For my final project, I will be elaborating upon the research Sam and I have done for our team teaching assignment, involving architecture as materials and culture.

As pictured above, I purchased a music box upon one of my many visits to Paris while I lived abroad. The music box plays “La Vie en Rose” by Edith Piaf and depicts the construction of the Eiffel Tower. I will be exploring how the Eiffel Tower has come to symbolize French culture despite the country’s official resistance to its creation for the World Fair. I will also be researching why specific monuments are so effective when used for memorabilia such as my music box, and ponder whether or not the reduction of a country to one symbol is a positive or negative manifestation of human materialism. I will also look into the same phenomena for other countries (although not in as much detail), and try to find connections between what we know of the country modernly and what their famous monuments tell us about their history. This will be particularly focused on countries that are still developing and the image they intend to create through their architecture compared with historical architecture.

I would love to hear what some of your questions are about this topic so that I could make sure to answer them in my project.