The Making Of 'She Draws:She Builds'

Studio Aki is part of a meet-up of North London female architects, founded by Anna Schabel. Conversations encompass our practice as architects and beyond; work, life balance and the future of the profession. At  meetings over pizza and wine the the group discussed various ways of bringing their conversations to a wider audience. Several possibilities were considered, including the idea of a film.  

Sharing stories, particularly on film, is something we have a passion for; Sarah wanted to help turn this into a reality and so offered to direct and make the film. 

In February of 2017 the process of interviewing women began, initially we spoke to women  from the group but eventually this broadened this out to include women from various backgrounds and at all stages of their careers.  Lots of wonderful material was gathered and Sarah then started the difficult process of editing it down to thirty minutes or so, to create the shared story that is the She Draws:She Builds film.  There was about fifteen hours of footage to be distilled down to thirty minutes and we also needed a way of separating the film into chapters; this is partly how Sarah developed the idea of the hand sketching moteif, which repeats throughout the film.

At the end of 2017 She Draws was screened at the RIBA and we now look forward to further screenings as part of International Women's Day at RIBA London March, as part of Ethel Day at RIBA North this summer and possibly further afield.

More about the process of making the film to follow...