Recent Updates: The New School has released its academic plan for 2020-21 and a phased reopening plan for its New York campus. Please check the Parsons Paris website for information about our Paris campus. Learn more.

  • Faculty

  • Robert Kirkbride

    Dean of SCE & Professor of Architecture and Product Design

    Email
    kirkbride@newschool.edu

    Office Location
    L - Sheila C. Johnson Design Center - 2 West 13th Street

    Download vCard

    Robert Kirkbride

    Profile

    Robert Kirkbride is Dean of Parsons' School of Constructed Environments and Professor of Architecture and Product Design. Dr. Kirkbride has been director of studio ‘patafisico for 25 years, and is also Spokesperson and a founding Trustee for PreservationWorks, a non-profit organization for the adaptive reuse of Kirkbride Plan Hospitals. Robert’s work integrates scholarship and practice, exploring forms of knowledge and know-how that don’t quite fit; things that have been lost or overlooked, including everyday habits and their impressions on the built environment. Robert designed the Morbid Anatomy Museum, in Brooklyn, NY, with collaborator Anthony Cohn, and authored the award-winning multimedia online book, Architecture and Memory, which focuses on two Renaissance memory chambers. Dean Kirkbride has been a visiting scholar at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, and architect-in-residence at the Bogliasco Foundation in Genoa, Italy. At Parsons/The New School, where he recently received the University Distinguished Teaching Award, Dr. Kirkbride established the Giuseppe Zambonini Archive at the Kellen Design Archives, and is an ongoing contributor to Memory Studies. Robert received his Ph.D. in the History and Theory of Architecture from McGill University, and a Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Arts in Design of the Environment from the University of Pennsylvania.

    Robert's website may be visited at http://robertkirkbride.com. 

    Degrees Held

    Ph.D., History and Theory of Architecture, McGill University, 2003

    Master of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania, 1990

    Bachelor of Arts, University of Pennsylvania, Design of the Environment, 1988

    Professional Affiliation

     

     

    Recent Publications

    Design Projects: 

    Memorial stone for Giuseppe + Claudia Zambonini (2019): Cimitero Monumentale (Verona, Italy). Commission by C. Zambonini. Design complete. Fabrication in process. 

    Morbid Anatomy Museum (2014): Renovation of 4200 sq. ft. 3-story museum for anatomical curiosities, including a library for the permanent collection, an exhibition gallery, café and retail, a lecture space and workshop. Brooklyn (Gowanus), NY. In collaboration with Anthony Cohn, AIA.

    Caitlin O’Connor Apartment (2013-15): 720 sq. ft. residential renovation. Brooklyn (Park Slope), NY. Interiors, furnishings. 

    Books:

    Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro, XML Title List: American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Humanities E-Book, 2013 (launched in XML on ACLS site; reformatted from original multimedia open source and print versions published by Columbia University Press, 2008). http://www.gutenberg-e.org/kirkbride/ 

    Edited Volumes:

    Geometries of Rhetoric, Guest Editor, Nexus Network Journal, Vol. 12 No. 3 (Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag, Winter 2010) pp. 363-535. Online access: http://www.nexusjournal.com/volume-12/number-3--november-2010.html (Peer-reviewed journal)

    Select recent articles + at press:

    • 2019. “Mnemonics and Pneumatics,” a commissioned monograph on Rita McBride’s Bells and Whistles, a site-specific work at The New School’s University Center. For a book in development by The New School, I Stand in My Place With My Own Day Here: Site-Specific Works from The New School (2019), about 13 site-specific works in the New School art collection.  
    • 2018. “The Many Phantoms of Kirkbride Hospitals of the Insane,” Society of Architectural Historians 2017 International Conference (Glasgow, Scotland). To be included in Architectural Ghosts: 100 Hauntings, a book edited by K. Koehler and A. Lepine, in development. This article provided core material for 9 unique full lectures in F2017–S18, including the National Building Museum, Columbia University GSAPP Historical Preservation lecture series, Athens College, OH, Architecture Practice Talks lecture series at the 53rd Street NYPL (NYC).
    • 2017. "That Dark Cabinet: Building the Morbid Anatomy Museum," Montreal Architecture Review Vol. 3, ed. Olaf Recktenwald (Montreal: School of Architecture, McGill University) AT PRESS
    • 2016. "Introduction" to Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, R. Tagliareni and C. Mathews (Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing, Images of America Series, 2016) pp. 7-9.
    • 2016. "On Ornament and the Mind," Work 9, ed. Johanne Woodcock (NYC: Parsons AAS Interior Design, 2016) http://parsonsinteriorwork.org/ornament-and-the-mind/ (retrieved: 11/19/16) 
    • 2014. “Rhetoric and Architecture,” commissioned chapter for The Oxford Handbook of Rhetorical Studies, eds. M. MacDonald, A. McMurry (Oxford University Press, 2014).
    • 2014. “The Reading Chamber,” Architecture’s Appeal, eds. M. Neveu, Negin Djavaherian (London: Routledge, 2014) pp. 5-15.
    • 2014. “Upstream/Downstream,” Cuaderno 53: Centro de Estudios en Diseño y Comunicación, eds. M. Cuervo, M. Veneziani and S. Faerm (Buenos Aires: University of Palermo UP, 2014) pp. 215-29. ISSN 1668-0227
    • 2013. “Veils and Velocities,” Cuaderno 48: Centro de Estudios en Diseño y Comunicación, eds. Marisa Cuervo, Marcia Veneziani and Steven Faerm (Buenos Aires: University of Palermo UP, June 2013) pp. 177-90. ISSN 1668-5229. 

