FEMINIST DESIGN POWER TOOLS
INSTRUCTION MANUAL MALIN AHLGREN BERGMAN 2013
CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. EMOTIONAL BARRIERS IN THE PUBLIC SPACE 3. THE LANGUAGE BARRIER 4. WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE? 5. REDISCOVER HISTORY 6. THE FEAR OF ASSERTIONS 7. ARCHITECTURE BY ALL SENSES 8. CONCLUSION 9. BIBLIOGRAPHY 10. COMMENTS
1. INTRODUCTION The organisation of this booklet simply follows the chronology of the course, with the revised blogposts appearing in the order they were first written. Each post is accompanied by an instruction and an illustration.
Zoë Sofia's essay 'Container Technologies' under the headline Archi-Techno-Girls. In the post, I discuss the way the historiography of architecture has impacted by understanding of the profession, and women's role in it.
The theme of the first week was Feminist Manifestos, and I read 'Women's Environmental Rights: A Manifesto' by Leslie Kanes Weisman. In my blog post, I write about differences in how women and men experience public spaces, and how we can be aware of this in our designs.
The theme of the fifth week was Écriture Feminine, and I read 'Coming to Writing' by Hélène Cixous. This week's blog post is a quite personal text about my own view of myself as a woman.
The second week focused on Altering Practices, and I read 'Altering Practices' by Doina Petrescu. In this post, I write about how the language we use can become a barrier between architects and the larger population. The third theme was Body-Building, and I read Elizabeth Diller's 'Bad Press'. In the blog post I both share my difficulty in understanding the text, and briefly reflect on the idea of privacy.' For
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The sixth theme was Materialist Ethics, and I read Peg Rawes' text 'Touching and Sensing'. In the post, I consider how using other senses apart from sight in the design process can change architecture.
2. EMOTIONAL BARRIERS IN THE PUBLIC SPACE 'Women's Environmental Rights: A Manifesto' discusses a number of ways in which architecture and urban planning are influenced by the patriarchal nature of society, and the effects of this on the lives of women. The topics include the masculine symbolism of sky scrapers, the gender programmed uses of the home, and perhaps most interestingly, women's rights to public spaces.1 When Weisman discusses women's use of the public space, the focus is initially on women with children. The difficulty of moving a stroller through a revolving door, or finding places to change a diaper are given as examples of how women are limited in their movements in public spaces.2 This manifesto was written in the 80's, and since then we have moved, and are moving closer still, towards a situation where the care for children is the concern of parents in general, rather than mothers in particular. As this development continues, the ability to maneuver public spaces
with children in tow should become a question of accessibility rather than gender. However, physical accessibility is not the only factor which hinders free use of public space. Apart from physical barriers, our movements are also influenced by emotions such as discomfort and fear. Many are reluctant of walking through a city alone at night, or using public transportation, for fear of assault. While these emotions are caused by something independent from the built environment, namely the perceived risk of aggression from other individuals, the intensity of their control over us can be influenced by the spaces we inhabit. Something as simple as being able to get a clear overview of a space may increase the sense security, through knowing that there is no one hiding in a corner. Another aspect is the possibility to freely enter and exit a space. So, what architects and planners should try to do is create public spaces which produce a sense of safety, allowing women to move more freely in them.
