a woman's place - alejandro hincapie

December 4, 2012 Hincapie

Alejandro Hincpie Professor Doris CaçoiloRutgers University-Newark Art and Women Fall 2012

A Woman’s Place:

A Brief Look at the Presence of Observable Femininity in the work of Contemporary Female Architects

In a letter to art patron Mabel Dodge, American painter Georgia O’Keeffe wrote, “I feel there is something unexplored

about women that only a woman can explore.”1 This notion that there intrinsically exist certain things to women that only

they can discern is one supported by the extent to which female artists throughout history have commented on their

femininity, womanhood, and gender issues in their work and in ways their male contemporaries did not. Indeed, the

examples are extensive. At the height of the Renaissance, Italian painter Sofinisba Anguissola created a collection of

portraiture that reveals an acute self-awareness of her unique position as a female artist at the time and also distinguishes

her ability to connect with and stirringly capture her female subjects. Impressionist painters Marry Cassatt and Berthe

Morisot created works both intimate and intuitive that commented on the female experience in the most nuanced of ways.

Twentieth century artist Frida Kahlo produced an iconic body of work that starkly explored her being and physical form

as a woman. Contemporary woman artists today from Faith Ringgold to Cindy Sherman continue to explore issues of

gender equality and representation. It is clear that woman artists throughout history have made work from distinct

feminine points of view—works that ultimately could not have come from men.

With this established, I’d like to explore the following question: Are feminine sensibilities and a woman’s point of view

also discernible in architectural works? If female artists have imbued their work with their identities as women by creating

art that has commented on the female life experience and challenged societal norms about gender, have female architects

approached their work with similar feminine sensibilities and points of views in ways that are clearly observable?

An ardent admirer of art as an important manifestation of a society’s cultural development, I have long held a regard for

architecture as a means in which artistic manipulations of form, line, size, scale, materials, texture, and color are

employed to create spaces that serve functional purposes. I believe what has come to distinguish fine art from architecture

and other applied arts lies is an element of self-indulgence—artists must not consider the needs of clients as architects

must. Furthermore, it is the functional purpose of applied arts and architecture that differentiates those practices from fine

art, which rarely sets out to have a functional purpose of its own, but rather, is a manifestation of the artist’s mastery of

technique or personal view on the subject, or both. In this project, I question if, despite these distinctions between art and

architecture, the identities of female architects as women have somehow been manifested in their work as it has for so

many female artists throughout history in ways that are clearly observable.

1


To begin, a look at modern architectural history provides

one striking example of how female perspective has

clearly appeared in a landmark piece of architecture.

Truus Schröder greatly influenced the radical design of

her home, the Rietveld Schröder House, an icon of

modernist architecture and the Dutch De Stijl movement.

After the death of her husband in 1923, Schröder decided

that she wanted to move with her three children out of the

traditional Dutch bourgeois house they lived in.2 Years of

disagreements with her husband over the raising of their

children developed in her definite ideas about how she

wanted her family’s new house to be arranged. 3

Important to Schröder was a view of the surrounding

landscaping and practically throughout the design.4 Additionally, she wanted the house’s interior to be as open as possible,

a concern rooted in her desire for ideas to flow freely within the space. 5 As directed by Schröder, Gerrit Rietveld

designed a small, inexpensive two-story house in Utrecht where the bottom floor was open and flexible in use. 6 Building

codes at the time required supporting walls on the first floor in the presence of a second, but Rietveld listed the house as a

one-story unit with an attic, avoiding the bureaucratic need for supporting walls on the bottom floor. 7 On the top floor, he

designed a system of sliding doors and panels, allowing the space to become any combination between being completely

open and being divided into four separate rooms and a hall. 8 This opening up of interiors and innovative use of spatial

divisions were radical ideas at the time of the house’s construction in 1924.9 Today, the Rietveld Schröder House is

regarded as a landmark in modern architecture for its open, innovative interior space as much as for its distinctly

geometric, De Stijl exterior. 10 Truus Schröder’s ideas about open, flexible space that directed Rietveld’s innovative

approach to the house’s design were rooted in her views of early childhood development and modern family life,

particularly the importance of open communication throughout the environment in which the family unit lives and

interacts in.11 In effect, it was a women’s point of view developed because of her own experiences as a mother that largely

dictated the pioneering modernist design of the Rietveld Schröder House.

