HOW THE FEMINIST THEORY HAS AFFECTED DESIGN TODAY
INTR0
The major focus of my dissertation revolves around the feminist approach of architecture that has greatly shaped and changed the architecture as we know it today. The feminist theory became popular when female architects like Eileen Gray intergrated it in her projects. Furthermore, the approach was also used by male architects like Le Corbusier and Adolf Loos that also examined design through the feminist theory. The Feminist theory of architecture looked at the house more like a home, and carefully considered communal spaces where all the members of the house would meet.
“The Schröder House was not only a creative work of artistic design but offered its users a new environment in which to redefine family life, women’s rights and the responsibilities of individuals and to each other” “The Schröder House was not only a creative work of artistic design but offered its users a new environment in which to redefine family life, women’s rights and the responsibilities of individuals and to each other” Family in a home and not a house is one major point to note from the Feminist Theory.
1869
THE AMERICAN WOMANS HOME In their book The American Woman’s Home, Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe suggested a house plan which would serve a large family and economize time, labor and expense. The floor plan is 43 feet long and 25 feet wide, and the height of the ceiling is 10 feet. There are two piazzas in the front which can be turned into greenhouses in winter.[5] In the entrance there are closet, arched recess and stair landing. How to embellish these units with flowers, statuettes or pictures is also described in the book.
1924
DOLORES HAYDEN Dolores Hayden was one of the early influences of the feminist theory of design as she advocated for this in the books and articles she wrote. One of her first works that advocated for rethinking the domestic space is ‘A Grand Domestic Revolution’ from 1880.
REITVELD SCHRODER HOUSE
THE STEIN HOUSE
The Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht was built in 1924 by Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld for Mrs. Truus Schröder-Schräder and her three children. She wanted a house with no walls and worked with the architect on the initial design of the space.
The Stein house was designed for Michael Stein, brother of the writer Gertrude Stein, and his wife Sara, and later was home to Gabrielle Monzie, divorced from the radical socialist Anatole Monzie and faithful supporter of Le Corbusier. Monzie added the pavilion in 1925. The luxury of these spaces disturbed critics worried about the social dimension of modern architecture.
1929
E-1027
E-1027 is a modernist villa in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France. It was designed and built from 1926-29 by the Irish architect and furniture designer Eileen Gray. L-shaped and flat-roofed with floor-to-ceiling windows and a spiral stairway to the guest room, E-1027 was both open and compact. This is considered to be Gray’s first major work, making indistinct the border between architecture and decoration, and highly personalized to be in accord with the lifestyle of its intended occupants.
1880
KEY REFERENCES Dolores Hayden, The Grand Domestic Revolution: A History of Feminist Designs for American Homes, Neighborhoods, and Cities, MIT Press, 1981.p3 Rendell, Jane. “Tendencies and Trajectories: Feminist Approaches in Architecture”, in: Crysler, C. Creig, Stephen Cairns and Hilde Heynen. The SAGE Handbook of Architectural Theory, London: SAGE, 2012, pp. 85-97. “The Changing Woman” (Navajo Origin Myth). Feminist Theory: A Reader. 2nd Ed. Edited by Kolmar, Wendy and Bartowski, Frances. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005. 64 Friedman, Alice T., “Family Matters: The Schroder House, by Gerrit Rietveld and Truus Schröder,” Yale University Press, 2006. p. 81 -Friedman, Alice T., Women and the Making of the Modern House: A Social and Architectural History. Yale University Press, 2006, p. 96.
Name: Erabu Joel Wallace Course: BA(Hons) Architecture Level: 6 Institution: University of Brighton Tutor : K at y B einar t Course Leader: Tilo Amhoff
1927
The feminist theory has largely affected architecture in a negative way though as seen in the redesign of the modern kitchen. A good example is noted by Susana Torre who asserts ‘That is why it is quite disturbing that at the 2011 MoMA exhibition called Counter Space, Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky’s 1926 Frankfurt kitchen was presented as a great innovation of Modern kitchen design because it replaced the kitchen-cum-dining room of the typical German worker’s house with an efficient, separate small room.’ She goes on to express dislike of the design as the room creates a separtion from the rest of the house and the family. The modern house is more of a house and not a home as it eliminates a lot of gendered space.
1980s - NOW