Fernando Luiz Lara works on theorizing spaces of the Americas with an emphasis on the dissemination of design ideas beyond the traditional disciplinary boundaries. Framed by decolonial theories, Lara has written widely about issues that pertain to the built environment of our continent.
His latest publications include Street Matters: Spatial Theories for the Americas (2024); A Critical History of 20th Century Urban Policy in Brazil (with Ana Paula Koury, 2022); Excepcionalidad del Modernismo Brasileño (2019); Modern Architecture in Latin America (with Luis Carranza, 2015); and The Rise of Popular Modernist Architecture in Brazil (2008). Among the many books he edited are Decolonizing the Spatial History of the Americas (2022) and Spatial Concepts for Decolonizing the Americas (with Felipe Hernandez, 2023).
PhD 2001 - University of Michigan
BArch 1993 - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
The Americas, Decolonial Theory
ARCH 2101 - Concepts for Understanding Space in the Americas
“Connecting the Dots: Reframing the History of the Built Environment of the Americas,” Platform Space, November 2024.
“A Decolonial Perspective to Overcome Insufficiencies”, interview at Revista Virus, no. 26, December 2023, pp. 4-11.
“Spatial Abstraction as Colonizing Tool”, in Routledge Companion to Decolonizing Art History, (Flores, San Martin and Villaseñor, editors) New York: Routledge, 2023, 331-341.
“Cobogó and the Coloniality of the Brise-Soleil: Islamic Roots and Marginalization in Brazilian Modern Architecture”, Journal of Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture, Vol. 4, Number 3, pp. 113–119, 2022.
“What Frameworks Should We Use to Read the Spatial History of the Americas?” Roundtable editor introduction, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 81/2, June of 2022, pp. 134-136
““El otro del otro: cómo las historias canónicas de la arquitectura borraron las Américas”. Anales del Instituto de Arte Americano, 51(1), 2021, pp. 1-14.
“American Mirror: the occupation of the “new world” and the rise of architecture as we know it”, The Plan Journal, vol 5, n.1, May 2020.
Weitzman School of Design, Department of Architecture