While Truus’s Schröder’s influence on the design of her own landmark house is largely unquestionable, there have been

numerous females architects who, despite their contributions, have been left undistinguished or outshined by male

contemporaries in the annals of modern architectural history. For example, after years of involvement with the Bauhaus,

Lilly Reich died in poverty and relative anonymity as longtime collaborator Mie van der Rohe ascended to the status of

iconic architect. 12 Architect Eileen’s Gray’s house in the south of France, E-1027, has long been considered compromised

by the murals painted by another male icon of modernist architecture, Le Corbusier.13 And in 1991, architect Denise Scott

Brown went unrecognized as her husband and partner Robert Venturi was given the Pritzker Prize, the architecture

Interior of Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht, Holland

2


equivalent of the Noble prize. 14 It is clear that architectural history has not been a place where women have been justly

recognized.

Today, a number of female architects have been able to win distinguished commissions, as well as achieve great

recognition for their work. The 2010 winner of the Pritzker Prize, Kazuyo Sejima is one of the leading female architects

working today. 15 She earned her degree in architecture in 1981 from the Japan’s Women University and shortly began

working in the studio of noted architect Toyo Ito.16 She went on to open her own studio in Tokyo in 1987 and in 1995,

formed the design firm SANAA with her former employee Ryue Nishizawa. SANAA has been behind a number of

noteworthy and innovative architectural projects around the world, including the Serpentine Pavilion in London, the

Christian Dior Building in Tokyo’s Omotesando, and the New Museum of Contemporary Arts in New York.17 Receiving

her Masters in Architecture from Harvard University in 1993, Jeanne Gang is the founder of Studio Gang Architects, a

Chicago based architecture firm that has been recognized for its innovation in materials, technologies, and sustainability.18

Jeanne Gang’s work has received numerous national and international awards and recognition and is responsible for a

diverse range of building projects from community centers to an 82-story Chicago skyscraper, the Aqua.19 And Iraqi born

Zaha Hadid was the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, doing so in 2004.20 A former student at the Association School

of Architecture in London, Hadid founded her own firm in 1980. 21 Her distinct and striking designs ranging from

museums to opera houses to aquatics centers have earned her numerous awards, recognition, and press, including a 2006

retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.22

So it is at these contemporary female

architects that I would like to refocus

my original question on—have these

contemporary female architects

approached their work with feminine

sensibilities and points of view in

ways that are clearly observable? In

exploring what may be an answer to

this question, I will examine various

pieces of critical architectural

literature, namely architecture review pieces from top tier publications. I will look for instances in the writing where the

architect’s female gender is highlighted in a way that is meant to comment or analyze on their design. The reasoning

behind this method of examination is if these female architects have indeed approached their work with feminine

sensibilities and points of views in ways that are meant to be clearly observable, critical viewers should be able to note the

physical manifestation of these feminine sensibilities and points of view in the design and mention them in their writing.

Architects Kazuyo Sejima, Jeanne Gang, and Zaha Hadid

3


I’ll begin by examining critical reaction to the work of SANAA, Kazuyo Sejima’s design firm. One of the firms’ most

noted projects is the New Museum of Contemporary Arts in downtown New York. Opened in November 2007, the

museum is conceived as a dramatic set of several aluminum mesh boxes unevenly stacked on top of each other on the

