Learning from... Rome
Filmmaker and photographer Armin Linke reveals the societal changes, cultural complexities, and beauty of contemporary Rome through two short films and architectural photographs from his archives. The first film focuses on a moment of natural choreography as some 100,000 starlings fly against the backdrop of the city of Rome. Linke presents a selection of photographs,(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
5 March 2009
Learning from... Rome
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Filmmaker and photographer Armin Linke reveals the societal changes, cultural complexities, and beauty of contemporary Rome through two short films and architectural photographs from his archives. The first film focuses on a moment of natural choreography as some 100,000 starlings fly against the backdrop of the city of Rome. Linke presents a selection of photographs,(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
Architectural historian Barbara Penner traces the evolution of Niagara Falls – from its 19th-century honeymoon tourism to its state of post-industrial kitsch to its recent rebirth as a honeymoon destination. The photographer Alec Soth, whose work is the starting point for this lecture, compellingly portrays a ruined post-industrial landscape of love in his series Niagara(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
23 April 2009
Learning from... Niagara Falls
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Architectural historian Barbara Penner traces the evolution of Niagara Falls – from its 19th-century honeymoon tourism to its state of post-industrial kitsch to its recent rebirth as a honeymoon destination. The photographer Alec Soth, whose work is the starting point for this lecture, compellingly portrays a ruined post-industrial landscape of love in his series Niagara(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
Learning from... Mumbai
Rahul Mehrotra presents a reading of Mumbai’s form as a symbol of India’s emerging urban culture. The lecture examines Mumbai, a megalopolis with more than 13 million inhabitants, as two distinct elements that occupy the same physical space. The first, the Static City, built of permanent materials like concrete, steel and brick, can be captured as a two-dimensional entity(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
9 April 2009
Learning from... Mumbai
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Rahul Mehrotra presents a reading of Mumbai’s form as a symbol of India’s emerging urban culture. The lecture examines Mumbai, a megalopolis with more than 13 million inhabitants, as two distinct elements that occupy the same physical space. The first, the Static City, built of permanent materials like concrete, steel and brick, can be captured as a two-dimensional entity(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
Learning from... Shanghai
In 2001, Shanghai announced the development plan of “One City Nine Towns,” a series of towns each built around a theme inspired by a different Western tradition. Chinese urban theorist Xiangning Li examines the themed spaces in the city’s post-colonial context, relating them to Shanghai’s contemporary urban culture and situating them within the changing dynamics between(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
7 May 2009
Learning from... Shanghai
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In 2001, Shanghai announced the development plan of “One City Nine Towns,” a series of towns each built around a theme inspired by a different Western tradition. Chinese urban theorist Xiangning Li examines the themed spaces in the city’s post-colonial context, relating them to Shanghai’s contemporary urban culture and situating them within the changing dynamics between(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
Learning from... Los Angeles
Los Angeles-based historian and tour guide Richard Schave examines developments in Los Angeles in the 35 years since the landmark urban tour film Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles (UK,1972). Schave, a former student of Banham, elaborates on his professor’s research by showing excerpts of the film in comparison with his own documentary photography. In particular, he explores(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
28 May 2009
Learning from... Los Angeles
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Los Angeles-based historian and tour guide Richard Schave examines developments in Los Angeles in the 35 years since the landmark urban tour film Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles (UK,1972). Schave, a former student of Banham, elaborates on his professor’s research by showing excerpts of the film in comparison with his own documentary photography. In particular, he explores(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
Learning from... Beirut
Hashim Sarkis, Aga Khan Professor at Harvard University and Director of the Aga Khan Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), proposes an alternative reading of urban issues in Beirut that considers elements beyond the city’s post-war reconstruction and identity politics. Through a series of specific architectural and urban analyses, the lecture proposes(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
11 March 2010 , 7pm
Learning from... Beirut
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Hashim Sarkis, Aga Khan Professor at Harvard University and Director of the Aga Khan Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), proposes an alternative reading of urban issues in Beirut that considers elements beyond the city’s post-war reconstruction and identity politics. Through a series of specific architectural and urban analyses, the lecture proposes(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
Learning from... Calgary
Andrew Nikiforuk presents a talk entitled The political architecture of extreme oil, on the rapid development of bitumen in northern Alberta and its effects on the character of the region, and the country. Although the problems of oil exporting countries are well studied, Canada has yet to consider them or prepare for future oil price shocks. A journalist, Andrew(...)
Théâtre Paul-Desmarais
17 March 2011 , 7pm
Learning from... Calgary
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Andrew Nikiforuk presents a talk entitled The political architecture of extreme oil, on the rapid development of bitumen in northern Alberta and its effects on the character of the region, and the country. Although the problems of oil exporting countries are well studied, Canada has yet to consider them or prepare for future oil price shocks. A journalist, Andrew(...)
Théâtre Paul-Desmarais
Learning from... Israel
Yuval Yasky presents the kibbutz as a radical alternative to familiar types of human settlement. Ever since its early days, the kibbutz was conceived as a hybrid between rural and urban typologies in an attempt to eliminate the disadvantages of both types – the primitive conservatism of village life and the capitalist exploitation of the proletariat in the city – while(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
31 March 2011 , 7pm
Learning from... Israel
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Yuval Yasky presents the kibbutz as a radical alternative to familiar types of human settlement. Ever since its early days, the kibbutz was conceived as a hybrid between rural and urban typologies in an attempt to eliminate the disadvantages of both types – the primitive conservatism of village life and the capitalist exploitation of the proletariat in the city – while(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
Learning from... Cairo
Nasser Rabbat challenges the traditional framing strategies of East vs. West or traditional vs. modern, focusing instead on the dialectical relationship of modernity and history in the making of contemporary Cairo. Shaped by distinct waves of modernity from the colonial Napoleonic invasion of 1789 to the revolution and independence in 1952, the city responded with layers(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
15 September 2011 , 7pm
Learning from... Cairo
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Nasser Rabbat challenges the traditional framing strategies of East vs. West or traditional vs. modern, focusing instead on the dialectical relationship of modernity and history in the making of contemporary Cairo. Shaped by distinct waves of modernity from the colonial Napoleonic invasion of 1789 to the revolution and independence in 1952, the city responded with layers(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
Learning from... Bahrain
Noura al Sayeh presents the third lecture in the Learning From… the Middle East series. The presentation will survey the photographic documentation of the Bahrain coast by photographer Camille Zakharia. The urban transformations in the last 30 years have redrawn the Bahraini landscape and triggered the development of a contemporary vernacular culture. The presentation(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
6 October 2011 , 7pm
Learning from... Bahrain
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Noura al Sayeh presents the third lecture in the Learning From… the Middle East series. The presentation will survey the photographic documentation of the Bahrain coast by photographer Camille Zakharia. The urban transformations in the last 30 years have redrawn the Bahraini landscape and triggered the development of a contemporary vernacular culture. The presentation(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre