Teaching History to Architects

Author(s): CARLA KEYVANIAN

Source: Journal of Architectural Education (1984-) , March 2011, Vol. 64, No. 2, Beyond
Precedent (March 2011), pp. 25-36
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Association of Collegiate Schools
of Architecture, Inc.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41318775

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CARLA KE WAN IAN

Teaching History to Architects

Auburn University

An outline of the debate on the relationship between history and design that started in the 1960s
prefaces a discussion about the contribution of history courses to the education of architecture
students. A milestone of that debate was the rejection of the idea that the study of history can aid in
the development of formal languages. Starting from that understanding of the boundary that exists
between history and design, the article discusses the reasons that render the study of architectural
history necessary.

In 1968, Manfredo Tafuri published Theories and
History of Architecture, the book that launched his
fame and the central issue of which was the
relationship between architectural history and
design. He dispelled in that book the illusion that
history's task was to point the way to designers,
first outlining ideas that were later brought to full
fruition in "The Historical Project/' his introductory
chapter to The Sphere and the Labyrinth of 1980. 1
The earlier book especially was written largely to
counter the influential theses of Bruno Zevi, who
envisaged architectural historians as charged with
performing precisely that guiding function for
designers.2 Underlying that self-appointed role for
historians was the assumption that history
progressed teleologically- that is to say, according
to a preordained sequence toward the attainment of
an ultimate goal. That historiographie notion
supported the belief that the study of past phases
of a predefined historical unfolding enabled the
identification of the following 'logical' phase, which
could then be offered to designers as the new
'correct' architectural language.
An admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright, Zevi wrote
and lectured extensively on the great American
architect, pointing to organic architecture as the
way out of the crisis engendered in Italy by the
aftermath of the Fascist regime, and the debacle of
Rationalist architecture.3 His was an example of
'operative criticism/ as Tafuri called it- the writing
(and teaching) of periods of architectural history
selected for their supposed potential in guiding
designers toward a new architectural language. In
the 1960s, Zevi's ideas were familiar well beyond
Italian borders, influencing historians such as
Reyner Banham and Colin Rowe.4 Tafuri pointed out
the damning pitfall of that approach: the
instrumental distortions of historical periods
construed and interpreted for the edification of
designers in order to impart to them pre-constituted
lessons.
Zevi's advocacy of operative criticism did not
carry the day but did contribute to gaining a more
prominent place for the teaching of history in
schools of architecture in the United States.
Influenced by the Bauhaus- whose studio-based
teaching model rejected the historicist focus of
Academies- architecture schools had paid little
attention to the teaching of history in the post-
WWII period. In the 1960s, the insistence on the
guiding role of historians contributed to increasing
the number of courses devoted to the history of
architecture.5
Tafuri's contribution, on the other hand, was to
liberate historians from the burden that Zevi would
have them shoulder in contributing to the creation
of contemporary architecture. Tafuri demarcated
history and design as autonomous disciplines.
Finding a new solution in design, he famously
declared, implies "a radical reshuffle of the data of
the problem, a risky adventure" because it is "a
leap toward the future" or "toward the
unfounded," as he repeated in 1992- ostensibly
speaking of Renaissance architecture.6 There was no
possible guidance that historians could offer for
that leap. Tafuri insisted on the autonomy of history,
a discipline with its own methodological aims and
tools, not a practice ancillary to design.7
Tafuri's formulations drew from more recent
concepts on the nature of history in general, in turn
influenced by a new understanding of the evolution
of scientific ideas.8 At the basis of his notion of
history was the realization that it unfolds in leaps
and bounds, through false turns, ruptures, and
revolutions, rather than in a neat and orderly linear
progression. No analysis of past phases of
architectural history would enable anyone to predict
the new forms and vocabularies of architectural
language, giving advance notice to designers. That
was not a hope we could harbor for history, and its
relationship to design. Having defined what it could
not do, Tafuri turned his attention to identifying the
legitimate goals of architectural history- in essays
on history-writing methods primarily aimed at other
historians.9
The architectural theorists that sparked the
debate of the 1 960s were concerned with the
relationship of history to design, and the guiding
role that they could (or could not) perform in
facilitating the emergence of a new architectural

