Feminisms in Architecture
6 April 2017 19:30 - 21:00
On 6 April 2017 Thursday Night Live! was about feminisms in architecture and a manifestation of work by women that is included in the State Archive for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning. With the TU Delft Feminists, architect Afaina de Jong and urban planner Riek Bakker.
Architectural historian Beatriz Colomina, a professor at Princeton University, called the fact that women are still significantly underrepresented 'the dirty little secret of architecture'. This is reflected in the discovery that of the approximately 650 author's archives in the State Archive for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning - the largest architecture collection in the world - only fifteen are registered in the name of a woman. This Thursday Night Live! event focused on the quest for a more inclusive architectural practice, by referencing a diversity of contributions.
On 8 June Wikipedia The Netherlands organizes an edit-a-thon on the topic of Women in Architecture during Thursday Night Live!
TU Delft Feminists
TU Delft Feminists is a grassroots organisation for intersectional feminism led by students, PhDs and researchers at TU Delft. They welcome all allies and wish to show solidarity with other like-minded groups and projects. Their primary audience is the entire TU Delft campus, with a special focus on the different technical fields represented.
Afaina de Jong
Afaina de Jong is an architect specialised in spatial design, design strategy and visual concepts. She crossed the boundaries of traditional architecture practice by approaching the existing city from a multidisciplinary perspective, integrating research and design with a strong focus on visual storytelling and participation, while firmly based in current and future lifestyles. With her creative studio AFARAI she published the book For the People, By the People: A Visual Story of the DIY City (2012), and opened Ultra de la Rue Creative Space in Amsterdam's Red Light District. She also teaches at the Complex Projects research and design studio at TU Delft and is currently working on her PhD dissertation on the participatory use of public space.
Read the lecture by Afaina de Jong.
Riek Bakker
Urban planner Riek Bakker founded a garden and landscape architecture bureau with Ank Bleeker in 1977. In 1984 she won the Parc de la Villette competition in Paris. In the 1980s and 1990s she was among others Director of Urban Development at the Municipality of the BVR (Bakker and Van Rijs) consultancy where she was director until 2007. Today, she works on various projects from her office Riek Bakker Advies. She is never alone: always with clients' employees, colleagues, residents and the government. Her best-known projects are the Kop van Zuid in Rotterdam and the Leidsche Rijn in Utrecht. She received the 2006 Aletta Jacobs Prize [link to wikipedia page], the ARC Oeuvre Award in 2014, and was knighted in the Order of the Dutch Lion in 2015.
Suzanne Mulder
Art historian Suzanne Mulder works as a heritage expert at Het Nieuwe Instituut. Her publications on architecture include Dutch Architecture in 250 Highlights (2012) and Keuzes Maken ('Making Choices', 2012). She has curated various exhibitions including Treasury (NAI) and Structuralism (Het Nieuwe Instituut). She has been a guest lecturer at the Academy of Architecture (AHK) and the Reinwardt Academy, both in Amsterdam. She is currently chair of the board of the Dudok Architectuur Centrum in Hilversum.
Archives registered in the name of a woman in the State Archives of Architecture and Urban Planning:
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. In addition, there is loose material by, inter alia, Winka Dubbeldam, Mien Ruys, Caroline Bos (UN Studio), Sabine de Kleijn (Herk & De Kleijn).
Women author's archives in the State Archive for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning
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. Also material from Winka Dubbeldam, Mien Ruys, Caroline Bos (UN Studio), Sabine de Kleijn (Herk & De Kleijn).
See also:
Archive explorations
Containing the collections of some of the most important architects and urban planners in the Netherlands, the State Archive for Architecture and Urban Planning provides an insight into the development of Dutch architecture and society over the past 130 years. Each item in the collection of the four million drawings, sketches, models, professional and personal correspondence, photos, posters and news clippings has a story to tell. But many of these stories have remained untold because nobody has yet uncovered them. For the series of evenings entitled Archive Explorations we invite a range of people to undertake a journey of discovery in the archive in order to introduce new perspectives.