Michael (Mikesch) Muecke PhD

Associate Professor, Architecture

Education

Bachelor of Design with a Major in Architecture, University of Florida, 1989
Master of Architecture, University of Florida, 1991
Master of Art, Princeton University, 1995
Doctor of Philosophy, Princeton University, 1999

On the Web

https://www.polytekton.com
https://www.facebook.com/polytekton
https://www.linkedin.com/in/polytekton

Supporting Files

• Full CV
• CV-Long Format (02/04/18)

Research Interests

Preservation and cultural heritage; architectural history, theory, criticism, and culture from the 1600s through the 2000s; book design and publishing; architecture and film; biocomposites; deep green design; compact-footprint design-build construction, passive-house technology; design for the elderly; electronic architectures; mobility and architecture; architecture and art throughout history. 

Current Projects

The intersection between preservation/cultural heritage and technology (with Diane Alshihabi, Ph.D.); sound and space in Robert Altman's films.

Current Scholarship

• Breathing New Life into a Los Angeles Icon: Rehabilitating and Adding to the Lytton Savings & Loan Building, 09/30/2021

  Mikesch Muecke; Diane Al Shihabi (50/50): “Breathing New Life Into A Los Angeles Icon: Rehabilitating and Adding to the Lytton Savings & Loan Building,” presented at 2021 Southeast Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH) in Natchez, Mississippi, 30 September 2021. Impact: peer-reviewed paper presentation and conference proceedings at premier venue for architectural historians.

• BNIM Regenerative Design Research Grant, 08/25/2019

  BNIM Regenerative Design Research Grant ($10,000.00) with a team from Architecture (Andrea Wheeler and myself), Interior Design (Diane Al Shihabi and Julie Irish), and Community & Regional Planning (David Kuhlmann). Grant led to a Design Charrette (conducted in the Memorial Union on October 13) and four courses, one in the Spring semester (CRP) and three in the Fall semester of 2019: ARCH 401 integrated studio in architecture (Muecke), ARTID 569D (Al Shihabi), and ARTID 569A (Julie Irish).

• Inventing New Modes of Dissemination: Applied Preservation and Cultural Heritage Pedagogy in Interdisciplinary Studios, 05/30/2019

  Mikesch Muecke and Diane Al Shihabi: Inventing New Modes of Dissemination: Applied Preservation and Cultural Heritage Pedagogy in Interdisciplinary Studios, presented at the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) international conference in Toronto, Canada, 30 May. In terms of impact, this is how ARCC describes itself: The Architectural Research Centers Consortium, Inc. (ARCC) is an international association of architectural research centers committed to the expansion of the research culture and a supporting infrastructure in architecture and related design disciplines. Since its founding as a non-profit corporation in 1976, ARCC has represented a concerted commitment to the improvement of the physical environment and the quality of life. Historically, ARCC’s members have been schools of architecture who have made substantial commitments to architectural research, often by forming centers directed to research programs. At the same time, ARCC has sponsored many projects, conferences, and other activities involving the broader architectural research community, including industrial laboratories, government agencies, and private practitioners engaged in research. ARCC members are engaged in sponsored research and in graduate studies intended to develop a more comprehensive research infrastructure for architecture — an infrastructure of researchers, facilities, equipment, research centers, and academic programs working to expand the knowledge base for practice.

• DSN S 546 Morocco Preservation Field Trip to the American Legation, 02/18/2019

  From 9-17 February 2019 professors Mikesch Muecke (Architecture) and Diane Al Shihabi (Interior Design) took 24 students from their interdisciplinary DSN S 546 Preservation Morocco to Tangier, Morocco to study the American Legation building in its context within the Medina. This is part of an ongoing investigation by Muecke and Al Shihabi of historically significant properties owned by the US Department of State overseas. The American Legation is the oldest and only historic property abroad on the US National Historic Register. Students documented the building complex using the College of Design LIDAR scanner (Leica BLK 360), a 360 Panono camera, conventional photography, hand drawings, and also interviewed the staff at the Legation, including the curator, engineer, and facility manager. All of the recorded documentation will now be processed back at ISU and then students will present their final work during a public review at the end of April 2019.

• Preservation and Cultural Heritage Curriculum Development: A Case Study in Design Education at the Intersection of History and Technology, 03/14/2018

  I presented a lecture (with my colleague Diane Alshihabi, Ph.D., Interior Design) at the Architectural Institute in Prague (ARCHIP) as part of an invitation by Regina Loukotova, Rector of ARCHIP, about the intersection of preservation/cultural heritage curricula developments and contemporary preservation technologies. The event was co-sponsored by the European Union and the Czech Ministersvo Skolstvi in Prague.

