Past Events

AA Women and Architecture in Context 1917-2017 CFP

Call for Papers

  • 5 December 2016 to 2 January 2017
  • Proposal deadline: 2 January 2017
    Conference date: 2-4 November 2017
  • The Architectural Association and the Paul Mellon Centre

AA XX 100 is the project to commemorate the centenary of women’s admission to the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London in 1917. To date it has comprised a raft of complementary enterprises including an annual lecture series and an ongoing programme to conduct filmed interviews with AA alumnae. The project culminates in autumn 2017 with an exhibition (October - December 2017), a book (Breaking the Mould: AA Women in Architecture 1917-2017) and an international conference (AA Women and Architecture in Context 1917-2017) run in partnership with the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.

We now announce the Call for Papers for the conference, which will take place between 2nd and 4th November 2017 at the AA and the Paul Mellon Centre in Bedford Square, London, W.C.1.

We invite academics, architects and other practitioners to submit proposals for 20-minute papers in response to the themes listed below. Submissions are encouraged from researchers at all stages of their careers, and papers should be understood as not confined purely to the AA as a subject matter but equally to the wider context of women and architecture across the centenary period.

Themes:

Collaborations, Collectives, Couples:

Historically and in the present, what communal forms of practice have women graduates of architecture taken? What are the motivations for this? How do practices operating in this format compare to those with a single, and often starchitect, figurehead?

Education & Educators:

How is the history of architectural education interwoven with women’s entry to the profession? Were there particular schools (in addition to the AA) that facilitated women’s training? Are there particular educators of influence on women’s education or women tutors whose work should be discussed and analysed? How do education and strong role models have an impact on a woman’s trajectory beyond education into the world of practice? How does an academic career compare to working in practice for women in architecture?

Difference, Diversity, Discrimination:

According to a recent government report, the profession in the UK is still largely white, middle-class and male (89% white; 97.5% from more advantaged backgrounds; 65.6% male); has this always been the case? Are there are countries where a different scenario prevails? How might practice and history be re-worked to disrupt this ‘norm’? How can we encourage and empower marginalised groups within the profession?

The future of gender:

Are there new models for practice developing in the 21st century? How do emerging ideas such as the non-binary, gender fluid understanding of identity relate to practice today and into the future? What is the change that we would like to see in the profession going forward in terms of equality, new forms of practice and identity?

People, Projects, Places:

Are there particular practitioners whose work is worthy of reappraisal? Are there particularly significant projects, which are directed by women practitioners? Or commissioned by significant women as clients? Were and are there particular arena which have facilitated women’s practice as architects, historians (or related fields).

Poster Proposals

In addition, proposals are invited for posters which will be displayed at the Paul Mellon Centre for the duration of the conference and online after the event. The theme for these is ‘solutions.’ What solutions do you propose that could enhance the future of women in architecture (be that as practitioners, theoreticians or historians).

Format:

Paper proposals should be 300 words in length; please include contact details, affiliation and a brief CV.

Poster proposals should be up to 300 words in length; please include contact details, affiliation and a brief CV.

Both should be emailed to: [email protected]

Deadline: 12 December 2016 for notification no later than January 2017. Successful applicants will be expected to cover their own costs for travel and accommodation but will have free entry to the conference.

In partnership with: