History of Arts and Architecture

On Thursday, January 29th, the College community and the public are invited to the dedication of the timber frame of a Japanese teahouse, built by twelve students over the course of the four-week 2026 Winter Term. The teahouse will be dedicated in a traditional Shinto ceremony.  
Taught by Douglas Brooks, a builder of boats and other traditional structures who has extensive experience working in Japan, the course is entitled Building the Japanese Teahouse and seeks to introduce students to the pedagogy of Japanese appren

Lecture by Henry Drewal, African Art Historian.

Talk title:

“Inscribing Infrastructures”

Talk description:

Alix Pauchet ’15 is a resilience designer working at the intersection of architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, ecology, and mapping to address climate change along urban waterfronts. She returns to Middlebury as part of the Cameron Visiting Architect Program.

Douglas Brooks, a boatbuilder, writer, and researcher, taught a 2026 Winter Term course entitled Building the Japanese Teahouse. In this talk he will describe the course and the pedagogy behind it, drawn from his years studying in Japan. His talk will touch on the nature of apprentice learning and its contrasts with western modes of education, and reflect on his experiences teaching this class at colleges nationwide. He will also discuss the aesthetics and architecture of Japanese tea ceremony.

Le salaire de la peur (Wages of Fear), dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953

Le Règne Animal (The Animal Kingdom), dir. Thomas Cailley, 2023

Orlando : ma biographie politique (Orlando, My Political Biography), dir. Paul. B. Preciado, 2023

Banel & Adama, dir. Ramata-Toulaye Sy, 2023

Ni Chaînes, Ni Maitres (No Chains, No Masters), dir. Simon Moutairou, 2024