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Alejandro Zaera-Polo has been removed from his faculty position as Princeton continues its row with the former SoA dean

2021-10-04T19:34:00-04:00

Princeton and former School of Architecture Dean Alejandro Zaera-Polo are officially cutting ties as the 57-year-old has been formally dismissed from his faculty position following a unanimous vote by an Ad-Hoc committee of the university’s board of trustees this summer.

Zaera-Polo served as Dean of Princeton's School of Architecture for a brief period from 2012 until 2014, when he resigned following allegations of plagiarism that eventually led to a defamation lawsuit brought by Zaera-Polo against the university, which then made an unsuccessful attempt to dismiss the four-part claim against itself and President Christopher Eisgruber.

Zaera-Polo had continued on as a faculty member despite the surrounding controversy.

In response to his dismissal, Zaera-Polo has issued a 5-hour “Gonzo-style” polemic against the university in which the AZPML founder touches on various topics including “Interpretation Trumps Evidence”, “Identity Politics”, and “The Post-truth University.” The Spanish...

Alejandro Zaera-Polo sues Princeton University for libel

2016-05-26T14:36:00-04:00

Former Princeton architecture dean Alejandro Zaera-Polo filed a lawsuit to the Superior Court of Mercer County earlier this week against Princeton University, claiming that the school is guilty of libel and breach of contract. Zaera-Polo was asked to resign from his position by President Christopher L. Eisgruber in October 2014 due to plagiarism allegations in texts that were used in the Exhibition Elements of Architecture at the 2014 Venice Biennale.

In an official response last March, Zaera-Polo wrote that his purpose of removing the academic citations in the texts was to create a more casual narrative for the general public, and that he “explicitly [states] the non-academic nature of the document, its speculative and polemic intent, and its non-suitability as a source.”

Neither the Superior Court of Mercer County's records department nor Zaera-Polo's attorneys have provided a copy of his complaint, reports say. Princeton University issued this statement regarding Zaera-Polo's pend...

Zaera-Polo responds to alleged Wikipedia plagiarism in Biennale texts

2015-03-17T14:16:00-04:00

Explaining his move, he said that, while it was ‘unorthodox in an academic setting’, the citations were removed to give the publication more relevance to the general public and less of an academic tone. [...] In a letter to Princeton University, Koolhaas defended Zaera-Polo, saying that the publication was intended as a ‘polemic, not an academic document’.

Alejandro Zaera-Polo resigned from his deanship at Princeton University's School of Architecture back in October, amidst rumors of plagiarism in texts supplied to Rem Koolhaas' 2014 Venice Biennale. Now, in a letter published on his website, Zaera-Polo clarifies the rumors, and addresses the precise incidents of alleged plagiarism. His position, one supported by Rem Koolhaas, maintains that as the Biennale's texts were intended to be "polemic", "non-academic" and "speculative", they did not require the same academic citation standards that a university like Princeton would require.

See the full text of Zaera-Polo's statement below, titled "A Clarifying Statement", courtesy of architectsjournal.co.uk:

To whom it may concern:

I am making the following statement in order to finally clarify the reasons for my sudden resignation from the Post of Dean of the School of Architecture at Princeton University on October 30 2014. This is now imperative not just in respect to the rumors spread on t...

Let's talk about money in architecture

2015-02-25T13:00:00-05:00

Although money is often seen as a taboo topic in art schools, a group of Yale alumni is urging professional architects to place more value on the relationship between money and architecture. The Yale Architectural Journal’s latest edition, titled “Money,” discusses the controversial role of money in the field of architecture. [...] ranging from Frank Gehry to Yale School of Architecture Professor Keller Easterling, the issue urges architects to reconsider the financial side of their work.

More about Perspecta 47: Money here.

Big businesses and baby steps: Weekly News Round-Up for September 22 and 29, 2014

2014-10-06T18:43:00-04:00

Friday, October 3:

Eisenhower Memorial clears key hurdle on Gehry design: In a positive step for the Memorial's Approving Process Odyssey, the National Capital Planning Commission has OK'd the Commission on Fine Arts (the other federal body that must approve the design) to vote on the Memorial.
Where are the women? Measuring progress on gender in architecture: A series of infographics on the representation of women in architectural practice and education, courtesy of ACSA.

Wednesday, October 1:

Guggenheim plans New York expansion… again: Not for more art space (Gehry tried that before) but for offices.
Zaera-Polo steps down as dean of Princeton's School of Architecture: From the press release: "the school's former dean, Professor Stanley T. Allen, will serve as acting dean until a permanent successor is appointed and that Professor Allen will chair the search for the new dean."
Tiny Spanish Island to be First Energy Self-Sufficient Island: The 10,000 population island will use renewable e...

Zaera-Polo steps down as dean of Princeton's School of Architecture

2014-10-01T12:01:00-04:00

Alejandro Zaera-Polo has stepped down from the deanship of Princeton University's School of Architecture to devote greater attention to his research and other professional activities.

h/t - Tyler Hopf

Build it and they will come: Princeton architecture at the Venice Biennale

2014-08-04T14:39:00-04:00

This year's Venice Architecture Biennale, an international showcase of trends and research, showcases the work of a number of Princeton faculty and students. It marks the greatest number of invitations Princeton has received to participate in the Biennale, reflecting the University's strength in pioneering research. "Much like other art biennales, its purpose is to present the current panorama of the discipline," said Alejandro Zaera-Polo, dean of Princeton's School of Architecture.

Alejandro Zaera-Polo Architecture to Design Future Home of Locarno Film Festival

2013-01-28T14:12:00-05:00

The proposal Palazzo del Cinema di Locarno by London-based AZPA, Alejandro Zaera-Polo Architecture (former FOA, Foreign Office Architects) has been selected as winner in the international competition to rethink the site of the Film Festival in Locarno, Switzerland.

Alejandro Zaera-Polo named dean of Princeton's School of Architecture

2012-03-27T18:54:00-04:00

Alejandro Zaera-Polo has been a visiting lecturer in architecture at Princeton since 2008. His appointment as dean, which requires approval of the University's Board of Trustees, will be effective July 1. He will succeed Stan Allen, the school's dean since 2002, who will step down at the end of this academic year to return to full-time teaching and architectural design.

Book launch The Sniper's Log. Architectural Chronicles of Generation X, by Alejandro Zaera-Polo

2012-03-16T00:36:00-04:00

This compilation of texts written since 1986 reveals a parallel activity to Alejandro Zaera-Polo’s professional life. The book is like a sniper’s log, a register of events and accumulated experience, for the purpose of identifying tendencies and assessing performance, rather than to establish truths.

This looks like an interesting book.