Want More Women Leaders in Architecture? Then Promote Them.
/July 13, 2022
Johnston Architects Adds Two Partners
By EMMA HINCHLIFFE A/E Editor - Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce
ja partners mary johnston, alison walker brems, megan mckay, and mona zellers / photo by av goodsell
Johnston Architects, co-founded by husband and wife Mary and Ray Johnston in 1991, recently added two new partners: Alison Walker Brems and Mona Zellers. This brings the firm's partnership team total to four women and two men.
From its inception as a family-founded, and grounded, firm, JA has prided itself on creating a space where women can thrive. However, as co-founder Mary Johnston explains, this expansion and evolution towards female-dominated leadership has been as much organic as intentional.
“We’ve always prioritized diversity in hiring, but we’ve also just hired and promoted the best people – a bigger number of which just happen to be women.”
Speaking with the firm's four female partners, it is clear that the prominent place of women at JA has had a transformative impact on company culture, especially with regards to encouraging work life balance and nurturing community. “As a firm we are all about prioritizing work-life balance,” Johnston continued. Partners at JA are able to successfully balance their roles as leaders and mentors and some even work part-time to care for children. JA actively retains its female team members by including remote work, flex schedules, providing robust benefits and exceeding the industry standard by instituting a 12-week parental leave.
The partners also note the sense of community and camaraderie at JA, which they believe is in part the result of female leadership.
“We all support each other here and it doesn’t feel like we are in competition, everyone on the team is encouraged to speak up and give their opinion on things.”
This sense of community spirit also feeds into the firm's work and Johnston believes is a key reason for its success. “Good architecture is the result of diverse voices” she said. “No matter what some people might think or say architecture is never the product of one person or star individual,” new partner, Mona Zellers, added. “It takes a team, collaboration and community to deliver good projects.”
“We need more female representation at the top and I think that old adage of if you can see it you can be it rings true here.”
“The change can't come fast enough, seeing more female architects in leadership roles has to be the future,” Johnston added. The partners also shared that JA will continue to invest in female architects and also aims to employ more individuals from other groups and minorities that are underrepresented in the industry.
ja’s newest partners / photo by av goodsell
THE NEW PARTNERS
Alison Walker Brems
Walker Brems joined JA in 1998 and became principal in 2006 before breaking off to work independently for several years. Returning to JA in 2021 as quality assurance/quality control director, Walker Brems has more than 25 years of architectural expertise in numerous project types, from single and multi-family homes to healthcare, to historic restoration and adaptive reuse. Throughout her career, she has become well experienced in design, development, and construction of public and private projects including project management, specifications writing, permit coordination, and construction administration with a distinct focus on the restoration and preservation of historic structures.
Besides historic structures, her experience designing new and renovated public spaces includes work for Seattle Public Library and King County Library System. She was involved in the founding of DOCOMOMO.WEWA, former chair of the City of Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board and is affiliated with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Historic Seattle.
Mona Zellers
Zellers has diverse project experience which includes brand new facilities, as well as additions and renovations for public and private clients. Her work includes public libraries and community centers, university facilities, K-12 schools, multi-family and mixed-use housing, as well as infrastructure and art installations. Zellers has co-chaired the Seattle AIA Honor Awards and served on the Seattle AIA Board of Directors and the Design in Public Board of Directors. She is also a frequent guest juror at the University of Washington's College of Built Environments. Her work has won several awards including two AIA Seattle Honor Awards, and in 2017 she received the National AIA Associates Award.
Mona leads JA's Design Excellence program, an internal design review process that occurs at set milestones for every project, from the smallest backyard cottage to the largest library, and everything in between.