Bowery, a main thoroughfare in Downtown New York long known for its gritty character but one that’s been succumbing

to bourgeois gentrification.23 Nicolai Ouroussoff, architecture critic for the New York Times, described the building in the

newspaper as a “hypnotic object” whose “ethereal forms hover somewhere between the legacy of a fading bohemian

downtown and the ravenous appetite of a society awash in new money.”24 Ouroussoff elaborates on what he means by this

dichotomy of identity in the museum’s design by pointing how, when approached head-on from the trendy neighborhood

of SoHo to the west, the building’s shimmering aluminum exterior coupled with its uneven shape give it a “strangely,

enigmatic glow” that evokes both “a fading past and a

phantom future.”25 He continues, saying, as one gets closer to

the museum, “the skin becomes tougher and more industrial,

echoing what’s left of the neighborhood’s grittier history.”26

Furthermore, Ouroussoff notes how the uneven stacking of

“boxes” that make up the museum’s structure allowed Sejima

and her design team to add skylights at the edges of each of

these “boxes” that holds the institution’s galleries.27 He

comments that coupled with the artificial, fluorescent lighting

in each gallery, the skylights give the gallery spaces “a lovely

warmth that shifts ever so slightly with the weather or time of

day.”28 Finally, Ouroussoff concludes by remarking “it’s hard

to think of another architect who’s been able to capture…

uneasy optimism with such grace.”29

Although Ouroussoff does not explicitly point out any clear traits of the New Museum’s design that may be considered

“feminine,” nor does he propose that Sejima’s gender was in any way reflected in the building, a couple of comments

should be noted. First, he described the building’s forms as “ethereal.”30 The adjective evokes immateriality and a delicate

refinement, imagery that could be considered feminine in sensibility. Additionally, Ourousoff’s noting of the warmness

created by both artificial and natural lighting inside the museum may also indicate a certain feminine essence in the

building’s character. With these comments in mind, the New Museum is indeed not a display of cold, brute power—

perhaps the most blatant way a structure could be described as masculine. Ourousoff’s closing remarks where he ponders

about which other architect could “capture…uneasy optimism such grace” as Sejima does in the New Museum is

interesting in its connecting the architectural success of the building with the designer herself despite its not explicitly

pointing to Sejima’s being a women as the root of her ability to design what he thought was successful in the building.31

The New Museum of Contemporary Art on New York's Bowery

4


Turning to the work of Jeanne Gang provides the opportunity to examine contemporary skyscraper design. Gang is the

designer of the world’s tallest building designed by a woman, the 82-story Chicago apartment tower known as the Aqua.32

As Pulitzer Prize winning architecture critic Paul Goldberger writes in The New Yorker, the tower is made out of the same

tough and robust materials as most other skyscrapers: “metal, concrete, and lots of glass.”33 But, Gang was able to give the

conventionally constructed skyscraper distinct “soft, silky lines, like draped fabric.”34 The basic structure of the Aqua is

that of a conventional rectangular, glass tower, but what give it the delicate silkiness Goldberger describes are curving,

thin concrete balconies at each of the building’s sides.35 These balconies are a slightly different shape on each of the

tower’s floors, turning the Aqua’s façade into, “an undulating landscape of bending, flowing concrete.”36 Goldberger then

notes how the building appears totally solid and malleable, but its intricate exterior pulses “with a gentle rhythm.” 37 The

uniqueness of the building’s façade was not born out of pure aesthetic regards on Gang’s part. The balcony overhangs on

each floor shades apartments from the sun, but more ingeniously, they protect the building from the force of Chicago

winds—the undulating wave pattern of balconies breaks up winds hitting the structure.38 Winds hitting the building are

diverted so much that the Aqua did not require a “tuned mass damper,” a mass weighing hundreds of tons placed at the

top of tall structures to stabilize them against swaying and vibrations caused by high winds.39 Additionally, the design’s

façade called for balconies on every floor, unusual as

apartment buildings above 60 to 70 stories high do not

have balconies because of high winds; the Aqua’s

wind-diverting design made such high balconies

possible.40 Finally, Goldberger argues that focusing on

Aqua’s being the tallest building designed by a woman

leads to “predictable interpretations of skyscrapers as

symbols of male identity” and that Gang’s

achievement in the building is that her design

“reclaims the notion that thrilling and beautiful form

can still emerge out of the realm of the practical,”

