WOMEN’S CREATIVITY SINCE THE MODERN MOVEMENT

EUROPEAN
CULTURAL
HERITAGE
AN
WOMEN’S CREATIVITY SINCE THE MODERN MOVEMENT
AN EUROPEAN CULTURAL HERITAGE Caterina Franchini and Emilia Garda
 WOMEN’S CREATIVITY SINCE THE MODERN MOVEMENT

EUROPEAN
CULTURAL
HERITAGE
AN
WOMEN’S CREATIVITY SINCE THE MODERN MOVEMENT
AN EUROPEAN CULTURAL HERITAGE Caterina Franchini and Emilia Garda
MoMoWo · Women’s Creativity Since the Modern Movement
An European Cultural Heritage

Caterina Franchini and Emilia Garda

PUBLISHER
Politecnico di Torino

GRAPHIC DESIGN CONCEPT

Emilia Garda
Caterina Franchini

LAYOUT
Pre-press La Terra Promessa
Giuliana Di Mari

EDITING
Caterina Franchini
Cristina Cassavia, MoMoWo Polito (Assistant editing)

PRINTING
La Terra Promessa Società Coop. Sociale ONLUS
Beinasco (Turin, Italy)

ISBN 978-88-85745-06-3 Publication of the project MoMoWo - Women’s Creativity

TURIN, 2018 since the Modern Movement. This project has been
co-funded 50% by the Creative Europe Programme of the
European Commission.

This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and

© 2018, Politecnico di Torino the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use
© 2018, MoMoWo which may be made of the information contained therein.
 Table of Contents

Introduction

Toward a ‘Reshape’ of Historical Narratives:

Mapping Women’s Legacy in Architecture, Construction and Design 11
A Conceptual Architecture to Develop a ‘Women Detector’ 12
Identification beyond Changing Boundaries 15
Education between Barriers and Opportunities 25
Professional History Leading Achievements 29
Engagement within Professional Networks 42
Works Visibility and Traceability 49
And the Winner Is: ‘Joint Creativity’ and Prizes for Women 64
Mind the Gap! Women’s Archives Tracking 74

Annexes
An Open Source ‘Approach’ for the Momowo GIS Database 83
Searching for Women’s Architectural Archives: The Italian Case Study 89
Collection of Digital Reconstructive Models 95
‘The Woman of the Week’: A MoMoWo Digital Gallery 105
Slovenian Women Pioneers: Posters from the MoMoWo Exhibition 147
MoMoWo Travel, Tourism, Architecture, Design and Women 177

Case Studies
Female Pioneers in Slovene Architecture, Civil Engineering and Design 186
Women’s Creativity in Post-War Reconstruction of Socialist Europe 194
Spanish Women Architects in Latin America 202
Craftswomen and Women Designers in the Netherlands 208
Craftswomen and Designers in Portugal: Improbable Paths 218

Bibliography 227
6
 Introduction
Emilia Garda and Caterina Franchini

This book presents the ‘conceptual architecture’ of the MoMoWo

Database for mapping women’s cultural legacy and heritage in
Architecture, Construction and Design, and includes annexes on
some of the most significant practices, outputs and deliverables
so far achieved, resulting from the cooperative research activity
between all MoMoWo’s international partners whom we directed
at the Polytechnic of Turin (Polito). A collection of case studies
enriches the volume by providing the reader with examples of
specific thematic approaches at several geographical scales.
The conception of the Database with the application of a
Geographic Information System (GIS) has opened the way to making
maps of the careers of women architects, civil engineers
and designers, and of their works in the fields of architecture,
landscape architecture, urban planning, architectural and urban
restoration, civil engineering, interior and furniture design, from the
past to the present time.
The released online map, www.momowo.eu/database-webgis,
displays part of the results issued from the principal research
tool we created in order to build an interactive and participatory
platform for sharing knowledge and fostering new studies that
can pass the limits of our partnership in its future developments.
According to this aim, we planned a ‘conceptual architecture’ that
is suitable to guide data collection following a vision of a
long-term work in progress.

7
 From the technological point of view, Francesco Fiermonte,
expert at the Laboratory of Sustainability and Safety for Social
Challenges (Polito-DIST), has put into practice “An Open Source
Approach for the MoMoWo GIS Database” that you will find in the
first annexe.
Through the scientific methodological approach adopted for the
Database, each multidisciplinary partner’s team contributed
to gathering the biographical data and data on the works by
women at various stages of research. These stages comprised
the preparation of the International Travelling Exhibition “100
Works | 100 Years | 100 Women” (which opened in July 2016 at
the University of Oviedo), the cultural-tourist itineraries for the
Guidebook MoMoWo. Women Architecture & Design Itineraries
across Europe (published in September 2016), and the three
international History Conferences/Workshops on women
designers, architects and civil engineers between 1918 and 1989
(Leiden, 2015; Ljubljana, 2016; Oviedo 2017), as well as the
Symposium Women’s Creativity since the Modern Movement
(1918–2018): Toward a New Perception and Reception (International
Conference, Polytechnic of Turin, July 2018).
In the frame of the Database activity, the MoMoWo Polito’s team
created a special section devoted to Women’s archives. Technical
aspects concerning the presentation of archives and archival
collections on the online map were covered by archivist Enrica
Maria Bodrato of the History and Cultural Heritage Laboratory
(Polito-DIST), and they are concisely illustrated in the second
annexe “Searching for Women’s Architectural Archives: The
Italian Case Study”.
Moreover, envisaging further developments of the MoMoWo
Database, two members of Polito’s scientific team, Roberta

8
Spallone and Marco Vitali (Polito-DAD), carried out feasibility
studies for the creation of a “Collection of Digital Reconstructive
Models” (annexe 3) of architectural works to be added to the
archival section. By studying archival documents, the aim
is to visualise in 3D those architectures that were demolished,
transformed or changed on the drawings, thus allowing the
preservation, interpretation and creation of images of cultural
heritages that no longer exist in their original shape or remain unbuilt.
Last but not least, three additional annexes enrich the book with
illustrations and tables showing whose Database demonstration
initiatives aimed to spread visibility and raise awareness about
the cultural heritage created by women, via the social media
output of our project as well as in local public events and guided
tours on the architectural routes of the Guidebook.
The Portuguese team, led by Maria Helena Souto (IADE), produced
the section “Women’s Gallery” which has been posted on the
MoMoWo Website and Facebook since 2015. Meanwhile, the
Slovenian team, led by Helena Seražin (ZRC SAZU), has focused
on the discovery of “Slovenian Women Pioneers” whose work-
in-progress results were exhibited during the annual MoMoWo
Open Day in women’s professional studios (2015, 2016 and 2017).
The last annexe “MoMoWo Travel, Tourism, Architecture Design
and Women” by Marjan Groot (VU) presents some reflections
on travel and tourism resulting from the 125 works by women
architects and designers collected in the Database and published
in our cultural-tourist itineraries.
All these initiatives have reverberated beyond the boundaries of
our project, thus engendering an inspiring imitation process that is
magnifying the MoMoWo mission, and giving voice to both material
and immaterial women’s cultural heritage in Europe and beyond.

9
Toward a ‘Reshape’ of Historical Narratives:
Mapping Women’s Legacy
in Architecture, Construction and Design
Caterina Franchini

– Archivist Madame Camille Jocasta Nu: ‘Are you having a problem Master Kenobi?’
– Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi: ‘Yes, I’m looking for a planetary system called
Kamino. It doesn’t show up on the archive charts.’
– Camille: ‘It’s not a system I’m familiar with. Are you sure you have the right
coordinates?’
– Kenobi: ‘According to my information it should appear in this quadrant here.’
– Camille: ‘I hate to say it, but it looks like the system you’re searching for doesn’t
exist.’
– Kenobi: ‘Impossible, perhaps the archives are incomplete.’
– Camille: ‘If an item does not appear in our records it does not exist.’

(Attack of the Clones, Star Wars – Episode II, 2002)

In our world, as in the fictional universe of Star Wars, it appears that

not only places but also things, events or experiences do not exist
without maps. Therefore, to reveal the tangible and intangible cultural
heritage generated by creative women, and to facilitate scholars in
engendering new genealogies, chrono-geographies and narratives
of Architecture, Construction and Design, the MoMoWo team has
worked on a model of a dynamic geo-referenced Database.
From 2014, the concept of the MoMoWo Database has always been to
build a tool that I like to call a ‘women detector’ humorously; a device
able to detect the points on maps corresponding to several sets of
experiences of women, which feature the feminisation of the profession
covering a hundred year period (1918-2018).

11
 We are grateful to past and new initiatives that have created
encyclopaedias or launched extensive campaigns such as “WikiD:
Women, Wikipedia, Design”, carried out by Wikimedia since 2015 to
contribute to spreading knowledge about creative women, thus
enriching opportunities for further developing our maps.

A Conceptual Architecture to Develop a ‘Women Detector’

Beginning with the identification of sections, subsections and entries,
we built a ‘conceptual architecture’ for data entering suitable to be
carried out from a long-term perspective. This experience led the part-
nership to focus on working out a shared methodology to be applied
for the analysis carried out in each research activity and to guide the
choice of topics of peer-learning international initiatives, namely the
yearly History Workshops and the MoMoWo Symposium 2018
(Polytechnic of Turin, June 2018).
The three MoMoWo History Workshops have been planned to cover,
respectively, the first three macro historical periods, each one reflected
in the Database as an Activity Period. These periods were previously
defined according to significant cultural, social and political changes
in Europe.
The 1st Activity Period (i.e. 1918–45), between the end of the two
World Wars, witnessed the official entry of women into the building
and design profession when those ‘women pioneers’ who graduated
at the end of the nineteenth century started to realise their projects.
The 2nd Activity Period (i.e. 1946–68), between the end of the Second
World War and the socio-cultural revolution of 1968, was a time of
expanding opportunities for women in construction, architecture and
design.
More large production of works characterises the 3rd Activity Period
(i.e. 1969–89) until the Fall of the Berlin Wall, due to the 1968 upris-
ings in Europe and ensuing feminist claims for women status equality.
The topics of the Symposium covered the entire chronology of

12
the research from 1918 to 2018, including the 4th Activity Period
(i.e. 1990-2018) that was marked by the end of Socialist regimes in
Eastern Europe and the new chances that increased globalisation
created for women working in the design and architecture fields.
In its several advancement phases, the Database is progressively
increasing the visibility of the neglected and forgotten works of female
authors to favour their knowledge, protection, conservation, restoration
and enhancement by also making the data collected available for
the launch of promotional campaigns such as the Pioneer Architects
Women in Architecture of the open source catalogue of the worldwide
architecture community, Architectuul.1
Starting from a survey of state of the art,2 on both printed and digital
sources, sharing our previous research experiences3 as well as taking
into account remarks and suggestions we received during several
presentations,4 Polito’s team designed a prototype organised into
sections and subsections (data forms), as listed below:

1
See Boštjan Bugarič, “Pioneer Architects: The Open Source Catalogue Architectuul,” in
MoMoWo Symposium 2018. International Conference. Women’s Creativity since the Modern
Movement (1918–2018): Toward a New Perception and Reception. Programme and Abstracts
(Politecnico di Torino, Campus Lingotto, Turin, Italy, June 13–16, 2018), edited by Caterina
Franchini and Emilia Garda, (Turin: Politecnico di Torino, 2018), 179.
2
For a critical presentation of the results of this survey, see Caterina Franchini, “Women in
the History of Architecture and Design. Sailing to a New History,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100
Years. European Women in Architecture and Design, 1918-2018, edited by Ana Mária Fernández
García, Caterina Franchini, Emilia Garda and Helena Seražin, (Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, France Stele
institute of Art History, ZRC Publishing House, 2016), 238–43. The essay presents the results of
a broad review of the literature carried out by the author.
3
In 2015, Polito organised two working meetings of the Scientific Committee, whose members
were Alain Bonnet, Ana Mária Fernández García, Caterina Franchini, Emilia Garda, Marjan Groot,
Sara Levi Sacerdotti, Helena Seražin and Maria Helena Souto.
4
Caterina Franchini, “Il progetto MoMoWo: la creazione di un Database” (lecture at the Course of
Architettura Tecnica/Building Construction, Politecnico di Torino, March 12, 2015); Id., “MoMoWo.
From a European project to the generation of a ‘Matrix’. Database on ‘creative’ European women
from 1918 to 2018” (paper presented at the Second International Congress on Architecture and
Gender: Matrices, LABART Lusófona University, ULHT, Lisbon, March 18–21, 2015); Id., “Le Projet
Éuropeen MoMoWo et sa Base de données” (paper presented at the Journée d’étude doctorale
en histoire de l’architecture: Femme, architecture, ville et paysage, Institut National d’Histoire de
l’Art - INHA, Paris, June 5, 2015). These presentations involved several audience targets, namely
students of engineering, PhD students, international scholars and educational staff, hence
providing feedback from a variety of point of views.

13
 1.0 Identification Data
1.1 Family Background
2.0 Education
2.1 Post-Graduate Education
3.0 Professional History
3.1 Professional Position(s)
3.2 Professional Partnership(s)
3.3 Professional Affiliation(s)
3.4 Membership to Network(s)/Association(s)
4.0 Works
4.1 Unrealized Works
4.2 Patents
4.3 Collaboration with magazines/journals
4.4 Exhibitions
5.0 Prizes and Awards
6.0 Writings, Bibliography, Webliography and Archives
The ideal structure of this prototype is sophisticated, and it was
conceived for managing and inweaving a large number of data
throughout ‘one-to-one’, ‘one-to-many’ and ‘many-to-many’ relation-
ships. A data field into a data form can be associated with one or
more data in other data forms, enabling multiple queries for aggre-
gating sets of similar data and producing a series of different maps.
Rather than reporting on the long process that defines the sixteen
data forms of the Database demo, and their data fields including
choice-type fields (e.g. combo-boxes and drop-down menus), I prefer
to mention the type of maps achievable by focusing on some relevant
data fields that drive the acknowledgement of the specificity of our
research topic.
Some spot examples are addressed to provide evidence of the variety
of issues and analyses carried out, or taken into account, and which
allows me to point out different matters including the cultural gender
barriers that we have to recognise in order to generate new ‘gender
balanced’ narratives within the History of Construction, Architecture
and Design.

14
Identification beyond Changing Boundaries
Beginning with the data form Identification Data (1.0), the issue of
finding the ‘women names’ –entries: first name, maiden name, married
name– already says a lot about the gender cultural barriers we found
in our investigation.
In disciplinary literature –History of Construction, Architecture, and
Design– the names and surnames of the works’ authoresses appear
in most of the cases in a non-univocal way, reflecting the variety of
customs and traditions of different geographical and socio-cultural
contexts. In some Northern European countries, the married-name
precedes the maiden-name, and these two are united with a hyphen,
becoming a unique name.
Very often, past and present historians and critics use the married-name
of the authoress even when they refer to a period of professional activity
when the authoress was not yet married. In this text, in an attempt to be
consistent with the Database entries, I have chosen to mention the maid-
en name first followed by the name of the spouse. Sometimes, maiden
names are not known or have been consigned to oblivion by their lack of
use. Consider that especially, until the last century, married women took
the surname of their spouses, professionally as well as personally. We
can trace the reasons for this custom back to the rules and roles of the
patriarchal society that still today resists attempts to overcome it.
The identification of women authors has proven to be further hampered
by the fact that even their first names are often not mentioned in
full, or they are dissimilar to their officially registered names. As the
research proceeded, I noticed that all over Europe it was customary
for women, more than men, to adopt the nickname used in private
life in their profession as well. For instance, in considering women
pioneers, among many others,5 I should mention the case of Finnish

5
Just consider the most well-known ones i.g. Gae (Gaetana) Aulenti, Lina (Achillina) Bo Bardi,
Cini (Maria Cristina) Mariani Dameno Boeri, Jela (Gabriela) Ferrario Mari, Liane (Juliana)
Ficher Zimbler, Anni (Anneliese) Fleischmann Albers, Lux (Luise) Guyer, Grete (Margarete)
Lihotzky Schütte, Ko (Jakoba Helena) Mulder, Gunta (Adelgunde) Stölzl.

15
 engineer and architect Olivia Mathilda Lönn (Onkiniemi, 1872 –
Helsinki, 1966) who participated in numerous architectural competi-
tions under the short name of Wivi, succeeding in realising dozens of
public buildings. She studied at the building industry section of the
Tampere Technical Institute and in 1896 she graduated in architec-
ture at the Helsinki Polytechnic, becoming the fifth female graduate
architect from Finland, but the first to work independently.6
Are there any reasons for such a widespread use of diminutives? Does
the diminutive epitomise a diminutio of professional self-confidence
or does it instead reveal an attitude of inseparable union between
private and working life?
Rather than engaging in unfounded speculations, I prefer to focus on
the objective fact that makes the search for pioneering women in pub-
lished historical sources difficult. In specialist magazines from, in the
main, the first half of the past century, it was customary to mention
only the initials of the given name, therefore it is impossible to know
from these sources –which are the richest in data as well as the most
accessible– whether the author of a work was a woman or a man.
Sometimes women architects would sign articles and publish works
with the initial of their name only, to protect their work and their
professionalism from gender bias in a predominantly male field,
and in some cases they even worked under a pseudonym for other
reasons. For example, the avant-garde articles signed Dreyfus-Sée,
published in André Bloc’s magazine L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui after
the Second World War, are written by the French architect and historian
Geneviève Bechmann (Paris, 1904 – 1997, graduated in 1934) who used
her husband’s surname. Before the war, she had instead written and
illustrated her pioneering books on educational learning –recognised
6
Olivia Mathilda Lönn is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition. See also Wenche Findal, “To the
History of Women Architects. Pioneers of North European Countries,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works
in 100 Years, 256–57. Among the sources of reference for the identification of Finnish women
architects are: Ulla Markelin and Suomen Rakennustaiteen Museo, Profiles: Pioneering Women
Architects from Finland, (Helsinki: Museum of Finnish Architecture, 1983), Exhibition catalogue;
Renja Suominen-Kokkonen, The Fringe of a Profession: Women as Architects in Finland from the
1890s to the 1950s, (Helsinki: Muinaismuistoyhdistyksen aikakauskirja, 1992).

16
as references in the great movement of New Education in France–
under the pseudonym of Amélie Dubouquet. The reason was related
to the racial persecution, as she was the daughter of the architect
Lucien Adolphe Bechmann (1880–1968) who belonged to the Jewish
upper middle class of the Parisian Belle Époque.7
The first woman to create a real built work in the Netherlands was
Dutch architect and designer Margaret Kropholler Staal (Haarlem,
1891 – Amsterdam, 1966).8 At the time she was employed in the
architectural firm run by her brother and by her future husband, Jan
Frederik Staal, and she initiated her career as an independent designer
under the pseudonym Greta Derlinge. Under her alias, in 1913 she realised
a model house for the exhibition De Vrouw 1813-1913 (The woman
1813-1913) conceiving its layout, endowing it with modern conveni-
ences and designing the furniture. She continued to improve the
condition of women through her careful interior and furniture home
design, and from 1948 she was a member of the National Council
of Women and president of the housing committee of the Dutch
Council of the Home from 1950 to 1956.9
Identifying the many names of a creative woman is an essential step
in collecting data from an ever-growing variety of sources –censuses,
inventories, publications, platforms and websites– as well as bring-
ing to light archival collections and documents that lie unexplored

7
Regarding women’s pioneering architecture in France, see Stéphanie Mesnage, “Women and
Their Professional Activities in Architecture, France 1918–1945,” in MoMoWo. Women Designers,
Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945, Series Women’s Creativity 1,
edited by Marjan Groot, Helena Seražin, Caterina Franchini and Emilia Garda, (Ljubljana: ZRC
SAZU, France Stele institute of Art History, ZRC Publishing House, 2017), 118–29. https://doi.
org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.6.
8
She is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition and some of her works are included in the MoMoWo
Guidebook, see Josh Crowle and Marjan Groot, “Atelier Roland Holst, Margaret Kropholler Staal,”
in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 24–25; Marit Eisses, “Country Villas,” in MoMoWo. Women
Architecture & Design Itineraries across Europe, edited by Sara Levi Sacerdotti, Helena Seražin,
Emilia Garda and Caterina Franchini, (Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, France Stele institute of Art History,
ZRC Publishing House, 2016), 154; Marjan Groot, “Margaret Kropholler (1891–1966) Pioneer,”
Ibid., 175–76.
9
A source is Ellen van Kessel and Marga Kuperus, Margaret Staal-Kropholler, Architect 1891-
1966, (Rotterdam: Uitgeverij, 1990).

17
 in archival labyrinths, with the ultimate goal of supporting historical
studies about women legacy and heritage.

In the Identification section, the entries Date and Place of birth and
death, First and Second nationality (linked to Education and Works)
can generate chrono-maps showing the distribution of women
professionals in the countries of Europe, by disclosing where these
women received the professional opportunities to stand out. In addition,
they can suggest new broader geographies of the European cultural
heritage created by women. Through these entries, the research has
already brought to light the fascinating and historically challenging
topic of migrations of pioneer women from and to Europe, and the
related geographical spread of both their cultural legacy and tangible
heritage that must be further studied, highlighted and protected as
part of our history.
By considering the first half of the twentieth century, the subject
matter of migrations of professional women is part of the context
of policies that have marked the history of the European continent
and which range from the foundation of the Palestinian state to racial
persecutions; to the imperialistic policies and expansionist colonial
policies of every single country.
Among Jewish women, there are numerous paradigmatic cases of
those who were born and trained in architecture in Europe and then
succeeded in their career in Israel.10 Born in Germany into a family of
Zionist sympathisers, Charlotte, called Lotte Cohn (Charlottenburg, 1893
– Tel Aviv, 1983) played a vital role in the architectural construction of
Israel for almost half a century. She was the third woman to graduate
in architecture from the Charlottenburg Higher Technical School and
worked at the post-war reconstruction of East Prussia villages.
10
Among the sources of reference for the identification of the German-speaking Jewish wom-
en-architects in Palestine, and more in general German Jewish women-architects, are: Myra
Warhaftig, Sie legten den Grundstein. Leben und Wirken deutschsprachiger jüdischer Architekten
in Palästina 1918-1948, (Tübingen: Wasmuth, 1996); Myra Warhaftig, Deutsche jüdische
Architekten vor und nach 1933: das Lexikon: 500 Biographien, (Berlin: Reimer, 2005).

18
When she emigrated in 1921, she was the first female architect of
Mandatory Palestine, and, in 1923, she was the only woman among
the founding members of the Palestine Architects Association
(Jerusalem).
In the early 1930s, Lotte Cohn was also the first woman to open her
own agency in Tel Aviv. From the same years come her model homes
for housing estates for immigrant German Jewish families and the
office building Chimon Binyan in the legendary White City district of
Tel Aviv (planned from 1925), an epitome of the Modern Movement in
the history of architecture. Nevertheless, her most famous work, the
Pension Kaete Dan (1932) on Tel Aviv beach, was destroyed.11 The
same fate affected women’s Modern architectural heritage in Tel Aviv,
such as the Blue Villa (1932) and the famous Galina café on the site of
the Levant Fair (Eastern Fair), both built by the Russian born Eugenie,
known as Genia Averbouch (Semlia, 1909 – Tel Aviv, 1977).
After having undertaken her studies in architecture in Rome and
Ghent, Genia Averbouch graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts in
Brussels in 1930. Back in Palestine, she built the Blue Villa together
with her husband, architect Shlomo Ginzburg (1906–1976), while the
Galina café was a cooperative project with the architect and designer
Elsa Mandelstamm Gidoni, born in Latvia (Riga, 1901 – Washington,
D.C., 1978). The latter, under the name Elsa Gidoni, on the site of the
Levant Fair, built the Swedish pavilion and a modern basilica with flat
roofs, and in 1937, she participated with Lotte Cohn in the contest for
the retirement home of Ramot Haschavim (not built), moving to New
York a year later where she began her extraordinary career.12
11
Regarding the works of this outstanding architect, see Ines Sonder, Lotte Cohn: pioneer woman
architect in Israel. Catalogue of buildings and projects = Loṭeh Kohen: ḥalutsat ha-adrikhalut
be-Yiśraʼel, (Tel Aviv: Bauhaus Center, 2009). Exhibition catalogue.
12
Elsa Mandelstamm Gidoni studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, then at the
Royal Technical College Charlottenburg (now Technical University Berlin). After having made a
name for herself in the professional press for her modern dining room dresser, realised by Hellerau
Deutschen Werkstätten, she emigrated to Palestine (1933–38) and opened an agency in Tel Aviv.
She won many architectural competitions among which were the agricultural school for the WIZO
(Women International Zionist Organization), built in 1936. In 1938, she left Palestine for New York
and in 1943, she enrolled as a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

19
 Like Lotte Cohn, Genia Averbouch also worked (1935–36) for the
White City where, in the main central square Zina-Dizengoff, the
symbol of the Bauhaus architecture,13 she built the Mirenbourg and
Messeri residences to which her name is mainly related despite her
abundant and outstanding professional production. In the 1940s, she
led the planning department of Tel Aviv and is still one of the most
renowned architects of the local Architectural History.
Among pioneers interior designers, it is worth mentioning Dora
Siegel Gad (Câmpulung, Romania, 1912 – Caesarea, Israel, 2003)
and Juliane Angela, known as Liane, Fischer Zimbler (Přerov, Czech
Republic, 1892 – Los Angeles, 1987).14 They both trained in Vienna,
Dora as architect-engineer at the Technical School, and Liane at
the School of Decorative Arts; they made a name for themselves by
moving to Palestine and California respectively.
Having emigrated to Palestine with her husband (architect Yehezkel
Goldberg) in 1942, Dora Gad set an agency with him. After the founda-
tion of the State of Israel, first with Goldberg and, after his death, with
architect Arieh Noy, Dora Grad largely contributed to the creation of
the image of the new State through a wide range of projects.15
Among the major achievements of the Gad-Noy agency are
the developments of the Israeli Parliament Building, the Knesset
(1966), and the Israel Museum (1965) that won the Architectural
Prize of Israel in 1966. The same year, Gad received another prize
from the Italian magazine Domus.16
Liane Fischer Zimbler was the first woman in Austria to pass the

13
See Nitza Metzger-Szmuk, Des maisons sur le sable - Tel Aviv: Mouvement Moderne et esprit
Bauhaus = Dwelling on the dunes - Tel Aviv: Modern Movement and Bauhaus ideals, (Paris: Eclat,
2004).
14
She is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition. See Ana María Fernández García, “Panzer
Residence, Liane (Juliana) Ficher Zimbler,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 70–71.
15
Among her projects are the residences of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister
(Jerusalem, 1950) and the National Library (Jerusalem, 1956), the interior design of the ships of
the national company Zim (1955–75), and that of the El Al Britannia aircraft.
16
See Ran Shechori (ed.), Boaz Ben Menease and Richard Flantz (trans.), Dora Gad, the Israeli
presence in interior design, (Tel Aviv: Architecture of Israel, 1997).

20
Zivilarchitektenprüfung (the architectural examination) in 1938.17 The
same year, following the Anschluss (the annexation of Austria into
Nazi Germany) she was forced to emigrate to the United States,
becoming a US citizen and a member of the American Institute of
Interior Designers and the Association for Women in Architecture in
1943. In California, she made a name for herself in interior design and
exhibition set-design and collaboratively realised several houses in
Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.18
Emblematic figures of migration from and to the European continent
linked, for example, to the British foundation of the Commonwealth of
Australia or the French colonization in Africa, are the United Kingdom-born,
pioneer of modern landscape architecture in Australia Edna Walling
(York, 1895 – Nambour, 1973) and the Algeria-born architect Georgette
Angeline Jacqueline Cottin-Euziol (El-Affroun, 1926 – Antibes, 2004).
Edna Walling spent her childhood in Devon countryside, absorbed by
drawing its nature; she then brought the principles of the celebrated
British garden designer Gertrude Jekyll (London, 1843 – Munstead
Wood, 1932) to Australia, where she had moved with her family in
1914, becoming a foremost landscaper of the Commonwealth. As a
precursor, she has bequeathed hundreds of gardens in which Australia’s
rich native flora masterfully blends with species imported from Europe. In
addition, her 1940s books have spread her vision of garden art across
generations.19
17
Regarding Austrian women architects, see Anne Bauer, Ingrid Isabella Gumpinger, and
Eleonore Kleindienst (eds.), Frauenarchitektouren. Arbeiten von Architektinnen in Österreich,
(Salzbourg: Anton Pustet, 2004).
18
See Elke Krasny, Stadt und Frauen. Eine andere Topographie von Wien, (Vienna: Metroverlag, 2008);
Iris Meder, “Women Designers and Architects in Early Twentieth Century Vienna,” in Women’s
Creativity since the Modern Movement (1918–2018): Toward a New Perception and Reception,
edited by Helena Seražin, Caterina Franchini and Emilia Garda, (Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, France
Stele institute of Art History, ZRC Publishing House, 2018), 24–31.
19
Edna Walling’s books are Gardens in Australia: their design and care (1943); Cottage and Garden
in Australia (1947) and A Gardener’s Log (1948). For her life and works, see Trisha Dixon and Jennie
Churchill, The Vision of Edna Walling: Garden Plans, 1920-1951, (Hawthorn: Bloomings Book, 1998);
Sara Hardy, The Unusual Life of Edna Walling, (Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2005). Regarding women
pioneers in landscape architecture, see Caterina Franchini and Emilia Garda, “Audaci e selvagge. Le
pioniere del paesaggio | Audacious and wild. The landscape pioneers,” Area 152 (2017): 108–09.

21
 The village of Bickleigh Vale, which she built near Melbourne, is
listed as a heritage site.
The life and professional career of architect Georgette Cottin was
undeniably affected by the political stakes of her time. Trained in Paris
at the Special School of Architecture and School of Fine Arts (1947–56),
she left her mark in Algeria (1956–61, 1963–78), Switzerland (1961–63),
France (1978–92) and Russia (1992–98). An active member of
the Algerian section of the communist party, Georgette Cottin was
sentenced to death by the Organization of the secret arm (OAS)
because of her militancy in favour of Algeria independence. Forced to
leave the country in 1961 despite the fact she already had built hospi-
tals, schools and a large housing estate in Algiers, she took refuge in
Geneva where she built the first Consulate General of Algeria (1963).
After independence, Georgette Cottin returned to Algeria, and having
joined the Algerian Communist Party, she received prestigious com-
missions. This time, she became a target of Algerian anticommunism
and left Algeria for France in 1978. In 1994, she participated in the
reconstruction of the new republics resulting from the dissolution of
the Soviet bloc. She realised important buildings in the Russian Far
East on the Sea of Japan, and the Presidential Palace of Chechnya
in Grozny (1996). Despite her incredible body of works, she remained
unknown until the exhibition 2004: Le Visage de l’Esprit: Georgette
Cottin-Euziol. Retrospective de l’œuvre architectural.20
Several women pioneers succeeded in fully practising their profession
by moving to other continents, and some of them have managed to
acquire a solid professional reputation after the Second World War
in Latin America, such as the Italian-Brasilian architect and furniture
designer Achillina Bo Bardi, known as Lina (Rome, 1914 – São Paulo,
1992).21 After her graduation from the University of Rome in 1939,
20
Regarding her work, see Assia Samaï Bouadjadja, “Georgette Cottin-Euziol between the
Beaux-Arts Spirit and the Philosophy of Modernity,” Docomomo Journal 38 (2008): 9–11. The
Cottin-Euziol Fund is at the Departmental Archives of Bouches-du-Rhône.
21
She is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition see Margherita Bongiovanni, “MASP São Paulo
Museum of Art. Lina Bo Bardi,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 100–01.

22
she collaborated with Gio Ponti (Giovanni Ponti,1891–1979) at the
magazine Lo Stile - Nella casa e nell’arredamento until 1943, and she
was the deputy editor of Domus from 1944 to 1945. She also worked
in exhibition set design but did not receive significant commissions
to build architectures in Italy. Instead, she started to build after
having emigrated to Brazil in 1947 with her husband, the art dealer
and art critic Pietro Maria Bardi. Although she is one of the most
famous female architects of her time, the tangible and intangible
cultural heritage she left still requires further investigation as the
numerousness of papers presented at the MoMoWo Workshops and
Symposium has proven.22
Among those European women who made their careers in Brazil is the
French-Brasilian designer and artist, Marie Anne Antoinette Hélène
Peretti, known as Marianne (Paris, 1927). Trained at the Académie de
la Grande Chaumière and National School of Decorative Arts in Paris,
she moved to Brazil, where she was the only woman to be part of
Oscar Niemeyer’s team, which she joined in 1974. She collaborated
with the famous Brazilian architect for twenty-five years, creating her
masterpieces in Brasilia (Jaburu Palace, Pantheon and JK Memorial),
including the 2240 square meters of stained-glass windows of the
Cathedral (1988), which is among her masterpieces.23
The migration of professionals to Latin America, but also to China or
Arab Emirates countries, is still a topical issue that also involves the
younger generations of professional women who, due to the recent
economic crises of the second millennium, have had to emigrate to
22
The papers presented at the 1st and 2nd Historic Workshops (Leiden, 2015; Ljubljana, 2016)
are Francesco Maggio, “Lina Bo Bardi: Unbuilt in Sicily”; Vincenza Garofalo, “Three Projects for
Council Houses by Lina Bo Bardi. From Virtual Reconstruction to Graphical Analysis”; Mara Sanchez
Llorens, “(Re)discovering the Objects and Actions of Lina Bo Bardi”. The papers presented at the
Symposium 2018 (Turin) are Alessandra Criconia and Elisabeth EssaÏan, “Learning from Lina:
An Architecture of Twentieth Century for Nowadays”; Ana Carolina Pellegrini and Marta Silveira
Peixoto, “Lina Bo Bardi’s MASP: Concrete Remaking, Design Restoring”; Cláudia Costa Cabral,
“Lina Bo and the Aqueduct of Cars”.
23
The first book on this outstanding creative woman is Tactiana Braga (ed.), Marianne Peretti,
l’audace de l’invention | A Ousadia da invencao, (Recife, Pernambouc: B52 Desenvolvimento
Cultural, Brazil, 2015).

23
 seek professional opportunities. In this book, Ana Mária Fernández
García presents the case study on “Spanish Women architects in
Latin America”. The development of migration mapping is one of the
lines of research that we aim to carry out in the future.

To complete the Identification, the Family Background (1.1) subsection

comprises the data fields Profession of the father/mother, brother(s)/
sister(s), and Other relatives with the same profession (choice yes/
no). This subsection is very revealing especially for those women ac-
tive in the first and second Activity Period; in fact, most of these
women belonged to families of professionals in architecture, con-
struction and design that encouraged and supported girls to cross
socio-cultural boundaries to undertake education in their same field.
To provide an idea of the links set with the next sections, Education
(2.0), Professional History (3.0) and Works (4.0), I mention here two
architects, one of the first generation and the other from the second
generation of pioneers; respectively, British Elisabeth Scott Whitworth
(Bournemouth, 1898–1972) and Swiss Beate Schnitter (Zurich, 1929).
Elisabeth Scott followed the teachings of the Architectural Associa-
tion of London from 1919 to 1924 (section 2.0) inspired by the example
of her great-uncles, the famous architects Sir George Gilbert Scott
(1811–1878) and George Frederick Bodley (1827–1907). She was the
first woman to win a major architectural competition in Britain, and
also the first to receive a major public commission; in 1928, her project
for the International Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Competition
(Stratford-upon-Avon) was selected from 72 anonymous folders
(section 4.0).24 Her win, which galvanised British women architects,
played a crucial role in encouraging girls to enrol in schools of archi-
tecture, including her Dutch-British project assistant Judith Geertruid
Ledeboer (Almelo, 1901 – Hambledon, 1990)25 who, like Elisabeth Scott,
24
This work is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition. See David Álvarez Villarín, “Shakespeare
Memorial Theatre, Elisabeth Scott Whitworth,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 40–41.
25
She is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Ana María Fernández García, “Sideboard,
Judith Ledeboer,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 68–69.

24
graduated in 1931 from the Architectural Association of London.26
Beate Schnitter seemed to be predestined to architecture as the niece
of the first female Swiss architect Luise, known as Lux Guyer (Zurich,
1894–1955)27 and daughter of the engineer Erwin Schnitter. Before her
graduation from the Polytechnic of Zurich in 1953 (section 2.0), due
to her father’s profession, she moved to Ireland and the Netherlands
where she attended various types of schools with innovative pedagogy.
This educational experience strengthened her sensitivity to social
matters, marking her future professional history. When in 1955 she
inherited her aunt’s architectural agency, Lux Guyer, her commitment
was to support women architects, and three years later she engaged
in urban planning and politics as a co-founder of the ZAS Zurich Urban
Planning Group (section 3.0). She was one of the few of her generation
who publicly discussed the place and role of women in those fields.28

Education between Barriers and Opportunities

The data fields concerning Education (2.0) may enable visualising
chrono-maps of a variety of educational institutions where women
received their education (Decorative art schools, Fine Art Academies,
Polytechnics, Technical schools, Universities and Other) through
dynamic links.
The Education qualification(s)29 is significant when compared to their

26
During the war, Judith Geertruid Ledeboer was the first female architect employed at the
Ministry of Housing (Professional Position 3.1, employee). Among the sources of reference for
the identification of British women architects: Judy Attfield and Pat Kirkham (eds.), A View from
the Interior. Feminism, Women and Design History, (London: Women’s Press, 1988); Lynne Walker
(ed.), Women Architects: Their Work, (London: Sorella Press, 1984), Exhibition catalogue.
27
Lux Guyer is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Eliana Perotti (errata), Katia Fray, “Masterplan
of SAFFA Exhibition 1928, Louise (Lux) Guyer,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 42–43.
28
Among the sources, see Inès Laumière, Flora Ruchat-Roncati and Beate Schnitter, SAFFA
1928, 1958… 1988?: und heute, (Basel: Architekturmuseum, 1989); Hannes Ineichen (ed.), Beate
Schnitter. Bauten und Projekte 1955-2005, (Sulgen: Niggli, 2005).
29
Educational titles selectable from the drop-down menu are: Architect, Artist, Civil Engineer,
Craftsmen, Drawer, Furniture Designer, Horticulturist, Industrial Designer, Interior designer,
Landscape designer, Surveyor, Urban Planner, and Other.

25
 Field/s of work. Women graduated in architecture often also worked
as interior designers or as furniture designers; women artists were active
in many different fields of design including textile, ceramics and light;
civil engineers designed architectures as engineers-architects.
To share knowledge and further our international mappings on this
subject, for the MoMoWo Symposium 2018 we organised a plenary
session and three parallel sessions under the title Women’s Education
and Training: National and International Mappings (Chair: Helena
Seražin). The lectures focused on Austria, Croatia, Italy, Spain,
Switzerland, Poland, Russia and Ukraine; and also covered non-
European countries such as Canada and Nepal.30
Professor/s (dynamic link), Barriers faced in the educational system,
and Contacts and situations that facilitated education (choice yes/no,
plus Notes text boxes) are relevant entries concerning women pioneers
that ran up against real barriers to joining architecture or civil
engineering courses, or specific design fields considered not suitable
for female students.
Sometimes, the constraints were also of a political nature, as was the
case for Russian architect Elena Novikova (Moscow, 1912–1996).31
Born before the October Revolution into a family of wealthy traders,
she succeeded in passing the entrance exam of the legendary Vkhutemas
(Higher Art and Technical Studios, Moscow) in 1929, when women
constructivist artist and textile designers such as Varvara Stepanova
(1894–1958) and Lyubov Sergeyevna Popova (1889–1924) were
teaching there; but due to her ‘non-proletarian’ origins, her enrolment
was rejected. Elena Novikova then worked for an organisation

30
The abstracts are published in Caterina Franchini and Emilia Garda (eds.), MoMoWo
Symposium 2018. International Conference, 24–47.
31
According to Valda Traven, the first woman to graduate in architecture in Russia was Nina
Novakovskaia Alexandrovna (Warsaw, 1889 – Paris, 1966). She was admitted to the faculty of
architecture of the Fine Arts School of Saint Petersburg when it opened its doors to women in
1903. Her name was erased from Russian memory because she emigrated to France after the
revolution of 1917 and lived there the rest of her life. See Valda Traven, “Novakovskaia, Nina
Alexandrovna,” in Le Dictionnaire universel des créatrices, edited by Béatrice Didier, Antoniette
Fouque and Mireille Calle-Gruber, vol. 2, (Paris: des femmes-Antoinette Fouque, 2013), 3214–15.

26
responsible for designing buildings for the textile industry, Tekstilstroj.
Thus, in 1931, after having created her proletarian image through this
job, she was accepted at the Institute of Art and Technology Vhutein
(former Vkhutemas).32
Professors, mentors or school directors were often pivotal figures in
determining pioneering working experiences of their best ‘apprentices’
as it occurred to German architect and urban planner Lotte Beese
Stam (Reisich, 1903 – Krimpen aan den IJssel, 1988). Lotte Beese
was the first student to attend the course of architectural design in
the new Baulhere (new way of building) at the ground-breaking
Bauhaus school in Dessau, but she was forced to give up her studies
because of her relationship with the Swiss communist architect
Hannes Meyer (1889–1954). He was, in fact, the initiator of the course,
and also director of the Bauhaus (1928–30).
When H. Meyer formed in Moscow the ‘Red Front Brigade’ with his
former students, developing designs according to with ‘Marxist principles’,
he asked Beese (1932) –who in the meantime had found work in
Ukraine thanks to her activism in the pro-Soviet Czechoslovakian
communist party– to join the group. Beese moved to Moscow, but
soon she joined the Ernst May (1886–1970) ‘Brigade’ with her
husband architect Mart Stam, a former Bauhaus teacher.33
In the May’s legendary ‘Brigade’ there was just one other western
female architect, the first Austrian women architect Margarete Lihotzky
Schütte (Vienna, 1897–2000), along with her husband.34 In designing
the ‘socialist new cities’ Sostsgorods, both women architects have
had the extraordinary opportunity to put into practice the Socialist
ideas about the importance of women working outside the home. This

32
See Valda Traven, “Novikova, Elena Borisovna,” in Ibid, 3215.
33
Oosterhof’s article provide a new critical interpretation of Lotte Beese’s amazing experience
in the Soviet Union: Hanneke Oosterhoof, “ ‘Creating Order amid Chaos’: Architect Lotte Beese in
the Soviet Union, 1932-1935,” in MoMoWo. between 1918 and 1945, Series Women’s Creativity 1,
64–78. https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.3.
34
She is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Caterina Franchini, “Frankfurt Kitchen,
Margarete (Grete) Lihotzky Schütte,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 38–39.

27
 memorable experience broadened their professional horizons and
affected their activity in western Europe in the following years.35

The subsection Post-Graduate Education (2.1) is mostly applicable for

women who were principally actives in the fourth period (1990–2018),
and who could attend different masters, specialisations or PhDs that
have spread all over since the mid-1980s in several specific fields, such as
interior design, restoration, museography, urban planning, industrial design
or even digital design. In this latter advanced technological field, British
designer Fiona Raby (Singapore, 1964), following her MPhil in Computer
Related Design (CRD) at the prestigious Royal College of Art (RCA,
London), was among the founder of CRD Research Studio at RCA; here,
electronic evolutions and their consequences are questioned through
unconventional objects related to comfort and privacy.36
Nevertheless, this subsection can also encompass some exceptions
belonging to previous generations, such as Czech-British Eva Jiřičná
(Zlín, b. 1939)37 –the famous author of the interior design of Richard
Rogers’ Lloyds building (London, 1980–82) with Jan Kaplický, and the
shop ‘Way In’ at the Harrods store (1985)– who earned a masters at
the Prague Academy of Fine Arts (1963–67) after her graduation in
architecture at the Technical University of Prague (1956–62).38
Her dual education impacted the multidisciplinary and holistic

35
Back in the Netherlands, Lotte Beese Stam became Chief Architect at the Urban Development
and Reconstruction Agency in Rotterdam after the Second World War, transferring the design
approach she had developed in the Soviet Union in her later projects too. The MoMoWo Guide-
book includes her major works in the Netherlands. See Marit Eisses, “Swimming-Playing Pool,”
in MoMoWo. Women Architecture & Design Itineraries, 149; Id., “Ommoord Urban Social Housing
Complex,” Ibid. 161; Marjan Groot, “Penderecht Urban Social Housing Area,” Ibid. 159.
36
Her work is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Ana Mária Fernández García, “Faraday
Chair, Fiona Raby,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 176–77. Raby’s design approach is
explained in the book by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, Design Noir. The Secret Life of Electronic
Objects, (Basel: Birkhauser, 2001).
37
She is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Helena Seražin, “Zlín Culture and Congress
Centre, Eva Jiřičná,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 208–09.
38
See Dennis Crompton, Annie Bridges, Zuzanna Lipinska, et al. (eds.), In/ex terior: the works of
Eva Jiřičná = Práce Evy Jiřičná, (Prague: Techo, 2005); Maggie Toy (ed.), The Architect. Women in
Contemporary Architecture, (New York: Watson-Guptill, 2001).

28
approach of her agency founded in 1982 and active both in Prague
and London. Her body of works encompass furniture and object design, as
well as public and private buildings, bridges and exhibitions, brought
together by the concern for the well-being and pleasure of the users.
To highlight these kinds of reflections on works, the entries of this
subsection replicate those of the data fields Education (2.0) and have,
likewise, two levels of one-to-many relationships.

