Expertise: History of Architecture; 19^th & 20^th c. Architecture; American Architecture

After a decade in progress, Clausen’s book on the Pan Am Building (1958-1963) in New York, was published in December ’04. The book focused on the role of the massive skyscraper in modernism; it contends as its central thesis that the Pan Am Building, designed by leading modernists Walter Gropius and Pietro Belluschi and built in the airspace over the Grand Central Station, as much as anything spurred the reaction against modernism, paving the way for the postmodernism of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Since the book’s publication, she has shifted her research to Paris. In conjunction with a course she teaches each spring on the architecture and urbanism of Paris, her current work focuses on the Tour Montparnasse (1959-1973), Paris’s one and only skyscraper, its role in presidential politics, and the impact the gargantuan building had on the historic fabric of the city.

 Over and beyond her specific research interests, she is interested in exploring the potential of GIS (Geographic Information System) technology in architectural history, and to this end is pursuing a collaborative project with a librarian in the International Studies Computer Services, Suzzallo Library, and a graduate student in the Geography department at the U.W. Their project seeks to incorporate GIS into the existing online database of digitized images, the Cities/Buildings Database, to broaden its research capabilities for scholars throughout the world.

Clausen regularly teaches an introductory level history of architecture course, upper division courses in American, 19^th and 20^th c. Architecture, and a course on Paris, which is joint-listed in Architecture and European Studies. She alternates the teaching of two graduate seminars, one in American Architecture, another in 20^th c. Architecture, the specific subject of which change each year. Recent topics have included Modern Chinese Architecture; Paris: Art and Architecture; Histories, Theories, and Methodologies of Architectural History; Contemporary Japanese Architects. Scheduled for spring is a seminar on the globalization of skyscrapers.

Selected Publications

“e-Scholarship in Architectural History,” LITA Guide to e-Scholarship, American Library Association, publication expected June 2005

The Pan Am Building and the Shattering of the Modernist Dream, MIT Press, 2004

Pietro Belluschi. Modern American Architect. MIT Press, 1994; ppbk ed. 1999

Frantz Jourdain, Art Nouveau Theory & Criticism, and the Samaritaine, E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands, 1987.

“Infopools und “atmende” Bucherregale” [Koolhaas, Seattle Public Library], Bauwelt, v. 29, 2003, 22-25.

"Gehry's Experience Music Project in Seattle," Bauwelt, 42/00, Nov.2000, 36-43.

"The Pasadena Art Center, and the Curious Case of Craig Ellwood,” Casabella, #664, February 1999.

Clausen & Christiansen, "The Michael Graves Portland Building and its Problems," Architronic, April 1997