1. Leslie Kanes Weisman, 'Women's Environmental Rights: A Manifesto' in Jane Rendell, Barbara Penner, Iain Borden, eds, Gender Space Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Introduction, London: Routledge, 2000, p.1 2. Leslie Kanes Weisman, 'Women's Environmental Rights: A Manifesto' in Jane Rendell, Barbara Penner, Iain Borden, eds, Gender Space Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Introduction, London: Routledge, 2000, p.2
3. THE LANGUAGE BARRIER An interesting part of Petrescu's text is on the subject of 'otherhow' pedagogy. Ruth Morrow introduces a pedagogy that reaches outside the realm of academia, and that of architects, to access the knowledge of other actors, professionals as well as regular users. She also asks students to remember life before architecture school, how they used to experience architecture before 3 learning to perform it. This addresses some very important issues in architectural education. There is a tendency towards isolation, having little contact with people outside the institution. When such contact does happen, it's usually with architects or, at best, structural engineers. The competence of other professional groups, such as construction workers, is rarely utilised. Thus, we remain unexposed practical knowledge that would be highly useful. Another element to the question of isolation is the use of language within the architectural profession and education. I believe that often, when speaking and writing about architecture, we use words and
phrases that are more complicated than strictly necessary. By doing so, we run the risk of alienating audiences without academic background, nonnative speakers, or simply those who haven't been exposed to the particular jargon developed within the architectural community. Thus we limit the number of people who can take part in debates and discussions about architecture. This becomes a question of democracy. The built environment impacts all who occupy it, and everyone should be allowed to take part in the decision making that creates it. The use of needlessly convoluted phrasing hinders such inclusion, and the architectural community loses out on the possibility of useful insights. So, the tools I would like to put forward this week are the increased contact with other groups and professions who can offer valuable insights and experience, and the strive for clarity of communication, in order to allow all who wish to contribute to debates about architecture to do so, regardless of education or background.
3. Doina Petrescu, 'Altering Practices' in Altering Practices: Feminist Politics and Poetics of Space, London: Routledge, 2007. p.6
4. WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE? The one thing that stood out to me in 'Bad Press' was the idea that with regards to our homes, we protect the private from the public, but with regards to our bodies, we protect the public from the private.4 While this is a very interesting notion, I don't think it's quite so black and white. While there are laws against "indecent exposure", many of us also cover our bodies to protect our integrity. And when private homes are excessively exposed to a street, it's not only the watched who feel uncomfortable, but also those who are involuntarily watching. Apart from this, I struggled with the readings this week, and found both, but especially Teyssot's, difficult to grasp. While reading, I often wondered how the various topics were relevant to architecture. This forced me to reflect on what I mean when I use the word "architecture". While not strictly defined, I have always laboured under the assumption that some things are included in the word, and some excluded as "not architecture". Some works are within the discipline,
and some are outside it. I think this division was what stopped me from properly understanding the readings. I could not focus on the content as I was too busy searching for any references to "real architecture". What is, in reality, the purpose of defining and distinguishing disciplines? What is gained from it? It certainly simplifies communication. If everyone means the same thing by the word architecture, we will understand each other better. Clear definitions also make it easier to decide on curriculums for educational programs and so forth. So, for logistical reasons, there seems to be a case for strictly separating one discipline from another. However, if I put a limit on what architecture can be, I also limit what I as an architect can do. And that is surely not something I want to do. With that in mind, the power tool I would like to offer myself this week is the ability to look past the rigid categorisation of the world I have created for myself, and thus be able to see and understand things that are hidden from me now.
4. Elizabeth Diller, 'Bad Press' in Francesca Hughes, ed. The Architect Reconstructing her Practice, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996, pp. 77
5. REDISCOVER HISTORY ZoĂŤ Sofia's essay Container Technologies discusses the place of containers in the history of technology.5 Sofia, and Lewis Mumford, to whom she often refers, argues that containers, or utensils as Mumford calls them, have been given unfairly little attention by writers of the history of technology. This is supposedly to do with the fact that these technologies are generally associated with women (both in the sense of being mostly used by women, and in being themselves considered feminine).6 It is very interesting to consider the role of history writing in shaping our view of women and technology, as well as women in architecture. Both architecture and technology are, at least historically, but to some extent still, considered male areas of expertise. This is perhaps most commonly explained by saying that societal structures have stopped women from engaging in these matters.
perpetuated women's contributions being overlooked and undervalued when we record architectural history. We can probably all agree that our historiography is biased in favour of the Beaux-Art educated, male architect, rather than the people, of both genders, who have constructed buildings for their own use throughout time, all over the world. With all this in mind, the power tool I am offering myself this week is awareness of my own blindness towards women's historical and contemporary contributions to architecture. Once I have acquired this awareness, I should try to increase my knowledge of such contributions, and most importantly, instill them with as much value and importance as the male contributions better recorded by history.
