"[1] Born in New York City to an affluent family descended from leading figures in the American Revolution, Stevens attended Smith College, where she received a degree in philosophy in 1949.
Influences at MIT included Alvar Aalto, Eero Saarinen, Kevin Lynch, and Buckminster Fuller, who was also a family friend.
[2] Stevens worked for The Architects' Collaborative (TAC) before launching a practice with MIT faculty member Thomas McNulty in 1956, whom she married after her 1958 divorce.
Stevens also founded Design Guild in 1975, a collaborative architecture practice focusing on adaptive reuse and sustainability.
The curvilinear concrete structure, which is often called the first exposed-concrete and glass house in the United States, won international attention.