Women in the History of Architecture by Shelley E . Roff
Construction Matters: Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on Construction History, Zurich, June 23 – 28, 2024, 2024
This paper presents an analysis of women who were recorded laboring on the construction project t... more This paper presents an analysis of women who were recorded laboring on the construction project to rebuild Valencia’s city walls in the late fourteenth century. The building accounts document gangs of women working in conjunction with similar-sized gangs of men, who supplied and worked with specific materials and tools at determined junctures in the
construction of Valencia’s fortifications. I will discuss these women’s value in the financial and social organization of the project and their import to its timely completion and success. Although historians encountering women laborers in the past have assumed that they appeared mostly in times of crisis, the growing research on women in construction is starting to build a
new impression. This paper proposes that in late medieval Spain, women were an integral part of certain kinds of construction projects, especially fortifications. It is the materials and method of building a fortified wall in certain geographic regions that necessitated the employment of a female labor force, demonstrating yet another little-discussed aspect of women’s role in the history of the built environment.
The Rouledge Companion to Women in Architecture, 2021
Did women engage in the making of architecture before the nineteenth century? Although most profe... more Did women engage in the making of architecture before the nineteenth century? Although most professions requiring specialized knowledge were deemed socially unsuitable for women, women did play active roles in the built environment in Western Europe before the Industrial Age. Elite and bourgeois women influenced architectural design as patrons and advisors, and women of lesser means were on occasion employed in building-related crafts and construction labor. Women’s earliest activities as true designers and builders can be linked to the cultural phenomenon of the Renaissance. The rediscovery of Antiquity was a catalyst that transformed the identity of the architect and opened the traditional building industry to those who were not master builders. Both men and women began to design and build as artist-architects and as amateurs. Yet, these women engaged architecture mostly from the margins of the profession. Nineteenth-century industrialization brought a dynamic change in the nature of work and lifestyles, opening the door for greater numbers of women to work outside the home. The mechanization of the building industry and changing attitudes towards women’s education and work paved the path for women to move slowly from the margins towards the center of specialized knowledge in the craft and profession of architecture in the twentieth century.
Nuts and Bolts of Construction History: Fourth International Congress on Construction History, Paris, July 3-7, 2012, 2012
“Women in Construction: An Early Historical Perspective,” co-authored with Yilmaz Karasulu. In Conference Proceedings for the 47th Annual International Conference of the Associated Schools of Construction, Lincoln, Nebraska, April 2011, Omaha: University of Nebraska,, 2011
Construction is historically described as a non-traditional occupation for women. The majority of... more Construction is historically described as a non-traditional occupation for women. The majority of the documentation related to working women dates back to the 1950s and includes very limited information about the construction industry. It is crucial to establish a historical framework to properly describe and discuss issues related to women in construction. The purpose of this paper is to present an historical perspective of women's roles in construction, which in reality dates back to the medieval period, if not earlier. This information may serve as a starting point for construction educators when discussing diversity and development issues in the classroom. Written and graphic examples of women working in construction as early as the 13 th century are included in the paper.
Medieval Women and Wealth, 2010
Until recently, studies in the architectural history of medieval and early modern Europe have ass... more Until recently, studies in the architectural history of medieval and early modern Europe have assumed an all-male labor force on the construction site and in the related building trades. Historical chronicles and manuscript illuminations of construction sites support this notion, purporting the total exclusion of women from this complex industry. This chapter demonstrates the true nature of women's contribution to construction sites from the 13th to the 17th centuries in western Europe, uncovering a wide range of occupations in which they engaged: poor women hired for manual labor, women working as slaves, women working with their husbands and fathers in the building trades, widows continuing the workshops of their deceased husbands, and women supplying building materials for particular sites. There is a history to be told of women's repeated participation in and subsequent denial from working in the building trades that echoes a theme between towns and across language barriers and indicates a common experience shared by women in this era.
The Medieval / Early Modern City by Shelley E . Roff
Medieval Urban Planning: The Monastery and Beyond, 2017
The Dominican friar, Francesch Eiximenis, one of the great Catalan intellectuals of the fourteent... more The Dominican friar, Francesch Eiximenis, one of the great Catalan intellectuals of the fourteenth century, formulated a plan for an ideal Christian city in the treatise, Dotzè del Crestià, written for a prince of the Crown of Aragon in 1385. He created his vision of an ideal city through the contemplation of a wide range of classical and medieval scholarship, with emphasis on the writings of the fourth-century theologian Saint Augustine in his work, City of God. Eiximenis’ work is an intriguing synthesis of current Christian Neoplatonic thought and the practical necessities of organizing and protecting a city in late fourteenth century Europe. His city is imbued with religious symbolism but he is not describing a utopian society; it is an ideal city intended as a model for a true ‘material’ city on earth. For Eiximenis, the reform of existing cities and the creation of new material cities that reflected the order and values of a Christian culture was a vehicle through which to spread the principles of the Christian faith. In his chapter, I suggest potential visual sources of inspiration for his ideal city and present a set of hypothetical plans that more precisely reflect Eiximenis’ description, in graphic form.
