Explaining Femininity Elements in the Works of Iranian Women Architects

Problem statement:

 Today, providing the desired environment for the human being, whether it is a male or female user, requires the architect to have full knowledge of the physical, mental, intrinsic, and social dimensions of the audience. As half of the space users, women are often ignored since their needs are derived from their mental, psychosocial, and even social bases, so they have remained disregarded. Lack of such knowledge about women’s requirements may decrease their environmental satisfaction. The hypothesis of the research is that architecture consists of multiple components manifesting the designer femininity. These examples, mainly derived from postmodernist concepts or created by women, influence the quality of space, especially women.

The purpose of the present research is to introduce elements of femininity in architecture to create desirable and utilizable contexts for women. 

It is inductive research in terms of theoretical background and literature review to approach the research model. Then, the research also applied the Delphi method and interview among 28 active female Iranian architects. 

The research conveys that components of motherhood/mother-ness, liquescence, fundamental and structural elements, besides their sub-components are introduced as femininity in contemporary female architecture.