 In 1973, Ms. Birkby came out publicly, resigned from her job at Davis Brody Associates, and traveled to Bien Hoa, Vietnam, with the firm Dober, Paddock, Upton and Associates, to work on a reconstruction plan for Thu Duc Polytechnic University.Upon returning to New York, Ms. Birkby opened her own private practice and taught architectural design at Pratt Institute School of Architecture from 1974-1978, New York Institute of Technology, and City College of New York.In 1973, Ms. Birkby co-edited a collection of essays, ""Amazon expedition