News, May 24, 2016
Kulper promoted to associate professor with tenure in architecture

Kulper promoted to associate professor with tenure in architecture

Amy Kulper has made important contributions to architectural history and theory through her path-breaking books that link innovations in architectural form with the advanced science of its time. Modern architecture’s relationship to science – especially the technology of structural steel, reinforced concrete and glass – is well known, but Amy has extended this line of inquiry to hitherto unexplored areas such as evolutionary biology. Late 19th-century “art nouveau” architecture with its florid use of organic forms has been seen as a reaction against modern science; Amy was the first to demonstrate the style’s close ties to the advanced biology of its time. Similarly, she has explored such areas as atmospherics and climate in relation to contemporary architecture. A truly gifted teacher who is consistently chosen by our students as the most admired in the college, Amy’s immense influence as a teacher rests on a solid base of important and original historical and theoretical publications.

Amy’s work shows a highly engaging interaction between teaching, research, writing and design. This arises both from her extensive educational training across architecture’s different facets and her intelligent and richly envisioned framing of the connections across these fields. These interdisciplinary connections are apparent in her writings, her classroom practices, and her work as a studio critic.

Amy joined the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning in January 2006. From 2010 to 2011 she was the Steelcase Research Professor at the Institute for the Humanities. Before joining Taubman College, Amy held appointments as a lecturer at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (2004-2005) and at the University of California Los Angeles (2000-2003). She was also a visiting faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania (1996) and supervisor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Cambridge (1993-1995). Amy received her Doctorate of Philosophy and Master of Philosophy in the history and philosophy of architecture from the University of Cambridge in 2008 and 1993 respectively. She received her Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1990, her Bachelor of Arts from the Franklin and Marshall College in 1986, and attended the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in 1985.

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