如今，一些建筑与工程公司所掌握的资本规模已超过若干国家，其雇员人数甚至多于许多城市的人口，并在比联合国成员国还要多的国家设有办公机构。在这些公司内部，建筑师所设计的已不仅是单体建筑，而是完整的城市系统——包括支撑这些系统运作的基础设施、法律规范以及金融机制。本次讲座基于Aaron Cayer的新著《建筑师的公司化：美国建筑如何成为帝国实践》。该书探讨了美国大型建筑企业崛起的过程，并追溯了其中一家公司的发展历程——即今日的 AECOM。通过这一案例，揭示建筑师如何以及为何借助企业所拥有的政治与经济权力，重新掌控其职业发展方向，扩展自身角色，并进而影响全球政治格局。

Today, there are architecture and engineering firms that hold more capital than entire countries, employ more people than live in many cities, and rent offices in more nations than are represented in the UN. Within them, architects design not just buildings but urban systems—including the infrastructures, legal codes, and financial mechanisms on which those systems depend. This lecture and conversation draws from Incorporating Architects: How American Architecture Became a Practice of Empire, Cayer’s new book about the rise of corporate architecture firms in the US. It traces the origins of one such firm, today known as AECOM, revealing how and why architects used the political and economic power of their firm to grip the reins of their profession, expand their role, and shape global politics.

亚伦·凯耶（Aaron Cayer）是一位常驻洛杉矶的历史学者、作家与建筑学教授。他的研究与教学聚焦于建筑师、规划师与工程师的实践，尤其关注这些专业群体如何参与并回应全球不平等问题。

凯耶的研究获得了多项国际奖项与资助支持，包括由卡内基纽约公司（Carnegie Corporation of New York）授予的 2025 年卡内基学者基金（Carnegie Fellowship）、由美国罗马学院（American Academy in Rome）颁发的 2024 年罗马奖（Rome Prize），以及亨廷顿图书馆（Huntington Library）于 2021 年授予的 Thom Fellowship。2022 年，他获得了国际女性建筑档案馆（International Archive of Women in Architecture）设立的首届 Kristine Fallon 奖；2020 年，他因关于乡村经济与社区的研究，被纽约建筑联盟（The Architecture League of New York）评选为“美国圆桌”（American Roundtable）成员。

他的新著《建筑师的公司化：美国建筑如何成为帝国实践》（Incorporating Architects: How American Architecture Became a Practice of Empire，加州大学出版社，2025）系统梳理了美国建筑与工程企业的崛起历程，重点分析了包括艾奕康公司（AECOM）在内的大型企业，并探讨了它们在第二次世界大战之后对建筑职业及全球政治格局所产生的深远影响。

在学术训练方面，凯耶同时具备建筑史与建筑设计背景：他在加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校（University of California, Los Angeles）获得建筑史博士学位，并在诺里奇大学（Norwich University，位于美国佛蒙特州）完成本科与硕士阶段的建筑学教育。

在学术机构之外，他还担任建筑游说组织（The Architecture Lobby）董事会成员，以及国际女性建筑档案馆咨询委员会成员。

Aaron Cayer is a Los Angeles-based historian, writer, and professor of architecture. He writes and teaches about the work of architects, planners, and engineers, focusing on the ways they contribute and respond to global inequities. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Architecture at Cal Poly Pomona.

Cayer’s research has been recognized and supported by international awards and fellowships, including a 2025 Carnegie Fellowship from the Carnegie Corporation, a 2024 Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, and a 2021 Thom Fellowship from the Huntington Library. He was awarded the inaugural Kristine Fallon Prize by the International Archive of Women in Architecture in 2022, and he was named to the Architecture League of New York’s “American Roundtable” in 2020 for research about rural economies and communities.

His recent book, Incorporating Architects: How American Architecture Became a Practice of Empire (UC Press, 2025) traces the rise of US-based architecture and engineering corporations, such as AECOM, as well as their impact on professions and politics after World War II.

Cayer is trained both as a historian and architect: he received his PhD in Architecture History from UCLA as well as undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture from Norwich University in Vermont.

Outside of the academy, he serves on the Board of Directors of The Architecture Lobby and the Advisory Board of the International Archive of Women in Architecture.