To celebrate International Women’s Day, we asked the Brazilian non-profit group Arquitetas Invisíveis to share with us a part of their work, which identifies women in architecture and urbanism. They kindly shared with us a list of 48 important women architects, divided into seven categories: pioneers, “in the shadows,” architecture, urbanism, social architecture, landscape architecture and sustainable architecture. We will be sharing this list over the course of the week.
Yesterday we brought you the urbanists, and today we present women leaders in social architecture.
In honor of their 70th anniversary, the Design Council has named 70 “rising stars” they believe represent the future of British design. The “Ones to Watch” list was chosen from hundreds of entrants for their “outstanding vision, ambition and potential to contribute to the UK’s reputation as a leading design nation.” “Potty-girl” Julia King and Sonila Kadillari’s Pre-Ecopoiesis Mars Yard (PEMY) are some of the many architects and projects highlighted. View them all, here.
"I look for inspiration (or opportunities) from people and places rather than looking for people and places to host my ideas." -- Julia King
Regardless of whether or not Shigeru Ban deserved to be awarded the profession's highest prize this year (there are vociferous opinions on both sides of the issue), there is one thing that is certain: architecture is going through some serious growing pains. And perhaps no one encapsulates architecture's shifting direction better than Julia King, AJ's Emerging Woman Architect of the Year.
Pursuing a PhD-by-practice via the Architecture for Rapid Change and Scarce Resources (ARCSR) in the slums of India, Ms. King realized very quickly that the last thing these communities needed was architecture - or rather, what is traditionally considered "architecture." After all, community-members were already experts in constructing homes and buildings all on their own. Instead, she put her architectural know-how towards designing and implementing what was truly needed: sewage systems. And so - quite by accident, she assured me - the title "Potty-Girl" was born.
In the following interview, conducted via email, I chatted with Ms. King about her fascinating work, the new paradigm it represents for architecture, the need to forego dividing the "urban and rural" (she prefers "connected and disconnected"), the serious limitations of architecture education, and the future of architecture itself. Read more, after the break.
