Session at the Conference of the European Architectural History Network (EAHN)
Building Science – The City as a Site and Object of Knowledge-Making in the Early Modern Period
Datum: 18.06.2026, 10:00-12:00
Aarhus University
Building 1422 – 132
Room: Preben Hornung Stuen
The session aims to shed light on the city as a contact zone and as a subject and object of knowledge-making in the early modern period. In their introduction, Christine Beese and Nicole Falconi examine the role of surgeons and architects in establishing state-run health and education systems in Uppsala and Barcelona. Davide Martino’s article examines how increased water demand led to the development of technical expertise and the institutionalization of municipal hydraulic offices in Augsburg and Amsterdam. Giedrė Jarulaitienė analyzes the role of architect Johan Daniel Berlin in the construction of key educational institutions in Trondheim during the Age of Enlightenment, while Marc Nötges highlights the epistemic potential of early modern cityscapes as models of thought.
- Christine Beese and Nicole Falconi Müller, Ruhr-Universität Bochum: Introduction
- Davide Martino, Université Libre de Bruxelles: Terraqueous cities: the early modern art of governing water
- Giedrė Jarulaitienė, Independent Architectural Researcher & Cultural Heritage Manager, Drammen Municipality: Johan Daniel Berlin – Architect of Urban Enlightenment
- Marc Nötges, TU Kaiserslautern: Imagined cities, model worlds: Fiction, knowledge and the early modern city
