Penelope Seidler Visiting Professor announcement
Architectural Historian Claire Zimmerman appointed
Claire Zimmerman has been appointed the second Penelope Visiting Professor in Architectural History at the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning. The Professorship aims to bring outstanding scholars of international stature to Sydney to conduct research and curate a public program to foster discussion and debate in the history of architecture.
Penelope Seidler AM established the Penelope Visiting Professorship in Architectural History to highlight the importance of Australia in global discussions of architecture and architectural history. The $1 million donation funds the appointment of an international authority in architectural history to undertake work within the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning.
“With The Penelope Visiting Professorship in Architectural History the School confirms its place as a centre for research and teaching.
“It invites scholars from around the world to advance a program of research and outreach in the history of architecture.” Said Professor Donald McNeill, Interim Head of School and Dean.
Claire Zimmerman directs the PhD Program in Architecture, Landscape, and Design in the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto, where she also specializes in and teaches the history of architecture. She will serve as the Robert A.M. Stern Visiting Professor at Columbia University in Fall 2024.
“I am honoured and delighted to be returning to Sydney as the Penelope Seidler Visiting Professor at the University of Sydney. I hope to build on my previous experience in Australia, and to engage in a robust exchange of knowledge about built environments and their histories with colleagues, staff, students, and interested citizens of Australia. I am excited to be with you again.”
In her work, Zimmerman focuses on the “protocols of modernization and modernity” in architecture and the built environment. How did architecture adapt to the requirements of modern life and global expansion, while maintaining continuity with its earlier histories? How did vernacular and indigenous practices mix with these earlier histories in the modern period? How do politics and economics influence building as a deeply social public practice? Zimmerman’s past research focused on the impacts of photographic representation and mass production on architecture as she began to explore these questions.
Zimmerman’s appointment follows the inaugural visit of the late Jean-Louis Cohen – among the world’s foremost experts on the history of modern architecture and urbanism – who died unexpectedly in 2023. She was among Cohen’s collaborators on the book Detroit–Mosc0w–Detroit, which work her engagements in Sydney will extend.
Upon her arrival towards the end of this month, Zimmerman will lead a program involving students, staff and the broader public. Her three-week program will include an occasion to discuss the book and the legacy of Cohen’s scholarship, as well as a public lecture on one of its key figures: the architect Albert Kahn.
Program coordinator Andrew Leach said of this year’s program: “This professorship and Zimmerman’s appointment both reinforce the importance of the history of architecture to the University of Sydney and the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, where it has been taught for nearly 140 years.
“We look forward to a full and energetic program in the coming weeks, and to starting new conversations that can carry us forward for some years.”
Inaugural Penelope Visiting Professor in Architectural History
Jean-Louis Cohen appointed
Professor Jean-Louis Cohen has been appointed the inaugural Penelope Visiting Professor in Architectural History at the University of Sydney, through which he will lead a two-year program of research and public events in the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning.
The visiting position has been created through the generosity of Penelope Seidler AM. Her gift enables the University to bring outstanding scholars of international stature to Sydney to conduct research and curate a public program to foster discussion and debate in the history of architecture. It recognises the value of robust scholarship to a truly innovative architectural culture and addresses the challenge of cultivating a broad public for work that reimagines the roles of buildings and cities in responding to social, cultural, and technical challenges, global as well as local.
First announced in 2019, Professor Cohen’s appointment and his time in Sydney has been delayed by COVID-19. He plans to visit Sydney in 2022, however in the meantime he will work with colleagues at the University to stage a series of events (online and, eventually, in person) exploring the themes of his research.
Professor of Architecture at the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, and program coordinator Andrew Leach said: “We have taught architectural history for 137 years at the University of Sydney. This exciting appointment will extend us in new ways and allow our students and our public to explore a compelling theme with one of the world’s most prominent voices in this field.”
Penelope Seidler’s gift will support the School to cement its place as a key centre for research and teaching in the history of architecture and urbanism. It will allow scholars from around the world to work in Sydney, and to advance a program of research and outreach in the history of architecture among a lively and diverse community of scholars and architects. Sharing that work with a Sydney public will be a key aspect of each Penelope Professor’s agenda.
A new appointment will be made, in the first instance, every other year.
Cohen is among the world’s foremost experts on the history of modern architecture and urbanism. He is the Sheldon H. Solow Professor in the History of Architecture at New York University’s Institute for Fine Arts and Chair of Architecture and Urban Form at the Collège de France, in Paris. In France, he led the establishment of the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine at the Palais de Chaillot from 1997 to 2003. His exhibitions have been staged at the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), the Centre Pompidou, MAXXI (Rome), and the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. Extending his extensive bibliography, he has published in 2020 the first of the eight volumes of the complete works of Frank O. Gehry.
Further information on the Penelope Professor can be found here. The program will be formally launched on a date to be determined. The original launch, planned for June 21, was postponed in response to public health concerns.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Sally Quinn | sally.quinn@sydney.edu.au | +61 438 038 288