Biography
Aliki Economides received interdisciplinary training in architecture, in architectural history and theory, and in the history of science. Her research and teaching focus primarily on three interrelated themes, namely: the roles played by the built and natural environment in the construction of identity; the profound interrelationships between social and spatial inequalities; and the history, theory, and contemporary practice of ornament in architecture. Throughout 2016 Aliki was Scholar-in-Residence at McGill University’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Montréal (CIRM) where she continues to be an Associate Member. Her research has also been supported by the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Rockefeller Archive Center, and the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH).
Research Interests
- global history & theory of 19thC – 21stC architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism
- identity and race vis-à-vis the built environment
- social inequalities and/as spatial inequalities
- ornament, style and the decorative arts, 19thC – 21stC
Education
Ph.D. History & Theory of Architecture (Harvard University)
M.A. History of Science (Harvard University)
M.Arch (McGill University)
B.Arch (University of Toronto)
Academic Appointments
2018 - Assistant Professor, Laurentian University, McEwen School of Architecture
2017 Sessional Lecturer, McGill University, Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture
2016-17 Professeure invitée, Université de Montréal, École d'architecture
2016 Sessional Lecturer, Concordia University, Department of Art History
2015-16 Tutrice au projet final [M.Arch Thesis Advisor], Université de Montréal, École d'architecture
On The Web
CIRM | CRIEM https://www.mcgill.ca/centre-montreal/members/aliki-economides
Academia https://laurentian.academia.edu/AlikiEconomides
Research
Research - Creation
Paul Carvalho and Aliki Economides. Une Tour sur la Montagne : l’architecture d’Ernest Cormier et sa vie avec Clorinthe Perron [A Tower on the Mountain: the architecture of Ernest Cormier and his life with Clorinthe Perron]. Directed by Paul Carvalho. Montréal: Perception Films Inc. for ICI Radio-Canada Télé, 2020. DVD (52 mins).
The original French version with English subtitles may be viewed on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/732297768
The original French version is available on Radio-Canada's DocHumanité site: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/doc-humanite/site/episodes/519907/ernest-cormier-clorinthe-perron
Selected Public Lectures and Conferences
2021 Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) Annual International Conference [virtual]
Chair: “Open Session”
2021 109th Annual Meeting Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) [virtual]
Session Moderator: “Design Process and Methods”
2021 Centre de recherches interdisciplinaires en études montréalaises (CRIEM/CIRM), Université McGill
Moderator: “Labo F M-R – Patrimoine”
2021 Third Age Learning - Guelph [virtual]
Invited Lecture: “The Mountain, the Monument, and the Muse”
2019 Conference of the Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC), Québec City, QC
Paper (with Kate Morawietz): “Engagements with the Matter of the Berlin Wall”
2019 Centre de recherches interdisciplinaires en études montréalaises (CRIEM/CIRM), Université McGill
Speaker-panelist for: « Conférence-Expérience Émouvoir : Aménager – Expérience et Innovation d’un Quartier »
2018 European Association for Urban History (EAUH) International Conference, Rome, Italy
Session Chair: ‘Cosmopolitanism, Citizenship, and the City (19th to 21st centuries)’
2018 71st Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH), St Paul, Minnesota, USA
Paper: “Skin, or, the Enveloping Tactics of Architectural Ornament”
2017 The Wave: Re-imagining the Constitution | La vague : ré-imaginons la constitution
An interdisciplinary colloquium organized by the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada that took place simultaneously in Halifax, Montréal, London, Winnipeg, and Vancouver on October 28.
Moderator for "world café" format conversations on: ‘Citizenship and Cultural Diversity' [in French]
2017 Colloque sur le patrimoine immobilier judiciaire [Colloquium on Judicial Built Heritage], Montréal
Paper : « Ernest Cormier et l’édifice qui porte son nom »
2017 85e Congrès de l’Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas), Montréal
Paper : « L’Autoroute Ville-Marie: entre vision monumentale et exclusion socio-spatiale »
2017 105th College Art Association Annual Conference (CAA), New York
Paper: “The House, the Self, and the ‘Total Work of Art’ ”
2016 13th International Conference of the European Association for Urban History (EAUH), Helsinki, Finland
Paper: “New York City, World Capital”
2015 University of Edinburgh, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA), Edinburgh, Scotland
Public Lecture: “On Collective Identity and its Edification”
2015 Buell Dissertation Colloquium, Columbia University, New York
Paper: “America is also française: building the Université de Montréal, constructing French-Canadian nationalism”
2013 IDEA@UdeM: International Doctoral Encounters in Architecture @ Université de Montréal Colloquium, Université de Montréal, École d’architecture, Montréal
Opening Keynote: “The Current State and Stakes of the Question of Ornament”
Awards
Recent Grants and Fellowships
2019 Laurentian University Research Fund (LURF)
2019 Rogers Documentary Fund (Producer Paul Carvalho, Perception Films)
2018 Radio-Canada Production Contract, funded by Ici Radio in conjunction with the Canadian Film Fund (Producer: Paul Carvalho, Perception Films)
2018 Rockefeller Archive Center Research Stipend
2018 Society of Architectural Historians’ George R. Collins Fellowship
2017 Society of Architectural Historians’ Opler Grant for Emerging Scholars
2017 Radio-Canada Development Contract, funded by Ici Radio in conjunction with the Canadian Film Fund (Producer: Paul Carvalho, Perception Films)
2016 Research Residency, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Montréal (CIRM), McGill University
Teaching
Graduate
ARCH 5316 Faculty Research Seminar
ARCH 5555 Thesis Studio 1
ARCH 5565 Thesis Studio 2
M.Arch Thesis Advising
Undergraduate
ARCH 3515 Atelier 6: Bâtiment du nord 2
ARCH 4505 Studio 7: Integrated Design 1 & Atelier 7: Design complet 1
ARCH 4515 Studio 8: Integrated Design 2 & Atelier 8: Design complet 2
Coordinator, 4th year integrated design studio
Publications
Selected Recent Publications
Economides, Aliki. « La beauté des villes ». Cahiers numériques du CRIEM / CIRM's Digital Notebooks 4, n° 5 ‘Émouvoir’ (July 2021): 36-43. https://issuu.com/criem-cirm.arts/docs/amenager_emouvoir
Economides, Aliki. “The Cormier Residence in Relief.” In The Routledge Companion to Art Deco, edited by Bridget Elliott and Michael Windover, 39-66. New York: Routledge, 2019.
Economides, Aliki and Colin MacWhirter. “L’autoroute Ville-Marie: vision monumentale et division sociale.” [The Ville Marie Expressway: monumental vision and social division]. In Vivre ensemble à Montréal: Épreuves et convivialités, edited by Annick Germain, Valérie Amiraux, and Julie-Anne Boudreau, 155-162. Montréal: Atelier 10, 2017.
Economides, Aliki. “L’Architecture, l’urbanisme, et le « droit à la ville ».” [Architecture, Urbanism, and the ‘right to the city’]. In Exposition architecture 2017. Catalogue de l’exposition des finissants de la Maîtrise en architecture de l’Université de Montréal. Montréal: Université de Montréal, 2017.
Books in Progress
Economides, Aliki. Constructing Identity: Ernest Cormier and the Project of Modernity.
Shelekpayev, Nari and Aliki Economides, eds. Capital Cities in Imperial and Post-Imperial Contexts, 1880-1960. Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh University Press [anticipated 2022].