Monday, November 2, 2020 4pm
About this Event
"Do Not Try to Remember: Bruce Goff and the American School of Architecture"
Stephanie Z. Pilat is the Director of the Division of Architecture in the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma. Pilat is a designer and writer whose teaching and research examines points of intersection between politics and architecture. Her first book considers the ways in which design culture both reflects and constructs national identities and political agendas. Reconstructing Italy: The Ina-Casa Neighborhoods of the Postwar Era told the story of an Italian postwar housing program that activated the design and construction process for social aims. At a moment when most governments were building failed public and social housing projects, the Italian Ina-Casa plan succeeded due to the combination of carefully crafted public policy, funding, and outstanding designs. The book was awarded the 2015 Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize for the best work on Italian history by the Society for Italian Historical Studies. Furthering this line of research, Pilat recently co-edited The Routledge Companion Guide to Fascist Italian Architecture and Urbanism: Reception and Legacy with Professor Kay Bea Jones. This edited volume brings together the voices of thirty international scholars to investigate the afterlives of the architectural and urban projects of Italian Fascism. Pilat currently co-leads a team of approximately 30 faculty, students, and staff working to bring the legacy of the American School of Architecture to light. The American School refers to the pedagogy and practices that emerged from the University of Oklahoma under the leadership of Bruce Goff, Herb Greene, and others. A 2020 exhibition at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art showcases the original approach to teaching and fantastic works of the American School. Pilat co-edited the companion book, Renegades: Bruce Goff and the American School of Architecture with Dr. Luca Guido and Dr. Angela Person. The team also worked with the OU Libraries to create the American School Archive as well as an exhibition in the Bizzell Memorial Library. In 2018, the American School history was showcased in a special installation at the Venice Architecture Biennale. This project has been generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts as well as over $500,000 in grants, private and corporate funding.