Following Hélène Cixous' Steps Towards A Writing Architecture

Abstract

In her book Coming to Writing, Hélène Cixous suggests that the woman writer must always struggle to establish her right to write. Within the field of architecture the act of writing is often assumed to be a passive after-effect of the built form and not an active force that might substantially participate in the process of design and its material outcome in a world. Using Cixous as a guide, I will argue that a creative and critical practice of writing can materially contribute to the thinking and doing of architecture, especially with regard to the woman architect.