Research Inge Bertels

Abstract

Women Building Brazil (WBB) seeks to underscore women's contributions to architecture and construction in Brazil, particularly in contexts of self-building. Its main objective is to address the neglect of both women and informal building practices in architectural and construction history, especially in the global South. The project will tackle that double historical gap by gathering personal stories and documentation on women builders. Its premise is that women's involvement in self-construction was actually quite common in vernacular architecture but has been affected by the introduction of new building technologies and materials. Expanding our disciplinary scope to include vernacular contexts, WBB employs a novel method combining oral history with disruptive archival research methods and community-based participatory practices, guided by feminist and decolonial principles. This approach will be applied in three territories in Brazil where self-building remains a prevalent custom: quilombos (afro-Brazilian communities), indigenous territories and favelas (urban informal settlements). These distinct settings offer new insights to help recover, analyse, and acknowledge women's construction know-how. The outcomes of WBB include an oral history archive and a public video collection. The participatory process will also generate a memory artefact, co-created with interviewed women with the purpose of recognizing their expertise and strengthening their building autonomy. In summary, WBB offers a new methodological approach to a growing field of construction history and a gendered analysis that contributes to the broader discipline of architectural history. It maintains a commitment to open science through its research methodology and participatory practices, ensuing constant dissemination of its results. Most importantly, WBB actively seeks ways of empowering women in construction, giving them voice and reaffirming the relevance of their know-how.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bertels Inge
• Fellow: de Moura Cruz Mariana

Research team(s)

• Henry van de Velde

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Leaving aside a handful of recent scientific articles, the only general publication on the history of the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH), its buildings and the development of its collections is a Liber Memorialis, published in 1985 on the occasion of the museum's 150th anniversary. While the latter publication was aimed at a general public, no other encompassing scientific and critical study on the history of the RMAH that attempts at tracing this history against the background of broader (inter)-national socio-political and cultural developments, has so far been published, despite the fact that vast amounts of unstudied documentation are looming in the museum's institutional archives. Henceforth, the RMARCH project focusses on the history of the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH), based on its institutional archives. In collaboration with the archivist of the RMAH, the FED-tWIN researcher will work on eliminating the enormous backlog in archival description, (online) access and digitalisation of the RMAH institutional archives with the specific aim to make these archives available to the general public but also for further scientific research. Following the reorganisation of these archives, several research questions will be addressed that ultimately will result in a new critical and scientific study on the history of the RMAH. Special attention will be devoted to the various historical buildings of the different museums that form the RMAH but also to the different actors that were responsible for the development of its collections.RMARCH proposes a multi-disciplinary and cross-institutional approach that will build on the expertise of past and current research projects in both the RMAH and the University of Antwerp (UAntwerpen). The research opportunities that will emerge from opening up this important institutional archive will not only allow the FED-tWIN researcher with his/her focus and profile in archival studies and architectural history to rewrite the history of the RMAH but also to play a crucial role in connecting, moderating and advancing them into the broader field of heritage studies. These are ranging from archival and (art and architectural) historical research to conservation and restoration but also in new research fields such as digital humanities and the development of digital documentation, data visualisation and imaging technologies. In this respect, the synergy between the disciplines Heritage Studies and Conservation-Restoration of the Faculty of Design Sciences of the UAntwerpen also offers a unique opportunity to deeply embed this project into academic education and training and in cooperation with the two research groups Henry van der Velde and Heritage & Sustainability.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bertels Inge
• Co-promoter: Jacobs Marc
• Fellow: Verhoeven Gerrit

Research team(s)

• Henry van de Velde

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In 1996 an Indian architect wrote: 'My architecture is only 2'6" deep [referring to the building facade], since the rest of the plan is determined by the building bylaws and developers.' The architecture of India's booming cities is indeed widely criticised for being mediocre. Yet, it is precisely in large cities that architects have successfully competed with licensed civil engineers and building contractors. The latter used to be more commonly in charge of design and construction, and effectively so. If not for their design skills, why did architects come to be important actors in building up India's cities? Through a historical investigation of the Indian architect's discourse, knowledge circulation, professional network, nature of practice and the residential architecture of their hand, this dissertation reveals how in the 1960s, architects distinguished themselves from others who designed built form. It is argued that the architects' self-portrayal as experts on taste was necessary to obtain legitimacy and to sustain the profession's existence, but with changing patronage became irrelevant, leading to an identity crisis. By engaging with Bourdieu's theory of distinction and Gieryon's 'boundary-work' the thesis reveals the historical roots of today's impasse in the profession. It illustrates how cultural and social capital, besides the possession of professional skills, are critical in shaping professionalization trajectories in a postcolonial context.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bertels Inge
• Fellow: Melsens Sarah

Research team(s)

• Henry van de Velde

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project studies the evolution of small, medium and large post-war construction sites in an international comparative perspective. By doing so, the project aims to shift away from the traditional architectural historical research and critique, which focuses on the architectural design and the built result, monofunctional studies on materials or experts in the field. By focusing on the building process, an integrated social and cultural approach is the point of departure. This cultural approach aims to demonstrate how different actors in the field collaborated (or not) and how besides designs, also words, hands and tools constructed our built environment. By doing so, the project not only answers the recurrent contemporary need to understand the evolution of our architectural practice, but also fills a gap in the current international debate within the field of construction history. Moreover, the construction site as a locus for theoretical reflection focuses the developing discourse on architecture as material culture through the lens of its practices.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bertels Inge
• Co-promoter: Schrijver Lara
• Fellow: Angillis Jelle

Research team(s)

• Henry van de Velde

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In 1996 an Indian architect wrote: 'My architecture is only 2'6" deep [referring to the building facade], since the rest of the plan is determined by the building bylaws and developers.' The architecture of India's booming cities is indeed widely criticised for being mediocre. Yet, it is precisely in large cities that architects have successfully competed with licensed civil engineers and building contractors. The latter used to be more commonly in charge of design and construction, and effectively so. If not for their design skills, why did architects come to be important actors in building up India's cities? Through a historical investigation of the Indian architect's discourse, knowledge circulation, professional network, nature of practice and the residential architecture of their hand, this dissertation reveals how in the 1960s, architects distinguished themselves from others who designed built form. It is argued that the architects' self-portrayal as experts on taste was necessary to obtain legitimacy and to sustain the profession's existence, but with changing patronage became irrelevant, leading to an identity crisis. By engaging with Bourdieu's theory of distinction and Gieryon's 'boundary-work' the thesis reveals the historical roots of today's impasse in the profession. It illustrates how cultural and social capital, besides the possession of professional skills, are critical in shaping professionalization trajectories in a postcolonial context.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bertels Inge
• Fellow: Melsens Sarah

Research team(s)

• Henry van de Velde

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project wants to stimulate the international research on post war public architecture and public clients, by starting comparative research on the concept, various definitions of and debate on public architecture and public clients in international contemporary periodicals. The project aims the publication of an international scientific article and concept for an interdisciplinary workshop.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bertels Inge

Research team(s)

• Centre for Urban History

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project studies municipal public architecture in Flanders in the period 1950-1980. In literature this period is known for its fading interest in public architecture and the lack of any qualitative public policy. In this project this statement is questioned and investigated by broadening the traditional biographical (architect-designers) and typological methodological approach and explicitly includes the study of the interaction between the various actors in the public building process.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: de Smaele Henk
• Co-promoter: Greefs Hilde
• Fellow: Bertels Inge

Research team(s)

• Power in History - Centre for Political History

Project type(s)

• Research Project