March 9 - April 28, 2023
Vernissage on March 8, 2023 at 7 p.m.
Finissage + party on April 28, 2023, 7 p.m.
at the Architekturschaufenster Karlsruhe, Waldstraße 8, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany.

The researchers of the Department of Architecture at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) present successful female architects of the last 100 years in the Architekturschaufenster Karlsruhe. With a sharpened view on individual curricula vitae, personal competences as well as characteristic works, these female architects are presented as role models for future generations of young architects. The aim is to break down the anachronistic image of the architect genius and to initiate a cultural change in a still male-dominated research and teaching tradition in architecture. This will enable future architecture students to pursue professionally ambitious paths in their own work in a strengthened and self-confident manner.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, it has been legally possible for women to study architecture at technical universities in Germany. It was not only in Karlsruhe that women were the exception at architecture faculties until well into the 1960s. Since then, the number of female students in architecture has grown steadily - women now account for slightly more than half of all students. Unfortunately, this state of affairs is not reflected in the professional environment. Most of the well-educated young female architects do not work in management positions - neither in practice nor in academia.

Within the framework of the research project Gender Equity 1 of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the scientists Dr. Anette Busse, Sandra Böhm, Fanny Kranz, Nina Rind as well as Manuela Gantner have investigated the situation of women at the Faculty of Architecture in Karlsruhe over the past year and have looked into the reasons for this discrepancy.
Now, attention is to be drawn to this deplorable state of affairs - not with an admonishing forefinger, but with a positive view of successful female role models. The experiences and strategies of these female architects help to direct the perception of students and graduates towards the possibility of shaping their own careers and to overcome traditional role patterns and prejudices.

In the exhibition M* 1:1 - * hidden views and female perspectives in architecture from 9.3.2023 to 28.4.2023 in the Architekturschaufenster Karlsruhe, the lives or works of more than 20 successful female architects are portrayed with their personal career paths.
The focus is on historical personalities of the last 100 years as well as current professionals who studied at the Department of Architecture at the University of Karlsruhe. Documents and testimonies from the KIT Archive for Architecture and Civil Engineering (saai) as well as from private archives are exhibited. In an impressive way, the professional appearance and the self-confidence of these female architects in the respective times and social discussions are presented here. This is completed by materials from the personal collection of the female architects.

Accompanying the exhibition, various women architects report on and discuss their different professional paths at several round tables. In the
In conversation with the audience, the diversity of professional opportunities will be explored and current issues concerning female perspectives in architecture will be discussed.

Especially in the technical environment of architecture, it is essential to make women visible and to actively offer them a forum to establish a network across generations. This exhibition therefore offers an active platform. Only when many of the young, well-educated female graduates have the confidence to take on leadership roles in the offices and in academia will it be possible to break the self-replicating spiral of structural exclusion mechanisms. A generation of self-confident female architects is producing new role models who serve as identification figures and sources of inspiration for self-determined career planning for women entering the profession.

With the title of the exhibition "M* 1:1 - *Concealed Views and Female Perspectives in Architecture" we refer to the everyday work of female architects who work with models, navigate between different scales, sketch their designs in views and perspectives. We transfer this architectural vocabulary to the current discourse on gender equity. We identify role models, define scales for gender equity, and broaden the view for views and perspectives beyond a male-coded architectural world - on a 1:1 basis, at eye level.

Organizer

Research Group BBGKR (Gender Equity 1) Department of Architecture
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Englerstraße 7 | 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany

Curators

Sandra Böhm, Dr. Anette Busse, Manuela Gantner, Fanny Kranz, Nina Rind

In cooperation with Sophie Heyer, Diana Maier and students of the KIT Visual Arts Department under the direction of Fanny Kranz Rebecca Echtenacher, Julia Engelmann, Johannes Mußmacher, Cordula Rauchholz, Elena Sittner, Moana Ühlein

Location

Architekturschaufenster Karlsruhe, Waldstraße 8, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany

Exhibition duration + events

Exhibition: March 9, 2023 to April 28, 2023
Vernissage: March 8, 2023, 7 p.m.
Round Table: Generation A to Z March 21, 2023, 7 p.m.
Round Table: Queens of Science March 28, 2023, 7 p.m.
Round Table: Local SHEroes April 4, 2023, 7 p.m.
Finissage with reading + party April 28, 2023, 7 p.m.

Opening hours

Monday: closed
Tuesday: 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Wednesday: 10 am - 1 pm and 2 pm - 6 pm
Thursday: 10 am - 1 pm and 2 pm - 6 pm
Friday: 10-13 and 14-18 h Sundays and holidays closed

With the kind support of

Wüstenrot Foundation Gips-Schüle Foundation LBBW Foundation
Department of Architecture, KIT ExU Gender Equity 1, KIT

For questions please contact
Manuela Gantner
manuela gantner ∂does-not-exist.partner kit edu
Sandra Böhm
sandra boehm ∂does-not-exist.kit edu