Montage 2007

Curves, Spectacle and Gender at San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

Nicole Cannariato

The design of Francesco Borromini for the male monastic complex of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane—with its fusion of architectural forms, continuous sightlines and interior/exterior unity—produced an architecture of passage, transparency and permeability that was enabled by the gender-biased ideologies of seventeenth-century monasticism. This structure of monastic passage contrasts another Borromini-designed structure, the convent of Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori, which largely conforms to the rules of enclosure that proscribed an architecture of confinement for female convents. By comparing these two complexes, an understanding develops of the socio-religious gendering of Counter-Reformation monasticism, as well as its effect on architecture and the built environment.

Antwerp’s Rubenshuis: A Historic House Museum at the Crossroads of Nationalisms

Marsely von Lengerke Kehoe

This paper explores the function of a historic house museum to preserve the memory of its former resident and of the role of nationalism in its creation as a museum. This discussion of the reconstruction and opening of the Rubenshuis as a museum suggests a method for analyzing other historical monuments.

After the ‘AFTER MODERN ARCHITECTURE’

Daniel López-Pérez

In May of 1978, the cover of the Spanish architectural magazine Arquitecturas-bis made a powerful declaration on its cover: 'AFTER MODERN ARCHITECTURE'. This claim was signed by the architects Rafael Moneo, Mario Gandensolas, Oriol Bohigas, Peter Eisenman, Helio Piñon, and Anthony Vidler, as major figures of the Barcelona and New York architectural scene. This list was followed by a detailed list of events and articles claiming to have led to such proclamation. The call for the end of Modernism seems clear at first glance, yet upon a closer examination, the ambiguity in this statement grows. What is referred to as ‘Modern Architecture here? What is the evidence of its end? What is lost and gained by this transition? What is this new 'After'? In the back cover of the magazine, a series of events, along with a bibliography of articles were listed as part of this 'polemic'. These events and group of articles are the focus of research for this paper. The thesis is to claim that this episode derives not from an alleged end of modernism, but from a profound set of differences between American and European schools of criticism. Architecture in the second half of the 1970s faces a time of transition which leads to a process of disciplinary reassessment and 'anxious' change.

“All Safe!”: Early Passenger Elevators and the Experience of the Vertical Ride

Alissa Walls Mazow

This paper explores the ways in which this new vertical transportation machine both served as a symbol of social status and corporate financial solvency, and instilled apprehension in many of its passengers who feared elevator accidents. Three sources in particular offer insights into the experience of vertical transportation: William Dean Howell’s 1885 farce, The Elevator; a guidebook to Frank W. Woolworth’s 1913 Woolworth Building by Edwin A. Cochran; and Faith Baldwin's 1931 pulp fiction novel Skyscraper. In light of continued challenges in arriving at a safe passenger elevator, questions can be asked about what passengers and patrons continued to gain and lose in the experience of the vertical ride.

Bronze Age Fortifications: A Dualistic Interpretation

J. Paga

This paper explores the Bronze Age fortifications of Athens and Gla in order to present a more nuanced interpretation of monumental building during the second millennium. In addition to a technical evaluation of fortification construction, notions of power and authority are brought to bear on the walls that encircle each citadel. The overall discussion is placed within the broader context of the Late Bronze Age on mainland Greece.

Significant Structures: Reading Bruegel’s Architecture

Candace Weddle

This paper considers architecture in the paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, with particular attention to the moralistic constructions of his two Towers of Babel and the dominating and cryptic windmill in his Way to Calvary, in an effort to point to ways in which the artist may have utilized painted architecture to express potentially dangerous religious or political sentiments. New readings are proposed for some of the images, new interpretations which seek to reinsert the often-ignored structures in significant ways into the final analysis of the paintings. In addition, consideration is given to possible evidence for Bruegel's religious and philosophical affiliations, as well as to ways in which his public may have interpreted his symbolic language based on their understanding of contemporary trends within the humanist discourse.