25 KEYVANIAN Journal of Architectural Education,

pp. 25-36 ©2011 ACSA

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 1 . Experimental building-integrated concentrating photovoltaic cell panel, HeliOptix LLC (photo courtesy of Ryan Salvas).

language. The question that this special issue of the

JAE tackles- how to activate the relationship
between history and studio courses in architecture
schools- is more narrowly defined. It is useful,
however, to recall the milestones of the architectural
discourse of a few decades ago. Because, when we
descend from the rarefied empyrean of theoretical
debates into the halls of a school of
architecture- and from the relationship of history
and design to that of studio and history
courses- there remains a pervasive sense that the
purpose of history instructors is to aid in the
achievement of the aims set in studio.

Those of us who are historians frequently read

in the eyes of our designer colleagues the unvoiced
(and sometimes voiced) question concerning our
usefulness in educating student architects in the
twenty-first century. Why should students spend
precious time learning the classical proportions of
Creek temples when they will, in all likelihood, be
called upon to design the skin of a skyscraper
whose rippling surface is formed by photovoltaic
cells moving to trace the path of the sun and
produce sufficient energy for the building
(Figure 1)?
That is a question worthy of serious
consideration. We might be tempted to declare, like
Stanley Fish did recently and provocatively, that the
teaching of history, or the humanities in general,
serves no purpose whatsoever- none, that is, with
a concrete and verifiably productive end.10 Most
historians teaching in schools of architecture can
relate to that defiant exasperation. On occasion,
some will have pronounced a version of Fish's
declaration (combined with a sometimes unknowing
reference to Tafuri's argument), by announcing that
the study of history is beneficial in its own terms,
not because of its contribution to studio. Such

defensive assertions of disciplinary autonomy,

however, remain ultimately sterile. The recent and
recurrent debates on the place of history in
architectural curricula signal the presence of a
problematic spot, a point of friction or of crisis.11

Teaching History to Architects 26

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2. Frank Lloyd Wright, Winslow House, River Forest, Illinois, 1894 (Courtesy of Wikipedia).

Accepting the challenge that designers pose to
historians, and striving to rethink the contribution
of history courses to architectural education, might
prove instead a fruitful exercise with practical
pedagogical implications. The question, however, is
not so much how to activate the relationship
future architects. The role of studio teaching is
entirely obvious: it is the core business of
architecture schools, where the formal and technical
ability of students is fostered and honed. The
question that remains to be answered is then: What
does history do for architecture students? Why
women receive in college? Is the need to graduate
well-rounded individuals the only reason to teach
architectural history?
Few will disagree that, at a basic level, a well-
taught history course (including a survey, the main
source of historical education in architecture

between history and studio courses. As the author should they study architectural history other than schools) provides students with a vocabulary with
sees it, the issue is rather how the history and for the reasons that apply to other subjects, which which to formulate and express their ideas about
studio teachers contribute to the education of are part of the general education young men and architecture. The vocabulary they develop by

