This interview traces Beatriz Colomina’s upbringing in a family of architects in Spain and her education in Valencia and Barcelona during the final years of the Franco regime. At Barcelona, architectural study, political struggle, and Italian theory were closely intertwined. She discusses the influence of Manfredo Tafuri, her independent engagement with Walter Benjamin, her early teaching in urban history, and her involvement with Carrer de la Ciutat.
After moving to New York, Colomina developed a more interdisciplinary approach at the New York Institute for the Humanities. Her research at Columbia and the Fondation Le Corbusier led her to examine Adolf Loos, Le Corbusier, and architecture’s relationship to photography, publicity, and mass media. She also reflects on finding her critical voice through 9H, her involvement with the IAUS, Revisions, and Assemblage, and the network formed around the 1988 ACSA conference. Although associated with the theoretical debates of the period, she emphasizes Benjamin’s influence rather than a direct allegiance to poststructuralism.