MArch History and Theory Guest Lecture Series: “No Compromise: the work of Florence Knoll” by Ana Araujo | Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 18:00 in M416 (Robin Evans Room)

WHEN: Thursday, 27th of March 2025 at 6pm

WHERE: M416 (Robin Evans Room), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS

Based on research conducted for her book, No Compromise: the work of Florence Knoll (Princeton Architectural Press, 2021), this presentation will look at the work of this iconic American designer. Florence Knoll was one of the minds behind the iconic Knoll enterprise: a company which became well-known for the licensing and distribution of some of the most seminal furniture pieces of the twentieth century – including the Barcelona collection, by Mies van der Rohe; the Tulip Collection, by Eero Saarinen; and the Diamond Collection, by Harry Bertoia.

“My research looks at the role Knoll had in commissioning and overviewing the production of these pieces (alongside many other classics issued by the company during her tenure), while also looking at her other activities in the company: her contribution to the development of the company’s unique marketing profile, the creation of a highly innovative textile department, and, most importantly, the establishment of the Knoll Planning Unit, the interior design division that she ran, and through which she invented the infamous ‘Knoll look’.”    

Dr Ana Araujo was trained as an architect and currently works in the fields of art curating, research and education. Her interests range across the fields of design, the visual arts, psychology, anthropology and gender studies. Ana also runs an online art gallery which is focused on the investigation of the feminine in art and culture. She is currently course director of the MA Interior Architecture and Design course at Birmingham City University.

SAHGB’s Annual Architectural History Symposium for PhD and Early Career Researchers – Call for Papers: “Re-Reading and Understanding the Narratives of the Other” | Deadline for submissions: May 10, 2024

Deadline for submissions: 10th of May 2024

Response: c. 17th of May 2024

Symposium: Weds. 26 and Thurs. 27 June, 2024, in person at Birmingham City University, with an online registration option

Contact: symposium2024@sahgb.org.uk

Full Post at: https://www.sahgb.org.uk/call-for-papers/2024-sahgb-ecr-symposium  

There is increasing recognition that in order to foment real social progress, the acknowledgement of social struggles and the inclusion of voices, particularly of those from the ‘margins’, is required to alter entrenched social hegemonies. Such an imperative necessarily calls for the rewriting of architectural history.

This symposium is an invitation to do this rewriting, from the points of view of hitherto marginalised, silenced and gaslighted personhood. To challenge and subvert what is considered to be the “established” and the “canonical” a pre-requisite for social progress. We therefore encourage forgotten, peripheral, marginal and new “re- readings,” which can turn into vital lessons for actualising social progress.

*The call invites contributions from all regions, about all time periods, and from all disciplines and constituencies within Architectural History. Members and Non-Members are very welcome to send in proposals*

This call asks for:

  • What narratives are under-represented throughout the discipline of Architectural History and of Architecture as practice and industry?
  • What is the social effect of “re-reading” narratives of architectural history?
  • How much of our understanding of architectural history is curated by unexamined problematic power relations between, for example, Europe and part of the Global South; between male and other genders; between the human and the non-human?
  • What demands are required of the Heritage/Architectural History and research sectors as a result?
  • In what ways does the re-reading of Architectural History reframe the discourse around narratives of the “Other” to adequately encompass the “Other”? How can this be propagated in today’s practice to provide socially-just spaces?
  • How should we as historians relate to ‘problematic’ figures/subjects from within the history of architecture? Can a certain kind of treatment of such figures and subjects provide useful insights with a view towards achieving social progress, or should such figures and subjects simply be censored / cancelled?

We are interested in the less explored, the new and the non-traditional, in terms of approaches to research, case studies, events, figures, subjects, pedagogies and methods, and the relationship of these to dissemination, archiving and curation.

For further information on how to sign up to the event as a delegate, please watch for registration and programme information on the SAHGB ‘What’s On’ Diary or follow on social media and our members’ newsletter.

We are a charity with a small team, and passing on or sharing this call will us enormously.

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