Compliments to our brave architect x Nieuwe Instituut
On Wednesday October 18th, from 5 to 6 pm, Compliments to our brave architect! will be launched at Nieuwe Instituut. The program consists of a lecture by Smeets-Klokgieters, a discussion with the designers and a presentation of archival pieces from Nieuwe Instituut's collection.
17:00 hr - Welcome by Laurence Ostyn (nai010)
17:05 hr - Lecture by Erica Smeets-Klokgieters
17:25 hr - Commentary by graphic designers of the publication (Beukers Scholma)
17:35 hr - Presentation of archival material from the collection of Nieuwe Instituut
17:50 hr - Q&A
18:00 hr - End of the programme
Read further and RSVP at the Nieuwe Instituut website.
About the book
Margaret Staal-Kropholler (1891–1966) is regarded as the first woman architect in the Netherlands. She completed her first work as an unqualified architect in 1917. Less well known is that Grada Wolffensperger (1887–1965) became the first woman to complete the univer-sity course in architecture at the Technische Hogeschool in Delft that same year. A further twenty women had completed their architectural training by 1945.
Why and how did these women become architects at a time when women were expected to raise a family and take care of a house-hold? What was their education like? And was it actually possible for them to practise a profession so dominated by men?
Compliments to our brave architect! describes the emergence of women architects. Including 21 biographies, the book forms an indispensable reference work on a neglected aspect of Dutch architectural history.
About Erica Smeets-Klokgieters
Erica Smeets-Klokgieters studied art history at Utrecht University, earning a master’s degree in architectural history and heritage conservation in 2016. Her master’s thesis on the emergence of the first women architects in the Netherlands provided the impetus for further research, which ulminated in 2022 in her PhD dissertation ‘Hulde aan onze kranige architecte!’ De opkomst van de eerste vrouwelijke architecten van Nederland. This is the trade edition of her dissertation.