- Universidade Lusófona, Architecture, Faculty MemberPolytechnic Institute of Leiria, Design Ambientes, Faculty MemberYale University, Yale School of Architecture, Post-Docadd
- Architecture, Architectural History, Historiography, Deleuze, Erwin Straus, Art History, and 29 moreUrban Studies, Documentary Film, Archive, Exhibition, Critical Theory, Modernism, Philosophy of History, 1970s Culture, Film Studies, Film Theory, Critical Thinking, Historiography (in Art History), Sustainable Urban Planning, Architecture and politics, Anthropology of space, Collaborative Environments, Education, Politics, Humanities, Design, Literature, Social Sciences, Vernacular Architecture, Arquitectura y urbanismo, Space and Place, History of Historiography, Portuguese Architecture, Christopher S. Wood, and Sociology of Architectureedit
- Eliana Sousa Santos is an architect, a researcher and an assistant professor of architecture. She was awarded the Fer... moreEliana Sousa Santos is an architect, a researcher and an assistant professor of architecture. She was awarded the Fernando Távora Prize 2016/17, and has since been publishing her travel essays in the press. She was the curator of the exhibition The Shape of Plain (Gulbenkian Museum Lisbon 2016/17), an associate project of the Lisbon Architecture Triennial 2016. In 2013/14, she was a visiting postdoctoral research fellow at Yale University, and currently is a researcher working on the project "History of Architecture Beyond Tradition, Architecture as Cultural Production” and other research projects at CES, University of Coimbra. She has a degree in architecture from the Technical University of Lisbon, a master degree from University of Coimbra and a PhD from the London Consortium, University of London. She has worked at the landscape architecture office West 8 and at Sousa Santos Arquitectos. She has taught at ESAD.CR and currently is an invited assistant professor at Dept. of Architecture and Urbanism at ISCTE-IUL.edit
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Research Interests: Cultural History, Cultural Studies, Cultural Geography, Gender Studies, Art, and 15 moreCultural Heritage, Narrative, Landscape Architecture, Urban History, Urban Anthropology, Academic Writing, Urban Planning, Gilles Deleuze, Urbanism, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Fieldwork, Urban Design, Historic Urban Landscape, Place Making, and Critical Heritage Studies
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Abstract American art historian George Kubler travelled and lived in Portugal between the mid-1950s and the late 1960s to research his book Portuguese Plain Architecture: Between Spices and Diamonds 1521–1706 (1972). The premise of the... more
Abstract American art historian George Kubler travelled and lived in Portugal between the mid-1950s and the late 1960s to research his book Portuguese Plain Architecture: Between Spices and Diamonds 1521–1706 (1972). The premise of the book was to analyze the architectural production of Portugal during a period of political and economic crisis between 1500 and 1700, a period that Kubler called “between Spices and Diamonds.” This paper suggests that the notions in Portuguese Plain, far from being an objective study of Portuguese architecture of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, blended with the social, political, and economic situation of the country at the time of the book’s writing. Kubler was likely also influenced by the apparent remoteness of the land, which might itself have suggested the appropriateness of a poor and austere architecture. Kubler’s notions became a standard trope, and from the 1990s onwards the idea of a national austere architecture has become part of the dominant architectural discourse in Portugal.
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American art historian George Kubler travelled and lived in Portugal between the mid-1950s and the late 1960s to research his book Portuguese Plain Architecture: Between Spices and Diamonds 1521–1706 (1972). The premise of the book was to... more
American art historian George Kubler travelled and lived in Portugal between the mid-1950s and the late 1960s to research his book Portuguese Plain Architecture: Between Spices and Diamonds 1521–1706 (1972). The premise of the book was to analyze the architectural production of Portugal during a period of political and economic crisis between 1500 and 1700, a period that Kubler called “between Spices and Diamonds.” This paper suggests that the notions in Portuguese Plain, far from being an objective study of Portuguese architecture of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, blended with the social, political, and economic situation of the country at the time of the book’s writing. Kubler was likely also influenced by the apparent remoteness of the land, which might itself have suggested the appropriateness of a poor and austere architecture. Kubler’s notions became a standard trope, and from the 1990s onwards the idea of a national austere architecture has become part of the dominant architectural discourse in Portugal.
