Natalie de Blois

Natalie Griffin de Blois (born April 2, 1921 in Paterson , † July 22, 2013 in Chicago ) was an American architect of the International Style .

Life

The engineering daughter de Blois studied architecture at Columbia University until 1944 and worked for the New York office of Babcock & Wilcox and for Friedrich Kiesler during her studies . After graduating, she began working in a smaller architecture firm. She later moved to the New York office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill , one of the most prestigious offices in the world. After moving to the SOM Chicago offices in 1962, she was appointed Associate Partner in 1964. During her many years of working in a team with Gordon Bunshaft , some of the most important buildings of the International Style were built, but their design was mostly awarded to Bunshaft afterwards. Until the completion of Aqua by Jeanne Gang in 2009 de Blois' was Union Carbide Building of 1961, the highest, designed by a woman building. From the 1980s, Natalie de Blois taught at the University of Texas School of Architecture.

Realizations

Some of the buildings that de Blois designed as "Senior Designer" are:

Connecticut General Life Insurance Company Headquarters , 1957
Pepsi Cola Headquarters , 1960
Union Carbide Building , 1961

Other structures that were created with the decisive contribution of de Blois are:

Awards

Fellow of the AIA , 1974
The Union Carbide Building and Pepsi-Cola World Headquarters were part of a “Built by Women” exhibition organized by the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation in 2015 .

Individual evidence

↑ medium.com: Cracking the Glass Ceiling accessed on January 23, 2019
↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine: Battle of the Skyscrapers, accessed on January 22, 2019
^ The New York Times: An Architect Whose Work Stood Out, Even if She Did Not.Retrieved January 22, 2019
↑ SOM: Built by Women Exhibition Opens March 2, accessed on January 22, 2019

personal data
SURNAME	De Blois, Natalie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	De Blois, Natalie Griffin (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American architect
DATE OF BIRTH	April 2, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH	Paterson, New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH	22. July 2013
Place of death	Chicago

[1] um.com: Cracking the Glass Ceiling accessed on January 23, 2019

[2] Frankfurter Allgemeine: Battle of the Skyscrapers, accessed on January 22, 2019

[3] The New York Times: An Architect Whose Work Stood Out, Even if She Did Not.Retrieved January 22, 2019

[4] SOM: Built by Women Exhibition Opens March 2, accessed on January 22, 2019