Professional History Leading Achievements

The Professional History (3.0) section includes –in a first-level one-
to-many relationship– the entries Name and Place of the professional
agency (studio/atelier), company, industry, institution and other, and
the Dates (from – to), thus allowing us to track and compare careers
and establish where and when a generation has found or created
professional opportunities.
In addressing this topic, we must bear in mind that, in general, the
legal status of women in Europe began to change slowly in the twentieth
century and even when women, previously excluded from political
life, obtained the right to vote as well, judicial capacity and propriety
rights, they often stayed limited by law in their choice of career.
In the Kingdom of Italy, the law on marital approval –the requirement
that a wife needed her husband’s authorisation to work– was
abolished in July 1919 (n. 1176) and women were allowed to
exercise any work or profession and hold public positions with the
exceptions of judicial appointments and tasks concerning the military
defence of the State. This law was only abolished in 1963 (law 66,
February 1963) when women were admitted to any career. However,
beyond the legal barriers, in the past as in the present, women were
faced/face with socio-cultural barriers for getting into the professional
world. These barriers were/are often related to their family, including
their partner/husband and children/s.
However, sometimes relatives (including partners/husbands),

29
 commissioners, patrons or mentors, created the conditions that
favoured their professional achievements. To collect and systematise
these data, the fields Barriers faced in the professional practice
(choice yes/no, Note text box) as well as Conditions that favoured
professional career (choice yes/no, Note text box) and, for both of
them, Role played by the family of origin and/or partner/husband,
and/or children(s) are in this section.39
The data concerning the family of origin are linked to the Family
Background (1.1) subsection. To give one example, we can
mention the very first generation of Romanian architects. Virginia
Maria Andreescu Haret (1894–1962, grad. 1919),40 Lucia
Creangă (1892–1943)41 –a prominent personality of the Modern
Movement in her country– and Henriette Delavrancea Gibory
(Bucharest, 1894–1987, grad. 1926) owe their professional reputation
to their kinship with famous men. More precisely, Henriette
Delavrancea’s early career was fostered by the significant influence
of her father, writer and playwright Barbu Ştefănescu Delavrancea
(1858–1918), the mayor of Bucharest and minister of public
works. Thanks to him and her elder sister, pianist Cella Delavrancea,
she found her clientele within the intellectual élite and bourgeoisie
of the capital, becoming the most prominent representative of
her generation.
However, when the communist regime established, her advantage

39
The entry Number of children can be relevant not for women pioneers, that belonged to
wealthy families that usually benefited from the services of their childminders, but more for the
post-1960s generations.
40
She is featured in the ChronoMoMoWo of the MoMoWo Exhibition. Niece of one of the most
famous Romanian painters, Ion Andreescu (1850–1882), Virginia M. Andreescu married a
descendant of Spiru Haret (1851–1912), mathematician, astronomer and prominent political
figure in Romania. See Marcia Feuerstein and Milka Bliznakov, “New Acquisitions: Women
Architects in Romania,” IAWA Newsletter, International Archive of Women in Architecture 12
(2000): 1–4; Radu Haret, “Virginia Haret Andreescu – prima arhitectă din lume,” Revista Muzeelor
şi Monumentelor – Monumente Istorice şi de Artă 2 (1982): 65–67.
41
See Luminiţa Machedon and Ernie Scoffham, Romanian modernism: the architecture of Bucharest
1920-1940, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1999), 51.

30
turned into a restraint, and due to her bourgeois family as well as her
rejection of socialist realism, her career slowed down.42
When totalitarian regimes in Western Europe arose, women were further
hindered from practising professions traditionally dominated by men.
Two days before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Matilde Ucelay
Maortúa (Madrid, 1912–2008), born into a cultured, liberal and pro-
gressive family, received a tribute from the Order of Architects of
Madrid as the first woman to graduate in architecture in Spain.43
However, in 1942, because of its republican commitment, the War
Council sentenced her to a five-year suspension from architectural
activity and banished her from holding public positions.
Despite these difficulties and in the social context of the Franco
regime, where women were confined to the private domain with a total
absence of civil rights, Matilde had a regular professional activity for
more than forty years, building mainly for private clients. For her first
achievements, to avoid her conviction, she solicited help from her
former classmates Félix Candela, Fernando Chueca Goitia, Rita
Fernandez-Queimadelos and Maria Cristina Gonzalo Pintor.44
Surprisingly, it was during the Fascism in Italy that the first woman
graduated in architecture from the Royal School of Architecture of
Rome in 1925, Elena Luzzatto Valentini (Ancona, 1900 – Rome,
1983).45 Her professional career soon flourished in the 1930s, despite
Mussolini’s disgraceful statement: ‘Women must obey (...). She is analytic
and not synthetic. Has she ever done architecture in these centuries?
Ask her to build you a simple hut, not even a temple! She cannot do

42
See Carmen Popescu, “Henrietta Delavrancea: la modernité roumaine de l›entre-deux-
guerres,” Histoire de l’Art 63 (2008): 89–99.
43
She is featured in the ChronoMoMoWo of the MoMoWo Exhibition. Regarding women pioneers
in architecture in Spain, see Ana María Fernández García, “The Access of Women to Architecture.
The Situation of Spain’s Female Pioneers,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 262–5.
44
Regarding women architects in Spain, see Cristina García Rosales and Ana Estirado Gorría,
II encuentro de mujeres en la arquitectura, (Madrid: Dirección General de la Mujer, 1999).
45
Elena Luzzatto Valentini is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Margherita Bongiovanni,
“Primavalle Market, Elena Luzzatto Valentini,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 86–87.

31
 that. She is foreign to architecture, which is a synthesis of all arts, and
this is a symbol of her destiny’.46
Elena Luzzatto built, in Ostia, Capri and Rome, rationalist architec-
tures. She participated in many competitions, sometimes with her
husband, an engineer at the Istituto Nazionale Fascista di Previdenza
Sociale (INFPS) Felice Romoli.
With Romoli, she presented a project for a sanatorium at the Triennale
di Milano (1933) and participated, among others, in the competition
for the Viterbo (1933) and that of Bolzano (1935) hospitals. Together
with Anna Gabrielli, she conceived a remarkable project for the
development plan of the city of Grosseto (1928). She won the first
prize in the contest launched by the Istituto Nazionale per le Case degli
Impiegati Statali (INCIS, National Institute of State Employees’ Homes)
as well as in the competition for the French military cemetery in Rome
(1944), designed with the first Italian woman landscape architect Maria
Teresa Parpagliolo Shephard (Rome, 1903–1974).47 In the post-war
reconstruction, Luzzatto was at the forefront of national leaders for the
social housing projects of the INA-Casa (National Insurance Institute).48
Mussolini’s statements had powerful echoes for women in architecture
on the other side of the world. In the pro-Nazi-Fascist Japan, the first
woman architect of the country, Tsuchiura Yoshino Nobu (Tokyo,
1900–1998) –who from 1923 to 1925 had worked in Frank Lloyd
Wright’s Taliesin-Wisconsin with her husband, architect Tsuchiura
Kameki (1897–1996)– abandoned her professional practice in 1937,
overwhelmed by the pressure of her colleagues.49
As far as barriers are concerned, research has found, for example,

46
Emil Ludwig, Talks with Mussolini, (Boston: Little Brown, 1933), 168.
47
She is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Lucia Krasovec, “Hall Garden, Maria Teresa
Parpagliolo Shephard,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 118–19.
48
Regarding women pioneers in Italy, see Caterina Franchini, “Women Pioneers in Civil
Engineering and Architecture in Italy: Emma Strada and Ada Bursi,” in MoMoWo. between 1918
and 1945, Series Women’s Creativity 1, 82–101. https:// doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.04.
49
See Milka Bliznakov and Donna Dunay, “New Acquisitions: Women Architects in Japan”, IAWA
Newsletter, International Archive of Women in Architecture 14 (2002): 1–8.

32
that the women’s divorced status had negative consequences on
their professional careers, but above all, it has shown that some
exceptional women overcame them with creativity. When clients
abandoned woman pioneer architect in post-war Britain and activist
of the Modern Movement, Dame Jane Beverley Drew (Thornton Heath,
1911 – Barnard Castle, 1996)50, due to her divorce, she created her
agency composed only of women, to then open to men on the basis
of their merit (1939–45).51

The Professional Position/s (3.1) subsection with a dynamic link

includes Dates (from – to) and a drop-down menu for choosing the
Type of position (multiple choice: academic, employee, freelance, other).
Through this data field, it is possible to map, for example, those
outstanding women who have succeeded in breaking the gender
‘glass ceiling’, thus gaining leading positions in public institutions.
Within the various historical and geographical contexts, multiple reasons
have led women, including pioneering women, to hold a position in the
public sector. The most common reasons were, and still are, related to
the fact that an employment position in a public institution provided
women with the stability that better suited their family duties and also
offered them an income when their independent professional activity
suffered from difficult historical-economic circumstances.
Concerning the pioneers, as was the case in their independent practice,
even in the public sector women architects were mainly assigned
dwelling, educational and healthcare projects, as those fields were
considered more feminine; women often dealt with design tasks of
a social nature, and many of them excelled in their innovations for
school buildings and social housing estates.
In 1923, the already mentioned first woman architect of Romania,
50
Dame Jane Beverley Drew is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, Esther Rodríguez Ortiz,
“University of Ibadan, Jane Drew,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 92–93.
51
See Sile Flower, Jean Macfarlane and Ruth Plant (eds.), Jane B. Drew Architect: a tribute from
colleagues and friends for her 75th birthday 24th March 1986, (Bristol: Bristol Centre for the
Advancement of Architecture, 1986).

33
 Virginia Maria Andreescu Haret, joined the Technical Department of
the Ministry of Education, then becoming inspector general. As part
of her duties, she was responsible for various projects, including the
definition of nine types of school buildings. Thus, she realised some
forty buildings, from primary to higher education schools: among the
most successful are the high schools Gheorghe-Şincai (1924) and
Dimitrie-Cantemir (Bucharest, 1926), Domnița-Ruxandra in Botoşani,
the schools for girls in Focşani and Bârlad (now Bîrlad), and the
professional school of Ploieşti. Her architecture is sometimes of
a modernist-art deco aesthetic but more often is of a national style,
which was inspired by her extensive knowledge of Romanian
architecture acquired during her training at the Commission of
Historical Monuments (1919–21).
Another pioneer architect who first innovated the design of educational
buildings, but this time in Britain, was Mary Crowley Medd Beaumont
(Bradford, 1907 – Welwyn garden city, 2005, grad. 1932 AA London);
her educational buildings were the most copied in the country.52
Immediately after the Second World War, the Hertfordshire Regional
Council’s Department of Architecture hired Mary Crowley and gave
her the task of dealing with the shortage of schools. Her Burleigh
Infants School (Cheshunt, 1946–47) became the model for an
extensive construction programme.
Social vocation, modernity and the respectful development of the
needs of the occupants feature in the school buildings designed by
Mary Crowley, who was deeply marked by the theories of her father, a
Quaker educator and the author of a book on school buildings and edu-
cation. Thanks to her forward-thinking design process, she progressed
in her career at the Ministry of Education and, together with her
husband, architect David Medd (1917–2009), she designed a series of
prototypes for the construction of future schools all over Britain.

52
Mary Crowley Medd’s heritage and legacy have been recognised by specialist literature, see
Andrew Saint, Towards a Social Architecture. The Role of School Building in Post-War England,
(London/New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987).

34
Due to her previous experience of prefabrication during 1937–40,
when she had designed a crèche with the architect Ernö Goldfinger
(1902–1987),53 Mary Crowley developed some prototypes using
prefabricated construction systems to build child-centred learning
spaces. For each new assignment, she consulted teachers and
children to find out their needs and habits and translate them into
her design process.
In spite of ‘professional segregation’, some women found in the public
sector the opportunity to gain experiences that were unusual for
female designers or to access design fields that had been of an
entirely male prerogative, such as buildings for servicemen or
infrastructures for communications and transport.
The case of the first woman French architect, Jeanne Surugue Besson
(1896–1990), employed in the French colonial administration, is still
exceptional and raises a few questions that may open up new themes
of research.
Soon after her graduation from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in
1923, Jeanne Surugue worked as an architect of the Public Works in
Cuba, designing gardens for the Commissariat General. Subsequently,
she became Grand Architecte of the Department of Provincial and
Local Government of Cambodia in Phnom Penh (Indochina, 1928–30).
In order to consider Jeanne Surugue’s cultural legacy, many questions
remain open about her life and works. Did Jeanne’s husband, archi-
tect Pierre Besson, play a role in her professional career? Do any of
her built works still exist? Have other women architects worked for colonial
administrations? What tasks have they taken on? What material and
immaterial legacy have they left as public officials abroad?
Finnish Ministry of Defence was among the first to hire women
architects as early as the 1920s and 1930s. Elsa Arokallio (Kurkijoki,
1892 – Helsinki, 1982, grad. 1919), Elsi Naemi Borg (Nastola, 1893
– Helsinki, 1958, grad. 1919) and Martta Martikainen Ypyä (Iisalmi,
53
This project is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Ana Mária Fernández García, “Plan of
the Expanding Nursery School. Mary Crowley Medd,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 60–61.

35
 1904 – Helsinki, 1992, grad. 1932) were the first to hold a position.
After two years directing (1924–26) the architectural agency she had
founded with her husband (Erkki Väänänen), Elsa Arokallio, after
she was widowed, worked at the Ministry of Defence and built a
school for the air force (Kauhava, 1929), collaborated in designing
barracks (Kauhava, 1933) and was also the designer of the coastal
artillery headquarters in Lahdenpohja (1933). These professional
accomplishments led her to take up a position at the State Council
of Architecture in 1953.
Elsa Arokallio had never given up the independent practice that
allowed her to design different types of buildings while also devoting
herself to the design of furniture and interiors. In 1933, she built the
Simpele Church together with the architect Elsi Borg, who in 1927 had
already won the design competition for the main Lutheran church in
Jyväskylä (Taulumäki Church, 1928–29).
Borg was a colleague of Arokallio at the Ministry of Defence, where
she specialised in the construction of hospitals while still directing
her own architecture agency.54
Like Arokallio, Martta Martikainen designed her most noteworthy
works for the Ministry of Defence (1928–36), such as the Motor
Battalion barracks and garage in Helsinki (1935), 55 which gave
evidence of her full mastery of the functionalist ideas of the Modern
Movement. The reputation she had gained through this project helped
the young architect to run the agency she opened in Viipuri (now
Vyborg) with her husband, architect Ragnar Ypyä (1900–1980), even
when the Soviet occupation separated the spouses.
During the war, Martikainen Ypyä was forced to move to Sweden, where
she was head of the housing cooperative Hyresgästernas Sparkasse -

54
One of her hospitals is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Antonello Alici, “Lastenlinna
Children’s Hospital. Elsi Naemi Borg,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 82–83.
55
This building is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Antonello Alici, “Motor Battalion Bar-
racks and Garage Ministry of Defence. Martta Martikainen Ypyä,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100
Years, 54–55.

36
och byggnadsförening (HSB, Savings and Construction Association of
Tenants) and designed several housing projects, but she also had the
opportunity to practise in various fields and to build, among others,
factories and hospitals.
In the twenties and thirties, the German public sector hired women
architects in strategic fields for the modernisation of the country,
ranging from postal services to railroads and motorways.
In the late 1920s, the design of postal buildings in Upper Bavaria was
dominated by the first woman state architect, Hanna Loev (Munich
1901–1995, grad. 1927 from the Technical University of Munich)56,
who had been hired by the Directorate of Postal Services. She built
several post offices, combining modernism with regionalism.
At the postal service, Loev also designed a rest home in Bucha (1927–
29) for public servants, as well as an experimental housing estate, for
which she developed the famous Münchner Küche. For this kitchen,
she worked together with Erna Meyer, a specialist in domestic science,
and architect Walther Schmidt (1899–1993), succeeding in merging
elements of the rationalist kitchen with the traditional family one.
In 1940, Loev was relocated to the Directorate of Reich Railroad
Construction in Munich. During the war, she had the extraordinary
opportunities to design the Central Office of the German Railways,
the Directorate of Railway Construction and a locomotive shed.
During the Second World War, since men were called to arms, women
took their place, even in those working sectors from which they had
previously been excluded.
A former student at the Bauhaus in Dessau and the first woman to
obtain a woodworking certificate in Thuringia, Wera Waldeck Meyer
(Dresden, 1906 – Bonn, 1964) was hired by the design office of the
Reich Motorways in Berlin (1937), before becoming a designer at the
Reich Railway Building Authority. Her experiences in the public sector

56
Regarding women of the avant-garde of German architecture, see Ute Maasberg and Regi-
na Prinz, Die Neuenkommen! Weibliche Avantgarde in der Architektur der zwanziger Jahre,
(Hambourg: Junius, 2004).

37
 enabled her to cover the position of director of the planning office of
the Karwin-Thzynietz mining and steel company (1942), where she
was in charge of the construction of coking plants and pumping
stations, a power station and apartments for the workers. Meanwhile,
she joined the Union of German Architects and the Union of German
Women.
After the war, Waldeck Meyer turned to more ‘feminine’ activities such
as teaching and interior design. She was a member of the Deutscher
Werkbund and organised the first post-war exhibition in Cologne in
1949, where she presented her furniture and a model kindergarten,
transferring the know-how acquired in her youth as a kindergarten
teacher. In the 1950s, she participated in several exhibitions, including
the Brussels World Fair of 1958, where she was entrusted with the
exhibition set design of the section Der persönliche Bedarf (the
personal needs) of the German pavilion.
Although the public housing sector was more accessible to women,
it is worth mentioning here some experiences of Swedish, Polish and
German architects who have distinguished themselves.
Swedish architect Ingeborg Cruickshank Hammarskjöld Reiz (Göteborg,
1909 – Staffanstorp, 1994, grad. 1931 from the Chalmers Polytechnic
School in Gothenburg) was hired in 1937 as a secretary at the
Directorate of Urban Planning of Lund before subsequently
becoming the director (1939–45). She was responsible for improving
the living conditions of the poor; her activities ranged from needs
inventory to site management, families selection, loan allocation,
neighbourhood planning and housing design.
Cruickshank transferred the experience gained in the public sector
into her independent practice, opening her own agency in Lund in
1945, which she managed until the end of her life. She was also the
chief architect of Staffanstorp (from 1952).
Her tremendous work accounts for more than 3000 houses and
comprises different design scales and building typologies: city plans,
buildings, villas, terraced houses, small houses, model homes, and

38
recreational and retirement homes. By placing the user at the centre,
Cruickshank’s body of works features the careful design of landscapes
and not self-congratulatory neither monumental, but very refined and
functionalist architecture.57
Polish architect Jadwiga Hawrylak Grabowska (Tarnawce, 1920–
2018)58 studied at the Wrocław Polytechnic School from 1945 to 1950.
She spent her entire career at the state office of Miastoprojekt Breslau
(than Wrocław) until her retirement in 1981. Initially, she worked on
the restoration of historic houses in Bolesławiec and Wrocław Square
(1951–54), and she distinguished herself through her building site
management and by avoiding the repetitive standardised plans that
then determined Polish housing, overcoming the many prejudices she
faced from a professional and administrative point of view.
The Gajowice housing estate (Wrocław, 1960–68) is a typical example
of Hawrylak’s town planning. She designed several residential types,
such as a building on Kołłątaja Street in Wrocław, consisting of
two-storey, duplex-type apartments. Similarly, in Grunwaldzki Square
in Wrocław, she employed an industrial construction system in all
of the apartment blocks with shops (1967–75) and, although she
adopted prefabricated elements, she succeeded in creating an
attractive architectural design. This project, which stands out from
the standardised architectural production of the time, was awarded
the SARP (Association of Polish Architects) prize in 1974.
The experience of the Lithuanian architect Maria Ostrowska Czyżewska
(Wilno, now Vilnius, Lithuania, 1931–2013, grad. in 1950 from the
Architecture Department of Wrocław Polytechnic) in Poland was
quite similar to that of Jadwiga Hawrylak.
Ostrowska began her career at the Restoration Department of the

57
Regarding Cruickshank’s body of works, see Carin Johanson, Claudia Meirama and Lotta
Nordén, Ingeborg Hammarskjöld-Reiz: en arkitekt och samtiden, (Göteborg: Forskningsstiftelsen
för samhällsplanering, byggnadsplanering och projektering, 2001).
58
Her work was exhibited at the Museum of Architecture, see Michał Duda and Muzeum
architektury, Patchwork: the architecture of Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak, (Wrocław: Muzeum
Architektury, 2012).

39
 Historical Monuments of Wrocław (1953–58). She had a position
in a state office (1959–60), where she worked on the plan of the
satellite city of Tychy (Upper Silesia). For this satellite city, but
also for the city of Bielsko-Biała, she fulfilled the request for mass
production of housing estates by adopting the efficient prefabrication
system 540 Series, which she had developed between 1961 and
1962 with her husband, the architect Andrzej Czyżewski. The state
and professional institutions have awarded her several times for the
quality of her work.
The most mentioned female architect in the guides and history books
of German architecture, but less present in mainstream international
histories of architecture, is Ludmilla Herzenstein (Saint Petersburg,
1906 – Berlin, 1994, grad. 1933 in Berlin)59. She became renowned
for her project for the Stalinallee, now the Karl-Marx Allee, she built
in 1949 after taking over the management of Heimstätte Berlin in
Berlin-East. Together with Hans Scharoun (1893–1972), she designed
the Wohnzelle Friedrichshain housing estate, which consisted of two
corridor buildings on the Stalinallee.
Herzenstein became familiar with social housing architecture and
urban planning of the Modern Movement when, as a young architect,
she trained as an assistant (1929–30) of Alexander Klein (1879–
1961), the former municipal architect of Saint Petersburg famous for
his studies of apartment plans and the rationalisation of construction.
In her youth, Herzenstein directed the building site of the famous
social housing estate Onkel Toms Hütte (Berlin, 1926–29), designed
by Bruno Taut (1880–1938).
One month before the end of the Second World War, she was in
charge of statistical research for the Urban Planning Department
of Berlin and collaborated in the reconstruction plan of Berlin with
Hans Scharoun, director of the Department of Construction and
Housing of the new municipal administration. She undertook
59
See Kerstin Dörhöfer, Pionierinnen in der Architektur. Eine Baugeschichte der Moderne,
(Tübingen: Wasmuth, 2004).

40
population development research to provide a basis for urban plan-
ning, and she also defined types of buildings and housing. Herzenstein
remained in the Central Planning Department of East Berlin until
1958 and served as director of the Housing Department, having
long held high responsibilities in the planning bodies of East Berlin,
for which she won the Schinkel Medal of the Eastern Architects
Association (BDA) in 1962.
This latter example raises a question. What was the legacy of women
architects and engineers in the construction of East Germany and the
Eastern Bloc countries in which the equal working status between
women and men was a prerogative?
To offer a critical overview regarding this topic, the essay by Nina
Bartošová (MoMoWo Slovakia) “Women’s Creativity in Post-War Re-
construction of Socialist Europe” enriches the case studies of this book.

Concerning free-lance professionals, the Professional Partnership/s

(3.2) subsection comprises a drop-down menu for mapping partner-
ships with the father, partner/husband, and/or other relatives, male/
female colleague/s.
The research has proven that women, more than men, have run their
agencies in partnership. Women belonging to the generations that
preceded the Second World War habitually worked with male relatives
and were often in their shadow (entry Description of the roles).
Although the paradigm of the Modern Movement architecture as a
synthesis of creative design fields resulted in teamwork, in which the
gender of each participant was supposed to be not relevant, the fact
was that within these teams, men were represented as protagonists
while women mostly disappeared into the margins. The mainstream
historiography of architecture and design often reverberates this
inequitable narrative.
Thus, the recognition of co-authorship is one of the priorities of the
MoMoWo project, which has also given voice to studies such as those
on the collaboration between Lilly Reich (Berlin, 1885–1947) and

41
 Mies van der Rohe,60 Aino Marsio Aalto (Helsinki, 1894–1949)61 and
Alvar Aalto, Charlotte Perriand (Paris, 1903–1999) and Le Corbusier
and many others masters of the Modern Movement.
During the entire span of time from 1918 to the present, I noticed that
the husband-wife design agencies are in the majority all over Europe.
These cases of professional and life coupling are still numerous today,
since it makes it easy for women to run both work and family life.
At the national level, from the analysis of the online official National
Census of Italian Architecture of the Second Half of the Twentieth Cen-
tury, excluding the best-known Italian or foreign women architects,62
around half appear to be engaged in employment relationships or
even occasional collaborations, while the other half owns individual
or associated architectural agencies. Concerning the latter case,
associated agencies of family members are the majority. In this
census, there are only 22 works signed exclusively by women out of
3057 architectural-works registered.

Engagement within Professional Networks

The data fields Professional Affiliation/s (3.3) and Membership/s in one
or more Networks and/or Associations (3.4) are both intended
to generate maps showing over time the distribution of women affiliated or
active-members within them and possibly to assess the Barriers that
they have encountered or the Facilitations (advantages) that they obtained.
Taking into account that the reception of these women’s activities
60
Regarding the cooperation between Lilly Reich and Mies van der Rohe at the 1929 Barcelona
international exhibition, see Laura Martínez de Guereñu, “Anni Albers and Lilly Reich in Barcelona
1929: Weavings and Exhibition Spaces,” in MoMoWo. between 1918 and 1945, Series Women’s
Creativity 1, 150–65. https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.14.
61
Regarding Aino Marsio Aalto, see Myriam López-Rodero, “Women Architects in the Shadow:
Aino Marsio-Aalto,” in Ibid., 304-19. https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.18.
62
Luisa Aiani Parisi, Gae Aulenti, Antonia Astori, Anna Castelli Ferrieri, Carla Federspiel, Afra
Bianchin, Cini Boeri, Margherita Bravi, Luisa Castiglioni, Maria Antonietta Cester Toso, Odile
Decq, Terry Dwan, Giuliana Genta, Johanna Grawunder, Grafton Architects, Liliana Grassi, Zaha
Hadid, Franca Helg, Enrica Invernizzi, Doriana Mandrelli Fuksas, Piera Ricci Menichetti, Franca
Stagi, Gigetta Tamaro, Laura Thermes, Egle Maria Trincanato, Patricia Viel, Nanda Vigo.

42
by historians and critics is still extremely poor, these data fields may
provide preliminary information to encourage new investigations on
the issue of gender power relationships within professional networks
and organisations, as well as the contributions to women associations.
Moreover, considering, for example, the membership of women pioneers
in Modernist groups, the data collected have the potential to inspire new
studies to reconsider the history of the Modern Movement from a gender
perspective.
There was still not a single woman architect in Europe when, in 1885
in the United States, Jennie Louise Blanchard Bethune (Waterloo,
Wisconsin, 1856 – New York, 1913) gained professional affiliation with
the Western Architects Association (WAA, since 1884) and not even when
in 1889, she became the first woman member of the American Institute
of Architects (AIA, since 1857).63 The first woman architect in Europe,
Signe Hornborg (Turku, 1862 – Helsinki, 1916) graduated in Finland in
1892–93 so in Europe, the feminisation of the profession began shortly
after the United States; but despite this, the North American historiography
on women in architecture is by far the most pioneering.
Among the first generation of architects in the Old Continent, British
Edith Gillian Cooke Harrison (London, 1898 – Gosfield, 1974) has
boasted three times the first place in architecture. She was the first
woman admitted to the Architectural Association of London (1917),
the first woman to obtain the silver medal of the Society of Architects
in 1922 and the first woman fellow of the Royal Institute of British
Architects (RIBA), in 1931.
Other women architects among the first to join professional associ-
ations of their countries found it essential to engage themselves in
63
See Sarah Allaback, The First American Women Architects, (Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 2008); Adriana Barbasch, “Louise Blanchard Bethune: The AIA Accepts Its First Woman
Member,” in Architecture: A Place for Women, edited by Ellen Perry Berkeley, (Washingon, D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989), 15–25. In 1899, the US landscape architect Beatrix
Cadwalader Jones (married to Farrand, New York, 1872 – Mount Desert Island, 1959) founded,
with her male colleagues, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), within which
she contributed for five decades to defining professional prescriptions and procedures. See
Diana Balmori, Diane Kostial McGuire and Eleanor M. McPeck, Farrand’s American Landscapes.
Her Gardens and Campuses, (Sagaponack, NY: Sagapress, 1985).

43
 bettering the status of women for the future generations. The first
woman architect within the Portuguese National Union of Architects,
Maria José Marques da Silva (Porto, 1914 or 1915–1994)64 has held
a vital role in the Women’s Democratic Movement for many decades.
She was the daughter of the famous architect José Marques da Silva
(1869–1947), the first female architect graduated from the School of
Fine Arts in Porto and the second in the country after Maria José
Estanco (Loulé, 1905 – Lisbon, 1999) who graduated in 1943.65 Maria
José Marques da Silva also distinguished herself by her active
contribution to the Northern Regional Directorate of the Portuguese
Architects Association between 1983 and 1986.
Just as in the USA, 66 women pioneers in Europe too were proud
activists of women associations which fought against gender
discriminations in several fields. Some of them founded new associations
or became influential figures in women national councils, mainly in
their housing committees such as Danish architect Ingrid Møller
Dyggve (Copenhagen, 1890 – Hellerup, 1969, grad. 1917)67 or Belgian
architect Odette Filippone (Bruxelles, 1927–2002).68
64
Regarding women in the Portuguese Modern Movement, see Maria Helena Souto,
“Portuguese Modern Movement,” in MoMoWo. Women Architecture & Design Itineraries,
46. Regarding architect Maria José Marques da Silva, see Maria Helena Souto “Palácio do
Comércio, Maria José Marques da Silva,” Ibid., 76–77.
65
Regarding women pioneering in architecture in Portugal, see Patrícia Santos Pedrosa, “Being
a female architect in Portugal: a short introduction to a long ride,” in Ist International Meeting
EAHN European Architectural History Network – CD of Papers, Jorge Correja, (Guimarães: CHAM,
EAUM, EAHN, 2010), 234–40.
66
Within the second wave of feminism, after having given outstanding contributions to post-
war American architecture, architect Natalie Paterson De Blois (1921–2013, grad. 1944) was
one of the founders of the Chicago Women in Architecture Association in 1973. She has also
been a member of the AIA Women in Architecture Task Force and has contributed to a legendary
report on the prejudices against women architects. See Judith Paine, “Natalie De Blois,” in
Women in American Architecture: A Historic and Contemporary Perspective, edited by Susan Baybrooke
and Susan Davis, (New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1984, 1st ed. 1977 edited by Susana
Torre), 112–14; Lory Brown, “De Blois, Natalie”, in Le Dictionnaire universel, vol. 1, 1175.
67
Some biographical data of Danish women architects and designers can be found in Jytte
Larsen (ed.), Dansk kvindebiografisk leksikon: Alle tiders kvinder [Danish Female Biographical
Lexicon], 4 voll., (Copenhagen: Rosinante, 2000).
68
Some biographical data regarding Belgian women architects can be found in Anne van Loo
(ed.), Dictionnaire de l’architecture en Belgique de 1830 à 2000, (Andwerp: Fonds Mercator, 2003).

44
Ingrid Møller Dyggve was a representative within the National Council of
Danish Women at the Housing Committee of the International Council
of Women (ICW) from 1936 to 1947. Whereas, Odette Filippone paved
the way not only through her works with her husband (Jean-Pierre
Blondel, 1924–2012) but also through her commitment from 1958 to
1961 as vice-chairwoman of the Housing Commission of the National
Council of Belgian Women.
Activism in liberal feminist movements has sometimes been beneficial
for professional careers, as in the case with the architect and interior
designer Milada Pavlíková Petříková (Tábor, 1895 – Prague, 1985, grad.
1921). In the period between the two World Wars, she actively fought
to clarify that the architect profession was fully suited to women and
received commissions for numerous social housing projects from feminist
organisations.69 In Prague, she built several projects for women, such
as single women housing (1923–34), the house refuge Domovina
Charlotte Garrigue-Masaryk for the protection of women’s interests
(1923–28, in collaboration with her husband, Theodor Petřík), and the
Czech Women’s Club, which is her most admired work (1931–33).
Other pioneers acted in supporting their women colleagues founding the
first national associations, such as the Associazione Italiana Donne
Architetti e Ingegneri (AIDIA, Turin, 1957, Italian Association of Women
Architects and Engineers). Among the founders of AIDIA (Turin, 1957)
are the first woman civil engineer in Italy, Emma Strada (Turin, 1884–
1970), who graduated from the Polytechnic of Turin in 1908, and Ada
Bursi (Verona, 1906 – Castiglione Torinese, 1996)70, the architect who
was the second woman to graduate in architecture from the same

69
To discover women architects in Prague, a reference book is the exhibition catalogue of the
Galerie Nova sín by Jan Machonin (ed.), Povolání: architekt[ka] = Profession: [woman] architect,
(Prague: Kruh, 2003).
70
See Caterina Franchini, “Emma Strada and Ada Bursi, the First Female Civil Engineer
and Architect in the Italian Capital Industry, Turin,” in Ist International Meeting EAHN European
Architectural History Network – CD of Papers, Jorge Correja, (Guimarães: CHAM, EAUM,
EAHN, 2010). Ada Bursi is included in the MoMoWo Guidebook, see Id., “Ada Bursi (1906–1996).
From Painting and Graphics to Interior Design and Architecture. Pioneer,” in MoMoWo. Women
Architecture & Design Itineraries, 139–40.

45
 Polytechnic in 1939 and the first woman member of the Order of
Architects of Turin. At the end of 1945, Ada Bursi was also the only
woman among the 26 founders of the Gruppo Architetti Moderni
Torinesi ‘Giuseppe Pagano’ (Modern Architects Group).71
To face post-war reconstruction, this Group believed in teamwork to
promote and achieve the Modernist social ideals in architecture as
other groups had done before the war; such as the Union des Artistes
Modernes (UAM, 1929–59) or the Modern Architecture Research
Group (MARS 1933–57) which was the English section of the
Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne - International
Congresses of Modern Architecture (CIAM 1928–59). All these free
organisations counted very few women members among them.
As staunch activists of Modernism in both theory and professional
practice inspired by Le Corbusier, Elisabeth Benjamin (London, 1908–
1999)72 and the already mentioned Dame Jane Beverley Drew were
women architects of MARS.
Jane Drew and her husband, the famous modern architect Maxwell
Fry (1899–1987), succeeded in developing a sustainable and less
dogmatic vision of Modernism. They devoted a series of books to the
impact of hot climates on architecture and adapted the stiff paradigms
of Modernism to the local environment and culturaltraditions in many
architectural projects, including several buildings in Sri Lanka, the
Middle East (1946–87) and the University of Ibadan (Nigeria 1953-
59).73 In Chandigarh, Jane Drew built her most famous independent
works designing social housing and a medical centre, whose modern
architecture is adapted masterfully to the needs and culture of its
users (1951).
71
See Giovanni Astengo, “Fondazione del Gruppo Architetti Moderni Torinesi ‘Giuseppe Pagano’,”
Agorà 1 (1945): 16–17.
72
See Francis Reginald Stevens Yorke, The Modern House in England, (London: The Architectural
Press, 1937); Lynne Walker, “Interview with Elisabeth Benjamin,” Twentieth Century Architecture,
2 (1996): 74–84.
73
See Joyce Beverley Drew and Edwin Maxwell Fry, Village Housing in the Tropics: with a special
reference to West Africa, (London: Lund Humphries, 1947); Id., Tropical Architecture and the
Humid Zone, (London: B. T. Batsford, 1956).

46
Among the few women who joined the French UAM in 1930 and 1931
were French interior and furniture designer Charlotte Marchal Alix (Nancy,
1897 – Paris, 1987) and Russian-Polish architect Adrienne Gorska
(Moscow, 1899 – Beaulieu-Sur-Mer, 1969, grad. 1922)74, sister of the
painter Tamara de Lempicka (1898–1980).75 Both were close to the ar-
chitect and designer Robert Mallet-Stevens (1886–1945), founder and
president of the UAM. Charlotte Marchal and her artist husband (Yves
Alix, 1890–1969) had already received a commission from Mallet-Stevens
for the interior design of the office building of the journal La Semaine
that he built. In addition, in the early 1930s, for both the interior design
of the Palace of the Maharadjah of Indore (1930) and ocean liner SS
Normandie, the Alixes cooperated with textile designer Hélène Lantier
Henry (Champagney, 1891–1965), who was the only woman to cover a
position in the Steering Committee of UAM.
Like Charlotte Marchal, Adrienne Gorska –known as a specialist in
cinema construction–76 also contributed within the UAM to the
emancipation of design from decorative notions and Art Deco luxury
through the focus on function, structure and the use of new materials
and techniques to adapt interiors and furniture design to the Modern
conception of lifestyle and industrial design.
The transition from a concept of decorative arts to the ‘Formes Utiles’ was
marked by two other prominent figures of the Modern Movement,
both among the founding members of the UAM, Irish Kathleen
Eileen Moray Smith Gray (Enniscorthy, 1878 – Paris, 1976)77, known as
Eileen Gray, and the French Charlotte Perriand (Paris, 1903–1999).78

74
She is featured in the ChronoMoMoWo of the MoMoWo Exhibition.
75
See Chantal Bizot, Yvonne Brunhammer and Suzanne Tise (eds.), Les Années UAM, 1929-1958,
(Paris: Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 1988).
76
See Pierre de Montaut and Adrienne Gorska, Vingt salles de cinéma, (Strasbourg: Société
française d’éditions d’art, 1937).
77
She is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Ana María Fernández García, “E-1027 Maison
en bord de mer, Kathleen Eileen Moray Gray” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 44–45.
78
She is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition and in the Guidebook, see Alain Bonnet, “Bloc
Cuisine Les Arcs, Charlotte Perriand” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 136–37; Id., “Charlotte
Perriand (1903–1999) Pioneer,” in MoMoWo. Women Architecture & Design Itineraries, 105–06.

47
 Perriand and the Polish architect and theorist of architecture Helena
Niemirowska Syrkus (Warsaw, 1900–1982) were the two women who
have succeeded in gaining some influence in the male-dominated
organisation of the CIAM.79
Although CIAM’s invitation to become the Polish delegate of the CIRPAC
Executive Committee was addressed only to Helena’s husband and
associate of the agency, the architect Szymon Syrkus (1893–1964),
Helena succeeded in becoming an active member within this network
(1928–57). She was vice-president from 1945 to 1954 and co-curator
of the legendary Charte d’Athènes (IVth CIAM, 1933), the seminal text
of Modern architecture and urban planning. Due to her engagement in
the CIAM, she was also a member of the executive committee of the
International Union of Architects (UIA) from 1948 to 1957.80
The young Charlotte Perriand was an official member of the French
CIAM group from 1933. Initially, she contributed within the limited
space left by her boss, Le Corbusier; then she organised the Vth CIAM
(Paris, 1937) devoted to the theme ‘Logis and Loisir’ and designed its
exhibition in Le Corbusier’s Pavilion des Temps Nouveaux (July 1937).
In her exhibition set design, she openly expressed her belonging to
the left-wing of the CIAM through political slogans, which empha-
sised her role in raising the idealistic political awareness of
the CIAM network, thus proving her emancipation from Le Corbusier’s
opportunistic positions. Whereas Helena Niemirowska Syrkus’ passion

79
Women were a minority from the Ist CIAM (La Sarraz, 1929). Apart from the artist, patron and
founder of CIAM, Hélène Revilliod de Muralt de Mandrot (Geneve, 1867 – Pradet, 1948), only an
architect from Hamburg, Molly Weber, participated in the first congress. These women remain in
the shadow of CIAM history.
80
Others women then became active members of the UIA, among them Greek architect Souzana
Maria Kolokytha Antonakakis (Athens, 1935, grad. 1959) was in its the Steering Committee from
1982 to 2002. She founded it with her husband, the architect Dimitris Antonakakis (1933), and
Elèni Gousi Desylla (1938) the Atelier 66. She has also been in the direction of the Greek Chamber
of Architects from 1982 to 1984. Regarding the works of Atelier 66, see Liane Lefaivre and
Alexander Tzonis, Atelier 66: the architecture of Dimitris and Suzana Antonakakis, edited by
Kenneth Frampton, (New York: Rizzoli, 1985); Helene Fessas-Emmanouil, New Public Buildings.
D.+S. Antonakakis, A. Tombazis, N. Valsamakis, (Athens: Greek Ministry of Culture, 1991).
Exhibition catalogue.

48
for Modern architecture melded with her talent for networking and her
capability in researching and writing CIAM ideological and theoretical
underpinnings, Charlotte Perriand epitomised the ‘New Woman’, she
was a designer who established her reputation in the CIAM by her
innovative design practice as well as by her independent lifestyle.
How did women succeed in gaining influence in male-dominated
Modern Groups? Although the 1st MoMoWo History Workshop (Leiden,
2015) opened the way to give some answers to this question, much
remains to be discovered to create new historical narratives of the
Modern Movement from a gender perspective.81
In more recent times, as far as profession is concerned, specialised
women played leading roles too. In 1960, Italian designer, architect
and set designer Gaetana, called Gae, Aulenti (Palazzolo dello Stella,
1927 – Milan, 2012, grad. 1954)82 became a leading member of the
Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI, Association for Industrial
design), which she chaired from 1966 to 1969, meanwhile (1967) she
was appointed honorary member of the American Society of Interior
Designers (ASID).

Works Visibility and Traceability

The Works (4.0) section has been designed to generate GIS maps
of several types of works belonging to architecture, urban planning,
landscape architecture, interior design, industrial and furniture design,
including restoration and renovation. This one-to-many relationship
(one level) data section encompasses the data fields Commissioner(s)/
Client(s) of the work and Actual or potential tourist attractiveness (yes/
no choice).

81
Concerning the CIAM, see Rixt Hoekstra, “Women and Power in History of Modern: The Case
of the CIAM Women,” in MoMoWo. between 1918 and 1945, Series Women’s Creativity 1, 132–45.
https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.07.
82
Gae Aulenti is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Emilia Garda, “Orsay Museum, Gae
Aulenti,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 158–59.

49
 The issue of the client role can be tricky considering, for example,
that sometimes women clients played a co-authorial role in the design
process ranging from conception to construction. Among the most
notorious clients/co-authors of icons of the Modern Movement in the
world are: Dutch socialite Truus Schröder-Schräder (1889–1985),
who commissioned the Schröder House (Gerrit Thomas Rietveld,
Utrecht, 1924);83 American art collector Sarah Stein (1870–1953),
who, together with her husband and her friend Gabrielle Colaco-Osorio de
Monzie (1882–1961), commissioned Villa Stein (Le Corbusier, Garch-
es, 1927); Chicago nephrologist Dr Edith Farnsworth, who commis-
sioned the Farnsworth House (L. Mies van der Rohe, Plano, 1945–
51); and Canadian architect and philanthropist Phyllis Barbara
Bronfman Lambert (b. 1927), Seagram’s heiress and director of
planning for the Seagram Building (L. Mies van der Rohe, New York,
completed in 1958).
The assessment of Tourist attractiveness –tested in 2015 to create
the MoMoWo itineraries– has the potential to become relevant for
fostering the visibility of the cultural legacy and heritage created by
women in Europe and beyond. By accessing these data, cultural stake-
holders should be able to get maps of women works to be included
in existing or new projects of cultural tourism. As a first result, in
2018 MoMoWo Polito created the thematic itinerary named Cherchez
la femme as part of a project of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and
Activities and Tourism (MiBACT) for valuing and promoting the Ital-
ian architectural heritage of the second half of the twentieth centu-
ry.84 This route crosses Italy from North to South, highlighting cultural

83
This architectural icon of the De Stijl movement is featured in the MoMoWo Guidebook, see
Marit Eisses, “Rietveld Schroder House,” in MoMoWo. Women Architecture & Design Itineraries,
168.
84
The project was entrusted to the Sapienza University of Rome in collaboration with the Italian
non-profit association of the International Working Party for the Documentation and Conservation
of buildings, sites and districts of the Modern Movement (Do.Co.Mo.Mo._Italia). The authors of
Cherchez la femme are Caterina Franchini and Emilia Garda (MoMoWo Polito), with the expertise
for the Lombardy region of Maria Teresa Feraboli (Polytechnic of Milan).

50
assets that saw women at work, alone, in pairs or teams.
Taken together, the fifteen works selected for the itinerary Cherchez la
femme reveal the temporal and morphological variation of the female
contribution to the built heritage, restoring the ‘rose quota’.
For disproving the cliché that sees women confined to the design of
domestic spaces, the works presented approach a variety of themes
and design scales. They range from public areas and urban infrastructure
to gardens; from places for worship and service sectors to museums;
crossing dwelling types, from the villa on the sea to the social housing
neighbourhoods.85

The Unrealized Works (4.1) subsection replicates the same set of data
of the principal section and enables the reconstruction of geographies
of cultural assets that, while not realised, are part of the intangible
process of design culture. This subsection is related to the matter
of increasing the accessibility to historical sources, with the aim of
fostering new research and, just as 4.0, is directly linked to the archival
section of the Database.
In the Note text box, the compiler may briefly describe the reasons
that prevented the construction of the work. Research has shown that
sometimes these are due to discrimination against women.

85
The fifteen works in chronological order are the following: Museum of the Treasure of the
Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa, by Franca Helg and Franco Albini, 1952–56; INAIL building
office in Venice, by Maria Egle Trincanato and Giuseppe Samonà,1952–60; INA-CASA neigh-
bourhood in Taranto, by Costanza Caniglia Rispoli, 1959–63; Benetton Group Business Centre at
Ponzano Veneto (TV), by Afra Bianchin Scarpa and Tobia Scarpa, 1964–90; Church of Riola at
Grizzana Morandi (BO), by Elsa Kaisa (Elissa) Mäkiniemi Aalto and Alvar Aalto, 1966–78; ‘Casa
Bunker’ (Bunker-house), on the island of La Maddalena (SS), by Cini Boeri, 1967; Residence du
Parc in Turin, by Laura Petrazzini Levi and Corrado Levi, 1969–71; House-Museum Brindisi at
Comacchio (FE), by Nanda Vigo, 1971–73; ‘Il giardino dei tarocchi’ (The Tarot Garden) in
Capalbio (GR), by Niki De Saint Phalle, 1980–97; ‘Sistema delle piazze’ (Systhem of piazzas) of
Gibellina-Nuova (TR), by Laura Thermes and Franco Purini, 1982–90; Museum of contemporary
furniture at Russi (RA), by Jhoanna Grawunder and Ettore Sottsass, 1988; Access ramp to
Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence, by Ballestrero Bianca and Gae Aulenti,
1990; MAXXI- National Museum of XXI Century Arts in Rome, by Zaha Hadid, 1998–2010; Extension
of MACRO - Municipal Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome, by Odile Decq and
Benoit Cornette (Architectes Urbanistes) with B. Morass, 2000–10; Extension of Bocconi
University in Milan, by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley Mc Namara (Grafton Architects), 2001–08.

