about

This initiative was originally a physical exhibition developed during August 2019, in response to a call from the South African Institute of Architects to celebrate women in architecture for the duration of Women’s Month.  The exhibition sought to recover stories and acknowledge the contributions that women have made to the built environment, both locally and globally, through a public participation project in the form of an incomplete timeline.

Upon its opening, the timeline was deliberately left empty to represent the silence in the history books and media about the influence women have had and continue to have in this field.  Over the next three weeks, we invited the Cape Town community to populate the timeline by adding names of women they believed deserved recognition for their work.  The response was overwhelming and at the end of the month, there were over 50 names submitted.

Upon completion, we realised that we had created a really valuable resource and decided to continue the project by converting the timeline into a digital format – this website.

We now invite you to help us grow this database by submitting the name of a women you think has made a significant impact on our industry.  This is not just limited to architects but aims to showcase the brilliant work of women across both history and the various disciplines that encompass the built environment. 

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Over time we hope to create a globally accessible archive, which challenges the under representation, and often, mis representation of women in architecture.  By recovering her stories we can endeavour to rewrite the narrow narrative of who constitutes an architect in order to level the playing field for future generations.

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