19TH CENTURY ARCHITECTURAL IMAGINATIONS
PROJECT LEADERS:
Mari Hvattum and Mari Lending
This research project studies 19th century architectur-
al imaginations expressed in texts, documents, draw-
ings and photography alongside buildings. Based on
meticulous archival studies, the project investigates
architectural historicism as a complex theoretical,
historiographical and textual construction. One might
argue that modernism, rabidly insisting upon a corre-
lation between style and epoch, is a perfect example of
historicist thinking. Through careful readings of nine-
teenth century architectural debates from journals,
catalogues, exhibitions and competitions, the project
illuminates the architectural culture of historicism
shaped by nineteenth and twentieth century text cul-
ture and emerging mass media. Pursuing such ques-
tions, the project moves beyond the chronological con-
fines of the nineteenth century to identify and discuss
the ways in which historicist notions of architecture
and public culture reverberated through the twentieth
and twenty-first centuries.
“19th Century Architectural Imaginations” is organ-
ized as an ongoing series of publications, colloquia and
teachings. Publications include the anthology Vor Tids
Fordringer: Norske arkitekturdebatter 1819–1918 (The
demands of our time: Norwegian architectural debates
1819–1918), edited and introduced by Mari Lending
and Mari Hvattum (Oslo: Pax, 2012). The anthology
presents more than seventy original texts including
forgotten journals, newspapers, poems, proceedings,
reports, competition briefs, pamphlets and speeches.
Together, these texts describe a vibrant architectural
culture, energetically debating and discussing issues
such as nature, nation, self-expression and truth.
AHO WORKS RESEARCH 2012
OCCAS
