Abstract

A number of feminist architecture groups have recently highlighted the precarious position of women in the profession. These groups have mobilised statistics and surveys to convincingly demonstrate that gender impacts negatively on women in architecture. However, in doing so they also demonstrate that architecture is not a meritocracy, thereby confronting a critical aspect of the habitat of architecture: that its ‘authority’ and ethos depends on the ‘fact’ of creative merit. This paper utilises some aspects of Isabelle Stengers’ concept of an ecology of practices as a tool to unpack architectural ideas around creative merit, drawing on empirical data provided by close observation of architects. The paper argues that the presence of women does not just illuminate the precarious habitats of architecture, but also offers chances for what Stengers calls experimental questions that open those habitats up for what they may become.

How to Cite:

Matthewson, G., (2017) “Thinking Through Creative Merit and Gender Bias in Architecture”, field 7(1), 163–174. doi: https://doi.org/10.62471/field.82