3835 Campus Drive
Architecture Building (145 ARC)
College Park, MD 20742
United States
Join us as Cynthia R. Field, Adjunct Professor, and Isabelle J. Gournay, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, University of Maryland, present "The Architecture of Thomas Jefferson for a New Democracy."
This talk will present an avenue into Thomas Jefferson’s ideals and actions through his architecture. Jefferson’s architecture reflects the influence of classical history and associationism that he absorbed through his college education. Both formed the foundation for the symbolic and functional geometric forms of contemporary French designs, which Jefferson came to appreciate as United States Minister to France during the years leading to the takeover of the Bastille. These influences can be read in the classical Capitol and wholly new public university Jefferson planned for his state of Virginia. For him, the dominating idea of architecture was its provision of didactic models for the new informed and educated citizen of a democracy.
The lecture is part of a series, “Democracy Then and Now: Citizenship and Public Education,”which is a campus-wide initiative on the intersection of public education, American democracy and civic engagement. Through a series of conversations, lectures, student projects and voter registration drives, the initiative will engage UMD students, faculty and staff on the historical and contemporary relationship between public education and citizenship. You may find the complete list of lectures at the link above.