Title of project : Architecture au féminin : Les métiers de la réhabilitation

EU number : N-1997-F-602

Contact person : Catherine GUYOT

Promoter : ARVHA (Association pour la Recherche sur la Ville et l’Habitat)

Address : 75, rue des Archives

75003 PARIS

France

Telephone : +33 (0)1 42 77 34 20

Fax : +33 (0)1 42 77 34 30

Created in 1993, ARVHA has three main objectives:

• Research and development in the sector of the renovation, restructuration and rehabilitation of urban centres and housing;
• Training in the above domain;
• International activities.

In this context, ARVHA proposed, and was selected for, a NOW project, entitled "Architecture au féminin : Les métiers de la réhabilitation" (Women and Architecture: the Business of Rehabilitation) in 1997.

The situation of women architects in France is of grave concern : of 26 000 architects in France, 4 000 are unemployed and, of those, some 60% are women. This situation is due to two main reasons : the decline of construction work in France and the traditional masculine dominance of the profession. In response to this context, ARVHA proposes a partial solution to the problem by offering retraining for unemployed architects in new and developing sectors such as the renovation of social housing areas. The project aims to promote the access of women architects to positions of responsibility in technical areas and into companies where few women are currently employed. Another clear objective is to give the training a strong European element, and to constitute an international network of female architects specialised in renovation.

The project involves the training, for a year, of a group of unemployed architects (of which the majority are female). The training consists of 33 days of theoretical classroom learning and, for the rest of the time, of training on work placements. Currently, some 80% of trainees on the course find work on leaving the course.

The training will be enriched through the widening of the competencies of trainers to include European elements. In order to encourage the progress of women into previously male professions, a catalogue of job descriptions (stating the necessary competencies) of professions in the renovation sector will be established. A network of female professionals in the sector will be set up, aided by an Internet site. A CD-ROM will enable the different experiences in France and in Europe in this up and coming sector, especially involving the active role of women, to be widely publicised. A planned conference event in 1999 will also have a strong publicity impact.

Title of transnational partnership : EARTH (Equal Advantages Responding To Housing/Heritage)

Title of project : ARCHEO : Art and Cultural Heritage Enterprise Opportunities

EU number : N-1997-IT-707

Promoter : Comune di Siena – Comitato di Ente per le Pari Opportunità

Contact person : Tommasina MATEROZZI

Address : Piazza del Campo, 1

I-53100 SIENA

Italy

Telephone : +39 (0)577 292386

Fax : +39 (0)577 292376

Project operator : AGORA SNC

Contact persons : Giacomo CORBINI, Claudia FROLLA, Alexandro BASSINI

Address : Via Camollia, 52

I-53100 SIENA

Italy

Telephone : +39 (0)577 41200

Fax : +39 (0)577 41200

Title of project : From Responses to Solutions (Designing a New Community)

EU number : N-1997-IRL-526

Promoter : Ballymun Women’s Resource Centre

Contact person : Kathleen MAHER

Address : 11 Silloge Road

DUBLIN 11

Ireland

Telephone : +353 (0)1 842 1731

Fax : +353 (0)1 842 5513

• ItalyL’Ordine degli Architteti du Firenze e Prato (Florence)

• SpainUniversitat Politechnica de Catalunya (Barcelona)
• FinlandUniversity of Technology, Department of Architecture (Espoo)

• Exchanges of groups of female architects in training between ARVHA and AGORA, and between ARVHA and the Ordine degli Architetti du Firenze e Prato
• Creation of a CD-ROM (in French and Italian) on women and renovation
• Training and examples of good practice in equal opportunities issues by the Equal Opportunities Commission of the Comune di Siena
• Organisation of a conference event on women architects in Europe
• Training of women in Ballymun by ARVHA in the basics of town-planning and architecture
• Comparison of consulting methods in the area of rebuilding and renovating social housing areas
• Comparison of methods of architectural restructuration
• Comparison of tools and methods of job creation
• Comparison of the reality of women’s lives in different countries
• Exchange of best practice and experience

As the project only began in late 1997, the partners have not yet had the time to fully develop the range of transnational products which are foreseen. Nonetheless, a training manual already exists, in English, developed by ARVHA for the training course given to the women in Ballymun in September 1998. Fully comprehensive reports also exist of the training and study visits in Florence (May 1998) and in Sienna (July 1998). The three separate projects have also established their own Internet sites, which will be linked.

