This research revisits The Charlottesville Tapes, a publication documenting a significant architectural conference hosted by UVA in 1982. By contextualizing
the conference within a larger field of architectural events, exhibitions, and publications, this work decenters the mythos which has largely emphasized the event’s
participants, allowing for a critical questioning of the conference and its impact on design discourse, practice, and pedagogy from the vantage point of the 21st century.
This project was developed as part of a Research Fellowship at the University of Virginia School of Architecture in 2023-2024 by Lauren A. McQuistion.
Lauren McQuistion is an Assistant Professor of Architecture (Virginia Architecture Fellow) and PhD Candidate in the Constructed Environment
at the University of Virginia School of Architecture where she teaches design studios and lectures on architectural theory. Her work draws on her
interests at the intersection of institutions and the disciplinary formation of architecture.
Special Thanks to Student Research Assistants:
Kristina Dickey, M.Arch ‘25
Reagan McCullough, B.S. Arch ‘24
Thank you to Tyler Whitney and AJ Artemel.
Thanks to Dean Malo Hutson, Robin Dripps, Brad Cantrell, Elgin Cleckley, Jeana Ripple, and the SARC faculty
who have supported this Fellowship with their mentorship and conversations about the work.
Thanks to the Smithsonian Archives of American Art and the UVA Special Collections Library for research support.
Thanks to SARC Communications, the SARC Exhibitions Team, the UVA FabLab, and Dick Smith for support for with exhibition planning and installation.
Early iterations of this work were presented at:
The Association of Collegiate Schools of
Architecture 112th Annual Meeting
Disrupters on the Edge
March 14-16, 2024,
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
2023 Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians Conference
September 28-29, 2023
Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
This work was generously supported by:
UVA School of Architecture
Department of Architecture
UVA Center for Global Inquiry & Innovation
Faculty Research with Undergraduates Grant
UVA Vice Provost for the Arts Grant