ARTH 270 Icons of Architectural History: Women Architects in Latin America

• Thursdays, 8:45 - 11:15am
• EV 1.615
• Instructor: Marcela Torres Molano

“El espacio es donde la vida se mueve y se promueve” Julieta Paredes. 

There are many approaches to defining architecture and the role of architects around the world. Most academic discourses follow a purely technical vision of the construction of the built environment, leaving aside the importance of place-making and the nurturing of space developed by communities. For communitarian, Indigenous feminist Julieta Paredes, space is where life moves and where it is nurtured... the house, the land, the school, and the streets are places where life develops. Because architecture has been a highly patriarchal profession, we do not usually talk about the role of women in charge of building societies, communities and places. This course will explore some of the experiences of women from Abya Yala [Latin America], who have worked on the creation of places, buildings, and communities, and who have been instrumental in the protection of their territories. We will review the work of women developing neighbourhoods, social housing, domestic architecture, and collective public spaces, to create an extended concept of architecture that nurtures spaces of life. The course will analyse collective planned and self-built projects, as well as spaces that were constructed with the guidance of professional women architects from the region.