When ARVHA handed in their project in France in early 1997, they had already identified a long list of transnational partners, all fully in agreement to participate in the project, in Finland, Italy and Spain. However, when the results of the different national selection committees became known, none of their proposed transnational partners were selected in the other Member States. ARVHA was therefore, while maintaining contacts with their original proposed transnational partners, obliged to seek other transnational partners to participate in the NOW project.

Through the Common Module database at RACINE, and through bilateral contacts between RACINE and the technical assistance organisations in Italy and Ireland, the two new partners (AGORA and Ballymun Women’s Resource Centre) were identified and initial contact was made between the different projects. The first meeting between ARVHA and AGORA took place in Italy in October 1997, and then between the three partners in December 1997, also in Italy. Within a remarkably short period of time, a strong transnational programme was established and put into place. This programme is based on the characteristics, different and complementary, of the three partners and could not have been imagined or foreseen by any of the three without having been introduced to the partnership.

The project plan was adapted as a direct result of the characteristics of the transnational partners which were found, as we have seen, after the initial project has been prepared and handed in.

Firstly, regarding Ballymun Women’s Resource Centre, ARVHA had planned neither to exchange with an Irish project nor to work with a project not directly involving female architects, and so a certain number of adaptations to the programme had to be made. Although a partnership of this nature had not been envisaged in the original project plan, following the proposition of this partnership and having met with the Irish project, ARVHA became rapidly convinced of the mutual benefits of such an exchange. For ARVHA, the contact with the Dublin project would enhance the knowledge base of its trainers, provide interesting research material and give a valuable study example of the treatment of disadvantaged and social housing areas (a particularly brutal and extreme case as regards Ballymun). Therefore the necessary modifications were made to the project plan and, for example, training sessions for the group of women from Dublin, with no prior knowledge of architecture or town-planning, were prepared, in English.

As regards the Italian partner, AGORA, the nature of the partner also required changes to be made to the original programme. While ARVHA specialises in training for the renovation and rehabilitation of social housing, AGORA is specialised in the renovation of historical buildings and monuments. Therefore, two study visits (instead of one) were planned to Italy, with two different groups of trainees : the first visit to Florence for the women architects specialising in the rehabilitation of social housing, and the second visit to Sienna for those specialising in the renovation of historical buildings.

The transnational aspect, and notably the characteristics of the transnational partners, therefore caused a significant enlargement in the domains of action and intervention of the project, involving a greater number of trainees and a wider range of competencies and fields of experience. None of these new areas would have been addressed had ARVHA not been obliged to search for partners outside of the partnership originally foreseen.

The training course offered by ARVHA on the rehabilitation of social housing has been significantly enriched by the experience of the female architects in Tuscany, as well as by the women architects from Rome who travelled to Florence in May to meet with the French delegation.

The training course offered by ARVHA on the renovation of historical buildings has also benefited from new elements through the specialised knowledge of the women of Sienna, such as the method of "stratigraphy" (used by the Italian archaeologists and very seldom seen in France) or the method of repairing of coatings.

The training has also been enriched by a much wider knowledge of the different mechanisms which exist in Europe for women in architecture, and of the European legislation relating to rehabilitation and renovation of historical buildings.

The constitution of the international network of female architects is being carried out, bit by bit, but requires a significant investment in terms of time and money.

As a result of the transnational activities, ARVHA has also begun work on a study of the profession of architecture in the three countries, the specific situation of women in architecture, and legal and technical knowledge concerning rehabilitation of social housing. However, just the work of translation of the key texts of the architectural profession into at least 3 languages (French, English and Italian – perhaps also Spanish) would require the work of specialists in each of the countries involved, and so progress is slow. These texts would be invaluable to female architects in each country, but indubitably require a very large investment in technical and linguistic expertise, as well as of time and money, to achieve a fully satisfactory result.

