Lecture Topic
Vanessa Grossman will reflect on the expansive contributions of Paulo Mendes da Rocha, a luminary of modern architecture whose legacy is housed at Portugal’s Casa da Arquitectura. Her lecture draws from the acclaimed exhibition and catalogue Construction Geographies: Paulo Mendes da Rocha (May 2023–September 2024), which she cocurated alongside the late Jean-Louis Cohen, the esteemed Sheldon H. Solow Professor of Architectural History at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. This comprehensive retrospective celebrates Mendes da Rocha’s transformative works and intellectual generosity, culminating in his archival donation to Casa da Arquitectura prior to his passing in 2021.
Speaker Biography
Vanessa Grossman is an architect, historian, and curator whose scholarship examines the complex entanglements of architecture with ideology, governance, and the politics of global transformation. Her research spans topics from housing and climate change to Cold War–era architectural exchanges, with particular attention to Europe, Latin America, and the Global South. Grossman is an assistant professor of architectural history and theory at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design.
This program is made possible through the generous support of the Betty R. and George F. Pierce Jr., FAIA, Fund; the William B. Coleman Jr. Colloquium Fund for Architecture; and the Wm. W. Caudill Lecture Series Fund.