The Architect: Reconstructing Her Practice - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262581655 ISBN 13: 9780262581653

Publisher: Mit Pr, 1998

Synopsis

The Architect:Reconstructing Her Practice examines how the introduction of womento the main body of architecture might bring about a reconstruction ofthe orders that pervade architectural production and consumption.

At a moment when the architectural profession is beginning to shift from its traditionally male domination, The Architect: Reconstructing Her Practice examines how the introduction of women to the main body of architecture might bring about a reconstruction of the orders that pervade architectural production and consumption. In a collection of autobiographical essays in which practice is both the site and the vehicle for change, twelve American and European architects reflect on the nature of critical practice and its relation to architecture. The contributors were chosen not only for the distinguished quality of their work, but also for the range of architectural practices they collectively encompass―from the intersection of theory and philosophy to the intersection of building process and industry. Together, they present a compelling and provocative critique of architectural culture. All show a willingness to transgress the various mediums and territories of architecture, to recover and reopen certain discussions lost in the architectural discourse they have inherited.

About this title

About the Author

Francesca Hughes lives and works in London, where she taught at the Bartlett School of Architecture and the Architectural Association for many years. She is the editor of The Architect: Reconstructing Her Practice (MIT Press) and Drawings That Count.

Review

FRancesca Hughes has gathered a collection of writings by women architects with cunning and tact. The diversity of the writings prevents any reductionist reading of the confrontation of architecture and gender, while the text establishes itself as an unavoidable place for architectural thought.

(Mark Cousins, Director of General Studies, Architectural Association)

The Architect brings an elegant and personal vision to a wide range of ideas about a most critical subject.

(Richard Rogers, Richard Rogers Architects Limited)

A stunning new collection which provides a clear articulation of the profound gender crisis affecting architecture and its practices. These essays - written by the most respected and innovative names in contemporary architecture - interrogate what it is to be a woman architect, and what architecture would have to become for it to adequately accommodate women. It poses the crucial questions: what might be the terms for a critical feminist practice ina rchitecture as architect?

(Elizabeth Grosz, Professor of Critical and Cultural Studies, Monash University)

This extraordinary collection is destined to become a key text that arks where the real force is in architectural discourse today. One by one, the assumptions that organize the production and reception of architecture are transformed in a breathtaking display of creative rigor. By gathering together these writers and designers, Francesca Hughes forces the field to face its future.

(Mark Wigley, Associate Professor of Architecture, Princeton University)

The collection raises critical issues for the discipline of architecture in a generous and provocative manner. It should be readby all of us.

(Steven Spier Building Design)

Edition details

• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0262581655
• ISBN 13: 9780262581653
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 275
• Editor: Hughes Francesca