Senior Teaching Fellow and Researcher at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, Izaskun Chinchilla, has been invited by the Royal Academy to give a talk on architecture as a gendered practice. The talk will take place on 9 March 6.45–7.30 and will be followed by responses from Bartlett academics Christine Hawley and Carlos Jiminéz.
In celebration of International Women’s Day 2017, the Royal Academy will present a week of talks and workshops to explore some of the less well known achievements of women artists throughout history. As a part of their International Architect Series, Chinchilla will present a talk focusing on how design practises can be used to empower women. Izaskun Chinchilla is characteristic of a new generation of architects focusing on the connections between social and scientific thinking. In her projects she proposes multidisciplinary exercises in which, through ecology, sociology or science, architecture goes beyond stylistic distinctions and meets again the complexity of real life in our contemporary world.
In her lecture, Chinchilla will argue that the cultural background of women can better prepare them for a win-win strategic concept of design. The discussion will address questions such as: would an architecture that is more in tune with the needs of women be more beneficial for everyone? How can planning policy adapt to the fact that men and women use public space in different ways? And would embracing the aesthetics associated with women allow architecture engage a wider public?
As part of the event Bartlett academics Christine Hawley and Carlos Jiminez have also been invited to provide their opinions on the potential of embracing aesthetics associated with women.