Faculty Publications

Efforts to build, rebuild and maintain the Forum Romanum, Rome's historic urban epicenter, are likely as old as the place itself - some 2800 years. As a result the historic significance and archaeological richness of the Forum cannot be overestimated. Despite its many changes the Forum Romanum's survival today represents an outstanding example of cultural heritage continuity.

Focusing on the figures of Plato, Archimedes, and Caravaggio, The Divine Spark of Syracuse discloses the role that Syracuse, a Greek cultural outpost in Sicily, played in fueling creative energies. Among the topics this book explores are Plato and the allegory of the cave, and the divine spark mentioned in his Seventh Letter.

Localism in the Mass Age includes a chapter by Professor Philip Bess on “Chicago 2109: The Metropolitan Region as Agrarian-Urban Unit.

Bringing together leading writers and practicing architects including Jean Dethier, David Mayernik, Massimo Scolari, Robert Adam, David Watkin and Leon Krier, this volume provides a kaleidoscopic, multilayered exploration of the Architectural Capriccio.

Prof. David Mayernik's new book Emulation is a challenging middle ground between imitation and invention. The idea of rivaling by means of imitation, as old as the Aenead and as modern as Michelangelo, fit neither the pessimistic deference of the neoclassicists nor the revolutionary spirit of the Romantics.

When Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, the force of the explosion blew the top right off the mountain, burying nearby Pompeii in a shower of volcanic ash. Ironically, the calamity that proved so lethal for Pompeii's inhabitants preserved the city for centuries, leaving behind a snapshot of Roman daily life that has captured the imagination of generations.

With the topic of sustainability now at the top of professional, academic, and political agendas, a building's ability to endure longer than the immediate requirements of its user for the benefit of future generations is being recognized again as critical.

Why Place Matters includes a chapter by Professor Philip Bess on “Metaphysical Realism, Modernity, and Traditional Cultures of Building.”

Visions of Seaside, Dhiru Thadani, editor, includes a chapter by Professor Philip Bess on “Seaside and the Sacred;” and “Ceremonial Landmark” projects, one by Professor Richard Economakis and one by Professor Samir Younes.

Prof. Doordan’s chapter focuses on a broad spectrum of disciplines used to develop a theory capable of supporting sustainable design.

Italian astronomer and Dominican friar Giordano Bruno (1548–1600), found guilty of heresy by the Roman Inquisition and burned at the stake, has long been an enigma of early modern European philosophy.

This volume provides readers interested in urban history with a collection of essays on the evolution of public space in that paradigmatic western city which is Rome. Scholars specialized in different historical periods contributed chapters, in order to find common themes.

A collection of essays by Duncan Stroik covering principles of sacred architecture and their integration into the wider renewal of architecture and liturgy.

This volume examines the multifarious dimensions that constitute the workings of the Hindu temple as an architectural and urban built form.

Four architectural theorists argue that architectural identities are shaped by imitating preferred architectural forms and by imitating the identities of their makers.

If architectural judgment were a city, a city of ideas and forms, then it is a very imperfect city.In this book, Prof. Samir Younés examines architectural judgment in its historical, cultural, political, and psychological dimensions and their convergence on that most expressive part of architecture, namely: architectural character.

The official history of the U.S. Ambassador's residence in Rome.

12 experts in green architecture and urbanism—including School of Architecture professor David Mayernik and professor emeritus Norman Crowe—argue that tradition and the vernacular have much to teach us about sustainability.

French architect Paul Letarouilly (1795-1855), author of the masterpiece Edifices de Rome Moderne, was unequaled in his observational ability and impeccable drawing skills.

The debate between traditionalists and modernists has focused on the style that should be used for new buildings; it has paid less attention to how new buildings or additions should be designed in historic settings.

Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) is one of the great figures of early modern Europe, and one of the least understood. Ingrid D. Rowland’s biography establishes him once and for all as a peer of Erasmus, Shakespeare, and Galileo—a thinker whose vision of the world prefigures ours. 

The Venice Charter of 1964 was a major step towards better conservation of traditional buildings and places. It has since become the founding document of ICOMOS, the organization for professionals in conservation.

Associate Dean John Stamper examines the development of Roman temple architecture from its earliest history in the sixth century BC to the reigns of Hadrian and the Antonines in the second century A.D.

Till We Have Built Jerusalem lays out the architectural and philosophical assumptions that governed the University of Notre Dame graduate architecture curriculum during the ten-year period from 2004 through 2013 when Professor Philip Bess was the Director of Graduate Studies.

Prof. David Mayernik traces the continuity of the Idea of the City in five Italian cities from late antiquity through the 18th century, looking most deeply at the extended Renaissance, examining both the urban artifacts themselves and what the people who built them said and thought about them.

A unique study of the formal and compositional—as well as pragmatic and constructional—issues arising in the design and appreciation of interior architecture in the classical tradition.

Approximately 2,025 years ago, an aged Roman architect named Vitruvius wrote down on 10 scrolls everything he knew about architecture.

Prof. Richard Economakis highlights the Greek island's history, countryside and the architecture of its ancient settlements.

Prof. Dennis Doordan presents a detailed account of the many architectural orientations of the last 100 years.

Highlighting the career and achievements of Thomas Gordon Smith, a professor of architecture at the University of Notre Dame.

The only full treatise on architecture and its related arts to survive from classical antiquity, the De Architectura libri decem (Ten Books on Architecture) is the single most important work of architectural history in the Western world, having shaped humanist architecture and the image of the architect from the Renaissance to the present. This new, critical edition of Vitruvius' Ten Books of Architecture, edited by Ingrid D. Rowland and Thomas Noble Howe, is the first to be published for an English-language audience in more than half a century.

Inland Architecture is a collection of fourteen essays about architecture and urbanism by Professor Philip Bess, all written from Chicago and most touching upon the moral implications of architectural and urban form. Though gathered from a variety of publications, many appeared first in Inland Architect magazine, where for ten years Bess was a Contributing Editor and co-authored “The Chicago Architecture Police” column with fellow officer Howard Decker.

Edited by Prof. Duncan Stroik, is the first book in over four decades to showcase the new Renaissance of Catholic architecture.

Informed by both urban history and a deep knowledge of America’s pastime, City Baseball Magic documents Professor Philip Bess’s ground-breaking Armour Field project, a 1987 counter-proposal to Chicago’s New Comiskey Park that argues for neighborhood baseball parks as civic buildings and cities as places for human flourishing.

The book's introductory essays examine the thought of French theorist A.C. Quatremère de Quincy and its applicability to contemporary traditional architecture.

Many modern artists and architects continue to imagine and build the world technologically. Their beliefs remain firmly rooted in their assumption that the liberating forces of technology freed them from previous artistic traditions while making available vast means of production and a plethora of materials.