The Subaltern Student of Architecture by gquah

THE SUBALTERN STUDENT of architecture profession versus practice

Contents The Unspoken and the Unspeakable

Introducing the Subaltern

Artistry and Anguish

Representation and Imitation

Profession versus Practice

Design’s Paradox

Bibliography

Front cover image: ‘My Local’ image chamber, term 1 work, year 3, exploring the temporary in design module, notions of empowerment and autobiography of individuals through the donation of materials

THE UNSPOKEN & UNSPEAKABLE â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The point of such stories is that they unconsciously reveal not only the fundamental value-system on which architects operate, but the narrowness of that system, and the unspoken- or the unspeakableassumptions on which it rests.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;1

Banham, R, A Black Box: The Secret Profession of Architecture in A Critic

Writes, Essays by Reyner Banham, University of California Press, London, 1996, pp. 294

Three years ago I declared to my friend that I intended to study architecture at university. She assumed I was going

I am very close to the end of my three-year degree

to spend three years digging for bones.

studying architecture and whilst some of my initial assumptions of an architectural education have been

I believe that this is telling anecdotal evidence,

met, exceeded, or fallen short, others have revealed

suggesting that there are widely misguided assumptions

much more of the nature of the professional education I

as to what the study of architecture involves (and

had invested in three years ago.

archaeology for that matter).

Figure 1: a sample of my work for AS level Art which was used as part of a portfolio submission for entry into the BA Architecture programme 2010

INTRODUCING THE SUBALTERN Lack is the void on which individual human identity and desire is built.2

Ruedi Ray, K, in Bauhaus dream house: forming the imaginary body of the ungendered architect in Architecture: the subject is matter, edited by Jonathan Hill, Routledge, London, 2001, pp.162

According to postcolonial intellectual Gayatri Chakravorty

subsuming an identity that is shaped and moulded within

Spivak, the ‘subaltern’ can be defined as: ‘a position

the confinement of architecture school.

without identity’. 3 Her work is involved in tackling the ethical dilemma and methodological challenge of the

This essay intends to use a range of material in order to

oppression of disempowered subaltern groups in the

address many discrepancies in the perception of the role

postcolonial world.

of the architect, from pedagogy to practice, from student to civilian to practitioner. In doing thus, it also intends to

The term ‘subaltern’ is useful because it is flexible; it

explore the extent to which a philosophical approach to

accommodates social identities and struggles that do not

education in architecture exists and its effects on the

fall under the reductive terms of ‘strict class analysis’.5

project of constructing a self one can call one’s own. It aims to critically appraise the role of an architectural

“I like the word subaltern for one reason. It is truly situational.” Gayatri Spivak, 19906

education in supporting the learning of individuals and providing the environment in which to nurture their individual talents. This will then raise questions over what an education in architecture should consist of, the

With this in mind, I will be proposing an argument for the

recovering of a ‘subaltern’ consciousness and its

notion of the disenfranchised student within contemporary

implications for the ‘subaltern’s’ future involvement within

British architectural education: the notion of a ‘subaltern’

the traditional architectural model for practice that is

student of architecture. Key to Spivak’s definition of a

currently synonymous with the profession.

‘subaltern’ is a position without identity, “no one can say ‘I’m a subaltern.’” A lack of social and political consciousness is key to her interpretation and this unawareness is what differentiates the ‘subaltern’ from the ‘oppressed’. The ‘oppressed’ are aware of their oppression and therefore have access to a revisionist history however the ‘subaltern’ does not. I define the ‘subaltern’ architecture student as a student subordinated, lacking a coherent political and unique cultural identity and instead 3

Lecture by Gayatri Spivak called The Trajectory of the Subaltern in my work, at Colombia University 2008, [www.uctv.tv] accessed 12.11.12

4 5 6

Morton, S, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Routledge, London, 2003, pp46 Morton, S, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Routledge, London, 2003, pp45 Morton, S, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Routledge, London, 2003, pp46

