The controversial come under fire for an image (appearing at the beginning of episode 3) in which Patty Hopkins is photoshopped out of a group that includes her husband Michael Hopkins, Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Nicholas Grimshaw, and Terry Farrell.
Architects accuse The Brits Who Built the Modern World TV series of ‘distorting history’ by excluding leading female figures.
Original version of this image, taken at the opening of the RIBA exhibition ‘The Brits Who Built the Modern World,’ Patty Hopkins is between Norman Foster and Richard Rogers. In this version, used in the BBC series, she is conspicuously remove. Image Courtesy of Architect’s Journal.
Unknown to the BBC, - the six architects are featured in RIBA's exhibition- however, Patty Hopkins had been ‘photoshopped’ out, removed, of the key shot by the photographer. In its defense, a BBC spokesperson stated: ‘At the start of making the series, the director met with both Michael and Patricia Hopkins to discuss their involvement in the series. At that meeting, [Patty] Hopkins specified the degree to which she wanted to be featured in the series. The series did not aim to be a comprehensive story of post war British architecture, it is the story of a very specific group of architects who were united by close connections, both personally and in terms their early work.”
Yasmin Shariff of Dennis Sharp Architects told Architect’s Journal: ‘It was not just these five men who built Britain. This is a very biased and misogynistic view of architecture. Decisions Foster and Rogers made at Team 4 were also down to the two other founding partners. Yet Wendy [Cheesman] and Su [Rogers] were also lacking from the show.’
Lucy Mori of KL Mori Business Consulting for Architects added: ‘I am shocked that women’s contribution to architecture has again been “airbrushed” from this populist history programme.”
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