“Islands and Paradigms: On Unorthodox Ways to Read the City”

Science Auditorium, Byblos campus

The event will be given by Teresa Stoppani, and is organized by LAU’s School of Architecture and Design – Department of Architecture and Interior Design, in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute (Beirut).

Summary:
Drawing from Stoppani’s recent book Paradigm Islands: Manhattan and Venice, this talk argues that the city and its processes are intellectually understood not only by reference to the urban cultural context but also by drawing categories from other disciplines. An open reading of the city that traverses art theory and history, architectural manifestoes and theory, but also land surveying, cartography, philosophy and cultural studies, can identify a series of “figures” that are ambiguously placed between the representation, the construction and the experience of space in the city.

About the presenter:
Teresa Stoppani, PhD in Architecture, has taught at IUAV Venice University and at the Architectural Association in London, and is Associate Professor in Architecture at the University of Greenwich (London) where she is coordinator of postgraduate Architecture History and Theory. She is currently Visiting Professor of Architecture History and Theory at the University of Technology, Sydney.