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This essay aims to present the shifting relations between North America and the South-South America and the South of Europe-through the work of the historian George Kubler. At the beginning of his career as a scholar, Kubler was invited... more
This essay aims to present the shifting relations between North America and the South-South America and the South of Europe-through the work of the historian George Kubler. At the beginning of his career as a scholar, Kubler was invited by the Department of State to participate in a conference on inter-American relations. Later, with the positioning of the United States in World War II, the transatlantic relationship between the US and Europe became more prominent. Kubler's research interests followed this change: His research shift from South America to peripheral Southern Europe reflects an availability of funding given his country's geopolitical interests. So far, artists and other scholars have praised Kubler's vast work regarding the art and architecture of different 'Souths' mainly as a sign of 'nonalignment' and of his attention to the condition of peripheral countries.
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George Kubler, in The Shape of Time (1962), characterized the history of objects as sequences and series traversing time, dormant in some periods and awaken at others. Dormant series could be awaken by catalysts and reappear. I would like... more
George Kubler, in The Shape of Time (1962), characterized the history of objects as sequences and series traversing time, dormant in some periods and awaken at others. Dormant series could be awaken by catalysts and reappear. I would like to argue that Kubler’s own ideas were catalysts that awoke of different series both in art and architecture. His concept of Plain Architecture (1972)— originally referring to a previously unnamed type of portuguese architecture in the period of economic and political crisis 16th and 17th centuries — was re-appropriated in recent times to become ubiquitous in the discourse of portuguese architects. This concept was also appropriated by the artist Juan Downey on his artworks referring to the dynamics of economic crisis and artistic practice in 1970s New York.
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Exhibition booklet. Museu Gulbenkian October 6, 2016 to January 9, 2017.
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This paper will focus on the slight metamorphoses of architectural discourse accompanying Portuguese political and social context in the last four decades, and how the concept of Plain Architecture, as defined by the American art... more
This paper will focus on the slight metamorphoses of architectural discourse accompanying Portuguese political and social context in the last four decades, and how the concept of Plain Architecture, as defined by the American art historian George Kubler plays a role in this progression.
Kubler traveled and lived in Portugal between, during the country First Republic dictatorship, during the mid 1950s and the late 1960s, doing research for what came to be the book Portuguese Plain Architecture: between spices and diamonds 1521-1706 (1972). The premise of the book is the analysis of the architectural production during a moment of political and economical crisis.
The timing of Kubler’s book publication in the early 1970s — on the brink of the 1974 revolution — accompanied a radicalization of the Portuguese architectural discourse. Kubler’s ideas were recovered in the 1990s in Portugal, not long after the tardy publication of the Portuguese translation of Kubler’s book in 1989, and became ubiquitous. More recently, in the aftermath of the global economic crisis of 2008, reemerged the attractiveness towards the small, the peripheral, and the radical. Eduardo Souto de Moura described his own work within the Portuguese Plain tradition. Portuguese Plain became a myth of origin.
Kubler traveled and lived in Portugal between, during the country First Republic dictatorship, during the mid 1950s and the late 1960s, doing research for what came to be the book Portuguese Plain Architecture: between spices and diamonds 1521-1706 (1972). The premise of the book is the analysis of the architectural production during a moment of political and economical crisis.
The timing of Kubler’s book publication in the early 1970s — on the brink of the 1974 revolution — accompanied a radicalization of the Portuguese architectural discourse. Kubler’s ideas were recovered in the 1990s in Portugal, not long after the tardy publication of the Portuguese translation of Kubler’s book in 1989, and became ubiquitous. More recently, in the aftermath of the global economic crisis of 2008, reemerged the attractiveness towards the small, the peripheral, and the radical. Eduardo Souto de Moura described his own work within the Portuguese Plain tradition. Portuguese Plain became a myth of origin.
