Lyda Caldas and women architects in Colombia: the landscape of Universidad del Valle in Meléndez

Abstract

This article explores Lyda Caldas’ landscape design for Universidad del Valle to enquire about the position of women in Colombian architectural education and practice. It questions modern architecture, which emerged as a masculine discourse that, following ideals from the Enlightenment, assumed the superiority of western culture; after the Second World War, it became a vehicle for socio-economic and technical control in the Global South. As such, it established frameworks of practice that have excluded women and various minorities. Based on archival material and a series of formal and informal interviews, this article argues that the success of a few women architects in Colombia has been appropriated by the dominant discourse in academia to obscure discriminatory practices and the impact of socio-economic inequality on the career of less affluent women and ethno-racial minorities. The article promulgates the creation of a critical feminist discourse in order to challenge existing patriarchal and colonial structures that prevent women (and ethno-racial minorities) from having a greater impact on the country’s architectural history. A critical feminist discourse in Colombian architecture must go beyond the duality between men (male) and women (female), or the celebratory account of successful female architects by addressing the many female positions and subjecthoods found in the country.