Arianna Scaioli - Designing Her Space: Themes, Strategies and Processes.

AUID PhD Program, 37th Cycle
Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano
Supervisor: Ilaria Valente

Observing the built environment from a gendered perspective opens up new horizons of interpretation of urban dynamics and modes of inhabiting space, unveiling the power relations that have shaped our cities. Built space has mainly been shaped by a traditionally male-dominated vision of cities which continues to favor the ‘neutral’ user a Caucasian, able-bodied, working male – that produces and reproduces space division according to gender roles rather than meeting the needs of the whole population. The contribution proposes to recast the discipline of architecture by its encounter with feminist methodologies, investigating through a research-by-design approach the spatialization of gender equality. By recognizing the relevance of design experimentation that modifies the ‘hardware and the software’, namely the deep formal urban structure and the ethical- cultural dimension. It questions the traditional narrative of the male standard, understanding whose perspectives are valued, how they are represented in the built environment. Re weaving the relationship between gender, body, and architecture, spatializing them in the materiality of space, and unveiling the networks of power and how people carve out space, which is negotiated and appropriated.
The research tries to question the traditional narrative proposing a reflection on gender- sensitive approach as a design tool to rethink the transition spaces, between a domestic and a public domain. By working on the concatenation of spaces, on the spatial sequences, between inside and outside, the research wants to tackle how gender can shape the morphology of our spaces and cities. The focus is on how women observe, use and inhabit spaces, understanding their role as users and makers of space. The set is the intermediate scale, the urban fabric, considering vulnerable neighborhoods as testbeds, rethinking proximity. Through a Research-by-Design approach, the research will identify some sites to work on, compare them and define themes, strategies and processes related to a gender-sensitive design.