Martha Werenfels is a senior principal at DBVW Architects, one of Rhode Island’s largest architecture firms. Nationally recognized for her work in historic preservation, Werenfels recently was chosen to join the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, its highest honor for professionals who are chosen by a jury of their peers.
Werenfels is the first woman architect, among 32 fellows from Rhode Island, since the fellowship was established in 1952. She is a past president of the American Institute of Architects, Rhode Island chapter. A graduate of the architecture program at Cornell University, Werenfels also holds a master’s degree in history. She spoke to the Providence Business News this week about her career and the market for historic preservation work.
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PBN: Why did you become an architect?
WERENFELS: I always had an interest in architecture since high school. I took a drafting class and it really intrigued me. I actually really enjoyed math. A lot of people say, “I wanted to become an architect but I wasn’t great at math.” You don’t have to be great at math, but it helps if you enjoy math. I use a lot of algebra and geometry, but it’s not super-advanced math.
I think a lot of people early on in their lives were turned away from architecture if they weren’t considered good at math, which is really unfortunate. You need to have an interest in design and an ability to design well, but those are also things you learn in the architectural education process. I just got interested early on and I never looked back.
PBN: As a woman, was it hard for you to get a job as you broke into the architecture field?
WERENFELS: It was not hard to get hired. I never had trouble getting hired or changing jobs. But I think it was harder throughout my career to prove myself. It’s such a male-dominated field, not only within architecture but in construction that I think a woman in architecture has to work harder to establish she knows what she’s talking about.
Our firm has always been about half women. We haven’t actively sought women so we could increase the number of women in the firm. We’ve hired the best people we can find and they’ve been equally men and women, which is terrific.
PBN: What projects have you worked on recently that you’re particularly proud of?
WERENFELS: I recently finished two projects that, for me, embodied what I’ve been developing over my career. They both involved historic buildings with large additions. They were both public buildings for municipalities. One was a new town hall for Plymouth, Mass. It involved an abandoned 18th-century courthouse and we were able to repurpose this significant but abandoned building and add on to it in such a way we could provide a new town hall for the town of Plymouth. It was a case where the addition was bigger than the original historic building. We had to design it in a way where it blended into the historic neighborhood and didn’t dominate the historic building.
We did a similar project in Taunton, Mass., which was a city hall. There was a granite, historic, 1890s building. It used to be city hall, but it experienced a fire about 10 years ago. We were hired to renovate the building but also put a new addition on the back so it could become their new city hall. That one just opened last year.
PBN: What current projects are you working on that you’re excited about?
WERENFELS: We’re working on Rough Point, which is Doris Duke’s mansion in Newport. It’s an exterior restoration. It involves replacement of the slate roof and restoration of the exterior masonry. They named it Rough Point for a good reason. It’s in an incredibly exposed environment and over the years it’s been battered by the weather. The building still looks phenomenal but the weather does take a toll after a while.
There are good sources for slate in Vermont. A lot of the slate quarries that we work with on a regular basis are in Vermont. There is still good material available. And there are good craftsmen who can install a slate roof and work with historic masonry. And a slate roof will last so much longer than any other material.
PBN: Given the COVID-19 pandemic, are you seeing projects still coming along in 2021?
WERENFELS: We are. I think a lot of it has to do with the types of work, the market sectors we work in. We do a fair amount of institutional work. I’ve been doing quite a number of building restorations down at Yale [University]. Those projects continue to come in, the institutional ones.
We’re also seeing a lot of the large Newport mansions, which are also part of our market sector. The large municipal projects. [The pandemic] does make it feel less sure. But architecture kind of ebbs and flows anyway, so it’s hard to know how much is pandemic-based and how much is market-based. We’ve been able to stay busy.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at MacDonald@PBN.com.