The impact of the transnational activity on the architects in training is significant in a number of ways, and on a number of levels :

• Knowledge of legal, technical and operational mechanisms of the exercise of their profession on a European level ;
• Exchanges on the difficulties encountered by women to exercise a highly-qualified profession, often in posts of lower responsibility than their male colleagues ;
• Self-valorisation through the experience of a transnational exchange ;
• Creation of a dynamic for female architects, making it easier to come to terms with their specific professional environment ;
• Creation of an international network of female architects having followed these training courses : the women of Sienna and Florence will be invited to join as honorary members.

All in all, the architects were delighted to have been able to participate in the transnational exchanges, learnt a great deal from meeting the transnational partners and are looking to ways of continuing their contacts with this new network.

The transnational experience has opened up a whole new area of possibilities, given them the desire to get to know other European countries better and to envisage other exchanges in the long term (in Italy especially, but also in Ireland). It has also allowed them to have a glimpse of their profession outside France, to see that similar constraints exist in other countries for architects, and also puts them in a favourable position to be considered as an expert in the domain of rehabilitation at a European level.

ARVHA’s ways of working have also been adapted by the new modes of transnational co-operation:

• Bilingual (or even trilingual) trainers and staff are now actively sought ;
• An English-speaking assistant for the NOW programme has been employed ;
• Use and creation of documents in many languages (ARVHA brochure in English and Italian) ;
• More frequent use of Internet ;
• Creation of a multi-lingual Internet site ;
• Instigation of new methods of working and organisation of training during the exchanges (i.e. much shorter times by different speakers and more variation) ;
• Very frequent, if not daily, contact with transnational partners ;
• Recognition of ARVHA by different institutions through the NOW project which it may not have received otherwise :
• For example, the French Order of Architects has expressed an interest in the project, and the Order of Architects of Ile-de-France (the Parisian region) is putting an article about the project on its web site ;
• The Service des Droits des Femmes (Women’s Rights Department) of the French Ministry of Employment has partially financed the project and has become aware of the activites of ARVHA ;
• The Ministry of Culture and of Communication has long been interested in the issues addressed by the project, and has shown a strong interest in the project which is reflected in the numerous publications which have appeared in professional magazines on women in architecture (especially in the town-planning magazine) ;
• In general, the subject addressed raised many questions with many of ARVHA’s partners, institutional and otherwise in France, and then evoked a great deal of interest. These various partners have since helped the project in very significant ways: for example, the ANAH (Agence Nationale pour l’Amélioration de l’Habitat – National Agency for the Improvement of Housing) has provided the French and Italian architects and archaeologists with a large amount of technical documentation on the renovation of historical buildings. Similarly, many different departments of the Ministry of Culture have supported, and continue to support, the project.

A certain flexibility and openness of mind are necessary to achieve good results in transnational relationships, an ability to adapt to the needs of others, before searching to satisfy own needs. It is of course necessary that all the partners are capable of this openness, and that each looks to the needs of the other.

Common values are indispensable : availability, comprehension, adaptation, and thoroughness in work. Nonetheless, these values should certainly not exclude the ability to enjoy evenings together after work.

It is clear that a considerable personal investment, and a desire to make it succeed, are the key ingredients for success.

ARVHA considers that they have had the good luck to find transnational partners who have all these qualities and they are extremely satisfied with the partnership which they have formed together.

Indeed so much so that they are looking to prolong the exchanges beyond the NOW project, especially in the context of training in the renovation of historical buildings in Sienna. Ballymun Women’s Resource Centre has also asked ARVHA to set up a permanent office in Dublin to serve as an advisor in the domain of the renovation of social housing and of town-planning. The Irish women would also like to meet French experts in the area of demolition and reconstruction, an area which ARVHA knows well.

It is clear that, for ARVHA, the collaboration with these two partners will go far beyond the end of the NOW project…