RIBA’s Director of Education and Learning, Dr Jenny Russell, has decades of experience in architectural higher education. This Women’s History Month, she tells us which women in architecture have inspired her along the way in her illustrious career.
“Following the completion of my Part 2 architecture qualification at the University of Dundee, I started a full-time PhD at the same institution, with some additional part time studio teaching.
Since then, I’ve been involved in architectural education for over 20 years. There are many amazing women who have inspired and guided me on my career journey - some have been there from the very beginning, and others I have had the privilege to meet or simply be influenced by along the way.
I was born and raised in Northern Ireland and have always been struck by the talent of women architects not just in the north, but across the island.
Dublin-based Grafton Architects was co-founded by pioneers Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell. In the 1990s they joined forces with key Irish architects to develop Dublin’s Temple Bar area, changing the landscape and culture of the city for the better. They were awarded the Royal Gold Medal in 2020 and the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2021 for the Town House at Kingston University.
Aisling Rusk, founder of Studio idir, and Aoife McGee, Director of MMAS, are two architects in Belfast who are connecting architectural practice with research and outreach. Both Aisling’s work on the trapped alleyways of Belfast and Aoife’s work on the Ormeau Parklet and Adelaide Street lanterns centre around community and connection to place. They are forging a path giving meaningful value to place in our country.
Also rooted in community, Anupama Kundoo’s practice is informed by research into materials and building techniques, looking at reducing the environmental impact of the construction process. Her solutions are both environmentally sound and socio-economically beneficial.
I’m also grateful to Tanja Poppelreuter, Reader in Architectural Humanities at the University of Salford, who introduced me to Florence Hobson Fulton who was the first professional woman architect in Ireland and only the third woman to be licensed by RIBA. Little is known of her built work, but Tanja’s significant research has uncovered a woman who, in building her career, demonstrated huge resilience and an ability to circumnavigate the significant difficulties that she faced as a woman in practice.
Curator of the International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale 2023, Lesley Lokko OBE is a proponent of change, both leading from the front and guiding from the rear. The exhibition considers the African continent as the ‘protagonist of the future,’ a place where questions of equity, race, hope, and fear converge and coalesce.
A strong voice in architectural education, Lesley won the 2020 RIBA Annie Spink Award. She was the founder and director of the Graduate School of Architecture of the University of Johannesburg, a school that has transformed the narrative of architectural education in the African continent. She questions identity and draws in voices that, without her inclusive approach, would never be heard. Her current venture is as the founder and director of the African Futures Institute.
On my career journey, amazing women have been supporters and guides along the way. To name only some: Lorraine Farrelly, Head of Architecture at the University of Reading, Elena Marco at UWE, Helen O’Connor at the University of Dundee, Sara Shaffei at the Bartlett, Sally Stewart, Head of the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow, and Maria Vogiatzaki at Anglia Ruskin University. They have taught me so much and have been so generous in giving me their time and encouragement.
Having had a breakdown a number of years ago, many of these women reached out and supported me as I recovered and found my place once again. Support and encouragement are so important in this profession.
The greatest privilege of being a tutor in architecture is seeing your students take flight. One of my previous students Laura McClorey is someone whose journey hasn’t followed the traditional route. After a really successful Part 1 and year out, Laura started her Part 2 and decided that architecture was not for her, instead pursuing a Master's degree in International Business Management. But architecture kept its hold on her, and she finally decided to return, taking up the Apprenticeship L7 programme at Northumbria University and FaulknerBrowns. Laura is brilliant at what she does, and I look forward to seeing what she does as her career progresses – she was even recently the subject of a Linkedin post by the Prime Minister.
Finally, I must mention the most important women in my life – my girls, Lily (12) and Emma (11), and my mum, who has cheered me on, understood my tears and held me up, and who also read and proofed every word of my PhD!"
Dr Jenny Russell, RIBA Director of Education and Learning
