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Lucien F Steil
  • 110, Bond Hall
    University of Notre Dame
    Notre Dame, 46556, Indiana
    USA
  • 574-383-7207
The book 'In the Mood for Architecture, Tradition, Modernism and Serendipity' endeavors bridging over entrenched positions on Tradition versus Modernity, and Modernism versus Classicism, and hopes offering a theoretical 'esquisse', or at... more
The book 'In the Mood for Architecture, Tradition, Modernism and Serendipity' endeavors bridging over entrenched positions on Tradition versus Modernity, and Modernism versus Classicism, and hopes offering a theoretical 'esquisse', or at least a meditative fragment, addressing a contemporary architecture which is not afraid of acknowledging both tradition and modernity, embraces newness, originality, but also defers to imitation and convention.
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"Atelier de Dessin" with High School Students in Luxembourg. The theme was : "Permanence & Change" in the context of cultural and urban identity/ How can we remain what we are if everything changes all the time? « Se vogliamo che tutto... more
"Atelier de Dessin" with High School Students in Luxembourg. The theme was : "Permanence & Change" in the context of cultural and urban identity/ How can we remain what we are if everything changes all the time?  « Se vogliamo che tutto rimanga come è, bisogna che tutto cambi ! »
« Si nous voulons que tout reste tel que c'est, il faut que tout change.»
Citation de Tancredi dans "Il Gattopardo" de Tomaso di Lampedusa
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What is Green Architecture? A Hermeneutical-Phenomenological approach to issues of sustainable, ecological and 'green' architecture. The paper reflects through images, examples and counter-examples and refers broadly to Wikipedia... more
What is Green Architecture? A Hermeneutical-Phenomenological approach to issues of sustainable, ecological and 'green' architecture. The paper reflects through images, examples and counter-examples and refers broadly to  Wikipedia definitions and a wide range of architectural projects and precedents.
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Autobiographic Fragments, Notes, Quotes and Sketches of a Nomadic Architect
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Self and Identity, Place and Identity, Space and Place, Learning and Teaching, Cosmopolitanism, and 27 more
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discusses the wide range of issues of 'building & dwelling' and the way architecture nurtures, protects or offends and humiliates citizens and inhabitants. It also addresses the 'Human Right' of housing, housing all in beauty, dignity and... more
discusses the wide range of issues of 'building & dwelling' and the way architecture nurtures, protects or offends and humiliates citizens and inhabitants. It also addresses the 'Human Right' of housing, housing all in beauty, dignity and comfort
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Sociology, Social Psychology, Community Development, Sustainable Development, Creative Cities, and 23 more
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fascinating essay by urbanist Paul Murrain which discusses in great detail the excesses of 'height' and elaborates on height regulations and the various essential aspects of urban comfort considered in successful cities, and also shows... more
fascinating essay by urbanist Paul Murrain which discusses in great detail the excesses of 'height' and elaborates on  height regulations and the various essential aspects of urban comfort considered in successful cities, and also shows how exceptionally a mid-rise can be acceptable if it contributes to the beauty and comfort of the city and its citizens, etc. Extraordinary essay!
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Why should art, architecture and city-building stand as allegories of unbearable pain and disfigurement, rather than as paradigms of healing and continuity?
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En réalité la construction effrénée de gratte-ciels exprime moins une ‘Passion de la Grandeur’ qu’une ‘Folie de la Hauteur’ (voir le livre de Thierry Paquot : « La Folie des Hauteurs »... more
En réalité la construction effrénée de gratte-ciels exprime moins une ‘Passion de la Grandeur’ qu’une ‘Folie de la Hauteur’ (voir le livre de Thierry Paquot : « La Folie des Hauteurs » http://www.amazon.fr/La-folie-hauteurs-sobstiner-construire/dp/2849410985).
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En réalité la construction effrénée de gratte-ciels exprime moins une ‘Passion de la Grandeur’ qu’ une "Folie de la Hauteur"
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"...That between the traditional and the new or, between order and adventure, there is no real opposition, and that what we call tradition today is a fabric of centuries of adventure."
(Jorge Luis Borges
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. Inheriting a pre-existing, fragmented world shaped by preceding generations, which it continues to alter and develop before leaving it to successive generations, each generation needs to assume both past and future, sometimes despite of... more
. Inheriting a pre-existing, fragmented world shaped by preceding generations, which it continues to alter and develop before leaving it to successive generations, each generation needs to assume both past and future, sometimes despite of itself, and contribute to the preservation, construction and remodeling of the world, and take responsibility for change, or destruction – all share in the responsibility for  reconstruction, and have to re-assimilate and re-think the legacy of knowledge, experience and culture which will provide the foundation to be built upon.
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The traditional process of creation and recreation is inspired by ideals of a familiar world articulating the mythical prospects of ‘Time and Place’ in an operational synthesis, a synthesis where ‘Genius Loci’ and ‘Zeitgeist’ are at... more
The traditional process of creation and recreation is inspired by ideals of a familiar world articulating the mythical prospects of ‘Time and Place’ in an operational synthesis, a synthesis where ‘Genius Loci’ and ‘Zeitgeist’ are at peace. In this synthesis the permanence of ‘Genius Loci’ and the impermanence of ‘Zeitgeist’ agree upon vital tactical synergies allowing for a perpetual ‘modernity’ and timeless inspiration of living building traditions.
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Looking at College Towns as an Ideal Urban Type and discussing whether, why and how South Bend, Indiana, can become a College Town..
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Discussion of Social Housing Strategies and Concepts in Historic Centers
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Images, Patterns and Arguments from successful Waterfront Cities and Developments in Europe and in the USA
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Images, Patterns and Arguments for Urban Waterfront Developments
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how water nurtures life and the urban habitat of mankind, and how cities can learn from great waterfront places and patterns..
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discusses the futility and shallowness of contemporary "Green Architecture" and false "Sustainability" arguing for durable, contextual and natural architecture associated with traditional, complex, mixed-use and 'biophilic' urbanism
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Recapturing the Essence of San Antonio by means of Sketching, Drawing and Imaginative Synthesis
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"Architecture is about building and dwelling, about healing and nurturing, about place and time."