pointing to the practically and functionality of the

Aqua’s wave-like façade.41

Goldberger’s interpretation of Gang’s design for the

Aqua towers suggests that there are definite feminine

sensibilities inherent in the tower’s design. His

description of the glass tower’s façade as having “soft,

silky lines, like draped fabric” alludes to a certain

feminine aesthetic.42 He compliments this by further

The undulating, wave-like façade of the Aqua tower in Chicago

5

December 4, 2012 Hincapiedescribing the building’s façade as embodying “a gentle rhythm”—more descriptive imagery that alludes to conventional

notions of female delicateness and

fragileness.43 Perhaps Goldberger’s most interesting comment was his assertion that dwelling on the Aqua tower’s being

the tallest building designed by a woman would lead to “predictable interpretations of skyscrapers as symbols of male

identity.”44 It is a noteworthy argument because skyscrapers, unquestionably phallic-like structures, are indeed symbols of

power, strength, and vitality—traits so closely connected to notions of masculinity. With this in mind, Gang’s dismissal of

these characteristics in her design becomes much more striking. The Aqua tower is a conventionally constructed

skyscraper in a standard “glass-box” shape, but it undulating, wave-like façade created by its balconies distracts attention

from the building’s size and height—inherent characteristics that would denote power and strength. Instead, as Goldberger

describes, the silk-like façade of the Aqua gives the building a certain fragility and gentleness, unusual for a structure of

such size. This fragility is something that Gang was ultimately trying to achieve; in Goldberger’s review, he quotes the

architect. She explained to him that she has “a preference of light structures, for things that look light, almost fragile.”45

One can thus make a reasonable argument for Gang’s Aqua tower possessing clearly discernible feminine characteristics

in the apparent fragility of its design and in its rejection of attempting to emphasize its own height and size.

Zaha Hadid’s design for the MAXXI, Rome’s new National Museum of the 21st Century Arts is another piece of

contemporary architecture in which one can look for feminine sensibilities. Opened in 2010, the museum was Rome’s

most anticipated new building in decades.46 The structure is intricately composed of bending oblong shapes that intersect

and overlap each other, creating a defined and measured sense of flow and movement from various angles from within the

structure and out.47 The presence of huge cantilevers and a

high amount of concrete brings to the flowing dynamism

of the forms a tangible weight and solidity.48 Nicolai

Ouroussoff reviewed the structure for the New York Times

and emphatically stated that it “jolts [Rome] back to the

present like a thunderclap,” describing the effect that such

a modern structure can have on such an old-World city like

the Italian capital.49 Additionally, Ouroussoff states the

museum’s “sensual lines seem to draw the energy of the

city right up into its belly,” further describing the effect

that the building’s composition has on its surrounding

environment.50 Humorously, Ouroussoff argues that even

Bernini, the artist and architect responsible for so many of

Rome’s iconic landmarks, “would have appreciated [the

museum’s] curves.”51 From the street, the MAXXI does

Interior of Rome's National Museum of the 21st Century Arts

6

December 4, 2012 Hincapienot have any overt design statements and at first glance, “looks surprisingly sedate” and directly from the south, its forms

appear “smooth, almost silky.”52 Pointing to the way

the building entices you into itself as you approach it through narrowing paths, curved walls, and projecting structures

overhead, Ouroussoff maintains that the MAXII is distinctly Zaha Hadid. He writes, “the idea is to weave her buildings

into the network of streets and sidewalks that surrounded them—into the infrastructure that binds us together.” But it also

a way of making architecture-which is about static objects-more dynamic by capturing the energy of bodies charging

through space.”53 Inside the museum, this sense of movement is created through a series of pathways and staircases that

start at the main lobby and snake and curve off into different directions, inviting the visitor to follow them.54 Finally,

