Humanity is facing an ongoing, global housing crisis with major consequences for social stability in cities and nations, and by implication for the lives and health of millions. Theorization of the crisis in housing studies points to neo-liberalisation processes which have since the 1980s transferred responsibility for housing provision from the state to global markets, corporate monopolies, and the dwellers themselves, assigning architects little agency to develop new methodologies for housing as a cultural product. ‘Architecture’ as a cultural product is thus often seen as distinct from ‘housing’ as a socio-economic need.

The vision of this Research Group is therefore a new outlook on the development of the housing crisis and on architecture’s role in addressing it, by rethinking the terminology used to discuss housing, and by developing anew the vocabulary for researching and designing housing for the general public.

Organizers:
Ann Blair (Harvard University)
Dror Wahrman (The Hebrew University)
Ray Schrire (The Hebrew University)

General Director: Anthony Grafton (Princeton University)

This five-day winterschool at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies brings together specialists of books in Hebrew and European languages from the late medieval and early modern periods. We will study textual practices through the lifecycle of the various physical objects we call books for convenience (though they may take other forms than the codex that we associate with books today). In particular we will examine how texts were composed and scribed, prepared for publication and distributed (in manuscript or in print), and read and annotated. By focusing on materiality and practice we wish to explore points of contact and difference between traditions and cultures that are often studied as separate. We are eager to learn from one another and from the students who join us across our various areas of specialization which include learned cultures in Latin and Hebrew, various vernacular European literatures and cultures, and Jewish books of the medieval and early modern periods, in manuscript and print. We are planning five full days of activities in different formats including visits to special collections in nearby libraries, lectures, hands-on workshops and roundtables, and above all both moderated and informal discussions of many kinds, including of pre-circulated materials which everyone will read in advance.