Speaking of Buildings makes the case for oral history as a legitimate — and transformative — methodology in architectural scholarship, arguing that the voices of those who construct and inhabit buildings have been systematically undervalued by the discipline.
About This Book
Architectural history has long privileged the drawn line and the printed text over the spoken word. Speaking of Buildings challenges that hierarchy directly. Edited by Jonina Gosseye, Naomi Stead, and Deborah van der Plaat, this collection assembles essays by an international group of scholars who demonstrate what oral testimony can reveal that conventional archival sources cannot. The range is genuinely ambitious: from the structural role of gossip in destabilising masculine narratives in architecture, to workers' accounts of building with cement in midcentury London, to a sound art piece drawn from oral testimonies by Los Angeles public housing residents. For historians, theorists, and practitioners alike, this is a rigorous argument for a more socially grounded architectural history.
Key Features
- 312 pages of theoretical essays and interdisciplinary case studies spanning oral history methodology and architectural scholarship
- Edited by Jonina Gosseye, Naomi Stead, and Deborah van der Plaat
- Notable case studies include workers' accounts of midcentury London construction and oral testimonies from Los Angeles public housing residents
- Published by Princeton Architectural Press
What You'll Discover
- How oral testimony challenges the dominance of drawings, photographs, and texts in constructing architectural histories
- The role of gossip as a tool for undermining masculine narratives embedded in architectural culture
- What labourers' firsthand accounts of building with cement reveal about midcentury construction that official records omit
- How sound art derived from public housing residents' voices can function as a form of architectural knowledge production
About the Author
Details available upon request
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 312
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781616897543
- Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architectural historians, theorists, and researchers interested in oral history methodology, social histories of architecture, and the politics of whose voices shape the built environment narrative.