Faculty Profile

Branden Hookway holds a Ph.D. in architecture from Princeton University and an M.Arch. from Rice University. His research interests include the history and theory of architecture, design and art; cultural theory and philosophy; and the history and theory of science, technology, media, and information. His dissertation, Interface: A Genealogy of Mediation and Control, presents a theoretical framework for the interface as it defines both moments of separation and augmentation between human and machine, while tracing notions of the interface across a range of subject areas, from fluid dynamics and experimental psychology to philosophy and information science (to be published by MIT Press under the title Interface). Current work includes Cockpit, Test, Vertigo, a study of the airplane cockpit as a prototypical space of interactivity. He is author of Pandemonium: The Rise of Predatory Locales in the Postwar World, and his essays and editorial work have appeared in books and journals including Mutations, Cold War Hothouses, Log, AD, and DD (Design Document). He has taught at the Pratt Institute and Rice University and has worked in architecture and graphic design.