Leach named Stuckeman School Professor in Interdisciplinary Design

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Andrew Leach, a prolific author and international leader in architectural design, theory and history, has been named the 2019-20 Professor of Interdisciplinary Design by the Stuckeman School.

Leach has been a professor in the School of Architecture, Design, and Planning at the University of Sydney since 2016 where he was the research director of architectural theory and history. He has since been named associate dean for research.

Leach is the author or co-author of 13 books and more than 60 essays, and has led dozens of international conferences, symposia, roundtables and workshops on architectural history and theory. He is the editor of the Architectural Theory Reviewand is perhaps best known among his peers as the leading English-language scholar of the 20th century Italian architectural historian and theorist Manfredo Tafuri.

Leach joined the University of Sydney in 2016 after six years ascending the faculty ranks at Griffith University, arriving as a postdoctoral fellow and senior lecturer in 2010 and leaving as a full professor. He previously held positions at the University of Queensland and the Wellington Institute of Technology. He has been the recipient of numerous fellowships, competitive funding and prizes, including: a Wallace Fellowship at the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti (Italy), the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship and Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship, and fellowships from the Society of Architectural Historians and the Belgian Historical Institute at Rome.

A native of New Zealand, Leach holds a doctorate in architecture from Ghent University in Belgium and earned both his Master of Architecture and bachelor’s degree from Victoria University of Wellington.

The Interdisciplinary Design Professorship is awarded biennially to a visiting full professor or professor of practice who is nominated by a member of the Stuckeman School faculty. The visitor’s presence on campus is intended to enhance key aspects of the host faculty’s research/creative endeavors and/or an important element of the curriculum that will ultimately have far reaching impact for the host faculty, the department or program and the Stuckeman School.

Denise Costanzo, an assistant professor in the Department of Architecture, first worked with Leach as part of a project that examined the multivalent links between baroque and modernist architectural historiography in 2012. They are currently collaborating on an exploration of the ideologically complex imprint of Italy’s historic legacy on 20th century architectural culture and will be cohosting an international symposium on the topic at Penn State in January. Costanzo and Leach will co-edit a volume that presents new studies generated by this symposium.

During his time at Penn State, Leach has the opportunity to contribute to a wide range of activities within the Stuckeman School, including design reviews, introductory and advanced theory and history courses, and discussions on fostering an interdisciplinary design culture within a major research university.

Image: Maja Baska