While this is certainly true, the idea of architecture as male is also 5. Zoe Sofia, 'Container Technologies' in Hypatia Vol. 15, No. 2, Spring 2000, p.181 6. Zoe Sofia, 'Container Technologies' in Hypatia Vol. 15, No. 2, Spring 2000, p.185
6. THE FEAR OF ASSERTIONS Hélène Cixous' text Coming to Writing deals with her struggle against feelings of non-being, hindering her from writing. The notion that in order to be allowed, or justified, to write, one must have a clear position from which to write. "But if I wrote 'I', who would I be? I could pass for 'I' in daily life without knowing anything more about it, bur write without knowing I-Who, how could I have done that? I had no right. Wasn't writing the realm of the Truth? Isn't the Truth clear, distinct, and one? And I was blurry, several, simultaneous, impure. Give it up!"8 I find it easy to identify with this perception of not having license to make assertions, be it through writing, speaking or designing. The awareness of being neither interesting nor competent nor someone enough to be worth listening to. The fear of being found an impostor, feigning intellectuality. The hope that this feeling shall pass once I gain more education, knowledge, experience and the creeping realisation that it probably won't.
I have created strategies to handle this fear. When in doubt whether something is worth saying - choose silence. Phrase everything as a question, not an answer. Make no claims of certainty. Be humble. Be quiet. Give more room to the opposing view than to your own. Quiet. What is the origin of this feeling of inadequacy? Where does it come from? Did I create it, or was it given to me? The conceived inferiority, bestowed upon a girl, carried through life by a woman. I have always been disappointed in my sex, resented it, and at the same time felt a terrible guilt for this disappointment. Guilt for internalising something I should know to be wrong. 'I am as good as any man!', I have screamed at myself loudly, desperately, never quite believing it. Knowing that even if I were, I cannot be perceived or treated as such. Knowing that I too see and value women differently from men, however hard I try not to. Unwillingly admiring masculinity, forever unable to practice it.
7. Hélène Cixous, 'Coming to Writing' in Hélène Cixous, Coming to Writing and Other Essays, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991. p.29
7. ARCHITECTURE BY ALL SENSES The text Irigaray for Architects by Peg Rawes gives an introduction to the works of French philosopher Luce Irigaray. An important part of Irigaray's writing is the concept of the sexed subject, and the assertion that women and men experience space differently.8
What would happen if this ceased to be the case? Would architecture be different if the design process began not with a sketch, but with a noise? If instead of drawing a shape or a plan, we began by imagining what a room might smell like, or how the floor would feel beneath our feet? If spaces were The excerpt of text given for this written before they were drawn. course focuses on sense-based interaction with architecture. It I think this would result in an emphasises the hierarchy between architecture that offered richer abstract and material knowledge, experiences to our other senses, as well as the greater importance than most of the visually conceived placed on sight compared to our architecture we have today. 9 other senses. However, it would be difficult to suddenly change one's way of It is interesting to question the working. To be able to try this, focus on sight traditionally found perhaps we must first learn to in both the design, and imagined experience existing architecture use of architecture. While we do with all our senses. This is not discuss concepts such as acoustics easy, as we are so biased in and tactility, we certainly spend favour of vision. A way to try much more time thinking and might be to temporarily remove talking about how a building looks sight, and force ourselves to use than how it sounds, smells, tastes our other senses more fully. By or feels. Our first and foremost doing so, create an experience of tool as architects is always the space based on touching, hearing, drawing or image. smelling, tasting, that can be utilised in future projects. 8. Peg Rawes, 'Introduction'; 'Touching and Sensing' in Peg Rawes, Irigaray for Architects, London: Routledge, 2007. p.2 9. Peg Rawes, 'Introduction'; 'Touching and Sensing' in Peg Rawes, Irigaray for Architects, London: Routledge, 2007. p.49
