About the Course

In what ways are gender and architecture, or the production and use of space, interrelated? How do built structures, beyond merely representing sexual difference, serve to establish and maintain separate spheres for men and women?

Neither claiming neutrality nor resorting to simple answers, this seminar will offer a critical and interdisciplinary introduction to gender theory in its relation to architecture. We will focus on how gender-based power relations and spatialized forms of domination have shaped, and continue to shape, our material environment. Beyond more established feminist approaches, gender theory will provide a theoretical lens and orientation. This means that we will abandon master narratives in favor of a focus on architecture’s contextual and everyday aspects, including such issues as sexual orientation, queerness, and diversity.

Through a series of key readings, discussions, guest lectures, and on-site investigations we will (re-)visit the domains of masculinity and power, explore spaces of exclusion and transgression, and highlight emerging feminist alternatives to the patriarchal system of architectural practice.