This lecture will be in person and is part of the Spring 2025 Sciame Lecture Series, titled "Still Making Space for Gender"

Despina Stratigakos (she/her) is a writer, historian, and professor at the University of Buffalo. Her research explores how power and ideology function in architecture, whether in the creation of domestic spaces or world empires. She is the author of four books, including Where Are the Women Architects? (2016) and A Women’s Berlin (2008). In 2011, she collaborated with Mattel on Architect Barbie. She taught at Harvard University and the University of Michigan before joining the Department of Architecture at UB. During the 2016-17 academic year, she was in residence as a member of the Institute for Advance Study in Princeton.

"A Collaborative (Re)turn: Feminist Architectural Historians Join Forces and Get Things Done… Again": The last few years have witnessed a notable rise in collaborative initiatives to increase knowledge about the histories of women architects. These range from team-based writing projects to exhibitions, research networks, and more. Such efforts harken back to feminist practices of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, which broke new ground in raising awareness of women in architecture. What are the reasons for this renewed focus on collaborative work and how does it differ from earlier developments?

Suggested Reading: Stratigakos, Despina. 2016. Where Are the Women Architects?

"Still Making Space for Gender" centers women and LGBTQIA+ folk in the built environment. While the discourse framing gender morphs and gender identities broaden and become more intersectional, the predicament remains the same. Women and LGBTQIA+folk continue to struggle against exploitation and fight for equal rights and equity opportunities in the United States, with this situation troubling unrelenting claims of exceptionalism at home and abroad. Although gender politics are ever present, achievements are hard-won and sometimes rolled back in the face of misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and other ingrained expressions of exclusion. Buildings, cities, and landscapes are not only where battles over gender unfurl, but these spaces also foster identities and incite change. In this lecture series, trailblazing women and LGBTQIA + design practitioners, scholars, and activists—working in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design—insist that gender must remain in sharp focus if we are to shape equitable and just built environments.

All lectures are free, open to the public, and held in the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture Sciame Auditorium. For live captioning, ASL interpretation, or access requests, please contact  ssadean@ccny.cuny.edu " rel="noopener" target="_blank"> ssadean@ccny.cuny.edu .

This lecture series is made possible by the Spitzer Architecture Fund and the generous support of Frank Sciame ’74, CEO of Sciame Construction.