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3. Cunnar Asplund, Stockholm Public Library, 1928; exterior and interior (Photo courtesy of the the photographer, Christian Dagg).
examining buildings and sites in a history class is
not only verbal, but also analytical. Students
sharpen their critical ability on historical examples,
learning what constitutes a successful design. They
learn technical words and acquire intellectual
categories that aid them in assessing their own work
in studio.
Architectural literacy enables students to read
buildings, understanding the messages that they
broadcast. Familiarity with the significance of the
apse in Roman and Christian basilicas, for example,
reveals the meaning that Frank Lloyd Wright
assigned to the dining room of the Winslow House
of 1894, which he equipped with an apse, marking
it as the symbolic heart and hearth of the domestic
setting (Figure 2). Another example is Gunnar
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Asplund's Stockholm library of 1928. The cubic and
cylindrical geometries, as well as the marble floor
pattern, recall the Pantheon. Asplund made a
statement about the civic centrality of public
libraries in twentieth-century Sweden by linking his
institution to an iconic classical structure, a temple
dedicated to all the gods that symbolically stood for
the cosmos (Figure 3).
Beyond that basic architectural literacy, history
courses provide students with a dedicated venue in
which theoretical concerns are tackled. Fundamental
questions on the task of architecture and the role of columns and the intercolumniation, but also needed
architects should be examined in history courses.
Those issues are best explained through historical
buildings and sites analyzed in their technical and
formal aspects.
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The study of Creek temples, for example, can
become an opportunity for a discussion on the task
of architects. While the apparently simple scheme of
temples remained unchanged for centuries, its
designers searched for increasingly perfected
proportions. Class periods can be built around such
centuries-long visual refinements- from the effect
of more slender Doric columns on the crisper shapes
of their capitals, to the search for solutions to the
problem posed by the triglyphs that, according to
Creek ideals, were to be placed on axis with the
to meet at the corner (Figure 4).
A crucial lesson for beginners is that the
architect's mission is not to invent exciting new
forms. Discussing the Creek example helps debunk
Teaching History to Architects 28

4. Parthenon, Athens, Greece, 447-432 ВСЕ, corner detail (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia).
5. Mies van der Rohe, German Pavilion, Barcelona, 1929 (From K. Frampton, Modern Architecture: A Critical History, 1980).
the myth, almost invariably harbored by young
students, that successful architecture is the product
of pure, unbridled creativity on the designer's part
or, worse, that it is the product of authentic "self-
expression." The current validity of the lesson is
underlined by offering modern expressions of
interrogations on the purpose of architecture. In the
succinct words of Mies van der Rohe:
It then became clear to me that it was not the
task of architecture to invent form. I tried to
understand what that task was. I asked Peter
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Behrens, but he could not give me an answer.
He did not ask that question. The others said,
"What we build is architecture," but we were
not satisfied with that answer.12
Mies sought and found his answer in the elevation
of building technology to an architectural language. break in the classical tradition and its recent (in
The questions on the responsibility of
designers, which gripped prominent architects in
their maturity, must also disquiet students at the
beginning of their careers. There are no ready-made his building's place in the history of architecture. At
answers that can be provided. History
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courses- informed by a theoretical reflection that is
anchored to, and sparked by historical examples
examined for their structural, material and formal
characteristics- can only alert students to the
inevitability of those questions.
Reiterating a concept he had proposed before,
Robert A.M. Stern recently gave another answer to
the question about the task of architects. He
declared that their aim should be to insert their
projects into the flow of history without, however,
resorting to historicist imitation.13 That is no doubt
a tall order for young architecture students. But,
once again, these theoretical concerns need to be
brought to their attention from the outset, through
concrete examples that render the concepts
accessible. Two modern buildings that help explain
how architects inserted their buildings into a
dialogue with the architectural canon are Mies van
der Rohe's German Pavilion for the 1928
International Exhibition in Barcelona and Le
Corbusier's Villa Savoye from circa 1929.
In the survey course, the author starts by
presenting the students with a plan of the Pavilion,
and asking them to identify its historical citations.
Their literacy in historical architecture enables them
to identify the basilican scheme that the Pavilion
sports: the three 'aisles' in which the covered space
is divided; the smaller pool that forms a cross-axis
similar to that of a transept; the open area that is
raised on a platform, like the courtyards fronting
early basilicas (Figure 5). A discussion follows,
aiming at uncovering the symbolic function of those
formal references. Eventually, the author leads
students to the conclusion that Mies reinterpreted a
scheme belonging to the canon to insert his
building in the Western tradition, while inaugurating
a new chapter of its history- one that begins with a
Mies' time) historicist unfolding.
Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye illustrates how
another master of the Modern Movement declared
first sight, Villa Savoye appears to lack any
6. Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, Poissy, France, 1929 (Courtesy cambridge2000.com); Parthenon, Athens, 447-431 ВСЕ (Courtesy Wikimedia).

