CLARISSA
O'DRISCOLL
DISSERTATION
As Clarissa is highly interested in gender diversity, especially within the field of architecture, she has written papers within her Undergraduate studies that relate this interest to the built environment. In her second year, she wrote a paper titled “How Has Professionalisation Affected the Career Trajectories of Women in Architecture?” which gave her insight into how architecture has not always been as welcoming to women as it has been to men. This heavily influenced her final year dissertation which discusses the theme of designing buildings and spaces specifically for women. She explored how designing a woman’s space should be unique compared to designing any space and that women’s requirements are frequently ignored by the majority male profession.
DESIGNING FOR WOMEN
Women respond and experience the man – made environment in a unique way, differing compared to how a man would experience it. Thus said, it is the man – made environment, therefore made by men, who design in the way that they know. There are spaces such as nurseries, women centres and abortion clinics that are specifically aimed for the use of women; therefore, should they not be designed to specifically fit the needs of the user? Prioritising women’s needs would result in a differently designed space, however, do spaces that are more widely used by men share the same needs as spaces that are more often used by women? This raises the question of whether women even require specifically designed spaces that prioritise their needs.