Who writes history and who archives it to shape our collective memory? How present are women in the architectural archives we know today?

The exhibition “Crossed Histories: Gae Aulenti, Ada Louise Huxtable, Phyllis Lambert on Architecture and the City” spotlighted three women who contributed to architecture with distinct methods and practices. Their work spanned the critical shift between modernism and postmodernism in Europe and North America. Architectural practice, here, can mean more than buildings. For Ada Louise Huxtable (1921-2013) it was thoughts through words: her architectural criticism shaped public discourse. For Gae Aulenti (1927-2012) it centered around thoughts through design as in her interior transformation of the Musée d’Orsay (1986) and other projects. To Phyllis Lambert (1927-) thoughts are documentation: as exemplified by her work in architecture, heritage preservation, and architectural context.

The exhibition began with biographical narratives and presented the work through media such as texts, drawings, photographs, and interview videos with Phyllis Lambert, the only remaining architect. Crucially, the stories weren’t merely presented in isolation; the exhibition revealed intersections and dialogues between the three figures, making the experience both informative and engaging. Visitors could trace connections across the archive and relate personally to the content.
The exhibition raised critical questions about architectural archives and women’s roles within them, featuring reflections from contemporary female architects, researchers, and professors. It took visitors on a journey through the experiences of an earlier generation of architects alongside those practicing and working to shift the narrative today. For me this connected with my personal journey of recognizing female architects and an awareness of their contributions to architecture. This exhibition made me realize once more just how many stories remain untold. It revealed that our current knowledge remains incomplete and we are still in a process of ongoing rediscovery.

lak.