reference to classical architecture (Figure 6). Placed
side by side with the image of a Creek temple,
however- or, better still, if the Villa is presented at
the conclusion of a lecture on Creek
architecture- the building reveals its secrets to
students' searching eyes. They readily identify
classical references in the short cantilevered
protrusions from a square grid that makes the Villa
rectangular; the crowning wall on the roof terrace
that recalls a pediment; and the façade on columns
or pilotis. The observation that the architect
reversed classical practice, however, when he
visually obstructed the red-painted entrance door
with a central piloti, stops them short and generates from them. A lecture on Roman architecture
a discussion about the meaning of that reversal.
Eventually, they reach the conclusion that Le
Corbusier declared his Villa a landmark of Western
architectural history although (and even because) it
transgresses canonical norms, launching a new
historical phase. Students learn that the use of
historical elements- such as apses, floor patterns,
layout schemes or columns- emit certain messages. in point.
At the same time, provided that they are not simply
formal imitations, these elements pronounce the
place of the building in architectural history. That
alone illuminates for students the need for
architectural historical literacy- and the usefulness
are confused by more than minimal doses of the political use of the buildings raised for the
lectures constructed along thematic lines that do Beijing Olympics. Contemporary examples are
not take into account the architectural periods they pertinent in a number of thematic contexts,
are familiar with. Further, chronological progression depending on the point we are trying to make. The
emphasizes how architectural transformations same Olympics, and the controversy raised when
emerged from the search for structural and formal Daniel Libeskind refused to design for the Chinese
solutions to limitations imposed by existing regime, can be used in the context of a lecture on
technology, and the implementation of new the Renaissance- and the emergence of the figure
architectural visions. ч of the architect as a politically engaged intellectual
Such chronological organization, however,
during is
that period.14
Devoting the last segment of a lecture to a
tempered by clustering the buildings and sites,
recent the
presented along an advancing timeline, under work serves multiple purposes. It immediately
overarching theme of the lessons that canintroduces
be drawn students to modern examples, even as
they start learning about architecture from the
typical prehistoric dawns of survey courses. Driving
underlining the visual sophistication of ancient
home the overarching point of the lecture, modern
architects in implementing deceivingly simple
works
schemes can conveniently follow the one on emphasize the current relevance of the
Creek
historical subject matter. Finally, at a more mundane
temples. The diminishing size, and the controlled
asymmetry of the section of the coffers oflevel,
thethe introduction of modern architecture brings
about a change of pace that helps recapture or
Pantheon that reinforced the perspectivai effect
retain students' attention. Sybil Moholy-Nagy once
and apparent height of the dome are a case
quipped that teaching history means implementing
Systematically devoting the last segment of the "the ordeal of four credit units of glazed eyes."15
class period to a modern work helps achieve that The sheer visual impact of recent works helps
partially thematic organization of the course. An reduce the number of glazed eyes in the students
example is concluding the lecture on Greek temples who leave the history classroom on their way back
with the quote by Mies van der Rohe and an to studio.

of history courses.
At the risk of attracting the ire of those who
uphold approaches that might seem more
innovative, I declare that I favor a chronological
ordering of subject matter. Young students, I find,
illustration of the Seagram and the Lake Shore Drive
buildings to underline the current relevance of the
Creeks' refinements of standard forms. A lecture
that emphasizes the political significance of Roman
Imperial architecture can close with a discussion of
Reading and written assignments should
reinforce the systematic linking of historical
examples to current concerns. In addition to the
pages of their survey textbooks, students are
usefully assigned theoretical pieces or recent

