Lecture by Aaron Betsky

Aaron Betsky, critic of art, architecture, and design, will lecture on Monday 11 November at 5 pm.

The lecture is part of the University by Design event series — coproduced by the Architecture Programs of the Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Syracuse University in Florence, California State University International Programs Italy and Kent State University Florence — which focuses on the topic of studying architecture abroad. This collaborative forum will consist of two public lectures aimed at reimagining the collective educational space and proposing innovative models for contemporary practice.

Aaron Betsky’s lecture, titled Don’t Build, Rebuild. The Case for Imaginative Reuse in Architecture, will explore the concept of architectural reuse through beautiful and thought-provoking examples. He argues that instead of constructing new buildings, we should repurpose and reimagine our existing built environment, making it more open and accessible. This approach, he believes, is the only truly sustainable path forward.

Aaron Betsky is a renowned critic of art, architecture, and design and the author of over twenty books on those subjects. He was Professor and Director of the School of Architecture and Design at Virginia Tech and, prior to that, President of the School of Architecture at Taliesin. He writes a twice-weekly blog, Beyond Buildings, for Architect Magazine. Trained as an architect and in the humanities at Yale, Mr. Betsky has served as the Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum (2006-2014) and the Netherlands Architecture Institute (2001-2006), as well as Curator of Architecture and Design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1995-2001). In 2008, he also directed the 11th Venice International Biennale of Architecture.