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This essay aims to present the shifting relations between North America and the South — South America and the South of Europe — through the work of George Kubler, the art and architecture historian. In 1939, at the beginning of his... more
This essay aims to present the shifting relations between North America and the South — South America and the South of Europe — through the work of George Kubler, the art and architecture historian.
In 1939, at the beginning of his career as a scholar, Kubler was invited by the Department of State to participate in a conference on inter-American relations. This conference aimed at the construction of a Pan-American cultural image, where the United States [US] would have a central role. The goal of pan-Americanism in the 1930s was to create links between South and North America. Ultimately this would help the US to overcome the economic depression by removing trade barriers with less industrially developed South American countries.
Later, with the positioning of the United States in World War II and its role in the European Economic Recovery Program or Marshall Plan, the transatlantic relationship between the US and Europe became more prominent than the Pan-American.
Kubler’s research interests followed this shift. In the 1930s and 1940s Kubler worked on the architecture of Mexico and Peru, and in the 1950s his interests shifted towards the Iberian Peninsula, and specifically on Portuguese Architecture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Kubler’s research movement from South America to South Europe reflect the availability of funding that is related to the geopolitical the interests of his country. Simultaneously, artists and other scholars have praised Kubler’s vast work regarding the art and architecture of different ‘Souths,’ as a symptom of a’ non-aligned’ position and attention to the condition of peripheral countries.
In 1939, at the beginning of his career as a scholar, Kubler was invited by the Department of State to participate in a conference on inter-American relations. This conference aimed at the construction of a Pan-American cultural image, where the United States [US] would have a central role. The goal of pan-Americanism in the 1930s was to create links between South and North America. Ultimately this would help the US to overcome the economic depression by removing trade barriers with less industrially developed South American countries.
Later, with the positioning of the United States in World War II and its role in the European Economic Recovery Program or Marshall Plan, the transatlantic relationship between the US and Europe became more prominent than the Pan-American.
Kubler’s research interests followed this shift. In the 1930s and 1940s Kubler worked on the architecture of Mexico and Peru, and in the 1950s his interests shifted towards the Iberian Peninsula, and specifically on Portuguese Architecture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Kubler’s research movement from South America to South Europe reflect the availability of funding that is related to the geopolitical the interests of his country. Simultaneously, artists and other scholars have praised Kubler’s vast work regarding the art and architecture of different ‘Souths,’ as a symptom of a’ non-aligned’ position and attention to the condition of peripheral countries.
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Essay to be published in the proceedings of "ArquitectAs: First Symposium on Architecture and Gender" at University of Seville March 20-21, 2014.
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This presentation will focus on the slight metamorphoses of architectural discourse accompanying the Portuguese political and social context in the last six decades, and how the concept of Portuguese Plain Architecture [PPA] as defined by... more
This presentation will focus on the slight metamorphoses of architectural discourse accompanying the Portuguese political and social context in the last six decades, and how the concept of Portuguese Plain Architecture [PPA] as defined by the American art historian George Kubler (1912-1996) plays a role in this progression.
The Portuguese architect Duarte Cabral de Mello (1941-2013) compared the understated character ofVítor Figueiredo’s (1924-2004) architecture with the essential nature of Portuguese Plain Architecture (Mello 1979). Kubler’s thesis implied that the nature of Portuguese architecture built between 1600 and 1800 did not fit in any of the established categories of art history, and thus was an appropriate case study to demonstrate the thesis that Kubler had already put forward in his book The Shape ofTime (1962): “... no style or class excludes the simultaneous possible presence of many other prior classes” (Kubler 1972, 4).
The Portuguese architect Duarte Cabral de Mello (1941-2013) compared the understated character ofVítor Figueiredo’s (1924-2004) architecture with the essential nature of Portuguese Plain Architecture (Mello 1979). Kubler’s thesis implied that the nature of Portuguese architecture built between 1600 and 1800 did not fit in any of the established categories of art history, and thus was an appropriate case study to demonstrate the thesis that Kubler had already put forward in his book The Shape ofTime (1962): “... no style or class excludes the simultaneous possible presence of many other prior classes” (Kubler 1972, 4).
