Architecture is stale, male and pale. It’s an easy taunt made easier by a convenient rhyme scheme that paints a dreary picture of a lofty profession dominated by white men. Debates about the exact nature of the gender imbalance have reverberated in the pages of the architecture press and studios of practice for decades and according to a recent survey by The Architects’ Journal nearly 80% of architects think there are too many men in the profession.

Yet scratch beneath the surface of history and the story of architecture is infused with the ideas and influence of female designers, often working against the grain to realise their visions. From Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, who after inventing the modern kitchen masterplanned entire cities to the Modernist Eileen Gray whose provocative designs are as innovative as they are enigmatic to megastar Zaha Hadid, arguably the most influential practising architect on the planet...continue reading

> via The Architectural Review