HARDSoft CoolWARM… Gender in Design, plus Classic Books Part II
No. 16
S/S 2002
Although little is determining in gender, we are culturally groomed to associate certain qualities with males and others with females: hard/soft, cool/warm, tough/delicate, exterior/interior…. And these qualities come in and out of favor in design. Bit in Western architecture, the association of civilization in general with masculinity and the male body has been strong and persistent. Modernism, neo-modernism, and minimalism have, in the view of many, reinforced this habit of thought. This Harvard Design Magazine addresses the question: what may have been neglected, undervalued, or overvalued because of gender associations in the culture of design?