What does urban design from a gendered perspective look like and mean? Who does it address, and what does it offer the built environment and its users? In conversation, architects, educators and urbanists, Liza Fior of muf and Zaida Muxi Martinez of Col-lectiu Punt 6, bring their experience to bear, comparing British and Spanish practices and exploring issues, including public space, urban strategies and cultural innovation. Zaida will highlight the work the Col-lectiu Punt 6, a collective of women who research and work for more equal and inclusive cities. The boundary of art and architecture, public and private, architecture and space, which muf traverses through their (originally) all-women office will be represented by their latest projects. This conversation is part of the AA XX 100 lecture series.
Leading up to the centenary of women at the Architectural Association in 2017, over the next three years, a series of lectures, organised by AA XX 100, will draw different generations, disciplines and voices into the AA conversation. Through presentations, dialogue and debate, the series will highlight and challenge the concerns and values of the profession from a theorised gendered perspective which recognises the inclusive and collaborative nature of architecture, while serving as a catalyst for bigger ideas and a wider discussion of women in architecture. The series will feature prominent practitioners from contemporary global architecture and urbanism, as well as articulate the substantial contribution that AA women have made in the last 100 years, creating engaging conversations between past and present, men and women, staff and students.
Zaida Muxi Martinez is an architect by the University of Buenos Aires and obtained her PhD from the School
of Architecture of the University of Seville (2002). She is professor of Urban Planning at the School of Architecture of Barcelona (ETSAB) at the Polytechnic University of Barcelona since 2003, where she was deputy director from 2009 to 2012. She is currently co-director with Josep Maria Montaner of the Master of the XXIst century Sustainable Housing Lab since 2004 (http://www.laboratoriovivienda21.com/blog/). She is expert in urban planning, architecture and gender, and a member of Col·lectiu Punt 6, a group of women that advocate for and conduct research on gender inclusive planning (http://punt6.wordpress.com ). In January 2014 she has begun to work as expert in public space, safety and gender for Palmira government. Colombia.
Liza Fior studied architecture - an education which continued when she taught at the AA , met and collaborated with Katherine Clarke artist (Artist partner, muf) and was conveniently (for muf) sacked when a new head of school arrived who wanted more practitioners in the school. muf were winners of the European Prize for Public Space ,authored of the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and nominated for the Mies Van de Rohe Prize and the Swiss Prize for Architecture for projects with limited budgets and briefs enriched by the unsolicited research which was and continues to be, entwined into every project. These range from urban design, critical research, landscapes and buildings and the relationship between them —a continual dialogue between detail and strategy. Co-author of, “This is What We Do: a muf manual” (London: 2001) muf were awarded a Grahame Foundation grant for the next iteration . They are currently designing a new gallery for the Science Museum, public spaces in Croydon , Bristol and Hackney, two projects for the National Trust and a commission for the V&As new exhibition All This Belongs to You.
www.muf.co.uk