ARTISTRY AND ANGUISH enthrall 1. to hold spellbound; enchant; captivate 2. Obsolete to hold as thrall; enslave7 To understand the cultural impact of architectural

This is encouraged by architecture’s ‘liberal arts program’:

pedagogy within the UK, it is pertinent to understand a

‘inventing’, ‘experimentation’, ‘spatial thinking’ and a way to

student’s motives for undertaking an architectural

look at the world that’s not just about buildings. This gives

education. The process is one of first planting the seeds for enthrallment and persuasion. Western cultural notions of ‘the architect’ pervade the minds of prospective students: they are desperate to identify with the romantic scientific notion of the architect’s iconic work displayed on a pedestal and the cult of genius. 7

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/enthral

a meagre hint of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;secret value systemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;8 and inescapable identity- forming habits that proliferate within the architectural studio once a student reaches architecture school. The profession is now dominated by the cult of genius, which is perpetuated by the proliferation of the architectural icon, particularly in recent years. Corporate interests reflect the contemporary social and political order that surrounds the architecture profession in the 21st century. The architectural critic is alert to when buildings becomes logos for power or a mendacious dazzling distraction9 meanwhile the wider public are unaware. Architecture as marketed to the public retails spectacular surface or gestures to a civic role without really fulfilling it10. This results in students committing to the mythical identity of the sole architect as hero- author.

Banham, R, A Black Box: The Secret Profession of Architecture in A Critic Writes, Essays by Reyner Banham, 1999, pp295

Foster, H, The Art-Architecture Complex, Verso, London and New York, 2011, pp.11

Foster, H, The Art-Architecture Complex, Verso, London and New York, 2011, pp. 11

Figure 2: Concept sketch by Frank Gehry for the

inevitably endure. This perception of architecture culture,

Guggenheim, Bilbao11

focusing on the significance of the individual ‘hero architect’, is a misleading assumption perpetuated by

Architecture also desperately clings to the image of the

architecture school admissions and reflected in the

heroic architect, Howard Roark in Ayn Rand’s The

opinions of the parents, from the schoolteachers to the

Fountainhead in an attempt to attract prospective students

students themselves. As Cuff remarks in Architecture: The

with the notion of the architect as ‘artistic messiah’, a

Story of Practice, ‘thus all individuals who are part of the

person of marked creativity, creativity so strong it can

decision hold strong social stereotypes of architects:

seem a primal or religious force.12 Elizabeth Gilbert

stereotypes that are relatively ill informed and go

questions the association of creativity with suffering: the

unexamined.14 The older generations of architects are

notion that, ‘artistry in the end will always lead to

holding on to this notion that mimics a façade of the

anguish’. This impression is inbred into western society

profession’s prestige to its uninformed civilian audience.

and introduces the prospective architecture student to the notion of intense lifestyle sacrifices, which they will later

In many cases, choosing to study architecture is based on

many misguided assumptions as to what architects

Figure from photograph by Fernando Gomez courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics [http://wodumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Gehrys-Sketchof-The-Guggenheim-Bilbao-Spain.-Photo-by-Fernando-Gomez-courtesy-ofSony-Pictures-Classics-0-600x289.jpg] accessed 17.02.2013

Lamster, E, Architecture and Film, pp. 27

actually do, and a compromise between a professional career and a creative vocation. Teachers and parents steer toward architecture those young men and women,

Gilbert, E, Your Elusive Creative Genius [http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html] assessed 12.02.2013

