Microhistories of Architecture. PhD Methodology Seminar with Andrew Leach

Thursday 29 October (4:00–5:00 pm): Lecture, Seminar Room Fl3.1, 3d floor, campus Flagey (public)

Friday, 30 October (11:00 am–12:30 pm): Workshop, Seminar Room Fl3.1, 3d floor, campus Flagey (reserved for registered PhD students in the workshop)

Drawing on the work of Carlo Ginzburg, who passed away last June, the seminar will explore how an in-depth investigation of a defined case—such as a building, an architectural detail, a specific episode in an individual’s life—can reveal broader issues and dynamics in architectural history. It will also consider the implications of adopting microhistory as an approach to the study of architecture, including the selection of cases, the use of fragmentary evidence, and the relationship between the particular and the general.

The workshop will be an open discussion exploring different approaches to microhistory in architectural research. All participants will bring their own case studies and discuss them in small groups. Through various forms of annotation and by comparing these different cases, we will examine the challenges and potential of this approach.
To validate the credits for the PhD Methodological Session, all participants are required to read two texts (which will be sent after registration), submit a document illustrating their case study (a photograph, a drawing, a series of correspondence, representation of an aspect of a building—a piece of evidence that points to one thing while revealing others), and provide a very short text (maximum half a page) describing their research questions and explaining how the evidence relates to the microhistorical approaches discussed in the readings. These materials must be sent before 23 October 2026. For registration and sending these materials, please contact: eric.ferreira.crevels@ulb.be or wouter.van.acker@ulb.be