SUMMARY

This interview, Mark Jarzombek reflects on his journey from a childhood in Memphis to becoming a prominent cultural historian in architecture. He highlights how his early training in “New Criticism” at the University of Chicago fostered a practice of meticulous observation that continues to inform his work. His career path was often shaped by “fortuitous accidents,” such as a chance airplane meeting with Kenneth Frampton that led him to pursue a PhD at MIT, and a spontaneous encounter with Peter Eisenman. Jarzombek contrasts the “knowable” and concentrated intellectual space of the late 1970s with the expanded, internet-reliant landscape of today. He further critiques the modern pedagogical divide between architecture and urban planning, advocating for new intellectual frameworks that reconnect these disciplines through rigorous critique.