Matthew Cohen
Associate Professor, Architecture
Educational Background
- Leiden University, The Netherlands, Institute for Art Historical and Literary Studies, Ph.D. Candidate in Architectural History, abd.
- Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Master of Architecture, 1994.
- Syracuse University, Master of Arts in Renaissance art and Architecture, 1988.
- University of Vermont, Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies, 1983.
Research Interests
Cohen's research explores the subtle and complex proportional systems embedded in the 15th century buildings in Florence designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, the originator of Renaissance architecture. His new, broadly applicable method of recording building measurements and physical characteristics is a significant contribution to the field, which architectural researcher and colleague David Wang has termed "acute observation."
Teaching Interests
Matthew A. Cohen is a licensed architect and an Associate Professor of Architecture with tenure at Washington State University. He teaches graduate-level design studios and seminars in architectural history and theory.
Cohen’s methodology and findings challenge longstanding preconceptions about Renaissance architecture and proportional systems. Although widely used throughout history, for example, Cohen contends that proportional systems have never actually fulfilled the purposes that either their designers or later historians have claimed they have, such as contributing structural stability and beauty to architecture. Their primary function, according to Cohen, has been to imbue architecture with meaning, one of the major qualities that distinguishes architecture from mere building. Cohen believes that this fundamental importance of meaning applies to architecture of all periods, and he uses it as a common thread to draw history into the design studio. There he helps students develop modern design work imbued with meaning appropriate to contemporary society.
Recent Accomplishments
- “Proportional Systems in the History of Architecture,” Video Interview with James S. Ackerman, November 15, 2011, Cambridge, Massachusetts, recorded for the international conference “Proportional Systems in the History of Architecture,” Leiden University, 17-19 March 2011 (now available online).
- Co-Organizer and Presenter: Proportional Systems in the History of Architecture: An International Conference Hosted by Leiden University, 17-19 March 2011 The purpose of this conference is to frame a rigorous new scholarly discussion of pre-modern proportional systems, and in the process, to help define appropriate methods, standards and limits for it. Paper Presented: “Simultaneity: A Distinguishing Characteristic of Medieval and Early Renaissance Architectural Proportional Systems.”
- La Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy, “Lo studio delle proporzioni in architettura: il caso Brunelleschi” (“The Study of Proportion in Architecture: A Brunelleschi Case Study”), 12 June 2007.
- Student Choice Award for Excellence in Teaching, Nomination Certificate, Associated Students of Washington State University-Spokane, 2006-2007.
- Washington State University Faculty Travel Grant Award Reviewer, Office of Grant and Research Development, April 2007
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