arguments and projects for repairing and retrofitting urban sprawl and suburban modernism
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Solo o con Altri?
Alone or Together? discusses participatory processes and projects in architecture and urbanism (in Italian)
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Alone or with Others?
Solo o con Altri!?

discusses participatory processes in urban design and architecture. (in Italian)
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Autobiographical Notes and Sketches
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The addition of sustainable buildings is not a sufficient condition to create sustainable cities... ecological architecture integrates necessarily the urban scale and the scale of nature
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a 2 days workshop (2 afternoons) at the Lycee Ermesinde in Luxembourg with lectures, outdoor sketching and workshop painting in Mersch, Luxembourg
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A Conversation on New Science and New Architecture and New Urbanism on ARCHNET
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And 15 more

Autobiographic Fragments, Notes & Quotes, Sketches and Aphorisms on Home, Exile, Nostalgia and Life as a Journey, or 'Road Movie' ..
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The capriccio is a pictorial ‘invention’ creating an imaginary or ‘analogue’ reality by combining existing buildings or places with imaginary ones, shifting or re-organizing their locations and their groupings into uniquely suggestive... more
The capriccio is a pictorial ‘invention’ creating an imaginary or ‘analogue’ reality by combining existing buildings or places with imaginary ones, shifting or re-organizing their locations and their groupings into uniquely suggestive visions. In fact what characterizes the capriccio is: truth, reality and realism. It enhances a formidable potential of life and livability in beautifully composed, complex and memorable environments, places, landscapes and buildings which only exist in the realm of desire… The realm of desire is the realm of life……
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How to evolve without changing’ and ‘How to maintain the identity and character of a place or community without stagnation?’ Here the wise and puzzling statement by Tancredi in “The Leopard” (“Il Gattopardo”, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa,... more
How to evolve without changing’ and ‘How to maintain the identity and character of a place or community without stagnation?’ Here the wise and puzzling statement by Tancredi in “The Leopard” (“Il Gattopardo”, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, 1958): “If we want that everything remains the same, everything has to change”, exposing quite dramatically the dialectics between permanence and change. It also highlights pointedly the danger of ‘stasis’ and the fact that permanence, continuity as well as identity are not static realities but complex dynamic configurations we need to constantly reassess, consolidate, emulate, and maybe reinvent….
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“The Garden City, as Howard defined it, is not a suburb but the
antithesis of a suburb: not a more rural retreat, but a more integrated
foundation for an effective urban life.”
Lewis Mumford
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La Madrid Traditional Architecture and Urbanism Summer School 2015 se desarrolló entre los días 15 y 21 de junio de 2015. Fue organizada por el Premio Rafael Manzano Martos, la Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Notre Dame y la... more
La Madrid Traditional Architecture and Urbanism Summer School 2015 se desarrolló entre los días 15 y 21 de junio de 2015. Fue organizada por el Premio Rafael Manzano Martos, la Escuela de Arquitectura de la
Universidad de Notre Dame y la Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Miami, gracias al apoyo del Richard H. Driehaus Charitable Lead Trust. Contó además con la colaboración del Ayuntamiento de Madrid, la Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio, la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, la Universidadde Alcalá, INTBAU España y el Centro de Investigación de Arquitectura Tradicional (CIAT).

Publicada en DPArquitectura, 12, pp. 30-41. Bilbao, 2016.
ISSN 2340-8677
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