Branden Hookway (1971–2021)

Branden Hookway is a cultural theorist whose interests include architecture, urbanism, design, and art; philosophy and critical theory; history of technology and science; organizational theory and human factors; and media theory and new media. His recent book from MIT Press, Interface, released April 2014, discusses issues of subject formation, agency, power, and control, within contexts that include technology, politics, and the social role of games. He is the author of Pandemonium: The Rise of Predatory Locales in the Postwar World (Princeton Architectural Press, 1999), and is currently working on a theoretical treatment of the cockpit as a prototype of human-machine interaction and digital culture. He has worked in architecture, graphic design, and industrial design, and holds an M.Arch. from Rice University and a Ph.D. in the history and theory of architecture from Princeton University.

Academic Research/Specialty Areas

  • History and theory of architecture, urbanism, design, and art with a focus on the 20th century
  • Critical theory and media theory
  • History of technology and science

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Classes (Selected)

  • ARCH 3819/5819 Special Topics In HAUD: Embodiment and Apparatus: Technological Lineages of the PresentThis course addresses pertinent issues relative to the subject of History of Architecture and Urbanism. The instructor(s) of the course are drawn from the permanent and visiting faculty who may either broadly or narrowly define the course's scope and content. For precise content, please see the Architecture Department webpage.
  • ARCH 3308/6308 Special Topics in the Theory of Architecture: Flight and Fight: Spaces of Information and ArchitectureThis course addresses pertinent issues relative to the subject of Theory of Architecture. The instructor(s) of the course are drawn from the permanent and visiting faculty who may either broadly or narrowly define the course's scope and content. For precise content, please see the Architecture Department webpage.
  • ARCH 3308/6308 Special Topics in the Theory of Architecture: System, Event, Architecture: Computational Environments from Postwar to PresentThis course addresses pertinent issues relative to the subject of Theory of Architecture. The instructor(s) of the course are drawn from the permanent and visiting faculty who may either broadly or narrowly define the course's scope and content. For precise content, please see the Architecture Department webpage.
  • ARCH 3308/6308 Special Topics in the Theory of Architecture: Architectures of Control and the Politics of TechnologyThis course addresses pertinent issues relative to the subject of Theory of Architecture. The instructor(s) of the course are drawn from the permanent and visiting faculty who may either broadly or narrowly define the course's scope and content. For precise content, please see the Architecture Department webpage.
  • ART 3112 Interfaces/Production of Space

Publications (Selected)

  • Interface, Cambridge: MIT Press (April, 2014)
  • "Psychological Apparatus, Automatism, and the Making of the Experimental Subject." Theory, Culture & Society (forthcoming, 2018).
  • Pandemonium: The Rise of Predatory Locales in the Postwar World (Princeton Architectural Press, 1999)
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