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Siegel, Sklarek, and Diamond
Designing 
are bridging the 
Women 
architectural gender gap
By Samuel Greengard

Margot Siegel has learned how to turn adversity into advantage and how to shatter myths. She's living proof that in the male-dominated world of architecture, where image and reputation are everything, women can overcome the biases that exist and make a name for themselves. 

In just two short years she and partners Norma Sklarek and Katherine Diamond have managed to build their West Los Angeles office into one of the nation's largest female-owned architectural companies. They've managed to increase their portfolio to more than $35 million in current projects and, in the last year alone, double their net worth to a quarter of a million dollars. 

Says a confident and enthusiastic Siegel, president of Siegel-Sklarek-Diamond, A.I.A. Architects: "We can stack up against anybody. In competitions with as many as 40 or 60 other firms, we've been selected. The only thing that is holding us back is the amount of time we've been together."

Such brashness - some might call it arrogance - has helped SSD achieve remarkable results. The firm is presently involved with several major projects, including a new $4.5-million civic center for the City Of Lawndale, a $1.5-million addition to a student service building at UC-Irvine, a $1.8-million office complex for UCLA's parking services department and multi-story luxury condominium project in Pacific Palisades. 

To be sure, success couldn't be sweeter. As Diamond puts it: "We've put together a team that is really exciting. There's the feeling that we're all pooling our efforts and building something bigger than the three of us could ever achieve individually."

By no coincidence, others offer equally positive views of the three. "It's quite an achievement to have three women of such stature working together," says Donald C. Axon, regional director for the California Council of the American Institute of Architects. "I wouldn't put them at the top of the design world, but they do high-quality work and put together excellent proposals."

Adds Julia Thomas, chairman and partner in the Westwood firm of Bobrow/Thomas Associates: "They are well positioned to do a significant amount of work on a large scale. They should provide some strong competition for some big projects in the near future."

When the three decided to form a partnership, it wasn't with the idea of creating a firm headed by women just for the sake of novelty, however. "We came together because we thought we had the strengths and the skills to become an excellent firm," Siegel explains. "We come from diverse backgrounds and we have different ap-

Making firm plans: Margot Siegel, Norma Sklarek and Katherine Diamond in the architectural firm's West Los Angeles office. 

The California Executive / November 1987 / 39