51
 A streaking example is that of Attilia Vaglieri Travaglio (Rome, 1891–
1969) –Italian architect since 1923– and winner in the 1930s of the
international architectural competition for the Greco-Roman Museum
of Alexandria, whose award has remained ignored by Egypt and its
Islamic laws which were unfavourable to women’s work.86
Taking into account that small technical innovations can also generate
a new cultural heritage, we also included in the main section Works
the Patents (4.2) subsection. Although for the majority of architects or
designers it is rare that they patent a new invention, we can find some
cases of new building materials or components as well as industrial
design items patented by women.

Data collection about works has been launched by the MoMoWo’s

team simultaneously through several types of sources such as dic-
tionaries, magazines, architectural guidebooks, exhibition catalogues,
monographs, prizes and awards records. I also started a systematic
survey on an online national census of architectural assets that has
soon revealed a noticeable gap between men and women authors of
the registered works.
In February 2018, the online National Census of Italian architecture of
the second half of the twentieth century, which is currently managed
by the Directorate General for Contemporary Art and Architecture and
Urban Peripheries (DGAAP) of the MiBACT, counted less than 200
women’s works out of a total of 3057 architectural-works throughout
Italy that were identified since 2000. In this census, the percentage
of the works of women to be protected or brought to the attention of
authorities and designers does not even reach 10%.
The number of works mapped varies considerably from region to re-
gion and reflects the state of progress of local censuses. In only four

86
Among the most popular articles published in Italian magazines about women pioneers in
Modern architecture are: Anna Maria Speckel, “Architettura moderna e donne architette,”
Almanacco della donna italiana 13 (1935): 120–34; Gisella Bassanini, “Le ‘madri dell’architettura
moderna’: alcuni ritratti nel panorama italiano e straniero,” Parametro 257 (2005): 20–23.

52
out of 17 Italian regions covered by the census, the percentage of
works designed by women architects, individually or in a team, exceeds
10%. Lombardy contains the most, with 59 works of women counted
in the census and available online, yet the percentage is still only 8%.87
The data available on the national platform online is variable because
it is continuously updated and only partially reflects the progress
of the censuses in each region. Sometimes the websites of the regional
Soprintendenze (preservation bodies) of cultural heritage include
the most comprehensive and current local census data that have
not yet been released in the national platform. This is the case for
the Lombardy Region, which has expanded its campaign from 2013
to 2015 and counts approximately 70 works by women designers
(http://www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/architetture900/), as reported
by Maria Teresa Feraboli, who participated in this last regional census.88
As a general critical remark, I can state that the presence of women’s
works begins to become numerically significant when also considering
so-called ‘minor’ architecture that is somehow related to the local
context and meaningful for its history.
Besides national architectural censuses, architectural and design
magazines together with Exhibitions are one of the most abundant
sources to collect works by women. Despite that, a systematic
analysis I carried out the docomomo virtual exhibition© - MoMove
(http://exhibition.docomomo.com./) showed that there are gaps to
be filled in. In 2016, this outstanding exhibition created by Do.Co.
Mo.Mo._International to provide a selection of buildings, sites and
tours of the Modern Movement around the world included only 39

87
The highest rate is in Liguria (16%, ten works), followed by Marche (13%, two works), Molise
(12%, 12 works) and Abruzzo (11%, 15 works). All data refers to February 2018 and are the result
of the analysis carried out by the author on the website “Architetture del Secondo 900,” Direzione
Generale Arte e Architettura contemporanee e Periferie urbane - DGAAP, http://architetturecon-
temporanee.beniculturali.it/architetture/index.php (accessed January - February 2018).
88
See the abstract by Maria Teresa Feraboli, “Female Design and Architectural Archives in Italy:
A Preliminary Investigation among Online Search Tools,” in MoMoWo Symposium 2018.
International Conference, 180. Full paper published in Women’s Creativity since the Modern
Movement, 957–65.

53
 works by European women out of a total of 929 exhibited works.89

The data entries belonging to the Collaboration with magazines/

journals (4.3) subsection are functional to the mapping of periodicals
in which women have collaborated as well as the role or Position in
the editorial office they have held.
Increasingly, women designers have played a key role in spreading the
culture of their professional field, sometimes founding magazines or
becoming influential members of editorial teams of various periodicals,
ranging from women’s to popular or specialist magazines. Moreover,
since the authors of the articles are often also the authors of the
published works, it may be possible through a dynamic link with the
data fields Works (4.0), to make visible this type of source for each
project, and vice-versa.
As early as between the wars, women architects and designers at the
outset of their career contributed to local or national women’s magazines
such as British Modern Women, Women, Home Chat or the Italian
Fili-Moda, and many more. As one of the results of MoMoWo Slovenia
extensive research about female pioneers, summarised by Helena
Seražin in the Case Studies of this book, it is worth mentioning the
first generation of women who graduated architects-engineers from
the Technical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana.

89
Less than half of these women are from countries that are at present in the EU. From Austria
Helene Koller-Buchwieser (1912–2008) and Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky (1897–2000); from
Denmark Raili Paatelainen (b. 1926) and Karen Clemmensen (1917–2001); from Finland Raili
Paatelainen (b. 1926); from Germany Herta-Maria Witzemann (1918–1999), Hertha Hammerbacher
(1900–1985) and Ursulina Schüler-Witte (b. 1933); from Greece Souzana Antonakaki (b. 1935),
Eleni Goussi-Dessylla (b. 1938), Seva Karakosta (b. 1938) and Elli Vassilikioti (b. 1923); from Italy
Franca Helg; from the Netherlands Mien Ruys; from Scotland Wendy Corrigan.
The results of the research on the presence of women’s works in the publications of
Do.Co.Mo.Mo_International and in the Virtual Exhibition MoMove were presented by Caterina
Franchini, “MoMoWo: Women and Modern Movement Heritage,” (paper presented at the round
table with Emilia Garda and Helena Souto at the 14th Docomomo International Conference
Adaptive Reuse: The Modern Movement toward the Future, Lisbon, Calouste Gulbenkian
Foundation, September 7, 2016).

54
These are namely a former student of Ivan Vurnik (1884–1971)90 and
first women architect-engineer in the country Dušana Šantel Kanoni
(Pazin, 1908 – Ljubljana, 1988, grad. 1932), as well as the female
students of Jože Plečnik (1872–1957), such as Gizela Šuklje (Jelsa
na Hvaru, 1909 – Ljubljana, 1994, grad. 1932)91, who has also worked
in Plečnik’s studio, and Auguste Perret’s atelier, Marjanca Kanc Čuček
(1909−?, grad. 1933) and Katarina Grasselli (1910−1990, grad. 1934).
Through the magazines, issued by various women’s associations,
such as Ženski svet (Women’s World, 1923–41), Žena in dom (Women
and Home, 1930−41) and Gospodinja (Housewife, 1932−42), these
Slovenian modern-thinking architects played a relevant role in spreading
their technical knowledge about the interior and furniture design of
the modern home. They promoted among women’s readers a functional,
simple, hygienic and beautiful concept of living.92
Despite these Slovenian women pioneers’ remarkable contribution to
broadening the cultural horizons of readers by presenting furnishings
for working-class housing as well as modern solutions for farmhouses,
the advantages of metal and ‘self-made’ furniture pieces, those women’s
periodicals never questioned the traditional role of women as mothers
and housewives. Conversely, they also reinforced it through their
choice of topics such as gentlemen’s rooms, kitchen and children’s
rooms, or flowers and gardening.

90
Ivan Vurnik, who played a role in founding the Ljubljana School of Architecture (1919), after
his early search for a Slovene ‘National Style’, in the 1930s embraced a more functionalist ap-
proach rivalling the more conservative Plečnik’s approach. Graphic designer and interior decorator,
Helena Kottler Vurnik (Vienna, 1882–1962) designed the decorative facade in the colours of the
Slovene tricolour flag and the interior decoration of the iconic building local Art Nouveau, the
Cooperative Business Bank (Ljubljana, 1921–22), designed by her husband. This building
is included in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Helena Seražin, “Decoration of the Cooperative
Businnes Bank. Helena Kottler Vurinik,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 30–31.
91
The MoMoWo Guidebook includes some of her works. See Helena Seražin, “Gizela Šuklje
(1909–1994) Pioneer,” in MoMoWo. Women Architecture & Design Itineraries, 210–11.
92
The MoMoWo Slovenia investigated this topic, and the results are published in the article by
Alenka Di Battista, “Slovenian Women’s Magazines and the Development of the Modern Home
Concept in the Thirties,” in MoMoWo. between 1918 and 1945, Series Women’s Creativity
1, 176–95. https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.10.

55
 Sometimes, articles published in popular magazines are among the
few sources available to bring the history of women pioneers out of
the shadow, as is the case with Swiss landscape architect Margrit
Hofmann (d. Mänedorf, 2002), whose archives are missing. Between
1941 and 1958, she was the author of articles published in the popular
magazine Das Ideale Heim (The Ideal Home) mainly on the role of
water in the design of private gardens and on some of her works.
From the article “Die Gartengestalterin Margrit Hofmann” (n.7,
1958) we can draw up some data about her achievements,93 and we
know that she took part in the 1958 national exhibition in Zurich
Schweizerische Ausstellung für Frauenarbeit- SAFFA II the theme
‘The Swiss woman, her life, her work’.94 Specialist magazines involved
others who participated in this second exhibition conceived and
realised by women (the first one was in 1928 in Bern).
The architect who built (with Werner Müller) the Exhibition Hall for the
Fine Arts of the SAFFA II Lisbeth Sachs (Neuenhof, 1914 – Zurich, 2002,
grad. 1939) became well known for her journalistic activity, collaborating
on the Werk architecture journal and in the daily newspaper Neue Zürcher
Zeitung as a critic of architecture. Whereas, the landscape architect
who is known for the design of the main exhibition site of 100,000
square meters on the left bank of Lake Zurich, Verena Steiner Dubach
(Münsingen, Switzerland, 1927 – Kolding, Danemark, 2002) in 1959,
became one of the founding members of the magazine Anthos. This is
the magazine of the Swiss Association of Landscape Architects from
whom Verena had been the first female member in 1959 and within she
fought for gender equality in the professional field.95

93
In 1939, Margrit Hofmann opened an office with landscape designer Lisa Bächle, her class-
mate at the Horticultural School of Kösteritz in Thuringia, and then designed a large number of
private gardens, public spaces, and the Uetikon cemetery. See Katia Frey, “Hofmann, Margrit,” in
Le Dictionnaire universel, vol. 2, 2007.
94
The second SAFFA is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Eliana Perotti, “SAFFA 1958,
Annemarie Constam Hubacher,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 102–03. Another architect
who built several pavilions for the SAFFA II fashion exhibitions was Claire Eckmann Ruffer (Wabern,
1914–Bern, 1973, grad. 1937 from the ETH Zurich) who worked with her husband, Oskar Ruffer.
95
Katia Frey, “Dubach, Verena (Verena Steiner, puis Steiner-Dubach, puis Dubach-Andersen),” in
Le Dictionnaire universel, 1321.

56
Among the landscape architects who founded periodicals in the
1950s is the Dutch pioneer Wilhelmina Jacoba, known as Mien Ruys
Moussault (Dedemsvaart, 1904 – Deventer, 1999), who in 1954 created,
with her husband the publisher Theo Moussault, the quarterly Onze
eigen tuin (Our own garden). Before the foundation of this magazine
that sparked the craze for private gardens and their upkeep, she had
already published articles on garden design, especially in the popular
periodical Buiten reaching a wide audience. In 1942, by publishing an
article in De 8 en Opbouw that argued in favour of planted public space
as a factor of social progress, Mien Ruys earned the recognition of the
forward-thinking men architects linked to the magazine, thus receiving
commissions for many other gardens including in 1958 the one in
the textile factory De Ploeg Bergeijk, directed by architect Gerrit
T. Rietveld.96
De 8 en Opbouw was a leading avant-garde architectural journal issued
in Amsterdam from 1932 to 1943, whose editorial secretary, from
1934 to 1939, was held by leftist interior and furniture designer Liv,
known as Ida, Liefrick Falkenberg (Arhnem 1901 – Berlin, 2006) who
also wrote many articles about modern design for the professional
magazine Binnenhuis en Buitenwereld.97
Concerning pioneers in the field of landscape architecture we
have to mention here the first Italian woman landscape architect, Maria
Teresa Parpagliolo Shepard (Rome, 1903–1974), who regularly published
articles not only in national Italian magazines such as Il Giardino Fiori-
to (monthly magazine of the Italian Society ‘Friends of Flowers’) and
Domus. Further, she succeeded in writing for the British Landscape

96
In 1960, Mien Ruys Moussault published a reference book regarding the relationships
between urbanism, architecture and landscape for the quality of the Modern neighbourhoods.
Mien Ruys Moussault and Jan Tijs Pieter Bijhouwer, Leven met groen in landschap, stad en tuin,
(Amsterdam: Moussault, 1960). The gardens by Ruys are published by Carla S.Oldenburger-Ebbers,
Anne Mieke Backer and Eric Blok (eds.), Gids voor de Nederlandse tuin- en landschapsarchitectuur,
(Rotterdam: De Hef, 1995).
97
Regarding Ida Liefrick Falkenberg’s biography, see Klaus Kühnel, Der Mensch ist ein sehr
seltsames Möbelstück: Biographie der Innenarchitektin Liv Falkenberg-Liefrinck, geb. 1901,
(Berlin: Trafo, 2006).

57
 and Garden and Journal of the Institute of Landscape Architects,
international reference in the field.98 After having studied archaeology
in Rome, due to the lack of schools in landscape architecture in
Italy, she became a self-taught landscape architect and trained
in England in the office of the well-known garden designer and
writer Percy Stephen Cane (1881–1976).
Thanks to the reputation she gained through her articles on planting
and garden design, urban design and broader environmental issues,
Parpagliolo joined the planning team for the Esposizione Universale
in Rome (E42), and in 1940 became head of the Ufficio Parchi
e Giardini of this exhibition. When in 1946 she married Ronald
Shephard, she moved to London and started to work on several
projects with Modernist British landscape architect Dame Sylvia
Crowe (Banbury, 1901 – London, 1997).
Crowe, who became president of professional organisations of land-
scape architects, has been a writer of influence and her most widely
published book, Garden Design (1958), has had several reissues. Both
Parpagliolo’s and Crowe’s writings disseminated among the readers
and professionals the concept that garden and landscape belong to
the same design domain, a central issue in the cultural debate of the
twentieth-century theory of modern landscape architecture.
Between September 1930 and June 1938, Parpagliolo published more
than thirty articles in the column “Plants, flowers and gardens” of the
legendary Gio Ponti’s Domus magazine. She wrote about all kinds of
gardens and plants but only in one article did she present two of her
garden projects. The magazine restrained women’s contributions

98
Regarding women pioneers in landscape architecture, including Maria Teresa Parpagliolo
Shepard, publications of reference are: Sonja Dümpelmann, “Maria Teresa Parpagliolo Shepard
(1903–1974), Her Development as a Landscape Architect between tradition and Modernism,”
Garden History, vol. 30, 1 (2002): 49–73; Sonja Dümpelmann, “Breaking Ground: Women
Pioneers in Landscape Architecture: An International Perspective,” in Shifting Ground, Land-
scape Architecture in the Age of the New Normal. Proceedings of CSLA/CELA 2006
Conference: June 14–17, 2006, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, edited by Patrick F. Mooney,
(Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 2006), 45–50, http://thecelaorg.ipage.com/
wp-content/uploads/shifting-grounds-proceedings.pdf.

58
mainly to columns and topics considered more feminine such as
gardening, painting and sculpture (Art column by Lisa Ponti, Ponti’s
daughter), antique objects (Antiquities column by Anna Marchi),
textile or ceramic design and home interior design.
The systematic browse I carried out in 253 Domus issues from
the magazine inception in 1928 to 1950 also reveals the choice of
mainly publishing works of women belonging to these fields of activity
traditionally considered more feminine, while there are very few articles
that present works of architecture or furniture not for house signed by
women.99 Hence, I can argue that until 1950 Domus nourished the gender
prejudice on the perception of these professional fields among its readers.
In the same span of time, besides Italian women authors of articles,
as a consequence of Ponti’s interest for craft and industrial design of
Scandivanian production there were also Swedish women designers
who wrote for the magazine. Among these, the artist and designer
Tyra Lundgren (Stockholm, 1897–1979) was the most internationally
famous for, and the most admired by Ponti for, her ceramic and glass
works. She wrote about the Swedish designer and entrepreneur Estrid
Maria Ericson (Öregrund, 1894 – Stockholm, 1981) who had used
pewter for her items before working on furniture and interior design,
founding the famous shop Svenskt Tenn (Swedish pewter) in Stockholm
that participated at the IX Triennale di Milano.
Interior designer Lena Rabenius Larsson (Tranås, 1919–2000)
analysed the design of home furniture produced by Nordiska Kompaniet
(NK), recognising them as a model of practicality to be emulated in
Italy too. Swedish-American designer and architect Greta Magnusson
Grossman (Helsingborg, 1906 – Encinitas, California, 1999)100 published
her wooden house that she built and furnished in California.

99
For further insights, see Caterina Franchini, “From the Embroidery to the construction.
Women in Design and Architecture: Domus 1928 –1950,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years,
248–55.
100
Greta Magnusson Grossman is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Ana María
Fernández García, “Interior of a Residence, Greta Magnusson Grossman,” in MoMoWo: 100
Works in 100 Years, 72–73.

59
 She was already a renowned furniture designer in Europe and one
of the few women professionals to gain prominence during the
mid-twentieth-century architectural scene in Los Angeles. Her
furniture pieces continued to be published by Domus.
Through the magazine, you can discover women and works that have
not yet been studied as it the case of architect Elena Fondra Asti, who
was involved in the ‘modernisation’ of Ethiopia and Eritrea fostered
by the Fascist regime. From the magazine, we know that she realised
interiors and furniture of the house of Viceroy in Ethiopia and house
of the Governor of Addis Abeba, and she built a rational small house
in Asmara. Other cases include those of the architect Elena Campi
who was the first to publish her projects for functional interior design
and the architect Giovanna Pericoli (1924–1974), whose project for
the Rapallo seaside promenade (with architect Alberto Mazzoni and
engineer Pippo Prestalozza) was uniquely in being published in the
magazine of an urban renewal project encompassing a woman.
The MoMoWo Polito teem studies on Domus and Abitare, and other
contributions received about Italian periodicals such as Stile Industria
and Casabella, have already led to the identification of new narrative
themes, such as those specific to the perception and reception of
women’s works and their representation through the magazines.
In addition to the renowned architects and designers such as Lina
Bo (Domus), Gae Aulenti and Anna Ferrieri Castelli (Casabella) who
collaborated with these magazines, many less-known women
professionals have been brought to light. 101

As specialised magazines, solo and collective Exhibitions (4.4) have

also played a relevant role in giving public recognition to creative
women. The data entries Place and Dates enable the mapping of when

101
Soon after her graduation, Gae Aulenti joined the legendary Casabella-Continuità editorial
staff for ten years and, from 1974, she became a member of the editorial team of Lotus
International, leading a think tank on architecture. Anna Ferrieri Castelli and her working
partner Franco Albini joined the Casabella editorial staff in 1945.

60
and where these events took place, thus supporting the process of
assessing the reception of the value of different generations of wom-
en creators. The account of exhibitions organised by the authoress
on her work is valuable in exploring the multifaceted issue of self-
promotion and self-representation. On the other side, the analysis of
the past century exhibitions regarding architecture or design is crucial
to investigate the topic of women’s visibility. In this book, Marjan Groot
summarises the critical points of view concerning “Craftswomen and
Women Designers in the Netherlands” focusing on the period between
1880 and 1940. Moreover, from a different perspective, the essay by
Maria Helena Souto provides specific insights on the topic dealing
with ‘improbable paths’ of women in ceramic design in Portugal.
Since the late 1980s, several exhibitions have taken place in Europe to
increase the visibility of women architects and designers’ works. The
majority of these exhibitions were dedicated to a single creator, while
less were devoted to mapping authors and works. Among these were
two exhibitions about design in Spain, the first Women made: dones
dissenyadores a Catalunya i Balears, in 1999 and the second ¡Mujeres
al proyecto! Diseñadoras para el hábitat! (2007).102 The latter featured
the works of emerging Spanish women designers in the domestic
sector and was inaugurated in 2007 in Las Palmas before moving
to Latin America.
Exhibition catalogues encourage research regarding women’s works
and provide documentation (dynamic link with the section Bibliography
6.0). Catalogues such as Frauen im Design / Women in Design. Careers
and Life Histories since 1900 (1989) devoted to German designers,103
Dal merletto alla motocicletta / From lance to the motorcycle. Women

102
Exhibition catalogues: Maia Creus, et al., Women made: Dones dissenyadores a Catalunya i
Balears, (Palma de Mallorca: Govern Balear, 1999); Marcelo Leslabay, et al., ¡Mujeres al proyecto,
disenadoras para el hábitat!, (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Gobierno de Canarias, 2007).
103
Exhibition catalogue by Angela Oedekoven-Gerischer, et al. (eds.), Frauen im Design.
Berufsbilder und Lebenswege seit 1900 - Women in Design. Careers and Life Histories since 1900,
2 voll., (Stuttgart: Design Center Stuttgart, Haus der Wirtschaft, 1989).

61
 artisan/artists and designers in 20th-century Italy (Ferrara, 2002)104 and
Nientedimeno / Nothingless. The strength of female design (2011)105
was devoted to design from 1945 to 2000, and expressed the desire to
pay tribute and publicly acknowledge work done by craftswomen, artists,
designers and entrepreneurs who have contributed their efforts and
fostered the design discipline since the early twentieth century.106
Significant interest for design created by women has been recently
confirmed by prestigious institutions such as the Centre de Création
Industrielle (Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges-Pompidou,
Paris) and the Triennale di Milano. The first presented a new dis-
play of its collection devoted to women artists/designers (Elles@
Centrepompidou, 2009),107 while the latter opened the exhibition W.
Women in Italian Design in 2016.108 Curated by Silvana Annicchiarico
and set-up by Margherita Palli, this exhibition is conceived to be the
ninth edition of the Triennale Design Museum within the XXI
Triennale di Milano International Exhibition 21st Century. Design
After Design. 109

104
Anty Pansera and Tiziana Occleppo (eds.), Dal merletto alla motocicletta: Arigiane/artiste e
designer nell’Italia del Novecento. (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2002). The exhibition
was held in Ferrara in the Palazzo Massari, Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, from 3 March to
5 May, 2002. It was organised on the occasion of the tenth edition of the Biennale Donna, and
realised in collaboration with the legendary association Unione Donne Italiane (UDI) founded in
1945.
105
Anty Pansera and Mariateresa Chirico (eds.), Nientedimeno = Nothingless: The Strength of
Female Design (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2011). Exhibition catalogue, Milan, Biblioteca di
Santa Maria Incoronata, 8-22 April, 2011.
106
Regarding women entrepreneurs and women in communication in Italy, see Luisa Bocchietto
and Anty Pansera (eds.), Dcomedesign: La mano, la mente, il cuore. Dizionario delle designer,
imprenditrici e donne della comunicazione: 1902–2008 = Dictionary of designers, entrepreneurs,
and women in communication: 1902–2008, (Biella: Eventi & Progetti, 2008). Exhibition catalogue.
107
Exhibition collection catalogue: Camille Morineau (ed.), Elles@Centrepompidou: Artistes
Femmes dans la Collection du Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre de Création Industrielle,
(Paris: Centre Pompidou, 2009).
108
During the exhibition, the A/I/S Design Associazione Italiana degli Storici del Design organised
a conference on the subject at the Triennale, and a relevant scientific book followed, see
Raimonda Riccini (ed.), Angelica e Bradamante: le donne del design, (Padova: Il Poligrafo, 2017).
109
Exhibition catalogue: Silvana Annicchiarico (ed.), W. Women in Italian Design, (Mantova:
Corraini Edizioni, 2016).

62
According to Silvana Annicchiarico,
The stories of design so far told revolve almost entirely around a
big black hole: the removal of the feminine. The concealment of the
presence and contribution of women. The subjugation of women
to a persistent and stubborn masculine hegemony. [..] As if the
paradigm of the dominant patriarchal thinking would struggle to
even recognize the role of women even when this was evident.
[…] Women in Italian design have been and are, quantitatively and
qualitatively, a significant presence that has been hidden, removed
and marginalized. W. Women in Italian Design seeks to rectify this.
Not a compensation, but rather a restored balance. Resetting the
scene to enter the new territory of gender with a clear and transpar-
ent history behind it. No skeletons in the closet.110

The MoMoWo International Travelling Exhibition “100 Works | 100

Years | 100 Women” opened on 1st July 2016 at the University of Oviedo
and has shared the same aim of ‘resetting the scene,’ dealing with a
multidisciplinary and European scale.
At each stage, the MoMoWo exhibition was enriched with new contents;
for instance, “Women in Architecture. Contemporary Architecture
in Serbia since 1900”, curated by Milena Zindović111 at the Belgrade
Museum of Applied Arts (May-June 2018) and the “Generators of
Landscapes. Six Historic and Six Contemporary Female Landscape
Architects”, curated by La Voce delle Piante, in Turin (Phlibero,
4 May–16 June2018). In doing so this amplified the visibility of
women’s legacy and heritage in several fields of creativity.

110
Silvana Annicchiarico, “Infinite Present. Epiphanies of the feminine in Italian Design,” in Ibid., 17.
111
See Milena Zindović (ed.), Žene u Arhitekturi = Women in Architecture. Contemporary
Architecture in Serbia since 1900, (Belgrade: Centar za arhitekturu Beograd, 2014).

63
 And the Winner Is: ‘Joint Creativity’ and Prizes for Women
The Prize/s and Award/s (5.0) section of the Database will play an
essential role in answering questions such as: when did women start
to receive appreciation for the value of their creative works? In which
fields of design did they have public notoriety first? What is the
percentage of women who receive awards compared to men? How
has this percentage changed over time? When and where were the
women’s awards established and by who?
The careful examination conducted so far on more than fifteen
international, European and local awards has already allowed for the
identification of several women’s works that have been included in the
MoMoWo Guidebook. The aim is to increase both their visibility and
accessibility through the cultural-tourist itineraries we offer.
As a general remark, local and national awards established by the
organisations of architects and designers have proven to be
more inclusive for women than international or European ones. Over
the past century, creative women have at first gained recognition in
the traditional ‘feminine’ design sectors, such as textiles, ceramics
and glass design.112 However, in architecture and related sectors, both
women’s works and careers have undergone a late recognition, in par-
ticular within international awards for which the ‘glass ceiling’ is striking.
The Iraqi-British architect and designer, Zaha Mohammad Hadid (Bagdad,
1950 – Miami, 2016),113 broke the ‘glass ceiling’ more than anyone else,
having been the first woman to win the prestigious Pritzker Architectural
Prize in 2004. She won the Pritzker twenty-five years after the first
winner American architect Philip Cortelyou Johnson (1979).114

112
For instance, the prestigious Triennale di Milano prized women designers especially since
the late 1950s, while women in industrial design received a late recognition, as occurred for the
ADI - Compasso d’Oro.
113
She is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Carlo Caldera, “Vitra Fire Station, Zaha Hadid,”
in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 172–73.
114
Regarding the underrepresentation of women in the Pritzker Architectural Prize, see
Caterina Franchini, “Pritzker Architectural Prize. Nobel dell’architettura o Oscar dello star-
system?,” in Architettura e Città del Novecento, by Guido Montanari and Andrea Bruno jr.,
(Rome: Carocci, 2009), 283–91.

64
The controversy over the Pritzker Prize awarded in 1991 to Robert
Venturi (1925–2018) solely and not jointly to his partner and spouse,
architect and urban planner Denise Scott Brown (née Lakofski, Nkana,
now Zambia, 1931), has only recently arisen since 2013. This fact
reveals that the issue of the lack of public recognition of women in the
field of architecture has been considered acceptable for a long time. It
took 22 years to get out of the shadows and start to seriously discuss
the issue of sexism and the notion of ‘joint creativity’ affecting the
architectural star-system.
It is significant to note that this controversy was launched by a
female student organisation rather than by the community of
architectural critics and historians. Further, academics would have
had the opportunity to publicly challenge the general view that great
architecture is the work of a ‘solitary male genius’ and to state that
time is mature to narrate the history of contemporary architecture as
a collaborative work.
The students of the Women in Design Association at the Harvard
Graduate School of Design were brave in starting the petition on behalf
of Denise Scott Brown, thus pointing out that women have been
consistently denied the standing they deserve. Despite this debate,
the work of Denise Scott Brown, as well as that of Chinese architect
Lu Wenyu (b. 1966), equal partner and spouse of Wang Shu (b. 1963)
who received the Pritzker in 2012, were not rewarded on the basis that
the decision of past juries could not be changed.
However, in 2010, the Japanese duo founder of the SANAA –Kazuyo
Sejima (b. 1956) and Ryūe Nishizawa (b. 1966)– won the Pritzker and,
in 2017, the Spanish founders of RCR Arquitectes –Rafael Aranda
(b. 1961), Carme Pigem (b. 1962) and Ramon Vilalta (b. 1960) were
also awarded– showing that a more equalitarian recognition of joint
merits in the architectural star-system is achievable.
A year before winning the Pritzker, Zaha Hadid had already been the
first woman to win the Mies van der Rohe Award (2003) for the Car
Park and Terminus Hoenheim North, which she designed in Strasbourg.

65
 Regarding the biennial prestigious European Union Prize for
Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award, 115 out
of the fifteen winner architectures, from 1988 to 2017, only
two authors were women. In addition to the work of Hadid, the
Dutch architects Ellen van Loon (Rotterdam, 1963) and Rem
Koolhaas (Rotterdam, 1944)– Office for Metropolitan Architecture
(O.M.A.)– got the 2005 edition for the Netherlands Embassy in Berlin.
The low percentage of winning women (13%) has increased to 33% with
the Mies van der Rohe Special Mention Emerging Architect
recognising the work of young professionals starting their careers.
Out of the nine biennial editions (from 2001 to 2017), three were award-
ed to architectures designed by women in partnership with a man. In
2009, won the Gymnasium 46° 09 N / 16° 50 E in Koprivnica (Croatia),
which was designed by the Croatian duo Lea Pelivan (b. 1976) and Toma
Plejic (b. 1977) of the Studio UP, won; in 2011, the single house Casa
Collage (in Girona) designed by Spanish Ramon Bosch (b. 1974) and
Bet Capdeferro (b. 1970), was awarded, and in 2013, the Red Bull
Music Academy/Nave de Música Matadero (in Madrid), designed by
María Langarita (b. 1979) and Víctor Navarro (b. 1979), received the prize.
The data from the Mies van der Rohe Prize show the continuity of
the historical trend of female architects working in pairs with male
colleagues and/or partners. However, unlike in the past, man-woman
joint creativity is now recognised at least for the younger generation.
To encourage equality in a profession with a strong predominance
and visibility of men, women architectural prizes appeared in European
countries only recently. These prizes aimed to highlight the works
and careers of women architects so that the younger generations
of female architects can draw inspiration from existing professional
experiences.
The most famous women prize is the Architects’ Journal Women in
Architecture Awards. It originated from the Jane Drew Prize on the
115
In 2001, the Mies van der Rohe Award became the official architecture prize of the European
Union. Regarding nominee, shortlisted, and finalists, see https://www.miesarch.com/archive.

66
base of a discussion between the Women Architects Group of the
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Arts Council of
England. The award was created in 1997, one year after the English
modernist woman pioneer architect Dame Jane Drew passed away.
Initially, the Jane Drew Prize was intended to address both men and
women showing innovation, diversity and inclusiveness in architecture,
and the first edition winner (1998) was the American landscape
architect Kathryn Gustafson (Yakima, 1951) for her body of work
combining individual artistic sensibility and teamwork.
Due to various problems, the prize ended, but then subsequently
resumed in 2012 under the authority of the Architects’ Journal. The
prize then focused on the recognition of the ‘contribution to the status
of women in architecture’.
Zaha Hadid was the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, and was
also the first awarded (2012) with the AJ Women in Architecture
Awards. Subsequently, she received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for
Architecture in 2016.
The RIBA Royal Gold Medal, instituted by Her Majesty Queen Victoria
in 1848, is one of the oldest in Europe and in its 171 years of its
existence (1848-2019), out of 169 architects, only four women have
been awarded (2,3%). The first woman recipient was British architect
Percy Scott Worthington (Crumpsall, 1864 – Mobberley, 1939) in 1930.
Additionally, in 1979, the American Office of Charles and Ray Eames
were awarded, and then in 1994, British architects Michael Hopkins
and Lady Patricia Ann Wainwright Hopkins, known as Patty Hopkins
(Stoke-on-Trent, 1942). The latter has played a leading role in combining
modernity and tradition in respecting the environment in several
projects, including the prized Glyndebourne opera (Sussex, 1988-94).
To go back to the AJ Women in Architecture Awards, after Hadid, the
winners included Czech Eva Jiřičná (2013); Scottish Kathryn Findlay
(2014); Grafton Architects of the Irish Yvonne Farrell and Shelley
McNamara (2015); French Odile Decq (2016), co-founder of Studio
Odile Decq; Denise Scott Brown (2017), principal of the firm Venturi,

67
 Scott Brown and Associates; and British Amanda Levete (2018),
principal of the firm AL_A.
Amanda Levete (Bridgend, 1955)116 was the first woman to win the
RIBA Stirling Prize for excellence in architecture in 1999, at its fourth
edition. This national prize, replacing the RIBA Building of the Year
Award, is considered to be the most prestigious architecture award in
the United Kingdom and is given to the author (man or woman) of the
building that ‘has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of
architecture in the previous year’. Amanda Levete was credited with
making the Future Systems’ organic and conceptual designs a reality.
Recognised as one of the UK’s most innovative practices, Future
Systems completed works including the Selfridges department store in
Birmingham and the Lord’s Media Centre, which won the Stirling Prize.
In 2005, the prize was awarded to the Scottish Parliament Building
(Edinburgh, 1999–2004) designed by EMBT of architects Enric Miralles
Moya (1955–2000) and Benedetta Tagliabue (Milan,1963)117. Subse-
quently, Zaha Hadid won the prize two times, for the MAXXI - Museo
Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo (Rome), in 2010, and, for the Evelyn
Grace Academy (EGA) in Brixton, in 2011. In 2017, the Hastings Pier
(opened in 2016), a renovation project by dRMM Architects of Sadie
Morgan (Kent, 1969), Alex de Rijke and Philip Marsh, was awarded.
Prizes for women include the international social prize for women
designers arcVision Prize - Women and Architecture and Le Prix des
Femmes Architectes both of which were launched in 2013.
The arcVision Prize-Women and Architecture aims at giving recogni-
tion and fostering visibility to women whose work shows significant
qualitative excellence and attention to the contemporary core issues

116
Amanda Levete is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Ester Rodríguez Ortiz, “Docklands
Floating Bridge, Amanda Levete,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 174–75.
117
Benedetta Tagliabue is featured in both the MoMoWo Exhibition and Guidebook, see Gerardo Díaz
Qirós, “Hambourg School of Music, Benedetta Tagliabue,” in Ibid., 186–87; Ana Mária Fernández
García, “Saint Catherine’s Market,” in MoMoWo. Women Architecture & Design Itineraries, 21.
Benedetta Tagliabue was a member of the panel jury of the arcVision Prize together with
Odile Decq.

68
of construction, namely technology, sustainability, social and cultural
implications. This prize gives evidence especially to women working
in challenging social or environmental conditions.
The winners of the four prize editions include Carla Juaçaba (Brazil,
2013), Inês Lobo (Portugal, 2014)118, Angela Deuber (Switzerland, 2015),
and Jennifer Siegal (California, 2016). Launched by the Italcementi
Group, the arcVision Prize selected 90 female architects from around
the world, with almost 50% of those coming from Europe.119
The nominees of the arcVision Prize demonstrated that as in the past,
in today’s society, women play a central role in building a more
harmonious and sustainable future, combining technological
innovation with creativity, sensitivity, and dedication. The hope to
participate in the construction of happier cities and communities by
designing beauty and functionality, and the aim of transforming the very
face of the present, are still the trademarks of social housing projects.
For women in social housing, architecture building is an act of
commitment in giving answers to sustainably by creating the
desired generous conditions for an open society of solidarity and quality
urban lifestyles. Like the pioneers, these women architects still believe
that the mission of an architect is a quintessential service intended to
make people’s lives more agreeable, a noble calling that seeks to make
the world more beautiful and more human and to make society fairer.
As already defined in the past century experiences since the Modern
Movement research, flexibility of housing units, modularity of interior
spaces, the versatility of outer appearance and low-cost prefabrication
building technologies are still the key features of social housing projects.
Efficient low energy impact, effective use of recycled building com-
ponents or materials, reuse of housing units, and active participation

118
Inês Lobo is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Maria Helena Souto and Marta Almeida
Santos, “Francisco Rodriguez Lobo High School; Inês Lobo,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years,
202–3.
119
A catalogue is available for each edition of the prize on the official website http://www.
arcvision.org/category/arcvision_prize_it/.

69
 of users in developing and up-keeping their new homes are the
innovations of many recent projects designed by women architects.
Budget restrictions to provide solutions to low-energy consumption are
limitations turned into opportunities for designing new technological
construction systems able to realise both low-cost thermal comfort
and aesthetically featured architecture. The design activity of Slovenian
architect Špela Videčnik -OFIS architecture agency- (nominee of the
2016 prize edition) epitomises this approach of creative technological
innovation. An outstanding example is the ‘sustainable balcony box’
of the Honeycomb Apartments in Izola. Each balcony is a module that
provides an efficient system of natural ventilation and thermal comfort
in the apartments in both winter and summer time.120
Among the most relevant societal challenges of our century is the
issue of refugees and the consequent new need of housing and
settlements in many European countries. The research and design
work of agency YES Architecture (Munich-New York, since 1994) –
founded and directed by architect Ruth Berktold121– led to a remarkable
housing project-system for refugees in Germany.
Named Y-ESCAPE (2016), the project presented for the archVision
prize is based on the reuse of maritime containers that are insulated
according to the German Energy Savings Ordinance (EnEV) to form
flexible housing units with pre-selected façade cladding in wood,
plaster and metal and modular-customised interiors. A consistent
part of the project is focused on fostering the process of integration
in society. Thus, much emphasis is placed on the identification of the
refugees with their new home and neighbourhood. With this aim,
besides a catalogue of predesigned façade options to chose from, the

120
This building is featured in the MoMoMo Guidebook, see Helena Seražin, “‘Honeycomb’
Housing Blocks,” in MoMoWo. Women Architecture & Design Itineraries, 199.
121
Ruth Berktold is also a founding member of the Climadesign e.V. and works on sustainable
design engaging in her agency diverse group of artists and designers in an evolving
research-based collaborative practice. Her biggest work is the World Conference Center
Bonn – WCCB (Bonn, 2006–2015), an extension to the former German Parliament that was
awarded the first prize in the international architecture competition.

70
residents can also decide on easy, do-it-yourself furniture kits designed
by YES Architecture. Residents are encouraged to participate in the
cultural-social development and maintenance of their neighbourhood
spaces, such as urban gardens and collective terraces, children’s
playgrounds, learning centres, visitor areas, prayer rooms and storage
units. The prefabricated modules of living-rooms, bedrooms, kitchens
and dining areas can be easily dismantled, transported to different
locations in Germany and reassembled to form student housing,
apartments for the elderly and social housing, and thus, ensuring
through their flexibility of use the sustainability of the investment.
From the analysis of the nominee’s works, a recent phenomenon
of new-based architectural agencies of European women in Asia
can be observed. This phenomenon originated from the working op-
portunities aroused from international exhibitions and architecture
competitions.
Eva Castro and Ulla Hell opened a branch office of their Plasma
Studio in China when they won together with GroundLab, the invita-
tion-based international competition for the International Horticul-
tural Expo 2011 in Xi’an, the business capital of China’s vast interior.
Their Xi’an Flowing Gardens project (2009–2011), presented at the
arcVision prize, embodies a radical self-sustainable vision for the
future, merging water, plantings, circulation and architecture in one
seamless system. This project of landscape architecture has been the
instigator and central core for the redevelopment of a large area be-
tween the airport and the centre of the city that is worldwide renowned
for its Terracotta Army. The 37 ha of land are designed according to
an analytical and holistic project methodology that is able to create
transformative tectonic set spaces, planes and bodies into unexpected
relationships that challenge conventional topographies and spatial codes
as a critical reverberation of the Deconstructivist poetic. Responding to
the specificities of the local context, Eva Castro and Ulla Hell designed
a landscape architecture of trajectories that values the possibilities
of connections with the surrounding environment. The Exhibition

71
 Hall (Creative Pavilion 5000 m2), Greenhouse (4000 m2) and Gate
Building (3500 m2) epitomise the ‘folding space into space’ concept
of the Plasma studio that draws landscapes into buildings, streets
and paths into façades in a conceptual process that comes from the
inside out. From Beijing, Hong Kong, London and Bolzano, Eva Castro
and Ulla Hell are continually exploring how architecture can act as a
link between global, regional, urban and environmental systems and
forces on the one hand, and the sphere of subjective, individual
corporeal experiences on the other.
The arcVision prize is a revealing initiative, proving that a private
company in the building materials sector bet on women architects to
face the sustainability issue that will be the business of the future in
construction.
Different but no less important is the Prix des Femmes Architectes,
instituted by the Association pour la Recherche sur la Ville et l’Habitat
(ARVHA, Paris). This prize is supported by the French Ministry of
Culture and Communication, the Ministry Women’s Rights and the
Order of Architects. Since its inception, the prize includes three main
categories: Prize Woman Architect (3–5 projects built), Prize Young
Woman Architect (under 40 years old, 3–5 projects both built and
unbuilt), and the Prize Original Work. French architect Odile Decq
(Laval, 1955), who already received the Leone d’Oro of the Venice
Biennale di Architettura, in 1996, won the Prize Woman Architect at
the first prize edition in 2013.122

122
In the same category, the winners are: in 2014, Manuelle Gautrand (Marseille, 1961); in
2015, Corinne Vezzoni (Arles, 1964); in 2016, Véronique Joffre and Sophie Berthelier, in
2017. All the laureates and their works are published in the official website see, http://www.
femmes-archi.org.
Some of the works submitted for this prize by Odile Decq and Manuelle Gautrand are featured
in both MoMoWo Exhibition and Guidebook see, Carlo Caldera, “MACRO Rome’s Museum
of Contemporary Art. Odile Decq,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 188–89; Alain Bonnet,
“Citroën Showroom. Manuelle Gautrand,” in Ibid., 200–01. Regarding the works by Odile Decq
in Paris, see Alain Bonnet, “Phantom” – L’Opéra Garner Restaurant,” in MoMoWo. Women
Architecture & Design Itineraries, 82; Id., “Residential Building in ‘Goutte d’Or’,” in Ibid., 93.
Regarding the works by Manuelle Gautrand in Paris, see Alain Bonnet, “Gaîté Lyrique Theatre,”
in Ibid., 89; Id. “Citroën Showroom,” in Ibid., 100 “ ‘Origami’ – Office Bilding,” in Ibid., 101.

72
In 2017, ARVHA added the International Prize to the existing categories,
which focuses on 3–5 projects realised by a woman architect
registered to the Order of Architect of her country, except for France.
Carme Pinós Desplat (Barcelona, 1954) won the prize.
What makes the Prix des Femmes Architectes extraordinary is
the Special Mentions Pioneer, which finally gives the deserved
recognition to the merits of the generation who opened the way
for women in architecture and are still suffering from marginalisation
in historiography.
In 2014, the ARVHA Special Mention Pioneer was awarded to Renée
Gailhoustet (Oran, French Algeria, 1929, Special Mention 2014), who
challenged the concept of social housing for a more egalitarian society
and succeeding in building several estates in the Paris suburbs and
at La Réunion between the late 1960s and the mid-1980s. Further, in
2016, Éliane Castelnau Tastemain (Mont Dore, 1923) was the second
to receive the Special Mention Pioneer. She studied in Auguste
Perret’s studio and graduated in architecture in 1954. From 1956
to 1962, she was the inspector of urban planning for the cities of
Rabat-Salé and Meknes in Morocco, and she specialised in hospitals
during the 1970s and 1980s.123
Awards for women pioneers can significantly contribute to ‘reweaving
the threads’ of professional memory and recovering the material and
immaterial cultural heritage that has been kept in the shadows or
removed by the dominant culture, for the benefit not only of women
but of the whole community.

123
See Joseph Abram, Auguste Perret’s studio. Les architectes du troisième atelier Perret: la
génération des Trente Glorieuses, (Paris: Association des Amis d’Auguste Perret; Nancy: Ecole
Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Nancy, 2015).

73
 Mind the Gap! Women’s Archives Tracking
The last data fields of our ‘Women Detector’ are devoted to documen-
tation and include Writings, Bibliography, Webliography and Archives
(6.0). In addition to the list of Bibliography and Webliography, the Writings
data field can comprise both published and unpublished texts that
women identified in the Database wrote. As a matter of fact, in many
cases, starting from pioneers, they merged theoretical and practical
activities.
It is also quite commonplace to see that women architects and designers
joined their independent professional practice with research and teaching
in academia, having an intense written production. In spite of this, since
the inception of the MoMoWo research, it has been clear that the con-
tribution of women has been omitted or is incredibly underrepresented
in the mainstream Histories of Architecture and Construction mostly
written by men historians, and often also in Design History. How can we
quantify this gap of representation?
At the 1st MoMoWo Workshop (Leiden, 2015), Florencia Fernandez
Cardoso124 showed us an effective way to answer this question based
on her original adaptation of the three-question Becdhel’s test that
was conceived to evaluate women’s representation in film. However,
one more question we need to ask ourselves is why has this gap not
been filled yet?
Leaving aside possible reasons related to power relations between
genders in the transmission of memory within the elaborate process
of affirmation of professional identities, the research we carried out
for the implementation of the Database on published sources, national
censuses, inventories and various kinds of online portals, showed
that women’s archival documents are still in shadow. This it seems to
be one of the main reasons why the tangible and intangible cultural

124
See Florencia Fernandez Cardoso, “How Wide is the Gap? Evaluating Current Documentation
of Women Architects in Modern Architecture History Books (2004–2014),” in MoMoWo.
between 1918 and 1945, Series Women’s Creativity 1, 230–249. https://doi.org/10.3986/
wocrea/1/momowo1.13.

