Berliner Architekt*innen: Oral History

In the winter term 2019–20, students kept Critical Journals as a tool to develop a critical awareness of our thematic field, “Berlin women architects from 1970 onwards”. Here, students brought together architects’ works and statements, feminist texts and works of archi- tectural criticism, and teased out the key themes and central figures both in their journals and in seminar discussions. The Critical Journal format afforded students scope to develop a thorough understan- ding of the broader historic, architectural, urban, socio-political and gender-political context within which women architects practise, both now and in the past. The students thus explored a wide range of architectural and professional role models that could support them in their studies and in later practice. Based on these insights, a list of questions was drawn up in the seminar to serve as a common basis for the interviews, including, for example: “Why did you wish to become an architect? What, in your opinion, should architecture achieve? What resistance and problems have you encountered, and how have you managed to overcome them? What ambitions and wishes did you have, and were you able to achieve them? How did you manage to succeed? What did German reunification mean for your career? What advice would you pass on to the next generation?” Twenty-six interviews with women architects, planners, and crafts- women were held in the seminar. Taking account of the questions above, students cut and transcribed the videos of their oral history interviews to a length of twelve to fifteen minutes, to be exhibited in 2021.

In the summer term, 2020, students made an initial critical examination of the findings of the winter term. The aim was to design and prepare the “Berliner Architekt*innen: Oral History” part of the exhibition in concrete form. In the exhibition we showed all twenty-six interviews with the architects, plus a brief CV, a portrait, a quote and three works. Based on a critical approach, an overall film was also compiled from the interviews with the Berlin architects, and the publication was prepared. With the aid of teaching staff, students brought the interview transcriptions up to international standards, and added the portrait photographs and brief CVs of the interviewees. The exhibition and the publication give an insight into the architects who were interviewed, on which basis visitors can further inform themselves about the people involved and their work. In this way, we hope our interview partners may inspire and become role-models for students and for other architects. In addition, the simultaneity of the voices of these twenty-six architects, their significant presence and their professi- onal competence should allow a deeper insight into the opportunities and the limitations of our architectural profession – today and in the past – and enrich ongoing architectural discourse.