The Global City: The Urban Condition as a Pervasive Phenomenon, proceedings of the Associazione Italiana di Storia Urbana, Bologna, Italy, 2019
The most iconic historical image of Barcelona, copied repeatedly by later artists, is Anton van d... more The most iconic historical image of Barcelona, copied repeatedly by later artists, is Anton van den Wyngaerde's view from the sea of 1563. Although renowned for the topographical accuracy of his work, my analysis of this city view reveals that the artist subtly manipulated the location of monuments and the perspectival view to showcase the city's port architecture and to revive a memory of an earlier prosperous time, an illusion that best suited his patron Philip II's state-building program.
Practices: A Journal of the Center for the Study of Practice 7/8 (2006): 37-44. , 2006
Great advances have been made in the field of archaeology by researchers using virtual reality to... more Great advances have been made in the field of archaeology by researchers using virtual reality to reconstruct and preserve the record of past cultures. Despite the common research objectives and methodologies shared by scholars in archaeology and architectural history, relatively few architectural historians have investigated the potential of this new media technology for their discipline. The virtual environment can greatly enhance our means of conducting research, preserving the historical record, publishing scholarly work and teaching. A virtual archive of the medieval architecture of Barcelona, Spain, will illustrate a number of ways in which this new media technology can be used to advance the discipline.
“Archiving Medieval Architecture: A New Model for Preservation and Teaching.” In Architecture That Isn’t There: Virtual Recreations of the Destroyed, the Altered and the Never Built: Symposium sponsored by the University of Cincinnati, School of Architecture and Interior Design, and CERHAS (Cent..., 2005
This paper discusses the construction of a virtual archive of the medieval city of Barcelona, Spa... more This paper discusses the construction of a virtual archive of the medieval city of Barcelona, Spain. An analysis was made of the existing architectural features of the city and, with the aide of historical drawings, archival texts, CAD, photogrammetry and 3-D visualization software, a model of one section of the city, the maritime port, was reconstructed.
The project is intended to serve as a model of a method of preserving the architectural record and will be presented to the public as a virtual archive of historical documents and as an educational tool. The virtual model invites questions regarding how this new media technology can transform the methods of research, publication and teaching in architectural history.
Europe 1450-1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World, edited by Jonathan DeWald, vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, pp. 222-223, 2004
Essay describing the geography and history of Barcelona, capital city of Catalonia, Spain in the ... more Essay describing the geography and history of Barcelona, capital city of Catalonia, Spain in the early modern period.
Europe 1450-1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World, edited by Jonathan DeWald, vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, pp. 408-409, 2004
Essay describing the geography and history of the province of Catalonia, Spain in the early moder... more Essay describing the geography and history of the province of Catalonia, Spain in the early modern period.
Building Images of Prosperity : The Catalan Merchant Hall of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
The emergence of new civic building types in late medieval Europe is a testament to the tremendou... more The emergence of new civic building types in late medieval Europe is a testament to the tremendous growth of cities at this time. The role of these buildings in the life of the city remains obscure today, however, due to the emphasis of medieval studies on ecclesiastical art and architecture. This dissertation brings to light one form of this new civil architecture, the Llotja de Mar, or maritime merchant hall, of the late medieval Crown of Aragon. The Llotja was a center for wholesale trade, banking, and the governing of the port, which was first conceived in fourteenth-century Barcelona during a time of economic crisis. In the dissertation, I argue that the citizens of Barcelona constructed the Llotja to create an image of prosperity for their city, hoping to resolve economic tensions and improve their prospects in foreign trade. Both the architectural form and the functions of the Llotja in Barcelona are analyzed and reconstructed, in order to assess the impact of the new institution on the economy of the late medieval city. The image the Llotja projected architecturally functioned both as signifier of the new status of the merchant in society and as herald of the prosperous city in the fifteenth century.
