Tracing Ecologies

“‘Energy-efficient buildings’ or ‘solar architecture’ – for a long time, many architects associated these terms with bearded tinkerers in knitted socks and sandals.”, wrote Werner Huber in an editorial piece in the architectural periodical Hochparterre in 2002. This characterisation reflects how ecological architecture was long perceived as naïve, alternative, and anti-modern, contributing to its marginal position within architectural discourse. The dissertation argues that a double blind spot persists in the production of architectural histories: the marginalisation of eco-architecture and the near absence of women within that already peripheral field. To date, no historical and theoretical research exists on women’s contributions to eco-architecture in Switzerland. Addressing this gap, the dissertation examines Swiss eco-architecture between the 1970s and 1990s through a two-step approach. First, a corpus-linguistic discourse analysis of German-language architectural and feminist publications reconstructs how ecological concerns were theoretically defined and debated at a moment when eco-architecture was still an emerging field. Second, this discursive framework informs the examination of three case studies that reflect different modi operandi of women in eco-architectural practice: collective, individual and partnership-based. Rather than treating the cases as isolated biographies, the dissertation foregrounds specific themes and practices through which ecological architecture was articulated and negotiated. The first case examines women within the collective structures of the Arbeitsgruppe Umwelt (AGU, Working Group Environment, 1970–1976) in Zurich, situating ecological architecture within urban planning conflicts and environmental activism. The second investigates the solar architecture and transnational engagements of architect Flore Stuby (1935–2023) from Francophone Switzerland. The third focuses on the partnership-based work of architect Jeannette Gygax (1943), exploring everyday ecologies through domestic architecture and feminist networks. By combining feminist architectural history, environmental history of architecture, and discourse analysis, the dissertation proposes a methodological framework that allows for a more differentiated understanding of eco-architecture in Switzerland and foregrounds the role of women as active participants in its formation.