Writing Architectural History - by Aggregate Architectural History Collaborative (Paperback)

About the Book

Draws Attention to the Role of Subjectivity, Internal Tensions in Historical Practice, and the Politics Underlying Every Architectural Story

Book Synopsis

Over the past two decades, scholarship in architectural history has transformed, moving away from design studio pedagogy and postmodern historicism to draw instead from trends in critical theory focusing on gender, race, the environment, and more recently, global history, connecting to revisionist trends in other fields. With examples across space and time--from medieval European coin trials and eighteenth-century Haitian revolutionary buildings to Weimar German construction firms and present-day African refugee camps--Writing Architectural History considers the impact of these shifting institutional landscapes and disciplinary positionings for architectural history. Contributors reveal how new methodological approaches have developed interdisciplinary research beyond the traditional boundaries of art history departments and architecture schools and explore the challenges and opportunities presented by conventional and unorthodox forms of evidence and narrative, the tools used to write history.

Review Quotes

A remarkable editorial achievement, Writing Architectural History takes up and expands on the too often neglected--and disparaged--forcefulness of reliable knowledge in the form of evidence. Eschewing positivist extractions, this collection provides a vast array of entangled facts that will endure as compellingly shaped historical narratives.--Michael J. Golec, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

About the Author

The Aggregate Architectural History Collaborative is dedicated to advancing research and education in the history and theory of architecture. Since 2006, Aggregate has held dozens of workshops and symposia throughout North America in partnership with major universities, exhibitions, and research centers. Aggregate presents innovative scholarship on its website we-aggregate.org, and in 2012 published the collected volume Governing by Design: Architecture, Economy, and Politics in the Twentieth Century.