Women mentors in architecture
On 24 October, Bureau Europa hosts an evening devoted to women mentors in architecture. Three generations of architects will join architectural historian and curator Catja Edens to discuss the women who shaped their development as architects. What was their approach to design? What defined their teaching or mentoring style? And how significant were they as role models in a field still largely dominated by men?
For this occasion, Italian-Swiss architect Sibil Sträuli, has been invited to speak about the lessons she learned from Flora Ruchat-Roncati at ETH Zürich—one of the modernist urban planners featured in the exhibition Big Plans, currently on view at Bureau Europa. In her design process, Ruchat-Roncati placed dialogue at the centre and regarded observation as a crucial guide for design.
Also joining the discussion is Elsbeth Ronner, who will speak about her mentors Lara Schrijver and Eireen Schreurs, who demonstrated how an “expansive” design practice—one that makes room for theory, research, writing, and teaching—can take shape and what it can yield.
Britt op ten Berg will share how teachers such as Saar Meganck and Teske van Royen have influenced her development and identity as a young woman architect.
Bureau Europa – free admission, starts at 19:30. Event held in English
With thanks to the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA)