About Alejandro Lapunzina
Biography
Born in New York in 1960, Alejandro Lapunzina grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He earned his first professional degree (Arquitecto) at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and continued his studies at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also received the AIA Medal of Excellence in the study of architecture.
He worked at Abal & Cassola Arquitectos (Buenos Aires, 1983-1986) and at Kromm, Rikimaru & Johansen (St. Louis, 1988-1989). As an independent architect he worked on projects (individually and in collaboration) in Argentina, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States. His research focuses on the work of Le Corbusier in the Americas, and other aspects related to the history, theory, and criticism of modern and contemporary architecture.
He previously taught at the University of Arkansas (1989-1991) and joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s School of Architecture in Fall 1991. At Illinois he has held several administrative positions, including Director of the School’s Study Abroad Program in Versailles (1994-1999 and 2002-2013), Chair of International Programs (1999-2002) and Associate Director for Graduate Studies (2000-2002). He has been Director of the Illinois Architecture Study Abroad Program at Barcelona-El Vallès since its inception in 2014. He was named Suzanne & Williams Allen Professor of Architecture in January 2020.
Education
- Master of Architecture, Washington University in St. Louis (1987/1988)
- Arquitecto (professional/licensed degree), University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina (1983)
Research and publications
Ongoing and upcoming research
Projects
Le Corbusier in the Americas
This ongoing research project consists of a comprehensive study of the famed Franco-Swiss architect on the American continent. Initiated many years ago with support of research grants from the Graham Foundation and the University of Illinois’ Research Board, the goal of this project is to publish a book that highlights the work of Le Corbusier in the Americas (several unrealized projects, two urban masterplans for capital cities, and two built masterpieces: the house of Dr. Curutchet House Argentina and Harvard University’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts in the United States.) The manuscript of the book is in an advanced stage.
The Poetics of Immensity
This recently initiated project explores poetic manifestations in the work of a selected group of architects who primarily work in two analogous landscapes: the Argentinean pampas and the prairie of the American Midwest. Its goal is to produce a series of texts that emerge from studying architectural/poetic responses to a landscape in which immensity (the endless horizon) is the dominant spatial feature. The first text was already published in an academic journal; the second text is in progress and will be presented at a conference in Granada, Spain (postponed to January 2022 due to pandemic).
Selected publications
Books
Lapunzina, A. The Architecture of Spain, Greenwood, CT and London, UK: Greenwood Publishers, 2005.
Lapunzina, A. Le Corbusier’s Maison Curutchet, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1997.
Essays and Journal Publications
Lapunzina, A. “Evocation of the Horizon,” PhD_KORE REVIEW, Spring 2020. Enna-Sicily, Italy, p. 51-58.
Lapunzina, A. “Fructíferos Desencuentros,” chapter in Le Corbusier y el Sur de América, ed. Maximiano Atria. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Universitaria, 2018. p. 56-67.
Lapunzina, A. “Reflejos y Transparencias: el nuevo museo del Louvre en Lens,” Summa+ #132 (October 2013): 92-105.
Lapunzina, A. “De la pampa al altiplano, los planes reguladores de Le Corbusier en América,” in Le Corbusier en Bogotá 1947-1951: tomo 2, ed. María Cecilia O’Byrne. Bogotá: Ediciones Uniandes, 2010. p. 50-65.
Lapunzina, A. “A ras del suelo: la Maison Louis Carré de Alvar Aalto,” Summa+ #98 (December 2008): 58-65.
Lapunzina, A. “Ilots, barres, ensembles; le Plan Régulateur 1938-1940,” chapter in L’espace du jeu architectural, Mélanges offerts à Jean Castex, ed. Anne-Marie Châtelet, M. Denès, R. Rouyer and J. Sautereau. Versailles: Editions Recherches, 2007. p. 84-102.
Teaching and advising
Classes taught
- Arch 473 Architectural Design and Performance (Fall 2020)
- Arch 468 Overseas Architectural Studies (Every semester since Fall 2014)
- Arch 371 Architectural Design and Urbanism (Fall 2020, Fall 2019)
- Arch 475 Architectural Design Cap-Stone Studio (Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2018, Spring 2017)
- Arch 476 Architectural Design Studio (Fall 2018, Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016)