How have architecture and design shaped the way we live and the way we interact with the constructed world?

Join us for a Chats in the Stacks book talk with D. Medina Lasansky, the Michael A. McCarthy Professor of Architectural Theory in the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. Her new book, Archi.Pop: Architecture and Design in Popular Culture (Bloomsbury Academic, Nov. 2014) features the first contemporary critical overview of this diverse and intriguing relationship in cultural forms including television, cinema, iconic buildings and everyday interiors. It explores the influences of overlooked pop culture material, often ephemeral and difficult to categorize, including the shag carpet, Hollywood sets, plastic toys, magazine pictures, amusement parks, and hip hop music.

Medina Lasansky is an award-winning author and has published extensively on the relationship between politics, popular culture, and the built environment. She is also the editor of the new book, The Renaissance: Revised, Expanded, Unexpurgated (Periscope, 2014). Her 2004 book, The Renaissance Perfected: Architecture, Spectacle, and Tourism in Fascist Italy (Penn State University Press) won the Henry Paolucci/Walter Bagehot Book Award in 2005.

Joining Lasansky will be contributing authors Mark Morris and Chad Randl, both from the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. 

Books available for purchase and refreshments served.

This event is hosted by the Fine Arts Library and AAP.