Feminist theory as it relates to

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

has forged the way for the rediscovery of such female architects as

Eileen Gray Eileen Gray (born Kathleen Eileen Moray Smith; 9 August 187831 October 1976) was an Irish architect and furniture designer who became a pioneer of the Modern architecture, Modern Movement in architecture. Over her career, she was associated w ...

. These women imagined an architecture that challenged the way the traditional family would live. They practiced architecture with what they considered feminist theories or approaches. The rediscovery of architecture through feminist theory is not limited to female architects. Architects like

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

and Adolf Loos have also had their architecture reexamined through feminist theory.

The architecture

Dolores Hayden Dolores Hayden is an American professor emerita of architecture, urbanism, and American studies at Yale University. She is an urban historian, architect, author, and poet. Hayden has made innovative contributions to the understanding of the soc ...

's book ''The Grand Domestic Revolution'' she explains the ways in which "a lost feminine tradition" led to a "redefining of house work and the housing needs of women and their families, push ngarchitects and urban planners to reconsider the effects of design on family life". This idea of the changing needs of the family can be seen in the houses of Truus Schröder, Eileen Gray and LeCorbusier's

Villa Stein Villa Stein is a building designed by Le Corbusier between 1926 and 1928 at Garches, France. The building is also known as Villa Garches, Villa de Monzie, and Villa Stein-de Monzie. Located at 17 Rue de professeur Victor Pauchet, the villa was ...

de-Monzie. The

Rietveld Schröder House The Rietveld Schröder House ( nl, Rietveld Schröderhuis) (also known as the Schröder House) in Utrecht (Prins Hendriklaan 50) was built in 1924 by Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld for Mrs. Truus Schröder-Schräder and her three children. She c ...

is an excellent example of the way that the "modern" lives of the family demanded a new architecture.

"The Schröder House was not only a creative work of artistic design but offered its users a new environment in which to redefine family life, women's rights and the responsibilities of individuals and to each other"

The movable walls and partitions give a sense of consciousness and an overall feeling that the architecture was built with a greater purpose. The fact that Truus Schröder's beliefs in the family and as the house playing a part in the family; the house almost as a member. Truus Schröder is closely related to Dutch and European

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

of the twentieth century, based on her goals for her house. Eileen Gray's E-1027 is another example of feminist theory being applied to architecture. Much like Schröder, Gray designed an architecture that would address the needs of the occupants and the new family unit. Gray worked within the model of modern architecture, LeCorbusier's "5 points of new architecture" for example as well as addressing the issues of the building or home as an experience. Like E1027 and The Schroder House, Villa Stein de Monzie was rediscovered through feminist theory. More well known is the way in which this house called gender relations and the way in which the relationship between men and women was negotiated in a new way.Friedman, Alice T., ''Women and the Making of the Modern House: A Social and Architectural History.'' Yale University Press, 2006, p. 96. This house is of particular importance in feminist theory because it called into question the typical domestic group and gender relations. This domestic group that included a married couple and a woman with her child called domestic space into question.

The architecture

See also

References

Further reading