Cuff, D, Architecture: The Story of Practice, MIT Press, USA, 1991, pp.117

good in art, but needing to earn a living; students themselves often choose an architectural career by process of elimination, “I didn’t want to be a doctor or lawyer”.15 ‘What I was more worried about was the attitudes, prejudices, beliefs I might have picked up from them (her parents) subconsciously or before I was old enough even to know what I was learning. Effectively I had to question everything I believed, and never accept my own instincts.’ Lynn Barber, An Education16 From this point onwards, the student becomes enthralled with the notion of becoming an architect. Ken Robinson explains how we are as a society also, ‘enthralled to the idea of linearity in education… its starts here and you go through a track and if you do everything right you will end up set for the rest of your life…and this results in a manufactured form of education’.17

15 16

Cuff, D, Architecture: The Story of Practice, MIT Press, USA, 1991, pp.118 Barber, L, An Education, Penguin, London, 2009

Ken Robinson, Bring on the learning revolution!, TED talk, filmed February 2010 [http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html] accessed 3.02.2013

REPRESENT AND IMITATE â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;We represent and imitate all articulate sounds and letters, and the voices and notes of beasts and birds.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; 18

Bacon, F, The New Atlantis.The Harvard Classics. 1909- 14.

In choosing to study architecture, students are opting for a

certified taste.’22

lifestyle, as much as a university degree or and career choice. Students are socialised into the profession by

“Why is it we enter [architecture school] with

exposure to a strong assimilating architectural culture,

incredibly diverse backgrounds, interests and friends

largely based around the architecture studio. Cuff refers to

and we leave here with the exact same handwriting,

the studio as ‘the core of architecture education’ that

muttering a language that prevents normal

serves as a place for acculturation through functional as well as symbolic means.

communication and exchange with almost anyone outside of our future profession – and we like it this way?” Victoria Ellis, University of Illinois23

Architectural culture is inculcated into students through a system of values and practices; through formal and informal practices, through conscious learning but also

I have heard numerous accounts of outside student

through the impregnation of latent habits. The value

assumptions of “the studio” (a phrase which has been

system is predicated on aesthetic, motivational and ethical

greeted with sarcasm or bewilderment from students

beliefs while practices include language, deportment and

outside the subject) as a glamorous or mystifying place. As

dress. Cuff uses the work of Bledstein to analyse

Cuff adds, ‘’arkies’ stay up late, are never home, spend all

occupational settings as cultural systems. In The Culture

their time in the studio and belong to a clique of other

of Professionalism, Bledstein describes, ‘a general theory

architecture students’.24 The notion of creativity and its

of professions with power over certain worldly experiences

consequent suffering resurfaces: students legitimise their

within their jurisdiction’…resulting in a ‘cultivated elitism’ by

commitment to the course by proudly declaring the number

‘providing society with explanations and turning morals in

of hours they have been working solidly, without sleep.

science’. Hamdi supports this by saying; ‘we tended to

Mark Howland reminisces on his education in architecture:

our public (when we did at all) with benevolent

‘the long hours of work in a common studio space forged

paternalism…who we treated as consumers of, not

us into a close knit group of men and women who were

partners to, our planning.’21 This cultivated elitism is clearly

marked by our dedication, endurance and talent.’25 The

demonstrated by Mark Howland’s essay, On Becoming an Architect, ‘we were the imaginative professionals with

Howland, M, On Becoming an Architect, 1985, pp. 4 in Cuff, D, Architecture: The Story of Practice, MIT Press, USA, 1991, pp.118

23 Cuff, D, Architecture: The Story of Practice, MIT Press, USA, 1991, pp.122

Cuff, D, Architecture: The Story of Practice, MIT Press, USA, 1991, pp.118 from Bledstein, BJ, The Culture of Professionalism, The Middle Class and the Development of higher Education in America, WW Norton and Company inc. New York, 1976

Hamdi, N, Small Change, Earthscan, UK, 2004, pp.120

Webster, H, Architectural Education after Schon: Cracks, Blurs Boundaries and Beyond, [http://www.cebe.heacademy.ac.uk/jebe/pdf/HelenaWebster3(2).pdf] accessed 28.12.12, pp.67