Ouroussoff notes how the building’s sense of forward momentum is continued through its lighting system; “glass

skylights are broken up by long, knifelike metal fins that run the entire length of [rooms].”55

Out of the three building’s reviewed, Hadid’s MAXXI appears to have the least discernable traits that could be described

as feminine. While it’s worth noting the way Ouroussoff describes the lines of the museum as “sensual,” emphasizes its

“curves,” and describes it as appearing “sedate” upon first glance, Ouroussoff maintains throughout his writing that what

should really be taken from Hadid’s design is its sense of flowing movement and dynamic character.56 The way the

building’s design pulls visitors inside and invites them further into the structure once they’ve entered is distinctly Hadid.

The building’s sensual, curvaceous, and sedate qualities do allude to imagery closely associated in art to the female body,

but these characteristics are merely secondary to the building’s greater sense of kinetic energy, which is described in ways

that do not assign it traits pertaining to any one gender. Ultimately, it does not appear as if Hadid expressed any feminine

sensibilities in the design of Rome’s MAXXI.

After looking at three buildings designed by the top female architects working today, it becomes apparent that finding

feminine sensibilities in architecture is a complicated matter. Ultimately, these women, like all architects, are working in a

triadic relationship—a relationship involving themselves as architects, the needs and goals of the clients they’re designing

for, and the audience that will experience the structures they build. Again, unlike fine art, architecture is not a self-

indulgent practice in which the creator’s own sensibilities and points of view can freely be expressed onto a finished piece

of work. Architects must process the requests of their clients and the future experiences of future visitors when designing

their work; their designs are never purely dictated by their own vision. Furthermore, unlike art, architecture does not have

a subject matter whose inclusion or portrayal is evidence of feminine sensibilities and a point of view as it is in fine art.

Architecture is also not a medium of creation in which social issues are easily addressed because again, client concerns

and viewer experiences are ultimately more paramount in the design process.

When contemporary architecture does demonstrate certain femininity, it seems to be expressed in a way that address

concerns that go beyond the female architect’s desire to address or express her gender in her work. The “ethereal” forms

and “warm” lighting of the Sejima’s New Museum, for example, while alluding to feminine imagery, are respectively

7

December 4, 2012 Hincapieways for the building to fit more comfortably into its changing Bowery environment and for adequate lighting to be

present inside. And the undulating waves formed out of concrete balconies that make up the “gentle” and “silk-like”

façade of Gang’s Aqua tower and in effect, cause the building to reject notions of the skyscraper as a symbol masculine

power and strength, ultimately serve very practical purposes—shading from the sun and the diffusion of wind. And the

“sensual” and seemingly “sedate” forms of Hadid’s MAXXI, while referencing notions of the female body, are more part

of a different and greater design intent that focuses on capturing the visitor and leading them forward into the structure.

I conclude this project with a lot left to explore within the topic of woman and architecture. Moving forward, it would be

interesting to research what female architects themselves have to say about the way they approach their work; whether

they consciously attempt to inject feminine sensibilities into their projects. If they do, why does it seem like such

sensibilities are not easily observed and very explicitly noted by critical viewers like Ouroussouff and Goldberger? And if

they don’t, why? Do they not find architecture to be the arena in which to express feminine sensiblites? There’s also the

pressing matter of the disproportionate amount of women working in architectural design compared to men. Finally, the

idea of feminine sensibilities is in itself a problematic one—exactly is “feminine?”

8


Endnotes

9

1 “O’Keefe as I see her,” Frieze Magazine, n.d, http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/okeefe_as_i_see_her/ (accessed November 24, 2012).

2 Joyce Volk, “Rietveld’s Little House Looms Large,” New York Times, August 6, 1989, http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/06/travel/rietveld-s-little-house-looms-large.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm (accessed November 24, 2012).


4 Isabel Kuhl, Kristins Lowis, and Sabine Thiel-Siling, 50 Architects You Should Know (New York: Prestel, 2008), 75.

5 Alice Friedman. “Women and the Making of the Modern House” (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998), 78.






