Why Architecture Needs a Feminist AI!
Introducing "Spatial Configurations"
Architecture has never been neutral. From the height of curbs that challenge those with strollers or wheelchairs, to the number of public toilets available to women, the built environment reflects centuries of decision-making by a remarkably homogeneous group. In 2024, only 17 percent of architects globally are female. When viewed through the lens of racial diversity, the picture becomes even starker: just 1.8% of those holding a certificate from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards are Black, and under 0.4% of certifications are held by Black women.
These are not just statistics. They are spatial realities. Every building, every street, every public square carries the imprint of who was allowed to design it — and who was not.
My PhD project, Spatial Configurations: AI as an artistic instrument of post-patriarchal utopias, begins from this premise.
It asks: what happens when we use artificial intelligence – a technology itself riddled with bias – as a tool to reveal, critique, and ultimately reimagine these patriarchal structures in architecture?
This is not a project about making AI "fix" architecture. It is about using AI as an artistic and analytical lens, one that can surface the invisible biases encoded in how we design space, and then — through speculative, feminist, posthuman frameworks – imagine alternatives.
Over the coming months, this blog will document the process: the theoretical foundations I am building on, the data I am curating, the experiments I am running, and the failures I encounter along the way. It is conceived as a versioned Research Blog – each entry timestamped and categorized – that will eventually become part of the final Research Compendium.
The categories I work with are:
Concept (theoretical reflections), Method (methodological decisions), Experiment (AI experiments and results), Result (findings), and Reflection (personal and critical reflections on the process).
This first entry is a Concept entry. It frames the question. The next one gets into the history.
References: Chang, L. C. (2014). Where are the Women? Measuring Progress on Gender in Architecture. ACSA. Colomina, B. (1992). Sexuality & Space — The Split Wall: Domestic Voyeurism. Princeton Architectural Press. Criado Perez, C. (2019). Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. Chatto and Windus.