Spring 2024 GGR Recipient
Bernardo Menezes (Architecture)
My doctoral research examines the role of beauty in landscape architecture theoretical discourse as it emerged as a field of studies in U.S. academia during the early decades of the twentieth century. In addition to Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – the world’s first institution to offer an academic degree in landscape architecture (1900) –the American Academy in Rome plays a vital part in my narrative, having welcomed fellows in landscape architecture since 1915. Based at the Academy, fellows used their time to visit and document iconic landscape and architectural features in Rome and throughout Europe. These records comprised written notes, photographs, sketch plans, pastels, watercolors, and detailed, measured drawings. Combined, the fellows’ work offered a substantial study of local practices that, once back home, highly enriched design teaching in the United States. My project abroad aims to provide a detailed insight into the materials in the Academy’s library and archives, collecting evidence informing us of the establishment, developments, and outcomes of this fellowship program and its contributions to shaping the early landscape architecture theoretical discourse. In addition, it aims to pair and contrast selected archival evidence with an in-person recognition and photographic survey of key sites around Rome, Florence, and Viterbo. Whenever possible, I will retake their old photographs and register the current state of the depicted sites and objects, comparing what fellows saw and what remains.