X-Raying Overlooked Moments in Architecture

GSAPP Conversations

Farzin Lofti-Jam & Caitlin Blanchfield in Conversation with Jesse Connuck. In this podcast episode, faculty Farzin Lotfi-Jam (MSAAD '12) and PhD candidate Caitlin Blanchfield (MSCCCP '14) discuss their new book Modern Management Methods: Architecture, Historical Value, and the Electromagnetic Image. They speak with Jesse Connuck, who edited the book, which was published by Columbia Books on Architecture and the City in November 2019. They describe their use of the x-ray as a medium to re-examine modern architecture through a Le Corbusier house at the Weissenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart and the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. Through the discovery and exploration of quotidian objects in the usually heroically depicted buildings, they visualize the overlooked evolving life and invisible moments in the buildings’ history. This research culminated in two exhibitions and is further theorized in their book.