Rachel Remmel

Rachel Remmel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her research focuses on intersections between architectural history, museum studies, and 19th-century American art history, examining how built environments reflect and shape social power structures.

• Key research areas: institutional history, building typologies (especially schools and houses), artistic practice, categorization of art, and theories about architecture's formative power
• Courses taught: Introduction to Modern Architecture, African-American Visual Culture, Architecture of American Houses, Art and the Culture Wars

Her scholarship analyzes how architectural spaces mediate civic identity, gender roles, and class dynamics through historical case studies. Recent publications explore the symbolic construction of educational spaces, museum models in 19th-century America, and the socio-political implications of building typologies.

Scientific awards:

• Spencer Foundation Small Grant (Field-Initiated Proposal, 2011-2012)
• Society of Architectural Historians Scott Opler Emerging Scholar Fellowship (2007)
• Graham Foundation Carter Manny Award (Dissertation Fellowship, 2005)
• Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (2004-2005)