Peter Christensen is Arthur Satz Professor of Humanities in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Rochester, where he also serves as associate dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and the Ani Mark Gabrellian Director of the Humanities Center. Christensen earned a BArch from Cornell University, an MA and M.DesS in the history and theory of architecture from Harvard University, as well as a PhD in architecture, also from Harvard. He has published extensively on nineteenth- and twentieth-century international architectural history and is the author of Germany and the Ottoman Railways: Art, Empire, and Infrastructure (Yale, 2017), Precious Metal: German Steel, Modernity, and Ecology (Penn State, 2022), as well as Prior Art: Patents and the Nature of Invention in Architecture (MIT, 2024). Christensen’s work has received support from the John Solomon Guggenheim Foundation, Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Gerda Henkel Stiftung, among others. He has held previous positions at Cornell University, Technische Universität München, and Boston Architectural College.
At the Academy, Christensen is working on his fourth sole-authored book, tentatively titled “Living with Dignity,” which will be the first book to approach dignity—the state of being worthy of honor and respect—as a design problem. Drawing on insights from philosophy, law, economics, and sociology, Christensen’s project seeks to address the myriad ways in which our built environment does or does not work to confer human dignity and, in turn, either succeeds or fails at materializing a more just society in the face of global catastrophes like climate change. “What does dignity look like?” Christensen asks. As we develop new ways of living amidst rapid climate change, how can the concept of dignity guide us to a way of life that simultaneously demonstrates value of human life and value of our environment? Christensen argues that it does not have to be a zero-sum game.
Meet Peter Christensen
A short portrait filmed at the Hans Arnhold Center, introducing the work and ideas behind this semester in Berlin.
Upcoming events
Discover what’s coming up in the Academy’s public program this semester.
Past events
Lectures, readings, and conversations from the Academy’s public program.
Dignity Is a Matter of Design
Achieving human dignity is deeply connected to how environments are designed.
Berlin Journal Articles
Essays, interviews, and creative work published in the Academy’s annual magazine.
Books
Books written by fellows of the Academy, many begun during a semester in Berlin.
Videos
Lectures, readings, and conversations filmed at the Hans Arnhold Center.
Dignity Is a Matter of Design
In this talk, Peter H. Christensen explores a new perspective on dignity.
Fellow Spotlight: Peter Christensen
Art historian Peter Christensen is working on a project that approaches dignity as fundamentally an issue of design.
Explore Past Fellows
Hakim Abderrezak
Marco Abel
David Abraham
