Women in Landscape Architecture in Austria and Central Europe
From the Foundation of Austria’s First Horticultural High School for Women to the Present
The proposed research project aims at analyzing the role of women
garden and landscape architects in the 20th century, with special focus
on Austria and Central Europe insofar as it concerns the newly founded
states following the Austro-Hungarian monarchy after 1918. The research
project is based on the hypothesis that women played a significant role
in the maturation of the profession. Women garden architects were
members of a larger constellation of professionals who shaped and
influenced garden and landscape architecture and thus were of utmost
importance for the profession and for the design of landscapes in the
broadest sense. In due consideration of and relation to the diverse
professional structure, focusing on women will give a deeper
understanding of the profession, its practice and development, and, in
consequence, of dealing with nature and landscape in the 20th century.
During the 20th century, the role of women in garden and landscape
architecture, as in professional life in general, matured according to
political, social, and cultural changes. These changes had great impact
on the approach and understanding of design and planning, on tasks,
clients, and on the structure of organizations and of academic training.
We intend to look closer at these changes and their mechanisms from the
women?s side. The role of women in garden and landscape architecture
will be related to the role of men to achieve a balanced overall view.
Thus, the results allow for conclusions about the structure of the
associations, and the work and tasks of garden and landscape architects
in general. The analysis will also give an insight into the design
approach and understanding. In particular, we look at how women garden
and landscape architects coped and interfered with the conditions during
Austro-fascism, National Socialism, and exile. Finally, we await new
findings on the contribution of women in the formative postwar era and
the following decades, mostly influenced by social liberation and
ecological movement.
We intend to collect ample and profound evidence of women working in
garden and landscape architecture in the 20th century. Therefore, we
have to look over the margin, to architecture, horticulture and
gardening, literature, and to the arts, to grasp as many women as
possible; women who were designing, cultivating, constructing, writing,
and teaching, and thus were important for the creation of open spaces
and for the profession in general at that time.
- Title Original : Frauen in der Landschaftsarchitektur in Österreich und Zentraleuropa
- Website : http://
- Notes : Publications
Meder, I., Krippner, U. (2012): Unter Kruckenkreuz und Hakenkreuz. Gartenarchitektur in Österreich 1930 - 1945. Zwischen Jägerzaun und Größenwahn. Freiraumgestaltung in Deutschland 1933 - 1945. Symposium der DGGL Bayern Nord., 19. - 21.4.2012, Nürnberg
Krippner, Ulrike; Meder, Iris (2012): Jüdische Gartenarchitektinnen in Wien. Zur Rekonstruktion ihrer Biografien. In: Blumesberger, Susanne; Korotin, Ilse (Hrsg.), Frauenbiografieforschung. Theoretische Diskurse und methodologische Konzepte, 322-339; Praesens, Wien; ISBN 978-3-7069-0676-0
Meder, I.; Krippner, U. (2012): Auf den Spuren des Landschaftsarchitekten Willi Vietsch. Historische Gärten : Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Historische Gärten, 2/2012, 21-26; ISSN 2078-8541
Krippner, U. (2012): Traces and gaps: an attempt to uncover 100 years of landscape architecture in Austria.. X-LArch IV LANDSCAPE 100, Nov 9-10, 2012, Vienna, Austria - Project start : 2011
- Project end : 2014
- Contact Person : Ulrike Krippner
- Funding Agency : Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF) , Sensengasse 1, 1090 Wien, Austria