     

    Performances and Appearances

    2019 April 9

    Manchester, UK: (INVITED) Keynote Speaker         

    Title: Upstream-Downstream

    2nd International Conference on Sustainable Smart Manufacturing (S2M 2019)

     

    2019 March 28

    Parsons School of Constructed Environments: NYC (Producer + Presenter)

    Title: A Tale of Two Asylums: the Fall of Greystone and Rise of the Richardson Olmsted Campus

    Featuring: Paul Goldberger, Stephen Brockman, R. Kirkbride

    Spring 2019 Parsons SCE Public Programs

     

    2018 November 14

    Japan Society: NYC (INVITED)

    This Could Save Your Life: Collective Wisdom for Disaster Response

    Moderator for panel including Hirokazu Nagata, Ruttikorn Vuttikorn, Ikaputra

    Co-organized by The Japan Foundation Asia Center

     

    2018 November 3

    AIA/Center For Architecture: NYC (INVITED)

    Deans Roundtable, panelist with deans from Schools of Architecture in NYC and northeast region

     

    2018 October 26

    Quebec City, Canada (INVITED)

    Panelist – Around the World: Research Metrics

    ACSA 2018 Administrators Conference (Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture)

     

    2018 June 23

    Ohio University, Southeast Ohio History Center and Ohio Humanities: NYC (INVITED)

    Athens Asylum Sesquicentennial Speaker Series

    Site visit to protect the Athens Lunatic Asylum (The Ridges)

    Title: The Many Phantoms of the Kirkbride Hospitals for the Insane

    FB video link

     

    2018 June 16

    Otter Tail County Historical Society: Fergus Falls, MN (INVITED)

    Site visit to protect the Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center

    Title: The Many Phantoms of the Kirkbride Hospitals for the Insane

    FB video link

     

    2018 April 19

    Parsons School of Constructed Environments: NYC (Produced + Moderated)

    Spring 2018 Parsons SCE Public Programs

    Title: SCE New Faculty: Short Talks and Conversation

    Featuring: Dr. Sharon Sutton, Fiona Raby, Dr. Arta Yazdanseta, Carla Diana, Yu Nong Khew

     

    2018 April 14

    The New School Memory Studies: NYC (INVITED + Moderated)

    Space Unbound panel, featuring current New School graduate students and alumni

    Memory Rebound, 10th annual conference of the Memory Studies Group

     

    2018 April 12

    Roosevelt Island Historical Commission: NYC (INVITED)

    Spring 2018 Lecture Series co-sponsored with New York Public Libraries

    Title: The Many Phantoms of the Kirkbride Hospitals for the Insane

     

    2018 March 19

    The Pantheon Institute: Rome, Italy (INVITED)

    Architecture and Memory

            

    2018 February 28

    The New School University: NYC (INVITED)

    New School Memory Studies Group Spring 2018 Lecture Series

    Title: The Many Phantoms of the Kirkbride Hospitals for the Insane

    FB video link

     

    2018 February 22

    The New School University: NYC (INVITED)

    Short talk and panel conversation, Sleeping Bodies: Observation, Calibration and Control

    With co-presenters Jonathan Crary and Kenton Kroker

    Demitasse talk title: Bedside Manners at the Kirkbride Hospitals for the Insane

     

    2017 November 21

    APT (Architecture Practice Talks) Series: NYC (INVITED)

    co-sponsored with New York Public Libraries @ 53rd Street

    The Phantoms of Kirkbride Hospitals of the Insane (link)

     

    2017 November 4

    AIA/Center For Architecture: NYC (INVITED)

    Deans Roundtable, panelist with deans from Schools of Architecture in NYC and northeast region

     

    2017 November 2

    Columbia University GSAPP: NYC (INVITED)

     Historic Preservation Lecture Series

    The Many Phantoms of the Kirkbride Hospitals for the Insane (link)

    FB video link

     

    2017 October 26

    National Building Museum: Washington, D.C. (INVITED)

    Lecture for the exhibit “Saint Elizabeths: The Architecture of an Asylum”

    Title: The Many Phantoms of the Kirkbride Hospitals for the Insane (link)

    FB video link

     

    2017* June 8

    Glasgow, Scotland

    Society of Architectural Historians 2017 International Conference

    The Phantoms of Kirkbride Hospitals of the Insane

    Session, “Architectural Ghosts”

     

     

    Research Interests

    architecture,furniture,product design,memory + identity,sustainable design

    Awards And Honors

    University Distinguished Teaching Award, Parsons/The New School

    Gutenberg-e Prize, American Historical Association in conjunction with Columbia University Press; to publish multimedia open access e-book, Architecture and Memory

    CCA Fellow, Visiting Scholar: Canadian Centre for Architecture. Montréal, Canada

    Bogliasco Fellow, Architect-in-Residence: Liguria Study Center for the Arts and Humanities, Genoa, Italy

    Portfolio

    Project Website

    Current Courses

    Admin School Dean (Spring 2020)

    Independent Study

    Independent Study (Spring 2020)

    Poetics of Design

    Theories of Architectural Form

    Theories of Architectural Form (Spring 2020)

  • Take The Next Step

Submit your application

Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduates

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.