Neighbours: Lectures on History & Theory of Architecture. Vol.1. Lecture 6 / TPOD, ACHT, THEMA, HITAM

Lecture 6: 'The Housing Question is a Feminist Question: Housing Commons for the 'New Woman' of the German Werkbund' by Ioanna Piniara (Architectural Association)

Ioanna’s research operates at the intersection of feminist studies, architectural history and the commons discourse with the aim to enrich the latter as a radical theory and practice for conceptualising equitable forms of collective living. Her research project employs the theoretical framing of feminism through the commons that supports the liberation of women from capitalist and patriarchal exploitation. This stems from the recognition of female oppression through the burden of reproductive labour in the mass-produced nuclear-family apartment type of the 20^th century. As a contribution to this framework, the project studies the context of the emergence of a “new woman” in the early Weimar Republic in the beginning of the 20^th century. In particular, it investigates the ways in which feminist struggles for a new social order were advocated in feminist movements and enabled the first generation of practicing women architects to reconceptualize housing. Two case studies designed by women in the 1910s, the “Woman's House” (Haus der Frau) and the “House in the Sun” (Haus in der Sonne), document the perception of the “role of women in modern society” and its design expression both within a formal movement (Werkbund) and in practice. Through a historical and typological close reading, the project aims to explore the radicality of these architectures in accommodatingfeminist claims administratively and typologically. By addressing the housing question as a feminist question, the research evaluates the possibilities that emerge from a spatial order that caters for women’s various roles beyond that of the wife, child carer and housekeeper. In other words, it evaluates the potential of spatial orders to make new social orders and structures conceivable.

A lecture series by invited speakers in the field of History and Theory of Architecture organised jointly by Pier Vittorio Aureli (TPOD), Christophe van Gerrewey (ACHT), Sarah Nichols (THEMA), Alfredo Thiermann (HITAM) of the EDAR School