Women, Architecture, Role Models

It is widely acknowledged that women in architecture have for long suffered from a lack of visibility and recognition.

Among other underrepresented groups, women occupied historical blind spots in canonical histories of architecture and have struggled to see their work, often collaborative and beyond designing buildings, recognised in a profession that celebrates individual ‘genius’ designers.

Today a significant number of edited volumes, exhibitions, awards, monographs, and research projects exist that are dedicated to women in architecture.

Drawing from a close reading of such works, from interviews with their creators (historians and curators among others) as well as an inter-disciplinary and feminist reading of the notion of (alternative) role models, Women, Architecture, Role Models offers a timely critical unpacking of the opportunities and challenges of women-focused works with particular focus on their portrayal as role models.

Rather than providing another study about women in architecture, this book offers a methodological-historiographical study of a series of tools commonly used for celebrating women in architecture and identifies key tensions connected to the portrayal of role models.

These tensions serve as the critical-analytical backbone of the book against the backdrop of both a longer history of feminist studies and recent calls for a broader take on diversity and inclusiveness beyond (binary understandings of) gender.