Los Angeles by Reyner Banham
16: HARDSoft CoolWARM… Gender in Design, plus Classic Books Part II
Although little is determining in gender, we are culturally groomed to associate certain qualities with males and others with females: hard/soft, cool/warm, tough/delicate, exterior/interior…. And these qualities come in and out of favor in design. Bit in Western architecture, the association of civilization in general with masculinity and the male body has been strong and persistent. Modernism, neo-modernism, and minimalism have, in the view of many, reinforced this habit of thought. This Harvard Design Magazine addresses the question: what may have been neglected, undervalued, or overvalued because of gender associations in the culture of design?
Hilde Heynen
Camilo José Vergara, Wallace Stevens
Esther da Costa Meyer
Joel Sanders
Elizabeth Wilson
Michael Benedikt
Paul Shepheard
Lisa Johnston
Mark Linder
Mitchell Schwarzer
William S. Saunders
Robert Fishman
Daniel Naegele
Alina Payne
Thomas Bender
Gwendolyn Wright
Christopher Long