10 Alice Friedman. “Women and the Making of the Modern House” (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998), 79.

1111Nicolai Ouroussoff, “Keeping Houses, Not Building Them,” New York Times, October 31, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/arts/design/31woma.html (accessed November 24, 2012).

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/arts/design/31woma.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/06/travel/rietveld-s-little-house-looms-large.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm














http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/okeefe_as_i_see_her/

12

13 Nicolai Ouroussoff, “Keeping Houses, Not Building Them,” New York Times, October 31, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/arts/design/31woma.html (accessed November 24, 2012).

14 Nicolai Ouroussoff, “Keeping Houses, Not Building Them,” New York Times, October 31, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/arts/design/31woma.html (accessed November 24, 2012).

15 Bob Borson, “Women in Architecture,” Life of An Architect (2011), http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/women-in-architecture/ (accessed November 24, 2012).








23 Nicolai Ouroussoff, “New Look for the New Museum,” New York Times, November 30, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/arts/design/30newb.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (accessed November 24, 2012).

24Nicolai Ouroussoff, “New Look for the New Museum,” New York Times, November 30, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/arts/design/30newb.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (accessed November 24, 2012).

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/arts/design/30newb.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/women-in-architecture/















32 Paul Goldberger, “Wave Effect,” The New Yorker, February 1, 2010, http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2010/02/01/100201crsk_skyline_goldberger (accessed November 24, 2012).



35 Paul Goldberger, “Wave Effect,” The New Yorker, February 1, 2010, http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2010/02/01/100201crsk_skyline_goldberger

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2010/02/01/100201crsk_skyline_goldberger











(accessed November 24, 2012).





















46 Nicolai Ouroussoff, “Modern Lines for the Eternal City,” New York Times, November 12, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/arts/design/12zaha.html (accessed November 27, 2012).

47 Rowan Moore, “Zaha Hadid’s new Roman gallery joins the pantheon of greats,” The Guardian, June 5, 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jun/06/maxxi-rome-zaha-hadid (accessed November 27, 2012).

48 Rowan Moore, “Zaha Hadid’s new Roman gallery joins the pantheon of greats,” The Guardian, June 5, 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jun/06/maxxi-rome-zaha-hadid (accessed November 27, 2012).









http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/arts/design/12zaha.html








http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jun/06/maxxi-rome-zaha-hadid



Bibliography

Borson, Bob. “Women in Architecture,” Life of An Architect. http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/women-in-architecture/

Friedman, Alice. Women and the Making of the Modern House. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998.


Goldberger, Paul. “Wave Effect.” The New Yorker, February 1, 2010, http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2010/02/01/100201crsk_skyline_goldberger

Hadid, Zaha. Zaha Hadid. New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2006

Hiesinger, Kathryn B., Zaha Hadid, and Patrik Schumacher. Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2011.

Jodidio, Philip. Architecture: Art. Munich: Prestel, 2005.

Kulk, Isabel, Kristins Lowis, and Sabine Thiel-Siling. 50 Architects You Should Know. New York: Prestle, 2008.

Moore, Rowan. “Zaha Hadid’s new Roman gallery joins the pantheon of greats.” The Guardian, June 5, 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jun/06/maxxi-rome-zaha-hadid

“O’Keefe as I see her,” Frieze Magazine, n.d. http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/okeefe_as_i_see_her/

Ouroussoff, Nicolai. “Keeping Houses, Not Building Them.” New York Times, October 31, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/arts/design/31woma.html

Ouroussoff, Nicolai. “Modern Lines for the Eternal City.” New York Times, November 12, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/arts/design/12zaha.html

Ouroussoff, Nicolai. “New Look for the New Museum.” New York Times, November 30, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/arts/design/30newb.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Volk, Joyce. “Rietveld’s Little House Looms Large.” New York Times, August 6, 1989. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/06/travel/rietveld-s-little-house-looms-large.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm




http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/okeefe_as_i_see_her/



