New Book | Detailing Worlds
From Bloomsbury Publishing:
Eric Bellin, Detailing Worlds: A Conceptual History of Architectural Detail (London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2025), 376 pages, ISBN: 978-1350204379, $115.
In the 21st century, the word ‘detail’ appears constantly in discussions of building, and we use it in many different ways-yet just over 250 years ago, ‘detail’ meant nothing at all particular to the work of architects, engineers, or builders. Detailing Worlds is the first book to examine the origins and evolution of ‘detail’ as a concept with meanings specific to practices of building. By exploring how past meanings and roles were ascribed to detail in different ‘worlds of practice’—those of academics, technicians, students, engineers, and architects—Detailing Worlds looks to the future, illuminating the ways disciplinary knowledge and the concepts on which it is based evolve and change over time. It is a story about how such concepts are slowly but constantly reconceived, redefined, and transformed by individuals as they interact with one another, and how this process is shaped by the ever-changing sociocultural and technological dimensions of the world around us. Richly illustrated with more than 200 images—including figures from rare texts, archival student drawings, and practitioners’ construction documents from the 18th through 20th centuries—Detailing Worlds ventures to tell the history of a disciplinary-specific idea and offer insights about how we think and speak about the practice of building today.
Eric Bellin is an Assistant Professor at Thomas Jefferson University’s College of Architecture and the Built Environment in Philadelphia, where he teaches courses in design, representation, and history. In addition to his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, he holds March and MS in Architectural Pedagogy degrees from the University of Florida.
c o n t e n t s
1 Introduction: The Question of Detail
2 The Academic
3 The Technician
4 The Student
5 The Engineer
6 The Architect
7 Conclusion: On the Practice of Detailing
Index
Symposium | Opus Architectonicum
From ArtHist.net:
Opus Architectonicum: A Symposium Honoring Joseph Connors
Online and in-person, Notre Dame Rome, Roma, 12 May 2025
Organized by Silvia Dall’Olio and Susan Klaiber
This international symposium marks the eightieth birthday of the distinguished architectural historian Joseph Connors and his retirement from active teaching. Currently the Michael C. Duda Visiting Professor at the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture, Connors has shaped the study of Baroque art, architecture, and urbanism—particularly of Borromini and the city of Rome—as a scholar, teacher, and mentor for half a century. In his role as a visionary institutional leader, Connors has fostered innovative work in early modern Italian studies, the wider humanities, and the visual and performing arts.
The symposium gathers European colleagues and former students to celebrate this cherished friend. Presentations will explore issues in the history of art and architecture, their methodologies, and historiography, all using Joe’s personal ‘Opus Architectonicum’ as a point of departure. Attendance is free, but registration required at this link. The symposium will also be live streamed; those interested in following the symposium online should register at the same link on the symposium webpage, checking the box for the video link rather than in-person attendance.
p r o g r a m
9.00 Welcome — Silvia Dall’Olio (Director, Notre Dame Rome), David Mayernik (Notre Dame Architecture), and Susan Klaiber (co-organizer)
9.20 Session 1 | Celebrating Joseph Connors
Chair: Susan Klaiber (independent, Switzerland)
• Ingrid D. Rowland (University of Notre Dame) — Laudatio
• Barbara Jatta (Musei Vaticani) — Lievin Cruyl and the Rome of Alexander VII
10.30 Coffee
11.00 Session 2 | The Rome of Borromini
Chair: Sabina de Cavi (Universidade Nova, Lisboa)
• Augusto Roca De Amicis (Università di Roma La Sapienza) —Rivedendo i Santi Luca e Martina: Architettura come sintassi
• Alberto Bianco (Archivio della Congregazione dell’Oratorio di San Filippo Neri) — Virgilio Spada: Il progetto della Casa dei Filippini e l’identità oratoriana
• Fabio Barry (Warburg Institute) — St. Teresa in Ecstasy: Sacred or Profane Love?
12.45 Lunch break
14.00 Session 3 | Encounters with Joe and Borromini
Chair: Heather Hyde Minor (University of Notre Dame)
• Helen Hills (University of York) — Meeting Joe, via video
• Susan Klaiber (independent, Switzerland) — Borromini and Guarini: Master and Pupil?
• Sabina de Cavi (Universidade Nova, Lisboa) — ‘Borrominismi’ a Lisbona: Osservazioni preliminari sull’impatto dell’Opus Architectonicum in Portogallo
15.45 Break
16.15 Session 4 | Oltre Borromini
Chair: Fabio Barry (Warburg Institute)
• Elisabeth Kieven (Bibliotheca Hertziana) — About a Drawing by Carlo Marchionni: Delight and Despair
• Heather Hyde Minor (University of Notre Dame) — Piranesi’s Imaginary Prisons
• Susanna Pasquali (Università di Roma La Sapienza) — Qualche domanda intorno a un caffè preso nel bar nel Cortile della Biblioteca, Palazzo del Belvedere Vaticano
18.00 Reception
Enfilade 
leave a comment