74
legacy of women continues to present difficulties in being studied,
recognised, protected and valued.
On the basis of this observation, in the last two years, the MoMoWo
Polito team has developed a special section devoted to Women’s
Archives and has already released some results on the map online.
This special section has the aim of offering scholars an open access
tool to facilitate the identification of archives or archival collections
that are suitable for supporting new interpretations of the historical
knowledge and for fostering further research in the final attempt to
bridge the gender gap.
How to design a digital platform capable of providing virtual reorders
of complex interwoven information on constellations of archives and
archival collections has been a concern at the very core of the thinking
and experimentation we are conducting. Since we envisage carrying out
a continuous mapping of archives and archival fonds of European
and non-European women designers who have worked in Europe
from 1918 onwards, at the MoMoWo Symposium 2018 we devoted to
the topic a plenary session and two parallel sessions under the title
Women ‘as Subjects.’ Documentation, Methodology, Interpretation and
Enhancement (Chairs: Caterina Franchini and Emilia Garda),125 and
we presented the work in progress outcomes to a broad international
audience.126
It has been possible to find some archives/fonds/collections that are
in public institutions through the Unified Information System for the
Archival Superintendent bodies (SIUSA) and the online publications of
the Archives of Architecture Association AAA/Italia. The research has
also been carried out through online catalogues of the archives of the
125
The abstracts are published in Caterina Franchini and Emilia Garda (eds.), MoMoWo
Symposium 2018, 158–60, 170–85.
126
See Enrica Maria Bodrato, Francesco Fiermonte, Caterina Franchini and Emilia Garda,
“The MoMoWo Database: Searching for ‘Kamino’: Mapping to Build and Share Knowledge,” in
MoMoWo Symposium 2018, International Conference, 162. C. Franchini was responsible for
scientific coordination and data research; E. M. Bodrato assessed the consistency of the fonds and
prepared the data entry; F. Fiermonte cared about the technical implementation and data entry;
E. Garda supervised the preparation phases.

75
 Museums of Architecture and Design in Europe and the world, as well
as various platforms on women in science and art.127
The International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA)128 has
proven to be a valuable source for growing our mapping, as it is
remarkable and unique, not merely because it specialises in women
in architecture but also because it represents around 40 countries in
the world. This archive is in itself a cultural heritage; it is the legacy we
received from its founder, the extraordinary woman pioneer, Bulgarian
constructivist architect and architectural historian Milka Tcherneva
Bliznakov (Varna, Bulgaria 1927− Blacksburg, Virginia, 2010, grad.
1951) who immigrated to the United States in 1961.
The questions that prompted Milka Bliznakov to found the IAWA in
1984 are ultimately the same that we aimed to answer within the
MoMoWo project. Why have women’s accomplishments so often
been omitted from architectural history, and how can we correct
the record?
Browsing the Guide to the IAWA Collections129 revealed that most
of the collections are of European architects, namely 52.28% (184
out of 352), while only 37.5% (132) are from North American women
architects.
The IAWA Biographical Database will allow for tracking the women
designers’ fonds conserved in other archives to continue the mapping.
For this purpose, some websites specifically dedicated to making the
work of women in architecture visible are also useful, such as the New
Zealand website ‘Architecture + Women-NZ’ (http://www.architecture-
women.org.nz/), which has provided a current database on women

127
Among others: National Technical Museum of Prague, Architecture Collections of the
Nasjonalmuseet of Oslo, National Museum of Ireland Archive, Museo Nazionale delle Arti del
XXI secolo - MAXXI of Rome, the website “La Scienza a due Voci,” Le donne nella scienza italiana
dal Settecento al Novecento, accessed February 15, 2018, http://scienzaa2voci.unibo.it/.
128
“Home,” International Archive of Women in Architecture (or IAWA), http://spec.lib.vt.edu/
IAWA/.
129
See “Guide to the IAWA Collections,” International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA),
accessed January-February, 2018, https://spec.lib.vt.edu/IAWA/guide.html; “IAWA Biographical
Database,” Virginia Teach, accessed January-February, 2018, https://iawadb.lib.vt.edu/.

76
in architecture associated with New Zealand since 2011.130 This website
can be used to identify the names of European women architects
who have worked in New Zealand and the New Zealanders who have
worked in Europe, then to search for their archives.
The archives of professional associations of architects and engineers
as well as those of women associations can also offer useful clues
for finding the project archives of female professionals. Consider, for
example, the recent surveys carried out by trade magazines such as
the Women in Architecture Survey by the British magazine The
Architectural Journal, which gathers data on the women enrolled at
the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
The investigation I have carried out so far revealed some critical
aspects concerning the identification of women’s archival collections.
Documents of most of the works included in several online censuses
are in designers’ private archives or in archival fonds, bearing the
name of the male architect with whom the woman has also worked
as co-author.
For instance, the documents of Carla Federspiel are in the Fondo Marco
Zanuso at the Fondazione Archivio del Moderno (Modern Archive
Foundation) of the University of Italian Switzerland in Mendrisio; the
documents of Anna Ferrieri Castelli (Milan, 1920–2006, grad. 1943)131
are in the Fondo Ignazio Gardella, and those of Egle Maria Trincanato
(Rome, 1910–Venice, 1998) are in the Fondo Samonà. These are both
at the Centro Studi Archivio Comunicazione (Communication Archive
Study Centre, CSAC) of the University of Parma. An archival collection
of Egle Maria Trincanato is also at the archives of the Venice University
Institute of Architecture (IUAV).
Among all the women architects whose works are in the Italian online
national census, only four have an archive or archival fond listed in
130
In recent years, this database has often been supported by a series of quantitative and
qualitative surveys, such as different remunerations between sexes and difficulties in reconciling
family life and work.
131
She is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition, see Emilia Garda, “Componibili, Modular System,
Anna Ferrieri Castelli,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 120–21.

77
 their name in an institution. The Franca Stagi Archive is conserved
at the ‘Luigi Poletti’ Civic Art Library in Modena; the Archive of Giuliana
Genta (Rome, 1922 – Frasso Sabino Rieti, 2005) is at the Central
State Archives in Rome; the Franco Albini and Franca Helg (Milan,
1920–1989).132 Archives are at the Franco Albini Foundation in Milan,
and the archival fond of Liliana Grassi (Milan, 1923–1985) is at the
Historical Archives of the Polytechnic of Milan.
The historical archives of schools, universities or polytechnics
preserve valuable archival fonds for ongoing studies,133 but their
consultation is often subject to privacy restrictions. Even when
these archives are in digital form, they seldom have open access
for the same reason.
The digitalisation campaigns of the last few decades have made
inventories and digital documents of project archives available online,
which are proving to be useful research tools. The digital sources
I analysed have turned out to be somewhat ‘volatile’, unstable and
subject to rapid obsolescence. Platforms and databases appear and
disappear online every day from the web; their contents are updated
continuously and are growing. Therefore, I identified and selected the
data while also considering its degree of ‘stability’.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) make it possible
to collect data, select and share it, thus increasing access to sources
of knowledge. However, as revealed by our study, the visibility given
to women’s works remains quantitatively limited and the path to be
taken requires carrying out biographical investigations to use as a
starting point for finding these women’s project archives.

132
She is featured in the MoMoWo Exhibition and in the Guidebook, see Elena Dallapiana, “San
Lorenzo Treasure Museum, Franca Helg,” in MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years, 90–91; Id.,
“Lascaris Palace,” in MoMoWo. Women Architecture & Design Itineraries, 116.
133
See the abstract by member of the MoMoWo Polito team Margherita Bongiovanni, “Women
Architects and Engineers from the Polytechnic of Turin Archives,” in MoMoWo Symposium 2018,
International Conference, 170.

78
The aim of the MoMoWo in Women’s Archives is to help the
scholarly community to share and pursue the recognition of
women’s contributions that have been omitted or forgotten by the
histories of architecture, urban planning, landscape and design. The
primary aspiration is to recover the lost knowledge to fill a cultural
gap, just as has occurred for other disciplines that have been
attempting a ‘historical reparation’ in past decades through the
recovery of gender memory that has been affected by long-term
‘documentary amnesia’.134
The identification of ‘pulverised’ archival fonds and documents in the
‘nebula’ of archival institutions and the discovery of personal archives
is an essential step to progress with both the construction of individual
case histories and the creation of quantitative histories capable of
reshaping the reception of the European cultural legacy and heritage
created by women.

134
See Maria Bacchi, “Colmare un vuoto e costruire una memoria,” in La memoria e l’archivio. Per
una storia della presenza femminile a Mantova in età contemporanea: Atti del seminario Mantova,
28–29 Ottobre 2000, Gruppo 7 Donne per la Pace, (Mantua: Gianluigi Arcari, 2001), 17–28.

79
80
81
Annexes
82
An Open Source
‘Approach’ for the
MoMoWo GIS Database
Francesco Fiermonte, Urban Sustainability & Security Laboratory for Social Challenges S3+LAB
of the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning - DIST, Polytechnic of
Turin (MoMoWo Italy)

Knowledge can be a powerful tool to improve our ‘stream of consciousness’ about

social, economic and environmental issues but needs to be supported by sharing
and exchange of an increasingly complex system of data and information. Maps
are part of our daily life, assembling and displaying a variety of scenarios from real-
time traffic information to weather. It seems that without maps not only a place but
even a fact, or an experience do not longer exist.
Since the MoMoWo project inception following an in-depth resource process, the
MoMoWo scientific team has collected and organised in a database a variety
of data concerning biographies, works and archives of women architects, civil
engineers and designers. One of the primary goals of this database is improving
accessibility to knowledge.
After devising a database model, during the construction phase, taking into
account the different technical possibilities available to us, we have set ourselves
the following questions. Is it most suitable to use a Proprietary Software (PS), a
Libre Software (LS) and/or an Open Source Software (OSS) to organise and share
the data? In the last years, Free Software (FS), LS and OSS merged into a unique
FLOSS paradigm. Since the Polytechnic of Turin (Polito) can use both, PS and
FLOSS, which of these two may be the best? As it is known, the former requires
the user or developer to acquire (and pay for) a license, while the latter is free
and the user or developer can use and re-use, according to the license terms and
conditions, the code without any fee.
When a user pays for a license, he/she has access to time-limited help-desk
support and some additional benefits. When a user chooses FLOSS, he/
she becomes part of a life-long community that shares knowledge free of
charge. Users can participate by donating money, offering their own time (e.g.
translating a part of a guide or some menu of the Graphic User Interface - GUI)
or, last but not least, by creating a software module, a plugin, and releasing it
under a ‘free license’ (e.g. CC-0 or CC-BY).
As a result of the considerations mentioned above, it was clear that to provide

83
 extended visibility for the MoMoWo database we had to use a FS, as this paradigm
epitomises the ‘user four freedoms’ (FSFE, “Free Software’s Four Freedoms”),
namely:
- The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0);
- The freedom to study how the program works and change it (freedom 1). Access
to the source code is a precondition for this;
- The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbour (freedom 2);
- The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom
3). By doing this, you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your
changes, and access to the source code is a precondition for the purpose.
Starting from the concept that ‘Open source does not just mean access to the
source code,’ the Open Source Initiative released the Open Source Definition
(OSD) to improve the previous concept. The OSD added, among other things, the
freedoms and rights listed below: ‘No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups’;
‘No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor’; ‘License Must Not Be Specific to a
Product’; ‘License Must Not Restrict Other Software’; ‘License Must Be Technology-
Neutral’ (OSI, “The Open Source Definition”). In other words, ‘bridges’ are better than
‘walls’ and knowledge rejects barriers.
By sharing these values of freedom, the MoMoWo database used FLOSS to manage
and publish the results on the web: LibreOffice package for word processing and the
Free and Open Source Quantum Geographic Information System – QGIS for building
maps and graphic representations (QGIS, “Web Mapping with QGIS2Web”).
The Polito’s MoMoWo team have tried to change its working procedures to develop
and share a new concept of (free) co-operation and has released a WEB GIS
database system, based on free and open source software, to break down knowledge
barriers. We started to collect and organise data and information using LibreOffice,
saving points about women designers and their works using OpenStreetMap as a
basemap a free and collaborative mapping system (OSMF, “OpenStreetMap”). Our
goal was achieved using a QGIS with an excellent plugin (Github, qgis2web, “A QGIS
plugin”) to export data to an OpenLayers/Leaflet web-map, a service ready to use and
navigate (OpenLayers, “A high-performance”). Users can search for a place, browse
the map, ask for information and freely get access to text and images, downloadable
if desired.
According to the international community, Geographic Resources Analysis Support
System - GRASS (OSGeo Project, “GRASS GIS”) and QGIS today represent the
most used GIS OSS for the desktop. The core software allows the user to perform
a variety of actions with an extreme control of the results. The possibility to read,
modify, share the source code and execute algorithms enable the user to control
the complete process (input/output) with a maximum level of awareness avoiding
‘closed formulas’ or ‘hidden procedures’. The entire code leaves a ‘clear’ status
ready to be investigated and changed whenever necessary.
A desktop-GIS client cannot help us to publish our maps and services on the WEB,
which is what led to the creation of the extraordinary plugin qgis2web that can

84
convert all kind of layers loaded into a QGIS project –just as they are displayed
in the Table of Contents (TOC)– into a WEB package. So, the MoMoWo archives,
designers and works will be tagged respectively with blue, red and green dots on
the WEB also. Each point is linked to its record in the database containing such
information as the name of the designer, her picture and a photo of one of her
works and so on. Following the HTML syntax, the attribute table of the layer of a
point has been populated with the required texts and formatting tag to create a
dynamic hyperlink between the point geometry and the database. For example,
when a user clicks on a point, for a pop-up photo to appear, the connected
database column must contain a specific string.
After the creation of the data structure, all the point features are related to a
database and the project can be ‘moved’ easily into a WEB page. To perform this
operation, the user can download and set up the ‘qgis2web’ plugin from the QGIS
repository and load it into the software. This add-on displays all the layers loaded
into the QGIS project and the related options (Fig. 1).
The dialogue allows the user to set up tools and parameters such as column
visibility, the label to display, the search engine tool, the table of contents and so
on. The user can also add a specific ‘background’, such as OpenStreetMap (OSMF,
“OpenStreetMap”), Stamen (City Tracking, Knight Foundation, “Stamen”) or others
base maps. Last but not least, it is possible to choose between OpenLayers and
LeafletsJS javascript libraries (Agafonkin, 2017). In our project, we used LeafletsJS.
The Export button (Fig. 1), on completion of certain operations, creates a
standalone package made by files and folders. Browsing the folder structure, we
observe that Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) may contain the ‘styles’; Data shows
data in JS (JSON) format; Images stores the pictures; JS holds the javascript
modules; Legend stores the icons and Markers the symbols. Each folder contains
all those files necessary to manage a WEBGIS. In the root folder, also, the user can
find a HyperText Markup Language file, which includes a collection of functions and
links. This index can manage all user requests.
Once the package is created, it is possible to use it immediately by working on the
localhost (the same PC that you are using) or publishing it on a WEB server in a
minute. In order to perform this operation, it is sufficient to connect and paste all
the files and the folder just created onto a WEB server. For lading an HTML file, a
WEB browser is required to display a map or just a text editor to investigate and
even modify the source code.
The final output of the map may appear like the one below (Fig. 2). In the top left
corner of the map area, it is possible to find a zoom tool or the mouse wheel and a
magnifying instrument that allows the user to search for an Architect (for example
Hadid); on the right, a tool to measure distances and a Search for finding places.
The Table of Contents button displays a small legend that disappears when the
cursor is pulled away. To move the map, to perform a pan operation, left click on
the mouse and drag the area. For a short guide to qgis2web, it is possible to find a
clear tutorial in the GitHub repository or into one of the QGIS tips pages.

85
 1

2
Captions
Fig. 1. MoMoWo Database. The ‘qgis2web’
dialogue realised by the Polito’s MoMoWo team.

Fig. 2. The MoMoWo WebGIS realised by the

Polito’s MoMoWo team.

86
 References
Agafonkin, Vladimir. “LeafletJS: Github, qgis2web. “A QGIS OpenStreetMap Foundation
an open-source JavaScript plugin to export a map to an (OSMF). “OpenStreetMap.”
library for mobile-friendly OpenLayers/Leaflet webmap.” Accessed February 25, 2018.
interactive maps.” (2017). Accessed February 14, https://www.openstreetmap.org.
Accessed February 20, 2018. 2018. https://github.com/
http://leafletjs.com/. tomchadwin/qgis2web. OSGeo Project. “GRASS GIS.”
Accessed February 23, 2018.
City Tracking, Knight OpenLayers. “A high- http://grass.osgeo.org/.
Foundation. “Stamen.” performance, feature-packed
Accessed February 22, 2018. library for all your mapping QGIS Tutorials and Tips v1.0.
http://maps.stamen.com/. needs.” Accessed February 25, “Web Mapping with QGIS2Web.”
2018. http://openlayers.org/. Accessed February 14, 2018.
Free Software Foundation http://www.qgistutorials.com/
Europe (FSFE). “Free Software’s Open Source Initiative (OSI). en/docs/web_mapping_with_
Four Freedoms.” Accessed “The Open Source Definition qgis2web.html.
February 16, 2018. https:// (Annotated).” Accessed
fsfe.org/freesoftware/ February 8, 2018. https://
basics/4freedoms.en.html. opensource.org/osd-annotated.

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88
Searching for Women’s
Architectural Archives:
The Italian Case Study
Enrica M. Bodrato, History and Cultural Heritage Laboratory of the Interuniversity Department
of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning - DIST, Polytechnic of Turin (MoMoWo Italy)

‘Archives are the documentary by-product of human activity retained for its long-term
value’ (ICA – International Council on Archives).
The theme of architectural archives does not have a long history, at least in Italy.
It dates back to 1993 when it was organised the first Italian Conference in Reggio
Emilia (Badini, 1999) and then, six years later, was established in Venice, the
National Association for the Archives of Contemporary Architecture - AAA / Italia.
The world of historians and professionals, as well as the public administration,
required the conservation and protection of documents produced by architects,
civil engineers, urban planners and landscape architects in the twentieth century,
not only for historical investigations but also for the maintenance and restoration
of buildings, the management of growth and development of cities and territories.
Thinking about the documents relating to architecture, civil engineering and
planning it is clear that it is possible to find them in copious and different
institutions with archival holdings: they are scattered in the municipal and national
archives, in the company archives, in the offices of the real estate register or
even in the notary archives. But of primary interest are the professional archives,
produced by creative and technical activities, where the work’s memory of a single
professional or a project-team is cumulated as professional assignments come
up. Usually, these are the most complete and complicated sources to investigate
projects built and not built or to reconstruct the phases of a project from its
creative genesis to its realisation. However, these archives have the characteristic
of being privately owned at least till their creators are still in business.
Looking for this kind of archive-funds and precisely those that have women
as creators, or at least among the creators, the MoMoWo research team of
Polytechnic of Turin chose to omit current archives, mapping in the database
only those whose authoresses have closed their career. Thus, even if many young
creative women are identified in our database as authors, and their works are
mapped, for archival sources we have decided to pay specific attention to the ones
that are already historicised. The Studio Valle in Rome is the only exception; with

89
 architects Emanuela and Maria Camilla Valle among the partners, this Studio is
running since 1957 and has been declared of historical interest by the Archival
Superintendent for Lazio in 2007.
We began our research from the professional archives hold by the Polytechnic
of Turin (PoliTo), and then we expanded the study to Italy and Europe. Within the
archival funds hold by PoliTo there are three women architects: Carla Bodrato (b.
1949) and Ida Carpano (b. 1932) in the Collettivo di Architettura Archive; Maria
Coletti (1941–1995) in Francesco Dolza Archive. Other female presences are the
architectural photographer Fabrizia di Rovasenda (b. 1949), Sergio Hutters’ wife
and author of most of the photos in Sergio Hutter Archive and the historian and
architect Vera Comoli (1935–2006), full professor in History of Architecture at
PoliTo and producer of her archive.
We identified the funds in both public and private institutions. Most of these are
well organised and rich of documents that have been created and accumulated in
the conduct of personal or corporate activity, while others are small collections of
drawings or materials on a single project. We included both in the database, using
a different mark on the map.
The survey was carried out mainly on online censuses. In the case of Italy, the
principal sources have been the Sistema Informativo Unificato per le Soprintendenze
Archivistiche (SIUSA, Unified Information System used by Italian archival
institutions), Sistema Archivistico Nazionale (SAN, National Archival System) as well
as the website of the Network of the Italian architectural archives (AAA/Italia). In
the late 1990s, in fact, the General Directorate for Archives of the Ministry (MiBACT)
promoted in Italy the national census of the private archival funds of architects and
engineers of the twentieth century. This census was the first step of an extensive
national project to preserve the documentary heritage of twentieth-century
architecture. For the purpose, the General Directorate for the Archives and the
General Directorate for Contemporary Art and Architecture signed an agreement in
October 2001.
The results of the national project are available online at http://siusa.archivi.
beniculturali.it, as well as in the thematic page Archivi degli Architetti (Archive of
Architects) of the SAN website http://www.architetti.san.beniculturali.it, online
since 2012. These results are also published in thematic guides of the regions
Lazio (Guccione, Pesce, Reale, 1999, 2007), Lombardia (Ciagà, 2003; 2012), Sicily
(Culotta, Sciascia, 2006), Tuscany (Insabato, Ghelli, 2007), Marche (Alici, Tosti
Croce, 2011), Abruzzo (Toraldo, Ranalli, Dante, 2013).
In the Architectural archives webpage of the SIUSA database, are described
775 funds and 724 authority records for persons, 690 men and 34 women, plus
81 authority records for corporate bodies, among which only seven women are
mentioned. In the SAN webpage, there are 752 archival funds associated with 785
architects or engineers names and only 28 are women.
The way in which women-architects and their creative work appear in the archives
is represented differently. Some of them were holding their agency, and their name

90
is fully recognised; others shared the agency with their relatives such as their
father, brothers, or husband or even with other partners. When the professional
partnership is between relatives and spouses, three possible cases can occur. In
the luckiest case, both names designate the studio and the archive, e.g. Alberto
Gatti and Diambra De Santis. In the second case, is that the woman’s name is
hidden under the name of her partner. An example is architect Maria Luisa Cucullo
(1932–1999) who graduated in architecture in Naples and was active in Chieti
with her husband, architect Carlo Enrico De Simone. A third case is exemplified
by Zenaide Zanini, associate with her husband, architect Sergio Musmeci, in the
Musmeci Studio. By reading the description in SIUSA, even if the title mentions
both the partners, Musmeci and Zanini, surprisingly only Sergio Musmeci is
correlated with a personal authority description of the International Standard
Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families (ISAAR).
The case of project teams all the partners share a collective name, and none of
them stands out individually. An example is the Collettivo di Architettura (Turin,
1960-2008), among whose members were architects Ida Carpano and Carla
Bodrato; the archival documents prove that they both designed schools (Fig. 1)
and residential buildings and were also construction manager.
To geolocate the documentary resources on the MoMoWo map, we chose to mark
the archive funds with blue dots and collections with light blue dots. If they are
public, their location is tagged with the city and the street address; on the contrary,
if the owner is a private and the access to records is not allowed or is mediated by
a public body, the location is generically tagged with the city name only. Each point
is connected to his file in MoMoWo database (Fig. 2).
The data registered in our database are: the name of the archive fund or collection,
the creator, the owner, the city and/or street address of the owner and a note about
the quantitative entity of documents expressed in numbers of physical or logic
units or linear shelf space.
The MoMoWo database is a work in progress, and many new coloured dots
appeared on the map: 92 archives and 163 collections. Sources that, though they
are different in amount, allows, along with buildings and objects, to give back to
history female achievements in architecture, engineering and design.

91
 1

2
Captions
Fig. 1. Ida Carpano - Collettivo di Architettura,
Elementary school project in Collegno, 1970–71
(heliography on paper). By courtesy of Politecnico
di Torino, DIST - LSBC, CoAR Archive, L.421.

Fig. 2. Screenshot from MoMoWo WebGIS service

(tracking of archives and collections only).

92
 References
Alici, Antonello, and Tosti Croce, Ciagà, Graziella Leyla, (ed). Insabato, Elisabetta, Ghelli,
Mauro. L’architettura negli Gli archivi di architettura, Cecilia, and Soprintendenza
archivi. Guida agli archivi di design e grafica in Lombardia: archivistica per la Toscana,
architettura nelle Marche. Rome: censimento delle fonti. Milan: (eds.). Guida agli archivi di
Gangemi, 2011. Comune di Milano, Coll. architetti ed ingegneri del
Quaderni del CASVA 8, 2012. Novecento in Toscana.
Badini, Gino, and Ministero per Florence: Edifir, 2007.
i beni culturali e ambientali. Culotta, Pasquale, and Sciascia,
Gli archivi per la storia Andrea. Archivi dell’architettura Toraldo, Franca, Ranalli, Maria
dell’Architettura: atti del del XX secolo in Sicilia: il Teresa, Dante, Roberto, and
convegno internazionale di studi, Centro di coordinamento e Ministero dei Beni e delle
Reggio Emilia, 4-8 Ottobre 1993. documentazione. Palermo: Attività Culturali e del Turismo,
Rome: Ministero per i Beni L’Epos, 2006. Soprintendenza archivistica per
e le Attività Culturali, Ufficio l’Abruzzo. L’architettura sulla
Centrale per i Beni Archivistici, Guccione, Margherita, Pesce, carta. Archivi di architettura in
1999. Daniela, and Reale, Elisabetta, Abruzzo. Villamagna (Chieti):
(eds.). Guida agli archivi di Tinari, 2013.
Ciagà, Graziella Leyla, (ed.). architettura a Roma e nel Lazio.
Censimento delle fonti: gli archivi Da Roma Capitale al secondo
di architettura in Lombardia. dopoguerra. Rome: Gangemi,
Milan: Comune di Milano, Coll. 1999 (1st ed.); 2002; 2007.
Quaderni del CASVA 1, 2003
(1st ed.).

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94
Collection of Digital
Reconstructive Models
Marco Vitali and Roberta Spallone, Polytechnic of Turin (MoMoWo Italy)

Reconstructive Modeling as a Heuristic Tool

Marco Vitali, Department of Architecture and Design - DAD

Digital reconstructions of contemporary architectures which were demolished,

transformed or remained ‘on paper’, is now a tool of considerable heuristic value,
allowing to preserve, interpret and create new images of cultural heritages that no
longer exist in their original shape or never reached a material construction.
Digital reconstructive modelling is currently subject of interest for many scholars
and a field of convergence of different disciplinary viewpoints ranging from the
history of representation, history of architecture and architectural composition.
Several digital reconstructions, mainly realised by Italian scholars, are inspired by
Pagnano, Docci and Albisinni’s theories and methodologies on graphical analysis
that could be applied to archival design drawing as well to existing buildings
(Pagnano, 1975; Docci, 2009; Albisinni, De Carlo, 2011). In particular, the research
of Giuseppe Pagnano on five houses by Adolf Loos represents a milestone of the
method.
In light of the new tools offered by digital modelling, Pagnano later returns on the
meaning of the graphical analysis. In his words, graphical analysis is a privileged
instrument of architectural criticism because it provides new contributions of
knowledge in respect to only original drawings, old pictures, project reports and
critical essays. It contributes to highlight the figurative reasons of architectures’
visible conformation. Digital models give back to the unbuilt architecture a form
of existence that makes them verifiable objects in the same way as those built.
(Pagnano, 2008).
Seeing as representation and communication concern the knowledge data and
their interpretation resulting from the documentation phases, digital models are the
most useful database for collecting and synthesising the analyses.
According to Ciagà, the ‘revolutionary capacity of current 3D models is inherent

95
 to the specific characteristics of digital technologies which offer the possibility
to explore virtual spaces directly and “enter” inside with the aid of specific
applications of interface design and interaction design’ (Ciagà, 2013a, 164).
Moreover, 3D modelling provides methods of visualization which are otherwise
impossible in the tangible reality, allowing the integration of fragments, the
inspection of objects in all their physical coordinates, their three-dimensional
existence: in short, they exponentially heighten tools of analysis, research, study,
but at the same time even those for the communication of historical information
(Irace, 2013, 13).
Several stages characterize 3D reconstruction: the gathering of information from
the sources, mainly original design drawings, the interpretation of this information,
the comparison with contemporaneous examples, the development of 2D
blueprints and/or 3D geometric (or parametric) models of the building, the texture
mapping, the addition of lights and, finally, the rendering.
Transforming autograph drawings into a digital model is a process which changes
one model into another and deserves some attention. It is, as a matter of fact, not
a simple variation without alteration of contents, but, on the contrary, it modifies
‘the wealth of the model, its expressive potentiality. In fact, the transmutations
of the models are moved by the interpretative intent of the scholar, and they
converge, therefore, toward an abstract model... that we can identify in the project
idea’(Migliari, 2004, 86).
Moreover, 3D computer models allow more enhanced and controlled interaction
between users and models; they can cover the whole range of possible models in a
single system of representation (Maldonado, 2005).

Towards a MoMoWo Collection of Female Architectures’

Reconstructive Models
Roberta Spallone, Department of Architecture and Design DAD

During the MoMoWo Workshops, several works by female architects were

highlighted using digital reconstructive modelling. These analyses were proposed
by a research group led by Francesco Maggio, a pupil of Giuseppe Pagnano. From
the early 2000s, Maggio started to apply the graphical analysis and reconstructive
digital modelling methods to unbuilt architectures by female architects of the
Modern Movement and MoMoWo hosted the virtual exhibition “Il contributo delle
donne allo sviluppo dell’architettura moderna nei disegni e nei plastici delle scuole
di Architettura di Ascoli e Palermo” during the project presentation at the Festival
Architettura in Città (1–4 July 2015).
In 2015, at the 1st MoMoWo Workshop (University of Leiden) several types of
research were presented. Amoroso compared Eileen Gray’s approach to space
and the Japanese culture by reconstructing the interiors of Gray’s houses E. 1027

96
(1928) and Tempe à Pailla (1932–34). Vattano proposed a graphic analysis and
3D modelling aimed to discover the modular grid and the compositional criteria
of the House of Dr Nelken (1932) by Helena Niemirowska (Fig. 1). Gaeta analysed
Charlotte Perriand’s unbuilt project for a Maison du week-end (1934) through a
digital model that deepens the compositional aspects of the minimal and flexible
house. And Garofalo re-drew two projects by Hana Kučerová Zaveská (Balling
house, 1931, and a villa for parents Olga and Maximilian Záveskych in Dobrichovice,
1933–34) aiming to understand and summarise the architectural organisms.
In 2016, at the 2nd MoMoWo Workshop (ZRC SAZU, France Stele Institute,
Lubjana), Garofalo realised the virtual reconstruction of three projects for Council
Houses in Brazil (1951), probably inspired at the indigenous maloca, by Lina Bo
Bardi. Through graphical analysis and reconstructive modelling, Maggio developed
a reasoning on the unbuilt houses in Burano e Pellestrina (1947) by Egle Renata
Trincanato (Fig. 2), relating them with her theoretical research published in Venezia
minore (1948). Vattano digitally re-built the single-family house for Vincente
Sebastian Llegat (1968–71) by Matilde Ucelay Maórtua.
In 2017, at the 3rd MoMoWo Workshop (University of Oviedo), Maggio presented,
through the Drawing discipline, the design process of a multi-scale project for
a museum in the archaeological area of Segesta (1960), developed between
architecture and drawing of furniture by Luciana Natoli.
In 2018, at the MoMoWo Symposium (Politecnico di Torino), Vattano proposes
her research on the project of the cinema Kina by Teresa Żarnowerówna (1926),
producing new images for the knowledge of an unbuilt architecture.
Recently, Franchina, Maggio, Vattano published Female Architecture. Unbuilt digital
archive (Franchina, Maggio, Vattano, 2015), hoping to create a graphic inedited
repertory of unrealised projects, carried out by the women pioneers of Modern
architecture.
In the following text, we propose a meta-project aimed to create a web-shared
collection of interactive digital models that reconstruct female architectural
designs of Modern Movement. Our proposal is inspired by several research projects
including those led by Piero Albisinni and Laura De Carlo, involving their students
and aimed to create a digital archive containing models of the twentieth-century
masters, as Giovanni Michelucci, Maurizio Sacripanti and Leonardo Savioli
(Albisinni, De Carlo, 2011). One of these projects was aimed at the construction of
geo-models for the digital archive of the work of Palladio (Apollonio et al., 2013;
Gaiani et al., 2015; Beltramini, Gaiani, 2017), while another one related architectural
heritage of the late twentieth century in Milan with the archives documenting their
design history (Ciagà, 2013b). Moreover, recently, a prototype of the interactive
model collection has been developed by Roberta Spallone and Francesco Carota
for gathering reconstructive digital models and archival materials concerning
several of Mollino’s masterpieces (Spallone, Carota, 2017).
The collections have to be addressed to rigorous scientific criteria in order to offer

97
 scholars some validated base materials and interaction instruments to facilitate
personal surveys, interpretations and sharing of knowledge.
Creating the MoMoWo models’ collection, it would apply the latest low-cost
technologies for users’ interaction and the potentialities of interoperability between
3D modelling application and publishing and online sharing systems.
The interactivity offered by the latest developments of the digital revolution
and new technologies appears in these possibilities for the users: external and
internal 360° virtual tours; explorations in VR, video making, setting and saving of
perspective views, inserting of their own digital models, new versions and other
personal digital products after validation by the administrators.
For each 3D model interactively explorable we propose links to the most significant
ones among the static and dynamic representations and to a reasoned selection of
archival documents, as well as references to archival materials, bibliography about
the specific building and writings by the female architect.
The collection’s structure is made up of a Home Page, that works as the primary
interface that the final user is able to access, and a series of Informative Pages,
one for each of selected reconstructive models of female designs, in which the
different contents are organised and visualised.
We image that the Informative Pages dedicated to each project can be reached
both by traditional database research (Author, Project name, Date, City, etc.) and
by links inserted within two interconnected tools: a building’s geolocalization and a
building’s localisation within an interactive timeline.
Inside the Informative Pages, one of the most innovative aspects is the interactivity
with the model offered to the users, thanks to the application of the open source
web platform Sketchfab.
Indeed, this technology permits the user an innovative interaction with the three-
dimensional model, completely free from the constraint of a fixed point of view
or a preconditioned walking path. The adoption of the walk-through visualisation
system, included in Sketchfab, allow the user infinite paths across the architectural
environment. In this way, an exploration of the building that goes beyond the four
dimensions can be almost achieved. Moreover, the tool is equipped with a Virtual
Reality visualisation option that, if combined with a commercial VR headset, could
produce a simulated environment, totally surrounding the viewer.
The Sketchfab platform could also arrange a bottom-up implementation of the
model’s collection by using 3.0 web technologies when it will be online for once.
This means that the user himself, accessing the platform, will be able to load new
3D models after the verifications by the model collection’s administrators.
This easily sharing of the researches results, enlarge their fruition and establish a
database, open to users implementation, in the frame of a virtuous exchange of
knowledge and possible interpretations.

98
 1

Captions
Fig. 1. Left: Archive drawings of the house of Dr
John Nelken in Kostancin (Warsaw), designed
by Helena Niemirowska in 1932-33. Right:
Axonometric reconstructive model, graphical
analysis and perspective section (from Vattano,
2015).
Fig. 2. Top: Egle Renata Trincanato, a project
in Burano, watercolour. Bottom: Drawing and
digital modelling of the projects in Burano e
Pellestrina. Plans, fronts and axonometries. (From
Maggio, 2016. Source: Dafne Di Girolamo, Egle
Renata Trincanato. Unbuilt Palermo: Unpublished
dissertation, Faculty of Architecture, 2015).

99
 2
100
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archivio digitale dell’opera di Research on Emerging Digital Women Designers, Architects
maestri del XX secolo. Rome: Tools for Architecturale and Engineers between 1946
Gangemi, 2011. Surveying, Modeling and and 1968. MoMoWo 2nd
Representation, edited by International Conference-
Amoroso, Serafina. “Eileen Stefano Brusaporci, 510–49. Workshop. Programme and
Gray’s Architecture of Hershey, PA: IGI GLOBAL, 2015. Abstracts (Ljubljana, 3-5 Oct.
Relationships: Materiality and 2016), edited by Helena Seražin,
Spatial Layering.” In MoMoWo Gaeta, Giorgia. “Charlotte Caterina Franchini and Emilia
Women Designers, Craftswomen, Perriand: Graphic Analysis of Garda, 39. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU,
Architects and Engineers the ‘Maison du week-end’.” In France Stele institute of Art
between 1918 and 1945, edited MoMoWo Women Designers, History, ZRC Publishing House,
by Marjan Groot, Helena Craftswomen, Architects and 2016.
Seražin, Caterina Franchini Engineers between 1918 and
and Emilia Garda, 354–73. 1945, edited by Marjan Groot, Irace, Fulvio. “The Animated
Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, France Helena Seražin, Caterina Archive.” In Design & Cultural
Stele institute of Art History, Franchini and Emilia Garda, Heritage. Archivio Animato /
ZRC Publishing House, 2017 396–405. Ljubljana: ZRC Animated Archive, edited by
(Series Women’s Creativity, 1). SAZU, France Stele institute Fulvio Irace and Graziella Leyla
https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea. of Art History, ZRC Publishing Ciagà, 10–14. Milan: Electa,
House, 2017 (Series Women’s 2013.
Beltramini, Guido, and Gaiani, Creativity, 1). https://doi.
Marco. “Palladio Library - A org/10.3986/wocrea. Maggio, Francesco. “Egle
growing virtualization project Renata Trincanato. Unbuilt.” In
to understand Andrea Palladio.” Gaiani, Marco, et.al. “A Mono- Women Designers, Architects
Scires-It Vol. 7, 2 (2017): 73–84. Instrumental Approach to and Engineers between 1946
High-Quality 3D Reality-Based and 1968. MoMoWo 2nd
Ciagà, Graziella Leyla (a). Semantic Models. Application International Conference-
“Digital reproductions and on the Palladio Library.” In 2015 Workshop. Programme and
reconstructions: historical Digital Heritage, IEEE 2 (2015): Abstracts (Ljubljana, 3-5 Oct.
research, knowledge 29–36 (conference proceedings 2016), edited by Helena Seražin,
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103
In the past hundred years (1918-2018) in which Women’s creativity since
the Modern Movement has been the subject of study and celebration
in the MoMoWo project, women have actively participated in the fields
of architecture, civil engineering, industrial and interior design. Facing
social conventions and exploring these disciplines traditionally dom-

A MoMoWo Digital Gallery

inated by men, women have played a fundamental role in pioneering

‘The Woman of the Week’

new attitudes towards modernism and beyond. Since the launch of the
project in October 2014, we started to give visibility to these women, by
launching on the Facebook platform (one of the social networks cre-
ated by IADE’s Portuguese Team for the dissemination of the project),
a “Women’s Gallery”, in which we published short profiles of European
female creators, illustrated by photographs of each of them, images of
some reference works and links to additional information or bibliograph-
ic references.
This gallery has now about 80 short profiles, but what have been given
to print and presented here are 40 of this total, since in the meantime,
the MoMoWo project has published in the Guidebook “MoMoWo. Wom-
en. Architecture & Design Itineraries across Europe”, and in the Cata-
logue “MoMoWo: 100 Works in 100 Years. European Women in architec-
ture and Design. 1918-2018”, works and biographies that included the
other half. So, in order to not be redundant, the results presented here
are women who do not appear in the MoMoWo books or who deserve
to be highlighted. However, we know that we are far from mapping all
European female creators, from the pioneers to the most contemporary.
It’s imperative to continue documenting the work of creative women as
well as to examine the importance of biographical information for his-
tory writing and the ways of reassessing the past in all fields of design,
to give present and future generations of women wider professional
recognition.

Maria Helena Souto | MoMoWo Portugal

105
 Belle Kogan
1902-2000
Russia

Born in Russia, Belle Kogan immigrated to the United States when she was four years old. She studied
at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, while teaching mechanical drawing. After working for several year as
a freelance designer for Quaker Silver Company of Attleboro, she opened her studio in 1931, continuing
her work with metals and collaborating with Boonton Molding Co.. In the beginning of her career, Kogan
found some obstacles due to the fact that industrial design was a traditionally male dominated field, but
by the late 1930s she was already able to employ three other women designers.
In 1994 she was both awarded with the “Personal Recognition Award” from the Industrial Designers
Society of America (ISDA) and recognized as fellow of the Industrial Designers Institute (IDI).
For Belle Kogan, “(…) design didn’t just happen. It had to be developed. I felt that it was wonderful, like a
puzzle, all the parts fitted in: the business training, painting, color study, and my interest in mechanics,
machinery and production problems”.

References
Kirkham, Pat. Women Designers in the USA, 1900-2000: Diversity and Difference. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.
Industrial Designers Association of America. “Belle Kogan, FIDSA.” Accessed June 29, 2015.
http://www.idsa.org/content/belle-kogan-fidsa.

Image Copyrights ©

106
 Charlotte Stam-Beese
1903-1988
Germany

Lotte (Charlotte) Beese trained in stenography, photography, textile design and architecture (the
last three at the Bauhaus, from 1926 to 1928). As an architect and urbanist, Beese worked mainly
in Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, and the Netherlands and became known for the redevelopment
projects for the city of Rotterdam.
She worked with Hannes Meyer, Hugo Haring and Bohuslav Fuchs, before establishing her own
architecture studio in Amsterdam (1935), where she worked until 1938.
Beese was also known for her skills in photography, producing a collection of portraiture, during her
years in Dessau.
In 1968, she was awarded with a Wolfert Borsele medal for her professional accomplishments, and in
1969, with the Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

References
Muller, Sheila D. (ed.). Dutch Art: An Encyclopedia, 217. New York: Garland Pub, 1997.

Image Copyrights ©

107
 Eva Striker Zeisel
1906-2011
Hungary

Eva Amália Striker Zeisel, an Hungarian native, in 1923 started studying painting at Budapest’s
Royal Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, but she decided to learn pottery with the master Jakob
Karapan. In 1928, Eva began working for “Schramberger” ceramic works in Germany and in 1930
moved to Berlin and started designing for “Carstens”. Two years later, Eva visited the Soviet Union
where she lived for the next five years.
In 1936 she was arrested by Stalin’s police state, but managed to escape and ran off to Vienna where
she re-established contact with her future husband Hans Zeisel. With the invasion of Vienna by the
Nazis, once again Eva escapes to England, where she married Hans and they decided to go live to the
United States in 1937.
Eva Zeisel has declared herself a “maker of useful things” and her ceramic designs, firstly influenced by
the modern architecture with playful geometric forms, are often abstractions of the natural world and
human relationships. Several museum collections throughout the world include works representative
of her work.

References
Thurman, Judith. “Prolific.” The New Yorker, 2006.

Image Copyrights ©

108
 Estrela Faria
1910-1976
Portugal

Estrela da Liberdade Alves Faria studied at the Lisbon Fine Arts School, graduating with excellence
in 1935. She earned a scholarship assigned by the Portuguese Institute in High Culture for perfecting
mural and ceramic techniques in France, Italy and the Netherlands. However, before she completed it,
she had to come back to Portugal due to the German occupation in France.
Estrela Faria frequently collaborated with architects, dealing with the interiors of buildings, like in
Palácio da Justiça’s audience room, the Ritz Hotel and Alvalade Cinema Hall, or even the Caixa Geral de
Depósitos Bank.
She founded a small workshop in the Benfica neighborhood, where she mainly worked on plaster models
and storefront installations. She also taught at the António Arroio Decorative Arts School and after, at
the Lisbon Fine Arts School, until the time of her death.

References
França, José Augusto. A arte em Portugal no século XX, 224–310. Lisbon: Livraria Bertrand, 1974.

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109
 Maria Amélia Ferreira Chaves
b. 1911
Portugal

Working for ninety years as a civil engineer, Maria Amélia was the first Portuguese woman not only to
graduate in Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), in 1937, but also to make a long lasting career on the field.
Not only was she a pioneer in the field, as she monitored every step of the construction process by
frequently visiting the construction site, a space where no women had ever entered before.
After working as an intern for engineer Arantes e Oliveira, Maria Amélia joined the staff of the Lisbon
Town Council, beginning her professional activity.
Maria Amélia was the first person in Portugal developing anti-seismic calculations applied to civil
engineering, also devoting herself to urban planning and real estate projects, mainly located in Lisboa,
Sintra, Oeiras e Cascais.

References
Parrado, Marta. “Entrevista Engª Maria Amélia Chaves. A primeira engenheira portuguesa.” Ingenium 96 (2006): 30–32.

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110
 Matilde Ucelay
1912-2008
Spain

Matilde Ucelay Maortúa started her academic training in architecture in 1931, at the School of
Architecture of the University of Madrid. In 1936, she was the first woman graduating in architecture in
Spain, feat honored in 1998 by the Association Women Build.
After the cruel Spanish civil war (1936-1939), Ucelay started her professional practice in Madrid, but her
relative support to the Republican government lead her to trial several times, during which she stood
accused of “aiding the rebellion”.
She specialized in luxury residential architecture, targeting a clientele of high purchasing power. Houses
created by Ucelay were defined by an attention to detail in compliance to the needs of people that lived
there.

References
Sánchez de Madariaga, Inés (ed.). Matilde Ucelay Maórtua. Una vida en construcción. Premio Nacional de Arquitectura.
Madrid: Ministerio de Fomento, 2012.
Sánchez de Madariaga, Inés. “El papel de las mujeres en la arquitectura y el urbanismo, de Matilde Ucelay a la primera
generación universitaria en paridad.” In La arquitectura y el urbanismo desde la perspectiva de las arquitectas, edited by
Marian Leboreiro, 69–77. Madrid: Ministerio de Vivienda - ETSAM, 2008.
Vílchez, Javier. "Matilde Ucelay. Primera mujer arquitecta de España." PhD diss., University of Granada, 2012.
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111
 Mary Isolen Fergusson
1914-1997
United Kingdom

British civil engineer, Mary Fergusson was the first female fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers
(ICE) in 1957. After graduating BSc Hons in Civil Engineering from the University of Edinburgh in 1936,
she forged a career with Edinburgh civil engineers “Blyth and Blyth”, one of the most prestigious of
Scottish firms, and in 1948 she became the first female Senior Partner in a UK civil engineering firm.
Mary Fergusson’s career was dedicated to civil engineering, working on the design and construction of
bridges in the Highlands, sewers for water purification on the River Leven and paper mills in Markinch.
Her lifetime of achievements earned her an OBE in 1979 after her retirement, and the honorary degree of
Doctor of Science at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh in 1985, for her work in encouraging women to
take up engineering careers.

