Subverting Gender in the Design-Build Studio

Like the construction industry, the design-build studio is often assumed to be a male-dominated activity. Furthermore, the emphasis on digital fabrication in the design-build studio, as presented below, can further this masculine technological focus. On the other hand, architectural education is approaching a 50/50 gender split, and in fact the design-build studios presented here further this trend with approximately 60% female and 40% male enrollment. Even as the gender split nears equality in architectural education, this does not address differing gendered learning styles and interests taught by a male-dominated faculty. For example, in Women in Green, co-authors Kira Gould and Lance Hosey point to contemporary research which suggests that girls learn through social interaction rather than simple transmission of information (Gould Hosey 2007: 131). Furthermore, in their interviews with three leading female architecture professors, each emphasize the need to learn through physical experience and in so-doing, develop a student’s body knowledge through hands-on kinetic, field-related learning and the immersion in tangible experience (Gould Hosey 2007:132-136). Clearly these learning styles apply to the design-build studio, but the role of reflectivity and discussion in these studios may represent a more nuanced and gendered approach to design-build. For example, the social dynamics of these studios and their highly discursive environments align with research on the social dynamics of female learning styles (Rosser 1995/1997). As enrollment in architecture nears an equal split if not even exceeded by female students, it should follow that this challenges the very culture of the design studio opening up a more collaborative and discursive environment. This reflectivity, I argue, is a necessary aspect of the design-build atelier. Rather than a continued focus on technological novelty, the so called “boys with their toys,” a more nuanced discussion of the role of digital fabrication in the design build studio is possible. As a male professor, my intentions in these studios were far from addressing issues of gender, where in hindsight, my assessment on the powerful role of the collaborative atelier model may in large part be due to the number of strong female personalities in these studios which has had a striking affect on studio culture. Through the ethnographic study of several design-build studios developed over the last several years, the central position of this paper is not about gender itself, but how the balance of gender affects the range of issues in the design studio and therefore a shift in studio culture. In this way, the very local detail of the design build studio can point to more global attributes of the developing design profession.

Volume Editors
Ikhlas Sabouni & Jorge Vanegas