Research-network, exposing the barriers in architecture for Female Architects of Minority Ethnic.
Scroll down for FAME collective's exhibition at the RIBA headquarters in London and past FAME's Participatory Research Symposia
Upcoming
FAME collective exhibition:
Practicing Care through Architecture
at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
22 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0QB
28th April - 18th May 2025
Opening Hours: 8am - 4pm (Monday - Friday)
We will be hosting the following events:
Exhibition launch event: 6pm - 7:30pm Thursday 1st May (booking required).
All welcome.
Guided tour: 11am, Saturday 10th May (booking required)
FAME's Participatory Workshop for ‘Practicing Care through Architecture’
For Bartlett students and staff: 2pm - 5pm, Wednesday 7th May (booking required)
Workshop description:
The workshop is led by Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows, in collaboration with Bartlett academics.
We will invite the participants to sew, share their text, read and write together.
Please bring with you the following for FAME's Participatory Workshop:
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A piece of text to read for 2-3 minutes: on the themes of the exhibition.
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A big ball of wool in a colour that will mean something to you.
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A sewing kit – needle and threads.
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Drawing pencil
FAME's Open Dialogue for ‘Practicing Care through Architecture’
All welcome: 5:30pm - 7pm, Thursday 15th May (booking required)
Event description:
The event will be introduced and facilitated by Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows (founder of FAME collective), and chaired by Professor Peg Rawes from the Bartlett School of Architecture.
We will invite the respondents to speak on the themes of the exhibition.
The event will facilitate a dialogue and create a platform for an equitable, safe space to generate collaborative networks between educators, practitioners, and students of architecture.
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Exhibition description
FAME collective’s proposal of ‘practicing care through architecture’, curated through a decolonial feminist lens, acts as a shift in architecture research, design, and practice, for a need to benefit the marginalised and underrepresented in the architecture community and the wider society. This is an example of a model that can be used in the expanded field of architecture, to address wider societal issues and the entanglement of spatial and climate justice.
The themes within the exhibition provide tools to critically address and expand the field of architectural design practice for activism, justice, and equity for students, academics and practitioners.
Providing examples of practicing care in architecture design through collaboration and network of support, for the climate and ecological emergency. Showcasing indigenous knowledge of practices of climate care and lived experiences of climate calamities, visualised in Nakshi Kantha textile (traditional Bengali diaspora embroidery technique), through a process of co-production of knowledge.
The themes of the exhibition also include co-designed exhibits highlighting the ‘pathways to success in architecture’, by delving into the narratives of the lived experiences of the barriers, from a FAME perspective. Bringing positive impact for those in the architecture community, affected by discrimination due to their race, class, and gender.
The exhibition and the participatory events are for students, educators, practitioners and policymakers in architecture. Inviting those in power to make a change in the practice of pedagogy and in professional practice, at the policy level, within architecture institutions.
The exhibition facilitates a series of participatory events using textiles to activate conversations and creating a platform for an equitable, safe space to generate collaborative networks between educators, practitioners, and students of architecture.
Special Thanks
The exhibition has been co-created by FAME collective, led and curated by Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows, founder of FAME collective.
Additional thanks to the supporting members of the exhibition for their contribution:
Adaeze Nwosu, Roseline Anton Gnanamanoharan, Donja Zahedi Saysan, Iba Dagny Tony, and Tasnim Huda.
Funding
The aspects of the exhibition informed by the research project titled ‘Exposing the Barriers in Architecture, from a FAME Perspective’ have been partly supported by the RIBA Research Fund 2020.
The rest of the exhibition is partly supported by the Just Environment Incubator Fund 2025 (BSA).
