Eleanor Butler
Irish senator, social campaigner, and architect
Category Archives: Architecture
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Mariana Van Rensselaer
American author, elected as honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, and in 1910 received the degree of Litt. D. from Columbia University.
Jeanne de Pompodour
Influential mistress of King Louis XV
Phyllis Murphy
She was among the few practising female architects of the era, and probably the only one since Marion Mahony Griffin to be involved in such a significant public project in Australia.
Maya Lin
Early success allowed Lin to watch perceptions of her work evolve dramatically over the years. Initial resistance to her work gave way to widespread public admiration for pushing the boundaries of what a memorial is. Her impact on other artists has been widespread in all fields, but perhaps most especially in conceptual sculpture and public art.
Zaha Hadid
Visonary architect Zaha Hadid challenged notions of what could be achieved in building. Described by The Guardian as the “Queen of the Curve,” her inventive designs freed architecture from its traditional focus on concrete and steel, introducing radical new ways to create spaces in harmony with their surroundings. With a foundation in painting and the utilizing progressive digital technologies, Hadid’s innovative approach helped shift the geometry of buildings toward a new aesthetic. As a woman and a Muslim, she also helped break barriers in the male-dominated world of high-profile architecture.
Before her designs were realised in actual buildings, Hadid’s architectural drawings and paintings were gaining international acclaim as she challenged the idea that a building was merely a solid mass. Her company would later coin the term Parametricism to define this signature look and feel.
Hadid’s major works include the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics, the Broad Art Museum, Rome’s MAXXI Museum, and the Guangzhou Opera House.
Hadid was the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, in 2004, and she received the Stirling Prize, the UK’s most prestigious architectural award, in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to architecture, and in February 2016, she became the first woman to individually receive the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (Ray Eames and Sheila O’Donnell had previously won jointly with Charles Eames and John Tuomey respectively).
Adah Robinson
Adah Matilda Robinson was an American artist, designer and teacher, who influenced many other artists, particularly architects, during the early and mid-1900s. She was the first art teacher at Tulsa High School, where her students would include aspiring artist Bruce Goff and future architect Joseph R. Koberling, Jr. In 1928, she was hired as the founder and chairperson of the University of Tulsa Art Department.
Robinson was primarily a painter and a printmaker, as well as an art teacher. Although she never considered herself an architect, nor did she have any formal training in the subject, she is best known for her role in designing Tulsa’s Boston Avenue Methodist Church. The building was later named a National Historic Landmark and considered an exceptional example of Art Deco architecture. During her lifetime, many people did not believe that a woman could be responsible for such a work, and argued that her student, Goff, was primarily responsible.
In 1948, after a University of Tulsa official disputed her role in the design of the church, she resigned her position after 20 years at the school and accepted a similar role at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, retiring in 1959.