Designing Women : Architecture: An exhibit of the work of female interior designers points to their longstanding absence from the forefront of the profession.

The 32 black steamer trunks, measuring seven feet high--and eight feet wide when the doors are open--hold the works of a generation of women who, for the most part, were denied rightful opportunities.

Packed with the creations of the nation’s leading women interior designers, these imposing chromed suitcases symbolize the longstanding absence of women from U.S. architecture as well as their consequent emergence in the forefront of the interior design profession.

The trunks constitute the current “Women of Design” exhibit, which originated at the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York City and will open to the public Friday through Sunday at Sony Entertainment Pictures in Culver City. The exhibit showcases the contributions of women to architecture and design, achievements that were either overshadowed by those of male designers, or outright neglected.

In a bit of unintended irony, “Women of Design” has been planned to coincide with the national convention of the American Institute of Architects, the very group of professionals that many women say has been slow in rectifying longstanding gender inequities. Indeed, A. Josephine Carmen, a West Hollywood architect and designer who designed a trunk with her business partner, Clare Igonda, recalled that as recently as 20 years ago, women were not made to feel welcome in many schools of architecture nationwide.

“Professors would say, ‘This is very bad of you, you’re just taking the place of a man,’ ” Carmen said. “ ‘You’ll go out and get married in a few years, anyway.’ ”

According to “Women of Design,” the book that inspired the exhibit, women by 1991 constituted only 9% of total AIA membership, and even that amounted to a twelvefold increase in membership from 1970.

It was because they were not taken seriously as future architects that many women leaving architecture school were relegated to designing the insides of homes and buildings, normally a job left to interior decorators. But whether by necessity or choice, once these formally trained women began producing interiors, innovation and acceptance followed. Today, interior design is recognized as a profession distinct from interior decoration in 19 states. And increasingly, men are taking a second look at the challenges of designing inside.

“It’s a long way from being just a decorator and choosing paint color,” said Beverly Russell, author of “Women of Design,” who says that fully half of the women profiled in her book--and who are spotlighted in the exhibit--are the products of architecture and design schools. “The inside of the building is where the people actually are.”

The motifs of the various trunks in the exhibit run the gamut from functional to stylish to whimsical. Some are personal statements, some are straightforward examples of designers’ work, and some are philosophical inquiries into the nature of design. The idea of enclosing projects in the enormous steamers came from the exhibit’s chief sponsor, the Michigan-based Steelcase Design Partnership.

“We wanted to give them the opportunity to design the interior of something,” said Georgia Everse, marketing and communications manager for Steelcase Design, “and since it was a traveling show . . . well, the idea of the steamer trunk fit.”

Since the exhibit’s opening at the Cooper Hewitt Museum, the trunks have also been displayed at the National Building Museum in Washington, the Chicago Athenaeum and the Cultural Design Center in San Francisco.

“Obviously, we’re still in competition,” said Carmen, who added that with increased recognition, the issue of architectural opportunities for women may become moot in the near future. “I’m going to be fascinated by the next generation.”

“Women of Design” is open to the public Friday through Sunday at Sony Pictures Entertainment, 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City. Hours are Friday, 7 to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free, although donations will be accepted for women’s and children’s programs at the Union Rescue Mission.