Culture: Giving Space to Open Discussion

Our bi-weekly design meetings are a chance for our entire team to come together over snacks and beverages for a friendly design pin-up.

In advance of International Women’s Day, we deviated from our usual format and shook things up with a moderated discussion to explore the issues women face through the lens of architecture and design.

To help guide the discussion across a broad scope, we asked team members to share their thoughts within three buckets: design, career, and society. From there, we let the discussion flow organically.

A passionate discussion followed. We used sticky notes to map insights and see where they touched multiple spheres.

At the end, people shared their main take-away. There were recommendations for action, suggestions for more conversations, and ideas for design interventions.

  

What did we learn? For starters, we need to keep talking. We’ll use this session to guide more conversations in the studio. We already have more Open Discussions planned around mental health, diversity, and sustainability.

“Best Design meeting yet, it generated real thought and engagement, hoping we can continue until action points are met for each topic.”

The best thing to come out of this session? Knowing that our studio is an open and non-judgmental space, people have the freedom to share their ideas, and there are no wrong opinions. Let’s keep the conversation going!

Want to join the discussion? Check out our careers.