Steven Lauritano is an art and architectural historian, and assistant professor at Leiden University. His research examines the intersection of architecture and antiquarianism, the history of architectural preservation, and the exchanges that have animated architectural-history-writing and design. Before joining the faculty of Leiden University in 2020, he earned a Master of Architecture from Princeton University and a PhD in the history of art from Yale University. Subsequently, he served as the Walter B. Sanders Fellow at Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the Panofsky Fellow at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich. His ongoing research projects include: a book manuscript on Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s diverse experiments with spolia and architectural re-use, a study of the enigmatic vases in J.B. Fischer von Erlach’s Entwurff einer historischen Architectur, and a history of African architecture as it was collected and displayed in the twentieth century.

More information about Steven Lauritano

Fields of interest

• modern and early modern architectural history
• history of antiquarianism
• history of architectural preservation
• history of architectural collecting
• history of art history

Research

Ongoing research projects include:
- a book manuscript on the diverse experiments with spolia and architectural re-use conducted by Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and his contemporaries during the nineteenth century.
- a study of the enigmatic vases depicted in J.B. Fischer von Erlach's Entwurff einer historischen Architectur (1721), the first universal, visual history of world monuments.
- a history of African architecture as it was collected and displayed in the twentieth century.
- an investigation of contemporary artists who site their works within infrastructural systems to make these systems more visible, and to increase critical awareness of their functionality and societal impact.

Grants and awards

• - Leiden University Museums, Collections, and Society Grant (2022)
• - NRO Comenius Teaching Fellowship (2022)
• - Prototyping Tomorrow Grant, Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning, University of Michigan (2019)
• - Panofsky Fellowship, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (2018)

Curriculum Vitae 

Steven Lauritano earned a professional degree in architecture (M.Arch) from the Princeton University School of Architecture in 2009. He continued his studies in the history of art and architecture at Yale University, earning a doctorate in 2016 with a dissertation on the Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and nineteenth-century concepts of spolia and architectural re-use.
Lauritano was selected as the 2017-2018 Walter B. Sanders Research Fellow at the Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and was subsequently hired to teach architectural history courses in the undergraduate and masters programs.
Lauritano joined the faculty of Leiden University in 2020 as the University Lecturer for architectural history. Alongside his various research projects, he has devoted time to pedagogical experimentation and academic innovation, receiving a Comenius Teaching Fellowship in 2022. With this funding, he developed virtual, three-dimensional study materials and incorporated 3D-scanning exercises into several of his courses to encourage student interaction with local collections and monuments.

Publications