David G. Winter, a research professor of psychology at UNM and Professor Emeritus of psychology at the University of Michigan presents a talk titled, The Architecture of Power” Speer’s Plans for Nazi Berlin on Wednesday, April 6 at 12 p.m. in the Frank Waters Room 105 in Zimmerman Library.
How is power represented in architecture? Nazi leader Adolf Hitler commissioned architect Albert Speer to recreate Berlin as “Germania,” a world capital with buildings intended to give the world “a taste of the power and grandeur of the German Reich,” and “the feeling that one is visiting the master of the world.”
Winter’s presentation uses Speer’s buildings and plans to explore the architectural characteristics that convey power and create a sense of intimidation.” Finally, a series of “then and now” images of Germania project sites of Speer’s work are a visual commentary on the ironies of power.
Winter is a personality and social psychologist with a special interest in political psychology. His research has focused on the psychological aspects of conflict escalation, war, and peace; power and power motivation; and the motivational bases of leadership.
He is the author of The Power Motive, Motivating Economic Achievement (with D. C. McClelland), A New Case for the Liberal Arts (with D. C. McClelland and A. J. Stewart), and recently Personality: Analysis and Interpretation of Lives, as well as numerous papers in psychological journals.
Winter also translated and edited Otto Rank’s The Don-Juan Legend. Currently he is finishing a book manuscript, Why war: Wanting, perceiving, and justifying power, to be published by Oxford University Press.
The lecture is free and the public is welcome.