9:45AM
IAWA – Session 3 – Morning
9:45 – donna dunay, faia, iawa chair
Welcome and opening remarks
10:00 – abby cassady
The pavilion plan hospital was a model that had its roots in 18th century France and was widely disseminated throughout Europe in the mid-19th century, due to Florence Nightingale’s (1820-1910) advocation.
The large international network that Nightingale had led to the plan appearing around the globe in countries such as America and Australia in the late 19th century. In order to examine the transatlantic communication of the pavilion model, a case study methodology was chosen. This allowed a detailed analysis of the key pavilion principles on one transatlantic pavilion plan, to ascertain which were successfully communicated and which were modified or eliminated.
The case study chosen was the hospital at Ellis Island as this was the gateway for the vast majority of immigrants arriving in the United States between 1892- 1954. Therefore it was of great significance to the economic development of the country. The hospital half of the island has been left to ruin for over sixty years, providing a unique opportunity for analysis of the original features. The principles of the pavilion plan gained popularity after Nightingale published her paper ‘Notes on Hospitals’ in 1859. The pavilion model did however, have its weakness’, most notably the significant costs of a large site for the sprawling wards. Primary source letters from Nightingale to the Manchester-based architect Thomas Worthington (1826-1909) showed her praise for Worthington’s creation of the first affordable pavilion plan, and subsequently, her discussion of the plans allowed them to be dispersed internationally.
The architects of the day felt the need to send their plans of proposed hospitals for approval to Nightingale, giving her an unorthodox hierarchy over the architecture profession, not only as a woman in the 19th century, but also as a person from an entirely different occupation. This position of influence that Nightingale had was a pivotal factor in the development of hospital architecture in the 19th century.
10:20 – DANIELA URAZÁN
The Architecture of Care
A conversation on four women architects who have made it their life’s work to apply their knowledge of architecture to help those that need it most. The research presented focuses on Diana Lee Smith in Kenya, Ghislaine Hermanuz in New York, Maria Von der Weppen in Germany and lastly, Ana Elvira Vélez in Colombia. Their work is proof that caring is not weakness but rather the strongest enactor of change.
10:40 – Q&A
11:00 – PATRÍCIA SANTOS PEDROSA, Ph.D + LIA GIL ANTUNES
At the beginning of the 20th century, the approach to ways of living was centered on the discussion of the “Portuguese House” (1929) by the architect Raul Lino (1879-1974). Searching for an original Portuguese political, cultural and artistic identity, the Estado Novo (1933-1974) dictatorship developed several housing programs, mostly for classes with fewer resources (Pereira et al. 2010). The 1960s signalled a rupture through some writings on Portuguese domestic architecture and with a focus on collective housing (Pedrosa 2010). In such context, the highlight of architectural contributions of woman architect Maria da Luz Valente-Pereira (b. 1934, Lisbon) is fundamental but still invisible.
Working in architectural offices in the early stage, she designed a solid research career at National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC), alongside architect Nuno Portas. In this institution, she obtained a Specialist Degree and Researcher-coordinator category. Responsible for numerous publications, she firstly focused on sociological housing research such as Urban Housing Survey (1967). From the house scale to the city scale, she also presented a large collection of reflections on urban planning: among other, Organization and Quality of Urban Space – Survey on use of the city (1970), Urban Form Definition in Urban Planning (1982), and Planning Methodology of Urban Areas Rehabilitation (1994).
This essay proposes to identify her pioneer context since she integrated the first decades of women’s participation in the architectural field in Portugal. Moreover, to write her – personal and professional – path, fixing her a recognized place in the history of architecture. To accomplish those aims, different methodologies will be used: bibliographic review, consultation of national archives, and interviews, with Luz Valente-Pereira and about her (namely, with woman architect Helena Roseta). The proposal is to create female references and to broaden the historical readings on the issues of women participation in the 20th century in Portugal.
11:20 – LUCIA PEREZ MORENO, Ph.D
This paper will present the professional work and academic achievements of Rosa Barba Casanovas (1948-2000), who developed an intensive research and teaching career at the Barcelona School of Architecture (University of Catalonia, UPC) in the 1990s, introducing new plans in ‘Architecture Landscape’ and, subsequently, situating this School as the main Landscape School in Europe in that time.
In 1971, Rosa Barba graduated in the School of Architecture of Barcelona (Spain), being one of the first female architects in that area. She developed her professional career in parallel to the incipient incorporation of women in the architectural profession in Spain. Her vision and teaching innovation spirit drove her to open new paths and horizons. She took up office in the direction of the Master in Landscape Architecture since 1992 and founded the “Centre of investigation and projects of landscape” in 1993 together with other female architects. Since then, Barba promoted for eight fruitful years some of the principal teaching platforms in landscape in Spain and Europe. In 1998, she organized the Master of Landscape as theoretical engine and in 1999 inaugurated the first edition of the International Biennial of Landscape Architecture ‘Remaking landscapes’. Still ongoing, this Biennial supposes the most important legacy of her labour for the debate and international spreading of the landscape discipline. In addition, with every celebration there is granted the prize “Rosa Barba” to the best landscape project that recognizes and exports her name around Europe. The incessant work of this pioneer woman renewed the concept of landscape as an autonomous discipline, and created an educational network by which Barcelona, and its School of Architecture, is recognized internationally nowadays. Likewise, around these educational and research platforms, many Spanish architect women could develop their career and creativity in the 90s turning into important referents.