Revealing Work. Interrogating Artifacts to (Re)View Histories of Feminist Architectural Practice

Contemporary representations of feminist practices in architecture that took place in the near past rely upon scant and therefore precious photographs and images. Many unique physical artefacts are lying, unarchived, in box files and plan chests or fading on bookshelves, and their meanings and associations remain caught in the era in which they were made. We have selected artefacts derived from thirty years of feminist spatial practice in London that we, with others, were instrumental in creating, to re-examine, and to invite further commentaries. We contextualise them in their period, and, through their interrogation, propose possible interpretations. We ask how physical engagement with things can generate insights that help to both capture and better understand aspects of the history of feminist architectural practices. This investigation is particularly concerned to reappraise what counts as work; the work of actual doing; the work of finding ways to generate social change; the experiences of that work as embodied; and the work that the artefact itself does - how, through what happens to it in the world, it exceeds or alters what had been intended

Exploring Inequalities in the Social, Spatial and Material Practices of Teaching and Learning in Pandemic Times

This article conceptualises higher education as a complex and dynamic set of entangled social, spatial and material practices — enacted, adapted and contested across spaces and technologies as these interact with diverse learners, teachers, curricula and contexts. Using modes of enquiry that start from this inherent complexity and intersecting these with contemporary disability and education studies, I ask how some of the normative social and spatial practices of higher education are being surfaced by the pandemic. Rather than framing Covid-19 as a massive shift from ‘normal’ (face-to-face) to ‘abnormal’ (virtual) delivery modes, I propose that its impact both continues and alters assumptions about what constitutes ‘proper’ university education, and both perpetuates and disrupts what is ‘noticed’, valued and supported in conventional teaching and learning processes. To do this, I will focus on two themes in current HE practices in the UK, as examples of what such an approach can open-up to view. This starts from the already existing tensions, complexities and contradictions as to what should constitute appropriate teacher and student behaviours and settings, and how this ‘normality’ is often being perceived as being lost because of the pandemic. By engaging with existing literature about longer-term patterns of inequalities in access and inclusion across physical and virtual HE learning environments, I hope to show some underlying problems in how student competency is being evidenced in virtual as compared to physical space and some ways the pandemic has exposed the unevenness of diverse student and staff relationships to space, time and technologies and the differential impacts on their educational experiences

Invisibility work? How starting from dis/ability challenges normative social, spatial and material practices

This chapter explores how thinking about dis/ability (disability and ability) opens up what counts as work to critical and creative investigation. It will examine three, inter-connected, notions of work; the often unnoticed – and differential - work involved in negotiating our built surroundings: the commonsense ‘ordinary’ work of making and re-making particular social, spatial and material practices through our everyday attitudes, talk and actions: and the work of perpetuating and/or contesting unequal and normative practices through architectural, artistic, political and personal interventions. These types of work are not new to feminism, which also aims to expose the invisible and/or marginalised work around gender, and to develop creative and critical forms of contestation. The key argument here though, is about taking notice of how and when feminism – along with cultural theory more generally – can assume that work to be the work of only particular kinds of bodies, ones that are inherently mobile, rational and autonomous. The privilege of being able-bodied (or white or middle class) becomes part of what is unnoticed and unspoken about, with disability as a concept, and disabled people as a constituency left to disappear down the gaps. In response, I will suggest that starting from dis/ability has a huge amount to offer across our everyday, professional and academic thinking about, and actions in, the world; and to show the essential relevance of the work of disability studies scholars and disabled artists and activists to contemporary architectural feminisms

The DisOrdinary Architecture Project: A Handy Guide for Doing Disability Differently in Architecture and Urban Design

The DisOrdinary Architecture Project starts from the belief that improving the design of built space is not just about “adding” disabled people to existing environments to better meet their “needs.” It is about exposing and challenging underlying attitudes, assumptions and practices that frame disabled people in particular and limited ways, both in everyday life and through the education and practice of architectural and urban design. So, rather than providing yet more inclusive or universal design principles we begin by challenging ableist attitudes and practices. We hope this can open up alternative kinds of inventive interventions towards, not just better inclusive design “solutions,” but also better understandings of how the “normal” is constructed in everyday life, and how it can be critically and creatively contested, underpinned by a commitment to social and spatial justice for all

Revealing Work. Interrogating Artifacts to (Re)View Histories of Feminist Architectural Practice

Contemporary investigations of feminist practices in architecture from the near past rely upon scant and therefore precious sources. Many unique physical artifacts are lying, unarchived, in box files and plan chests or fading on bookshelves, and their meanings and associations remain caught in the era in which they were made. We have selected artifacts from 1970s and 80s feminist spatial practice in London that we, with others, were instrumental in creating, to re-examine, and to invite further commentaries. Through contextualizing them in their period–and interrogating through our own memories–we became particularly concerned to reappraise what counts as work; the work of actual doing; the work of finding ways to generate social change; the experiences of that work as embodied; and the work that the artifact itself does–how, through what happens to it in the world, it exceeds or alters what had been intended

The spaces of relational learning and their impact on student engagement

In this paper, we are interested in developing a rich understanding of what matters about space, particularly for enhancing student engagement and belonging. We will suggest that this first requires an exploration into the relational aspects of learning in order to begin to model the often complicated and diffuse inter-relationships between its cognitive, experiential and emotional dimensions; and second to explore in more depth how these impact on, and are impacted by, material space. We will do this by first outlining what we mean by relational learning, and by student engagement and belonging. We will then propose a relational understanding of material space, aiming to locate learning environments within the larger ‘space’ of learners’ perceptions and experiences more generally. This will be further explored through analyzing a case study that suggests some helpful pointers. Finally, we will offer an outline conceptual model that aims to locate some of the differing qualities of material space across the various dimensions of relational learning. Whilst this model is proposed not as a solution but as a means of encouraging debate, we argue that developing learning spaces that support engagement and belonging as well as effective learning are an important issue for the higher education sector. This is because evidence shows that students’ sense of belonging has a direct impact on their retention and success (Thomas, 2012)