Architecture and Feminist Critical Theory: Selected Writings by Hilde Heynen

Three decades of intellectual work on architectural theory and feminist discourse. Hilde Heynen is a Belgian architectural theorist whose work bridges neo-Marxist critical theory and current feminist discourse, applying these perspectives to architectural culture. This volume collects her most significant texts from three decades of intellectual work, centred on three feature concepts: mimesis, dwelling, and displacement. It offers readers incisive reflections on architects' roles in shaping societies and the alliance between ideology, societal structures of injustice, political economy, housing and the built environment. Within a fierce post-critical debate among scholars who have begun to question the relevance of architectural theory to the discipline in the early twenty-first century, Heynen's position remains constant throughout her writings in defence of architectural theory as a social and transformative practice. This collection is essential reading for new generations of architects and cultural theorists interested in modernity, gender and criticality.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgements Introduction. Hilde Heynen in Context, by Lucía C. Pérez-Moreno Section 1. Architecture & Critical Theory Background Notes Chapter 1. Worthy of Question: Heidegger’s Role in Architectural Theory Chapter 2. Functionalism and its Shadow Chapter 3. Space as Receptor, Instrument or Stage : Notes on the Interaction between Spatial and Social Constellations Chapter 4. Meaning and Effect: Revisiting Semiotics in Architecture Section 2. Critical Theory & Projects Background Notes Chapter 5. In New Babylon, One Cannot Dwell: On Dealing with Poetry and Commonplace Chapter 6. Scenes of Ambivalence : Concluding Remarks on Architectural Patterns of Displacement Chapter 7. Signs, Images and Life: Researching the Mimetical Mode of Architecture Chapter 8. A Critical Position for Architecture? Section 3. Projects & Political Economy Background Notes Chapter 9. “What Belongs to Architecture?” Avant-garde Ideas in the Modern Movement Chapter 10. The Exodus Machine Chapter 11. The Intertwinement of Modernism and Colonialism: A Theoretical Perspective Chapter 12. Lutopia: An Ideal City in an Ideal World Section 4. Political Economy & Housing Background Notes Chapter 13. The Irreducibility of Dwelling Chapter 14. Belgium and the Netherlands : Two Different Ways of Coping with the Housing Crisis 1945-1970 Chapter 15. Continuity or Discontinuity? Narratives on Modern Architecture in East and West Germany during the Cold War Chapter 16. About the Displacement of Home Section 5. Housing & Feminist Theory Background Notes Chapter 17. Mimesis, Dwelling and Architecture : Adorno’s Relevance for a Feminist Theory of Architecture Chapter 18. Places of the Everyday: Women Critics in Architecture Chapter 19. Modernity and Domesticity: Tensions and Contradictions Chapter 20. Uncanny and In-Between: The Garage in Rural and Suburban Belgian Flanders Chapter 21. Anticipating the Future: Three Lines of Development Section 6. Feminist Theory & Architecture Background Notes Chapter 22. ‘Matrix of Man.’ Sibyl Moholy-Nagy’s Neglected Histories Chapter 23. Genius, Gender and Architecture: The Star System as Exemplified in the Pritzker Prize Chapter 24. Where Have all the Women Gone? Women’s Visibility in Architectural Culture in Flanders Chapter 25. A Feminist in Disguise? Sibyl Moholy-Nagy’s Histories of Architecture and the Environment Chapter 26. Narrating Women Architects’ History: Paradigms, Dilemmas, and Challenges Coda. The Displacement of Criticality , by Hilde Heynen List of Figures List of Original Publications in Chronological Order Short Curriculum of the Authors

About the Author :
Hilde Heynen is professor emerita of architectural theory at KU Leuven. Lucía C. Pérez-Moreno is a professor of architectural history focusing on women, gender studies and feminist theory at the University of Zaragoza. She served as a visiting professor at KU Leuven from 2022 to 2024. Lucía C. Pérez-Moreno is a professor of architectural history focusing on women, gender studies and feminist theory at the University of Zaragoza. She served as a visiting professor at KU Leuven from 2022 to 2024. Els De Vos, ingenieur-architect en ruimtelijke planner, is hoofd van de opleiding interieurarchitectuur aan de Universiteit Antwerpen. Haar onderzoek situeert zich op de snijlijn van (interieur)architectuur, wooncultuur, gender en publieke ruimte.