Women’s embodied experiences are shaped by both biological and socio-cultural dimensions of the body. In design studies, the work of women designers offers distinctive perspectives grounded in lived and bodily experience. This study examines how women’s embodiment is reflected in the architectural works of Novi Kristinawati, positioning design as a site of embodied meaning-making and socio-cultural negotiation. Using a qualitative interpretative approach, the research applies multimodal analysis informed by social body theory. Design is understood as an assemblage of interrelated semiotic modes operating through representational, interactive, and compositional metafunctions. In-depth interviews complement the visual analysis by situating the works within experiential and contextual frameworks. The findings reveal that Kristinawati’s designs express embodiment as relational, caring, and functionally flexible, articulated through multisensory spatial strategies. These works challenge conventional notions of femininity as decorative or subordinate, demonstrating that design knowledge emerges from women’s embodied experience, where biological and social bodies are inseparable.
Keywords: women’s embodiment; multimodal design analysis; relational care in design, functional flexibility in design, woman designer.
Senja Aprela Agustin Bandung Institute of Technology Institut Teknologi Sepuluh November senja@kotasis.com / 0000-0002-4398-480X
Acep Iwan Saidi Bandung Institute of Technology acepiwan@itb.ac.id / 0000-0003-3413-7139
Irma Damajanti Bandung Institute of Technology irmadamajanti23@gmail.com / 0009-0007-3654-202X
Hafiz Aziz Ahmad Bandung Institute of Technology hafiz.a@itb.ac.id/ 0009-0003-4187-8303
