In March, for only the fourth time in its 43-year history, the Pritzker Architecture Prize was awarded to a woman—two women, in fact. Irish architects Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara were named the 2020 Pritzker Prize Laureates, a designation that reflects the important work being done by women across the world to bring new perspectives and boundary-defying vision to the buildings that influence our skylines. 

But women in architecture are not an exception to a rule: they have been changing landscapes for decades. Farrell and McNamara are co-founders of Grafton Architects, a firm they established in 1978. Specializing in rationalist architecture styles and sustainable design, their selected works include the Universita Luigi Bocconi in Milan—named the World Building of the Year in 2008—and the Medical School at the University of Limerick. They also served as the co-curators for the 16th International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia in 2018.

To celebrate this moment in architecture and lift up other women of note, we’ve assembled a shortlist of the six women architects who—along with the recent Pritzker winners—are impacting the world around them with innovative design and groundbreaking ways of thinking about how we work and live.