Transitions - Architectural Histories of Transformation

"Moros Y Cristianos": A Paired Architectural Walkthrough of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba

Joseph Doyague and Olivia Bowness employ the Cuban dish "moros y cristianos" (or Moors and Christians) as a metaphor to describe the cross-cultural character of religious architecture in Spain. Their case study, the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, began as an eight century Islamic structure that incorporated Christian architectural elements into its floor plan. It was later transformed into a Cathedral in the 13th century. This episode brilliantly orchestrates a paired architectural walkthrough of the Mosque-Cathedral to demonstrate the ways that Spanish material culture was purposefully structured to demonstrate the mutual respect and trust that developed between Islamic and Christian adherents during the Umayyad empire. It also demonstrates the ways that architecture operates as a palimpsest that records its cultural influences in many layers over time.

What is the Political Function of the Sports Stadium in the West?

Our hosts, James Rubin and Lucy Wells, compare and contrast the political function of historical stadium culture to tease out the propagandistic roots of contemporary sports culture in the United States. While purportedly serving as a passive form of entertainment in Rome, the Colosseum operated as a political stage in miniature form. Just as Roman Emperors employed this arena for their own political ends, contemporary football stadiums present a consolidated imagery of the American body politic that thinly veils the racial, class, and gender stratifications of mass society. Who does the modern-day stadium primarily serve? And what role does advanced architectural technology have in supporting this endeavor? Listen closely as our hosts present their case.

Locating the Cultural Idea of the Cape Cod House

In this podcast, Sydney Salazar traces the long history of the Cape Cod house as a ready-made architectural precedent for 'American' life. From its trans-Atlantic migrations into the New World to its packaging as a Levittown starter home, the Cape Cod has persistently been modeled as an idealized version of Anglo-American heritage. As a precedent for American life, the Cape Cod has its limits. These are perhaps most evident in the racialized marketing that exposes its use as a buoy of white hegemonic culture in the United States. Perhaps the best lesson this architectural typology can teach us is that all precedents come with historical baggage that must be managed in the present moment.

Echoes of Iranian Culture: The Courtyard as Cosmology, Code, and Counter-Space

Our host, Romina Daryabari walks us through the complex social, political, and cultural meaning of courtyard spaces for Iranian houses. This space is more than a material formula for promoting sustainable living or an ornamental system for preserving wood and ceramic building techniques. It is a living space that is constituted by the long history of familial traditions undertaken by its inhabitants. Within its shadows, family members learn to exercise both overt and covert forms of power in their daily lives.

How Should We Remember the Alamo?

In this podcast, Jack Wallace and Henry Houghton reexamine the nationalist ideologies that have influenced state histories of Texas landmarks such as the Alamo. In contrast to the heroic portrait of Davy Crockett as a martyr to American liberty, some historic documents suggest that he and other Texans stationed at the Alamo likely surrendered to and were executed by the Mexican army in 1836. Jack and Henry explore the potential significance of this contradiction. They argue Crockett's surrender would have undermined the core notion of frontier justice that undergirds many local histories of Texas patriotism. The propaganda surrounding frontier patriots requires them to be seen as unyielding in their pursuit of American ideals, in both life and death. To show any of them having weakness would be to reveal the weakness of the nation itself. The Alamo is a cultural powerhouse of architectural imagery that maintains an iron grip on popular conceptions of Texas’ past, present, and potential future. Daring to reimagine the historic moment of Crockett's passing is a radical step in rewriting the rhetorical narrative of our nation; one that struggles with the settler colonial foundations of Texan land holdings.