Urban historian and architect – her work on the politics of place is distinguished by close attention to stereotypes of gender and race embedded in American built environments.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—September 7, 2022— Today the National Building Museum announced that Dolores Hayden, professor emerita of architecture, urbanism and American studies at Yale University, is the 24th recipient of the Museum’s annual Vincent Scully Prize. Established in 1999, the Scully Prize recognizes excellence in practice, scholarship, or criticism in architecture, historic preservation, and urban design. She joins esteemed past recipients, including Mabel O. Wilson, Elizabeth Meyer, Robert Campbell and Inga Saffron.
A public program to present the award to Hayden will be held on Monday, October 3, 2022 from 5:30 to 8 pm at the National Building Museum. The event will be in-person as well as live-streamed. The evening includes a pre-program reception followed by a presentation by Professor Hayden. She will discuss the “urbanism of care,” the idea that cities’ investments in public infrastructure could extend beyond water supply systems, paved streets, schools and transit to include childcare centers in workplaces, free kindergartens and public kitchens.
Hayden’s presentation will draw upon her work documenting the beginnings of this concept from the 1860s through the 1920s, when women proposed this broader definition of public infrastructure. The Grand Domestic Revolution: A History of Feminist Designs for American Homes, Neighborhoods, and Cities (1981) details the material feminists’ egalitarian visions. Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820-2000 (2003) critiques the segregated metropolitan landscapes Americans did construct using federal subsidies supporting shopping malls and tract houses. The result, according to Hayden, is that today the United States lags behind many European cities where advocates of fair-shared cities promote an “urbanism of care” as part of sustainable development.
“With her focus on the politics of place, gender studies, and urban planning, Dolores Hayden is a true pioneer in using the built environment to document the history of gender, class and race,” said Aileen Fuchs, National Building Museum President and Executive Director. “We are excited to recognize her achievements and impact, which align closely with the work and mission of the Museum around equity and promoting social justice in the built environment.”
The Vincent Scully Prize recipient is selected by a jury, including members James Corner, Paul Goldberger, Walter Hood, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and led by chair Ellen Dunham-Jones.
“Dolores Hayden’s work continues Vincent Scully’s research on American architecture and urbanism,” said Ellen Dunham-Jones, Scully Prize Jury Chair. “Her work both unearths little-known built precedents of socially progressive housing types and demands that we question whose needs and aspirations were served by the policies that manufactured ‘the American Dream.’ Her powerful voice has inspired and emboldened diverse audiences including next-generation feminists, placemakers and New Urbanist planners alike and remains extremely relevant.”
Images
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/95t3nzw90euy1hb/AADYjIDwBvmmJPnLrcPw5DEpa?dl=0
Pictured top left: Dolores Hayden
Download the press release here.
MEDIA CONTACT
Karen Baratz, karen@baratzpr.com, 240-497-1811
ABOUT DOLORES HAYDEN
Dolores Hayden writes about the politics of place. As an urban historian and architect, her interests span architecture, urban planning, and cultural history as well as gender studies. Beginning in the 1970s, she pioneered the analysis of American built environments to document the history of gender, class, and race. Three of her six award-winning books critique speculative tract housing and commercial development: Redesigning the American Dream, Building Suburbia, and A Field Guide to Sprawl. Nineteenth-century socialists’ model towns anchor Seven American Utopias; material feminists’ ideal neighborhoods appear in The Grand Domestic Revolution. Hayden founded a non-profit in the 1980s to celebrate the labor of women, men, and children of all ethnic backgrounds in downtown Los Angeles. The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History documents that work and makes the case for landmarks that recognize the history of women and diverse ethnic groups in the labor force.
A graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the Harvard GSD, Hayden has taught at UC Berkeley, MIT, UCLA, and Yale, where she was Professor of Architecture, Urbanism, and American Studies until her retirement in 2017. The NEA, NEH, Guggenheim Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Radcliffe Institute, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences have supported her interdisciplinary research on American urban and suburban landscapes. Her books and articles have been translated into a dozen languages. She’s also a poet, and her most recent collection, Exuberance, engages the voices of female and male stunt pilots from the early years of American aviation.
ABOUT THE VINCENT SCULLY PRIZE
The Vincent Scully Prize, established in 1999 recognized exemplary practice, scholarship or criticism in architecture, historic preservation and urban design. It is named for the esteemed professor, and the award’s first recipient, who inspired generations across the building disciplines. Scully was the Sterling Professor Emeritus of the History of Art at Yale University and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Miami. For more than four decades his teaching and scholarship have profoundly influenced prominent architects, urban planners, and others.
PREVIOUS VINCENT SCULLY PRIZE RECIPIENTS
2021: Mabel O. Wilson
2019: Elizabeth Meyer, FASLA
2018: Robert Campbell and Inga Saffron
2017: Laurie Olin, FASLA
2013: Joshua David and Robert Hammond
2012: Paul Goldberger
2011: William K. Reilly
2010: Adele Chatfield-Taylor
2009: Christopher Alexander
2008: Robert A. M. Stern
2007: Richard Moe
2007: Witold Rybczynski
2006: Phyllis Lambert
2005: His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales
2005: His Highness the Aga Kahn
2002: Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown
2001: Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Andres Duany
2000: Jane Jacobs
1999: Vincent Scully
ABOUT THE NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM
The National Building Museum inspires curiosity about the world we design and build. We believe that understanding the history and impact of architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, construction, and design is important for all ages. Through exhibitions and educational programs, we show how the built world has power to shape our lives, communities, and futures. Public inquiries: 202.272.2448 or visit www.nbm.org. Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.