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David Leatherbarrow is Chair of the Graduate Group in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania where he teaches theory and design. David studied architecture at the University of Kentucky and took his doctorate in art at the University of Essex. He previously taught at the Polytechnic of Central London and Cambridge University and was a Fellow at the Canadian Center of Architecture. David is author of several books: Topographical Stories, Uncommon Ground, Roots of Architectural Invention, Masterpieces of Architectural Drawing, and with writing partner Mohsen Mostafavi: On Weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time, and Surface Architecture. His forthcoming title, Architecture Oriented Otherwise, is discussed in this broadcast as part of a wide-ranging discussion on specialized writing, education, politics, architectural theory and history.
As once the winged energy of delight
carried you over childhood's dark abysses,
now beyond your own life build the great
arch of unimagined bridges.
Wonders happen if we can succeed
in passing through the harshest danger;
but only in a bright and purely granted
achievement can we realize the wonder.
To work with Things in the indescribable
relationship is not too hard for us;
the pattern grows more intricate and subtle,
and being swept along is not enough.
Take your practiced powers and stretch them out
until they span the chasm between two
contradictions...For the god
wants to know himself in you.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Translated by Stephen Mitchell
Music in this podcast is used by kind permission of Sam Morris. |