What do you think?
Rate this book
Architecture and Feminism
Over the last several decades, feminists and architects have independently developed critiques of modern Western assumptions and cultural practices. Architecture and Feminism addresses the intersection of these two seemingly disparate fields through a lively and diverse collection of essays and projects, including interdisciplinary investigations of literature, social history, home economics, and art history.
Articles examine such varied topics as Niki de Saint-Phalles exuberant building-sized female sculpture Hon, the aesthetics and politics of the Playboy bachelor pad, Edith Wharton's ideas on domestic architecture, and the Legend of Master Manole, a disquieting Eastern European folktale that prescribes the ritual entombment of women in the walls of buildings, while visual projects take well-known structures by Philip Johnson and Louis Sullivan as points of departure for a feminist reading of architectural history. Rather than presenting a single, didactic position, this collection offers a range of fresh voices to describe the cross-connections and shared concerns between architecture and feminism.
Contributors to Architecture and Feminism include Manuela Antoniu, Vanessa Chase, Deborah Fausch, Molly Hankwitz, Susan R. Henderson, Amy Landesberg, Lisa Quatrale, Christine S. E. Magar, Mary McLeod, and George Wagner.
Articles examine such varied topics as Niki de Saint-Phalles exuberant building-sized female sculpture Hon, the aesthetics and politics of the Playboy bachelor pad, Edith Wharton's ideas on domestic architecture, and the Legend of Master Manole, a disquieting Eastern European folktale that prescribes the ritual entombment of women in the walls of buildings, while visual projects take well-known structures by Philip Johnson and Louis Sullivan as points of departure for a feminist reading of architectural history. Rather than presenting a single, didactic position, this collection offers a range of fresh voices to describe the cross-connections and shared concerns between architecture and feminism.
Contributors to Architecture and Feminism include Manuela Antoniu, Vanessa Chase, Deborah Fausch, Molly Hankwitz, Susan R. Henderson, Amy Landesberg, Lisa Quatrale, Christine S. E. Magar, Mary McLeod, and George Wagner.
- GenresArchitecture
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
3 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 22, 2021
This book is a collection of papers and projects edited by three women – the first two of them are Architectural critics and the third is a political critic but all of them are concerned in woman issues and feminism - work on the relationship among gender, woman, and architecture.
"What is outside is not simply the Other" a quote by JUDITH BUTLER was used in the beginning of the introduction followed by an explanation to reduce the negative first impression of the title of the book due to the bad reputation of "feminism" which is often misunderstood and linked with bad interpretations like "man-haters".
They also discussed the widely disdaining of "woman architect" as many women searching for approbation in this field disassociate themselves from talk of gender issues to avoid being understood as feminist.
when trying to trace the structure of this book, the introduction includes: "What does this work look like? by what methods is it induced? with what languages is it studied? these questions are best left unsettled", perhaps the wide field of the study dissolves answering these questions, but it might be useful for the editors to review some of the earlier works in this field to try to establish a possible solid way of thinking.
the interdisciplinary related issues of the book articles includes theory, contemporary art, literature, practical projects and even mythology which open various areas of inquiry. all the articles taken together represent a new wave of feminist debate in architecture, one that looks at architecture as a productive of gender identity, and other that analyzes built environments to interpret how they implicit exclusions on gender.
some of the articles are individually interesting, personally I appreciate "Grete Lihotzky and the Frankfurt Kitchen" for Susan R. Henderson which shows how new designs for kitchens in Germany modeled housewives as factory workers whose only hope for escaping hard work, depending on the scientific management of household tasks. This article include the role of women in architectural practice and the ways architecture has served to contain women and provided more progressive designs to support different women's lives.
Edith Wharton, The Decoration of Houses, and Gender in Turn-of the Century-America" as described by Vanessa Chase, discussed how a space like Edith Wharton's home "the Mount" made some changes to the traditional gendering of many of its rooms to allow for expanded female power.
"Everyday and "Other" Spaces" for MARY McLEOD is a study on social and political limitations of contemporary architecture which proposes to apply "everyday life" concept in architecture as a solution for these limitations.
"The bodily is feminist" is a claim by DEBORAH FAUSCH in her article "The Knowledge of the Body and the Presence of History" which within she considered phenomenology architecture as "feminist", but I don’t agree with this claim. I think this is just adhering feminist on something that I may not interpret as feminist.
the potential of this publication to try to change the practice of architecture and the way of inhabiting built spaces. Each of these articles provide a fairly useful and questioning introduction to the reader. Taken together make a starting point which will need more detailed studies of architecture and feminism.
"What is outside is not simply the Other" a quote by JUDITH BUTLER was used in the beginning of the introduction followed by an explanation to reduce the negative first impression of the title of the book due to the bad reputation of "feminism" which is often misunderstood and linked with bad interpretations like "man-haters".
They also discussed the widely disdaining of "woman architect" as many women searching for approbation in this field disassociate themselves from talk of gender issues to avoid being understood as feminist.
when trying to trace the structure of this book, the introduction includes: "What does this work look like? by what methods is it induced? with what languages is it studied? these questions are best left unsettled", perhaps the wide field of the study dissolves answering these questions, but it might be useful for the editors to review some of the earlier works in this field to try to establish a possible solid way of thinking.
the interdisciplinary related issues of the book articles includes theory, contemporary art, literature, practical projects and even mythology which open various areas of inquiry. all the articles taken together represent a new wave of feminist debate in architecture, one that looks at architecture as a productive of gender identity, and other that analyzes built environments to interpret how they implicit exclusions on gender.
some of the articles are individually interesting, personally I appreciate "Grete Lihotzky and the Frankfurt Kitchen" for Susan R. Henderson which shows how new designs for kitchens in Germany modeled housewives as factory workers whose only hope for escaping hard work, depending on the scientific management of household tasks. This article include the role of women in architectural practice and the ways architecture has served to contain women and provided more progressive designs to support different women's lives.
Edith Wharton, The Decoration of Houses, and Gender in Turn-of the Century-America" as described by Vanessa Chase, discussed how a space like Edith Wharton's home "the Mount" made some changes to the traditional gendering of many of its rooms to allow for expanded female power.
"Everyday and "Other" Spaces" for MARY McLEOD is a study on social and political limitations of contemporary architecture which proposes to apply "everyday life" concept in architecture as a solution for these limitations.
"The bodily is feminist" is a claim by DEBORAH FAUSCH in her article "The Knowledge of the Body and the Presence of History" which within she considered phenomenology architecture as "feminist", but I don’t agree with this claim. I think this is just adhering feminist on something that I may not interpret as feminist.
the potential of this publication to try to change the practice of architecture and the way of inhabiting built spaces. Each of these articles provide a fairly useful and questioning introduction to the reader. Taken together make a starting point which will need more detailed studies of architecture and feminism.
November 3, 2020
Most of the book has very interesting essays that broaden one's horizon about architectural theory relating it to feminism and sexuality. Just skip "see angel touch" because it will discourage you from continuing to read. As for the most interesting essay, I found "Edith Wharton, The Decoration of Houses, and Gender in Turn-of-the-Century America" the best one and "The Lair of the Bachelor" also fascinating tackling several issues on how men design based on their psychology in analyzing the playboy mansion's interior architecture, as one of the case studies.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews