Dr Patricia Lara-Betancourt

About

I am a design history researcher and a member of the Modern Interiors Research Centre, Kingston University, London, UK. My PhD (2009, KU) focused on late Victorian and Edwardian middle-class domestic interiors: Conflicting modernities? Arts and crafts and commercial influences in the decoration of the middle-class home 1890-1914. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.493138

I trained as a historian at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogota, Colombia), where I worked from 1990 to 1996. My MA research dissertation (1997) from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia charted the history of the drawing room in Bogota in the nineteenth century, addressing its architecture, interiors, furniture, furnishings and rituals: La Sala Domestica en Santa Fe de Bogotá, Siglo XIX.  https://revistas.uniandes.edu.co/toc/histcrit/20 and https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/achsc/article/view/16682 

I am co-President (2023-25) of HIG Historic Interiors Group, affiliate group of SAH Society of Architectural Historians

My recent publications include: 

'Complex Interior Spaces in London, 1850–1930: Introduction' (with F Fisher, V. Kelley, P. Sparke), in London Journal, special issue, Complex Interior Spaces in London, 1850–1930, Vol 45, Issue 2, 2020.

‘Locating Design Exchanges in Latin America and the Caribbean', in my co-edited Journal of Design History, special issue, Locating Design Exchanges in Latin America and the Caribbean, Vol 32, Issue 1, 2019, London, OUP. Published online: 21 January 2019; epy048, https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/epy048

‘Displaying Dreams: Model Interiors in the London Department Store, 1890-1914' in my co-edited volume Architectures of Display: Department Stores and Modern Retail (Routledge 2017),

'Republican Homes: Modern Flows in Domestic Architecture in Santa Fé de Bogotá, 1820-1900' in my co-edited volume Flow: Interior, Landscape and Architecture in the Era of Liquid Modernity (Routledge 2018).

Academic responsibilities

Academic, Modern Interiors Research Centre

Qualifications

  • PhD Design History
  • MA Colombian and Latin American History
  • BA (Hons) History
  • International Baccalaureate

Research

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