Strange Utility: Architecture Toward Other Ends

Symposium | April 26 - 27, 2013

Portland State University | School of Architecture
Shattuck Hall Annex |  SW Broadway & Hall | Portland, Oregon

The discipline of architecture has always been linked to the idea of utility—albeit in a variety of ways and to different degrees. From architecture’s putative origins as a primitive form of shelter made of foliage to the Modernist dictum that form follows function, architecture, from the beginning, has been required to perform a “useful” function. Not surprisingly, utility remains a central concern within contemporary architectural practice, but alongside some of the obvious benefits—the development of more energy efficient materials and processes and the economic incentive to redevelop existing buildings before building anew—have come some strange, if understudied effects. With contributions from 14 extraordinary scholars and architects, Strange Utility: Architecture Toward Other Ends recognizes the contemporary currency of utility, and seeks unexpected ways of defining this term within and with respect to the built environment.

Keynote Speakers

Jimenez Lai
Leader of Bureau Spectacular, Chicago, Illinois
Author of Citizens of No Place (Princeton Architectural Press, 2012)

Philippe Rahm
Principal of Philippe Rahm Architects, Paris, France

Jill Stoner
University of California, Berkeley
Author of Toward a Minor Architecture (MIT Press, 2012)

Sponsored by:

Portland State University Speakers Board and Portland State University School of Architecture 

Registration will be open in March 2013.

Registration

Advance Tickets: $13 (plus $2 service charge; add $20 for 8 HSW/SD AIA Continuing Education Learning Units )

Beginning April 23: $23 (plus $2 service charge; add $20 for 8 HSW/SD AIA Continuing Education Learning Units)

Click here to purchase tickets and register.