Dinner Cozy by French 2D: A Women in Architecture Event

New York, NY—The Women in Architecture dinner series, historically presented by THIS X THAT and this year in partnership with Madame Architect, is a platform for gathering female-identifying practitioners, thought leaders, educators, and activists in the field of architecture and adjacent. The dinners provide a platform for making new connections and creative idea generation around issues including public space, housing, environment, and equity in design. This year, two dinners, one in New York and one in Los Angeles, will revolve around the idea of “care” in architecture.

For this latest edition, which took place on March 24th, 2022 in Brooklyn, Boston-based architecture studio French 2D explored architecture at the scale of the body to address comfort and climate, a theme sparked by the pandemic-necessitated need to think creatively about outdoor dining and public space. Their design took form as a playful immersive tablecloth, composed of silver survival blankets backed with quilting technique, for a dinner of 28 people seated at a long table. Extending beyond the table’s edges, the blankets draped over and around diners like shawls, providing warmth and creating a large, interconnected form. Conversation prompts printed on menu-style cards were scattered across this landscape, encouraging discussion around topics such as:

How can we design for expanded ranges of comfort beyond the 70-degree interior?
How might we consider “soft” or low-tech approaches to enclosure to address our collective climate and public health future?
What changes from the past two years are here to stay?

The Women in Architecture dinner series exists at the heart of THIS X THAT’s mission: to bring contemporary architecture to a broader public by facilitating conversations and connections within the field and across disciplines,, promoting boundary-pushing projects, and finding the right partners for the progressive architecture studios we represent.

The event was generously supported by Deborah Berke Partners and KPF, with accompanying food and beverage produced by Care of Chan and menu created and cooked by Susan Kim of Eat Doshi. Beverages generously provided by Zuzu and Vivanterre.

Special thanks to Marc Agger for the use of 77 Washington, a historic building in Brooklyn recently renovated by Worrell Yeung.

Photography by Belle Morizio.