Mark Olson

Primary Theme: Information, Society & Culture

Building Duke is a new three-year initiative that will be implemented in three phases: data collection and organizing (first year); data analysis and interpretation (second year); data output (third year). It will explore the conception, design and construction of the Duke University campus as well as its changes and expansions. Principal aims are to offer an historical narrative of the physical environment that the Duke community inhabits and to explore the desires and visions that have materialized in the making of the campus. This project is especially relevant at a cultural and political moment when physical space and its historical connotations are at the center of a heated public debate. The three-year initiative will culminate in a relational database of textual and visual archival material on the architectural history of Duke campus; an interactive digital 3D model of campus developments since the 1920s; a series of multimedia thematic narratives on history of the campus; and a series of augmented reality tours.