In Denise Scott Brown’s “Room at the Top? Sexism and the Star System in Architecture”, the author recounts her experiences and observations of sexism in the field of architecture. She criticizes the star system for perpetuating the oversight of women’s contributions and positions no matter how significant. Scott Brown’s observations of the vicious circle generated by the star system and of critics as complicit make a compelling case against the system. In the text, she writes that the critic’s “satisfaction comes from making history in his and their image. The kingmaker-critic is, of course, male; though he may write of the group as a group, he would be a poor fool in his eyes and theirs if he tried to crown the whole group king” (Scott Brown 1989, 262). The architecture world is dominated by men who design for men who critique, write, and document architectural history for men. In a vicious circle, content reinforces culture reinforcing content. To deny the star system is to deny yourself a successful or engaging position within the field. Exclude the other in your narrative as a writer or be excluded. Young women critics “become as macho as the men and for the same reasons – to survive and win in the competitive world of critics” (Scott Brown 1989, 264). Is successful content then truly due to skill and critical thinking or the ability to conform? The system is hermetic and stifles creativity, collaboration, and truth. Countless contributions remain to be documented and written about. If critics and writers hope to represent a truer reflection of the field, pretending that collaborative work, a reality, is solely the work of a single individual should end.

Image from htps://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates (1979-1995)