research

There are has two distinct, though related trajectories to my research:

1. Research on the history of architectural theory and criticism: I explore theory and criticisms’ covert roles as requisite vehicles of cultural appropriation and regulation of architecture. I am in particular interested in the discursive and critical strategies and modes of self-validation in theoretical discourse on architecture, as deeply rooted in Western metaphysics and a broader humanist attempt to give that metaphysics the aura of physics and to culture the guise of nature.
   My intent is to make room for different critical trajectories and other formative possibilities than those the discourse on architecture has traditionally allowed.
   I am interested in articulating a mode of architectural criticism that does not seek to supplant one ideology with another, but acts as a force of resistance to the hegemony of any one particular worldview or ideational perspective.
   This year I focused on  preparations for a forthcoming  book tentatively titled: Architecture, In Theory.
   
   
2. Research on the history and genealogy of secular building types: I have a parallel interest in exploring the history of secular building types and the institutions they serve. I am in particular interested in the genealogy of building types that shelter various forms of representation and the historic link between their formal and experiential properties and western ideational stance on representation.
   I explore the contribution of each institutional building-type to the fabrication and perpetuation of a logocentric world view, including the presumption of a hierarchical relationship between such familiar dichotomies as authenticity and imitation, real and virtual, original and copy, memory and mimesis, etc.
   This year I focused on the pedagogical ramifications of this research for design studio instruction and the ways in which the divide between the history and design curricula can be effectively bridged. This led to a research paper entitled On "Critical Historiography and the Design Studio Pedagogy." The paper was submitted and accepted by the peer-reviewed ACSA-EAAE conference: "The Practice of Teaching | Teaching of Practice" at Antwerp, Belgium. Due to college administrative delays, I was unable to attend the conference. However, the paper abstract was published in the conference program and the full paper will appear in the forthcoming conference proceedings.
   A different aspect of this research was submitted as an abstract "Rethinking Architecture Pedagogy" to the 21st Annual International Conference on Education, 20-23 May 2019, Athens, Greece. The abstract was accepted for presentation, but I did not have the necessary funds to attend the conference.
   
   
3. Additional publications include the introduction to the ACSA annual conference proceedings: The Ethical Imperative, ACSA Publications, 2019.
   
   
4. I completed an invited review article: The Optical Vaccum for the Journal of American Studies (Cambridge University Press). The publication is forthcoming (2020).
   
   
5. I received a $3000 grant from the CU Center for Faculty Development to pursue the Architecture Pedagogy and Virtual Reality Imaging Project. The progress to date on this extensive project can be viewed at: https://www.ahameri.com/archive/

 

Evaluation: Exceeding Expectation (one review article in international journal, one article in international conference proceeding, intro to ACSA conference proceeding, one internal grant)