8. Conclusion Throughout this course, I have continually been forced to reconsider both my preconceptions about architecture and architectural theory, and my own behaviour as a student of architecture. This is a result of the readings as well as the discussions that have taken place during the seminars. Despite the name 'Feminist Design Power-Tools', the course has not only helped me think differently about my own design work, but also about the history and historiography of architecture, the organisation of architectural practice, and the language used within the profession and our institutions. Moreover, this knew awareness has not been limited to the question of gender. I have been reminded of the need to be including and aware of aspects class, ethnicity, age, disabilities and so forth, when practicing and discussing architecture. Perspectives differ as our positions vary. In conclusion, I have realised that my understanding of architecture
and architectural history has been greatly influenced by a historiography of architecture that is centred on the educated, white, male architect. This has given me a very limited view of both history and practice, which I must now begin to challenge. I have also come to understand that we as architects and students of architecture have a tendency towards elitism and isolation, using language that is mostly inaccessible to everyone apart from native speakers of academic background. This is a democratic problem as it excludes large groups from the architectural debate, and is something we must strive to be aware of and try to change. Lastly, I have begun to understand how I, by simply being aware of the different perspectives, needs and experiences of various groups, can alter and improve my own design process. Malin Ahlgren Bergman
9. Bibliography 1. Leslie Kanes Weisman, 'Women's Environmental Rights: A Manifesto' in Jane Rendell, Barbara Penner, Iain Borden, eds, Gender Space Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Introduction, London: Routledge, 2000, pp. 1-5. 2. Doina Petrescu, 'Altering Practices' in Altering Practices: Feminist Politics and Poetics of Space, London: Routledge, 2007. 3. Elizabeth Diller, 'Bad Press' in Francesca Hughes, ed. The Architect Reconstructing her Practice, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996, pp. 74-95. 4. Zoe Sofia, 'Container Technologies' in Hypatia Vol. 15, No. 2, Spring 2000, pp. 181-200. 5. Hélène Cixous, 'Coming to Writing' in Hélène Cixous, Coming to Writing and Other Essays, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991. 6. Peg Rawes, 'Introduction'; 'Touching and Sensing' in Peg Rawes, Irigaray for Architects, London: Routledge, 2007.
10. Comments Post: Rewrite by a isacson Comment: Thanks for an interesting post! It's certainly true that language influences our thought processes. I would like to learn more about this in regard to architecture and urban planning. Does anyone know of any good readings on the subject? Post: No title by Sofia Wollert Olsson Comment: I think you bring up some interesting aspects of Weisman's text! I agree that it is important to also create positive, empowering spaces, as well as spaces that are a solution to a problem. You ask if acknowledging women as victims create greater gaps between sexes. I can see where you're coming from, but at the same time, it's necessary to recognise and understand structures in order to change them. Inequalities and conflicts must be discussed before they can be resolved.
Post: Overall structures vs. The patterns details by Matilda Schuman Comment: You say that it's with education that our understanding of architecture starts to evolve. I'm not sure I entirely agree with this. When we start architecture school, we've all spent at least two decades existing in and around architecture, accumulating experiences which must somehow influence our practice? For example, a childhood spent in a million program area might give different perspectives on urban planning, compared to one spent in the inner city. Post: My Body, My Buddy by Christoph Comment: You succeeded with what I failed to do - identifying the connection between body and architecture. I think the idea of architecture without body sounds very interesting, and I'll have to look into the examples you give in your blog!
Post: With vital materialism glasses by Gerd Holgersson Comment: Thank you for the post! It's very interesting how we immediatly become more aware of our other senses as soon as we are robbed of sight. I think your story illustrated this very clearly. You describe how the limits of the room seemed to disappear with the light. I think awareness of such a phenomenon can be very useful to architects. Post: Underrepresented by Havar Comment: Thank you for the post! I agree that it is important to discuss the distribution of power within architecture. You say that it would be hard to add more subjects to the curriculum, and this might be true. I don’t think it’s necessary though, as most of these discussions are relevant to the subjects taught today. Rather than adding new ones, we need to review how the existing subjects are taught. I think that the courses in history and theory taught during the first 3 years could do with more critical perspectives, in general.