Teaching History to Architects 30

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7. Richard Meier, Ara Pacis Museum, Rome, 1996-2006 (Photo by author).
critiques. After the matter of Libeskinďs refusal to
design a building for the Olympics is discussed in
class, for example, students can be instructed to
write an essay on that issue, viewing it against the
background of the Renaissance emergence of the
architect as intellectual. The chronological
organization of subject matter- whereby the work
of Creek, Roman, and Renaissance architects is
studied in orderly progression- is thus injected with
current and global relevance.
The historical examples invoked here all belong
to the Western canon. However, I do not intend
arguing in favor of a Western focus versus a more
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global approach. I am only specifying that the
content of what is taught in history courses- even
the most time-honored and traditional material- is
not necessarily affected by a structuring around
theoretical concerns. Except, that is, in the sense
that we might privilege buildings and sites that are
more useful in establishing a theoretical beachhead.
We have known for a long time that the history
we narrate is a composition of fragments, not an
impossibly objective narrative. The narratives that
we construct and that we deliver in the classroom
are the product of the notions of history that we
espouse, convictions about relationships between
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history and design, and the aims we propose to
achieve. The writing (and therefore teaching) of
architectural history, as Tafuri pointed out, is
necessarily structured around a theoretical
framework on which we mount the historical
fragments that we select. He signified the
inextricability of the theories we espouse and the
history that we write in the title of his 1 968 book,
Theories and History of Architecture. Bearing in
mind the pedagogical advantage of emphasizing the
current relevance of historical precedents helps us
select those works that are most useful in
assembling lessons of theoretical significance.
8. Zaha Hadid, MAXXI, Rome, 2009 (Photo by Stephen Zecher, courtesy of Marc Neveu).

While some of those lessons are planned the same issue from their respective vantage In turn, the history instructor sitting in reviews
ahead, others will emerge as hot-button topics in points. adjusted the target of the seminar discussions to
the course of classroom discussions. Advice A seminar on the history of Rome offered issues emerging in the course of studio work. The
frequently found in books about effective recently in the school where the author teaches observation that some students liberally sprinkled
teaching suggests that it is desirable to have exemplified the advantages of both coordination their projects with columns and arches to
some level of flexibility in the content that is and flexibility. The seminar was linked to a studio 'contextualize' their designs highlighted the need to
delivered in courses. Some of the subject matter course- both were aimed at students preparing to delve in greater depth into the history of Fascist
initially listed in the syllabus might be sacrificed, spend a semester in that city. The history instructor architecture, and its interventions on the urban
if a topic proves riveting or requiring extended collaborated on the selection of project sites, whose fabric. Students were reminded that forms have
attention. In the case of architectural history urban history was to be reconstructed in the course meanings, and that these meanings are not
courses, that flexibility is the main asset in of the seminar. Instructors frequently attended each universal, but stem from a historical context. In
creating a closer collaboration with studio. Such other's lectures and project reviews. That cross- Rome, certain architectural elements, such as
collaboration is highly desirable. Being clear aboutpollination meant that studio instructors offered classical arches, evoke Fascist architecture and, by
the boundaries between studio and history observations on the historical buildings and sites extension, Fascist ideology. Understanding the
courses and their distinct objectives does not that were presented, enriching the discussion and particular language spoken by architecture in a
mean that students attending both cannot benefit rendering it more relevant by leading it back to specific setting allows an architect to anticipate and
from coordination between instructors tackling design approaches. avoid unintended meanings.

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9. Steven Holl, Addition to Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2006 (Courtesy of New York Times).

