Last summer, David Leatherbarrow achieved the rank of professor emeritus and began a new chapter in a career at Penn that began in 1984. Over the last 38 years, Leatherbarrow has produced a vast body of written work on the history and theory of architecture and gardens. He’s also taught hundreds of students at Penn and Cambridge and reached still more as a guest speaker at colleges and universities around the world.
In an interview, Leatherbarrow talks about the ideas that have sustained his attention over time, how Penn students differ from others, and why Philadelphia is the best city to study architecture.
“One can be critical of the location, the way the buildings and the streets are laid out, the ways they’ve been constructed,” Leatherbarrow says. “But I believe there’s also an architect’s criticism of his or her own work; I guess you could call that “self-criticism.” And thirdly is what I’d call “non-professional criticism.” Everybody has an opinion about what’s good or bad in their apartment, their house, their street, their neighborhood. In a sense we’re all critics. But the professor or the author’s criticism is better informed, and when articulated, perhaps more consistent and clear. I think these sorts of criticism relate to one another but can be distinguished. I think they are internal to practice but also outside of it. I see them as a necessary dimension to professional understanding.”
Leatherbarrow was in England before Penn and says his students’ interests have evolved over the years.
“The students were very different,” he says. “My Cambridge students were very articulate but very hesitant to draw. They wanted to think their way through problems, and they did so very impressively. When I came to Penn, there was far less interest in history and the cultural implications of a project. Students wanted to act, to do things. They felt that problems in our society needed to be addressed through architectural means. And they also felt a strong desire to make things, to create things, and thus had a double interest in serving society and expressing their own sense of what’s beautiful and what would make a nice environment. So I found myself in an extremely interesting, productive, and engaging environment. I found it very different but very attractive. So I came in 1984 to stay for three months and it became 38 years.”
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