SAH David Brownlee Dissertation Award for Davide Spina

Davide Spina's Doctoral Dissertation "Christian Democrats, Architecture and Capitalist Development in Post-War Italy: Società Generale Immobiliare (SGI), 1945–75", supervised by Prof. Dr. Laurent Stalder, has been awarded the SAH David B. Brownlee Dissertation Award

David Brownlee Dissertation Award, 2023 Committee:

Davide Spina’s close archival study of a major Italian real estate developer, SGI, shines a bright light on the under-examined subject of patronage in postwar Italy and revises our understanding of this era in Italy. The committee found his dissertation impressively and creatively researched. He tapped into a neglected trove of materials, conducted interviews, and drew both on high theory and popular culture to produce a convincing account of how vital this Vatican-controlled developer was in recasting the architectural landscape of postwar Rome. For example, in a case study of the Rome Hilton, designed originally by Gordon Bunshaft in the early 1950’s, Spina deftly recreates a building environment of immense complexity, in which city officials, the Hilton corporation, the local architectural community, the Vatican, and the developer negotiated through design. In Spina’s words, the Hilton Hotel functioned “as the cinematic stand-in for Christian Democratic hegemony.” Spina’s account is engaging, accessible, lucidly written, and witty. He transforms seemingly dry contractor records into a riveting and subtle account of how buildings were built in this period and the ideological tempest that surrounded them. It is conceptually agile, mature scholarship, which moves fluidly between bricks and mortar, and larger issues of architectural discourse and historiography to bring often overlooked forces in the building industry to life.

Davide Spina's research work has already received various recognitions:

The SAH David B. Brownlee Dissertation Award

In April 2018 three former students of David Brownlee approached the SAH president and the SAH executive director with the desire to establish a new award that would honor the distinguished career of David B. Brownlee, the Frances Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor of Art History at the University of Pennsylvania.

The SAH David B. Brownlee Dissertation Award recognizes the most outstanding doctoral dissertation in the field of architectural history, commendable for its thorough primary research, original analysis, and exceptional writing. In recognition of Professor Brownlee’s wide-ranging interests, there is no geographical or chronological limitation placed on the subject, but the dissertation must be originally written in English (no translations). The SAH David B. Brownlee Dissertation Award is comprised of a framed certificate and citation, along with a stipend up to $1,000 designated for the recipient to travel to the SAH Annual International Conference to receive the Awa

The recipients of the SAH David B. Brownlee Dissertation Award will be announced at the SAH Annual International Conference and documented in the SAH Newsletter and the September issue of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (JSAH).

Website: external page https://www.sah.org/jobs-and-careers/sah-awards/sah-david-b.-brownlee-dissertation-award

Society of Architectural Historians (SAH)

Founded in 1940, the Society of Architectural Historians is an international nonprofit membership organization that promotes the study, interpretation and conservation of architecture, design, landscapes and urbanism worldwide. SAH serves a network of local, national and international institutions and individuals who, by profession or interest, focus on the built environment and its role in shaping contemporary life. SAH promotes meaningful public engagement with the history of the built environment through advocacy efforts, print and online publications, and local, national and international programs.