Cristina Dreifuss-Serrano is a Doctor in Theory of Architecture by Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, currently working as researcher, writer, and professor. Her research interests focus on the way people perceive architecture as part of their identity and its affects. For her, it is of special interest do-it-yourself architecture, the informal construction of the city, and the role minorities and women have played in the processes of making the built environment. She has written for scientific journals and magazines on a variety of subjects including architectural education, aesthetics, voluntourism, and informal building practices.

 

She is currently a researcher at Instituto de Arte Americano e Investigaciones Estéticas at Universidad de Buenos Aires, and professor at the schools of architecture at Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas and Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, in her city, Lima (Perú). She is a registered researcher at the National Platform of Science and Technology and co-founder of Investiga Independiente, which has allowed her to lead research teams with students, colleagues, and the participation of impoverished communities. One of her goals, as a professor and researcher, is to close the gap between academia and everyday aesthetic experiences.

 

Her project as WISC fellow centers on the role of women in the construction of architectural identity at the beginning of the 20th century, with a special focus on Peruvian Indigenismo and New Mexican Pueblo Revival Architecture.