In 1929, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich design the German National Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition. The official reception for the exhibition was held there, presided over by King Alfonso XIII and the German authorities. From then on, the story is well known to everyone. A symbolic work of the Modern Movement, the Pavilion has been extensively studied and interpreted, and has inspired the work of several generations of architects.
![Carmen Espegel: "The History of Modern Movement Must Be Reread, It Still Contains Hidden Information", Charlotte Perriand, one of the four female architects highlighted in Carmen Espegel's "Women Architects in the Modern Movement" book. Image © Robert Doisneau [Wikimedia], under public license.](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6042/b1fa/f91c/81cf/e700/0320/medium_jpg/Charlotte_Perriand_Janvier_1991.jpg?1614983668)
Spanish architect, Carmen Espegel's work is embodied in three complementary areas: academic, research, and professional activity. Espegel was part of espegel-fisac arquitectos studio for twenty years as a founding partner and currently leads espegel arquitectos. Her research approach has focused mainly on housing, women in architecture, and architectural criticism.
![“[On Set with] Lilly Reich” Awarded the 2nd Lilly Reich Grant for Equality in Architecture, Laura Lizondo Sevilla, Débora Domingo Calabuig, and Avelina Prat García. Image Courtesy of Fundació Mies van der Rohe](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5fab/bd6b/63c0/176e/b200/0143/newsletter/00_Winners_Lilly_Reich_Grant_for_equality_in_Architecture_(Photo_Diego_Opazo).jpg?1605090585)
Fundació Mies van der Rohe and Ajuntament de Barcelona have announced online that the 2nd Lilly Reich Grant for Equality in Architecture has been awarded to the research proposal: “[On Set with] Lilly Reich” by Valencian architects Laura Lizondo Sevilla, Débora Domingo Calabuig, and Avelina Prat García. The granted project was selected by an international jury, composed of three professionals linked to the fields of research and dissemination in architecture and the research and dissemination in the matter of equality.
The Mies van der Rohe Foundation has launched the second edition of the Lilly Reich Grant for equality in architecture. Marking the 135th anniversary of the birth of the German designer, the grant incorporates specific support for senior high school students to enhance curricular research projects. The grant aims to deepen the knowledge and dissemination of Reich and her impact in the history of modern architecture.
In time for Women’s Day, the artistic outcome of the first call of the Lilly Reich Grant for Equality in Architecture opened at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona. Running till the 22nd March 2020, the exhibition entitled Re-enactment, carried out by Laura Martínez de Guereñu, aims to put the spotlight on Reich’s overlooked work.
Looking back on architectural history, you could be forgiven for thinking that women were an invention of the 1950s, alongside spandex and power steering - but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Big names like Le Corbusier, Mies, Wright, and Kahn often had equally inspired female peers, but the rigid structure of society meant that their contributions tended to be overlooked.
Geometry of light, is a multimedia intervention by Luftwerk in collaboration with Iker Gil, exhibited in October, during the third edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, at the Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois.
The Chicago Architecture Biennial is the largest platform for contemporary architecture in North America, and the blog invites designers and other contributors to express their perspectives in a range of formats. The 2017 exhibition, entitled Make New History, will be free and open to the public between September 16, 2017 and January 6, 2018.
Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB): We want to start by noting that REAL foundation, which stands for "Real Estate Architecture Laboratory," is not a typical design practice. You design spaces, but you also make books, exhibitions, a magazine, and tools for advocacy. Why?
Jack Self (JS): The REAL foundation is an unusual model for an architectural firm. We're a normal architectural practice, but we are governed by a very strict set of conditions that allow us to pursue certain political and economic ideologies. We see the social role of the architect, as well as the structure of the architectural firm, as a subject for design as much as buildings.
To celebrate International Women's Day, we asked the Brazilian non-profit group Arquitetas Invisíveis to share with us a part of their work, which identifies women in architecture and urbanism. They kindly shared with us a list of 48 important women architects, divided into seven categories: pioneers, "in the shadows," architecture, landscape architecture, social architecture, urbanism and sustainable architecture. We will be sharing this list over the course of the week.
Yesterday we brought you The Pioneers, and today we present the women architects that have lived in "the shadows" of the some of the great names in the architecture world.