Cuff, D, Architecture: The Story of Practice, MIT Press, USA, 1991, pp.118

Howland, M, On Becoming an Architect, in Cuff, D, Architecture: The Story of Practice, MIT Press, USA, 1991, pp.5

‘decline of idiosyncrasy’26is a common result of this

‘Thank God I’m Jung and not a Jungian’30

process. There is a secret pride in the imitation of

The above quote by Jung indicates his jaundiced view of

professional sacrifices, which is dangerous to individual

people who form a persona by identifying with his ideas

identity. Students immerse themselves fully in the lifestyle

and methods. He stated that the development of

of the architect as well as assimilating with professional

individuality is part of human nature and is both inspired

values.

and guided by a genuine striving for the search for

In this sense, an architectural education acts as a kind of

wholeness, for ‘integration of the personality’ and is ‘the

self- fashioning: the process of constructing one’s identity

psychological process that makes a human being a

and public persona according to a set of socially

individual - a unique indivisible unit or whole person’

acceptable standards.27 Stephen Greenblatt proposes the

known as ‘individuation’.31 This embodies the notion of

notion of education as self- fashioning:

education as a lifelong process of human development rather than simply a mere training in gaining certain

‘We very often strive towards becoming what we want

knowledge or skills. Furthermore, the romantic view of

to be and not who we are. The image we have of how

bildung, which is the German tradition of self- cultivation,

we would like to be, then, is very much influenced by

defines the purpose of education as personal and cultural

aspirations and ego ideals that do not necessarily stand in harmony with the totality of our personality.’ 28

maturation32, with maturation described as a harmonisation of the individuals mind and heart and a unification of selfhood and identity with the broader society. Philosophy

Joining the ranks of a professional occupation is surely the

and education are fundamentally concerned with the

epitome of the notion of ego ideals and the process of self-

development of a person’s character and how that

fashioning. Psychologist Carl Jung supports this. He refers

prepares him/her to lead a good life.33

to ‘persona’ as, ‘a mask or appearance that one presents to the world…or the self as self construed’.29 He also

One must then question the extent to which the current

stated that the notion of persona is a compromise between

architectural education system allows its students to

the individual and the collective.

promote their own cultural and educational wellbeing, for 30

Stein, M, Individuation: Inner Work, Journal of Jungian Theory and Practice VOL. 7NO. 2005 [http://www.junginstitute.org/pdf_files/JungV7N2p1-14.pdf] accessed November 2012, pp. 4 Cuff, D, Architecture: The Story of Practice, MIT Press, USA, 1991, pp.118

Self- actualization [http://www.holisticeducator.com/selfactualisation.htm] accessed 20.11.12

Stein, M, Individuation: Inner Work, Journal of Jungian Theory and Practice VOL. 7NO. 2005 [http://www.junginstitute.org/pdf_files/JungV7N2p1-14.pdf] accessed November 2012, pp. 6

Jacoby, M, Individuation and Narcissism: the psychology of self in Jung and Kohut, , Routledge, 1990 London, pp.95

High culture is being corrupted ny a culture of fakes [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/19/high-culture-fake] accessed 02.10.2012

Self- actualization [http://www.holisticeducator.com/selfactualisation.htm] accessed 20.11.12

University of Stanford [http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/cgibin/drupal_ual/esf] accessed 20.11.12

example to what extent does this allow students to think for themselves as autonomous individuals and not as

brand of best, we find ourselves admitting that our own ways, our traditional wisdoms, habits and even

products of a manufacturing line of model architectural

belief systems are second-best.”

students. Ken Robinson notes that we are all enthralled to

Richard Sennet in Respect: The Formation of Character in an Age of Inequality36

the idea of conformity in education, ‘teaching children in batches’.34 How can we strive for ‘individuation’ if the education system puts conformity before the individual

