Building HERitageBuilding HERitage

The biographies uncovered in the archive shed light on the hitherto hidden roles of women in architecture, planning, and design.

Dr Hetty Berens situated the theme of the evening with insights on the acquisition policy of Het Nieuwe Instituut and its effort to make the collection more representative. Dr Erica Smeets-Klokgieters presented her PhD research on the rise of the first generation of women obtaining a degree in architecture in the Netherlands, followed by presentations by about two newly found historical biographies: the archives and (working) lives of Johanna Eleanor Ferguson (1900-1982), investiged by Marieke Kuipers and Nicholas Clarke; that resulted in their publication _Common Ground, _and Augustine Ernestine Frederika Schreuder-Gratama (1897-1976), whose work as an architect has been uncovered and researched by María Novas Ferradás.

After this, the granddaugther of Guus Gratama, Elske Schreuder, symbolically handed over the archive to Het Nieuwe Instituut, after which two young architects, Veerle Alkemade and Catherine Koekoek of the Respons podcast, presented their reaction to these findings. How can we continue to learn from and re-evaluate the important contributions of these professional figures? What does it mean to take care of their legacies, once they enter an institution?

Watch the recording of the evening below:

The focus of the collection until now has been to preserve and make available the national and international material traces of the Netherlands' rich history of architecture, urban design and related fields. However, currently 97% of the collection is composed of documents authored by white male architects, with only 26 of the approximately 690 archives attributed to female architects. This means that the methodologies, gazes and logics implemented in the past have not recognised the many other agents involved in important transformations of the built environment in the Netherlands. These new acquisitions and re-investigations are part of the Het Nieuwe Instituut's vision of Rethinking the Collection, and as current case studies of the project Collecting Otherwise.

The archives in the name of women and collectives with women in the National Collection of Architecture and Urban Planning are: Margaret Staal-Kropholler, Lotte Stam-Beese, Bé Niegeman - Brand, Elsbeth Bout-van Blerkom, Lida Licht-Lankelma, Lica Hafkamp-Cosijn, Cora Nicolai, Nel Verschuuren, Nathalie de Vries (MVRDV), I.G. Bekker-Kok, Nel Klaasen, Koos Pot-Keegstra, Luzia Hartsuyker-Curjel, Catharina Boeree, Vrouwen Bouwen Wonen, Guus Gratama, Johanna Eleanor Ferguson. There is also separate material of amongst others Winka Dubbeldam, Mien Ruys, Caroline Bos (UN Studio), Sabine de Kleijn (Herk & De Kleijn).

Dr Hetty Berens is an architectural historian and senior curator at Het Nieuwe Instituut, responsible for acquisitions, collection research, and Sonneveld House, the museum home adjacent to the institute. As a researcher for Invented from Copies, she conducts research in Het Nieuwe Insituut's archive around the introduction, use and appreciation of the blueprint in the architectural design process. Berens' PhD was obtained under Auke van der Woud at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Dr Erica Smeets-Klokgieters (1958) worked in the tourist and catering industry and founded her own company in 2008 in order to study art history part-time at the University of Utrecht. She graduated with a master in architectural history and historic preservation in 2016. Her master thesis which focused on the presence of the first women architects in the Netherlands was the lead-up to the research for which she recently obtained her doctorate.

María Novas Ferradás is a Galician doctoral researcher in History of Architecture and Architectural Theory at Universidad de Sevilla, a lecturer and guest researcher at the History of Architecture and Urban Planning Research Group at TU Delft, and a senior lecturer at the Academy of Arts, Tilburg. She holds an MSc in architecture from the Universidade da Coruña in Galicia, Spain. In addition, Novas holds post-master's degrees in Applied Research in Feminist Studies (UJI) and Urban Regeneration (USC). Novas has experience in publishing and editing, as well as teaching architectural history seminars (master history thesis), and research and critical thinking courses in architecture at Dutch and other international universities. She has been an invited lecturer in the United Kingdom (University of Sheffield), Argentina (UBA, UNT), Brazil (UFBA), and Spain. Together with Lidewij Tummers, she is currently developing the project Cherchez la femme!, supported by the Het Nieuwe Instituut's Collection for Architecture and Urban Planning and funded by the Stimulering Creative Funds, Grant Programme for Architecture.

Dr Lidewij Tummers is a building engineer working both in academia and in practice. In 2000, she founded the office Tussen Ruimte (Intermediate Space) in Rotterdam for inclusive and sustainable housing, and has since specialised as a technical advisor for self-organised and low-impact housing and gender perspectives in spatial planning. Since 2006, Tummers has been teaching at various European architecture and urban planning faculties. She also implements courses and workshops on gender and diversity in the field of Science, Technology and Environment (STEM/MINT). Tummers collaborates with Collecting Otherwise to integrate the archives and herstory of the Dutch Vrouwen Bouwen Wonen movement in the National Collection. Together with María Novas Ferradás, she published Pioneers in Dutch Architecture: The role of women in post-war housing innovations in the Netherlands (2021) in VAD.