References
Baker, Nina. "Women and bridge building since 1806." In Brunel 200 Celebration Symposium.
Birmingham: Townswomen’s Guild, 2006.
Haines, Catharine M. C. (ed.). International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950, 98.
Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2001.

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112
 Ulla Bodorff
1913-1982
Sweden

Ulla Bodorff was a pioneer Swedish landscape architect. Along with Inger Wedborn, she belonged to
the second generation of landscape architects in Sweden, being one of the first Swedish women to
complete an university degree in landscape architecture.
Bodorff studied at the University College in Reading from 1933 to 1935, returning to Sweden after
receiving her diploma, to work at the Stockholm city parks department for two years. In 1937 she
opened her own practice, which she ran until the 1970s.
From private gardens, parks, housing areas and church yards, Ulla Bodorff’s office worked on
hundreds of commissioned works, being the city plan for Frostlunda and the landscape design for Stora
Vika the most notorious.

References
Nowotny, Claus, and Persson, Bengt. Ulla Bodorff landskapsarkitekt 1913–1982. Stockholm: Arkus, 1988.

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113
 Karen Mundt-Clemmensen
1917-2001
Denmark

The daughter of the architect Holger Mundt and the painter Harriet Fischer-Jørgensen, Karen
Mundt-Clemmensen graduated in 1942 from the School of Architecture of the Royal Danish Academy
in Copenhagen. With her husband, Ebbe Clemmensen (1917-2003), started her architecture and design
office in 1946. Together and individually, they received numerous architectural and design awards and
were representatives of post war Danish modernism.
Her house and studio in Gentofte, Denmark, designed and built in 1953 reveals the elegant liaison
between modernity and tradition, enhanced by interior design and furniture. With a sense of detail
and experimental qualities that disclose different influences, from the avant-garde movements to
Japanese environments.

References
Miller, William C. Nordic Modernism: Scandinavian Architecture 1890-2015. Ramsbury, Marlborough: The Crowood Press
Ltd., 2016.

Image Copyrights ©
https://realdania.dk/projekter/karen-og-ebbe-clemmensens-eget-hus/nyheder/en-ramme-om-levende-indhold

114
 Halina Skibnewska
1921-2011
Poland

After finishing her studies at the Warsaw University of Technology in 1948, she worked in the Office
for Capital Rehabilitation (BOS). Until 1986, Halina Skibniewska collaborated with numerous
architecture studios, such as Romuald Gutt’s (she started first as his assistant at the Architecture
Faculty and later in his studio), “WSM’s”, “PBM Center” and from 1975 to 1986 with “BNP Inwestprojek”.
She participated in the reconstruction of the National Theatre in Warsaw and since 1957, worked for
the Warsaw Housing Cooperative, where she designed her most acclaimed project: “Sady Żoliborz”,
a reference for the modern movement, filled with original solutions, such as the use of natural greenery,
natural materials - brick, wood or decorative fragments from the ruins of the historical buildings.
From 1975 to 1985, Halina taught and researched at the Warsaw University of Technology. She focused
mainly on issues related to human life in the city, the social function of residential buildings, ecology and
accessibility for the disabled. Halina Skibniewska was a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences,
a member of several international scientific organisations, including the Académie d’Architecture de
France, and was correspondent of the architectural magazine “L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui”. She was
also the deputy of the Parliament in the years 1965-1985 and since 1971, the first woman in the history
of Polish Sejm to become a deputy speaker.

References
Marciniak, Piotr. “Spousal collaboration as a professional strategy for women architects in the Polish People’s
Republic.” In Ideological Equals. Women Architects in Socialist Europe 1945–1989, edited by Mary Pepchinski and
Mariann Simon, 63–77. Abingdon: Routledge, 2017.

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115
 Liisi Beckman
1924-2004
Finland

Born in Karelia, Finland, after having studided art in Helsinki, Liisi Beckmann moved to Italy in the late
1950s and worked in Rinascente’s Development Studio in Milan. One of her most celebrated works
is the “Karelia” armchair, designed in 1966 for the Italian industrial design company Zanotta, made
in polyurethane foam and colored vinyl. With an original modern and dynamic design, this unusual
armchair is also comfortable thanks to the nature of its materials.

References
Colombo, Sarah. The Chair: An Appreciation. San Diego: Laurel Glen Publishing, 1997.

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116
 Zofia Hansen
1924-2013
Poland

Zofia Aleksandra Garlińska-Hansen, a modern architect, was the co-author of the theory of Open Form
(1957) and the concept of Linear Continuous System (1967), an urban planning model consisting
on the agglomeration in a meridional, where the individual functional areas would intersect with
residential zones, replacing the centric town model. The Linear Continuous System aimed
at granting equal access to nature, culture and services, by eliminating the division between the
center and the periphery.
She graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Warsaw University of Technology in 1952. Two
years before, she married architect Oskar Hansen, with whom she started a lifelong professional
collaboration. Their work was particularly marked by the shifting political climate in Poland,
developing several estate housing projects, such as the Warsaw, Bracławska and the Przyczółek
Grochowski (1968-1974).
Their concept of Linear Continuous System was also put to practice on a small scale on the Osiedle
Słowackiego estate in Lublin (1961).

References
Marciniak, Piotr. “Spousal collaboration as a professional strategy for women architects in the Polish People’s
Republic.” In Ideological Equals. Women Architects in Socialist Europe 1945–1989, edited by Mary Pepchinski and
Mariann Simon, 63–77. Abingdon: Routledge, 2017.

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117
 Ksenija Šetina Grum
b. 1925
Slovenia

Ksenija Šetina Grum began her education at the German-Serbian School in Belgrade and continued at
the Real Gymnasium Maribor. After the outbreak of war in 1941, her family was expelled to Croatia, where
she graduated in 1945 (Real Gymnasium Bjelovar). In the same year she enrolled in construction studies
in Ljubljana and in December 1953 graduated under prof. Emil Kovačič at the Hydrotechnical Department
of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodesy at the Technical College in Ljubljana. She was active
in water management all her career, initially as a designer in the field of regulation, melioration and
sewerage. After graduation, she was employed by the Project−Low Building company, later at the Water
Management Institute of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia (est. 1960) and at the Association of Water
Communities of Slovenia (est. 1974, today’s Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning). Up until
retirement in 1990, she worked as a representative of professional services in the areas of wastewater
draining and cleaning and mechanical biological treatment plants. In 1961 she became designer,
authorized for construction design, and between 1963 and 1965 she was a member of the Assembly of
the Municipality of Ljubljana-Center. Between 1972 and 1986, with the designer Igor Kos, she carried out
pioneering work in the design and construction of the first major mechanical and biological treatment
plants in Slovenia: including Koper and Domžale−Kamnik; this was the largest in Slovenia until 1991,
when the Ljubljana wastewater treatment plant was built. In 1980, she received an award from the
president of the republic comrade Tito for her work in the field of water management.

References
Grum family archive.
Wastewater treatment plant Domžale–Kamnik. Accessed October 10, 2017.
http://www.idsa.org/content/belle-kogan-fidsa.

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118
 Nanny Still
1926-2009
Finland

Nanny Still’s work on glass and ceramics marked her time, acting as beacons of Finnish modern taste.
She has also worked under medias such as metal, jewelry, plastics and light fittings. Graduating in 1950,
at the Finland’s Central School of Arts and Crafts, Nanny developed since then a prolific body of work,
setting the grounds of innovation in structure, color and functionality.
She worked for the Finnish glass factory Riihimaen Lasi (founded in 1910), from 1949 to 1976 and
designed several pieces for “Maire Gullichsen’s Norrmark”. Among her numerous collaborations, one
may name “Heinrich Porzellan”, “Val Saint-Lambert” and “Rosenthal Studios”, for whom she designed
both ceramic and glass pieces.
Her pieces were also exhibited at several Milan Triennales (1954, 1957 and 1960) and at a Brussels
showcase, the “Trois Profils Finlandais”. Her work has a designer and her close relation with national
factories and brands played a major role in helping to preserve the Scandinavian craft tradition.

References
Pina, Leslie, and Vigier, Lorenzo. Scandinavian Glass 1930-2000: Fire & Sea. Atglen: Schiffer Pub Ltd, 2006.

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119
 Olga Mináry
1929-2000
Hungary

More than an architect, Olga Mináry was a reflection of political efforts to manifest an hungarian
emancipation progress, through the appreciation of women’s work.
By 1951, Mináry had graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University. She worked
nearly thirty years for the Industrial Building Design Company (IPARTERV) and was the first woman
wining the Ybl Prize, Hungary’s most prestigious architectural award. She also represented Hungary at
the 1967 UIA Congress in Prague.
Among a generation of great hungarian designers, like Gulyás Zoltán, Jurcsik Károly, Földesi Lajos, Hofer
Miklós, Callmeyer Ferenc, Plesz Antal and Polónyi Károly, Mináry developed an outstanding body of work
in reconstruction and urban development projects.
She participated on post war Gyor rehabilitation, designing a pioneer model for social housing, a field
she explored throughout her career. This was the first hungarian city to have a state approved urban
development plan. In 1953, she designs the College of Applied Arts’ Farkasdy Zoltan building and in
1957 Janáky Frankel Leo street corner house.

References
Haba, Péter. “At the forefront of socialist development. Women in Ungarian industrial architecture, 1945-1970.” In
Ideological Equals. Women Architects in Socialist Europe 1945-1989, edited by Mary Pepchinski and Mariann Simon,
34–47. Abingdon: Routledge, 2017.

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120
 Mária Krukovská
b. 1930
Czechoslovakia

In the years 1948-1952 she studied architecture at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil engineering
SVŠT Bratislava. Upon graduation, Mária Krukovská began her career as an architect in a design studio
in the Bratislava branch of Stavoprojekt. She was the first woman architect in this large state office,
which had more than 50 employees.
At the beginning, her main field of work was housing. Later, after gaining more experiences and
respect, her work shifted towards public buildings. Mária Krukovská collaborated on the design of
the well known modern housing estate called “Februárka” in Bratislava. She is the author of the
commercial centre and kindergarten (1966). In frame of the experimental project for public housing
on the periphery of Bratislava she participated in the process of inventing and testing new technologies.
In frame of the project of the 12-storeys apartment block (together with Štefan Svetko), she successfully
tested a vacuumed reinforced concrete structure and sandwich sheathing. Mária Krukovská was the first
Slovak participant of the congress of the International Union of Women Architects UIFA. On the second
congress of this organisation held in Monaco in 1969, she presented her project for the housing estate
Košúty in Slovak town of Martin. Since 1975, Mária Krukovská worked in the field of assessment of
mass housing.

References
Moravčíková, Henrieta. "Emancipated but still accompanied: the first generation of women architects in Slovakia." In
Ideological Equals. Women Architects in Socialist Europe 1945-1989, edited by Mary Pepchinski and Mariann Simon,
48–62. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016.
Moravčíková, Henrieta. "Nevidite'né Architektky: Prvá Generácia Žien v Slovenskej Architektúre / Invisible Architects:
The First Generation of Women in Slovak Architecture." Architektúra & urbanizmus Vol. 49, 1–2 (2015): 82–103.

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121
 Bodil Kjær
b. 1932
Denmark

Bodil Kjær, a benchmark for Danish design culture, is an acclaimed architect, furniture designer, urban
planner and researcher.
With an academic background in the School of Interior Architecture (1964), in London at the Royal
College of Art and at the Architectural Association School of Architecture (1965–69), she has worked as
a senior architect at the Arup (London: 1967–69), as professor at the University of Maryland (1982–89)
and has had her own studio in Copenhagen (1960–65) and London (1969–79).
Her keen eye for elegant and light shapes, combined with deep care for function and user friendliness
came together on what she likes calling “elements of architecture”, furniture pieces which would
complement (instead of blending) and solve interior problems inherent to modern architecture. Her
most recognised pieces are a collection of office furniture intended as elements that promote a flexible
working environment, whose working table would later make an appearance on films, such as “007:
From Russia with Love” and on TV, in the “BBC Election Broadcasts”.

References
FORM Portfolios. “Bodil Kjær in Nordic Living Magazine.” Accessed May 11, 2016.
http://formportfolios.com/bodil-kjaer-nordic-living-magazine/.

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122
 Mirja Toivola
b. 1933
Finland

Mirja Toivola, a product designer who mainly worked with textile and ceramics, studied at the Helsinky
Atenuem and then, at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London and at the École des Arts et
Metiérs de Paris. There she meets the acclaimed Portuguese painter and graphic designer, João da
Câmara Leme (1930-1983), with whom she got married and went to Lisbon in 1957.
In Portugal, Mirja worked for “SECLA”, an acclaimed Portuguese ceramics factory, designing table
services for children, coffee and tea sets. She also exhibited her work for “SPAL”, a Portuguese porcelain
company, on the historical International exhibition of Industrial Design, at the Foz Palace (Lisbon)
in 1965.

References
Henriques, Paulo (ed.). Estúdio SECLA. Uma Renovação na Cerâmica Portuguesa, 132–33. Lisbon: IPM - Museu Nacional
do Azulejo, 1999.

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123
 Darinka Battelino
b. 1940
Slovenia

After successfully defending her dissertation at the Faculty of Architecture, Civil and Geodetic
Engineering (FAGG) at the University of Ljubljana in 1976, Darinka Battelino became the first woman in
former Yugoslavia to obtain a civil engineering doctoral degree.
In 1964 she won the student Prešeren award (the highest prize in Slovenia awarded for diploma thesis)
and shortly after, became the first female professor at FAGG; she was initially employed as a teaching
assistant for the course Soil mechanics and later elected to the position of assistant professor of
geotechnical engineering (1987).
She also lectured at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the University of Maribor (1977-1991). After 1991
she obtained professor positions in Italy (University of Trento 1991-1993 and since 1993 University of
Trieste) and in 1992, spent six months as a visiting professor at the University Obafemi Alowo Ife in
Nigeria.
An important part of her academic career was dedicated to teaching. She supervised a number of
undergraduate and postgraduate thesis, including the first doctoral dissertation in civil engineering to be
defended by a woman at the University of Trieste (2005).
She played a key role in establishing cooperation between the universities of Ljubljana, Maribor, Graz,
Vienna and Trieste and mentored a number of joint bilateral thesis. In 1982 she received the national
Kavčič award for her educational work at the university.

References
Prokop, Branko. "Modelna preiskava podporne konstrukcije iz armirane zemljine." MSc thesis, University of Ljubljana,
40–1, 1994.

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124
 Antonia Astori
b. 1940
Italy

Antonia Astori graduated in industrial and visual design at the Lausanne’s Athenaeum in 1966. In
1968 co-founded the furniture company “Driade”, with her brother, Enrico Astori, and Adelaide Acerbi.
“Antonia Astori was herself a prolific designer for the company and was involved with the shaping
of its visual identity, also producing a highly successful series of geometrically conceived, clearly
articulated storage systems such as Oikos of 1972, Kaos of 1986, and Pantos of 1993.” (WOODHAM,
2005). Resident designer for the Italian company Driade since 1968, Astori designs pieces intended to
be seen as “room architecture”.
In addition, she works as an interior architect, developing projects for stores, homes, offices and
collaborating with stylists such as Marithé and François Girbaud. Having an architectural and
modular vision of design, Antonia Astori creates clean and structural pieces and environments.

References
Woodham, Jonathan. A Dictionary of Modern Design. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

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125
 Olga Quintanilha
1942-2005
Portugal

Olga Quintanilha was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1942, where she graduated in architecture from the
School of Fine Arts in 1967. Among several projects signed in her own name or in partnership, she
worked in the field of school buildings, including for the Ministry of Education, where she collaborated
on various projects with the architects Frederico George e Francisco Silva Dias.
She was also the author of projects abroad, especially in Angola in the 1980’s. From the long list of
works we highlight one of her last works, the emblematic “Condomínio Twin Towers”, a residential
space with shopping centre in José Malhoa Avenue (opened in 1999).
Olga Quintanilha joined the Associação dos Arquitectos Portugueses (Portuguese Architects
Association) in 1982 and her work was instrumental in raising the public association of architects
to the Order in 1998 and was its first president between 1999 and 2001. A permanent member of
the Council of Europe of Architects between 1989 and 1991, in 1999 she was elected president of
the Iberian DOCOMOMO.

References
Brandão, Pedro. “Olga Quintanilha, 1942-2005. Presidente do CDN, 1995-2001.” Arquitectos 154 (2005): 2.

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126
 Cristina Reis
b. 1945
Portugal

After earning her degree in painting at the Lisbon Fine Arts School, Cristina Reis took her first steps in
design by working at product designer Daciano da Costa’s studio from 1960 until 1966.
She would then enroll in the Ravensborne College of Art and Design (England), Art and Graphic Design
course, graduating in 1970 and returning to Portugal to work on the 1st Portuguese Design Exhibition,
coordinated by the INII - Design Nucleus of the National Institute for Industrial Research.
From 1974 to 1975, Cristina Reis would work on several exhibitions for the industry, as member of DEZ
cooperative, from which architect António Sena da Silva was also part of.
In 1975 she began working as set designer and costume designer at the Cornucópia Theatre, with Jorge
Silva Melo and Luis Miguel Cintra, and since then has been responsible for the sets and costumes of
almost all performances held collaborating with numerous directors, such as Christine Laurent, Daniel
Worm d’Assumpção and Zita Duarte.
From 1979 to 1981, Cristina also worked as a scenography intern at the “Schaubühne Am Halleschen
Ufer”, in Berlin.

References
Quadrio, Miguel Pedro. “O espelho de Cristina: Cristina Reis”, Sinais de Cena 2, 2004.
Souto, Maria Helena and Brízio, Fernando. “Dos caminhos do design em Portugal: à conversa com Cristina Reis e
Eduardo Afonso Dias.” Camões – Revista de Letras e Culturas Lusófonas 23 (2015): 9–15.

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127
 Graça Nieto Guimarães
b. 1952
Portugal

Architect by the Porto’s School of Fine Arts, currently named as Faculty of Architecture of the Porto
University (1976). Graça Nieto Guimarães has been working independently since 1985.
She participated in several seminars and congresses, mainly focused on urban planning and urban
regeneration. Between 1972 and 1986, Nieto Guimarães worked with Bento Lousan, Álvaro Siza,
Francisco Guedes de Carvalho e Manuel Fernandes de Sá.
Among her work, one may highlight a storage and office building in Gaia (published in “Architectures
à Porto” Ed. Pierre Mardage – Belgium) and João das Regras office building in Porto (earned an
Honorable Mention by the João de Almada Award – 1992).
In December 2007 she is awarded, in co-authorship, the first prize of a Public Competition, on the Rossio
Marquês do Pombal and adjacent squares in Estremoz.
Graça Nieto Guimarães is also the co-founder, along with engineer António Pérez Babo, of the studio
“gng.apb – arquitectura e planeamento, lda”, Porto.

References
William, John, and Incertum, Opus. Architectures à Porto. Liége: Pierre Mardaga, 1990.

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128
 Karin Schou Andersen
b. 1953
Denmark

Danish designer, Karin Schou Andersen, graduated at the School of Architecture in Aarhus. After
working for several firms, she founded her studio, “KSADesign”, in 1993.
Renowned for her work in industrial product design, including urban outdoor furniture where
sustainability is a fundamental aspect of her work, she also developed packaging and graphic design.
Schou Andersen has done extensive studies in the field of ergonomics, with particular regard to the
needs of people who have impaired function in their hands and arms after traffic accidents, sports
injuries and as a result of arthritis, multiple sclerosis or similar conditions.
Andersen’s best known design in this field is a series of flatware, designed in 1979, that are included in
the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Design
Museum Jerusalem and Design Museum Denmark.

References
Wisniewski, Katherine. “A room of their own: MoMA’s first exhibit on women in architecture and design.” Architizer
Journal, September 21, 2014. https://architizer.com/blog/practice/details/designing-women/.
KSA DESIGN. Accessed October 10, 2016. http://www.ksadesign.dk/en/referencer/.

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129
 Carlotta de Bevilacqua
b. 1957
Italy

Carlotta de Bevilacqua graduated in 1983 in Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano. On the same year
she started taking charge of her architectural, product and graphic design studio aimed at designing
innovative spaces and buildings with reduced environmental impact and exploring new interpretations
of the relationships among humans, architecture, nature and light.
As an architect, designer, entrepreneur and teacher she is involved in architectural and interior design, in
Italy and around the world, also collaborating with other major architecture and engineering professionals.
Carlotta de Bevilacqua is one of the main protagonists in the world of contemporary architecture and design.
Designer with extensive experience and Art Director in “Memphis and Alias” from 1989 to 1993, she
has developed an important path of research in the field of light, developing for “Artemide” innovative
concepts and products that open new possibilities in the area of performance lighting, new sensory
experiences and perspectives, as in the “Metamorphosis” and “ALSO” projects. She investigates
aspects of light and environment relating to the ability of inducing feelings of wellness as also to offer
new standards of quality and experiences, as she continues her design work with “Danese”. From 2012 to
2013, she has been a member of the Board of Direction of Fondazione Triennale di Milano.

References
Woodham, Jonathan. A Dictionary of Modern Design. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

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130
 Cristina Castel-Branco
b. 1958
Portugal

Cristina Castel-Branco graduated in Landscape Architecture from Instituto Superior de Agronomia

(Agronomia High Studies Institute) in 1985; was a Fulbright–ITT grant holder and completed her
Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture at the University of Massachusetts in 1989, having studied
at the Graduate School of Design of Harvard University in 1988. She completed her doctoral degree in
History of Garden Art by the ISA in 1993.
She began lecturing at the ISA in 1989 and currently lectures on the History and Theory of Landscape
Architecture subjects. As a guest lecturer, she has taught post-graduate courses at universities in
Madrid, Manchester and Tokyo. Cristina Castel-Branco oversaw the restoration of the Ajuda Botanical
Garden (1994-1997) and served as the garden’s director between 1997 and 2002. She was elected a
voting member of the International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes, ICOMOS, and World
Heritage — UNESCO in 2006, and has since contributed towards various cultural landscape evaluation
missions on behalf of the world heritage list.
In 1989, she founded, in partnership with Teresa Andresen, the “ACB — Arquitectura Paisagista”
atelier and actually leads the atelier. She is also the author of several books on Landscape
Architecture history, art and theory in addition to a series of articles published in specialist journals
in Europe, the United States of America and Japan.
References
Castel-Branco, Cristina (ed.). A Água nos Jardins Portugueses. Lisbon: Scribe, 2010.
Cristina Castel-Branco. “Curriculum Vitae, 2006.” Accessed February 16, 2017.
http://www.isa.utl.pt/files/pub/reg/cv_ccbranco.pdf.

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131
 Maria Auböck
b. 1959
Austria

Maria Auböck is an Austrian landscape architect and tenure professor at the Design Institute of Outdoor
Spaces in the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Germany.
She was born in Vienna, daughter of the Austrian architect and industrial designer Carl Auböck
(1925–1993) and studied architecture at the Vienna University of Technology. In 1985, she founded her
own studio in Vienna, where she was joined by János Kárász in 1987.
The studio is now known as “Auböck + Kárász”, developing several projects in European countries in the
areas of open-space planning, parks, rehabilitation of historic gardens and outdoor urban design. Maria
Auböck is a member of the Expert Committee of the European Prize for Urban Public Space since the
2014 edition and she has been acting as a member of several advisory boards for urban design, city
planning and art in public spaces. In 2015, she received the “Silbernes Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste
um das Land Wien” (Silver Medal for Services to the City of Vienna).

References
Madariaga, Inès Sánchez, and Roberts, Marion (eds.). Fair Shared Cities: The Impact of Gender Planning in Europe.
London; New York: Routledge, 2016.
Auböck + Kárász - Landscape Architects. “INFO.” Accessed September 13, 2017. http://www.auboeck-karasz.at/info.

Image Copyrights ©
Visualization ZOOM; Christian Wind; Bayerische Hausbau.

132
 Caroline Bos
b. 1959
The Netherlands

Caroline Bos studied History of Art at Birkbeck College of the University of London. She later
completed a Master’s Degree in urban and regional planning, at the Geosciences Faculty of the
University of Utrecht.
After co-founding “Van Berkel & Bos Architectuur Bureau” in 1988, she stopped working as a journalist
to focus on being the internal critic for the practice, namely, essays and descriptions of projects
that were yet to be designed. Also with her husband, Ben van Berkel, in 1999, Caroline Bos founded
“UNStudio”, a network of specialists in architecture, urban development and infrastructure. With Ben van
Berkel, she was the editor of “Forum” (1985-1986) and the “ANY“ publication “Diagram Works” (1998); her
interest in the concept of the architect is reflected in the books she has also co-written with Van Berkel,
such as “Delinquent Visionaries” (1990), “Mobile Forces” (1994), “Move” (1999) and “Design Models”
(2006). She was a visiting lecturer at Princeton University and has taught at the Berlage Institute and
UCLA.

References
Toy, Maggie (ed.). The Architect. Women in Contemporary Architecture. New York: Watson-Guptill, 2001.

Image Copyrights ©
UNStudio; Mercedes-Benz; Patrick Nagel, Michael Schnell, Future Cape Town.

133
 Ana Costa
b. 1960
Portugal

With a degree in Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon
(FAUTL, 1983), Ana Costa obtained her “Master of Architecture” degree at the College of Environmental
Design in the University of California, Berkeley, in 1985 and two years later she completed “Marketing
Fundamentals” at the School of Business Administration, University of California Extension, San
Francisco.
During her years in California (1983-1989), she worked with the “Sandy & Babcok” architectural firm
in San Francisco and later as the main architect in the “BLUEPETER” Design office in San Francisco,
where she was responsible of several projects, including the “PIXAR” and “NEXT” computers’ first stand
exhibitions. She was also Director of Marketing for this design office until 1988.
In 1989 Ana Costa returned to Portugal and, in 1991, she joined the Daciano da Costa Atelier as a
principal architect participating with her father on several projects such as the interiors of the Centro
Cultural de Belém and the furniture design for the Casa da Música in Oporto, among others.
In 2005, she took the leadership of Daciano da Costa Atelier in Lisbon, Portugal, and in 2011 she
enlarged her studio opening a branch office in São Paulo, Brazil, where she has developed several
architectural and interior design projects.

References
Lacerada, Mafalda. Atelier Daciano da Costa - the New Generation. Cascais: TrueTeam, 2009.
Ana Costa - Arquitectura e Design. “About.” Accessed March 8, 2017. http://www.anacosta.pt/about.aspx.

Image Copyrights ©

134
 Dorte Mandrup
b. 1961
Denmark

Dorte Mandrup is a Danish architect, owner of the architectural practice “Dorte Mandrup
Arkitekter”, founded on 30 June 1999 and based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Dorte Mandrup
graduated from the Aarhus School of Architecture in 1991 and from 1991-92, she also studied
sculpture and ceramics at the G.S.C. Art Department in the United States. In the 20 years of
professional experience, her ability to cut to the core of a problem is recognized and used in
international jury contexts, as a lecturer and as a professor.
Among other professional appointments, she is a board member at the Louisiana Museum of Modern
Art and appointed member of The Historic Buildings Council under the Act of the Ministry of Culture,
on Building Preservation and conservation of buildings and urban environments. She also has been
awarded numerous national and international awards, like the Bauwelt Prize, AR Award for Emerging
Architecture, and the prestigious C.F. Hansen medal.
“Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter” engages in a wide variety of projects; cultural institutions, buildings for
children and youth, sports facilities, education, housing, office buildings and master plans, as well as
renovation and alteration of Federally Listed historical buildings.

References
Lauri, Tomas (ed.). Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter. Stockholm: Arvinius + Orfeus, 2015.

Image Copyrights ©
Dorte Mandrup

135
 Cristina Guedes
b. 1964
Portugal

Graduated in Architecture by the Faculty of Architecture of the Porto University – FAUP in 1992, Cristina
Guedes collaborated in the studio of the Architect Álvaro Siza between 1989 and 1990. Since 1996, she
teaches in the Faculty of Architecture of the Lusíada University, Porto and has been invited to critics
at Mendrisio Architecture Academy and ETH Zurich, Switzerland, TUWien, Austria and dARQ-FCTUC,
Coimbra, Portugal.
In 1994 with Francisco Vieira de Campos, she founded the studio “menos é mais arquitectos” (less is
more architects). Their main projects are a programmatic response related to specific contexts as in the
“Archipelago - Center of Contemporary Arts”, Azores (with architect João Mendes Ribeiro), the Gaia cable
car, or the urban redevelopment for social housing blocks in Porto. They have also taken part in both
national and international award juries and Cristina Guedes acted as Commissary of Portugal at the IX
BIAU New Geographies.
Their work was recently recognized with the distinction of “International Fellowship 2017” from the Royal
Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in recognition of their contribution to architecture and received the
PREMIS FAD 2016 (Barcelona). The studio took part in national and international exhibits, such as the
Biennale di Venezia 2016 - Reporting from the front, with the installation “Is it possible to create a public
space within a private commission?”.

References
TC Cuadernos. “Menos é Mais.” Accessed November 30, 2017. https://www.tccuadernos.com/60_menos-e-mais.

Image Copyrights ©
Alberto Plácido; José Campos; FG+ SG Fotografia de Arquitectura.

136
 Inga Sempé
b. 1968
France

Born in Paris and among artists, Inga Sempé studied from ENSCI-Les Ateliers (Ecole Nationale
Supérieure de Création Industrielle, Paris). After graduating, in 1993, she worked in several design and
interior architecture studios, opening her own in 2000.
Between 2000 and 2001, she was a scholarship holder at the Villa Medici, Académie de France in Rome,
collaborating with Italian companies such as “Cappellini” and “Edra”.
In 2003, Sempé won Paris Grand Prize of Creation for design, showcasing her work at the Musée des
Arts Décoratifs.
She works mainly with scandinavian, italian and french companies such as “HAY”, “Ligne Roset”,
“Wästberg”, “Alessi”, “LucePlan”, “Mutina”, “Røros”, “Moustache”, “Svenskt Tenn” and “Gärsnäs”.

References
Schmidt, Petra, and Stattmann, Nicola. Unfolded: Paper in Design, Art, Architecture and Industry, 144. Birkhäuser GmbH,
3rd ed. Edition, 2009.

Image Copyrights ©

137
 F|C Arquitectura Paisagista
b. 1969
Portugal

F|C Arquitectura Paisagista is a landscape architecture studio owned by Filipa Cardoso de Menezes (b.
1969) and Catarina Assis Pacheco (b. 1969). Founded by the two architects in 1997, three years after
both graduated from the Instituto Superior de Agronomia (Agronomia High Studies Institute), the studio’s
work ranges from public space to private commissions, schools, institutional projects and urban planning.
Menezes and Pacheco have learned through their professional experience, to accept and value variety
in scale and typology on their projects, and have always aimed at an architectural approach that would
consider and privilege the site, reflecting on its individual significance and continuously attempt to
“unveil new interpretations of the landscape”.
Their work has been widely published in books, catalogues and magazines, such as the book
“Portuguese Contemporary Houses” or the 2012 “Secil Prize Catalogue”. In 2013, Uzina Books published
“Three Steps Landscape”, a book written by Filipa Cardoso de Menezes and Catarina Assis Pacheco.

References
F|C Arquitectura Paisagista. “Filipa Cardoso de Menezes, Catarina Assis Pacheco.” Accessed May 23, 2016.
http://www.fc-ap.com/atelier.

Image Copyrights ©
Verónica Mota, João Morgado, www.fc-ap.com

138
 Sofia Tsiraki
b. 1970
Greece

Sofia Tsiraki was born in Athens, Greece on November 1979. She graduated from the School of
Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in 1997, where she is an assistant
Professor and PhD candidate in the department of Architectural Design. She has won the first prize in a
range of architectural competitions, with some of her projects being widely praised.
The “House-box: Private residence and space of cultural activities in Koukaki” was nominated for the
Mies Van der Rohe Award 2013. The project “The dissolution of the box: Apartment block in Gazi”
has been awarded by the Hellenic Institute of Architecture First Prize 2013 for best built project
throughout the years 2009-2013. She has worked as an editor and contributing author in three
collective publications, and participated in several architecture exhibitions.

References
Arch Daily. “The House Box In Koukaki/Sofia Tsiraki.” Accessed February 15, 2016.
https://www.archdaily.com/231743/the-house-box-in-koukaki-sofia-tsiraki.

Image Copyrights ©

139
 Inês Cortesão
b. 1970
Portugal

After graduating in Interior Design at IADE (1994), and completing her Master in Interior Design at the
University of Salamanca in 1996, she decided to study Architecture at Lusíada University of Lisbon,
where she graduated in 2001. Inês Cortesão collaborated between 2000 and 2002 in João Luís
Carrilho da Graça’s architecture studio and, in 2002, she opened her own architecture office in Lisbon.
In 2006 she created “bica-arquitectos” where, since then, develops projects in partnership, in addition to
her individual projects. Her body of work already represents an example of design quality in which the
elegance of gesture and the attention to detail gives an ‘unmistakable watermark’.

References
Arch Daily. “Casa Príncipe real/Inês Cortesão.” Accessed December 22, 2016.
https://www.archdaily.com.br/br/office/ines-cortesao.

Image Copyrights ©

140
 Cecilie Manz
b. 1972
Denmark

Cecilie Manz is a proeminent danish product designer who’s built a solid career designing furniture,
glass, lamps and related products, and working for clients such as “Lightyears”, “Holmegaard”, “Nils
Holger Moormann”, “Fredericia Furniture”, “Fritz Hansen”, “Muuto” and “Mooment”.
She graduated at the The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts - The School of Design, in Copenhagen
and studied as an exchange student, at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki. Manz founded her
own studio in Copenhagen, in 1998.
She views all her works as fragments of only one elegant and subtle story, linked by their idea, their
materials and aesthetics. All the projects revolve “around simplicity, the process of working toward a
pure, aesthetic and narrative object.”

References
Folkmann, Mads Nygaard. “Conceptualizing Aesthetics in Design: A Phenomenological Framework.” In Advancements
in the Philosophy of Design, edited by Pieter E. Vermaas and Stéphane Vial, 269–70. Cham: Springer International
Publishing AG, 2018.

Image Copyrights ©

141
 Ana Mestre
b. 1978
Portugal

Ana Mestre was born in Lisbon. She has an MDes, an MSc and a PhD in Industrial Design and
Sustainable Innovation. Ana started her career in 2001 as one of the first eco-design researchers in
Portugal. In 2004, Ana founded “SUSDESIGN – Design for Sustainability Studio and Research”. In 2006,
she created and directed “Design Cork” - the first internationally applied design research initiative for
cork innovation. In 2009, she founded the “CORQUE DESIGN” studio brand.
Ana has a portfolio of more than 50 exhibitions, in several Design events around the World. In 2015,
she was nominated as a Portuguese Design Award finalist. In 2016, she was selected by the Scientific
Committee of La Triennale di Milano to exhibit her 10 years of design work in a special exhibition during
the “XXI Century: Design after Design” international exhibition. Presently, she combines the direction
of her design studio, “SUSDESIGN”, based in Lisbon and London with a “Sustainable Design” research
position at Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom.

References
Mutante. “Em Milão: CORQUE#016, de Ana Mestre.” Accessed October 28, 2016.
http://mutante.pt/2016/04/em-milao-corque016-de-ana-mestre/.

Image Copyrights ©
REXSCANPIX.

142
 Beatriz Ramo
b. 1979
Spain

Beatriz Ramo is a Spanish architect and urbanist that graduated from the Technical School of
Architecture in Valencia (ETSAV), Spain. In 2002, after having received a scholarship to study at the
Technische Universiteit in Eindhoven, she moved to the Netherlands. During 2003 and 2004, Beatriz
Ramo worked at the “Office for Metropolitan Architecture” – “OMA” – in Rotterdam, where she has been
based ever since. In “OMA”, she participated in the CCTV - China Central Television Headquarters and
TVCC -Television Cultural Centre in Beijing, the Wyly Theatre in Dallas and the Railway station area in
Logroño, Spain, among other projects.
In 2006 she opened her own architecture firm in Rotterdam - “STAR strategies + architecture” -, a studio
practice dealing with architecture in all its forms, working on projects and doing research in the fields of
architecture, urbanism, and landscape design.
Since 2007, Beatriz Ramo has been a teacher at different institutions in the Netherlands and since 2008
she is managing and also a contributing editor at “MONU” magazine, bringing together challenging
themes explored by interesting writers and theorists.

References
Vitruvius. “Beatriz Ramo Lecture, Weimar.” Accessed March 25, 2018.
http://www.vitruvius.com.br/jornal/agenda/read/2711.

Image Copyrights ©
STAR strategies + architecture, Paperjam.

143
 Joana Leandro Vasconcelos
b. 1979
Portugal

In 2003, Joana Leandro Vasconcelos received her degree in Architecture from the Faculty of
Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP), and in 2007 she attended the “Master in Collective
Housing” at the Technical Superior School of Architecture of Madrid (ETSAM), Polytechnic University of
Madrid (PUC), with the attribution of a scholarship by ETSAM.
She collaborated with the architecture office “Manuel Correia Fernandes, Architects and Associates,
Llda.” (“mcf.a&a”) working in projects of different contents. Afterwards (2004-2007), she worked in
“GAIURB – Urban and Landscape Management of Vila Nova de Gaia”, participating in the elaboration of
urban renewal projects, in the review of the Vila Nova de Gaia Director Municipal Plan (PDM).
In 2007, Joana Leandro Vasconcelos began to work individually, creating “atelier in.vitro”, a young,
dynamic and multidisciplinary structure, dedicated to architecture projects in its various forms,
dimensions and scales, from object to landscape and from new constructions to rehabilitations.

References
Dezeen. “Atelier In Vitro creates retro interiors for three apartments in 1940s Porto building.” Accessed October 28,
2016. https://www.dezeen.com/2017/02/25/rehabilitation-three-apartments-atelier-in-vitro-joana-leandro-vasconcelos-
porto-portugal-palacio/.

Image Copyrights ©

144
 The author of ‘The Woman of the Week’ entries is
Maria Helena Souto except for the entries
“Ksenija Šetina Grum” by Barbara Vodopivec and Darja Grum Maček
“Mária Krukovská” by Henrieta Moravčíková
“Darinka Battelino” by Barbara Vodopivec.
Preliminary layout by MoMoWo Portuguese Team (IADE).

145
From 2016 to 2018 every 8th March, MoMoWo project partner ZRC

Posters from the MoMoWo Exhibition

SAZU (in collaboration with the project patron Slovene Centre of Ar-
chitecture) organised a small exhibition ‘To the Fore: Female Pioneers
in Slovenian Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Design’ at the DESSA
Gallery in Ljubljana. The aim was bringing attention to MoMoWo Open
Day activity and raising awareness of the project among the general and
professional public, as well as increasing its media coverage.
The three exhibitions were dedicated to the Slovene female pioneers, the
first pre- and post-war generations of female designers who left a strong
imprint with their designs and drafts. They were the silent companions

Slovenian Women Pioneers

working in the shadows of professionally more acknowledged and better
known male professors, colleagues, fathers, and husbands, so that, even
nowadays, it is difficult to determine their actual contributions to nu-
merous architectural masterpieces in Slovenia. Due to prevailing social
prejudice, their work was restricted to only some fields of architecture,
such as drawing of plans, designing parks and interiors, industrial and
urban design, while they were rarely involved in working on building com-
missions independently; their domestic duties (such as raising a family)
restricted their activities even further. Thus some of them redirected their
creativity elsewhere, usually to the artistic domain.
The presented posters are the results of research carried out by the ZRC
SAZU MoMoWo research team and external collaborators, as one of the
project’s aims is also to raise the interest of the professional public for
research of a neglected part of Slovenian architectural legacy. The texts
are conceived so as to serve as entries for the Novi slovenski biografski
leksikon (New Slovene Biographical Lexicon), published by ZRC SAZU.
After the project ends, the series of exhibitions and Open days will be
taken over by the Slovene Centre of Architecture, who will continue the
activities in collaboration with the ZRC SAZU, France Stele Institute of
Art History, which will enable sustainability of the MoMoWo project in
Slovenia.
The following pages present a selection of posters, where content
has been slightly trimmed; the original posters in their entirety can be
viewed at https://www.zrc-sazu.si/sl/zbirka/slovenske-arhitektke-grad-
benice-in-oblikovalke.

Helena Seražin | MoMoWo Slovenia

147
Dušana Šantel Kanoni
Vladimira Bratuž • Majda Dobravec Lajovic • Magda Fornazarič Kocmut
•
Marta Ivanšek • Nives Kalin Vehovar • Juta Krulc • Seta Mušič •

•
Gizela Šuklje • Branka Tancig Novak

Dušana Šantel Kanoni

Pazin, 1908 – Ljubljana, 1988

In 1925 she enrolled at the Tech- professions so she later took on

nical Faculty in Ljubljana to study odd jobs to make ends meet.
architecture under Prof. Ivan She designed furniture, drafts for
Vurnik and finished her studies in decorative crafts, and different
1932, as the first female graduate types of embroidery. She was ac-
in architecture in Slovenia. After tive in garden architecture; as an
a one-year practice with architect architect she was mostly involved
Dragotin Fatur, she received a in building adaptations. In 1933
French scholarship and during she presented her designs at the
1933 and 1934 she furthered her exhibition of the Little Entente
knowledge in Paris at the École artists and Young Slovenian Ar-
nationale supérieure des Arts chitecture in the Jakopič Pavilion.
Décoratifs, at the Decorative Arts During the Second World War she
Department. She was awarded worked for the Vinko Križaj com-
the Enfance et Jeunesse diploma pany and in 1945 she passed the
for teaching children decorative professional exam. After the war,
drawing; she also worked in the she was employed as a junior civil
atelier of Au Boucheron, a Parisian engineer and professor in various
furniture company. The society state services. In the 1950s she
of the time was not in favour of became seriously ill and gave up
employing women in technical her professional work.

Works (selection)
- Composable kitchen furniture exhibited at the Ljubljana Grand Fair, undated
- Conversion of the student dormitory, Gradišče 14, Ljubljana, around 1935
- Conversion of the café Zvezda, ground floor of the Kazina building, Ljubljana, around 1935
- Design for Dr. Krivic’s villa, Bežigrad, Ljubljana, around 1935, unrealised
- Design of a holiday hostel for poor children owned by the Yugoslav Sisters, Suhi Vrh na Koroškem, around 1935
- Several adaptations of the Kodeljevo mansion, between 1941 and 1944
- Drafts for the new dyeing and finishing plant for Inteks company, Kranj, around 1947
- Draft of a kindergarten, the so-called Home to Play and Work, Trbovlje
- Draft of the activists’ home, kindergarten, and nursery, Ljubljana

Composable kitchen, Ljubljana, undated

148
 Gizela Šuklje
Vladimira Bratuž • Majda Dobravec Lajovic • Magda Fornazarič Kocmut •
Marta Ivanšek • Nives Kalin Vehovar • Juta Krulc • Seta Mušič • Dušana
Šantel Kanoni • •
Branka
Tancig Novak

Gizela Šuklje
Jelsa na Hvaru, 1909 – Ljubljana, 1994

She graduated at the Technical The post enabled her to collabo-

Faculty in Ljubljana in 1932 with rate with her former teacher on
Prof. Jože Plečnik. She was his some of Ljubljana’s most impor-
first female student to graduate tant projects of the 1930s and
at Ljubljana University. Šuklje won 1940s. In 1946, Šuklje became a
the French national scholarship professor at the State School for
to study at the Institut d’Art et Handicrafts (present-day High
d’Archèologie at the Sorbonne School for Design and Photogra-
in Paris 1933/34, and worked in phy), later becoming headmis-
the atelier of architect Auguste tress (1969–1973). Documents
Perret (1874–1954). She became attest to her broad creativity,
an assistant volunteer at the which spanned a variety of fields,
University of King Alexander I and from architecture, interior design,
also worked in Plečnik’s studio. book design, urban planning to
She passed her professional landscape architecture, writing,
architectural exam in Belgrade teaching and public monuments,
in 1938 and later obtained a per- firmly placing her amongst the
manent position at the Ljubljana foremost female pioneers in
Magistrate building department. Slovenian architecture.

Works (selection)
- Projects for the Tivoli Park children’s playground and
the canopy over the entrance to the open air sports grounds (demolished in 1961),
(assistant to Jože Plečnik), Ljubljana, 1933
- Celebratory stands at the town Stadium (co-authorship with Jože Plečnik), Ljubljana, 1935
- Villa Epos plans (assistant to Jože Plečnik), Bled, 1936
- Plans for the interior decoration for the church of Saint Antony of Padua
(assistant to Jože Plečnik), Beograd, 1936
- First plans for Žale Central Cemetery (assistant to Jože Plečnik), Ljubljana, 1937
- The Central Market (assistant to Jože Plečnik), Ljubljana, 1939–41
- Urban plan of Metlika (initialy in collaboration with Jože Plečnik), 1945
- Town park, Metlika, 1953/54
- Town park, Krško, around 1957
- NOB monument, Bojanci, 1978

Urban Plan of Metlika, 1944–1945

149
Sonja Lapajne Oblak
Darinka Battelino • Alenka Kham Pičman

•
Dana Pajnič • Lidija Podbregar • Barbara Rot
•
Janja Lap

•
•

Olga Rusanova • Erna

Tomšič • Mojca Vogelnik

Sonja Lapajne Oblak

Ljubljana, 1906 – Ljubljana, 1995

Sonja Lapajne Oblak graduated joined the National Liberation

with a degree in construction Movement and was in 1943
from the former Technical arrested and interned at the
Faculty in Ljubljana and became German Ravennsbrück con-
the first Slovenian woman to centration camp. After the war
earn a degree in civil engineer- she held important positions in
ing, and first female urban various construction companies
designer. Between 1934–43 she across Yugoslavia (Novi Beograd,
worked on static calculations for Gradis) and spatial and urban
reinforced concrete structures planning companies in Slovenia.
for the Technical Department of As director of the institute
the Drava Banate in Ljubljana, Projektivni atelje za arhitekturo,
which were built by the state of urbanizem in nizke gradnje
the time, and supervised their Ljubljana she retired in 1969.
construction. She worked with In the 1950s she took part in
the most prominent architects of drawing-up the development plan
the time, including Jože Plečnik, of the Pomurje region. She wrote
Emil Navinšek, Vinko Glanz, and several professional papers on
Edvard Ravnikar. In 1941 she urbanism.

