Architecture criticism and journalism are often expected to announce "the good, the bad, and the ugly" in architecture and the built environment. Its purposes go however further than that. As Michael Sorkin put it, "seeing beyond the glittering novelty of form, it is criticism's role to assess and promote the positive effects architecture can bring to society and the wider world". In other words, by telling us what they are seeing, critics are also showing us where to look in order to identify and address the issues plaguing our built environment.
The field of architecture journalism has been led by female writers even in times when the pursuit of a career in architecture was discouraged and inaccessible for women. Ada Louise Huxtable established the profession of architecture journalism by holding the first full-time position of architecture critic at a general-interest American newspaper. In 1970, she also received the first-ever Pulitzer Prize for criticism. Esther McCoy started her career as a draughtswoman at an architecture office, yet, because of her gender, she was discouraged from training as a professional architect despite her ambitions to study the field. Through her writings, she managed to bring attention to the overlooked architectural scene of the American West Coast and advocate for the values of regional Modernism.
Read on to discover five women who have changed and are continuing to change architecture and the built environment through their words.
Ada Louise Huxtable
As the first architectural critic working for The New York Times, Ada Louise Huxtable (1921-2013) is recognized as one of the most powerful voices in the architecture of mid-century America. Without disregarding architectural styles, her articles focused more on the social substance of architecture, inviting readers to see buildings as public statements. She was interested in the preservation of urban environments, not out of nostalgia, but rising from the recognition of the vitality of the cityscape. However, this did not make her an enemy of modern forms of architecture, on the contrary.
She celebrated buildings that embraced human scale and civic history while recognizing new forms of the New York vernacular. In the articles, her opinions were confidently expressed with intelligent, incisive, and often sarcastic arguments. When disagreeing, she did not shy away from reprimanding the designers, even comparing them to the totalitarian excesses of Hitler or Mussolini. Overall, her love for the city of New York shined in the very criticism she brought to inappropriate developments and in the effort to identify, preserve and further develop the shared identity of a city.
I wish people would stop asking me what my favorite buildings are. I do not think it really matters very much what my personal favorites are, except as they illuminate principles of design and execution useful and essential to the collective spirit that we call society. For irreplaceable examples of that spirit, I will do real battle. - Ada Louise Huxtable in The Times in 1971
Jane Jacobs
The figure of Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) needs no introduction. The now infamous battle between her and Robert Moses shaped not only New York City but also the attitude toward urban planning and the power of community engagement. Jacobs, a journalist turned activist, aimed to dismantle the concept of blank-slate urban planning. She understood cities as complex systems in an often-fragile balance. To protect it, she supported bottom-up community planning, as she trusted that the people living in the neighborhoods could best understand what solutions would disrupt or strengthen this balance. Jane Jacobs' legacy survives in multiple ways, one of which is Jane's Walks, self-organized free community events happening all over the world, in which citizens meet to discover their neighborhoods and discuss pressing community matters.
Esther McCoy
Architecture journalist, critic, and historian Esther McCoy (1904-1989) became a pioneer in her field by showcasing a previously overlooked area: modern architecture in Southern California. Today West Coast Modernism is widely recognized and acclaimed, with leading figures such as Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler, and John Lautner. However, before Esther McCoy made a case for the remarkable qualities of Californian architecture, New York and East Coast schools and critics dominated the discourse in mid-twentieth-century America.
Over her sixty-year-long career, Ester McCoy never held an in-house position at a major publication, yet her writings became widely distributed and celebrated during her lifetime. After relocating from New York to Los Angeles, initially for medical reasons, she observed and documented the evolution of a new form of modernism in the West Coast area. She understood that this was not simply a reinterpretation of the East Coast or European ideals that dominated the time. Her critical writings emphasized a regional form of modern architecture, one that was informed by geography and responded to local climate and conditions, taking inspiration from vernacular sources.
The architectural language of South California was not however McCoy's sole interest. Throughout her lifetime, she cultivated friendships with international architects. In the early 1950s, she travelled repeatedly to Italy and Mexico, among other locations. From there, she became the first American architecture journalist to acknowledge and write seriously about local Modernist design culture in Mexico, understanding the value of this new type of regional contemporary design. By presenting architects such as Luis Barragán, Juan O'Gorman, or Felix Candela to the American public, she contributed to undoing colonialist stereotypes about Mexican architecture, previously seen as nothing more than a derivative form of North American culture.
Beatriz Colomina
Beatriz Colomina is an architectural historian and theorist that challenges the founding stories of modern architecture, in search of a more complex understanding of the currents and influences that underpin architectural theory. Through her writings, she questions narratives and discourses, looks at domesticity as a powerful weapon employed in the Cold War, and recognizes diseases such as tuberculosis as forces that shaped the image of Modernism. Technology and sexuality are other themes explored, attempting to challenge established theories and develop new ways of understanding. By doing so, Colomina aims to create awareness and, consequently, responsibility, in the world of architecture of the far-reaching impact and involvement that architects have with society at large.
Alexandra Lange
While being grounded in architectural history, Architecture and design critic Alexandra Lange understands the responsibility of the critic is to become a representative of the public, as she declared in an interview for Madame Architect. Most of the time, this means experiencing the spaces firsthand and seeking to tune in to how architecture influences movement and sensations. In one of her books, Writing About Architecture, she seeks to empower readers to pay attention to the built environment, develop a critical eye and develop ways to communicate and discuss the impact that architecture can have on everyday life.
The more built environment people see and savor, the more they act like architecture critics, the better they will be able to recognize good planning and become advocates for it. – Alexandra Lange in Writing About Architecture
This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: Women in Architecture presented by Sky-Frame.
Sky-Frame is characterized by its empathic ability to take on different perspectives and points of view. We are interested in people and their visions, whether in architecture or in a social context. We deeply care about creating living spaces and in doing so we also question the role of women in architecture. From the arts to the sciences, women shape our society. We want to shed more light on this role, increase the visibility of Women in Architecture and empower/encourage them to realize their full potential.
Initiated by Sky-Frame, the "Women in Architecture" documentary is an impulse for inspiration, discussion, and reflection. Watch the film here.
Every month we explore a topic in-depth through articles, interviews, news, and architecture projects. We invite you to learn more about our ArchDaily Topics. And, as always, at ArchDaily we welcome the contributions of our readers; if you want to submit an article or project, contact us.
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Originally published on October 13, 2022.
