Eric Bellin

Eric Bellin is an educator, designer, and historian. His scholarship is focused on 19th and 20th century building practices, with an emphasis on histories and theories of construction and technology.

Eric received his PhD in Architecture History and Theory from the University of Pennsylvania, and Masters degrees in Architecture and Architectural Pedagogy from the University of Florida. At Penn, he has served as a fellow at the Center for Teaching & Learning, and has been the recipient of the G. Holmes Perkins Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award.

Currently, Eric is working on a book project, titled Detailing Worlds: A history of Architectural Particulars, 1755-1899. It gives an account of the history of “detail” as a disciplinary concept, specific to practices of building. The text locates term’s origins in French language and describes the processes by which it was appropriated by the building professions as an item of disciplinary terminology by 1755, then transferred from French into English-language discourse and practice, and by 1899 had evolved a collection of rich and divergent yet interrelated meanings. It tells the story of the emergence of an architectural concept as it evolves in dialog with cultural, disciplinary, and technological change. Eric’s other research interests include histories of construction and engineering, histories of technology, post-war “humanism” in architecture, and design education.

While Eric has taught in the studio and history/theory sequences at both undergraduate and graduate levels, his current teaching is focused on second and third year undergraduate design studios.