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“Form follows love,” says German architect Anna Heringer.This seems to resonate with the introduction 100 Practicing Women Architects, which sets out a rigorous selection process that includes practices that emphasize “practical innovation, care and connection, unpredictable engagement, future placemaking, equity and ‘women’s work’”. It also apologizes for the book’s title, its choice of architects, its prominence of women, and its presence in the world. So far, so feminine.
But what follows is a truly extraordinary “sample” of 100 mostly unknown women working in the built environment. Many of them are architects, but they also include town planners, community consultants, activists, artists, writers and others who have had a significant impact on their cities. As the preface says: “The female architects in this book should all be household names… [but] The book also profiles women from countries and regions where most of us can’t name male architects.
So I had the pleasure of meeting a number of women who were actually the first female architects in the country but who quickly rose to extremely powerful political positions, including Hayette Ndiaye, She was Chad’s first female architect and now Chad’s first female president. The country’s architecture school is just 37 years old; and there’s the venerable Yasmeen Lari, Pakistan’s first female architect and a hugely successful commercial architect who now specializes in humanitarian The work of “providing women with dignity through architecture”.
The great power of this “Trojan Horse on the Coffee Table” book is to shine a light on the resilience and sheer strength of women who work in countries where the barriers to success far exceed those of our Western experience. . For example, Sumaya Dabbagh practices in Saudi Arabia, where women were not allowed to study architecture until the 2000s and are now building huge mosques and museums; Takbir Fatima runs a women-led and Design Aware, a company staffed mostly by women, has somehow managed to merge AA DRL computing with a high-profile community-led school in Hyderabad.
Many of the women selected here are working in essentially new countries: countries that were rebuilt after the war, the collapse of communism, or in postcolonial contexts that sparked a search for national architectural expressions, often combining contemporary techniques with local Combining vernacular, indigenous knowledge and craftsmanship. Co-design and community engagement is an important theme, and female architects may be more integrated into traditional communities than men. As Yasmeen Lari says: “Women…are the leaders in everything.”
What is particularly impressive is the freedom and exciting excitement of being a female architect in these very difficult circumstances. As Hayette Ndiaye says, “The advantage of being an architect in an emerging country is that it provides us with a vast field of experimentation”. For Rahel Shawl, a successful and inspiring Ethiopian architect, “in a strange way, and against the advice of my family, here I am, a young and dynamic Girls, just being in the right place at the right time.” I hope there will be more emphasis on the positive role of being a woman in architecture. After all, starting with a low bar does provide the freedom to take risks and redefine the role of an architect, which may be harder to do for someone who feels the pressure of cultural expectations to find a stable job. and raise a family. table.
As a white Western woman working in architecture, I’m not too impressed by Western representation. There are too many women working with men, while other practices that are entirely female-led and have mostly female staff are not included. Running a sustainable business without any male partners is different and more challenging, especially in a way that actively promotes women. I feel like this is missing from the discussion, most likely because of the architecture. The business side of mediocrity does not shape the direct experience of the academics and writers who make up the editorial team.
As Oana Bogdan, a Romanian-Belgian architect who briefly served as Romania’s culture minister in 2016, ruefully put it: “I would say something and people would react to my reaction.” [male] Colleague…it seems like I’m suddenly ten times smarter since I became Secretary of State. It’s like I turned into a man and said the same words.
Again, she would have to be Secretary of State for her rhetoric to have the same appeal as that of men. But I also like the prospect of practitioners who are less well-known but have made a huge impact, such as Meridien Water’s Yemi Alderun.
There is also the tricky question of how to create a lens that connects female architects to caring, social justice and climate roles, as this reinforces perceptions of what constitutes a “female” character that we ultimately need to eliminate in order to achieve equality This view. Tatiana Bilbao said of her building methods, “I know nothing and I have no right to do it,” which is certainly something some men can learn. But do we really need to be so humble?
This incredible group of women proves that there are inspiring role models across the globe who are currently making a significant impact on our built environment and whom we should all be proud of. You may not find many of the big names you already know, no Jeanne Gang, Kazuyo Sejima or Eva Jiřičná, but you’ll be happy to discover these new the guiding star.
100 Women in Architectural Practice by Harriet Harriss, Naomi House, MonikaParrinder and Tom Ravenscroft is available from RIBA Publishing for £50
Tatiana von Preussen is co-founder and director of vPPR Architects
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