Works (selection)
- Static calculation for the National and University Library building (architect Jože Plečnik), Ljubljana, 1935
- Static calculation and supervising the execution of reinforced-concrete parts of the secondary school III
državna realna gimnazija (today Gimnazija Bežigrad, architect Emil Navinšek), Ljubljana, 1936
- Supervision of static calculation and execution of reinforced-concrete parts of the Yugoslav King hotel building
(today Hotel Slovenija, architect Vinko Glanz), Rogaška Slatina, 1938
- Supervision of static calculation and execution of reinforced-concrete parts of the State School Polyclinic
building (today Student Health Center of the University of Ljubljana), Ljubljana, 1939
- Supervision of static calculation and execution of reinforced-concrete parts of the Museum of Modern Art
(architect Edvard Ravnikar), Ljubljana, 1951
- Supervision of static calculation and execution of reinforced-concrete parts of secondary school building II
gimnazija Maribor (architects Jaroslav Černigoj and Emil Navinšek), Maribor, 1952
- Coordinating the drawing-up of the Pomurje Regional Plan, 1958

Static calculations for Gimnazija Bežigrad

(architect Emil Navinšek), Ljubljana, 1936

150
Oblak •
•
Barbara
Dana Pajnič
Darinka Battelino • Alenka Kham Pičman • Janja Lap • Sonja Lapajne

Rot •
Olga Rusanova •
Erna Tomšič •
Mojca
•
Lidija Podbregar
Vogelnik

Dana Pajnič
Ljubljana, 1906 – Ljubljana,1970

She attended the Probuda Art in Slovenian Art at the Ljubljana

School in Ljubljana and Decora- Grand Fair in 1932 and the Little
tive Arts School in Dresden. In Entente of Women in Ljubljana in
1926/27 she enrolled in France 1938. In the occupied Ljubljana,
Kralj’s Ceramics School at the she was active member of the
Technical Secondary School Liberation Front, she was interned
in Ljubljana, where she soon by the Germans to Ravensbrück
became his assistant. She was for two years. After the war she
considered the most talented married her long-term partner,
among Kralj’s students and architect Miroslav Oražem. In his
was as early as 1928 involved house, they each had their own
in the great retrospective studio. There she was joined by
exhibition Slovenian Modern Art Milan Cvelbar (1923–2001) who
1918–1928. She designed unique collaborated with her on unique
studio ceramics and ceramics for design projects. After the war,
everyday use, and soon started she expanded her field of work to
to take more ambitious steps industrial design. She was drawn
towards becoming a sculptor. by new materials: wood, metal,
She appeared in the media and glass. She was included in
and exhibitions where she was selections of Yugoslavian design
involved in the exhibition Women in exhibitions all over the world.

Works (selection)
- Coffee set, ceramics factory Dekor, Ljubljana, 1934
- Plate with a self-portrait with a bird, ceramics factory Dekor,
Ljubljana, 1932–34, kept by the National Museum of Slovenia
- Swan, Keramika ceramics factory, Novo Mesto, 1935
- Two Little Horses, 1938, private collection
- Ceramics room of wholesaler Jelačin, Emonska 8, Ljubljana,
ceramics factory Keramika, Novo mesto, 1937–38
- Grill with fish grilling utensils, 1959
- Jug and glasses, 1960s
- Carafe and glasses, 1960s

Coffee set, ceramics factory Dekor, Ljubljana, 1934

151
 Juta Krulc
Vladimira Bratuž • Majda Dobravec Lajovic • Magda Fornazarič Kocmut • Marta
Ivanšek • Nives Kalin Vehovar •
Mušič • Dušana Šantel Kanoni • Gizela Šuklje • Branka Tancig Novak
•
Seta

Juta Zdešar Krulc

Radovljica, 1913 – Golnik, 2015

She graduated from architecture Institute in Belgrade published

at the Technical faculty in 1937 Fenološki atlas Jugoslavije (The
under Prof. Ivan Vurnik with the Phenological Atlas of Yugoslavia)
graduation work, The Swimming with her drawings of plants, plant
Pool Complex in Radovljica. She diseases as well as bird and an-
passed the state examination to imal pests. Her work consists of
become a Chartered Engineer over 300 designs of planting on
in Belgrade, where she worked public surfaces and gardens for
with engineer Mihajlo Nešić until individual clients. Throughout her
1940. Between 1953 and 1957 life she studied the plant life in
she was an assistant to Prof. Ciril Slovenia and botanical drawings.
Jeglič at the Faculty of Agron- Her gardens were featured in
omy in Ljubljana in the course magazines Ambient, Hiše, Vrtnar,
Gardening and Landscape Rože in vrt, Delo in dom, Delo in
Architecture. At the time she was dom plus, and many others. In
involved in designing the Volčji 2012, she received municipal
Potok Arboretum. In 1955 the award of Žiri for her work.
Yugoslav Hydrometeorological

Works (selection)
- Villa Tartini garden, Strunjan, 1958
- Greening of residential area Radeče, 1961
- Kržišnik garden, Žiri, 1992–2015
- Zorjan garden, Žiri, 1997
- Kosler garden, Ortnek, 1999–2002
- Erjavec garden, Dilici, 2000–2003
- Riha garden, Ljubljana, 2001
- Trinkaus garden, Liminjan, 2001–2006
- Kersnik garden, Cerknica, 2002–2006
- Lamberger garden, Mala Loka, 2003–2006

Kržišnik garden, Žiri, 1992–2015

152
Oblak • Dana Pajnič •
•
LidijaPodbregar
Darinka Battelino • Alenka Kham Pičman •Janja Lap • Sonja Lapajne

Barbara Rot • Olga Rusanova • Erna Tomšič • Mojca Vogelnik

Lidija Podbregar
Zagreb, 1923 – Ljubljana, 2013

After graduating from the City supply in residential settlements.

Secondary School for Girls Lidija In 1962 she took a study trip to
Podbregar enrolled in 1941 in the Northern European countries
architecture study programme with the aim of studying the
at the Technical Faculty in commercial centres there; the re-
Ljubljana and in 1947 graduated port Commercial Centres Abroad
with Prof. Jože Plečnik with the has been preserved from the trip.
design for the new building of the Along with the many commercial
People’s Assembly of the PRS. centres for basic supply that
She was employed at Slovenija she designed, the key part of her
projekt and, between 1950 in work was theoretical, e.g. the
1960, worked at Projektivni biro highly-visible presentation at the
Radovljica, Rudnik and Gradis 12th conference of urban de-
in Ljubljana. From 1960 on she signers and planners in Rijeka in
worked at the Research Centre of 1965 entitled Spatial and Design
Giposs, a construction compa- Concept of Commercial Centres
ny from Ljubljana, where she in an Urban Context.
researched the problem of basic

Works (selection)
- Design for the building of the People’s Assembly of PRS in Ljubljana (graduation work), 1947
- Office and residential building, Jesenice, 1958–1959
- Commercial centre for basic supply, Ulica Luize Pesjakove 11, Ljubljana, 1959–1966
- Commercial centre for basic supply, Vojkova cesta 3, Bežigrad, Ljubljana, 1959–1966
- Commercial centre for basic supply, Javornik, Ravne na Koroškem, 1959–1966 (demolished)
- Commercial centre for basic supply, Kranj, 1959–1966
- Competition entry Plaža (co-authors Marko Mušič, Stane Starc)
Yugoslavian competition for urban planning and design solution of a commercial centre in Velenje, 1964

Commercial centre for basic supply, Ljubljana, 1959–1966

153
Vladimira Bratuž •
Majda
Dobravec Lajovic •Magda Fornazarič Kocmut • Marta Ivanšek • Nives Kalin
Vehovar • Juta Krulc• Seta Mušič • Dušana Šantel Kanoni • Gizela Šuklje •
Branka Tancig Novak

Vladimira Bratuž Furlan – Laka

Ljubljana, 1923 – Ljubljana, 2006

She simultaneously studied with Plečnik in projects involving

sculpture at the Academy of architectural sculpture, e.g. the
Fine Arts and architecture at the Butchers‘ Bridge at the Ljubljana
Technical Faculty in Ljubljana; Markets, and particularly in
she enrolled in both study postwar NOB (National Resist-
programmes during the war ance Struggle) memorials and
(1942/43) and completed both tombstones. After Plečnik’s
in 1950. In the first years after death, she devoted her work
her graduation (1950–1953) entirely to sculpture and applied
she was assistant to Prof. arts. In 1955 she was awarded
Jože Plečnik at the faculty and the Diplôme d‘honneur Cannes,
modelled his projects, while at Académie Internationale de la
the same time, she enrolled in Céramique, for her work in the
a specialisation programme in art of ceramics. Between 1967
sculpture under Prof. Frančišek and 1981 she was Professor in
Smerdu which she completed three-dimensional design at the
in 1952. She often collaborated School of Design in Ljubljana.

Works (selection)
- Chair for the inn Prešernov hram, Glavni trg, Kranj, 1947
- Façade of the Prešeren Theatre (in collaboration with Jože Plečnik and Ferdinand Jocif), Kranj, 1948–1953
- Memorial to NOB victims (in collaboration with Jože Plečnik and Anton Bitenc),
Dolenja vas in the Selška valley, 1949–1950
- Portrait of Jože Plečnik, Križanke, Ljubljana, 1951
- Monument to NOB (in collaboration with Jože Plečnik), cemetery, Zgornje Gorje at Bled, 1951
- Monument to the victims of WW1 and WW2 (with J.Plečnik, M. Detoni and A. Bitenc), Črna pri Mežici, 1952
- Bishop‘s Throne (in collaboration with Jože Plečnik), Cathedral, Ljubljana 1951–1957
- Fish, a playable sculpture, Tivoli, Ljubljana, 1958–1959
- Residence studio, Veselova ulica 11a, Ljubljana, 1977
- Portrait of Anton Bitenc, Križanke, Ljubljana 1981

Fish, a playable sculpture, Tivoli, Ljubljana, 1958–1959

154
Marta Ivanšek
Vladimira Bratuž • Majda Dobravec Lajovic • Magda Fornazarič Kocmut •

•
•
Nives Kalin Vehovar
Juta Krulc • Seta Mušič • Dušana Šantel Kanoni • Gizela Šuklje • Branka
Tancig Novak

Marta Ivanšek, née Ravnikar

Ljubljana, 1920 – Ljubljana, 2003

She graduated in 1951 under Prof. for housing and interior design,
Jože Plečnik; during her studies which was later renamed into
she was involved in the seminar Ambient. She worked in housing
of her older brother, Prof. Edvard construction which she tackled
Ravnikar. After her graduation, comprehensively, i.e. from urban
she worked for companies Dom planning of residential areas to
and Slovenija projekt. In 1954 housing and interior design and
she, together with France Ivanšek, from homes for the everyday user
went to Stockholm, Sweden, to those adapted for people with
where she worked for five years. special needs. Her work included
She worked in David Helldén’s and housing research and aware-
then in Georg Varhely’s architec- ness-raising about the importance
tural offices. After their return of the housing culture. For their
(1959), France Ivanšek and she exceptional innovations in archi-
became employed at the Institute tecture and interior design, she
for urban planning, but then they and France Ivanšek were awarded
founded their own office, Studio the Swedish IKEA award in 1986.

Works (selection)
- Interior design of the store Dom on the corner of Cankarjeva and Beethovnova streets, Ljubljana, 1952
- Svea Kitchen (co-author France Ivanšek), 1960
- Survey among 195 housing units in Savsko naselje (co-author France Ivanšek), Ljubljana, 1961
- Shelving furniture Studio OSLO (co-author France Ivanšek), Meblo, 1964
- Exhibition Contemporary Equipment, Jurček at Gospodarsko razstavišče
(co-author France Ivanšek), Ljubljana, 1964
- Interier shop (co-author France Ivanšek), Ljubljana, 1965
- Interior design of retirement home Tabor (co-author France Ivanšek), Ljubljana, 1965
- Neighbourhood of atrium houses in Murgle (co-author France Ivanšek), Ljubljana, 1966−1988
- Retirement home Poljane I (co-author France Ivanšek), Ljubljana, 1975
- Retirement home Kolezija (co-author France Ivanšek), Ljubljana, 1982

Interier shop,
(co-author France Ivanšek), Ljubljana, 1965

155
 Magda
Fornazarič Kocmut
Vladimira Bratuž • Majda Dobravec Lajovic •
Marta Ivanšek
•
•
Nives Kalin Vehovar • Juta Krulc • Seta Mušič • Dušana Šantel Kanoni • Gizela
Šuklje • Branka Tancig Novak

Magda Kocmut, née Fornazarič

Trieste, 1925 – Maribor, 2010

Magda Fornazarič enrolled in husband Ivan, and her brother-in-

architecture at the Technical law Branko Kocmut. This collec-
Faculty in Ljubljana in 1946/47, tive spirit prevents an accurate
and in 1952 she graduated under assessment of the proportion of
Prof. Jože Plečnik. She started the work done by the architect
her professional career with herself. Nevertheless, she left her
architect Jaroslav Černigoj in mark on many public buildings,
the architectural office Projekt particularly kindergartens,
Maribor, under the supervision of secondary and higher education
Saša Dev. A few years later she schools, commercial buildings
started working for Komunapro- and hotels, as well as many
jekt where she stayed until her residential buildings, both family
retirement in around 1985. After houses and blocks of flats. Her
the war, the work in an architec- arguably most famous work is
tural office was mostly about her contribution to the renovation
team work; most projects were of the old city centre Lent in Mari-
the result of close cooperation, bor, for which she was awarded
particularly between Magda, her the Borba Prize in 1986.

Works (selection)
- The Boris Peče kindergarten, co-author Milan Černigoj, Maribor, 1957
- The Ivan Glinšek kindergarten, co-author Milan Černigoj, Maribor, 1959
- Medical Centre, Maribor - Tezno, 1962
- Municipal People‘s Committee, Maribor-Tezno, 1964
- Secondary Medical and Cosmetic School, co-author Ivan Kocmut, Maribor, 1964
- Residential buildings along the Gosposvetska and Prežihova streets, Maribor, 1966
- Ormož Hotel, Ormož, 1967
- Terraced houses, co-authors Ivan and Branko Kocmut, Dobja vas, 1968
- Commercial building Kvik, co-author Borut Pečenko, Maribor, 1970
- Hotel Habakuk, co-author Ivan Kocmut, Maribor, 1974
- Preliminary design for development of Pristan, Maribor, 1975
- Extension of kindergarten Metalna, Maribor, 1975
- Collaboration in revitalisation of the Historical Centre, Maribor, 1983–1986

Commercial building Kvik (co-author Borut Pečenko)

Maribor, 1970

156
Milica Detoni
Biba Bertok• Carmen Jež Gala • Ksenija Šetina Grum . Ljerka Finžgar .
Marija Vovk . Metka Vrhunc .
. Nataša Štupar
Šumi . Špelka Valentinčič . Staša Blažič Gjura

Milica Detoni
Ljubljana, 1926 − Ljubljana, 1961

Milica Detoni graduated in 1952 she dedicated herself to the study

under Prof. Jože Plečnik with and preservation of monuments
the diploma work in which she dating from antiquity (necropolis
designed the Bridge of Victory in Šempeter, Emona). In 1960
which was meant to connect Novi she applied for doctoral study. In
trg square to the planned access the spirit of Le Corbusier’s work
to Castle Hill. She got employed Vers une architecture (1923) she
at the Institute of Monument devised a measure reconstruction
Protection in May 1953; in 1954 of Emona’s building elements
she became assistant professor (modules) on the basis of Roman
of Prof. Marjan Mušič at the anthropometry. The results of
Department of Architecture, her research work, which was
being just the second woman to tragically terminated in a traffic
be employed in this department. accident in 1961, were summed
She was active in the field of up in 1963 under the title Modular
renovation of cultural monuments reconstruction of Emona and pub-
(in numerous projects she closely lished by her husband, architect
collaborated with Prof. Mušič), Tine Kurent.

Works (selection)
- Plan and arrangement of the mine warehouse, Idrija, 1953
- Restaurants of Otočec and Stari grad castles in Dolenjska region, 1954
- Renovation of the birthhouse of writer Josip Jurčič in Muljava, 1954
- Plan for the renovation of the Old Mansion in Celje (in collaboration with Marjan Mušič), 1955
- Regulation plan for Slovenske Konjice (in collaboration with Marjan Mušič), 1955
- Studies for the renovation of Florjanska street in Ljubljana (in collaboration with Marjan Mušič), 1955
- Monument to the victims of the First and the Second World War
(in collaboration with Jože Plečnik and Vladimira Bratuž), Črna na Koroškem, 1952
- Monument to women’s demonstrations of 1943 on Kongresni trg square
(in collaboration with Jože Plečnik and Božidar Pengov), Ljubljana, 1952–1953

Modular reconstruction of Emona,

plan of house XII, Ljubljana, 1960

157
Biba Bertok•
•
Carmen Jež Gala
Ksenija Šetina Grum . Ljerka Finžgar . Marija Vovk . Metka Vrhunc .
Milica Detoni . Nataša Štupar Šumi . Špelka Valentinčič . Staša Blažič
Gjura

Carmen Jež Gala

Beograd, 1925 − Ljubljana, 1965

In 1952, Carmen Jež Gala was the stability, the plasticity theory, and
first woman to graduate in civil plastostatics. She also conducted
engineering from the Technical preliminary research on the use of
Faculty of Ljubljana after the aluminium alloys in civil engineer-
second World War. She became ing. She was head of the IMK doc-
an assistant at the Department of umentation centre and the chair
Steel Structures, thus becoming of the study board at the Faculty
the first woman to work at this of Civil Engineering. Her oeuvre
faculty, and in 1960 she was consists of thirteen scientific and
elected first female assistant professional papers and disserta-
professor. In 1959/1960, she tions published in domestic and
broadened her knowledge at the foreign press. Everything that was
University of Cambridge; in 1964 written about her proves she was
she lectured at the postgraduate a highly respected professional,
level of the Sarajevo Faculty of immensely popular with peers
Civil Engineering. Since 1949, and students. Her pedagogical
she worked at the Institute of and scientific work, interrupted by
Steel Structures (IJK), from 1955 her tragic death in a car accident,
onwards known as the Institute is a milestone in terms of women
of Metal Structures (IMK). The becoming key actors in the field of
focus of her research work were civil engineering in Slovenia after
namely steel structures, strength, the Second World War.

Works (selection)
- Structural load testing of the Huda Južina railway bridge
- Portal deck crane for a steel-construction and lift workshop in Šiška, Ljubljana, 1953
- 110 kV transmission towers for Valjevo-Sevojno, 1953
- Jesenice aqueduct project
- Pressure pipe cover, Jajce II HPP
- Pressure pipe hydrostatic test, Moste HPP
- Structural load testing of the Dolgi Most Bridge at km 570−650 on the Ljubljana-Trieste line
- Transmission towers across the river Sava near Belgrade, 1952
- A hanging roof structure for the Exhibition and Convention Centre in Ljubljana
- FD Železničar stadium grandstand, Ljubljana, 1952

FD Železničar stadium grandstand, Ljubljana, 1952

158
Olga Rusanova
Darinka Battelino • Alenka Kham Pičman • Janja Lap • Sonja
Lapajne Oblak • Dana Pajnič • Lidija Podbregar • Barbara Rot •
•
Erna Tomšič •
Mojca Vogelnik

Olga Rusanova
Murska Sobota, 1927

Olga Rusanova enrolled at the and between 1969 and 1971 the
Department of Architecture at the Department’s first female head.
Technical Faculty of the University At her retirement she held the title
in Ljubljana in the academic year of Associate Professor in Interior
of 1945/46. She graduated in Au- Design. Her many studies on inte-
gust 1954 under Prof. Edo Mihevc rior design for people with special
with the thesis: The Restaurant needs are of utmost importance.
Building for Litostroj. Following Her well-thought-out ideas were
her graduation, she gathered work also put into practice when she
and academic experiences abroad was involved in the drawing-up
(France, the Netherlands...). In and updating of the Yugoslavian
October 1954 she joined Prof. rules for student dormitories.
Mihevc as an Assistant in the In 1966 she received the Borba
Interior Design course, and she Federal Award for Architecture
remained in this position until for her work in this field. Also,
1961. After becoming Assistant she was awarded the 3rd prize at
Professor, she was, for years, the the international competition AS
only female lecturer at the De- Design in 1971 for interior design
partment of Architecture at FAGG of an education institution.

Works (selection)
- Interior design of Triglav Hotel (today Hotel Koper, in collaboration with Edo Mihevc), Koper, 1952
- Design and interior for Trieste‘s Slovenian House of Culture (in collaboration with Edo Mihevc), Trieste, 1954
- Interior design of a bookshop (in collaboration with Edo Mihevc), Trieste, 1955
- Interior design of a hotel (in collaboration with Edo Mihevc), Ohrid, 1957
- Design for Blood Transfusion Centre building (in collaboration with Dominique-Alexandre Louis), Nancy, 1957
- Interior design for Mariners’ Club (in collaboration with Edo Mihevc), Piran, 1958
- Implementation and interior design for a primary school in Koper (in collaboration with Edo Mihevc), Koper, 1962
- Design of various institutions for disabled youth in Črna, Vevče, Maribor, and Slovenska Bistrica, 1969–72
- Modular furniture (Project 100 Schools for Yugoslavia under the Ministry of Education), Belgrade, 1971
- Master plan for a special needs school (co-author Marjan Božič and others), Ljubljana, 1976

CUDV Draga pri Igu, Draga, 1979

159
Štupar ŠumiNataša
Biba Bertok• Carmen Jež Gala • Ksenija Šetina Grum . Ljerka Finžgar .
Marija Vovk . Metka Vrhunc . Milica Detoni .
. Špelka Valentinčič
. Staša Blažič Gjura

Nataša Štupar Šumi, née Suhadolc

Ljubljana, 1927

She graduated with Prof. 150 renovation, reconstruction,

Jože Plečnik at the Technical revitalization and valorisation
Faculty in Ljubljana in 1954 and projects, including castles,
successfully defended her PhD mansions, monasteries, historical
thesis ‘Architectural Heritage town cores, Karst villages and
of the Karst’ at the Faculty of houses, church buildings and
Architecture of the University of other architectural, ethnological
Ljubljana in 1996. From 1960 till and archaeological monuments.
her retirement in 1994 she was She contributed to the reconstruc-
employed as a conservator at the tion of architectural monuments
Institute for Monument Protection which were damaged during and
(Institute for the Protection of after the Second World War. Re-
Cultural Heritage of Slovenia). As sults of her work were published
conservator and architect, she in a number of monographs and
contributed significantly to the articles, especially in the Journal
research and integral preserva- for the Protection of Monuments
tion of architectural heritage, (Varstvo spomenikov).
especially in western Slovenia. In 2012 she was awarded the
She created an extensive docu- national France Stele Prize for
mentary collection of architectural lifetime achievement in the fields
heritage and worked on more than of conservation and restoration.

Works (selection)
- Renovation of the castle and houses in Predjama village, 1962−68
- Rihemberk Castle renovation, after 1962
- Hmeljnik Castle renovation, 1965−68
- Vogrsko Mansion renovation, 1968−80
- Renovation of houses in the Karst villages of Kobdilj and Šmartno in Goriška Brda, after 1960
- Renovation of the castle and the village of Štanjel in the Karst, 1970−88
- Urgent intervention works on Škrateljnova hiša house in Divača, after 1970
- Renovation of Betnava Mansion near Maribor, 1976−91
- The Rotunda of Selo renovation, 1978
- Dobrovo Mansion renovation, after 1979

Rihemberk Castle renovation, after 1962

160
NovakBranka Tancig
Vladimira Bratuž • Majda Dobravec Lajovic • Magda Fornazarič Kocmut • Marta
Ivanšek • Nives Kalin Vehovar • Juta Krulc • Seta Mušič • Dušana Šantel
Kanoni • Gizela Šuklje •

Branka Tancig Novak

Ljubljana, 1927 – Ljubljana, 2013

She graduated in 1954 at a great innovation, presented at

the Technical Faculty in the exhibition Stanovanje za naše
Ljubljana under Prof. Edvard razmere (Housing for Our Con-
Ravnikar with the thesis title: ditions) in 1956 in Ljubljana and
Contemporary Kitchen. She was in 1958 at the 2nd international
employed at Central Institute for exhibition Porodica i domaćin-
Home Economics of PRS, where stvo (Family and Household) in
she was active in different fields. Zagreb. Based on the several
Her focus was on the introduc- years of working with kitchen fur-
tion of the contemporary kitchen niture, Tancig participated in the
into Slovenian homes. In 1954 coordination of measurements
she designed the first Slovenian and the production of funda-
mass produced contemporary, mentals for designing kitchen
i.e. laboratory, kitchen. The furniture both in line with federal
kitchen units that were launched (1960) and republican norms for
into the market in 1955 were, as housing construction (1968).

Works (selection)
- Poster for the exhibition Arhitektura FLNRJ, 1951
- Contemporary kitchen furniture, Tovarna pohištva Maribor, 1954
- Book Small but Comfortable Apartments, Ljubljana, 1954
- Book Kitchen, Design and Equipment, Ljubljana, 1958
- Equipment for Higher Housekeeping School in Groblje at Domžale, 1961
- Preliminary design project for the kindergarten in Ig by Ljubljana, 1984

Contemporary kitchen furniture,

Tovarna pohištva Maribor, 1954

161
Darinka Battelino • Alenka Kham Pičman •
•
Janja Lap
Sonja Lapajne Oblak • Dana Pajnič • Lidija Podbregar • Barbara Rot •
Olga
Rusanova • Erna Tomšič • Mojca Vogelnik

Janja Lap
Ljubljana, 1929 – Ljubljana, 2004

An architect, designer, and teach- construction at the Sociology

er, she graduated from the Tech- Institute; she held lectures at
nical Faculty, Ljubljana, in 1956, the Pedagogical Academy,
under Prof. Edvard Ravnikar. She and, for six months, at the
took part in architectural and University of Mosul in Iraq. She
urban design projects and taught introduced the Open University
for two years at the Secondary study programmes in Ljubljana
School for Design and Photogra- in 1989. Throughout her career,
phy. She furthered her knowledge she engaged in glass design-
at the Royal College of Art in ing. Excellence of her design is
London (Prof. Misha Black, cofirmed in periodical publica-
Prof. Bruce Archer), where she tions (Arhitekt, Domus, Sinteza),
received her MA, and then taught participation and awards at
at the School of Architecture in BIO exhibitions, inclusion in the
Sheffield and at the Architectural permanent design collection
Association in London. After Neue Sammlung in Munich in
returning to Slovenia, she was 1987, and glass collection of the
engaged in investigating the National Museum of Slovenia in
sociological aspects of housing Ljubljana in 1997.

Works (selection)
- Glass tableware set for water, The Royal College of Art, London, 1964
- Vase Plamen (Flame), The Royal College of Art, London, 1964
- Microwave oven MVP 600, Iskra, 1977
- Laser stimulator LSA-02, Iskra elektrooptika, 1986
- TV indoor aerial Skat, Elrad, 1991
- Set of chandeliers Argentum, Zlatarna Celje, 1991
- Vases and glasses Konstrukta, Steklarska šola Rogaška Slatina, 1993
- Chalices Vivat, Dekor Kozje, Steklarna Rogaška, 1994
- Chalice Spomin (Memory), Steklarska šola Rogaška Slatina, 1996
- Pendant light Satje (Honeycomb), Dekor Kozje, Steklarna Rogaška, UKO Kropa, 2000

Glass tableware for water, Royal College of Art, London, 1964

162
Staša Blažič Gjura
Biba Bertok• Carmen Jež Gala • Ksenija Šetina Grum . Ljerka Finžgar .
Marija Vovk . Metka Vrhunc . Milica Detoni . Nataša Štupar Šumi .
Špelka Valentinčič .

Staša Blažič Gjura

Ljubljana, 1929 – Ljubljana, 2014

In 1949, she enrolled in the Faculty During the 1970s, she worked
of Architecture of the Technical alongside the experts of the Facul-
College in Ljubljana. She gradu- ty of Arts in Ljubljana, developing
ated in 1956 with ‘A Hotel on the a conservation programme for the
Selected Plot’ – her mentor was renovation of historic town cores.
Prof. Jože Plečnik. In 1957 she She formed a duo with the art
started to work at the Institute for historian-conservator Majda Frelih
the Development of the Old Town Ribič.They developed several
of Ljubljana, later renamed the conservation programmes for the
Ljubljana Regional Institute for the renovation of buildings in the Old
Protection of Natural and Cultural Town of Ljubljana. Her final large-
Heritage, where she worked as an scale project was the renovation
architect-conservator from 1968 of the Central Market designed
until her retirement in 1993. She by Jože Plečnik. She received a
soon led projects of the renova- Commendation awarded on the
tions of town-based, ecclesiastical 30th anniversary of the Conserva-
and castle architecture. Through- tors of Yugoslavia in recognition
out her career she attended a of her work, and in 1996 also
number of specialist excursions in the France Stele Award and the
Paris, Germany, London and Italy. Plečnik Medal.

Works (selection)
- Renovation of the urban block Cankarjevo nabrežje, Ljubljana, 1965–75
- Complete renovation of the F&B establishments, graphic documentation and interior design, Ljubljana, 1970s
- Stična Mansion, interior design, Ljubljana
- Žale Central Cemetery by Jože Plečnik, 1984 start of restoration works in the cemetery’s chapels-of-rest,
1984–90 exterior renovation, 1991 interior renovation, Ljubljana
- Ljubljana Central Market designed by Jože Plečnik, graphic documentation, work supervision, 1995
- Start of restoration works at Bogenšperk Castle, Bogenšperk, 1960–90
- Dol manor compound, technical documentation for the restoration, Dol pri Ljubljani, 1979
- Kodeljevo Castle, redevelopment of the Jelovšek Chapel and the surrounding area, Ljubljana, 1985
- Renovation of the old town centre of Ribnica, 1987, 1988
- Fužine Castle, 1984 guidelines, 1989 inventorying and research,
1990 renovation, Ljubljana

Interior design of restaurant Pri vitezu

Ljubljana, 1968

163
Erna Tomšič
Darinka Battelino • Alenka Kham Pičman • Janja Lap • Sonja Lapajne
Oblak • Dana Pajnič • Lidija Podbregar • Barbara Rot • Olga Rusanova •
•
Mojca Vogelnik

Erna Tomšič
Ljubljana, 1925 − Ljubljana, 2007

She was born into a bourgeois office, where she worked at the
family in Ljubljana and wanted to Residential Buildings Department,
study painting. She was reluctant and soon after at the Institute for
to attend the nearest art academy the Regulation of the Old Town of
in Zagreb; in 1946 she decided to Ljubljana. In order to get at least
study architecture in Ljubljana. two years of practical experience
While in the third year of her to pass a professional examina-
studies, she became instructor tion, she became employed at
demonstrator and assisted the Institute for Investments of
Prof. Plečnik until completing Ljubljana, where she remained
her studies. She graduated in an independent and responsible
1956, under Prof. Jože Plečnik, designer, until her retirement in
with a project for the School of 1980. She devoted her life to
Decorative Arts. After graduating designing sacred architecture and
she remained at the faculty until interior design, and particularly
Plečnik’s death in 1957; she was completing Plečnik’s unfinished
then relocated to Ljubljana city projects.

Works (selection)
- Renovation of St Stephen’s Parish Church, Ribnica, 1958–1960
- Design of lamps, the baptistery, and tombstone in the Parish Church of the Annunciation, Nazarje, 1960
- Interior design in the Parish Church of the Nativity of Mary, Homec, after 1961
- Renovation of church equipment in the Parish Church of the Nativity of Mary,
Kotor Varoš (Bosnia and Herzegovina), 1966–1968 (demolished in 1987)
- New rectory and tombstone for the clergy, Škrabčev trg 15, Ribnica, 1969
- Chapel of the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians, Partizanska cesta 6, Bled, 1969
- Renovation of St George’s Parish Church, Dobrnič, after 1972
- Finishing works in the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, Ljubljana, 1974
- Furnishings in Grand Hotel Toplice, Cesta svobode 12, Bled, 1978

New rectory, Ribnica, 1969

164
 Špelka Valentinčič
Biba Bertok• Carmen Jež Gala • Ksenija Šetina Grum . Ljerka Finžgar
. Marija Vovk . Metka Vrhunc . Milica Detoni . Nataša Štupar Šumi
. .
Staša Blažič Gjura

Špelka Valentinčič Jurkovič

Ljubljana, 1931

She followed in the footsteps Monuments Ljubljana. For over

of her father, architect Janez thirty years, she was renovating
Valentinčič (1904−1994), and castles that were destroyed during
enrolled in the then Technical Fac- and after the Second World War
ulty of the University in Ljubljana. in Slovenian regions of Dolenjska
She graduated from university in and Bela Krajina. She also focused
1956 with the Ljubljana Tivoli Park on monastic architecture, church
riding hall project; her mentor was renovations, and the exploration
Prof. Jože Plečnik. She started of contiguous monumental sites.
a job in Museum of Dolenjska in In her work, she devoted a lot of
1957, and was mostly involved attention to preserving the area
in the restorations of the Otočec surrounding monuments. Her con-
Castle and former Cistercian servation reports were published
monastery in Kostanjevica na Krki. in the Varstvo spomenikov journal
In 1958, she found employment and she was also highly commit-
with the national Institute for the ted to fieldwork. She is considered
Protection of Monuments and, one of the most prolific Slovenian
from 1963 until her retirement in female conservators who received
1992, she worked as an archi- a number of awards in recognition
tect-conservator at the regional of her work, including the France
Institute for the Protection of Stele Award (1994).

Works (selection)
- Restoration of the former Cistercian monastery in Kostanjevica na Krki, 1957−92
- Restoration of Hmeljnik Castle, 1960−72
- Restoration of Turjak Castle, 1965−92
- Restoration of Smlednik Castle, 1967−72
- Restoration of Mokrice Castle, 1967−80
- Restoration of the Polhov Gradec Park and Castle, 1967 and 1994
- Restoration of the garden pavilion at Soteska Castle, 1972
- Restoration of the Stari Grad Castle near Novo Mesto, 1973
- Restoration of Žužemberk Castle, 1973−80
- Rehabilitation project and consultancy for Goričane Manor restoration, 1991
- Methodology for presentation of the castle ruins, Višnja Gora, 1991

Interior of monastic church in chartre house Pleterje

Šentjernej, 1984

165
VehovarNives Kalin
Vladimira Bratuž • Majda Dobravec Lajovic •Magda Fornazarič
Kocmut • Marta Ivanšek •
• Juta Krulc• Seta Mušič • Dušana Šantel Kanoni •
Gizela Šuklje • Branka Tancig Novak

Nives Kalin Vehovar

Ljubljana, 1932 – Ljubljana, 2007

Nives Kalin Vehovar completed for their simplicity, functionality,

her studies at the Faculty of harmonious feel and innovative,
Architecture, Civil and Geodetic custom-made furnishings in
Engineering in Ljubljana in 1958 organic shapes and natural mate-
(Prof. Edo Mihevc). She was em- rials. In addition her independent,
ployed as an architect at several multifaceted activity included
Slovenian engineering offices and graphic design and corporate
worked mostly in collaboration visual identity development. She
with her husband, France Vehovar. was praised particularly for the
Together they worked on projects industrial designs created with
for industrial and residential build- her partner, which were exhibited
ings, but specialized mostly in extensively and brought them sev-
designing hotel architecture. Their eral awards including the national
projects exhibit a particular focus Prešeren prize and BIO award for
on interiors, which are noted the NKVFV Pendant Lights.

Works (selection)
- Monument to Railroad Workers, co-author Boris Kalin, 1958
- Corporate visual identity and poster design for the Ljubljana Wine Fairs, 1959–63
- NKVFV series of wood veneer pendant lights, co-author Franc Vehovar, 1960–63
- Salt and pepper shaker set, oil and vinegar bottle set, co-author Franc Vehovar, 1965
- Health resort, Čateške toplice, co-author Franc Vehovar, 1963–65
- Semiconductor factory, Trbovlje, co-author Franc Vehovar, 1964–66
- Alpina Hotel, Kranjska Gora, co-author Franc Vehovar, 1970–73
- Breza Hotel, Podčetrtek, co-author Franc Vehovar, 1976–77
- Family house in Trzin, co-author Franc Vehovar, 1979–80

NKVFV Series of Wood Veneer Pendant Lights, 1963

166
Mušič
Vladimira Bratuž • Majda Dobravec Lajovic •Magda Fornazarič Kocmut
• Marta Ivanšek • Nives Kalin Vehovar • Juta Krulc•
• Dušana Šantel Kanoni • Gizela Šuklje • Branka
Seta
Tancig Novak

Seta Mušič, née Jelisaveta Jurkovič

Ljubljana, 1930 – Ljubljana, 2017

The pioneer of Slovenian televi- With her rich collection of works,

sion set design graduated in 1958 comprising more than 2000 set
under the supervision of Prof. designs, she left an indelible mark
Edo Mihevc at the FAGG. She on the television in Ljubljana.
started working for the television Most of her works strive to reflect
and stayed there for more than a contemporary, at times
three decades. She first worked experimental visual expression. In
as an architect and took over the her work, she frequently uses
reconstruction of the old radio unconventional means of
building, she was also involved in expression and materials. Her
the design and construction of the work drew the attention of the
transmitters at Krvavec and Na- international community; in 1962
nos. She headed the construction BBC included one of her set
of the new studio, which became designs into a book of proceed-
the first major studio in Slovenia, ings of the International Television
modelled after the best European Design Conference in London.
centres. Then she dedicated her She received many recognitions
work completely to set design. and awards for her set designs.

Works (selection)
- Anton Marti, Silence, the Broadcast Begins, 1962
- Georges Čačavadze, Marsh Bird, 1965
- Anton Marti, Eurovision Song Contest, 1967
- Mirč Kragelj, Five Lines of the Stave for a Song, 1967
- Tuesday Night, 1967
- Mirč Kragelj, Etude for the Camera, 1967
- Alojz Srebotnjak, Karst Suite, 1968
- Anton Marti, Partly in Earnest, Partly in Jest, 1968
- Primož Ramovš, Echoes, 1970
- Lojze Lebič, Five Impressions, 1971
- Anton Marti, What Will Be Will Be, 1979

Echoes, set for a ballet by Primož Ramovš, 1970

167
 Majda
Lajovic Dobravec
Vladimira Bratuž •

Magda Fornazarič Kocmut • Marta Ivanšek • Nives

•
Kalin Vehovar • Juta Krulc• Seta Mušič • Dušana Šantel Kanoni • Gizela Šuklje •
Branka Tancig Novak

Majda Lajovic, née Dobravec

Ljubljana, 1931

In 1959 she graduated at the student years onwards she was

Faculty of Architecture, Civil and also involved with graphic design;
Geodetic Engineering (FAGG) perhaps the two most acclaimed
under Prof. Edvard Ravnikar. After posters were the ones from the
graduation she became employed exhibition Housing for Our Cir-
as a designer at the Institute cumstances in 1956 and the first
for Cooperative Construction in BIO exhibition in 1964. The latter
Ljubljana; she later worked at the was included in the permanent
architectural office Tamar and exhibition of MoMA in New York
then at the AB architectural office and presented at the exhibition
from its establishment in 1964 Designing Modern Women
until 1988. Until her retirement in 1890–1990. She designed the
1996, she was resident architect logos for Stol Kamnik, Šumi,
and designer of museum exhibi- AB biro and Tekstilindus Kranj.
tions at the Technical Museum of Between 1960 and 1962 she was
Slovenia in Bistra. Her best-known assistant to Prof. Ravnikar at
work is the primary school build- FAGG. Occasionally she wrote for
ing in Kranjska Gora. From her the journal Arhitekt.

Works (selection)
- Yugoslavian pavilion at the XIVth Triennial in Milan, co-author Grega Košak, 1968
- Primary school, Kranjska Gora, 1965–70
- Miran Jarc primary school, co-author Janez Lajovic, Ljubljana, 1972–75
- Milena Kumar primary school, Ljubljana, 1972–75
- Setting up of Lavička Pharmaceutical and Medical Collection at Lek factory, Ljubljana, 1984
- Reconstruction and extension of the Ljubljana City Theatre, co-author Janez Lajovic, 1973
- Design and setting up of the Museum of Postal and Telecommunications Services, Stara Loka, 1980–83
- The Boris Kraigher square, co-author Janez Lajovic, Ljubljana, 1984
- Carmelite Convent, Sora, 1986
- Design and setting up of museum exhibitions for the Technical Museum of Slovenia, Bistra, 1988–96

Primary school, Kranjska gora, 1965–70

168
Marija Vovk
Biba Bertok• Carmen Jež Gala • Ksenija Šetina Grum . Ljerka Finžgar .
. Metka Vrhunc . Milica
Detoni . Nataša Štupar Šumi . Špelka Valentinčič . Staša Blažič Gjura

Marija Vovk
Bled, 1931

Marija Vovk studied at the until she retired in 1990. She was
Department of Architecture of the initially involved in the planning of
Technical Faculty of Ljubljana. In BS 7 residential neighbourhood
1959, she graduated from univer- in Ljubljana and a large-scale ex-
sity under Prof. Ravnikar. She got pansion of the capital of Dalmatia
a job at the company Projektivni Split III, after which she focused on
Atelje Ljubljana. In 1961, she left research into the housing facilities
Slovenia: at first, she worked in for seniors. In 1975, she did post-
Lausanne, Switzerland, followed by graduate studies at the Institute
Skövde in Sweden (1962−1963), of Social Studies in The Hague,
and Finland, where she moved in the Netherlands. As an architect,
1964, working for the architectural researcher, author of numerous
firm of the town of Helsinki (HKR). publications and consultant in
Enriched by her Scandinavian decision-making committees she
experience, she returned to Ljublja- was closely involved in adapting
na in 1967. In 1969, she started the built environment to suit the
working for the Urban Planning In- needs of persons with disabilities
stitute (UIRS), where she remained – she was a pioneer in this field.

Works (selection)
- Numerous book cover designs, a wicker chair designed for the 1956 exhibition
Housing for the Conditions We Live In, Ljubljana
- Regional Programme of Adult Housing in Slovenia, Ljubljana 1967
- Standards for Construction and Equipment of Buildings for the Elderly, Ljubljana 1972
- Concept design for the Nursing Home Ljubljana – Bežigrad, 1973
- M. Vovk, Slovenian Nursing Homes, Ljubljana 1983
- Study Materials for the Reconstruction of the Slovenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre Ljubljana (in
Terms of Its Accessibility and Usability for Persons with Disabilities), Ljubljana 1991
- M. Vovk, Guidelines for the Construction of Housing Facilities for the Elderly, Ljubljana 1998
- Corporate visual identity and a logo for the Gerontological Association of Slovenia, 1977
- Handbook Planning Built Environment and Adapting It to Suit the Needs of Persons with Disabilities,
Ljubljana, 2000

Wicker chair,
Housing for the Conditions We Live In Ljubljana, 1956

169
Ljerka Finžgar
Biba Bertok• Carmen Jež Gala • Ksenija Šetina Grum .
. Marija Vovk
. Metka Vrhunc . Milica Detoni . Nataša Štupar Šumi . Špelka
Valentinčič . Staša Blažič Gjura

Ljerka Finžgar
Zagreb, 1937

Ljerka Finžgar concluded her which meant a step away from

studies in 1963 under Prof. Edo set production. She favoured
Mihevc. She was first employed designing seating furniture and
at the Centre for the Advance- proved herself also in preparing
ment of Trade and Packaging in presentations of the Meblo
Ljubljana, and in 1964, an expert factory at Belgrade annual fairs.
job in the Meblo factory in Nova She travelled abroad extensivelly:
Gorica and dedicated fully to she negotiated foreign producers
furniture industrial design. When of materials, visited international
the company was reorganized furniture fairs and participated
in 1972, Meblo Design depart- in congresses on design. She
ment was established. Finžgar received numerous awards and
was head of the department accolades for her achievements:
until 1984; until her retirement in the Golden Key (Zlati ključ) of
1992, she was an independent Belgrade Fair (1967, 1969, 1970,
expert on design in the Ljubljana 1976, 1988) and the Zlati spoj
branch of the Meblo company. (Golden Junction) at the Furni-
The most innovative was her ture Salon in Ljubljana (1969,
design of modular furniture 1971).

Works (selection)
- A-programme of modular furniture system, Meblo, Nova Gorica, 1967
- HO system furniture, Meblo, Nova Gorica, 1969
- E-programme of modular furniture system, Meblo, Nova Gorica, 1970
- Dining table and chair Skandinavija, Meblo, Nova Gorica, 1976
- Seating set Lahti, Meblo, Nova Gorica, 1978
- Semi-armchair Kemi, Meblo, Nova Gorica, 1979
- Armchair Bergen, Meblo, Nova Gorica, 1979
- Programme of modular furniture system Formanova, Meblo, Nova Gorica, 1979
- Exhibition rooms of the Meblo factory at Belgrade Fair in the years 1982, 1983 and 1984
- Modular furniture system Forma 88 (co-author Angel Susič), Meblo, Nova Gorica, 1988

Modular furniture system Formanova and armchair Bergen

Meblo, Nova Gorica, 1979

170
Darinka Battelino
Alenka Kham Pičman • Janja Lap • Sonja Lapajne Oblak • Dana Pajnič
•

•
Lidija Podbregar • Barbara Rot • Olga Rusanova • Erna Tomšič • Mojca
Vogelnik

Darinka Battelino
Ljubljana, 1940

In 1976 Darinka Battelino civil engineering. Her research

successfully defended her PhD interest was geotechnics and
dissertation at the Faculty of she dedicated her work to the
Architecture, Civil Engineering, introduction of triaxial tests in
and Geodesy, University of small cylindrical soil specimens,
Ljubljana, and thus became the gabion support structures, and
first female Doctor of Science introduction of reinforced soil
in Construction in former into the Slovenian area, where
Yugoslavia. Between 1963 and she did pioneering work. As a
1991 she taught at the Faculty researcher she attended profes-
of Architecture, Civil Engineer- sional meetings domestically
ing, and Geodesy in Ljubljana, and abroad and is the author
and between 1977 and 1991 at of many geotechnical studies,
the Faculty of Civil Engineering reports, and projects as well as
in Maribor. From 1991 on- many scientific and professional
wards she gave lectures at the papers. In 1993, she was among
University in Trento and between the founding members of the
1993 and 2007 at the University Ljubljana Society Soroptimist
in Trieste. She supervised or International, a global wom-
co-supervised many graduation en‘s organization dedicated to
works. In 1982 she received the providing equal opportunities
Kavčič Award for her exception- and improving the position of
al teaching achievements in women.

