DAS-TMU Lecture | Pascale Sablan: I Was Asked to Stand

Opening alongside the SAY IT LOUD Toronto exhibition, I Was Asked to Stand invites audiences to consider the transformative power of visibility and the responsibility that comes with leadership.

Architect, author, educator, and founder of Beyond the Built Environment, Pascale Sablan has dedicated her career to ensuring that women and BIPOC designers are not only recognized for their contributions but are seen as essential to the past, present, and future of architecture. Through initiatives such as the internationally recognized SAY IT LOUD exhibition series, her bestselling book GREATNESS: Diverse Designers of Architecture, and her leadership within the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), she has helped reshape conversations around representation, equity, and belonging within the profession.

The lecture explores how architecture extends far beyond the design of buildings. It intersects with education, policy, culture, economic development, community engagement, and the systems that determine who has the opportunity to shape our built environment. Through stories, projects, and lived experience, Sablan illustrates how advocacy can become an integral part of professional practice and why creating visibility is itself an act of design.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will understand the documented historical and systemic factors that have limited representation in architecture’s professional record, and gain practical tools to build a more inclusive, well-documented practice.
2. Participants will leave with a working list of organizations and resources that support underrepresented professionals and the communities they serve.
3. Participants will gain the ability to identify and name women and minority architects and their contributions, and understand how thoughtful design practice improves outcomes for the people who use and live in these spaces.
4. Participants will learn concrete community-engagement techniques that protect and center the people and places most affected by a project, a practical skill set for any firm doing site-sensitive or community-facing work.