• a2ru Collaborative Presentation, 11/08/2014

  Co-author and presenter (with Diane Alshihabi, Interior Design, and Arvid Osterberg, Architecture, 25/65/10): “Funding and Forming New Interdisciplinary Collaborations: The Development of Iowa State University’s Masters Program in Historic Preservation” presented at the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru) Edge Effects 2014 National Conference, Iowa State University, November 8.

• Presentation on Nashville (Altman's film) and Nashville (the city) at SESAH Conference, 10/31/2014

  “Satire and Satyr: Considering the Dialectics of Copies of the Parthenon and Nashville,” presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Southeast Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH), Fayetteville, AR, October 31.

• Collaborative Presentation at National Conference on Beginning Design, 04/05/2014

  Co-author and presenter (with Pete Evans, Iowa State University, 50/50): “Chicken and Egg? Hentagon, Icosa-Coop, and Two Types of Experience” presented at the National Conference on the Beginning Design Student (NCBDS), hosted by the Illinois Institute of Technology, April 5.

• NAAB ISU Visit Director of Operations, 08/05/2013

  Just received word from our new and old department chairs that both our BArch and MArch were renewed for eight years by the National Architecture Accreditation Board (NAAB). As the Director of the NAAB Accreditation Visit Operations I was instrumental in organizing the faculty (i.e. herding cats), designing the student and faculty work exhibits, and making sure the visit itself went smoothly. Of course none of this would have happened without the collaborative work of all staff, students, and faculty. Thanks to you all!

• Collaborative Paper Presentation at International Conference IASTE, 10/05/2012

  Co-author and presenter (with Nathaniel Walker, Brown University, 50/50): “Junkerhaus: Hans Prinzhorn and the Mythology of Modernist Madness” presented at The Myth of Tradition biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE) conference in Portland, Oregon, October 5.

• Paper Presentation at Popular Culture/American Culture Conference, 04/14/2012

  “’One More Thing!’ An Intersection of Columbo’s Spatial Practices with Contemporary Design Methods in Architecture” presented at the national conference of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA), Boston, Massachusetts, April 14.

• Iowa State University’s Entry into the Solar Decathlon Competition, 05/11/2010
  Lecture at 1:30 pm at the Midwest Biopolymers & Biocomposites Workshop at Iowa State University, May 11, 2010 in the Memorial Union. For more information go to http://www.biocom.iastate.edu/workshop/ or check out the BBRT at http://www.biocom.iastate.edu/index.html
• Green Sex Appeal: Showing off Iowa State University’s Latest Fashion in Solar-Powered Homes at the 2009 Solar Decathlon on the Nation’s Runway in Washington, DC., 03/31/2010

  Lecture at the National American Popluar Culture & American Culture Association Annual Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, March 31-April 3.

  Abstract

  As part of the Department of Energy-sponsored Solar Decathlon competition, Iowa State University sent their 800 square-foot Interlock house to the National Mall to compete against 19 other teams for the most beautiful energy-efficient, completely solar-powered building. In this paper the author reflects on the specifics of the Iowa State University entry and its innovations using biobased materials, the general competition with its emphasis on subjective and quantitative evaluations in 10 categories, as well as the contemporary US public love/hate affair with everything that’s painted green, green-washed, and deep green.

• Theater Design, Music, and Performance in the works of Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Gottfried Semper, 03/11/2010

  Lecture at the Annual Nineteenth Century Studies Association Conference in Tampa, Florida, February 11-13. Conference topic is "Theatricality and the Performative in the Long Nineteenth Century."

  Abstract

  Both Schinkel and Semper have been analyzed and lauded as innovators of architecture, yet few scholars have focused on their designs for performance spaces. While Schinkel has been framed as a Greek revival architect and painter, his imaginative designs for theaters have not been examined as closely, especially with respect to his stage designs and even his architectural drawings of theaters that show an interior of the performance space with the actual theater on stage as a set piece.
  
  This method of staging was given a proper and critical context with Gottfried Semper’s theory or architecture, leading to his early design of the opera in Dresden, and culminating in the unbuilt theater design for King Ludwig of Bavaria, advanced with the help of Semper’s erstwhile friend Richard Wagner, as well as a lesser known work by Semper of a theater project that would have been positioned in the crossing of the post-World Exhibit Crystal Palace in London in 1851.
  
  In this paper I compare and contrast the theater designs of Schinkel and Semper through architectural drawings, models, and paintings, in order to develop a model for a holistic spatial practice of architecture that draws from multi-sensory sources and in it’s highest expression turns the experience of the audience into a sensual Gesamtkunstwerk. I argue that by combining creative imagery, stage design, orchestra placement, selection of architectural materials, acoustics, and spatial planning, Schinkel and Semper were able to lay the groundwork for a new era of theater innovation that would follow in their footsteps later in the 20th century.

