The Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures (BLC) focus introduces an interdisciplinary research track concentrating on the examination of the cultural and historical aspects of the built environment. The program serves students enrolled in the architecture and art history doctoral programs at the UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison campuses respectively. It involves faculty members on both campuses with diverse research and teaching interests, including urban and architectural history, visual culture, cultural landscapes and vernacular architecture.

Central to the BLC pedagogy is a critical examination of the field as a location and a classroom, as well as an object of analysis. Engaging with the field takes on multiple forms in BLC scholarship. Fieldwork and research is done in the field, which is itself a site of empirical knowledge. The critical interpretation of the field as a political site is also central to our scholarship. The field is also a classroom and our teaching engages the field in reflexive ways. Core introductory courses present theories and methods related to study of the socio-cultural, political, economic, and aesthetic aspects of the field. Building on these foundations, students pursue their specific interests through courses in art history, architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, geography, anthropology, folklore and history.

For more information on SARUP’s BLC Program visit http://blcprogram.weebly.com

Affiliated Faculty

Anna V. Andrzejewski, Co-Coordinator of BLC, Art History
Arijit Sen,Co-Coordinator of BLC, Architecture
William Aylward, Classics and Art History,
Preeti Chopra, Art History
Samuel F. Dennis, Jr., Landscape Architecture
Janet Gilmore, Folklore and Landscape Architecture
Mark Nelson, Design Studies
Monica Penick, Design Studies
Jennifer Pruitt, Art History