Design and Construction in Spanish Colonial Texas by Shelley E . Roff
An Inventory and Analysis of Spanish Colonial Construction-related Artifacts from Texas and Louisiana with French Colonial Comparative Material, 2018
The purpose of this collaborative project between Dr. Roff, an architectural historian at UTSA, a... more The purpose of this collaborative project between Dr. Roff, an architectural historian at UTSA, and the Center for Archeological Research, was to identify, conserve and publish information on construction-related artifacts gathered from archaeological investigations of presidio, villa and mission sites that were established in colonial Spanish Texas. Funded by a UTSA GREAT Grant 2016 -2017, one of the objectives of this project was to create new research tools for the field of Spanish Colonial studies. The documentation project resulted in the development of the Spanish Colonial Construction Tools, Hardware and Materials research database, ArcGIS Online Maps and Web Applications. The research database catalogs the artifacts of thirty-one colonial sites housed at ten curatorial facilities in Texas and Louisiana; whereas the ArcGIS connects the artifacts to the places where they were found. This inventory of archaeological artifacts was developed as the first step in a long-term project to document construction tools and materials housed in U.S. and Mexican archaeological collections. This report serves as a record of the documentation process and as a guide to the research tools.
14th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM), (286), 1-18. Cambridge, MA, July 7-10, 2015
The city of San Antonio, Texas still retains a bold imprint of the Spanish colonial intervention,... more The city of San Antonio, Texas still retains a bold imprint of the Spanish colonial intervention, with the core of the city demarcated by a series of linear irrigation channels begun to be built around 1718, known as acequias. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), this paper develops the first digitization of historical surveying maps to document the historic landscape and identifies different colonizing features, which had greatest impact on the development of San Antonio's urban fabric. Results establish a tool to guide policies for urban regeneration and heritage tourism implementation around the traces of the historic landscape. The digital model produced supports heritage management professionals and offers a prototype approach for documentation methods and management of the National Historic Trails.
América: cultura visual y relaciones artísticas, Congreso Internacional “Experincias Compartidas”, ed. by Rafael López Guzmán, Yolanda Guasch Marí y Guadalupe Romero Sánchez, 529-537, Granada, Spain: University of Granada, 2015
This paper provides the first digitally-generated exploration of the Camino Real de los Tejas, on... more This paper provides the first digitally-generated exploration of the Camino Real de los Tejas, one of three branches of this royal road connecting Mexico City to its northernmost territories of New Spain. The first phase of the project is focused on five Franciscan missions of the 18th century found along the section of road in the region of San Antonio, Texas, in order to raise global consciousness regarding their cultural, historic and artistic value, as we approach the site's 300-year anniversary. The project focuses on two specific areas of the route: a) the buffer zone identified for the nomination of the Cultural Landscape of the Missions as a UNESCO World Heritage Site; and b) the historic core of the city identifiable in one of the most relevant historic maps of San Antonio, the Rullmann map of 1912.
Leadership in Architectural Research by Shelley E . Roff
Enquiry: A Journal for Architectural Research, 2009
Recent decades have witnessed a notable expansion of architectural research activities, with resp... more Recent decades have witnessed a notable expansion of architectural research activities, with respect to both subject and methodology. This expansion can be mostly credited to an increase in government and private funding of primarily academic research initiatives. More recently, however, a noticeable increase in research activities within the architectural profession makes it possible to argue that it is the profession itself that is now taking leadership in the development of contemporary research agendas. This growing significance of architectural research, in both academia and the profession,is ultimately a response to the diverse challenges facing the profession; most notably, the issue of environmental sustainability, but also including the rapid pace of technological change, the increase ddiversity of users, and the growing complexity of architectural projects. Engaging research is an essential factor in facing these challenges as well as taking full advantage of the opportuni...
Leadership in Architectural Research: Between Academia and the Profession, 2009
Recent decades have witnessed a notable expansion of architectural research activities, with resp... more Recent decades have witnessed a notable expansion of architectural research activities, with respect to both subject and methodology. This expansion can be mostly credited to an increase in government and private funding of primarily academic research initiatives. More recently, however, a noticeable increase in research activities within the architectural profession makes it possible to argue that it is the profession itself that is now taking leadership in the development of contemporary research agendas. This growing significance of architectural research, in both academia and the profession, is ultimately a response to the diverse challenges facing the profession; most notably, the issue of environmental sustainability, but also including the rapid pace of technological change, the increased
diversity of users, and the growing complexity of architectural projects. Engaging research is an essential factor in facing these challenges as well as taking full advantage of the opportunities they offer. For this research to be most effective, however, a greater perspective and a clearer definition of its role and the goals it can aspire to, in both academia and the profession, are needed; and most importantly, the question becomes, how do we foster a more integrated research culture between academia and the profession? The theme for the 2009 ARCC conference invited an exploration of existing and future trends in leadership in architectural research, the impact of these trends on research subjects and methodologies, and how this leadership can foster an integrated research culture. In this context, the conference explored a variety of topics in which architectural research is used to enhance design quality, expand the knowledge base, and systematically analyze and address common challenges, while at the same time responding to regional and local influences. The
conference also explored the role that collaborative and interdisciplinary research can play in this regard, both between academia and the profession, as well as between different disciplines of the built environment and other professions. The papers included in these proceedings were selected through a rigorous two-stage blind peer review process in which each submission was evaluated by 3 reviewers from the ARCC board and conference technical review committee. In the first stage, we received 147 abstract submissions representing 71 institutions from 13 countries. Of
these, 90 abstracts were accepted and these authors were invited to submit full papers. In the full paper review stage, we received 59 submissions representing 46 institutions from 10 countries. Of these, 51 papers were accepted and the
authors invited to make aural presentations in the conference, 50 of whom attended the conference while one author declined. The conference also included a panel discussion addressing the conference's main theme of leadership in architectural Research, two keynote presentations, and a presentation from the ARCC's New Researcher Award Recipient. The panel discussion and presentations are not included in these proceedings. On behalf of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium, we would like to express our gratitude to all the abstract and paper reviewers, who contributed their time to the review process. We would also like to express our great
appreciation for the conference sponsors, The American Institute of Architecture, and the College of Architecture; the University of Texas at San Antonio., Without their generous support the conference would not have been possible.