• Personal Views Persoenliche Ansichten, 03/04/2010

  Self-published book (in English and German) of color photographs and short stories. For more information go to

  http://www.polytekton.com/polytekton/About.html

• Graphic Design and Layout of a Book About Perspective Drawing, 02/28/2010
  Graphic design (including cover design), layout, and publication of an instructional book by University of Florida architecture professor emeritus Harry Merritt, now of Beals, Maine, with the title Perspective Drawing: The Projected Image Method. I wrote the introduction as well. For more information go to http://www.cularchpress.com
• Translation, design, and layout of a Novel, 02/25/2010
  I just completed the translation (from German to English) of a novel by German author Stefanie Golisch who has been living and writing in Monza, Italy, since 1987. The novel had been published originally in German as Pyrmont. In addition to the translation of the book, now titled The Living Thing, I also did the design and layout, and I published it through my company Culicidae Press, LLC. More information is available at http://www.livingthingbook.com
• Woof and Warp: A Tapestry of Music and Architecture, 02/06/2010

  TEDx Lecture at the University of Florida

  From the website http://www.tedxuf.com

  "In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group.These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized."

• Resonance: Music and Architecture, 02/27/2009
  Lecture given at the College Music Society Regional Conference at the University of South Florida in Orlando, Florida, February 26-28 (with Miriam Zach).
• Biobased Materials, Passive House Designs, and the Solar Decathlon: Sustainability at Iowa State University, 02/07/2009

  Invited lecture given as part of Duke Conversations at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

  http://www.studentaffairs.duke.edu/osaf/duke-conversations

• Architecture and Music: A Brief Interdisciplinary History, 02/06/2009
  Invited lecture given as part of Duke Conversations at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina (with Miriam Zach, musicologist, organist, professor, and performer extra ordinaire).
• ISU LAS Green Careers Panel Discussion, 01/26/2009
  As part of a panel of four professionals I discussed strategies for making a career in the green economy. About 10 LAS students asked good questions, and I scored an LAS sticky pad and insulated mug!
• Resonance: Essays on the Intersection of Music and Architecture, 05/02/2007
  An edited book (with Miriam Zach, Ph.D.) of essays by international scholars that presented their work at the Architecture | Music | Acoustics conference organized by Colin Ripley at Ryerson University, Toronto, in June of 2006. The editors wrote both the introduction to the book and contributed an essay. Available at http://www.lulu.com/content/419925
  
• architecture | music | acoustics Conference, 06/03/2006
• Accessible Kitchen, 06/03/2006
• SESAH Conference, 10/17/2005
  On October 12 I attended the board meeting for SESAH (Southeast Chapter Society of Architectural Historians) in Fort Worth, Texas. As the SESAH webmaster (http://www.sesah.org) I helped shape the virtual public side of the group. On October 13 I also chaired a paper session (Early European Modernism) for three presenters at the conference.
• Gottfried Semper in Zurich - An Intersection of Theory and Practice, 10/10/2005
  Until now Gottfried Semper (1803-1873) has been framed as an important theoretician but a merely historicist architect. With a few exception no scholar has so far analyzed the resonance between his writings and his built works. Rather than limit himself to a historical analysis of either, the author explores in this text the consequences of thinking architectural production as the convergence of writing and building in six of Semper’s lesser known works, developed during his tenure in Zurich, Switzerland, between 1854 and 1871.

  
  

  Book: 324 pages, 6.0 x 9.0 in. (Trade Paperback), perfect-bound, black and white interior
  ISBN: 1-4116-3391-1
  Publisher: Culicidae Architectural Press
  Copyright Year: © 2005 by Mikesch W. Muecke
  Language: English
  Edition: 1st. Edition 
• Essays on Architecture and Other Topics, 06/24/2005

  Essays on Architecture contains twelve texts (with illustrations) on a variety of topics that engage architecture, history, theory, philosophy, and popular culture.

  The book is organized into four thematic sections in which the author covers a wide range of ideas. The first section, Architecture and Mobility contains two essays, one on academic tourism and literary readings of Rome, the other an architectural AutoBiography that explores the intersection of personal mobility and recreational vehicles.

  In the second section, Philosophy and Aesthetics, the author examines the relations between the figure of the collector in Walter Benjamin's work, the role of the idyll in nineteenth-century representations of interiors in Germany, and the connections between beauty, ugliness, and caricature in the work of Karl Rosenkranz.

  The third section, Case Studies, investigates the contested terrain of Las Vegas and surrounding states with respect to water management, Koolhaas' design of Euralille as a series of knots, and the history and theory of Princeton University's architecture building.

  The four essays in the last section, History, Theory, and Practice in Gottfried Semper's Work, range from the effect of Semper's ideas on architects in the US, via two comparative design studies (Semper and Schinkel, Semper and Paxton) to a detailed examination of one of Semper's most unusual works, the Treichler laundry ship.

  A bibliography and index are included.

• PhotoGraphs - Written Light, 06/24/2005