Delirious architectural practices. Interdisciplinary encounters between gender and space/Prácticas Arquitectónicas Delirantes. Encuentros interdisciplinarios entre género y espacio

Abstract

The topic of this paper has been triggered by two essays, Delirium and Historical project by Teresa Stoppani and Critical Spatial Practices by Jane Rendell. In her text, T. Stoppani pretends to redefine the concept of “delirium” in architecture by making it interact with Tafuri's “historical project” and comes to identify a kind of affiliation of his legacy in the work of a group of women theorists, to whom she refers as “delirious mulieres”. Jane Rendell in her essay traces a map of the recent evolution of the involvement of architecture in issues related to gender difference, identifying five themes (collectivity, alterity, interiority, performativity, materiality), which she considers to be specifically distinguishing marks of a feminist approach and of what she defines as ‘critical spatial practice’. Drawing on the ideas and research guidelines set out by these two essays, my paper aims to map the variations that have occurred, in recent years, in the modes, methods, formats and interests of a gender approach in architectural theories and practices, using the key concept “delirium”.