Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In this video, the architects present recent projects and discuss their experiences as women in practice. Current Work is a lecture series featuring leading figures in the worlds of architecture, urbanism, design, and art.
Speakers
Billie Tsien and Jennifer Dempsey of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners present recent and in-progress work by the firm. Currently teaching together at The Cooper Union, the two architects will discuss their experiences as women entering the profession at different times, how they navigate, and the architecture that is the result.
Billie Tsien is an architect and a founding partner of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners (TWBTA). In 2021 she was appointed to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, serving as the first Asian-American and woman to be chair.
Jennifer Dempsey is an architect at Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners. She is one of the project team leaders for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Before joining TWBTA, Dempsey was a project manager at GLUCK+, a New York City design-build firm.
Moderator
Diana Agrest is the Irwin S. Chanin Distinguished Professor at The Cooper Union, where she has taught since 1977, and a founder and principal of Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects in New York.
In this video, the architects present recent projects and discuss their experiences as women in practice. Current Work is a lecture series featuring leading figures in the worlds of architecture, urbanism, design, and art.
Speakers
Billie Tsien and Jennifer Dempsey of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners present recent and in-progress work by the firm. Currently teaching together at The Cooper Union, the two architects will discuss their experiences as women entering the profession at different times, how they navigate, and the architecture that is the result.
Billie Tsien is an architect and a founding partner of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners (TWBTA). In 2021 she was appointed to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, serving as the first Asian-American and woman to be chair.
Jennifer Dempsey is an architect at Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners. She is one of the project team leaders for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Before joining TWBTA, Dempsey was a project manager at GLUCK+, a New York City design-build firm.
Moderator
Diana Agrest is the Irwin S. Chanin Distinguished Professor at The Cooper Union, where she has taught since 1977, and a founder and principal of Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects in New York.