It is a totality of corporeal and cognitive behaviours, a

wellbeing of its students? Hamdi supports this in stressing

holistic experience of architectural culture that is

the importance of ‘educating the intellect, and also the

indoctrinated so strongly. Students experience

heart and the spirit of the mind.’35

architectural education, as the sum of its explicit and hidden dimensions and it is this total experience that

I argue that there is a prescribed homogenous culture in

effects the development of students from novices to

architecture school, resulting in a disenfranchised or

professional architects.37

‘subaltern’ student who is characterised by a lack of self or individuality that allows them to distinguish themselves

This rejection of individual identity (‘men formed by a

from other architecture students. The resulting irony is of

certain school have in common a certain cast of mind’38) in

an educational institution whose main objective is to

place of a facade of professional identity results in an

produce original and creative designs through a cohort of

architectural culture dependent on the dominant

culturally indistinguishable students.

mainstream model of praxis: the capitalist archetype. The hegemonic pedagogical model of architecture responds to

“…On affirming the possibility of making something of

a profession that privileges the expert elite: the UK can still

ourselves through our own merits, what keeps us from

only claimed to have produced no more than 200 top-flight

becoming another person? All we have to do is imitate

creative designers.39 Less than 1 per cent of all architects

the sort of person we would like to be...We participate

become the familiar icon- producing Zahas and Normans

as inferiors in projects and programs designed by

that the public come to know, this in turn, continues to fuel

others, trusting their will and intent because, by doing so, we may just get something which, after all, is better than nothing. And once we are seduced by their routines, by their logic of cause and effect, by their 34

Ken Robinson, Bring on the learning revolution!, TED talk, filmed February 2010 [http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html] accessed 3.02.2013

Hamdi, N, Small Change, Earthscan, UK, 2004, pp.117

Hamdi, N, Small Change, Earthscan, UK, 2004, pp.44, from Sennet, R, Respect:The Formation of Character in an Age of Inequality, Penguin, London, 2004

Webster, H, Architectural Education after Schon: Cracks, Blurs Boundaries and Beyond, [http://www.cebe.heacademy.ac.uk/jebe/pdf/HelenaWebster3(2).pdf] accessed 28.12.12, pp.66

Grenfell, MJ, Pierre Bourdieu, Education and Training, Continuum International Publishing group, London, 2007, pp.96

‘Architectural Education, Deeply Flawed’ by Bryan Avery of Avery Associates, published in Building Design in June 1992

the ongoing sense of an autonomous and self referential

absorbed and immersed in the creative freedoms granted

profession. Therefore, the creation of future architects

in architecture school, students are disillusioned when met

through this dominant form of architectural pedagogy is

with the drudgery of the professional lifestyle of an

bound to result in disappointment: with the lack of jobs (as

architecture graduate. There are two extremes: spending

a result of the dependence on market forces) and the lack

your working life mainly on CAD in the hope of one day

of opportunities for self- expression endlessly encouraged

becoming the director or partner who has earned their right

by studio culture. What ensues is a students’

to squiggling concept designs on a napkin. Many students

disillusionment with the discrepancies between their

want to preserve the freedom of creativity that the

romantic expectations of an architectural education and

architectural studio has given. In reality, are you not less

the reality of the workplace. Not only does the dominant

creative as a director of a practice, when it becomes a

model of capitalism have mass repercussions for the

more managerial position? When you are less involved in

education and cultural wellbeing of thousands of

the design process itself and more concerned with meeting

undergraduates, but it is responsive to and ought to have

clients and representing your eponymous studio to the

serious consequences for, the way in which professional

wider public?

praxis operates, who it operates for and contemporary architectural and spatial praxis.

