“I am not a female architect, I am an architect” Dorte Mandrup for Dezeen
She is an architect with a background in medicine, sculpture and ceramics, leader of an award-winning practice as well as a professor and guest professor at numerous prestigious Universities. Furthermore her portfolio includes five projects for UNESCO heritage sites and she also took part in the 2018 La Biennale di Venezia. Meet Dorte Mandrup, a Danish architect, founder and Creative Director of Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter A/S.
DORTE MANDRUP THE ARCHITECT
Mandrup graduated from Aarhus School of Architecture in 1991. Once graduating, she continued to study sculpture and ceramics at the G.S.C. Art Department in the US. Her first job was at Henning Larsen Architects. Later she co-founded Fuglsang & Mandrup-Poulsen along with Niels Fuglsang,
Eventually the two split and Dorte Mandrup A/S was born. Since 1999. A/S has become a internationally renowned studio.
DORTE MANDRUP A/S
From 1999. till today, the studio has been awarded numerous awards and recognitions. Their work is thoughtful and powerful without being overbearing.
Pragmatic and unromantic. Contextually aware but without melancholy.
Dorte Mandrup A/S
A/S has worked on extremely interesting and challenging projects. They proudly point out their work that includes not one, but five UNESCO related projects.
It seems as though A/S has developed a distinct approach to any given task. Their voice is heard no matter the scale or typology.
OUTSIDE OF THE STUDIO
Not only does Mandrup lead a design team consisting of 70 people, she is also a guest professor at Cornell, University of Washington, adjunct professor at Lund University and honorary professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.
She is Vice Chairman of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, member of the Historic Building Council in Denmark, Chair of the Mies van der Rohe Award 2019.
LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
“As a humanist with a distinct nonconformist outlook, Dorte Mandrup is well known for her commitment to the development of the architectural practice and her frequent participation in public debates. Receiving national and international acclaim for her work, in 2018 Dorte headlined at the curated international exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia.” – Dorte Mandrup A/S
CONDITIONS is a project that focuses on challenges regarding our climate. Located in Greenland it is also culturally significant being in a place where “the Inuit people and Europeans (Norse) met”
THE “FEMALE ARCHITECT”
In 2017 after Dezeen published an article On International Women’s Day, 50 inspirational women in architecture and design, Dorte Mandrup fired back with an article regarding the term “female architect”. According to her the term has degrading connotation. And she is absolutely right.
Rarely are women known as female accountants, female lawyers, female taxi drivers or female journalists. But “female architects” seems to be an unshakeable phrase.
Dorte Mandrup for Dezeen
Nonetheless we should highlight one another. Unfortunately today gender inequality is still a raging issue especially in the field of architecture.
“When I chaired Women in Architecture (2000-2005), I said we can’t moan about the lot of the female architect, we’ve got to be proactive and shout about how good we are. Back then, women accounted for 10% of architects in practice, and black and minority were 6%. So we called our exhibition “DiverseCity” it was about the diversity of people. It started as a modest display of 50 panels in the RIBA.
Then I got a call from the US: “Will you bring it over here?” Then China. It became a global snowball. It traveled for six years. Whenever I say “great women” or “great black or ethnic minorities” I’m giving special emphasis because they’ve had to work harder to get there. We need exhibitions like this, because it’s still not a level playing field.”
Angela Brady for CNN
“The incredible stories of women designers, architects and leaders shouldn’t just be shared each year in March during Women’s History Month. It’s our great hope that through the Archive and by highlighting and amplifying great work when we see it, together we can shift the conversation around gender parity in architecture.”
Harriet Harriss for Dezeen
RECENT PROJECTS
THE WHALE
TRILATERAL WADDEN SEA WORLD HERITAGE
THE BABYN YAR HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER
