Driven by the politics of the so-called “state feminism,” state-socialist countries of the twentieth century achieved remarkable outcomes in what concerns the presence of women among the students and practitioners of architecture, far surpassing liberal-capitalist West. Yet, to use the apt phrase of Mary Pepchinski and Mariann Simon, the equality of women-architects remained ideological, not translated into an actual equality of opportunity: women remained dramatically underrepresented in leadership, among the recipients of architecture awards, and as recognized authors of projects and publications.
Unable to pursue a practice of their own and working, instead, in large, state institutes of design and construction or for municipalities, state-socialist women-architects were commonly delegated the work that was deemed subsidiary, supporting, and less creative. Accordingly, women’s names and work are often missing from the institutional archives. While important work has been done on the exceptional cases when women-architects were able to break through these barriers, this workshop proposes to refocus scholarly attention to the structures and collaborations that women engaged in, and the methodological challenges such a refocusing would entail.
This workshop asks:
How is one to replace the myth of architectural design as a product of individual creativity with a recognition of design’s collective nature?
How can architectural historians analyze supporting activities, from drafting to engineering?
How can architectural history blur the boundary between the professional and the domestic?
What alternative archives could be consulted-or even created -in search for materials related to the work of women-architects?
The event will take place online Thursday 9th and Friday 10th October 2025 in the afternoons.
We welcome proposals for short, 15 minutes presentations that address any countries that operated under state-socialist mode of economy, both within and outside of the Soviet bloc. The workshop will be discussion oriented, and we encourage authors to submit work-in-progress proposals.
