Progeny of Program
The research project, Progeny of Program, explores the notion of programmatic manipulations as a significant motivator of architecture. The work analyzes program in Greek and Roman antiquity as the progenitors of public architecture, through formal and typological studies of the forum, temple, and basilica among others, and their successive translation or elaboration into other religious and secular typologies. The research also examines subsequent Medieval typological inventions including the evolution of early private program such as the Kunstkammer into more established civic forms such as public libraries and museums. Continuities are drawn between the experimental attitude towards program in history and the nature of more contemporary examples in the discipline, such as the deployment of the program as an organizing tactic in the utopian and visionary work of the 60s and 70s, and the influential use of the diagram by Dutch architects from the late 20th century.