ARCH 490: Special Topics in Contemporary Architecture section GS (CRN 77300)
Gender, Space & Critical Spatial Practice.
Thursdays, 9-11:30 AM, from 01/21/2025 to 03/14/2025.
Gender, Space, & Critical Spatial Practice.
This seminar-workshop introduces students to diverse manifestations of feminist liberation movements from the Americas and the Caribbean, focusing on decolonial feminism, mutual aid, and community as forms of rebellion. The course explores how feminism, gender theory, and critical pedagogy, and spatial practices can drive new research methodologies, shape objects of study, and offer innovative ways of perceiving and analyzing spaces, buildings, and cities. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the relationships and human alliances that animate these spaces, fostering a critical approach to spatial practice.
Nb. This course is structured thematically and, at times, follows a chronological order. It uses case studies as reference points for ongoing reflection, focusing on spatial practices and environments and their exploration across disciplines. Additionally, it includes a collective event for International Women’s Day in March 2025.
Bio
Dr. Yazmín M. Crespo Claudio, PhD, MA, MDes, MArch, BArch, BED, a Puerto Rican architect, historian, educator, and co-founder/director of taller Creando Sin Encargos (tCSE), joins the School of Architecture at UIUC (and CLACS) from Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she was a Professor in Architecture History and Theory. She holds a PhD in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning, a secondary field in Film and Media Studies, and a certificate in Latin American Studies from Harvard. Her scholarship explores the intersections of architecture, education, media, gender, and territory, focusing on pedagogical experiments in architecture and critical spatial practices across Latin America and the Caribbean. Dr. Crespo has served as Chair of the Department of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Interior Design, Coordinator of the Master in Architecture program, and Assistant Professor at the International School of Design and Architecture at Universidad Ana G. Méndez in Puerto Rico. Her research focuses on architecture and social difference, examining how class, race, and gender are represented—or overlooked—in design. Committed to decolonizing architectural education, she challenges mainstream pedagogies by incorporating perspectives from the Global South. Her work draws on archipelagic thinking and decolonial and Indigenous theories, including sentipensar and Pachamama, to highlight marginalized knowledge systems and transformative approaches to placemaking.
