The Camden Conference free Community Events series continues with architects, Brooke Harrington and Judy Bing, presenting Architecture, Local or Global–Shifting Goals in a Shrinking World on Sunday, February 4, 2-4 p.m., at the Cushing Public Library. The event is free and open to all.

The impacts of globalism and nationalism are not new to cultural debates. Starting in the 19^th century, as nations established modern identities and professions emerged to serve modern societies, architects began to create built environments that negotiated inherited classical ideals with newly-valued local traditions and growing urban settings. Through the 20^th century to the present, large architectural firms have maintained international practices, drawing ideas from and working within the far reaches of the globe. Modern technologies and speedy communications have simply intensified the process. Yet at the same time, widespread appreciation for historic contexts and sense of place counteract notions of an “international style.”  

Looking at the building types–dwellings, libraries, museums, schools, government buildings– that have served national (whether official or purely economic) purposes, this presentation will examine the historic and contemporary tensions in architecture between serving local or national identities and global ambitions. 

The presenters are professors emeriti of architecture, Brooke of Temple University and Judith of Drexel University, in Philadelphia. Currently they are both Center Associates at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, and Visiting Scholars at the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT, in Cambridge. They live in Cushing.

Photo ID and Credit: Unilever Nederland, Rotterdam, JHK Architecten, 2007. Photograph by Jeff Titelius, http://www.eurotravelogue.com/2012/09/Holland-The-Netherlands-Postcards.html