Works (selection)
- Design and construction of support structure using reinforced soil for the earthworks of
Ljubljana-Podutik access to the western bypass, 1980
- Design of support structure using reinforced soil for the Šentilj Border Crossing, 1981
- Design of support structure using reinforced soil for the road Pobreška cesta in Maribor, 1981
- Investigation of behaviour of two test motorway earthworks in highly deformable soil in Malaysia, around 1985
- Two experimental studies of dynamic loads of earthworks using reinforced soil, Ljubljana, 1993
- Refurbishment of the quarry slopes Piave Dal Cin in Italy, around 2000

Design of support structure using reinforced soil

for Pobreška road in Maribor, 1981

171
Biba Bertok •
Carmen Jež Gala • Ksenija
Šetina Grum . Ljerka Finžgar . Marija Vovk . Metka Vrhunc . Milica
Detoni . Nataša Štupar Šumi . Špelka Valentinčič . Staša Blažič Gjura

Biba Bertok
Celje, 1941

After her baccalaureate, she 1987 she decided to continue her

enrolled in 1960 in the new- professional career on her own.
ly-founded B Study Course at Throughout her working career,
the Faculty of Architecture, Civil she took account of maximum
and Geodetic Engineering in Lju- practicality of the furniture,
bljana. When the B Study Course technological capacities of the
was abolished, she continued factory and materials available
her studies in the class of Edvard at the time. She also paid great
Ravnikar. She graduated in 1966. attention to proper presentation
In 1968 she was employed at the of products in the shops. She re-
Češnjica woodworking company ceived numerous awards and ac-
in Železniki which later grew colades for her work in the field
into the Alples furniture factory. of design, among others also the
Being the first designer of the Prešeren Fund Award together
factory, she laid its foundations with head of the Design Centre at
for industrial furniture design. the Slovenijales company, Marjan
Between 1972–1987 she was Gašperšič (1981), Golden Medal
employed at the Design Centre of the 7th Biennial of Industrial
by the Slovenijales company Design (1977), and the Timeless
where Tatjana Coloni, Polonca Slovenian Design award (2013).
Rojec, Lado Ercegovič and Lado In 1991 she was given the
Košir were also active, headed mandate of the president of the
by architect Marjan Gašperšič. In Designers’ Sociey of Slovenia.

Works (selection)
- Hallway programme Alfa, Alples Furniture Factory, Železniki, 1968
- Hallway set Beta, Alples Furniture Factory , Železniki, 1969
- System furniture Artus, Alples Furniture Factory, Železniki, 1970
- Children bed Nataša, Tovarna lesne galanterije v Rimskih toplicah, 1973
- Young people’s furniture Nana, Garant Furniture Factory, Polzela, 1973
- Young people’s furniture Mak, Sora Furniture Factory, Medvode, 1976
- Programme Manta, Stil Furniture Factory, Koper, 1976
- Programme Aba, Polet Furniture Factory , Duga Resa, 1980
- Piece furniture Plima, Oprema Woodworks, Izola, 1988−89

Programme Manta, Stil Furniture Factory, Koper, 1976

172
Darinka Battelino • Alenka Kham Pičman • Janja Lap
•

•
Dana Pajnič • Lidija Podbregar •
Olga Rusanova • Erna Tomšič • Mojca Vogelnik
Barbara Rot •
Sonja Lapajne Oblak

Barbara Rot, née Demšar

Gornji Logatec, 1944

She enrolled in the architecture band, architect Božidar F. Rot, on

programme in Ljubljana in 1963 many projects in the course of her
and graduated under the super- employment in Idrija. Her work is
vision of Prof. Edvard Ravnikar in characterised by taking a compre-
1970. She continued to work with hensive approach to architecture,
Ravnikar at the Institute for the from the sophisticated urban
Construction of the Revolution contextualisation of structures to
Square in Ljubljana (she drew the architectural design, attention to
staircases along the Ljubljanska detail, and inclusion of artwork in
banka and Maximarket buildings architectural design. She received
and a set of three street lamps). several important awards for her
She worked as an independent work: 1982 together with Božidar
culture professional; in the 1980s F. Rot – the Prešeren Fund Award
she worked at Atelje za projekti- for the Jože Mihevc Primary
ranje Idrija and GPG Grosuplje. School building in Idrija; in 1996
In 1996, she established her own with Staša Blažič Gjura and Vlasto
architectural studio Miroti, which Kopač – Plečnik’s Medal for resto-
she headed until her retirement in ration of Plečnik’s Central Market
2004. She worked with her hus- in Ljubljana.

Works (selection)
- Trg revolucije (Revolution Square) in Ljubljana 1970–74 (collaboration in Edvard Ravnikar’s project)
- Jože Mihevc Primary School (co-author Božidar F. Rot), Idrija, 1981
- Nursing home (co-author Božidar F. Rot), Celje, 1983
- Restoration of Plečnik’s Central Market (co-authors Staša Blažič Gjura, Vlasto Kopač), Ljubljana, 1994–95
- Urban design and architecture of the Trata cemetery, Škofljica, 1997–98
- Primary school and kindergarten (co-author Božidar F. Rot), Godovič, 2004
- Idrija kindergarten, Arkova ulica 7, Idrija, 2006
- Architecture of farewell buildings and organisation of the surroundings, Borovnica, 2011

Jože Mihevc Primary School

(co-author Božidar F. Rot), Idrija, 1981

173
Credits
Dušana Šantel Kanoni Nataša Štupar Šumi
portrait and foto – Courtesy of Private Archive portrait – Courtresy of Štupar Šumi families;
of Dušana Šantel Kanoni foto – Nataša Štupar-Šumi, Obnovitvena dela
na Rihemberku v letih 1962 do 1964, Varstvo
Gizela Šuklje spomenikov 9 (1962–1964), 23–35
portrait and foto – Courtesy of Museum
of Architecture and Design (MAO), Ljubljana Branka Tancig
portrait and foto – Courtesy of MAO
Sonja Lapajne Oblak
portait – Courtesy of Anton Smolej; Janja Lap
foto – Courtesy of Slovene School Museum, Ljubljana portrait – Courtesy of Lap family (foto by
Dejan Habicht); foto – Courtesy of MAO
Dana Pajnič
portrait – Courtersy of MAO; Staša Blažič
foto – Arhitektura 1, no. 6 (1932), 183 portrait and foto – Courtesy of Arhiv ZVKDS OE
Ljubljana
Juta Krulc
portrait – Courtesy of Maja Kržišnik; Erna Tomšič
foto – UIFS ZRC SAZU (Simona Kermavnar) portrait – Courtesy of Ajda Balderman Baliž;
foto – UIFS ZRC SAZU (Andrea Furlan)
Lidija Podbregar
portrait – Courtesy of Archive at University Špelka Valentinčič
of Ljubljana; portrait and foto – Courtesy of Špelka Valentinčič
foto – https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savsko_naselje Jurkovič

Vladimira Bratuž Nives Kalin Vehovar

portrait – Courtesy of Archive at Faculty of portrait and foto – Courtesy of Vehovar family
Architecture, Ljubljana;
foto – UIFS ZRC SAZU (Andrea Furlan) Seta Mušič
portait – Courtesy of Seta Mušič;
Marta Ivanšek foto – Courtesy of Archive of RTV of Slovenia
portrait and foto – Courtesy of Archive of France
and Marta Ivanšek Foundation Majda Dobravec Lajovic
portrait and foto – Courtesy of Majda Dobravec
Magda Kocmut Lajovic
portrait – Courtesy of Magda Kocmut‘s family;
foto – Evidenca in valorizacija objektov slovenske Marija Vovk
moderne arhitekture med leti 1945-1970, Ljubljana portrait and foto – Courtesy of Marija Vovk
2004 (http://www.evidenca.org/?object=93)
Ljerka Finžgar
Milica Detoni portrait – Courtesy of Ljerka Finžgar;
portrait – Courtesy of Marjeta Pollak; foto – Courtesy of MAO
foto – Milica Detoni and Tine Kurent, Modularna
Darinka Battelino
rekonstrukcija Emone, Situla (Ljubljana: Narodni
portrait and foto – Courtesy of Darinka Battelino
muzej Slovenije, 1963)
Biba Bertok
Carmen Jež Gala
portrait – Courtesy of Biba Bertok;
portrait and foto – Courtesy of Institute of Metal
foto – Courtesy of MAO
Structures (IMK)
Barbara Rot
Olga Rusanova
portrait – UIFS ZRC SAZU (Helena Seražin);
portrait – Courtesy of Archive at Faculty
foto – UIFS ZRC SAZU (Simona Kermavnar)
of Architecture, Ljubljana;
foto – Courtesy of CUDV, Draga at Ig

174
175
176
 This text presents some reflections
on travel and tourism on the basis
of the publication MoMoWo Women,
Architecture & Design Itineraries across
Europe (2016), edited by Sara Levi
Sacerdotti, Helena Seražin, Emilia Garda,
MoMoWo Travel, Tourism, Architecture,
and Caterina Franchini (hereafter named
MoMoWo-Itinerary). This collection of
eighteen itineraries was one of the first
publications of the MoMoWo project.
The itineraries provided data on 125
works by female architects and/or
designers between 1918 and 2016
in Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris, Turin, the
Netherlands, and Slovenia.
When connecting travel and tourism
with architecture, design, and women,
one can think of a production side and a
reception side.
The production side would include:
1. Women who travel and afterwards
describe their journey in a travelogue
or guidebook of for others to enjoy.
Women composing architectural routes
along buildings and design by women,
Design and Women

as in the MoMoWo-Itinerary, are likely to

form a select group within the already
Vrije University Amsterdam (MoMoWo Netherlands)

chosen genre of itinerary-guidebooks for

contemporary architecture and design only.
2. Women who write as ‘armchair
travellers’ without travelling
themselves. In some cases, the writers
of the entries saw not every building of
the MoMoWo-Itinerary, and so they too
are partly ‘armchair travellers’.
3. Women who travel to see
architecture and design, or even
contemporary architecture and
design: they are most likely informed
Marjan Groot

by professional interest. Not many,

however, do record their visits to the
newest architectural events or buildings,

177
but if they do they write for aficionados 6. Women who experience architecture
and insiders. on a journey without explicitly aiming
The reception side would include: for it; this applies in particular to
4. Women who travel in the mind cities. In fact, since the mid-nineteenth
only: these formed the main consumer century, women shopping for novelties
market for commercially published would have experienced the most
travelogues offering adventurous trips sophisticated architecture of the time
to experience without travelling. Since in department stores with impressive
the nineteenth-century women writers light halls constructed from iron and
also wrote for this growing market of glass and with up-to-date technical
readers. Involvement of visual media facilities such as elevators. Likewise,
such as lanterns, slides, and later they would have experienced prestigious
film and television stimulated wider city-architecture in the highbrow
commercialisation of such travels, neoclassicist beaux-arts idiom when
with visual equivalents guided by male visiting museums, or a mixture of
and female reporters exploring remote historicist styles when staying in grand
places and landscapes as virtual travels. hotels. Commercial destinations often
5. Women who travel while guided mapped urban transport lines and train
by an itinerary composed by others: stations and marked urban building
they could easily, albeit wrongly be types. Such nineteenth-century and
considered uncreative mass tourists early twentieth-century developments
as opposed to individual creative are not so different from what happens
travellers. Stimulating ever more today.
touristic travelling, popular tourist
guidebooks for travelling, emerging in Intersecting Histories and Geographies
the early nineteenth-century, educate The MoMoWo-Itinerary is a mixture of
travellers beforehand. They generated cultural itinerary and tourist guidebook.
a canon of mass tourist destinations by It is not a travelogue, although, in
focusing on historical heritage sites and between the lines, it tells about the
landscapes alongside information about routes that MoMoWo partners together
customs and manners, food, geography, began to explore during the first project
and linguistic advice. Guidebooks were phase, about their cultural sensibilities
varied from their first appearance, but and, for the more recent buildings, about
the market expanded enormously after their choices.
1945 with ever more specific routes Concretely, each partner composed
targeted at particular audiences, for three itineraries covering three
example, single women. Many of these geographical areas, either in a city or an
guidebooks suggest the traveller’s entire country and with 19 to 23 stops
individualism and exclusiveness; for the three all together. The routes
however, they might not be that different were not visited by the same person and
from regular tourism as they claim are not likely to be visited on one journey
(Laderman, 2016). too. It is not a commercial guidebook

178
for cultural tourism and its widespread consortium a geographical unity that is
marketing. On the contrary, its concept as insensible as many others (Bracewell,
is one of surprise, liberation, and conflict 2016). But it does share intellectual,
with existing itineraries and guidebooks historical, and architectural frameworks.
(Bird, 1996, 42–43). This it is due to the As such, it can make sense to compare
primary criterion of selection; the routes this seemingly random consortium
are formed to connect architecture of European nations with States that
and/or design by women from just constitute North-America or Latin-
after the First World War in 1918 to the America.
latest examples from 2015–16. In this
respect, it is both a counter-itinerary and Comparison
counter-guidebook. The composers of the MoMoWo-Itinerary
The combination of countries/cities, meet all the above six categories. The
time frame, and selection criteria make MoMoWo-Itinerary provides lots of data
the contents of the MoMoWo-Itinerary about previously unknown names and
unique from a historical perspective. works by women designers, engineers
Emilia Garda and Caterina Franchini and architects between 1918 and 2016,
thoroughly explained the choices, and contextualised findings within
criteria and methodology of the socio-historical perspectives for each
selection in their chapter Discovering of the six among cities and countries
Tangible Cultural Heritage Created by involved in descriptions of buildings.
Women around Europe. The methodology of comparison for
Four project partners focussed on further insights comes up next. Table 1
cities: Barcelona in Spain, Lisbon in compares the earliest two mentioned
Portugal, Paris in France, and Turin in works by women architects, the first two
Italy. The other two partners from the graduated women architects and their
Netherlands and Slovenia designed building types for all itineraries.
routes that covered several regions of From Table 1 it appears that the
their country and included buildings Netherlands, Paris and Slovenia
in rural and suburban areas. Besides itineraries present the earliest realised
these differences, the geographical projects or buildings by pioneering
situatedness of the partners in Europe women. The ‘styles’ of the earliest
offers an unexpected cartography: a buildings by women architects in
roughly triangular connection formed the Netherlands and Slovenia are
by in-betweens of a South-West-East typically local, respectively vernacular
baseline of Turin (Italy), Oviedo (Spain), expressionist Amsterdam School and
Lisbon (Portugal), and Slovenia; and vernacular folk. The MoMoWo-Itinerary
two upward northern sides to France has two buildings by women architects
and further to the Netherlands (Fig. 1). in the international modernist idiom
Considerable differences in densities of between the mid-1920s and late 1930s
population and political and economic (in the Netherlands); besides these
constellations make this European buildings there is an interior design

179
by Ada Bursi (Turin) and furnishings, However, the MoMoWo-Itinerary is also
fittings and interior design by Charlotte a concept for travelling and tourism.
Perriand (France). Surprisingly France The reading of the introductive chapters,
was late in giving opportunities to entries of buildings and the comparison
women in the fields of architecture the images certainly maps a route of
and design (Bonnet, 2016; Mesnage, architecture and design by women in
2017). Modernist works after 1945 are the reader’s mind to be contextualised
numerous in all countries. The number or framed with any other personal
of women architects who realised experiences and knowledge (Kinsley,
works increases enormously after 2016, 244).
2000 for all counties/cities. Table 2
compares the typology and chronology
of their buildings: the three largest
fields standing out are public culture,
commercial leisure and housing.

Dissemination and Appropriation

The dissemination and reception of the
MoMoWo-Itinerary can only be suggested
by the number of copies distributed by
all partners and the number of views
of the online version on the MoMoWo-
website. Since its publication on 1
July 2016, with a run of 3000 prints,
the MoMoWo Guidebook has been
distributed for free during numerous
public presentations of the project, the
MoMoWo Travelling exhibition, the Open
Day and Symposium 2018. Copies have
been sent to libraries and donated to
tourist offices. MoMoWo SiTI (Istituto
Superiore sui Sistemi Territoriali per
l’Innovazione, Turin) mapped the online
views. The number of views does not tell
anything about real visits to buildings
of the MoMoWo-Itinerary; for that,
we need other types of testimonies,
perhaps a post-touristic travelogue. To
follow the routes will require investment
in time, in particular, those covering
entire countries, though it is achievable.

180
Captions
Fig. 1. MoMoWo-Itineraries across
Europe. Map by the author, 2018.

Table 1 - Overview in
chronological order of pioneering
women designers and/or
architects of MoMoWo partner
countries, deduced from the
MoMoWo-Itinerary. Note that not
all women were the single creator
of the work, as indicated by ‘and
others’. Data processing by the
author.

Table 2 - A typological overview

in chronological order of
buildings in MoMoWo partner
countries designed by women,

1
deduced from the MoMoWo-
Itinerary. Data processing by the
author.

tab 1
City/Country Earliest two mentioned works/buildings First two graduated architects
in MoMoWo-Itinerary a/o designers
Netherlands 1913, Interior ‘House 1913’ – Margaret Kropholler 1908–10, Margaret Kropholler
(pseudonym Greta Derlinge) 1926, Jakoba Mulder
1918, villas ‘Meerlhuis’ – Margaret Kropholler

Paris 1917–1924, interior flat Rue de Lota, 1902, Julia Morgan, worked in California
Mme Mathieu Lévy – Eileen Gray 1925, Charlotte Perriand
1927, Bar sous le Toit; 1929, furnishings and fittings for
Villa Church and Villa La Roche – Charlotte Perriand

Slovenia 1922, Cooperative Business Bank – Helena Vurnik 1932, Dušana Šantel
1935, Celebratory Stands of the Stadium for Orel Catholic 1932, Gizela Šuklje
Sport Association – Gizela Šuklje

Turin 1929, linoleum design – Ada Bursi 1925, in Rome, Elena Luzzatto Valentini
1957, 1966, church and parish complex Santa Teresa 1927, in Rome, Annarella Luzzatto Gabrielli
di Gesù Bambino – Studio Zuccotti (Maria Carla Lenti,
Giovanna Maria Zuccotti)

Lisbon 1942, graphic design; 1942, in Lisbon, Maria José Estanco

1956-58 tile panel ‘O Mar’ – Maria Keil 1943, in Oporto, Maria José Marques da
1972, atelier Conceição Silva - Maria João Eloy Silva

Barcelona 1973, social housing “Walden 7” – Anna Bofill and others 1936, in Madrid, Matilde Ucelay
1984–90, Joan Mirò Library – Beth Galí and others 1964, in Barcelona, Mercedes Serra Barenys

181
City/Country 1918-30 1930-50 1950-80 1980-2000 2000-14 Total
PUBLIC CULTURE: museum, theatre, archive, library 27
Lisbon 6 6
Turin 3 2 5
Barcelona 2 2 4
Netherlands 1 3 4
Paris 2 2 4
Slovenia 4 4
COMMERCIAL LEISURE: hotel, shop, bar, restaurant 25
Lisbon 2 5 7
Turin 1 4 5
Barcelona 4 4
Slovenia 4 4
Netherlands 3 3
Paris 2 2
HOUSING: social, residential block, single villa 24
Netherlands 2 1 1 1 3 8
Paris 4 3 7
Barcelona 1 3 4
Turin 1 1 1 3
Slovenia 1 1
Lisbon 1 1
OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENT: square, promenade, park, garden 14
Barcelona 2 3 5
Turin 2 1 3
Lisbon 1 1 2
Netherlands 2 2
Slovenia 1 1 2
PUBLIC SERVICE: education, crèche, hospital, church 13
Slovenia 2 4 6
Netherlands 3 3
Turin 1 1 2
Lisbon 1 1
Paris 1 1
OFFICE, BANK 7
Barcelona 2 2
Lisbon 1 1
Netherlands 1 1
Paris 1 1
Slovenia 1 1
Turin 1 1
SPORTS 5
Slovenia 3 3
Turin 2 2
TRANSPORT, POWER PLANT 5
Netherlands 2 2
Lisbon 1 1
Slovenia 1 1

2
Turin 1 1
OBJECT ARTEFACT 4
Paris 3 1 4 tab
182
References
Adam, Peter. Eileen Gray Architect, Designer, Kinsley, Zoë. “Travellers and Tourists.” In The
93–102. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1987. Routledge Companion to Travel Writing, edited by
Carl Thompson, 237–45. Abingdon: Routledge,
Bird, Dúnlaith. “Travel Writing and Gender.” In The 2016.
Routledge Companion to Travel Writing, edited by
Carl Thompson, 35–45. Abingdon: Routledge, Laderman, Scott. “Guidebooks.” In The Routledge
2016. Companion to Travel Writing, edited by Carl
Thompson, 258–68. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016.
Bonnet, Alain. “Women Architects in Paris.” In
MoMoWo. Women. Architecture & Design Itineraries Mesnage, Stéphanie. “Women and Their
across Europe, edited by Sara L. Sacerdotti, Helena Professional Activities in Architecture: France
Seražin, Emilia Garda and Caterina Franchini, 1918–1945.” In MoMoWo. Women Designers,
78–79. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU France Stele Institute Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between
of Art History, ZRC Publishing House, 2016. 1918 and 1945, edited by Marjan Groot and Helena
Seražin, 118–30. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU France
Bracewell, Wendy. “Europe.” In The Routledge Stele Institute of Art History, ZRC Publishing
Companion to Travel Writing, edited by Carl House, 2017, Series Women’s Creativity 1.
Thompson, 341–50. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016.
Garda, Emilia, and Franchini, Caterina.
“Discovering Tangible Cultural Heritage Created
by Women across Europe.” In MoMoWo. Women.
Architecture & Design Itineraries across Europe,
edited by Sara L. Sacerdotti, Helena Seražin, Emilia
Garda and Caterina Franchini, 10–12. Ljubljana:
ZRC SAZU France Stele Institute of Art History,
ZRC Publishing House, 2016.

183
184
185
Case Studies
 Before the MoMoWo project, the women
architects, civil engineers and designers
had rarely been the subject of scientific
research in the Slovene art history and
Female Pioneers in Slovene Architecture,
history of architecture. Apart from the

Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, France Stele Institute of Art History (MoMoWo Slovenia)
first studies, carried out by Tina Potočnik
(2016) on the topic of female students
of Professor Jože Plečnik, only a small
number of short presentations of women
in architecture had been published
in daily newspapers and magazines
(Prelovšek, 1994, 8; Prelovšek, 2006, 17;
Zupančič, 2006; Zupančič, 2009).
Numerous scientific contributions to
the topic were accomplished within the
MoMoWo project. Alenka Di Battista
Civil Engineering and Design

(2017) researched the role of women’s

magazines in the dissemination of
knowledge of modern home design
before the Second World War. Helena
Seražin (2018) investigated the
participation of women at the Faculty of
Architecture at University of Ljubljana
before and after the Second World War,
while Barbara Vodopivec (2018) tackled
the topics of the first women architects
employed at the Slovene Institute for the
Preservation of Monuments and Slovene
female civil engineers.
This text however summarises the results
of the research on female pioneers in
Slovene architecture, civil engineering
and design, who graduated before the
end of the Second World War, some of
whom had already been presented in the
series of exhibitions under the title To
the Fore: Pioneers in Slovene Architecture,
Civil Engineering and Design.1
Helena Seražin

The term ‘pioneer’ most suitably applies

to the women who fought the gender
prejudices widespread in the Slovene
society. In the first decades of the

186
twentieth century, these biases remained were very reluctant to let the women
deeply rooted in the conservative ways study at university, wondering who would
of life and thought typical of nineteenth- then take care of home and family?
century Austro-Hungarian Empire, of The reasoning of the State against
which Slovenia has been part of until the women’s higher education was based
end of the First World War. The Empire mostly on the following statements and
belonged to the most backward European recommendations: the contact of both
countries concerning the education of genders in the lecture room presents a
women; the State was reluctant to found moral hazard; lectures would have to be
girls’ gymnasiums, which would prepare adapted in a way that wouldn’t offend
them for higher education (Cindrič, 2009, women’s ears; society does not have any
247). For those who wanted to study need for female judges, lawyers, doctors,
design, the best solution was to enrol in teachers, soldiers, etc.; men are the
the Kunstschule für Frauen und Mädchen leaders and set the social order (Cindrič,
(Art School for Women and Girls), also Študenti s Kranjske, 255–57).
known as ‘Damenakademie’ -a female The condition of women began to
equivalent of the Academy of Fine Arts in change with the new legislation, which
Vienna- or the Kunstgewerbeschule (Arts allowed them free enrollment to all
and Crafts School) at the Museum für schools and universities. Thus Slovenian
Kunst und Industrie in Vienna.2 The idea women were finally admitted to study
of a woman studying at the Technical civil engineering and architecture at
University to become an architect or a the Technical Faculty of Ljubljana. The
civil engineer remained unheard-of. first general courses in architecture
Painter and designer Helena Kottler and civil engineering had been held at
Vurnik (1882–1962), one of the first the Technical Faculty since December
pioneers in Slovene design, studied at the 1919, when the University of Ljubljana
Damenakademie.3 Sculptor and designer was established. However, specialised
Dana Pajnič (1906–1970) was another courses in architecture only began in
designer with an artistic background 1920, with the arrival of Professor Jože
(Zupančič, 2016) as she attended the Plečnik (1872–1957) (Grabrijan, 1968).
Probuda Art School in Ljubljana and the The first women enrolled at the
Decorative Arts School in Dresden. The Department of Architecture, led by
first officially educated designer was Professor Ivan Vurnik (1884–1971),
Jela Vilfan (1906–1998) who studied at were Milena and Slavica Vencajz in the
Damenakademie and Kunstgewerbeschule academic year 1921/1922, but they were
(“Vilfan Jela,” 2013). admitted to attend only one semester
After the First World War, Slovenia as ‘non-regular’ students, while the first
became part of the newly established regular student was Dušana Šantel
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1908–1988) in 1925/26.4
(1918), later renamed as Kingdom Surprisingly, one-year earlier (1924/25
of Yugoslavia (1929). At that time, winter semester) two regular students
especially the Slovenian Catholic circles enrolled at the Department for

187
Construction: they were Vera Gadsiatzky nature of his teaching, which favoured
Greate (b. 1894) from Russia,5 and Marija artistic expression rather than the more
Golias (b. 1906), the first Slovene female engineering aspects of architecture –a
student in Construction.6 style closer to Vurnik (Potočnik, 2014).7
The first female who graduated in Women were aware of their artistic
architecture under the supervision of abilities, they were all excellent
Professor Vurnik was Dušana Šantel draughtswomen (Figs. 1, 2), and some
in 1932, after failing the final exam of them took in consideration the
twice. Only a month later Gizela Šuklje possibility of enrollment at the Academy
(1909–1994) became the second of Fine Arts, but decided to gave up
woman to graduate in architecture; she due to reduced professional prospects
was awarded relatively high grades in (Potočnik, 2016). They renounced
comparison with male students and was because there was no art academy in
a student of Plečnik (Seražin, 2016b). Ljubljana at the time8 and possibly also
Also in 1932, Sonja Lapajne Oblak (1906– because of the perception of female
1995) was the first female to graduate artists in pre-war Slovene society, which
in construction (Vodopivec, 2016). From remained based on asymmetric gender
68 female students, who enrolled in the distinction: Kunstübende Frau (woman
course of architecture before 1943/44, practising art) versus Kunstler (artist)
only ten managed to graduate before (Smrekar, 2017, 24). This was the case
the end of the Second World War: apart with Marija Grafenauer Vogelnik who in
from Šantel and Šuklje, Marjanca Kanc 1945 enrolled on the painting course at
Čuček (1909–1988, grad. 1933), Katarina the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade
Grasselli (1910–1990, grad. 1935), Juta and later became an artist. Among them
Zdešar Krulc (1913–2015, grad. 1937), Vladimira Bratuž (1929–2006) who
Karolina Kodrič (b. 1914, grad. 1939), became sculptor (Seražin, 2016c), and
Marija Grafenauer Vogelnik (1914–2008, Alenka Kham Pičman (b. 1932) who
grad. 1939), Marija Bahovec (1914–1981, became a painter (Viki Šubic, 2016a).
grad. 1940), Magdalena Neřima (1916– Most of the first female students
2001, grad. 1940) and Sonja Batista came from well-situated families of
Trenz (1918–1999, grad. 1944). Slovene politicians, higher rank officials,
At the Department for Construction, industrials or entrepreneurs, intellectuals
the situation was much worse: out of and artists from different towns, such
16 female students only two graduated as Ljubljana, Trieste and Gorizia.9 This
before 1943/44: Sonja Lapajne Oblak social structure began to change just
and Zorka Sodnik (b. 1915, grad. 1941) before the war when the first students
(Fakulteta za arhitekturo, 1979, 108–09). coming from working-class families
Six of the female graduates in entered the University.10 In line with public
architecture were Plečnik’s students, expectations, the range of practising
which at first sight corroborates Tina professionals in the case of the first
Potočnik’s hypothesis that more female Slovene female architects, designers and
students chose his seminar due to the civil engineers proved to be somewhat

188
limited. ‘As far as women are concerned, the time (Vodopivec, 2016). Juta Zdešar
they will find it easier to thrive in the Krulc also passed the state examination
administrative department, whereas as to become a Chartered Engineer in
an independent architect they would Belgrade, where she worked with engineer
not always be able to enforce their Mihajlo Nešić until 1940 (Viki Šubic,
will at workers properly. Most suitable 2016b). Marjanca Kanc Čuček worked as
for them would be designing interiors an architect for her colleague Ladislav
(Innenarchitekt), which requires a separate Kham (1937–38) and the Construction
specialisation’ (Sušnik, 1932, 277). Company of Vili Battelino (1938–39)
In the 1930s, Slovene society was (Zupančič, 2013, 80). Before the war,
not quite ready for women architects; Kanc and Lapajne became candidates
Šantel took on odd jobs to make ends for the first female members of the
meet. She designed furniture, produced Slovenian Chamber of Engineers but were
drafts for decorative crafts and different never admitted due to the change of the
types of embroidery, dealt with garden political regime (Zupančič, 2013, 84).
architecture and building adaptations During the Second World War women
(Lozar Štamcar, 2009, 519). Apart from took an active part in the National
many articles, she also published a Liberation Movement –among them
manual How Do I Furnish My Apartment were also students of architecture and
(1939) (Di Battista, 2016). civil engineering Albina Zorka Gradišnik
Šuklje’s position was the direct opposite, (1918–1944),11 Mira Ružič Kraigher
as she soon became Plečnik’s volunteer (1916–2004) and Sonja Lapajne–12
assistant at the University, and worked in -which gained them new social status in
his studio. She passed her professional regard of gender equality and economic
architectural exam in Belgrade in 1938 independence. Within the new State
and later, with Plečnik’s help, obtained of the Socialist Federal Republic of
a permanent position at the Ljubljana Yugoslavia, some of the pioneers
Magistrate Building Department. The mentioned above gained leading
post enabled her to collaborate with her positions in large State construction
former teacher on some of Ljubljana’s companies and at educational
most important projects of the 1930s institutions, and strongly influenced
and 1940s (Seražin, 2016b). Sonja the post-war Slovene architecture and
Lapajne was also destined for office design, paving the way to younger
work. Between 1934 and 1943 she generations of women.
worked on developing static calculations
for reinforced concrete structures for
state-commissioned projects at the
Technical Department of the Royal
Banate Administration of the Drava
Banate in Ljubljana and supervised their
construction. She thus worked with the
most prominent Slovene architects of

189
Captions
Fig. 1. Marjanca Kanc, Single-
woman’s room, mid-1930s

Fig. 2. Katarina Grasselli, Living

room, mid-1930s

Both figures are from Lučine:

Nadaljevanje: 118 izbranih del
arhitektov Tehnike Univerze
Ljubljanske: 1929–1937.
Ljubljana: Ognjišče akademikov
arhitektov, 1937.

1
2

190
Notes
(1) Within the context of the MoMoWo Open (7) According to the archival documents between
Day activity (2016, 2017 and 2018), France Stele 1920 and 1944 Plečnik had 28 female students of
Institute of Art History and Slovene Centre of which 15 graduated (some of them after the war),
Architecture prepared three consecutive exhibitions and Vurnik had 40 female students of which only 7
in the Dessa Galery in Ljubljana. See the attachment gaduated. ZAMU, Tehniška fakulteta, Osebni izkazi;
in Part II of this book. Faculty of Architecture, Register of graduated
students of architecture, book 1.
(2) The Kunstschule für Frauen und Mädchen was
established in 1897 as a private school and became (8) That was the reason why Erna Tomšič decided
public in 1908. The Viennese Academy of Fine to study architecture instead of painting. Boc, “Erna
Arts opened to women only in 1920. See Smrekar, Tomšič”.
“Življenje in delo,” in Helena Vurnik, 24.
(9) ZAMU, Tehniška fakulteta, Osebni izkazi. Many
(3) About her life and work see Hrausky, 1994, students from Trieste, Gorizia and Vipava came
75; Prelovšek, 1994, 66–9; Zgonik, 2007, 190–1; from the Slovene ethnical territory that after the
Seražin, 2016a, 30–31. First World War became part of Italian Kingdom;
they came to study in Ljubljana mostly because of
(4) ZAMU (Zgodovinski arhiv in muzej univerze v Slovene language.
Ljubljani; Historical Archives and Museum of the
University of Ljubljana), Tehniška fakulteta, Osebni (10) ZAMU, Tehniška fakulteta, Osebni izkazi.
izkazi, boxes VII–3 and VII–7.
(11) Gradišnik was killed in summer 1944 during
(5) Vera Gadsiatzky Greate moved in Ljubljana from the fights between partisans and German army.
Oxford University, where she passed some exams,
but prior to that, she studied civil engineering at (12) Lapajne was in 1943, as the Liberation
the Female Politechnic in St. Petersburg. ZAMU, Front party secretary, arrested and interned at
Tehniška fakulteta, Osebni izkazi, box VII-7, winter the German Ravennsbrück concentration camp
semester 1924/25. (Vodopivec, 2016).

(6) Although Marija Golias was the first female

student in civil engineering at the Technical faculty
in Ljubljana, she was not the first to finish her
studies; after ten semesters she changed her study
for geodesy in 1929/30. ZAMU, Tehniška fakulteta,
Osebni izkazi, boxes VII-7, VII-17 and VII-25.

191
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193
 After the Second World War, the situation
in Europe gave women new opportunities
to develop their creativity professionally.
Along the need to restore cities damaged
by the war, an effort to build a new face
of Europe arose. The phrase ‘building
peace’ became a leitmotif of the political
propaganda of the Eastern bloc since in
this geopolitical area women entered the
field of architecture and construction in
Reconstruction of Socialist Europe

higher numbers than in Western Europe.

They were expected to join the process in
a role equal to men.
Women’s Creativity in Post-War

Officially, the equality between women

and men did not mean a continuation
of feminist initiatives of the inter-war
period. According to the East European
regimes, such activities represented
manifestations of the capitalist world
where women had to fight for their rights,
unlike in the socialist countries where
women were given the opportunity to
realise their potential. The truth was that
Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (MoMoWo Slovakia)

women could not stay at home; everyone

had to be employed on a mandatory
basis. However, making the men and
women equal in the Eastern Bloc
provided a solution to the shortage of
skilled labour after the war. The demand
for engineers opened the door into areas
that had been hardly accessible for
women in the previous period.
The increased number of women in the
field of architecture and construction
and their equality proclaimed by the
State authorities did not mean the
actual situation was ideal. As women
discrimination in various forms has
Nina Bartošová

persisted until the present day, it is

worthwhile to look at the historical
circumstances that gave them the
opportunity to express themselves

194
creatively after the end of the Second by the State. Women from the second
World War. group completed their studies in the
By taking as reference the book early 1950s, which meant that it took
Ideological Equals. Women Architects in a few more years for them to gain the
Socialist Europe 1945–1989 (Pepchinsky necessary experience to be able to even
and Simon, 2017), this case study apply for more significant projects.
is not necessarily in search of an In the inter-war period, not every country
unambiguous truth but aims to get a had schools for architecture, and if it
better understanding of the situation. did, women rarely studied at them. In
The testimonies of the post-war women Germany, only a few women studied
architects often provide a more positive in the inter-war period; it was not until
picture of the past than the one offered the 1950s when the number of female
by the newspaper sources from that students started to grow (Engler, 2017,
period or that can be construed from 8). Poland had a unique position due
the number of women mentioned in to its strong representation of women
the architectural literature. Hence, this architects in the 1920s and 1930s, whose
text does not provide a comprehensive work –mainly carried out in collaboration
assessment of women’s creative work with their husbands-architects–
in the post-war period. Its objective is constitutes a significant contribution
to point out what characteristics the to Polish Functionalism (Marciniak,
women architects and engineers in the 2017, 63). Likewise, in Romania, the first
third quarter of the twentieth century had women studied already in the 1920s, and
and in what areas they could realise their prior to the Second World War, the equal
creative potential. status of men and women had been
guaranteed through guilds formed by
Women in Architecture and architects (Zahariade, 2017, 79).
Construction of Post-War Europe In Hungary, there were restrictions
In Eastern Bloc countries, namely East limiting the number of women studying
Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, at universities that remained in force until
Poland, Romania and Estonia, two 1945. Just a small group of women had
major groups of women were involved in studied before that year, and it was this
construction: those who got their degrees small group that consisted of the most
in architecture before the Second prominent personalities of Hungarian
World War and those who enrolled at post-war architecture (Haba, 2017, 35).
Universities after the war ended. Country- In Estonia, which was part of the Union
by-country the literature suggests that of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR),
the careers of the former group had women were officially recognised equal
been slightly more accessible, with less by the government in 1936. While they
discrimination, as after the end of the were encouraged to enter professions
war they were ready to work in the design traditionally held by men, before
studios and institutes which in Eastern 1945, only two women obtained an
Europe were primarily –if not solely– run architectural education (Ruudi, 2017, 92).

195
Unlike in Slovenia, in Slovakia women- in Germany, women were active in all
architects entered the scene after the war. areas, but a majority worked in the
In Slovakia education in architecture areas mentioned above. It was more
started at the Department of Architecture challenging to get to positions of
and Civil Engineering SVŠT (now STU) importance, as evidenced by the low
only in 1946. Therefore the first female percentage of female representation in
graduates started working in 1950 the Board of Directors of the German
(Moravčíková, 2017, 48). While, as proved Architects’ Association (BDA), and the
by the MoMoWo research summarised by even lower percentage of women in
Helena Seražin in this book, in Slovenia the Board of Architectural Academy.
women graduated in architecture already In fact, in the 120 years of the Board’s
in the 1930s and they gained important existence, only one woman succeeded,
positions in large State construction Iris Dullin Grund, who was also the chief
companies and at educational architect of Neubrandenburg. A possible
institutions within the new State of the way out of this situation of disparity
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. was offered by choosing less desirable
The circumstances mentioned above positions, often outside larger cities, or
suggest that the women who started a narrow specialisation, as was the case
working later did not have sufficient with Gertrude Schille, an expert on light
experience at the time when their male pre-cast reinforced concrete structures
colleagues, who got their education for planetariums, whose work became
during the inter-war period, applied renown even at international level
for significant government contracts. (Engler, 2017, 9–14).
Government building projects were not After the end of the Second World
only an exciting challenge for architects War, architecture in Slovenia gained
but, at the same time, they received the importance via restoration of the
attention of the media which increased devastated country in ruins, the
their chance to become known by people. industrialisation, search for housing
solutions and the construction of the
Building Types ‘Dominated’ by Women infrastructure and of new urban zones.
The place of prominence among the Political propaganda portrayed a woman
building types designed or co-designed in popular media as a ‘worker-mother’,
by women is held by buildings with capable of handling both her job and
functions such as education, including family. Collaboration with husbands-
pre-school centres, social and public architects enabled the women to work
services and cultural buildings. Women on a broader range of projects. One of
were also active in the interior design the personalities with the widest range of
and the design of furniture, monument work was Marta Ravnikar Ivanšek –sister
conservation, landscape and garden of the architect Edvard Ravnikar– who is
architecture. They had a lower chance considered to be a pioneer of innovative
to work on major government contracts residential building techniques together
or large-scale projects. For example, with her husband, Franco Ivanšek. Magda

196
Fornazarič Kocmut, who also worked appreciated when she was a student,
with her husband, architect Ivan Kocmut, and she became a member of the
designed a variety of buildings as well New Architectural Society. After the
(Potočnik, 2017, 22–26). marriage to architect Károly Perczek,
In Hungary, women have primarily who was considered to be an enemy of
involved in the profession thanks to the the regime, she was expelled from the
onset of industrialisation, which brought Heavy Industrial Design Office NÉTI, but
about the formal equality of women also she gradually succeeded in re-establish
in the field of architecture after the end her position in the field thanks to close
of the war. One of the major institutions professional cooperation with Johanna
for construction design in the field of Wolf (Haba, 2017, 37–39).
industry was the Industrial Building After 1956, the situation was improved
Design Company Ipari Épülettervező by the industrial program of Kadar’s
Vállalat (IPARTERV), founded in 1950, government that enabled women
that employed more than thousand to gain more prestigious positions
employees (Haba, 2017, 37). within principal State-owned design
It was the group of women architects offices. Women were able to prove their
and engineers who have worked in equality to men and were involved in
the field before the war and often held the planning of large complex industrial
more prominent positions through structures. Architects such as Éva
political contacts, who greatly helped Czuppon and György Rácz have been
the empowerment of women. One of given the opportunity to realise the
them was the engineer and architect architectural design of paper factory in
Johanna Wolf, a member of the group Dunaújváros (1967). Éva B. Mueller has
that invented a unique Hungarian designed projects for agricultural and
method for prefabricated concrete. industrial research institutes where she
Another prominent professional was managed to incorporate elements of
Eszter Pécsi, an engineer who designed Hungarian vernacular architecture into
construction systems for several modern architecture. Moreover, some
significant buildings in the 1930s and of them succeeded to work not only in
was in close contact with the leading State design offices but also on other
members of the Hungarian division of projects, such as Olga Mináry, who held
the Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture a prominent position at IPARTERV’s
Moderne (CIAM). There were also women design office, though she gained
architects, who studied after 1945 recognition mainly through the design
who became successful, for example, of residential buildings. She received the
architect Zsófa Tevan, who worked for most prestigious Hungarian architectural
some construction companies, held price for a housing complex in Óbuda,
the position of construction supervisor Budapest (Haba, 2017, 41, 43).
and was also involved in women’s When Slovakia became free from the
building brigades. Due to her contacts Stalinist doctrine, the situation improved
and abilities, she had been already in the late 1950s, and the

197
increase in construction production opportunities for women. Also, focusing
opened the possibilities for women in on a specific architectural or construction
the field of architecture. Viera Mecková solution could help women to stand out
is considered to be the most prominent and establish themselves in the field.
Slovak female architect of the twentieth For example, in Poland, a researcher and
century. She was employed at the Žilina architect Maria Piechotka developed
State design studio, where she worked some innovative solutions together
with her husband, architect Jozef Mecka, with her husband Kazimierz Piechotka,
on a wide range of projects and won when designing residential complexes
several architectural competitions. What (Marciniak, 2017, 66). In Estonia, women
makes her unique is her architectural architects were given more opportunities
approach based on a significant trend via the EKE Projekt State design office
of the Czechoslovak architecture of that specialised in the rural architecture
the 1960s that used abstraction as a (Ruudi, 2017, 93).
working method of designing spaces, The position of women in the second half
volumes and facades. In the 1970s, in of the twentieth century is shown using
her free time, Mecková began to work specific cases to illustrate their activities
on visionary projects of the architectural that contributed to the reconstruction of
group VaL (Voies et aspectes du post-war Europe, though the examples
Lendemain / Ways and aspects of also prove that women remained
tomorrow), where her creative potential somewhat overlooked. The smaller
was fully manifested, and VAL’s work representation of women in influential
became world-renowned. positions, such as heads of creative
Other prominent women architects in teams, as well as their noteworthy
Slovakia similarly worked in cooperation disinterest in presenting their work, was
with their husbands-architects. For reflected in the small representation
example, Milica Marcinková, whose work of women not only in professional
was influenced by Scandinavian design, journals from the period but also in
is the author of educational, health historiographical publications.
and cultural facilities. Architect Oľga Despite the fact that from a historical
Ondreičková attracted attention with perspective, the position of women in
her design of the communication centre the civil engineering and construction
for the Štrbské Pleso mountain resort. was discriminatory, women mostly
In her work, she often used contrasts did not show any particular interest in
of façade materials, as seen at the post gender-related visibility of their work,
office buildings in Bratislava and Prague on the contrary, such a perspective was
(Moravčíková, 2015, 85–99). perceived in some cases as degrading
In other countries of the Eastern Bloc, it (Moravčíková, 2015, 85; Bencová, 2016,
was equally not common for women to 125). Even in the case of projects
get access to more significant projects. considered less relevant by the company,
As mentioned before, working with they did not consider their work to be less
husbands-architects increased the work important for architectural practice.

198
Captions
Fig. 1. Mária Krukovská and
Irina Kedrová, the first women
architects in the state-run
design studio Stavoprojekt
Bratislava, around 1960. Photo
byJozef Nový.

Fig. 2. Kindergartens were one

of the typical assignments for
women architects. Štefánia
Krumlová, a kindergarten in
Záluhy, a local subdivision
in Bratislava, 1974. Photo by
Rajmund Müller.