The circumscribed issue of Fascist architecture adopted tired and repetitive schemes and passages, and visually integrated them with the
was then extended to the broader question: "how languages, almost oblivious to the specific historical building through landscape design. He did
do we design in a historical context?"- which, characteristics of the site. not involuntarily ridicule the neoclassical structure
interpreted as comprehensively as it should be, To verify that the criticism leveled at Meier's with attempts at mimicry destined to fail, but used
constitutes a large part of the built environment. building in Rome was not due to the adoption of a an ingenious circulation pattern, and the most
We started by examining buildings recently modern language of architecture, we examined a advanced technology available, to insert his work in
unveiled in Rome. The first was Richard Meier's more favorably received museum in the same city: the history of museum design (Figure 9).
controversial Museum for the Ara Pads Zaha Hadid's MAXXI, inaugurated in 2009. Hadid's A solid grounding in the history- which, as per
inaugurated in 2006. 16 Students readily understood building is more unabashedly contemporary, but Tafuri's definition, includes the theory- of
the reasons for its unfavorable reception: the scale the lines of energy that cross it relate to the architecture does not mean encouraging a historicist
of the building that overwhelms surrounding trajectory of routes that intersect in the site. approach. Almost paradoxically, a firm basis in the
Renaissance structures; the lack of a relationship Skillfully handling the creation of external plazas history and theory of architecture vaccinates
to the street trajectories that skirt or converge on and internal paths, the building has been architecture students against such anachronistic
the site; and the inadequate nod to the historical interpreted, among other things, as a metaphor temptations. The study of history helps students
context represented by a steel trestle clad in slabs that stitches together a fragmented urban understand that architecture is closely enmeshed
of stone, mimicking the massive travertine walls of neighborhood, restoring its cohesion with the cultural, economic, and social conditions of
ancient Roman construction (Figure 7). (Figure 8).17 the era in which it emerges; that it occurs in
Discussions on the validity of facile attempts to The examination of a third museum- Steven response to the intentions of the client, the formal
integrate contemporary architecture into a historical Holl's extension of the Nelson-Atkins Museum in investigations of the architect, and available
setting ensued. Comparison to similar buildings by Kansas City- emphasized that the issue of building technology; and that it is the product of its
Meier in other cities- the High Museum in Atlanta, designing in a historical context did not concern time, even while it remains aware of the demands
and the Museum of Contemporary Art in only Rome. Unlike the other entries in the made upon it by a historical context.
Barcelona - helped elucidate the reasons for the competition for that extension, Holl refrained from Such an approach to architecture entails a
less controversial reception of those buildings, tinkering with the existing neoclassical building. theoretical awareness that eschews sham arches or
raised in a different urban context and with a Instead, he raised a series of translucent glass travertine walls. It entails an understanding of the
different commissioning process. In Rome, Meier pavilions alongside it, linked by underground causes and conditions for the development of

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10. Antonio da Sangallo and Michelangelo, Palazzo Farnese, Rome, 1540s, view from Via di Monserrato (Photo by author).

architectural language, and the factors that

influenced it- a historical perspective whereby the
architect posits his work as the interlocutor in a
dialogue with the historical environment and the
architectural canon. Together with an understanding
of architectural history and of her place in it, the
designer acquires an attitude toward the
architecture of the past that is both less superficial
and less in misconstrued awe of it. Rather than the
reproduction of traditional forms or materials,
designing in a historical context involves, as Holl
and Hadid showed, a visual reconfiguration of the
landscape through the geometries of the new
building.
The demarcation between the respective roles
of history and design remains clear. The former
cannot influence formal inquiries or linguistic
developments. The objectives of history and design
remain equally distinct in their academic
manifestations- history and studio courses. The
familiarity with the vocabulary of architectural
language acquired in history classrooms might,
incidentally, enable students to apply certain visual
strategies to their projects. Recently, I heard a
student explain during a review the elaborate corner
of a building he designed in a Chicago city block,
where a number of roads converged, by quoting
Michelangelo. He was referring to the treatment of
a corner of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome whose
façade protrudes from the street frontage so as to
be visible from (Figure 10). At the end of the
lecture on Michelangelo, the student was shown the
similar stratagem used by Louis Sullivan in the
Carson Pirie Scott Department Store in Chicago, the
wrought-iron corner entrance of which protrudes on
the sidewalk, partially obstructing pedestrians' way
(Figure 11).
That student- and, hopefully, his
classmates- had learnt how other architects had
attracted attention to their building in an urban
environment. Above all, however, the students
understood that learning from history does not
mean adopting specific forms or languages, but

