Background
Gevork Hartoonian was born on September 27, 1947 in Iran, into the family of Aved and Louise Hartoonian. Later, he became a United States citizen.
Gevork Hartoonian earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Pennsylvania.
(Looking back over the twentieth century, Hartoonian discu...)
Looking back over the twentieth century, Hartoonian discusses the work of three major architects: Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry and Bernard Tschumi, in reference to their theoretical positions and historicizes present architecture in the context of the ongoing secularization of the myths surrounding the traditions of nineteenth century architecture in general, and, in particular, Gottfried Semper's discourse on the tectonic.
https://www.amazon.com/Crisis-Object-Theatricality-Gevork-Hartoonian/dp/0415385466/?tag=2022091-20
2006
(Starting with the question concerning the discursive form...)
Starting with the question concerning the discursive formation of architectural history, the chapters compiled in this manuscript attempt to re-read the historiography of the early modern architecture from the point of view of the theoretical work produced since the post-war era.
https://www.amazon.com/Mental-Life-Architectural-Historian-Historiography/dp/1443825611/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(The essays compiled in this book explore aspects of Walte...)
The essays compiled in this book explore aspects of Walter Benjamin’s discourse that have contributed to the formation of contemporary architectural theories.
https://www.amazon.com/Walter-Benjamin-Architecture-Gevork-Hartoonian/dp/0415851998/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(Time, History and Architecture presents a series of essay...)
Time, History and Architecture presents a series of essays on critical historiography, each addressing a different topic, to elucidate the importance of two influential figures Walter Benjamin and Gottfried Semper for architectural history.
https://www.amazon.com/Time-History-Architecture-Historiograpy-Architectural/dp/1138283517/?tag=2022091-20
2017
(Judging from the debates taking place in both education a...)
Judging from the debates taking place in both education and practice, it appears that architecture is deeply in crisis. New design and production techniques, together with the globalization of capital and even skilled-labour, have reduced architecture to a commodified object, its aesthetic qualities tapping into the current pervasive desire for the spectacular. These developments have changed the architect’s role in the design and production processes of architecture. Moreover, critical architectural theories, including those of Breton, Heidegger and Benjamin, which explored the concepts of technology, modernism, labour and capital and how technology informed the cultural, along with later theories from the 1960s, which focused more on the architect’s theorization of his/her own design strategies, seem increasingly irrelevant.
https://www.amazon.com/Global-Perspectives-Critical-Architecture-Reloaded/dp/113857337X/?tag=2022091-20
2017
Gevork Hartoonian was born on September 27, 1947 in Iran, into the family of Aved and Louise Hartoonian. Later, he became a United States citizen.
Gevork Hartoonian earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Pennsylvania.
Gevork Hartoonian started his career in 1984 as an architect in Pearson, Batcheler (architects) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States and after three years moved to Kling-Linquist Partnership, Inc. where he took the same position. He left the post in 1996. In 1995 he took the position of a member of advisory board of Center for the Advancement of Studies in Architecture at the Texas A&M University.
Hartoonian teaches architectural history and theory and design studio in the School of Design and Built Environment, Faculty of Arts and Design, and supervises 5 research students. He has taught at the Columbia University and other American schools of architecture. He was the 2013 and 2016 invited Professor of Architecture history at Tongji University, Shanghai.
Hartoonian is a prolific writer. In addition to journal essays and conference proceedings, he has contributed scholarly chapter essays to a number of books including, "Reade: Tectonics in Architecture", 2018, "Against the Post-Political: Reclaiming the Critical Project in Architecture, Routledge", 2014; "Architecture Postmortem, Ashgate", 2013; and "The Political Unconscious of Architecture, Ashgate", 2012. His books include "Time, History and Architecture", (2017), "Architecture and Spectacle: a critique" (2012), "The Mental Life of the Architectural Historian" (2013/11), "Walter Benjamin and Architecture" (2010), and "Ontology of Construction" (1994), a Thai and Korean edition of which was released in 2010 and 2017.
(Looking back over the twentieth century, Hartoonian discu...)
2006(Starting with the question concerning the discursive form...)
2010(Time, History and Architecture presents a series of essay...)
2017(The essays compiled in this book explore aspects of Walte...)
2013(Judging from the debates taking place in both education a...)
2017(A Post-script to Contemporary Architecture)
1997The investigative and speculative aspect of Hartoonian’s research in architectural history/theory draws from Walter Benjamin’s drive to save the tradition from its tendency to conform. Central to his critical investigation of architectural history is the modalities of the crisis of the object and its implications for the tectonics. Starting from the historicity of the project of Modernity, Hartoonian’s research also pursues the impact of modernization and globalization for the architecture of countries such as Australia, China, Iran, etc.
Quotations: “How and why do I write? It is a difficult question to answer. Architecture is very much a part of my everyday life. It might sound romantic, but still I wake up at midnight and sit at my laptop computer to write, sometimes for a very short period of time. I am always aware that the next day I should go to the office where I practice architecture as a designer.”