Hi, Welcome to the very first article of undesigned. Here, I write about things I see in my everyday life, about the buildings that I pass by or the spaces that I occupy. To me these places tell a story, through their history and the art that lay within them. But today, I want to talk about story tellers, the invisible kind, the women whose creativity and passion has led to some of the most amazing designs and discoveries. These are inspirational women, yet they are allowed to fade away in the background.
Historically, architecture as a profession has not been very kind to women. Even today, there are only a handful of women who are at the top positions in leading architecture firms and universities. It was truly a delight to see two women win last year’s Pritzker award, dubbed as a sort of Nobel prize for Architecture (yay!). But the two architects from Dublin, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, are in a very small club of just five women who has won the award in its 41-year history. So, you may wonder, were there not enough talented and creative women in the field of architecture design? On the contrary, there were many! Here is a few of those forgotten names.
In the late 1970s as a critique to the austerity and lack of variety of modernism, a new style evolved known as Postmodern Architecture. Its best described as eclectic, colorful and bold. The architect who is often credited and well known for this is Robert Venturi. He even won Pritzker prize in 1991 for his remarkable work. But little do we know about Denise Scott Brown, a professor at Penn State university and Venturi’s wife, who actually played a crucial role in the evolution of Postmodernism. Together, they co-wrote the book ‘Learning from Las Vegas’, which then went on to become a handbook on postmodernism and designed many iconic buildings. While it was Robert who became highly acclaimed, Denis was forgotten and often overlooked as “just the wife” of the starchitect. To know more, check out this article here.
This was the fate of many women architects like MJ Long’s work on the British Library, a project usually credited to her husband Colin St John Wilson, or Su Rogers and Wendy Foster’s work on early projects with their husbands, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster. Same was the story of many artists and designers like Madelon Vriesendorp, the Dutch artist who co-founded OMA with Rem Koolhas and was inspirational to most of his works. Similarly, Marion Mahony Griffin, who worked with Frank Lyod wright, Eileen Gray and Jane Drew, who worked with Le Corbusier or Anne Tyng who was Loui Khan’s partner, were all incredible designers. These names were never talked about or praised, even though they were just as talented, just as equal. And so the list goes on.
These are just a few examples of how women are written out of history. They are misrepresented and fewer in numbers not because they are any less intelligent, but mostly because their stories are never given a chance. They are often sidelined, snubbed away or comfortably written over. So, it’s important to have multiple narratives, and multiple story lines, so that we design a better, a more inclusive world. Till then, lets rewrite the stories of such women who paved the way and the everyday women who are trying to make it in a difficult world. As the poet and author, Maya Angelou famously wrote, ‘I say, you are a phenomenal woman; A phenomenal woman that’s you and me’.
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