Princeton Architectural Laboratory, 1949 to 1954: A Matter of Maintenance

Item

Title
Princeton Architectural Laboratory, 1949 to 1954: A Matter of Maintenance
Description
This dissertation describes the institutional history of Princeton Architectural Laboratory from 1949 to 1954. While recent scholarship in architectural history and building science clarified the Laboratory’s enduring contribution to environmentally informed design strategies, the circumstances of its establishment remain underreported. This work argues that a closer look at this early history is warranted. It reveals the administrative mechanics and challenges involved in establishing an organizational capacity for experimental design research.

Using maintenance as the governing theme, this account describes the relationship between the Laboratory’s intellectual project, its material expression, and institutional support. Based on archival research, it contends that Labatut’s project and its ultimate failure were necessary preconditions for the Olgyay’s arrival at Princeton and the Laboratory’s subsequent success.

This dissertation elucidates the continuity between the two iterations of the Laboratory. It offers a historical account of how Princeton University’s architecture program established an organizational capacity for experimental research. This work seeks a new audience interested in developing a design laboratory or a research center within an academic institution.
Creator
Yeo, Seok Min
Contributor
Waldheim, Charles
Eigen, Edward
Samuelson, Holly
Date
2024-10-25T12:02:47Z
2024
2024-10-21
2024
2024-10-25T12:02:47Z
Type
Thesis or Dissertation
text
Format
application/pdf
application/pdf
Identifier
Yeo, Seok Min. 2024. Princeton Architectural Laboratory, 1949 to 1954: A Matter of Maintenance. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard Graduate School of Design.
31632087
https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37379634
Language
en