Exciting news that The V&A is planning an exhibition with emphasis on the architecture of Tropical Modernism in West Africa and India. The exhibition…
V&A Exhibition: Tropical Modernism in West Africa and India
I am endlessly fascinating by organizations and the buildings they create for themselves, and the meanings they ascribe to them. So I was delighted to see that there is Hagley History Hangout episode on a similar subject – see the message from the Hagley team below.
Ben Spohn interviews Grace Ong Yan about her recent book, Building Brands: Corporations and Modern Architecture. In her book, Ong Yan explores the development of corporate Modernism through architectural branding. She does this by examining the design and construction of four corporate headquarters: the PSFS Building by George Howe and William Lescaze, the Johnson Wax Administration Building by Frank Lloyd Wright, Lever House by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and the Röhm & Haas Building by Pietro Belluschi. Ong Yan draws on company archives to detail the relationships between company leaders and architects to communicate their company’s identity and messaging to the general public through the medium of architecture.
Grace Ong Yan, Ph.D. is an author, architectural historian, educator, and designer. She is currently Assistant Professor in Interior Design & Interior Architecture at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Ong Yan Co-edited Architect: In the Words of the Pritzker Prize Laureates. She is also an architect and interior designer as Ong Yan Studios.
The audio-only version of this program is available on our podcast.
Interview available at https://www.hagley.org/research/history-hangout-grace-ong-yan.
Recorded on Zoom and available anywhere once they are released, our History Hangouts include interviews with authors of books and other researchers who have use of our collections, and members of Hagley staff with their special knowledge of what we have in our stacks. We began the History Hangouts earlier this summer and now are releasing programs every two weeks on alternate Mondays. Our series is part of the Hagley from Home initiative by the Hagley Museum and Library. The schedule for upcoming episodes, as well as those already released, is available at https://www.hagley.org/hagley-history-hangout.
I’ll be presenting a paper jointly authored with Elena Giovanonni (Royal Holloway) and Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki (Vienna) at Henley Business School on Wednesday 2nd December at 13.00 (UK time). If you’d like to join, please email me (stephanie.decker[at]bristol.ac.uk) and I pass on the Teams link.
Title: Building Identity: Architextual Resources in the Identity Formation of the Bauhaus
Presenter(s): Stephanie Decker, University of Bristol
Abstract:
The Bauhaus School of Design (1919-1933) provides us with a micro-historical case study of identity formation, an area that has not been widely explored. We analyse the engagement between organizational identity and architecture as they both take form. We highlight the importance of architecture as an identity resource for the new school, and develop a framework that highlights four distinct ways in which spatial and material resources can support (or obstruct) identity formation: instrumental, by providing a space for organising; aesthetic, by visually pleasing organisational members; symbolic, by offering meaningful representation of organisational ideas; and finally temporal, by being enduring over time. We refer to the combination of these four potential elements as architextual, as they create a frame of narratives and discourses across material resources, people, practices and ideas that are inherent in the ideation, construction and interpretation of material artefacts. In our case narrative we show how these architextual identity resources not only helped the Bauhaus to overcome threats to its existence as a new organisation, but also in turn spurred on the creation of further architextual identity resources, not only helping to form and refine the school’s identity, but also facilitating multiple and shifting organizational identities over time. Finally, we show that architextual identity resources exist alongside other more commonly used resources such as discursive invocations of identity, but highlight that in particular the symbolic and temporal nature of architextual identity resources means that they remained pivotal and facilitated the emergence of a strong legacy when the Bauhaus was disbanded as an organisation after 14 years, while its influence as one of the leading design movements of the twentieth century endured.
CHORD workshop: ‘Retailing, Architecture and Material Culture: Historical Perspectives’
Tuesday 22 May 2018
University of Wolverhampton, UK
The Centre for the History of Retailing and Distribution (CHORD) invites submissions for a workshop that explores the architecture, material environmement, objetcs and material culture of retailing and distribution.
Papers focusing on any historical period or geographical area are welcome, as are reflections on methodology and / or theory. We invite both experienced and new speakers, including speakers without an institutional affiliation. Potential speakers are welcome to discuss their ideas with the organiser before submission (please see details below). Some of the themes that might be considered include (but are not limited to):
Individual papers are usually 20 minutes in length, followed by 10 minutes for questions and discussion. We also welcome shorter, 10 minute ‘work in progress’ presentations, also followed by 10 minutes for discussion.
To submit a proposal, please send title and abstract of c.300 to 400 words, specifying whether you are proposing a 10 or a 20 minute presentation to Laura Ugolini, at l.ugolini@wlv.ac.uk by 2 March 2018.
If you are unsure whether to submit a proposal or would like to discuss your ideas before submission, please e-mail Laura Ugolini at l.ugolini@wlv.ac.uk
The workshop will be held in the Mary Seacole (‘MH’) Building, Wolverhampton University City Campus Molineux, a short walk from Wolverhampton’s bus and train stations. Maps and directions are available here:
https://www.wlv.ac.uk/about-us/contacts-and-maps/all-maps-and-directions/map-and-directions-for-city-campus-wolverhampton/
The call for papers is available here:
https://retailhistory.wordpress.com/2017/10/27/workshop-and-call-for-papers-retailing-architecture-and-material-culture-historical-perspectives/
Find out more about this and other CHORD events at https://retailhistory.wordpress.com
For further information, please e-mail Laura Ugolini at: l.ugolini@wlv.ac.uk
Organizational History Network 