Nuler, J. (2024, June 28). Beyond Tradition: Gender Equality and Family Dynamics in the Sady Żoliborskie Housing Estate by Halina Skibniewska [Conference Presentation]. Women designing and planning for social equality, Switzerland.
E253-03 - Forschungsbereich Raumgestaltung und Entwerfen
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Date (published):
28-Jun-2024
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Event name:
Women designing and planning for social equality
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Event date:
28-Jun-2024
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Event place:
Switzerland
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Keywords:
Gender Equality; Cohabitation; female work
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Abstract:
The aim of the paper is to examine in what ways the gender equality policy, which was introduced in the People's Republic of Poland in 1945, is reflected in the Sady Żoliborskie housing estate (1957- 1962) designed by Polish architect Halina Skibniewska. Halina Skibniewska was a leading architect, professor at the Warsaw University of Technology and Vice-Marshal of the Polish Parliament. In these functions, she played an important role in the reconstruction of the heavily destroyed cities in post-war Poland. Nevertheless, her work as a woman architect has only been partially researched in Poland and is largely unknown in an international context. Skibniewska focused in the design of Sady Żoliborskie on the “modern family” as a changeable entity. Due to strict building regulations, there were only limited possibilities to design housing projects. Taking this into account, Skibniewska developed a so-called "elastic" floor plan that could easily be adapted to the actual needs of the residents. To achieve this, she tried to rethink traditional notions of domestic cohabitation. Overall, the paper discusses the concept of the family as a social force in which traditional role models are reproduced, in opposition to the socialist idea of gender equality. Therefore, various questions are addressed: To what extent is the gender equality policy reflected in the private household and what spatial effects does it have? What role do traditional relationship patterns play in the spatial constellations of the project? By analyzing the Sady Żoliborskie, the paper introduces Halina Skibniewska's approach to the planning of residential architecture and her idea to deconstruct the traditional notion of the family as an unchangeable entity. The analysis does not aim to present Skibniewska as a feminist architect, instead it explores her approach to reveal tools for a feminist spatial practice as a contribution to contemporary housing discourse.
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Additional information:
A political and feminist reading of practitioners’ commitment to rethink practice, question theory and take space.
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Research Areas:
Urban and Regional Transformation: 20% Development and Advancement of the Architectural Arts: 80%