wynyard Quarter, set up a full and interesting event calendar for Auckland Architecture Week 2013, and had teams working around the country on A+W•NZ events.

The A+W•NZ website continues to raise the visibility of women who work in and around the field of architecture and provide a free, accessible platform for communication and sharing. Anyone can beinvolved in A+W•NZ, in any way they choose - just be in touch at [email protected].