FASS Faculty Profile – Michael Windover

Michael Windover is the newest faculty addition to the History and Theory of Architecture Program.

Windover, who arrived at Carleton in the fall of 2012, is a historian of modern architecture, design and material culture.  His research focuses on the cultural production referred to as ‘Art Deco’ during the years between the First and Second World Wars.  Though the dissemination of interwar architectural ideas is the hub of his study, Windover has analyzed the social and political consequences of everything from NHL hockey arenas, to the impact and implications of the cosmopolitan design of super cinemas.  He has a special interest in the intersection of media and architecture – two subjects, as Windover explains, that are deeply intertwined.

“Architecture is not only a mass medium in itself but inherently a multi-mediated practice; any study of architecture involves a consideration of representations of architecture in different media forms. In the past I have looked at how architectural and design ideas were disseminated through film or print media and have looked at how architecture as a mass medium framed the experience of other media, as in the case of cinema design.”

Windover is currently engaged in a project which investigates the visual and material culture of radio systems in Canada from 1920 to the 1950’s, and how the materiality of this medium affected, and created publics – communities of people who have an indirect or direct relationship and association with an external outlet (in this case, media).  Specifically, he is examining some of the visual and material aspects of radio culture, and the place of archietecture in the creation of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

From Canada to India, from 1400 to the present, Windover’s expertise covers an enormous amount of ground.  He believes that by understanding the past and the present of Art Deco, we call attain a better understanding of ourselves.

“Art Deco burgeoned in the context of consumer culture of the 1920s and 1930s. And for some later cultural critics, like Baudrillard and Debord, our current cultural formation was predicated on this moment. If consumerism can survive the Great Depression, so the logic goes, it is truly a deeply engrained belief system. So Art Deco, this popular, user-friendly modern production continues to have some resonance today (and indeed it was on the catwalks of New York earlier this year).What I’ve tried to show in my work on Art Deco is that this style – for it is about the self-conscious presentation of modernity, or modern style – can be envisaged as a kind of crossroads: a site of cosmopolitan cultural and economic flow and mixture that indicates fashionableness yet, ultimately, social conservatism. In terms of Canada, Art Deco marked the everyday landscape from local cinemas and gas stations, for instance, to high-end department stores. Spaces like the 9^th floor restaurant or 7^th floor tea room and auditorium in Eaton’s department stores in Montreal and Toronto respectively are illustrative of imaginative potential of Art Deco, framing the experience of shopping as a cosmopolitan adventure, allowing a chance for Depression-weary Canadians to perform a glamorous lifestyle as seen in Hollywood movies or experienced by the elites travelling on luxurious French ocean liners. These spaces not only reinforced notions of modern design in an experiential manner, incorporating a synthesis of European and North American influences into an everyday Canadian urban context, but reinforced the tenets and values of consumer culture rather than, say, the social democratic values held by some proponents of the Modern Movement.”

An understanding of how influential and telling our manufactured and designed surroundings can be is a comprehension that Windover hopes to relay to his students.

“I hope my students come away from my classes with a strong sense of how the designed environment affects us in our everyday life. I hope they learn to be critical of the places they encounter and develop a stronger sense of awareness and attentiveness, which is no small feat these days! I also hope that students become inspired to learn more about how ideas develop and to be aware of how significant a historical understanding of cultural production continues to be today.”

For now, Windover is enjoying the moment.  Energized to be a faculty member at Carleton University, he sees the HTA program as an ideal setting for his research.  More importantly, he has the sense that Ottawa will be a wonderful setting for his family.

“This position offers an incredible opportunity to work in a dynamic yet supportive scholarly community. I’m particularly excited about the opportunity to contribute to the unique History and Theory of Architecture program in the School for Studies in Art and Culture. I am delighted to have a space to develop new research and share ideas in such a collegial environment. And Ottawa seems like a pretty great place for my daughter, Audrey, to grow up, too!”