Despina Stratigakos

Despina Stratigakos is an architectural historian who can speak to the media about issues of women and diversity in architecture, as well as about the political power of space and images.

Her 2020 book — “Hitler’s Northern Utopia: Building the New Order in Occupied Norway” — sets forth the story of how Nazi architects and planners envisioned and began to build a model “Aryan” society in Norway during World War II. Drawing on diaries, photographs, maps and newspapers to chronicle how Nazi occupiers hoped to transform the built environment of Norway, the book offers a view of how architecture can be used for oppression and political ends.

Stratigakos was co-creator of Architect Barbie, released by Mattel in 2011 to inspire young girls to make their mark on a profession in which women remain vastly underrepresented. The project helped shape the debate on gender equity in architecture.

Stratigakos is the author of three other acclaimed books: “Where Are the Women Architects?,” published in 2016, investigates why architecture remains a male citadel and how a new generation of activists is transforming the profession; “Hitler at Home,” published in 2015, explores Hitler’s residences and their powerful role in shaping his public image; and “A Women’s Berlin: Building the Modern City,” released in 2008, reveals a previously unknown metropolis created by and for women.

Despina Stratigakos, PhD
Professor of Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning
University at Buffalo

• 716-829-3486
• despina@buffalo.edu
• Despina Stratigakos' website