Fabiola López-Durán

Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Adopting a transnational and interdisciplinary perspective, Fabiola López-Durán’s research and teaching focuses on the history and theory of modern and contemporary European and Latin American art and architecture. Her forthcoming book, Eugenics in the Garden: Architecture, Medicine and Landscape from France to Latin America in the Early Twentieth Century, investigates a particular strain of eugenics that, at the turn of the twentieth century, moved from the realms of medicine and law to design, architecture, and urban planning—becoming a critical instrument in the crafting of modernity. Her work analyzes the cross-pollination of ideas and mediums—science, politics and aesthetics—that informed the process of modernization on both sides of the Atlantic, with an emphasis on Latin America.

López-Durán earned her Ph.D in the History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture and Art from MIT. Prior to joining the Rice University faculty, she was the 2009-2011 Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities at the Department of History of Art at UC Berkeley. Her awards include predoctoral fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, Dedalus Foundation, CLIR, Harvard Center for European Studies, Camargo Foundation, Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Fulbright Program. Her work has been published in Europe, Asia, South America and the United States.

Select Publications:

Books:

• López-Durán, Fabiola. Eugenics in the Garden: Architecture, Medicine and Landscape from France to Latin America in the Early Twentieth Century. (Forthcoming 2012)

• López-Durán, Fabiola. Felice Varini. Points of View, Baden, Switzerland: Lars Muller Publishers, 2004. (English and French Edition)

Book Chapters, Scholarly Articles and Exhibition Catalogues:

·         López-Durán, Fabiola and Nikki Moore. “Ut-opiates: Rethinking Nature” in Architectural Design (Profile 208: Eco Redux: Design Remedies for an Ailing Planet), Vol 80, No 6. New York and London: John Wiley & Sons, (November-December 2010).

·         López-Durán, Fabiola. “The Machine, the Fossil, and the Garden: Identity and Mimicry in the Architecture of Hérault-Arnod” in Nature, Body, Skin; Architectures by Hérault-Arnod. Paris, France: Editions Norma, 2010 (French-English Edition).

·         López-Durán, Fabiola. “The Machine, the Fossil, and the Garden: Identity and Mimicry in the Architecture of Hérault-Arnod” in monography Nature, Body, Skin; Architectures by Hérault-Arnod. Dalian, China: A&J International Design Media Limited, 2009 (Chinese and English Edition).

• López-Durán, Fabiola and Nikki Moore. FV. au 18 Rue Antoine Bourdelle. Paris, France: Editions Paris-Musées, 2006.