Alberto Pérez-Gómez

Alberto Pérez-Gómez was born in Mexico City where he studied architecture and practiced. He was awarded an M.A. and a Ph.D. by the University of Essex (England).  He has taught at London’s Architectural Association and at universities in Mexico, the US and Canada. In 1983 he became Director of Carleton University’s School of Architecture and in 1987 was appointed Bronfman Professor of Architectural History at McGill University in Montreal, where he founded the History and Theory Post-Professional (Master’s and Doctoral) Programs. He became Emeritus Professor in January, 2020.

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Alberto Pérez-Gómez’s research interests revolve around phenomenology, enactive cognitive science and hermeneutics in architecture. He continues to publish extensively in periodicals and chapters of books. A collection of his essays in two volumes titled Timely Meditations (RightAngle Intl.) was published in 2016. Over 25 years he edited with Stephen Parcell the collection in seven volumes titled CHORA: Intervals in the Philosophy of Architecture, including a total of 87 essays by 78 authors. His main books are still in print: Architecture and the Crisis of Modern Science (MIT Press, 1983) diagnosed the limitations of functionalist (instrumental) and formalist approaches in architecture; Polyphilo or The Dark Forest Revisited (1992) written in the form of an erotic tale, explored the emotional and cognitive dimensions of architectural space; Architectural Representation and the Perspective Hinge (1997), traced the history and theory of modern European architectural representation, locating the origins of contemporary instrumental techniques long before the so-called digital turn.

Built upon Love (2006) examined points of convergence between ethics and poetics in architectural history and philosophy, drawing conclusions for contemporary practice. His latest book, Attunement, Architectural Meaning after the Crisis of Modern Science (2016) examines the issue of atmosphere and its relationship to traditional concepts of place, harmony and stimmung, leading to an enquiry on the importance of narrative language in the generation of significant architecture.