A "Feminist" Conversation with Robert Geddes, the First Dean of the Princeton University, School of Architecture

When I was invited by Robert Hillier to visit his architectural design office and discuss design architect's creativity and (various types of) client's economic/commercial expectations from a creative architectural design project/building in Princeton in the beginning of 2009 (for my Ph.D. dissertation research at the Columbia University, GSAPP, PhD Program), I really had no idea this dialogue with him made me bring to Princeton again in 2015.

After my first phone conversation with Robert Hillier, he had also suggested to contact Metin Celik, a Turkish-American architect in their NYC office in 2008. Following my conversation with Robert Hillier in 2008, Metin Celik had kindly accepted to meet me and talked about the importance of the client in architectural design practice, etc. 

In 2015, I contacted Metin Celik again during my advanced academic research project on "the historical recognition of Turkish and Turkish-American women architects of the postwar generation in the US" at the MIT-HTC Program, I would not have imagined that his spouse was the first woman architect from the Princeton University, School of Architecture. Following my phone conversation with his spouse, then, Professor Mary McLeod from the Columbia University, GSAPP Program immediately helped me to contact Robert Geddes, the first dean of the Princeton University, School of Architecture. 

7 years after my appointment with Robert Hillier in Princeton, my appointment with Professor Robert Geddes, the first dean of the Princeton University, School of Architecture was an unbelievable experience for me: I witnessed history's itself during our conversation!

Sound record of my conversation with Robert Geddes is available in my personal archive.

With my sincere thanks to Robert Hillier, the Columbia University, GSAPP, Ph.D. Program and the MIT-HTC.

My research and studies at the Princeton University archive.