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Terceiro capítulo no diário de viagem pela América Deserta.
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Segundo Artigo da Série Branco a Branco: White Salts/White Sands, públicado no Jornal Público.
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Uma viagem pelas obras de arte que deram visibilidade à exploração industrial e militar dos desertos do Utah e Nevada. Obras que mostraram como a paisagem é formada por processos de construção e destruição. Texto: Eliana Sousa Santos... more
Uma viagem pelas obras de arte que deram visibilidade à exploração industrial e militar dos desertos do Utah e Nevada. Obras que mostraram como a paisagem é formada por processos de construção e destruição.
Texto: Eliana Sousa Santos
Fotografias: Tiago Silva Nunes
Texto: Eliana Sousa Santos
Fotografias: Tiago Silva Nunes
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My letter to the Mayof of Lisbon. Part of the event and exhibition 'Letters to the Mayor' of the Lisbon Architecture Triennial 2016.
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Presented at History of Architectural Historiography, NTNU Trondheim, Norway, June 2015
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Presented in Southern Modernisms: critical stances through regional appropriations, ESAP Porto, Portugal, February 2015
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Presented at 74 14 SAAL Architecture International Colloquium on Housing and Participation, Coimbra University, Portugal, October 2014
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Presented at "On the changing representation of Nature in the trans-industrial city, 1970- present." International exploratory workshop, Franklin University, Thursday 22nd & Friday 23d of May 2014
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Presented at Palimpsest: The Layered Object: Fifth Biennial Art History Symposium, SCAD Savannah, U.S.A, February-March 2014
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Presented at Portugal Inside and Out: Presences of Lusophone Culture in Early Modern, Modern and Contemporary Periods. Université de Montréal, October 2013
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Presented at Cultural Encounters in the Luso Hispanic World, Warwick University, UK, May 2013.
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Presented at Session "Remembering George Kubler", SAH LXV Annual Meeting, Detroit, April 2012
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Presented at "Savage Thoughts: Interdisciplinarity and the Challenge of Claude Levi-Strauss", McGill University, Montreal, September 2010
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Presented at the workshop "Arquitectura Portuguese Chã: da (In)utilidade de um conceito" at Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 22 Junho de 2015.
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Presented at "Modernist Historiography Seminar" chaired by Professor Stanislaus von Moos, Yale School of Architecture, Yale University, February 25, 2014.
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Presented at the conference cycle "Território e Arquitectura: Intervenções", Centro Nacional de Cultura, Lisbon, October 20 2011.
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Presented at Theoriesalon, chaired by Andreas Rumpfhuber, at Depot Vienna, Austria February 4th, 2011.
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"Parallel Cities is the title of a research project in which film is a central instrument to identify and analyse architectural problems. Film and video are traditionally considered tools for representation and are usually used in the... more
"Parallel Cities is the title of a research project in which film is a central instrument to identify and analyse architectural problems. Film and video are traditionally considered tools for representation and are usually used in the realm of architecture in ways similar to presentation models, perspective renderings and architectural photography. There are however other tools that might be even more important within the architectural process, those which drive reflection about space and architectural problem solving: sketches, conceptual models, photography documenting process. All of these tools are crucial to the architects’ design process. One of the fundamental purposes of this research project is to promote the use of film and video as design tools. Other research fields, such as anthropology, use film and video as a research instrument. In anthropology, ethnographic film is a research tool which had a far reaching impact in contemporary documentary cinema. In architecture, film was used as a research instrument in William Whyte’s “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces” (1980), which has served as the main source for the development of our project. We propose to observe the social interaction that occurs in recently modified public spaces – such as Largo do Intendente in Lisbon – bringing forth new patterns of occupation, as well other architectural problems that are still open. Thus, video becomes an instrument that allows the architectural project to be continually
questioned and redesigned, and it extends the span of the architectural project into its built and occupied existence."
questioned and redesigned, and it extends the span of the architectural project into its built and occupied existence."