Women in Danish Architecture 1925-1975

A research project on overlooked women in Danish architecture history
Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner
(project leaders)

NewsPublications

Project


During the period 1925–1975, Danish architects were faced with a new challenge: to give shape to the daily lives of citizens in modern Denmark. But something else happened too.

The first generations of women completed their educations within the design disciplines.

Architectural historians have mainly described this period by focusing on the building work of a small group of male architects. In our preliminary research, however, we found that many women contributed to Danish architecture and design. During 1925–1975, women helped to shape the everyday environment by designing kitchens, public buildings, housing, landscapes, and urban areas, among other things. Yet the greater part of their contribution has been forgotten by architectural historians.

Our project aims to contribute to a more complete understanding of Danish architecture history, and to do so in new, more engaging, and more inclusive ways.
We want to write a history where architecture was not created by great individuals but through mutual and creative collaborations.

The project is anchored in the Section for Landscape Architecture and Planningat the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen. Visit the English or Danish project pages on the University of Copenhagen website.

 

 

University of Copenhagen – Logo
Independent Research Fund Denmark - logo
Dreyers Fond_Logo
Danish Arts Foundation

Publications

We publish our findings on an ongoing basis.

Please feel free to follow our research.

From North America to the Danish bookfair: Our book has been on tour

It has been a busy time for the book Untold Stories: About Women, Gender and Architecture in Denmark, which traveled all over Denmark and even crossed the Atlantic.[SR1]  With copies of the book in their suitcases, Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner set off for...

book launch

On 19 June, 2023, together with the publisher, we hosted a wonderful book launch in Copenhagen of our book Untold Stories. Women, Gender, and Architecture in Denmark. The book is co-written by Jannie Rosenberg Bendsen, Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner as part...

Award for engagement with the public

In January 2023, Women in Danish Architecture received the award as best IGN communicator. We summarize some of our biggest communication tasks in 2022.

report from our PhD course 2022

In November 2022 Svava Riesto og Henriette Steiner organized the third international PhD Course about gender and architecture

Widespread Interest in the Exhibition ‘Women in Architecture’

A summary of activities related to the exhibition ‘Women in Architecture’ at the Danish Architecture Center (DAC) in 2022.

Last meeting of the network

The research network Where are the Women in Scandinavian landscape Architecture? met one last time in Copenhagen in September 2022.

International PhD course 2022

Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner invites everyone to join international PhD course in autumn 2022.

Podcast episode 1

’De glemte arkitekter’ (The Forgotten Architects) is a new podcast series in 6 episodes that is based on our research project. In this first episode, we talk about the need for a new Danish architecture history.

Exhibition at Danish Architecture Center 

On May 12, 2022 the exhibition Women in Architecture that sheds light on the role of women in architecture opens at the Danish Architecture Center. Our project group has collaborated on creating parts of the exhibition.

New guidebook: ByWomen

Since 2020, Liv Løvetand Rahbek has photographed countless places in Greater Copenhagen as part of her work with the project. Her photos have now become a guidebook on architecture created by women.

Podcast

New podcast series focuses on overlooked women in Danish architecture

about us

The project group is made up of individuals with shared ambitions but different research skills. Bringing together historians, cultural researchers, writers, and designers, our goal is to recount the unheard stories of women architects in the 20th century.

By uniting our different ways of working, we contribute to the rewriting of Danish architecture history. Our teamwork mirrors our project’s goal, moving beyond the idea of the individual creator. Instead, we focus on creative collaboration—in our team, and in Danish architecture history.

  • Svava Riesto, architectural historian and project leader
  • Henriette Steiner, architectural historian and project leader
  • Jannie Rosenberg Bendsen, architectural historian and project postdoctoral researcher
  • Mathilde Merolli, communications and media manager
  • Liv Løvetand, visual communications specialist
  • Frida Irving Søltoft, project employee
  • Mathilde Lundt Larsen, project employee