Deborah Ascher Barnstone
Professor
School of Architecture
University of Technology Sydney
Australia
Biography
Professor Deborah Ascher Barnstone is an international architectural historian who has held positions at universities in Europe and the US. She is principal of Ascher Barnstone Architects. Her primary research interests are 20th and 21st century German and Dutch art and architecture and classical modernism. Deborah’s work interrogates the origins of classical modernism and explores the relationships between art, architecture, and culture more broadly. A particular interest is in dismantling historical myths by re-examining received histories in order to uncover alternate interpretations of the past. Much of her work is focused on transparency in architecture, based on her observation of glass architecture in Germany during the post-World War II era. She has published on the history of the environmental movement in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Her new book, Beyond the Bauhaus: Cultural Debates in Breslau, 1918–1933 is forthcoming with University of Michigan Press in 2015.
Research Interest
German and Dutch Architectural History, First Generation Modernism, Sustainable Design
