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Biography

Dr Alexandra Stara directs research students and graduate history & theory in the School of Architecture & Landscape, where she is also course director for the MA Architecture: Thinking Building. She is a qualified architect with Masters degrees in advanced architectural studies from the Bartlett UCL, and the history & philosophy of architecture from the University of Cambridge, and a doctorate in the history of art from the University of Oxford. She has lectured, examined and published internationally on the hermeneutics of art, architecture and the modern museum for the past twenty years. She was a dissertation judge for the RIBA President's Medals in 2009 & 2011, and was invited to chair the panel from 2012. She is currently completing the first book on the Museum of Monuments (1795-1816) in two centuries, to be published by Ashgate in 2013, and co-editing a volume on the art and literature of trauma, contracted by Berghan Books, both to appear in 2013.

Related links

• The Architecture Foundation - November 2009
• Strange Places: Urban Landscape Photography, Stanley Picker Gallery
• RIBA, The President's Medals Student Awards, 2012

Research expertise

My research in the past five years has revolved around different manifestations of architecture and the built environment, in contemporary and historical contexts, and their cultural significance.

In a historical context, I have been focusing on the 18th & 19th centuries through the investigation of the first public museum of architectural fragments, the Museum of French Monuments in Paris. This highly innovative and relatively overlooked museum has played a major role in the development of the modern notions of national heritage, historic monument and the relevance of the architectural fragment in the context of the museum. The Museum of Monuments is the subject of a major research project, which will result in a monograph, a refereed book chapter; a refereed conference paper and a public event.

In a contemporary context, my research has developed along two paths: a critical and theoretical investigation of ideas from the humanities – such as philosophical discourse and the study of history – and ways in which contemporary architects have been using them in their practice; and critical art practice– such as photography – as a means of investigating architecture and the urban fabric. Outputs in this category include several conference papers in the UK and abroad, invited lectures and journal articles, refereed chapters in collected volumes, a co-edited book and an exhibition.
Selected research outputs:

Books:
[forthcoming] Exploring the Edges of Trauma: 150 years of art & literature, co-edited with Tamas Benyei, Berghan Books, 2013, including authored chapter 'Traces of Trauma' on contemporary art photographer Ori Gersht (no ISBN yet)

[forthcoming] The Museum of French Monuments: 'Killing Art to Make History', Ashgate Publishing Company, 2013 (ISBN 978-1-4094-3799-4)

Curating Architecture and the City, co-edited volume with Sarah Chaplin, including authored chapter on contemporary art/architecture collective: 'Urban fictions with the Office for Subversive Architecture', Routledge, April 2009 (ISBN 978-0-415-48983-6)

Chapters & Journal Articles:
[forthcoming] 'Making Strange: The photography of Steffi Klenz & Thomas Weinberger', in special issue of journal History of Photography on 'Emerging Landscapes' guest edited by E. Shinkle, issue 2, May 2013 (ISSN 0308-7298)

'National History as Biography: Alexandre Lenoir and the Museum of French Monuments', chapter in Museum and Biographies, K. Hill (ed.) Boydell and Brewer, 19 July 2012 (ISBN 978-1-843-83727-5)

'Architectural Poetics in Alvaro Siza's church of Santa Maria', P. Emmons et al (eds) The Cultural Role of Architecture, Routledge 4 Feb 2012 (ISBN 978-0-415-78341-5)

Invited essay for The Architects' Journal special issue on Women in Architecture, vol. 235, no. 1, 12 Jan 2012 (ISSN: 0003-8466)

Invited entry for architecture in the UK at the 100th birthday issue of German architectural journal Bauwelt, issue 43.10, 12 Nov. 2010 (ISSN 0005-6855)

'Cultivating Architects: History in Architectural Education', chapter in The Humanities in Architectural Design, S. Bandyopadhyay et al (eds), Routledge, 2010 (ISBN 978-0-415-55114-4)

'The New Acropolis Museum in Athens: A triumph of sophistry', in Architectural Review no.1348, June 2009 (ISSN 0003-861X)

Teaching areas & responsibilities

Research Students Director for the School of Architecture & Landscape
Course Director and main Module Leader for MA Architecture: Thinking Building

Director and main Module Leader for PG history & theory (Architecture Diploma, MArch and Option Modules across the School)

Tutor for undergraduate history & theory (lectures and supervisions)

Reviewer and examiner for graduate and undergraduate design studio – BA Architecture, Diploma, March

Guest lecturer for BA Museum & Gallery Studies

Professional activity

• 2012Invited Chair of the Panel for the RIBA President's Medals Dissertation Award
• 2011Invited Judge for the RIBA President's Medals Dissertation Award
• 2009Invited Judge for the RIBA President's Medals Dissertation Award
• 2008 - presentReviewer for academic publisher Routledge
• 2008 - presentMember of the Architectural Humanities Research Association
• 1998 - presentInvited Member of the Hellenic Society for Aesthetics
• 1990 - presentNational Technical Chamber of Greece / Greek Architect's Association

Educational and professional qualifications

• 1999DPhil (PhD) Department of the History of Art, University of Oxford
• 1993MPhil in the history & philosophy of architecture Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge
• 1991MSc in advanced architectural studies Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London
• 1990Technical Chamber of Greece Registered Architect
• 1990Diploma in Architecture National Technical University of Athens

Conferences & events

'Ghosts of Place: Displacement and identity in the work of Ori Gersht', refereed paper at the conference Migration, Memory and Place, Copenhagen, 6-7 December 2012

'Architectural Fragment as Museum Object', refereed paper at the 33rd conference of the Comité Internationale d' Histoire de l'Art, Nuremberg 15-20 July 2012

'Architecture's Sensible Character or Wittgenstein's Missing Preposition', refereed paper in Ethics and Aesthetics of Architecture & the Environment, University of Newcastle 11-13 July 2012

'Making Strange in Urban Landscape Photography', reefed paper at the Emerging Landscapes conference, University of Westminster, 25-27 June 2010

'Architectural Poetics in Alvaro Siza's Church of Santa Maria', refereed paper at the conference The Cultural Role of Architecture, University of Lincoln, 24 June 2010

'Traces of Trauma: The work of Ori Gersht', refereed paper at the Exploring the Edges of Trauma conference, Kingston University London & McMaster University Ontario, 13-16 May 2010

'Photography as Alternative Urbanism, organiser and chair of debate at the Architecture Foundation, 10 November 2009

'Phenomenology as Architectural Praxis', refereed paper at the Architecture and Phenomenology conference, Kyoto Seika University, Kyoto, Japan, 26-29 June 2009

Exhibitions

Strange Places: Urban Landscape Photography, conception & curation of exhibition with 11 international artists, Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston, 30 Sept – 21 Nov 2009

Grants, funding and awards

• 2009Art Council England grant for Strange Places exhibition (£5000)

Research groups & programmes

• Design Research
• Visual & Material Culture Research Centre

Research supervision

• Helen Goodwin
• Annalisa Sonzogni

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Publications