(Be)witching Architecture: Odour, Gender and Architecture

Abstract

The story of architecture in Western society has predominantly been phallocentric. Men have designed, built and criticized constructions since the time of Vitruvius, perhaps the first architect to promote himself as being better than other members of society. In doing so he established the process of exclusion that has kept women from becoming prominent in architecture until recent times. Architecture has also been centered around the perception of sight since the time of the Enlightenment, marginalising the other senses. Like women, smell is seen as a threat to masculine order as it transgresses boundaries. This paper discusses architecture both in relation to women, and to smell. In this paper I argue that architecture is most evocative when related to sensory perception; something that is more subconscious that pure aesthetics and vision.