Welcome to our new Professor of Architecture

Welcome Renée - Can you tell us about your career journey to date and what attracted you to join the Leeds School of Arts?

Although most people know me through my humanities writing I began with a four-year degree in architectural technology. This was in the era of postmodernism and while I thought that was a playful reaction to the glass and steel modernism I had grown up with, I was looking for an architectural education that was practical, that investigated sustainable materials and how to apply them in harmony with the environment.

I liked to draw, but also realised that writing specifications was equally important in determining a building’s visual impact.  I began to read about design and context and to think about architecture as many layered, and that led me first to Cornell University, then to the AA (the Architectural Association School of Architecture).

After practicing for some years I found myself constantly wanting to know more about architecture and read for a PhD at Cambridge where the focus was on hermeneutics, investigation, and phenomenology. I taught at various institutions across the UK, and have known the LSA for some time. I very much prefer teaching at a school where Architecture is part of the Art and Design subject area.

Tell us about one of your current research projects and how this opportunity came about?

My current project is Plato for Architects, part of the Routledge Thinkers for Architects series. I am way behind on my writing. It came about because I started to read Plato’s dialogues for my PhD, and became entranced by Plato’s Cave. The imagery and the dialogues themselves as a means to present information intrigued me and continues to do so.

My research spatialises the dialogues, locating them in space and place as resonant of the topics under discussion. I am also currently involved in discourse on decolonising the curriculum and if I wish to refer to non-Western thinking, then, for me at least, it is important to understand where our Western assumptions originate, and many start with Plato.

What are your research ambitions for the next few years?

Finish the Plato for Architects book! And develop research integrated with architectural practice.

What has been your career highlight to date?

It is an honour to work with students and observe their successes.

When did you first decide that you wanted to work in architecture and what attracted you to the profession?

I was working as a waitress. I worked the lunch shift and in the evenings I attended classes at the Ontario College of Art and Design. I was attracted to scale drawings that were both precise and inventive. I started to read books about design, became interested in the dialogue of modernism and the aspirations to create a better world for everyone.

What is your favourite film incorporating architecture?

My favourite film of all time is 2001; A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968). I am currently writing about films shot on location that use buildings from the mid-20th century such as the Olympiastadion and Tempelhof airport as setting for futuristic utopian films. This is for the Forms chapter in the Plato book. I also watch a lot of film noir. There are some excellent films shot on location in New York City, in Los Angeles and my current noir favourite, The Bitter Stems (Fernando Ayala, 1956) set in Buenos Aires.

Can you tell us something about yourself that we may not know?

I sew. When I can, I meet a group in my local library who are working on the Grenfell Memorial Quilt. Mostly I repair seams but I also embroider messages that people have sent in, and may create my own panel. 

You can find out more about the Grenfell Memorial Quilt on the Norfolk Makers Festival website and on Facebook.