Conversations around the Table: Academic Collaboration as Care

In "Feminist Practices: Writing Around the Kitchen Table," Helene Frichot, Katja Grillner, and Julieanna Preston describe the kinds of architectural and intellectual practice that can emerge in the informal space of talking at the kitchen table–many voices sharing in formal and informal registers in mutual recognition and allyship. It is a mode of collaborative practice that the Aarhus School of Architecture's Diversity Collaborative has pursued as we formed an activist voice in architectural academia and set about different activities from advocacy within our institution to an year-long series of panel discussions with an international slate of guests.

We believe that our collaborative is one model of a polymorphous, multi-faceted practice based on mutual respect, shared goals, and a commitment to imagining a radically inclusive architectural practice. We set out to find new intersections and forms of ally-ship between a diverse group of collaborators, and as we invite students, architects, academics, and activists into dialogue within our community. In this text, we will again stage a conversation with one another in order to talk about the ways our collaboration has been successful, and also the ways we want to become better going forward. We ask, is our collaboration one model for the architect of the future? And, how do we imagine an architect that builds for inclusion, and fights against discrimination of any kind?