Reading Symptoms and Enjoyments | A lecture from K Michael Hays

K. Michael Hays is the Eliot Noyes Professor of Architecture Theory and Co-Director of the Master in Design Studies Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), where he has taught since 1988. In addition to teaching, he advises doctoral students on the history and theory of architecture. Prior to the GSD, Hays held academic appointments at numerous institutions including Princeton University, along with Columbia University, Cornell University, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), among others.

His research and scholarship focus on critical theory, modernism, and the legacy of poststructuralism in architecture. Hays has played a pivotal role in the development of architectural theory. He was founding editor of the journal Assemblage and the first Adjunct Curator of Architecture at the Whitney Museum. His notable publications include Modernism and the Posthumanist Subject (MIT Press, 1992), Architecture Theory since 1968 (MIT Press, 1998), Architecture’s Desire (MIT Press, 2009), and, most recently with Andrew Holder, Inscriptions (Harvard University Press, 2022).

Hays received his Master of Architecture degree and his Ph.D. in the History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture and Art from MIT.

​Lectures made possible by the Jean Labatut Memorial Lectures in Architecture and Urban Planning Fund.