Book Reviews by Shelley E . Roff
Casas y casas principales urbanas: El espacio doméstico de toledo a fines de la edad media with English Summary. Jean Passini., 2006
Review of Casas y casas principales urbanas: El espacio doméstico de toledo a fines de la edad me... more Review of Casas y casas principales urbanas: El espacio doméstico de toledo a fines de la edad media with English Summary. Jean Passini.
Publications as Artist by Shelley E . Roff
Artbitat: Kaohsiung International Container Arts Festival 2011, ed. Fangling Tseng, 38-41. Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts., 2012
Essay written about my public art installation for Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts catalogue.
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Women in the History of Architecture by Shelley E . Roff
construction of Valencia’s fortifications. I will discuss these women’s value in the financial and social organization of the project and their import to its timely completion and success. Although historians encountering women laborers in the past have assumed that they appeared mostly in times of crisis, the growing research on women in construction is starting to build a
new impression. This paper proposes that in late medieval Spain, women were an integral part of certain kinds of construction projects, especially fortifications. It is the materials and method of building a fortified wall in certain geographic regions that necessitated the employment of a female labor force, demonstrating yet another little-discussed aspect of women’s role in the history of the built environment.
The Medieval / Early Modern City by Shelley E . Roff
The project is intended to serve as a model of a method of preserving the architectural record and will be presented to the public as a virtual archive of historical documents and as an educational tool. The virtual model invites questions regarding how this new media technology can transform the methods of research, publication and teaching in architectural history.
Design and Construction in Spanish Colonial Texas by Shelley E . Roff
Leadership in Architectural Research by Shelley E . Roff
diversity of users, and the growing complexity of architectural projects. Engaging research is an essential factor in facing these challenges as well as taking full advantage of the opportunities they offer. For this research to be most effective, however, a greater perspective and a clearer definition of its role and the goals it can aspire to, in both academia and the profession, are needed; and most importantly, the question becomes, how do we foster a more integrated research culture between academia and the profession? The theme for the 2009 ARCC conference invited an exploration of existing and future trends in leadership in architectural research, the impact of these trends on research subjects and methodologies, and how this leadership can foster an integrated research culture. In this context, the conference explored a variety of topics in which architectural research is used to enhance design quality, expand the knowledge base, and systematically analyze and address common challenges, while at the same time responding to regional and local influences. The
conference also explored the role that collaborative and interdisciplinary research can play in this regard, both between academia and the profession, as well as between different disciplines of the built environment and other professions. The papers included in these proceedings were selected through a rigorous two-stage blind peer review process in which each submission was evaluated by 3 reviewers from the ARCC board and conference technical review committee. In the first stage, we received 147 abstract submissions representing 71 institutions from 13 countries. Of
these, 90 abstracts were accepted and these authors were invited to submit full papers. In the full paper review stage, we received 59 submissions representing 46 institutions from 10 countries. Of these, 51 papers were accepted and the
authors invited to make aural presentations in the conference, 50 of whom attended the conference while one author declined. The conference also included a panel discussion addressing the conference's main theme of leadership in architectural Research, two keynote presentations, and a presentation from the ARCC's New Researcher Award Recipient. The panel discussion and presentations are not included in these proceedings. On behalf of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium, we would like to express our gratitude to all the abstract and paper reviewers, who contributed their time to the review process. We would also like to express our great
appreciation for the conference sponsors, The American Institute of Architecture, and the College of Architecture; the University of Texas at San Antonio., Without their generous support the conference would not have been possible.
Book Reviews by Shelley E . Roff
Publications as Artist by Shelley E . Roff