Despite the acclaim this project received, Ms. Willis found herself unable to apply for a state license as an architect because she had never worked under another architect. She considered suing but turned instead to Senator Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, a friend from her time there, who put in a call to Gov. Pat Brown of California. Three days later, she received the documentation needed to sit for the exams. She obtained her license in 1966.
She became head of the California chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1979.
Overseeing several large-scale residential projects in the 1970s, Ms. Willis found a new ally: computers. In order to better analyze proposed developments in terms of environmental impact, considering factors like housing density, building types and costs, she worked with Eric Teicholz and Jochen Eigen to develop the Computerized Approach to Residential Land Analysis, or CARLA.
She used this program in 1973 to site 98 apartments on a bluff in Pacifica, Calif., and in 1979 to design the Aliamanu Valley Community for Military Family Housing, consisting of 525 buildings set in the crater of an extinct volcano in Honolulu. Many of her peers in the field also used CARLA for a time; that project is now featured in “Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism,” an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York that will run until Jan. 20.
It was in 1983 that Ms. Willis completed her most recognizable project: the San Francisco Ballet Building, known for its elegant proportions and powerful use of curved glass in the balconies and lobby, evoking the folds of theatrical curtains. She consulted dancers on aspects of the design, a process that led to some unusual features, including a re-engineering of fluorescent lighting tracks to eliminate flickering, a physical therapy center on site, and natural ventilation as an alternative to air conditioning. (“The dancers really appreciated that,” she said.)
Ms. Willis relocated to New York in 1991 and worked there for a diverse range of clients before creating her foundation. Among other initiatives, the foundation has run an “emerging leaders” program and organized a strategic-planning retreat for professional women in the building industry. It has also produced a series of short films, some of which, like “Unknown New York,” Ms. Willis wrote, directed and narrated herself, serving as a spokeswoman for her field into her 90s.
She bought her home in Branford, east of New Haven, in 2005 and split her time between there and New York until 2015, when she started renting out her New York apartment and living full time in Branford. She sold the apartment this year.
