Acclaimed French architect and architectural historian Jean-Louis Cohen has been appointed as the inaugural Penelope Visiting Professor in Architectural History at the University of Sydney.
Cohen will lead a two-year program of research and public events in the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning. The university said his appointment had been delayed due to 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,” a statement read.
An expert on the history of modern architecture and urbanism, Cohen 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.
University of Sydney professor of architecture and program coordinator Andrew Leach said his appointment was a boon for the architecture school.
“We have taught architectural history for 137 years at the University of Sydney,” he said. “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.”
Cohen led the establishment of the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine at the Palais de Chaillot from 1997 to 2003 and has had exhibitions staged at the Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou, MAXXI (Rome), and the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. His extensive bibliography includes works on Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Frank Gehry.
The visiting professor position is funded thanks to a million-dollar gift from Penelope Seidler. “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,” said the university. “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.”
The program will be formally launched on “a date to be determined” after the original launch, planned for June 21, was postponed.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
