Babel's Absence: Reconstructions and Reappropriations of an Architectural Archetype. An Illustrated Talk by Kyle DugdaleMarch 22, 2016 at 3–4 p.m.

This talk explores the recent history of one of architecture's foundational archetypes: a building that has served since antiquity as a landmark of architecture's proudest ambitions, but which survived for centuries not as a physical object but through representations in text and image. The story follows excavations into the archaeological sites of Mesopotamia, full-scale reassemblies in Berlin, built reinterpretations in Moscow and New York, surrogate reconstructions by Saddam Hussein, and mock ruins built by the US Department of Defense in upstate New York.

About the speaker: Kyle Dugdale is a licensed architect, and has practiced in London, Chicago, and New Haven. He earned his doctorate at Yale, winning the university's Theron Rockwell Field Prize for his dissertation, "Architecture After the Death of God." He currently serves as a critic in the Yale School of Architecture.