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Exhibition
at the Royal Institute of British Architects
(RIBA Headquarters)
23rd January - 20th May 2024
Exposing the Barriers in Architecture, from a FAME (Female Architects of Minority Ethnic) Perspective
Calendar
Roundtable Discussion: FAME collective's RIBA Exhibition -Exposing the Barriers in Architecture, from a FAME PerspectiveSold OutThu 11 AprRIBA Headquarters
FAME collective's RIBA Exhibition - Exposing the Barriers in Architecture, from a FAME PerspectiveRSVP ClosedTue 23 JanRIBA Library
Exposing the Barriers in Architecture Education, from a FAME PerspectiveRSVP ClosedFri 22 OctOnline Participatory Research Symposium
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Exhibition at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
FAME collective’s research and exhibition are explored through an intersectional feminist lens to amplify the underrepresented voices in architecture.
RIBA Library, 66 Portland Place, London W1B 1AD
Opening times: Monday to Friday: 11am to 5pm (Tuesday: 12pm to 7pm)
Closed: Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays
Easter closure: Saturday 23rd March to Sunday 7th April (inclusive)
Guided Tour of the Exhibition: 7th March & 11 April 2024, 5:30pm - 6:30pm. Book a place for a guided tour by FAME collective's founder Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows.
Exhibition launch event 23rd January: Florence Hall, RIBA Headquarters, 66 Portland Pl, 66 Portland Place London W1B 1AD
Join us for the launch of this exhibition and a presentation by the founder of FAME collective at 4pm on 23 January at 66 Portland Place with the RIBA event: Addressing gender inequity in the built environment.
Find out more information and register now.
About FAME collective
FAME collective was founded to support women of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities in architecture and the built environment. They aim to raise awareness of the barriers, inequalities, and lack of diversity in architecture as well as demanding change.
Many thanks to the contributors of the exhibition: Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows, Hannah Ismail, Stefania Bellato, Grace Izinyon, Alifayah Jariwala, Nica Sabet, Reshma Upadhyaya, Iba Dagny Tony, Scarlett Rose Ryan, Tasnim Huda, Alex Ford
Additional thanks to the supporting members of the exhibition: Angela Vinci, India Whiteley, Marie Nevin, Lumie Okado, Hiten Odedra
Follow FAME collective on social media: Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and LinkedIn.
Email: architecture.fame@gmail.com
Exhibition design
This exhibition design was led and curated by Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows, founder of FAME collective, and co-created by FAME collective. The exhibition documents FAME collective’s research projects, communicating underrepresented voices and the lived-experiences of barriers in architecture. Mapping the pathways to success, how to navigate the barriers and providing valuable recommendations for those experiencing barriers and those in power to make a change. The design of the central and the primary exhibit has been influenced by the ‘feminine embodiment practice’, from the concept of the Nakshi Kantha (traditional Bangladeshi diaspora embroidery technique). The concept involves re-using layers of recycled fabric and diverse materials, used to co-design the ‘pathways to success in architecture’, by delving into the narratives of the lived experiences of the barriers, from a FAME perspective.
Research process
The research for this exhibition is explored through an intersectional feminist lens to amplify the underrepresented voices in architecture. It has been conducted through a range of participatory methods and by engaging with the community of practitioners and students of architecture. Therefore, directly challenging institutions such as the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Architects Registration Board (ARB), universities and practices, by disseminating the findings and evidence-based research.
This research has been disseminated extensively to make it accessible to those in power. FAME collective’s research dissemination led to ARB's recent policy changes that came into place to remove the policy barriers in architecture by increasing access to the architecture profession for a wider demographic.
Ultimately, this research acts as a tool for activism; it reviews and highlights systemic inequities in architecture by documenting the lived experiences' narrative as a valuable form of research tool.
The research is supported by a critical review of the current data that reveals the state of intersectional barriers such as race, gender, and class at each stage of architecture education and the profession as a whole.
FAME (female architects of minority ethnic) collective’s research responds to an urgent need for understanding the barriers in architecture, for female architects of minority ethnic.
This research investigates the systems of discrimination in architecture and disadvantage experienced due to someone’s race, class and gender; and how these affect established practitioners, young scholars and students, from diverse backgrounds, knowledge and practices.