CCA Mellon

CCA Mellon call for proposals

Invention of the Environment in Architecture

As the effects of man-made climate change become apparent, it is now clear that architecture needs an environmental history. The Canadian Centre for Architecture is initiating a collaborative and multidisciplinary research project to write such a history. From Sorry, Out of Gas in 2007, in which we highlighted the histories of specific alternative energies, to our most recent exhibition It‘s All Happening So Fast, exploring counter-narratives of progress in Canada, the CCA has come to understand the environment as not merely reducible to nature, but first and foremost a battleground for social, political and economic issues.

Applicants may propose projects that revisit familiar cases in architecture’s history, introduce new episodes, or offer unexpected readings of material that one would not normally consider “environmental.” Importantly, to be successful, applicants must locate the particular cases they will be investigating in longer narratives of architecture and the environment. Proposals should also address the transdisciplinarity inherent to the theme “Architecture and/for the Environment” by engaging fields other than architecture, planning, and landscape architecture. As such, applicants should identify and explain how their project addresses open questions in disciplines such as anthropology, cultural studies, economic history, energy humanities, environmental history, historical geography, the history of science and technology, political ecology, and the social sciences, among others.

Application

The collaborative and multidisciplinary research project directed by the CCA is open to academics and cultural producers across ranks. Those interested should submit their proposal through the CCA online application portal, by 21 April 2017. Applications must include a 750-word project outline based on the selected cases, a 500-word synopsis locating the proposed research within larger narratives of the environment in architecture, a bibliography of key literature and of pertinent holdings in the CCA Collection or in other archives (2 pages maximum), a CV (5 pages maximum), and a short bio of no more than 300 words highlighting the applicant’s engagement with the subject.

Application Portal

 

Detailed guidelines are available on the website:
www.cca.qc.ca

This is the CCA’s third Mellon Multidisciplinary Research Project; please refer here and here for information on past projects.