Feminist practices: interdisciplinary approaches to women in architecture

Abstract

Feminist practices: interdisciplinary approaches to women in architecture, edited by Lori A. Brown, 2011, Surrey and Burlington, Ashgate, 378 pp., $65 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-4094-2117-7 Feminist Practices originates from a traveling exhibition and series of public talks with the same name that took place in 2008 and 2009. As the title suggests, the book presents feminist practices and methodologies in architecture. While doing that, however, we are urged to think outside the box. Firstly, ‘feminist’ in feminist practices is not necessarily ‘female focused’ or ‘gender specific’. Rather, it refers to alternative modes of seeing, researching and practicing. Secondly, architecture is also approached critically, opposing the star system, engaging the client and the community, and challenging usual hierarchies: visual/material, permanent/transient, public/private, labored/expedient, and precious/ valueless (325). In return, feminist practices in architecture refers to explorations on all alternative modes of pedagogy, research and practice that establish new ways of understanding spatial relationships, revise existing power relations and offer possibilities for new interactions and value systems. This is a huge task, but a worthy one. However, there is one problem with the title that needs to be recognized.