Database "Women in Architecture"

We are pleased to present the newly launched database and website Women in Architecture: Architecture and Emancipation in the Czech Republic after 1945. Until now, only a handful of Czech female architects were well known to the wider public. The topic is relatively under-researched, and there is still a lack of a broader overview of the biographies of female architects and their work. The new online research catalog now presents half of the planned approximately 100 biographies of women working in the field of domestic architecture and listings of their works, including an image gallery of projects. Among the represented creators, you will find Alena Šrámková, Eva Jiřičná, Zdenka Nováková, Růžena Žertová, Vítězslava Rothbauerová, Daniela Fenclová, Marie Davidová, Jaromíra Šimoníková, and many others. The first 5 podcast interviews with female architects are ready for listening, and more will be added.

The database and website were created as part of research focused on mapping and interpreting the work of women in architecture in the context of socio-political changes in the Czech Republic. Within this research, emphasis was placed on interdisciplinary connections and themes such as the performance of the architectural profession or the synthesis of professional and personal life. The project presents women across the full spectrum of their activities, as architect-designers, theorists, historians, designers, as well as officials and mediators. In addition to the database, another key output of the research will be the monograph Women in Architecture, scheduled for publication in spring 2024. The project is led by a research team consisting of Helena Huber-Doudová (responsible solver for NGP), Klára Brůhová (responsible solver for UMPRUM), Petra Hlaváčková, Šárka Malošíková, Nikola Zahrádková, and Barbora Řepková. The project was supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (project no. GA 21-22749S) and was created in collaboration with the National Gallery in Prague (NGP) and the Department of Architecture at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM).

More information can be found at www.zenyvarchitekture.cz