Teaching History to Architects 34

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11. Louis Sullivan, Carson Pirie Scott Building, Chicago, 1899 (Photo by author).
understanding the principles that inform them. To
those who might confuse this position with the
arbitrary distortions of an 'operative' history, the
author offers Tafuri's reply to a similar objection:
"our goals are different/'18 This approach does
not intend pointing the production of
architecture in one linguistic direction or the
other. The aim of history courses is to alert
students to the social and cultural role of
architects, and to how that role has been
interpreted and has evolved. The study of history Architettura in Venice. His history courses,
does not provide formal answers. It fosters
awareness of the questions that have been
posed, and shows the ways in which previous
architects sought to answer them.
To those who object, on the other hand, that
the approach that I have outlined here is productiveour schools which, among other things, have
only in cultural, but not in formal terms, my reply is:stringent requirements established by national
precisely. That objection is not pertinent, because
the task of history is not to influence formal
outcomes. That is a role history and its scholars
cannot perform, no matter how much we rethink
history courses or seek more innovative or imaginaryand design, and that is applicable to Renaissance,
ways of teaching it. The hope that history courses
can be made more directly "relevant" to studio
work is not only bound to be disappointing- it
means posing an invalid question. No revolutionary crisis in architecture. The relationship between
way of dealing with historical material, no
grounding in history and theory, no matter how
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apparent, or avant-garde movements require
legitimization. At such times, designers turn to
historians for reassurance or guidance, or to obtain
a seal of approval.20 The crisis, however, is one that
is internal to the discipline of design, and
connatural to the changes that artistic languages
undergo in response to external forces, or under the
impetus of formal investigations and
transformations. The solutions to such crises, which
lead to the emergence of new architectural
languages, can only come from within the discipline
of design. Both designers and their academic
counterparts- studio instructors- have to make
that leap toward the unfounded that searches for
solid, can improve anyone's form-producing answers to new needs.
capacity. The severance with our classical past appears
Tafuri laid to rest the hope that history can more evident than ever. It is no revelation that we
provide designers with guidance- and, in academic are currently confronted with new challenges driven
words, that history courses can affect studio by the concerns for susta inability, globalized
production- in 1968. The books he wrote, at least systems of production, and radical technological
after the mid-1970s, were intended for other '
developments. The latter, in particular, are having a
historians. Tafuri was also very much involved
far-ranging in on systems of architectural
impact
the teaching of history, leading for decades
productionthe
and traditional relationships among
History Department in the Istituto Universitario di and builders. The changes are no
clients, designers,
longer a aimed
matter of utilizing computers to produce
primarily at second-year students of the Istituto,
drawings previously prepared by hand- as
remain legendary. The paradigm of Italian
happenedschools
with the of
introduction of Autocad.
architecture, however, is very different fromInformation
Building that of Modeling (BIM) software now
their American counterparts. The example
produceshe
dynamic digital building models that are
offered with his teaching cannot be translated in
queried to provide information ranging from
building more to spatial relationships to
geometries
geographic data and energy preservation
accreditation boards, and are more tightly linked
performance. to is under way is a change in the
What
the industry. Herein, the author has attempted
way we thinkto
of the design process and its product,
outline an approach to history teaching that the
not simply is way we represent our designs.
grounded in that clear demarcation between history
A similar transformation occurred during the
our academic when the new system of representation
context. based on perspectivai construction influenced
Also in 1968, Tafuri explained that turning to architectural concepts, urban design, and the
historians for guidance signals the presence of a emergence of a new professional status for architects.
Now, major projects require dozens of software
history and design returns to the fore when the applications working together, and software
need for new architectural languages becomes engineers are becoming protagonists of design
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processes too complex to be handled by the architect.
Under the pressure of technological developments,
the figure of the architect demiurge that emerged in
the Renaissance is about to give way.
The shifting ground on which architecture is
produced stimulates the need to reconsider the
relationship of history and design, and its
Acknowledgments
My colleagues at Auburn, Christian Dagg and
Behzad Nakhjavan in particular, contributed to
discussions synthesized here. Christian Dagg and
Ryan Salvas, as well as Marc Neveu, provided
images. Preston Guthrie, an architecture student,
offered technical assistance. Robert Keyvanian, my
8. Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1962).
9. Tafuri, "The Historical Project."
10. Stanley Fish, Save the World on Your Own Time (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2008), pp. 1 53-67.
11 . In addition to this special issue of JAE, see Journal of the Society of
Architectural Historians 58 (1999); and the session on "Surveying
Architectural History and Theory" in the Association of Collegiate
Schools of Architecture Conference, New Orleans, 2010.

