The professorship aims to bring outstanding scholars of international stature to Sydney to conduct research and curate a public program to foster discussion and debate on the history of architecture.

Penelope Seidler established the Penelope Visiting Professor in Architectural History to highlight the importance of Australia in global discussions of architecture and architectural history. The $1 million donation funds the appointment of an international authority in architectural history to undertake work within the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning.

“With the professorship the School confirms its place as an international centre for research and teaching,” Professor Donald McNeill, Interim Head of School and Dean says.

“It invites scholars from around the world to advance a program of research and outreach in the history of architecture.”

Associate Professor Claire Zimmerman directs the PhD Program in Architecture, Landscape and Design in the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto, where she also specialises in and teaches the history of architecture.

She will serve as the Robert A.M. Stern Visiting Professor at Columbia University in autumn 2024.

“I am honoured and delighted to be returning to Sydney as the Penelope Visiting Professor at the University of Sydney,” Zimmerman says.

“I hope to build on my previous experience in Australia, and to engage in a robust exchange of ideas about built environments and their histories with colleagues, staff, students and interested citizens of Australia. I am excited to be with you again.”

In her work, Zimmerman focuses on the “protocols of modernisation and modernity” in architecture and the built environment.

Zimmerman’s appointment follows the inaugural visit of the late Jean-Louis Cohen - among the world’s foremost experts on the history of modern architecture and urbanism - who died unexpectedly in 2023. She was among Professor Cohen’s collaborators on the book Detroit–Moscow–Detroit, work which her engagements in Sydney will extend.

Upon her arrival this month, Zimmerman will lead a program involving students, staff and the broader public. Her three-week program will include an event to discuss the book and the legacy of Professor Cohen’s scholarship, as well as a public lecture on one of its key figures: the architect Albert Kahn.

“This professorship and Zimmerman’s appointment both reinforce the importance of the history of architecture to the University of Sydney and the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, where it has been taught for nearly 140 years,” says Program coordinator Professor Andrew Leach.

“We look forward to a full and energetic program in the coming weeks, and to starting new conversations that can carry us forward for some years.”

Architecture & Design Team

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