2
199
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tektúra & Urbanizmus Vol.50, 1–2 (2016): 119–25. Prvá Generácia Žien v Slovenskej Architektúre /
Invisible Architects: the first generation of Women
Engler, Harald. “Between state socialist emanci- in Slovak Architecture.” Architektúra & Urbanizmus
pation and professional desire. Women architects Vol. 49, 1–2 (2015): 82–103.
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Europe 1945–1989, edited by Mary Pepchinsky and logical Equals. Women architects in Socialist Europe
Mariann Simon, 7–19. Abingdon: Routledge, 2017. 1945–1989. Abingdon: Routledge, 2017.
Haba, Péter. “At the forefront of socialist develop- Potočnik, Tina. “Female students of Jože Plečnik
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1945–1970.” In Ideological Equals. Women architects Equals. Women architects in Socialist Europe
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Pepchinsky and Mariann Simon, 34–47. Abingdon: Simon, 20–33. Abingdon: Routledge, 2017.
Routledge, 2017.
Ruudi, Ingrid. “Women architects of Soviet Estonia.
Marciniak, Piotr. “Spousal collaboration as a profes- Four approaches to design in a rural context.” In
sional strategy for women architects in the Polish Ideological Equals. Women architects in Socialist
People’s Republic.” In Ideological Equals. Women Europe 1945–1989, edited by Mary Pepchinsky and
architects in Socialist Europe 1945–1989, edited Mariann Simon, 91–104. Abingdon: Routledge,
by Mary Pepchinsky and Mariann Simon, 63–77. 2017.
Abingdon: Routledge, 2017.
Zahariade, Ana M. “The drawing board au féminin.
Moravčíková, Henrieta. “Emancipated but still Women architects in Communist Romania.” In Ideo-
accompanied. The first generation of women ar- logical Equals. Women architects in Socialist Europe
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200
201
 In November 2011, following the great
world economic 2008 crisis, the Spanish
Architects Union (SARQ - Sindicato
de Arquitectos) carried out a survey
which produced data of great concern.
Only 48.5% of architects claimed to
be working in jobs related to their
training, while the other half was either
unemployed or working in positions
which required lower qualifications or
specialisations. In the SARQ 2013 survey,
almost 12% of participants were working
in other countries, the majority in Europe,
but also 4% in Chile and 2% in Peru.
The bursting of the housing bubble has
forced many professionals to move to
Latin American countries since 2008,
and some of them have encountered
Spanish Women Architects

unexpected professional barriers.

Sometimes their Spanish university
degrees are not recognised. Therefore,
according to the newspaper
La Vanguardia (5 May 2013, 36) architects
are unable to ‘work as professionals,
but rather as collaborators, under the
corresponding precarious conditions’.
Despite these main barrier, Latin America
in Latin America

has been the second destination chosen

by women architects who have been
forced to emigrate, although with a
slightly lower percentage than their
University of Oviedo (MoMoWo Spain)

masculine colleagues, perhaps due to the

situation of ‘inequality of rights, security
and conditions for women’ (Matesanz
Ana María Fernández García

Parellada, 2015, 57) which still unsolved

in some countries.
This case study will attempt to offer a
brief overview of the professional activity
of Spanish women architects in Latin
America, by identifying both the main
players and their major projects.
For several reasons –e.g.

202
internationalisation of professional her studio in Barcelona, Clara Solà-
studies, personal contacts in Latin Morales together with her husband, the
American countries and direct Mexican architect Eduardo Cadaval, built
assignment– there are some prominent projects in several countries, especially
projects signed by women designers on in Mexico. In the Aztec country, the Casa
the other side of the ocean. TDA in Puerto Escondido (Oaxaca) is
One of the first works is by architect Elisa worthy of attention. It is constructed
Valero Ramos who in 1996 restored Los out of reinforced concrete and shows
Manantiales restaurant: a masterpiece of a remarkable system of terraces open
reinforced concrete shell building signed to sea views. Also of interest are the
in 1958 by the Spanish architect Félix bungalows and Lounge of Tepotztlán, a
Candela (Seguí Buenaventura, 1994). tourist resort where architecture blends
Of greater importance is the project with nature.
by Carme Pinós: the tower block One of the activities that women
Cube-I in Guadalajara (2002–05). It architects have developed in Latin
is an office block designed with well- America has been interior design and
ventilated spaces, with a central axis of decoration, coinciding with a ‘design
three concrete cores that channel the boom’ in countries such as Peru (Tapia,
installations and vertical circulation. 2013). This is the case of Montserrat
From the central body, the horizontal González, a representative in Peru
beams project as overhangs supporting of the Infinityinner platform and who
the post-tensioned slabs of each floor collaborated in the organisation of the
(Vial, 2006) (Fig. 1). Casacor Fair in Lima, which was devoted
In 2014 the Mexican group Cube to architecture, interior design and
entrusted Carme Pinós with the Cube2, landscaping in Latin America.
a high rise building which rejected Together with her studio Go-ON Design,
parallel lines, thus developing an almost she has also been associated with
sculptural language. The award-winning DesignWeek and ExpoDeco, both in the
project Auditorium Cerro Juli in Arequipa Peruvian capital.
(Peru), designed in 2014 by María Concerning product design, it is
Langarita and Víctor Navarro, must also necessary to mention Georgina Casanova
be mentioned. It was conceived as a McClure who, together with Mexican
flexible space under a complex metal engineer Ulises S. Águila, has founded
roof which diffuses the strong glare of the brand Llums de Gràcia, which rescues
the city (“Auditorio”, 2015). traditional techniques and craftspeople
In 2015, Clara Olóriz was a member with innovative design elements in
of the GroundLab (London) winner seating and lighting.
team of the design competition for However, without a doubt, the most
the redefinition of the Nueva Alameda interesting field where many Spanish
Providencia: a public space renovation professionals have acquired particular
in the main avenue of Santiago de Chile importance in Latin America is that
(Bosch, 2016). At the same time, from related to urban planning, or, in other

203
words, the socially committed reflection and other consultants from the Banco
on urban space. One of the most noted Interamericano de Desarrollo have come
Spanish women architects in this field together in a project of reactivation of
has been Ana María López Ortego, who public spaces in the historical centre of
declares herself to be ‘more a social the Ecuadorian city of Cuenca (2015–16).
activist than an architect’ (Valencia, Within the Iniciativa Ciudades Emergentes
2015). She has worked in Colombia y Sostenibles (Initiative for Emerging
since 2010 in Arquitectura Expandida, Sustainable Cities) in Cuenca Red, she
a laboratory where professionals has used a participative process for
collaborate with other collectives the management of urban strategies to
for the self-building of spaces. Their ‘prioritize the pedestrian over the car, to
multidisciplinary, urban laboratories regulate parking space, to try to make the
research take action in poor, problematic centre of the city more user-friendly’ (El
and unplanned areas. Apart from her Mercurio, 2015, 14), as well as redefining
works with Arquitectura Expandida, some six unique spaces for public use. This is
projects in the Potocine of Ciudad Bolívar the same participative process used in
in Bogotá stand out, with a structure of the reactivation of the historic centres of
Colombian bamboo (guadua) and exterior Asunción (2014) and Tegucigalpa (2015).
of alveolar polycarbonate. Environmental sustainability, one of the
Another original case has been the most important Millenium Objectives
project Bogotá invisible (2008) by Nerea in cooperation for development, has
Calvillo, a reinterpretation of social, been one of the professional concerns
ethnic and genre interactions which developed by Spanish women architects
are apparent in the Colombian capital in Latin America. One of the most notable
and which have led to a mapping of volunteers in its history is Ana Sugranyes
the immaterial. Later, in Santiago de who, in 1976, was already working on
Chile, she developed In the Air: a web community projects in El Salvador and
application that shows microscopic later in Guatemala, Perú and Chile, where
agents in the air that should be taken she has studied and published reports
into consideration when making political about social housing politics. In 2015
decisions. she was awarded the TOESCA Prize for
Occasional interventions in the Latin her contribution to the development of
American landscape have been carried Chilean architecture (Arias Laurino, 2016).
out by Spanish studios such as that Sandra Bestraten completed her final
of Margarita Jover from Estudio project for graduation in 2003 with a
Alday y Jover. In her recent project of design for the Universidad Indígena of
recuperation of an ancient aqueduct Chiquitania in San Ignacio de Velasco
and bend in the Piedras River in (Bolivia) based on self-building systems
San Juan in Puerto Rico (2015), she and organisation of construction in
strengthens urban connections with a stages, thus allowing the involvement
park, thus improving contacts with the of the local people. Supported by the
river. The intervention of Belinda Tato Cátedra Unesco de Sostenibilidad

204
(Unesco University Chair in Sustainability) women worked as part of the Team
of the Universidad Politécnica of M3H1, namely Sandra Argüello Calderón,
Cataluña, Bestraten worked on the Paz Argüello Meza and Isabel Escudero
environmental and social transformation Herrera.
of a rubbish tip in Medellín (Moravia), an To conclude this overview it is necessary
artificial mountain of garbage which has to mention: Angélica Puno, professor
been transformed into a flower plantation at the Universidad Autónoma Néstor
managed by the women’s organisation Cácerez de Puno (Peru); Carmen
Cojardicón (Muxi, 2018). Women’s Mazaira from Puebla (Mexico) where
empowerment and collective work are she is involved in social activism as
concepts that have also been applied in demonstrated in the exhibition When
the Fitekantropus project in Lima (2017), Architecture Dies, a tribute to those
with the collaboration of Paula Villar, affected by the earthquake of September
in the construction of a new common 2017 (El Sol de Puebla, 2017, 3); and
dining room in a depressed area of the Isabel Martínez Abascal’s coordination
city (Fig. 2). of the LIGA, A Space for Architecture
The architect Pilar Calderón has in Mexico City. It is here, in 2017, that
also worked since graduation in the another Spanish woman, Paula García
programme Servicio País in Chile for the Maseda, has developed a project
eradication of poverty in Patagonia, which, named Remote Interludes, a creative
since 1995, involves young professionals collaboration from both sides of the
who may contribute in their respective Atlantic. The work of Gabriela Sanz
specialities to the improvement of poor, Rodríguez must not be forgotten either.
isolated rural areas. A more technological Since 2011 she has lived in Lima and
but related to the cooperation has run the firm Arquitectura Verde,
development is being carried out by Belén committed to sustainable design.
Orta, in collaboration with the Pontificia Finally, it is necessary to include
Universidad Católica in Perú, to achieve a Marisa Martín from Bogotá (Colombia)
construction system resistant to seismic who is responsible for the firm La7ªK,
movements with prefabricated, sun-dried specialised in the design of museums,
brick armatures (Orta, 2016). In the same as well as Marta del Olmo, involved in
way, Eugenia Lacarra has developed a PlayAchomo, a temporary public space in
method of low-cost self-built housing Guatemala, conceived as an installation
made of seismic resistant materials. This consisting of colourful textiles following
project was awarded first prize in the XVI the best traditions in indigenous fabric
Bienal Panamericana de Arquitectura in production.
2008. Concerning school architecture, it is
necessary to mention the project Escuela
M3, awarded the Corona de Colombia
Prize for a model for educational facilities
adaptable to different climates, spatial
needs and natural risks. Three Spanish

205
Captions
Fig. 1. Carme Pinós, Tower
Block Cube I, Guadalajara
(México), 2002–05.

Fig. 2. Sandra Bestraten and

Paula Villar, Communal Dining
Room Fitekantropos, Lima
(Peru), 2017.

2
206
References
Arias Laurino, Daniela. “Aja Sugranyes,” Un día Orta, Belén et al., “Sistema de autoconstrucción
una arquitecta (2016). Accessed January 11, sismorresistente: características resistentes y
2018. https://undiaunaarquitecta2.wordpress. proceso constructivo.” Informes de Construcción
com/2016/12/06/ana-sugranyes-1949. Vol. 68, 542 (2016). Accessed November 19, 2017.
http://informesdelaconstruccion.revistas.csic.
“Auditorio en Cerro Juli, Arequipa (Perú),” Archtalent es/index.php/informesdelaconstruccion/article/
Magazine (2015). Accessed February 8, 2018. http:// view/5290/6117.
magazine.archtalent.com/auditorio-en-cerro-juli.
SARQ Sindicato de Arquitectos. “Encuestas.”
Bosch, Alejandra, et al. “Paseo Cívico Metropolitano: Accessed November 30, 2017. http://www.
Rediseño del eje Alameda-Providencia Santiago, sindicatoarquitectos.es/index.php/lineas-de-accion/
Chile, 2015 - 2018.” ARQ 92 (2016). Accessed encuestas.html.
January 4, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0717-
69962016000100006. Seguí Buenaventura, Miguel. Félix Candela,
arquitecto. Madrid: Instituto Juan de Herrera, 1994.
El Mercurio, June 10, 2015, 14.
Tapia, Inmaculada. “Perú vive una fiebre del diseño,”
El Sol de Puebla, December 11, 2017, 3. El Tiempo Latino (2013). Accessed January 11,
2018. http://eltiempolatino.com/news/2013/
La Vanguardia, May 5, 2013, 36.
nov/08/peru-vive-una-fiebre-del-diseno.
Matesanz Parellada, Ángela. “Arquitectas precarias.
Valencia, Nicolás. “Ana López Ortego de
Situación laboral de las arquitectas según la
Arquitectura Expandida,” Plataforma Arquitectura
III Encuesta del Sindicato de Arquitectos.” In
(2015). Accessed December 27, 2017. https://www.
Arquitectas, redefiniendo la profesión, edited by Nuria
plataformaarquitectura.cl/cl/775871/ana-lopez-
Álvarez Lombardero, 49–59. Sevilla: Recolectores
ortego-de-arquitectura-expandida-me-considero-
Urbanos Editorial, 2015.
mas-activista-social-que-arquitecta.
Muxi, Zaida. “Sandra Bestraten.” Un día una
Vial, Carlos J. “Torre Cube, Carme Pinos en
arquitecta (2018). Accessed January 25,
Guadalajara,” Plataforma Arquitectura (2006).
2018. https://undiaunaarquitecta3.wordpress.
Accessed February 8, 2018. https://www.
com/2018/01/21/sandra-bestraten-1976.
plataformaarquitectura.cl/cl/02-1054/torre-cube-
carme-pinos-en-guadalajara.

207
 Historical research after craftswomen
and women designers in the Netherlands
from 1940 to the present day is still a
desideratum. It is a desideratum because,
as has been acknowledged in feminist
and women’s histories since the 1980s,
history writing should aim for a more
inclusive representation of peoples and
groups in society. This is not to say
Craftswomen and Women Designers

that women designers operating in the

Netherlands after 1940 have remained
unnoticed; far from that. Work by women
has been exhibited and published,
and museums have collected it.1 Until
about 1990, this happened mostly
on a national scale; after 2000, the
international dissemination of their work
was supported by publications in English:
Hella Jongerius, Claudy Jongstra,
Ineke Hans, and Irma Boom are often
cited (Miller, Sparke, McDermott, 2009;
Powilleit, Quax, 2008).
This case study wants to use the general
findings from research after women
designers between 1880 and 1940 for
in the Netherlands

a hypothetical reflection on the period

1940 to 2015 (Groot, 2007).2 Between
Vrije University Amsterdam (MoMoWo Netherlands)

1880 and 1910, and then again between

1918 and 1940, the number of women
designers and craftswomen gradually
increased; this was brought about by
the impact of education and societal
changes in the First World War. The
years between 1940 and 1990 appear
to differ from the years after 1990 with
the continuing internationalisation and
the internet for the dissemination of
work. The number of female designers
continued to grow after 1940, and
Marjan Groot

the chances of a successful career

were possibly mostly affected by two
interrelated developments.

208
1) The gradual increase of support 6. How did they articulate their ideas on
through government funding for design?
design after 1950 which stimulated 7. How was the design of their work
commissions for government-related assessed by third parties, i.e. the
buildings such as embassies and offices, historical reception?5
as well as funding of design publications. Addressing these questions led to a
2) Internationalisation which encouraged more inclusive history alongside the
the publication of lavishly illustrated established history of male designers,
monographs about female (and male) with mutual connections, similarities and
‘star-designers’ in English after c. 2000.3 differences. It became clear that women
Collaborations with national luxury were operational in many fields and that
industries such as ceramic or metal a small group of designers was extremely
factories were marketed already before active. They even participated in the
1940, also with the aim to promote discourse (initiated by men) on ‘good
national design; these continued, yet design’. Due to their gender, most active
remained relatively small-scale, while women were ‘condemned’ to ‘feminine’
international collaboration increased.4 disciplines, but by working professionally
Moreover, the type of design evolved. as designers and artists, they could
Today, a renowned designer like Hella experience and express their identity
Jongerius may receive commissions in their field. Only a few women were
for the interior design of aircraft from feminist-oriented from the 1880s onward;
companies such as KLM; others work most wished to manifest themselves
with Philips, IBM, or BMW. primarily via their work.
The gender approach produces a
History and Gender Constructions dilemma as well: if one’s attention is
Research conducted on women only drawn to the corroboration and
designers and craftswomen in the maintenance of a general and (mostly
Netherlands between 1880 and 1940 negative) stereotype image of women,
formulated the following questions: by social structures and connotations
1. Via which channels and from whom that are evident from the disciplines that
did female designers receive written women practise, such as folk art and
renown? activities with textiles, or from reviews
2. What was the women’s share in of their work, no justice can be done to
exhibitions? what women actually achieved within
3. Which initiatives did women take these fields. Neither will this bring out
to work in studios and to establish the fact that, at the same time, they were
galleries and shops? accepted in their work by female and
4. What was the significance of official male colleagues, and that they attained
organisations and mutual contacts? the same innovative level as men, the
5. Which position did women occupy latter aspect being a starting point
in the various disciplines related to used by many design and architectural
design? historians. An overall gender perspective

209
denies individuality and confirms similar enterprises instigated by male
stereotypes. With an acknowledgement designers. From the first studios, an
of the positive aspects that a gender increasing number of designers began
approach offers for the awareness of to present themselves individually and
ideologies, there is the danger that this professionally. At the same time, from
angle of approach can reinforce the around 1913 onward, the network of
negative features. showrooms that presented their work to
the outside world became more refined.
Visibility In this network, women were important
Right from the outset and during the as initiators, leaders, and in co-operative
entire period 1880 – 1940 women were enterprises with male colleagues. The
involved in exhibitions of contemporary showrooms and galleries repeatedly
applied art and crafts, even if these brought the same circle of designers
exhibitions were relatively small and together, often within a specific city
the women themselves were always or region, and the showroom’s social
in the minority. There were specialist function must have been of significance.
exhibitions for example on textiles Showrooms kept designers and
but also general exhibitions of applied craftswomen active too. I would suggest
art. Visibility at exhibitions expanded that this continues after 1940, with
particularly after 1902, and seemed to more specialised galleries for jewellery,
reach a peak in the period around 1920. textiles, or ceramics becoming active
After that, a smaller group of women next to all-round galleries (Koch, 2003;
was still very actively involved, closely Leidelmeijer, Kester, 2007). Exhibitions
linked to the activities of the professional stimulated reviews, and the role of
designers association V.A.N.K. on the journalism became extremely important
exhibition circuit. At general exhibitions, for reception of the work, which it is still
work by women was frequently combined today.
with work by men. After 1940, special Between 1880 and 1940, women
women’s exhibitions disappeared, and, could participate in all networks that
similar to the years after 1910, general were important to their functioning as
national and international exhibitions professional designers and craftswomen.
became more important. Solo exhibitions Many of them were involved in the
increased, both in galleries and Dutch professional association, V.A.N.K.,
museums.6 Major career retrospectives of which they could become a voting
also happen but are still rare. member right from its incipience in
Between 1880 and 1940, women 1904 and which accepted women who
designers who exhibited frequently were worked in all disciplines. However, the
often important to studios and shops. association sanctioned the stereotype
Women began studios, showrooms and gender roles via disciplines such as
joint enterprises just as readily as men textile work by female members.
and some studio-showrooms existed Women from higher social classes
just as long, sometimes even longer than were more than others active within

210
this association, also in organising ceramics related to decorative art and
exhibitions. Besides the network of the ceramic design applied to architecture
professional association, art associations (e.g. the work of Babs Haenen). Design
were also important for the visibility of styles, of course, changed significantly.
craftswomen. After the late 1990s, leading women
designers were given commissions by
Disciplines and Design ancient Delftware factories, such as
Between 1880 and 1940, the disciplines Royal Tichelaar Factory in Makkum that
in which women worked professionally promoted so-called ‘Dutch design’ via
changed a little in the course of time. The Hella Jongerius, the male/female duo
Table (Fig. 1) shows the numbers and Studio Job (Job Smeets and Nynke
percentages of women divided over the Tynagel), and the female/male duo Studio
various disciplines until 1940; the right Makkink & Bey (Rianne Makkink and
column gives suggestions as to their Jurgen Bey). A recent and prestigious
continuation after 1940. work by Royal Tichelaar and Jongerius, is
As indicated in the Table, some a curtain of 30.000 hand-manufactured
categories of practices remain relevant glazed porcelain beads knotted in a
for the period 1940 to 2017. A significant pattern following old maritime techniques
change is that many more designers for the U. N. North Delegates’ Lounge,
produce their work in collaboration New York, United Nations/Netherlands
with factories or companies. Weaving, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Fig. 3). It
for example, was an important studio forms an ensemble with chairs designed
craft before 1940 but further developed by Jongerius and several modernist
industrially in collaboration with high- chairs by male architects-designers.
quality textile factories such as De Ploeg Since circa 1905, applied graphic design
in Bergeijk or Van Besouw carpet factory gradually became one of the most
(e.g. work by Diek Zweegman; Bree, Ros, popular practices for women; today, this
Unger, 2011). More recently, since 2005, is presumably still the case. Metalwork
the Textile Museum in Tilburg started to mostly evolved into jewellery design,
invite designers to work with advanced also ̶ though not only ̶ by experimenting
computer-operated machines in their with non-precious metals and materials
textile laboratory. Here, Aleksandra Gaca since the 1960s. The importance of
designed a 3D-woven interior fabric for two-dimensional decorative design
the Renault concept car SYMBIOZ, an increased considerably. Female interior
autonomous electrical car to be plugged architects were rare before 1940 but
into your house as additional modular their numbers grew after 1945, both for
and multifunctional room (Fig. 2). high-brow design as well as for the more
Practices in ceramics, which include commercial field of home decoration.
designing and decorating Delftware and By contrast, female furniture designers
porcelain on the one hand and craft were rare and are still so today, leaving
pottery on the other hand, basically cabinet making and furniture design as
continued as before 1940; likewise for predominantly male fields. A striking

211
difference is the increase of women employed in industry, besides production
in architecture and exhibition design, workers, is negligible. The few women
especially after 1989. Before 1940, if who worked for a shorter or longer period
any, exhibition design was a male affair. in a discipline outside textiles were ideal
Architecture was not included in my examples and role models within a socio-
research after the years 1880 to 1940, ideological framework in which women
but as Erica Smeets-Klokgieters has were accepted as designers. Women
shown recently, more women graduated could demonstrate that they were indeed
as architects and engineers besides capable, but few achieved the same
Margaret Kropholler, even though their status as male designers. The number of
practices were less well presented as professional designers did increase, but
hers (Smeets-Klokgieters, 2017). hardly significantly. This is likely to be
different after 1940, but it remains to be
Earning a Living between 1880 and researched to what extent.
1940 In the design of their work, women
Prior to 1915, almost no woman could kept up with the times and co-shaped
live from her craftwork or designs, let pioneering modern ideas in their
alone do this over an extended period. disciplines. However, keeping up with the
It was challenging for women to times could also mean that they ‘denied’
work independently, even if they were technological advancement by linking
supported and respected by their male forms of handicraft to housework, folk art
colleagues in the exhibition circuits and ‘primitive’ art. This not only applied
and professional organisations. Even to female work; applied art as such
when the merits of education became represented a need that clashed with the
more self-evident after the mid-1890s, industrial age, nevertheless retaining its
the number of independently working raison d’être. This seems still the case of
female designers did not increase much craft and design by women after
significantly. They had to liberate their 1940. Recent developments importantly
work from the connotation of housework cross the borders between design, craft,
and handicraft as a kind of hobby. Once sculptural art, biology and/or state-of-the-
married, many women focused on the art IT. An example is the work by female/
household and the family. Also, many male duo Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph
women who displayed talent in their Nauta who collaborate in Studio Drift
work had no opportunity or ambition to since 2007 and currently have their first
develop themselves further. Women were significant solo exhibition Coded Nature
forced to seek other employment due to at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.7
economically tight times, but that also
applied to their male colleagues. Most of
the women’s work was based in the home
or studio, and they worked as freelance
designers or independent contractors.
The number of female designers

212
Table
Women practitioners and because women worked in (art)
designers with areas of craft and workshops of factories with a
design in The Netherlands. serial production line. A total
From appendices listing names, is hard to give here due to lack
exhibitions, and members of the of exact lists of employees, but
professional crafts and design there were at least 188 women
organisation V.A.N.K. in Groot, with personal signatures for
2007. various ceramic factories. The
* 566 was the total of names figures in this table are derived
found in the research published from lists in a lexicon of women
in 2007. The total of practitioners designers offering 28 names of
in different specialist fields was paintresses who worked for a
577 because a number of women factory for a relatively long time
practised several disciplines. and/or designed patterns and
** The number of ceramic decors. It is a rough indication.
painters between 1880 and
1940 is by far the largest of
all specialist design fields

Total of women practitioners and 566 (726)* % of 566 Hypothetical

designers found in primary sources suggestions for
between 1880 and 1940* 1940 to 2017
Artneedlework 72 12,7% few
Batik 39 6,8% very few
Graphic design/illustration 58 10,2% >>>> (many more)
Illustration Art 34 6% >>>> (many more)
Calligraphy 4 0,7% equal or less
Bookbinding 27 4,7% equal or less
Leather art without bookbinding 9 1,5% >> (esp. bags design)
Weaving/plaiting 80 14,1% equal
Lace-art 21 3,7% less (hardly any)
Metal art and enamelling 19 3,3% > (esp. jewellery)
Ceramic painting and decorating** 28(>188)** 4,9%(26%)** >>
Pottery art 14 2,4% >>
Furniture and interior design/architecture 7 (2) 1,2% >>>
Exhibition design - - >>>
Design and decorative design 16 2,8% >>>> (many more)
Leaded glass 6 1% >
Woodcrafts 7 1,2% equal
Sculpture/statuettes 7 1,2% >>
Diverse textile 40 7% >>
Diverse general 59 10,4% >>
Showrooms and shops 24 4,2% >>
Journalists and critics 6 1% >>

213
 1

2
214
Captions
Fig. 1 Aleksandra Gaca, Fabric Fig. 2 Hella Jongerius and Royal
for the Renault SYMBIOZ concept Tichelaar Makkum, Lounge chairs
car, 2017. Accessed February and Knots & Beads Curtain for
27, 2018. http://www.textiellab. the eastern façade of the U. N.
nl/nl/actueel/aleksandra-gaca- North Delegates’ Lounge, New
ontwerpt-stoffen-interieur- York, United Nations/Nederlands
visionaire-renault-symbioz. Ministery of Foreign Affairs,
2013. Accessed February 27,
2018. https://www.tichelaar.nl/
projecten/u-n-north-delegates-
lounge-new-york.

Notes
(1) To indicate some, in chronological order: (5) By historical reception I mean discussions of
Tichelaar, Bakker, 1995; Verschuuren, Van Mourik, works in their time. Later reception by scholars
Boekbinder, 1998; Holsappel, 2000; Moorsel, 2004; concerns the formation of narratives about
Bree, Ros, Unger, 2011. For a general overview of decorative art and design.
the twentieth century, though with few women
designers, see Seumeren-Haerkens, 2010. (6) Recently, for example, True Life by Ineke Hans
in Gemeentemuseum The Hague, 2003-2004;
(2) Results for the period 1880 to 1940 are Out of the ordinary, tenth anniversary of Studio
published also online https://books.google. WiekiSomers (Dylan van den Berg & Wieki Somers)
nl/books?redir_esc=y&id=kf_A8YENhRQC&q. in Boymans van Beuningen, 2014 (https://www.
since 2007. While the Dutch language limits boijmans.nl/en/exhibitions/studio-wieki-somers-
dissemination of findings, since 2007 the internet out-of-the-ordinary); Ancient Light by Claudy
as a research source has importantly gained in Jongstra in Fries Museum Leeuwarden, 2016
connectivity and relatives of women discussed in (https://www.friesmuseum.nl/te-zien-en-te-doen/
this book find their names and contact me every tentoonstellingen/claudy-jongstra/).
now and then with archival material and work they
still have of some of the women I mentioned. (7) See “Studio Drift: Coded Nature,” Stedelijk
Museum Amsterdam, accessed 27 June, 2018.
(3) See Schouwenberg, 2003; Ineke, Hinte, 2003; https://www.stedelijk.nl/en/news/studio-drift-
Lauwen, 2005; Kayoko, 2006; Lommen, Boom, coded-nature-2.
Haller, Lane 2010; Schouwenberg, 2011; Wijers,
Richard, Edelkoort, 2017.

(4) For example Hella Jongerius for Nymphenburg

in Germany, Stefan Scholten and Carole Baijings for
Arita in Japan.

215
References
Bree, Annemarie de, Ros, Guus, and Unger, Marjan. Moorsel, Wies van. Cora Nicolaï-Chaillet, 1919 –
De vijfde wand: Werk van Diek Zweegman 1937– 1975. Rotterdam: Stichting BONAS, 2004.
2004. Rotterdam: Nai010 Publishers, 2011.
Powilleit, Inga, and Quax, Tatjana. How they work.
Groot, Marjan. Vrouwen in de Vormgeving in The hidden world of Dutch Design. Rotterdam:
Nederland 1880–1940. Rotterdam: Nai010 Nai010 Publishers, 2008.
Publishers, 2007.
Schouwenberg, Louise. Hella Jongerius. London:
Hans, Ineke, and Hinte, Ed van (eds.). Black Bazaar. Phaidon, 2003.
Design Dilemmas. Rotterdam: Nai010 Publishers,
2003. Schouwenberg, Louise. Hella Jongerius: Misfit.
(Museum Boijmans-Van Beuningen, Rotterdam:
Holsappel, Eveline. Ida Falkenberg-Liefrinck Exhibition catalogue). London/New York: Phaidon
(1901). De rotan stoel als opmaat voor een betere Press, 2011.
woninginrichting. Rotterdam: Stichting BONAS,
2000. Seumeren-Haerkens, Margriet van (ed.). Een mooi
ding. Ambacht, vormgeving, kunst 1890–2010.
Kayoko, Ota. Inside outside: Petra Blaisse. Wormer: Uitgeverij Noord-Holland, 2010.
Rotterdam: Nai010 Publishers, 2006.
Smeets-Klokgieters, Erica. “Vrouw in de bouw. De
Koch, André (ed.). Galerie Kapelhuis: Dertig jaar eerste vrouwelijke afgestudeerde architecten in
vernieuwing in de toegepaste kunst 1960–1990. Nederland,” Bulletin KNOB Vol. 1, 116 (2017): 43–57.
Rotterdam: Nai010 Publishers, 2003. (https://doi.org/10.7480/knob.116.2017.1.1727).

Lauwen, Toon, (ed.). Claudy Jongstra: Matter and Tichelaar, Pieter Jan, and Bakker, Constantijn. Lucie
meaning. Amsterdam: Artimo, 2005. Bakker unica en serviezen 1950 – 1985. (Exhibition
catalogue). Leeuwarden: Museum Het Princessehof,
Leidelmeijer, Frans, and Kester, Peter van. 25 jaar 1995.
binnen: Galerie Binnen. Amsterdam: Galerie Binnen,
2007. Verschuuren, Nel, Van Mourik, Frans, and
Boekbinder, James. Dia’s van werk/264 images. Nel
Lommen, Mathieu, Boom, Irma, Haller, Sonja, Verschuuren binnenhuisarchitect/interior designer.
and Lane, John A. Biography in Books: Books in Amsterdam: Bis publishers, 1998.
Reverse Chronological Order, 2010–1986, with
Comments Here and There. Amsterdam: University Wijers, Louwrien, Richard, Laura, and Edelkoort,
of Amsterdam Press, 2010. Lidewij. Claudy Jongstra. Rotterdam: Nai010
Publishers, 2017.
Miller, R. Craig, Sparke, Penny, and McDermott,
Catherine. European design since 1985: Shaping the
new century. London/New York: Merrell Publishers,
2009.

216
217
 Some professional fields are attributed,
a priori, more to men than women. The
design is one of them and this vision is
supported by general design histories
that that reinforce, far too easily, a history
Craftswomen and Designers in Portugal:
of male ‘heroes’. In addition to the gender
bias and its blindness to the contribution
of individual women, there is also a
refusal to recognise the importance of
collaboration in the design process. This
was the cases of the French Charlotte
Perriand (1903–1999) or the German Lilly
Reich (1885–1947) and their working
relationships, respectively, with Le
Corbusier (1887–1965) and Mies van der
Rohe (1886–1969), in which they often
emerged as the passive ‘other’ in contrast
to the active, male creator and producer.
While these examples are nowadays
more studied and acknowledged, there
are still many creative-women-designers
who remain in the shadows, especially
in countries where design has quite
relatively been fully acknowledged as a
discipline in its own right.
In the case of Portuguese design, we are
Improbable Paths

facing a country with a late industrial

process associated to a technological
Universidade Europeia IADE (MoMoWo Portugal)

backwardness, and the existence of

a long dictatorship (1926–74), with
strongly isolationist, colonial and
economically protectionist agendas that
marked the late outbreak of design in
Portugal (Souto, 2016a, 71). Moreover,
the first cycle of Portuguese modernism
is historically bound up with the
military coup of 1926, which led to the
Maria Helena Souto

Estado Novo (New State) dictatorship,

established by the 1933 Constitution.
In this period, the names of Portuguese
creative-women linked to the avant-garde
movements are mainly associated with

218
painting. Some of them, however, also first woman to participate in pioneering
worked in the graphics as illustrators graphic design works for Portuguese
and theatre set designers. In these two advertising; many of whom have been
design fields, we highlight the examples included in ads for the women’s lingerie
of Mily Possoz (1888–1968) and Alice manufacturers Pompadour, since 1942.
Rey Colaço (1892-1978), whose works in With a subtle irony, she went beyond the
the 1920s and 1930s reflect the influence point of view of a woman as a consumer
of the Art Déco. In the following decade, wondering about the status of women in
women-designers worked mainly in the 1940s.
advertising where they were expected Although the ETP team had developed
to provide a women’s perspective as several works for the Secretariado de
consumers. Propaganda Nacional - SPN (National
Maria Keil (1914–2012), who belonged Propaganda Secretariat), Maria Keil
to the second generation of Portuguese sought to distance herself through forms,
modernist designers, despite she started colours and motifs from historical and
as a painter, quickly took on other art folkloric themes –be they nationalistic or
forms, highlighting her pioneering role historical– which some artists created
in illustration and advertising, but also (with varying degrees of quality) due to
in scenography, costume, tapestry, dictatorship demands.
furniture and ceramic-tile design. She Maria Keil has a special place in the
continually tried to reject the arts’ history of post-war Portuguese azulejos
systems of the past, because she was a (ceramic tiles) as one of the leading
resolute advocate of collaborative and creators in the modern reinvention of
craft-based design, creating works that the tile art tradition. She was part of
straddle and blur the traditional divisions a group of artists who, by a variety of
between art and craft, handwork and paths, reached the position of carrying
industrial production, amateur and out tile work on public art commissions.
professional. Her multifaceted body Although the figurative design persisted
of work is not only innovative but in her tile work since 1954 (Pais,
also provocative in a country with a 2014, 52), she also experimented with
profoundly conservative dictatorship combination of geometrical patterns,
that reserved for women the status where triangular motifs overlap in an
of a ‘home fairy’. In fact, the 1933 infinite and dynamic visual web-like
Constitution stated that the husband composition. This prismatic pattern
was the head of the family and that he is very evident in her distinguished
had the authority, while the woman had tile panel, O Mar (The Sea, 1956–58),
to play the role of a mother devoting set on the wall in one of the Infante
herself to her home (Cova, Costa Pinto, Santo Avenue’s residential complexes.
1997, 73). Suggestive evident reverberations of
Maria Keil was part of the Estúdio Técnico Op Art influence, lending her a unique
de Publicidade - ETP (Technical Studio of modernity to her work, paved the way
Advertising). At the ETP, Maria was the for what would become a central

219
theme of her ceramic work: the Lisbon housing to architecture renovation, from
underground, designed by her husband, public and private facilities to public
modernist architect Francisco Keil do spaces, from lightning to ceramic tile
Amaral (1910–1975). design. In Lisbon, the tile panels Vai Vem
When women are mentioned it is often (Comes and Goes) that cover two small
in conjunction with, and therefore walls as part of the urban requalification
‘subsumed’ under, a male partner or project of the area next to the Bica
family member (Buckley, 1986), but lift, under the direction of architect
this was not the case for Maria Keil. Teresa Nunes da Ponte, are an excellent
The collaboration with the two was ceramic intervention (Souto, 2016b,
vital for Maria’s path, but she was never 55). Another relevant work is the project
in her husband’s shadow. When she Cota Zero, for the of the Terreiro do Paço
was widowed, her work was already a Terminal Station, an enlargement and
reference that she continued tirelessly, transformation project by the Daciano
and in which the design and project da Costa/Ana Costa studio (Souto,
research was constant. In Lisbon 2016c, 50). Catarina and Rita designed
underground, despite the recurring a ceramic tile set into the ceiling of the
themes, all motives have unique features vestibule connecting an underground
and their own identities, varying in station with a ferry terminal. The work
each underground station, showing the establishes a metaphorical relationship
maturity of the artist’s sensitivity through between the continuum movement of
a striking combination of traditional passengers and the Tagus River which
Portuguese tiles in contrast with the accentuates the ever-changing genius
modern language (Fig. 1). loci (Fig. 2).
Maria Keil’s experiments in ceramic For the development of modern ceramics
design continue to be a source of study in the second half of the twentieth
and inspiration for younger generations century, Portugal receives contributions
of architects and designers, such as from foreign creators, among which
the works designed by the architects stand out some women as Hansi Staël
Catarina and Rita Almada Negreiros, (1913–1961) and Mirja Toivola (b. 1933)
already a reference in the contemporary (Henriques, 1999, 38, 132; Ferrão, 2014).
reinvention of ceramic tiles. In their Hansi Staël was a Hungarian ceramics
studio, CAN RAN Arquitectura - Ateliers designer based in Portugal between
de Santa Catarina, they promote active 1946 and 1957. In the interwar years,
interdisciplinary work between architects, she attended the Academy of Fine Arts
artists and designers. Granddaughters of of Budapest and the School of Arts and
one of the major artists of Modernism in Crafts in Vienna. During the Second
Portugal, the painter, illustrator and writer World War, she lived in Stockholm, where
José Almada Negreiros (1893–1970), she worked on textile designing and
Catarina and Rita –as a multidisciplinary editorial illustration, experimenting in
as their artist grandfather– develop ceramic decoration and painting.
together various types of projects: from In Portugal, Hansi Staël’s production

220
was prolific, mainly working as an art INII under the leadership of Maria Helena
director and head designer at the newly Matos, respectively in 1971 and 1973.
founded ceramic factory SECLA between This Institute was created in the late
1946 and 1959. In 1950, Staël founded 1950’s, when the economic policies of the
the SECLA Studio, actively contributing dictatorship of the New State changed
to the aesthetic renewal of the ceramics with an enhancement of the industrial
factory production also grounded on sector, directly linked to the application
the collaboration of invited artists; one of the Planos de Fomento (Foment Plans)
of these was the Finnish designer Mirja whose elaboration was the reaction to
Toivola. Having begun her studies at the the demands brought by the end of the
Helsinki Ateneum, she moved to London Second World War. Although the I Plano
to attend the Central School of Arts and (1953–58) and the II Plano de Fomento
Crafts, and she finally studied at the (1959–64) gave continuity to the model
École des Arts et Metiérs in Paris. There of autarky, in the II Plano the amount
she met the Portuguese painter and invested to stimulate the economy and
graphic designer João da Câmara Leme particularly the basic manufacturing
(1930–1983) whom she married, and the industry was extended in line with
couple moved to Portugal in 1957 (Leme, the entry into European Free Trade
2015). Association - EFTA, of which Portugal
Mirja Toivola worked for SECLA in the was one of the founding countries on 4
early 1960’s, designing table services for January 1960 (Souto, 2017, 24).
children as well as coffee and tea sets for The INII began its activities in 1959
everyday life using feldspathic stoneware and comprised several laboratories
with a matte brown and white glaze. Two associated with technology that had the
of these ceramic sets were exhibited at purpose of supporting industrial sectors.
the International exhibition of Industrial Architect António Teixeira Guerra was
Design in 1965, Portuguese historical responsible for presenting a proposal
design exhibition led by the sculptress to the INII director, engineer António
and glass designer Maria Helena Matos Magalhães Ramalho, aimed at the
(1924–2015) in the context of her constitution of a nucleus of investigation
activities at INII - Instituto Nacional de associated to the questions around the
Investigação Industrial / National Institute Art and the Technology. Teixeira Guerra
of Industrial Research (Souto, 2017, 25). himself initiated this proposal which, in
Mirja also worked for the Sociedade de 1960, led to the creation of the Núcleo
Porcelanas de Alcobaça S.A. - SPAL, a de Arte e Arquitetura Industrial (Art
Portuguese porcelain company, which and Industrial Architecture Nucleus)
held in 1970 a design competition where whose first activity was to develop the
the tableware Miria china service won processes related to product design
the 2nd Prize. She exhibited this service and their production methods. These
together with others she designed for actions began at the manually crafted
SPAL at both the 1st and 2nd Portuguese crystal-ware factory of Marinha Grande,
design exhibitions, also carried out by the the Fábrica-Escola Irmãos Stephens

221
(Stephens Brothers’ Factory-School), Portuguese industry. Through her actions
where Maria Helena Matos had already at the INII, she valued professionalism by
worked, and where she deepened her giving visibility to the other designers and
knowledge in glass design through encouraging equality between men and
a scholarship granted by Fundação women designers, these have been key
Calouste Gulbenkian. At the end of 1960, outcomes for the inclusion of Portuguese
knowing her work, Magalhães Ramalho design in the History of Modern Design.
invited her to collaborate with the Art and Nowadays, one of the most promising
Industrial Architecture Nucleus, where design fields is related to sustainable
she would replace Teixeira Guerra as innovation. One of the Portuguese
responsible for it. designers that stood up in this field is
Under her leadership, the INII promoted the young Ana Mestre (b. 1978). After
various actions that became fundamental graduating in Design at IADE, she
for the affirmation and disclosure obtained her PhD in Industrial Design
process of Portuguese Industrial Design. and Sustainable Innovation from TU
In an improbable context dominated by Delft in 2014. She currently combines
men, Maria Helena Matos achieved by her the direction of her design studio,
merit as a designer, her ability for action SUSDESIGN, based in Lisbon and London
and the respect from her peers. with a Sustainable Design research
She knew how to work hand-in-hand position at Nottingham Trent University.
with the Stephens Brothers’ Factory Ana Mestre started her career in 2001 as
craftsmen and with them, learnt to add one of the first eco-design researchers
value to the design of their glass objects. in Portugal, and, pursuing the paths
Her previous course of ceramic painting of Portuguese Design associated with
at the School of Decorative Arts António women’s leadership, she created and
Arroio (Lisboa) and the collaboration directed Design Cork in 2006: the first
with the ceramic factory Viúva Lamego internationally applied design research
contributed to these experiences. These initiative for cork innovation, the raw
early studies and works in ceramics material in which Portugal is one of the
led Maria Helena Matos to resume her leading producers.
academic training, entering the sculpture
course of the School of Fine Arts of
Lisbon ended in 1956. From than on,
without completely giving up sculpture
and her experiments in pottery, she
ended up finding in the glassware her
field of election. Inspired by Scandinavian
design, Matos’ glass design reflects
a modern formal expression and an
incessant search for the potentialities
of glass specific language, in line with
the defence of product design in the

222
Captions
Fig.1. Maria Keil, tile Mural for
Alvalade Underground, 1972,
Lisbon. © Collection of the
Museu Nacional do Azulejo.

Fig. 2. Catarina and Rita Almada

Negreiros, Cota Zero project in
the new ticket hall of the South
and Southeast River station,
Terreiro do Paço, Lisboa, 2011.
© Daniel Blaufuks

2
223
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Garda, Emilia, and Franchini, Caterina, Caterina, and Garda, Emilia, eds.
eds. MoMoWo: Women designers, MoMoWo: Women Designers, Architects
craftswomen, architects and engineers and Engineers between 1969 and 1989.
between 1918 and 1945. Ljubjana: Ljubjana: ZRC SAZU, France Stele Institute
ZRC SAZU, France Stele Institute of Art of Art History, ZRC Publishing House.
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[2018] Seražin, Helena, Franchini,
[2016] Fernández García, Ana Mária, Caterina, and Garda, Emilia, eds.
Franchini, Caterina, Garda, Emilia, and Proceedings of the 2nd MoMoWo
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Works in 100 Years. European Women Research Centre of Slovenian Academy
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[2018] Fernández García, Ana Mária,

[2016] Levi Sacerdotti, Sara, Seražin,
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Caterina, eds. MoMoWo. Women
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ZRC Publishing House.
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MoMoWo: Women Designers, Architects International Conference. Women’s
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[2017] Groot, Marjan, Seražin, Helena,
Turin: Politecnico di Torino.
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between 1918 and 1945, Series Women’s Women’s Creativity since the Modern
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France Stele Institute of Art History, ZRC Perception and Reception. Ljubjana:
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POLITO (Turin | Italy)
Emilia Garda, Caterina Franchini
Coordinators

Universidade Europeia
ENSILIS IADE (Lisbon | Portugal)
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Universidad de Oviedo
UNIOVI (Oviedo | Spain)
Ana María Fernández García

Vrije University
VU (Amsterdam | The Netherlands)
Marjan Groot

France Stele Institute of Art History

ZRC SAZU (Ljubljana | Slovenia)
Helena Seražin

Slovakia University of Technology

STUBA (Bratislava | Slovakia)
Henrieta Moravčíková

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