implications in a pedagogical context. The special
issues of journals, and the conferences devoted to
that relationship in the last few years are a signal of
that shifting underfoot, and the tremors it
generates.21 Searching for precedents that might
help us understand, we turn to the past.
The generation of those now studying in
brother, listened to initial ideas. The pointed
criticism of the two anonymous reviewers forced me
to sharpen my argument. I am grateful to all.
Notes
1 . Manfredo Tafuri, Theories and History of Architecture (New York: York Times (June 22, 2008) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/
Harper and Row), pp. 141-237. Manfredo Tafuri, "The Historical
12. Mies van der Rohe, quoted by Kenneth Frampton, Modern
Architecture; A Critical History (London: Thames & Hudson, 1980),
p. 161.
13. Robert A.M. Stern, Architecture on the Edge of Postmodernism:
Collected Essays, 1964-1988 (New Haven/London: Yale University
Press, 2009), pp. 144-50, 182-85.
14. Robin Pogrebin, "I'm the Designer. My Client's the Autocrat," New
arts/design/22pogr.html.

architecture schools will be called upon to navigate
and guide the dramatic transformations of the next
two decades. Their historical training is all the more
crucial because it helps them understand
change- not remain fixated on outdated models.
History helps them see that "hope for a new world
rests on faith in violent fractures, the leap into the
dark, the adventure accepted without reserves: if this
were not the case we should resign ourselves to
seeing our capacity for action and understanding
slumber in the evasive celebration of the past/'22
Architecture," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 58
Some of what students learn today in studio
classrooms might be obsolete by the time they are
licensed architects. The history and theory of
Interpreting the Renaissance: Princes, Cities, Architects (New Haven, CT:
Project," in The Sphere and the Labyrinth (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
1 5. Sybil Moholy-Nagy, "Architectural History and the Student
1987), pp. 1-21. On Tafuri's notion of history see Carla Keyvanian, Architect. A Symposium," Journal of the Society of Architectural
"Manfredo Tafuri: From the Critique of Ideology to Microhistories," Historians 26 (October 1967): 178-82, p. 178.
Design Issues 16 (Spring 2000): 3-15. 16. Nicolai Ouroussoff, "An Oracle of Modernism in Ancient Rome,"
2. Bruno Zevi, Architettura e storiografìa (Milan: Tamburini, 1951). New York Times (September 25, 2006) http://query.nytimes.com/gst/
3. Bruno Zevi, Towards an Organic Architecture (London: Faber & fullpage.html?res=9401 E6D61 E31 F936A1 575АС0А9609С8В63.
Faber, 1950). For the influence of Zevi's interpretation of Fascist 17. Nicolai Ouroussoff, "Modern Lines for the Eternal City," New York
architecture on Anglophone historians see Giorgio Ciucci, Cli architetti Times (November 11, 2009) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/ll/12/
e il facismo; Architettura e città 1922-1944 (Turin: Einaudi, arts/design/1 2zaha.html.
1989/2002), pp. xvii-xxiv. 18. Tafuri, Theories and History, p. 233.
4. See the collection of essays in Marcus Whiffen, ed., The History, 19. In addition to The Sphere and the Labyrinth and Interpreting the
Theory and Criticism of Architecture (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, Renaissance (notes no. 1 and 6), see Manfredo Tafuri and Francesco dal
1965). Co, Modern Architecture (London: Academy Editions, 1980); Antonio
5. Stanford Anderson, "Architectural History in Schools of Foscari and Manfredo Tafuri, L'armonia e i conflitti (Turin: Einaudi,
1983); and Manfredo Tafuri, Venice and the Renaissance (Cambridge,
(1999): 284. MA: MIT Press, 1989).
6. Tafuri, Theories and History, pp. 233-34. Manfredo Tafuri, 20. Tafuri, Theories and History, p. 148.
21. See note no. 11.

architecture are less perishable. History teaches about
the past not in order to suggest formal solutions for
the future, but to help make sense of the present.
Yale University Press, 2006), p. 21. 22. Tafuri, Theories and History, p. 230.
7. Tafuri, "The Historical Project." See also Francesco Paolo Fiore, "The
Autonomy of History," Casabella 619-620 (1995): 103-10.

Teaching History to Architects 36

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