Research was carried in the three proposed territories in Brazil where self-building remains a prevalent custom: quilombos (afro-Brazilian maroon communities), indigenous territories and informal urban settlements. In general, WBB successfully tackled the identified double historical gap by gathering personal stories and documentation on women builders, showing that in each investigated context, women’s involvement in self-construction is historically relevant. In contexts of so-called vernacular architecture (which in the project was referred to as earthen architecture, although inclusive of other natural materials), their contributions were substantial. Yet, the research also identified that women's longstanding involvement in earthen architecture has been affected by the introduction of new building technologies and materials for different, overlapping reasons. While most interviewed women learnt how to build with natural materials since childhood, those building with industrialised/modern materials were mostly linked to recent initiatives promoting their collective learning. Nevertheless, the results confirm women's perennial participation in self-building sites. All in all, WBB contributed with and reinforced the need for new methodological approaches to a growing field of construction history and showed how a gendered analysis can greatly contribute to the broader discipline of architectural history. The project maintained a commitment to open science through its research methodology, ensuing constant dissemination of its results amongst the involved communities. Most importantly, WBB actively sought ways of empowering women in construction, giving them voice and reaffirming the relevance of their know-how.
