On Tuesday, 16 September 2025, at 6 p.m., at Rogers Station, the event ‘Journey into Barbie's dream homes. Gender, play and architecture’ will take place, a meeting with lecturer Giuseppina Scavuzzo.

Toys, especially those related to construction, shape spatial perceptions and influence architectural sensibilities. Gender studies highlight the role of toys in the construction of social roles, which are also reflected in domestic spaces and architecture.
The historical exploration of Barbie Dreamhouses from the 1960s to their representation in the recent Barbie film allows us to investigate the complex relationship between architecture, toys and gender stereotypes, tracing changes in design aesthetics and the evolution of notions of femininity and domesticity. 
Domestic work and its spaces emerge as central elements in negotiating the balance between emancipatory drives and conservative impulses that Barbie's producers seek to maintain within a consistently successful commercial strategy.
Only through a subversive manipulation of the Barbie model and her Dreamhouse can the toy reclaim its rebellious, imaginative and subversive function in relation to the status quo.

Giuseppina Scavuzzo is an associate professor of Architectural and Urban Composition at the University of Trieste and coordinator of the Master's Degree Course in Architecture, where she teaches Architectural Composition and Architectural Design Theories. 
Her research interests lie in the narrative and symbolic dimension of architecture, with a particular focus on the theme of living. This includes research on the living conditions of vulnerable or disadvantaged minorities and on the social narrative and representation that architecture contributes to constructing.
She was the scientific director for the University of Trieste of the Senshome project, funded by the European Union and Interreg Italy-Austria, on the living conditions of people on the autism spectrum, and is the director of the BeSensHome project, funded by the European Union, which is its continuation.
In June 2024, she edited, with Fernanda De Maio, issue 213 of La rivista di Engramma entitled Architettura dei giocattoli (The Architecture of Toys), which includes the article Genere, gioco e architettura (Gender, Play and Architecture).