DeVane Lectures to Explore Yale's Contribution to Modern Architecture

Yale University Dean of Architecture Robert A.M. Stern will present the DeVane Lecture Series this fall focusing on Yale’s extensive contributions to modern architecture.

The DeVane Lectures, which are free and open to the public, will be held on Monday evenings at 7:30 p.m. in the Yale University Art Gallery Lecture Hall, 1111 Chapel Street.

In addition to Stern, guest speakers in the series will include Lord Norman Foster, winner of the 1999 Pritzker Prize (architecture’s highest honor, given for lifetime achievement) and Maya Lin, designer of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington and the Women’s Table at Yale, as well as James Polshek, Alexander Tzonis, David Sellers, Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk -all graduates of the Yale School of Architecture.

Titled “Ideals without Ideologies: Yale’s Contribution to Modern Architecture,” the series will examine post World War II architecture through the lens of the Yale School of Architecture, where the central issues and controversies have been-and continue to be-vividly demonstrated in the studio and debated in the classroom. Speakers will reflect on the impact their time at Yale has had on their subsequent careers, in the process illuminating the most important trends in contemporary architecture. Lectures will focus on the changing idea of the city; renovation, destruction and reconstruction; the place of art in architecture, and other key issues.

In conjunction with the DeVane Lectures, the School of Architecture will host two exhibits and programs. “White, Gray + Blue: A Symposium,” September 14-15, will be held in connection with the exhibition, “New Blue: Recent Work of Graduates of the Yale School of Architecture 1978-1998” (Main, North and South Galleries, through October 19). Both the exhibition and the symposium will examine the forces that have shaped and transformed the discipline of architecture in the last quarter century.

The exhibition, “Architecture or Revolution: Charles Moore’s Years at Yale,” will be open October 29 to December 19 in the Main, North and South Galleries, and a symposium on Moore will take place November 2-3.

The faculty member selected to deliver the semester-long lecture series holds the William Clyde DeVane Professorship, a significant academic tribute at Yale. Established in 1969 with a grant from the Old Dominion Foundation, the professorship honors a former dean of Yale College by addressing his concern that undergraduate education not become excessively narrow and departmentalized. The DeVane Lectures are offered as an undergraduate academic course, as well as being open to the community. Previous DeVane Professors include Guido Calabresi, Jonathan Spence, Jaroslav Pelikan, Paul Kennedy, Sidney Altman, Martin Klein, Harold I. Bloom, Vincent Scully and Charles Lindblom.

A schedule of lectures follows. Unless otherwise noted, the speaker is Dean Robert A.M. Stern (M.Arch 1965).
Sept. 10: “The Transfer of Modernism from Europe to America”
Sept. 17: “Modernism Historicized: The Rediscovery of the Past, 1949-1956”
Sept. 24: “The History of the Future: Connections and Transformations,” James Polshek (M.Arch. 1955)
Oct. 1: “Architecture as Heroic Act: Eero Saarinen, Vincent Scully, Paul Rudolph, 1957-1965”
Oct. 8: “Exploring the City,” Lord Norman Foster (M.Arch 1962)
Oct. 22: “The Struggle Over the City Idea,” Alexander Tzonis (M.Arch. 1963)
Oct. 29: “Architecture and Revolution: From Project Argus to Panther Weekend, 1966-1970”
Nov. 5: “Architecture as Culture and Counterculture,” David Sellers (M.Arch 1965)
Nov. 12: “Destruction and Reconstruction: The Post-Modernist Devolution, 1971-1977”
Nov. 26: “The Recuperation of the Traditional Town,” Andres Duany (M.Arch 1974) and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (M.Arch. 1974)
Dec. 3: “The Continuity of the Art Idea,” Maya Lin (M.Arch 1986)
Dec. 10: “The Promise of the Recent Past, 1978-1998”