Transsolar engineer Aarti Dhingra recently participated in Beyond the Shadow, the DIVIA Conference 2026 held at the Barcelona Pavilion and organized in cooperation with the Fundació Mies van der Rohe.
The conference revisited the legacy of Lilly Reich, whose contribution to the design of the Barcelona Pavilion remained in the shadow of her long-time collaborator Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for decades. Against this backdrop, the event explored questions of authorship, collaboration, and visibility in architecture, while also addressing the role of women and diversity in contemporary architectural practice within the framework of the DIVIA AWARD 2025.
As part of the program, Aarti contributed her lecture “Building Resilience through Diversity: Forests, Gender, and the Ecologies.” Reflecting on the event, she drew parallels between ecological systems and the built environment:
“Nature rarely relies on a single species to thrive. Resilience emerges through diversity. At Beyond the Shadow, I reflected on what this lesson from forests can teach us about architecture, planning, climate resilience, and the importance of making visible the many shadowed voices that shape climate resilience today.”
The conference provided an inspiring platform for exchanging perspectives on how diversity, collaboration, and the recognition of often-overlooked contributions can strengthen both architectural practice and climate resilience. For Transsolar, these discussions resonate strongly with our belief that complex challenges require diverse voices, perspectives, and expertise.