The notion of ‘otherness’ within this hegemony of architecture surfaces: there is little authority for the

The profession has been characterised for some time now

common man within this capitalist model. He is dependent

by a ‘drifting away from democracy’.40 It is subservient to

on the markets and the expertise of architects for the

corporate power and is dependent on neo-liberalism and

design of public spaces and facilities, arguably resulting in

globalization, contributing greatly to a commoditised British

the disenfranchisement of the citizen as well as the

culture.

student, ‘civilian interference isn’t exactly welcomed by the profession’.42 Alistair Parvin of 00:/ speaks of ‘design’s

With this state of the profession in mind and the pressure

economic paradox: as a society we have never needed

to earn an income, students are re-evaluating their position

design thinking more but architecture is unemployed.’43

within the architectural profession’s hierarchical system.

Hence, if the dominant economic model for architectural

The principal message that experience is everything within

practice is failing to benefit the profession and there are

the profession is clear from the fact that the prime of an

clear discrepancies between architectural pedagogy and

architect’s career is after 50. ‘Forty-year-old architects are hailed as bright young up-and-comers.’41 After being

‘We are drifting away from democracy’ by Wouter Vanstiphout, Building Design, 2012, pp.7

[http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/the-future-of-architecture? utm_source=vicefb] accessed 28.01.2013

Blake, E, The Future of Architecture, Vice Design Week

We are drifting away from democracy’ by Wouter Vanstiphout, Building Design, 2012, pp.7

Parvin, A, Architecture for everyone, by everyone, TED Talk, July 2012 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09QyFJXrPB4] accessed 18.02.2013

the profession, is there a possibility for design practice which eschews the notion of the architect or designer as professional?

PROFESSION VERSUS PRACTICE â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The question facing practice is: how much structure will be needed before the structure itself inhibits personal freedom, gets in the way of progress, destroys the very system which it is designed to serve, and becomes self- serving? Nabeel Hamdi in Small Change44

Hamdi, N, Small Change, Earthscan, UK, 2004, pp.xviii

QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture.

Figure 3: centralised, decentralised and distributed networks

There has been recent talk of ‘social design’ creeping into the mainstream, indicating that a legitimate shift in socially

In the situation of the ‘subaltern’ architecture student, who

responsive architecture and design has indeed arrived -

has become even more disillusioned with the state of the

one that eschews the image of the architect as individual

elite profession through the experience of three years of

hero, replacing it with an idea of architect as agent, acting

studio acculturation, what then are the student’s intentions for involvement with architecture?

and collaborating with, and on behalf of, others.45

architectural production is a process that has become

Jonathan Hill has explored subverting the archetypal

saturated with ideology, a less formalised area of design

notion of architect: the notion of the privileged ‘expert’. He

would require new skill sets, qualitative social

has argued that this notion of ‘expert’ separates the

understanding and new perceptions of what it means to be

architect from reality. In Occupying Architecture: Between

a practitioner.48 The romantic view of what architectural

the Architect and the User, ‘…anyone wanting to produce

pedagogy can do for the student is challenged by this

architecture should, first, discard the preconceived

gradual shift in the architect’s status in society, the less

boundaries of the discipline and second, be prepared to

gradual but catastrophic post-Lehman collapse of value

learn from architecture wherever it is found, whoever it is

systems all around us, subsequent attacks on the

produced by.’46 This encourages a more open- minded

perception of worth and value assigned to the arts, culture,

approach providing a more socially, culturally and

and generally speaking all symbolic capital around us.49

politically relevant design approach for our time.

Indeed, a new alternative praxis is needed, ‘the centre has been found wanting’50.

‘In reforming the processes of production and representation…the emphasis shifts away from the

This suggestion of an alternative design model would

institution and towards the act of production itself.’

provide the ‘subaltern student’ with the opportunity to put his/her knowledge of architecture into a broader social

Jonathan Hill, Occupying Architecture: Between the Architect and the User47

context and in doing so, recuperate their political voice and will through a critique of the elite representation. Spivak encourages us to consider that ‘the agency of change is

Terms such as ‘spatial agent’, ‘guerrilla architect’ and ‘the

located in the insurgent or subaltern’ and in doing so

double agent’ have been coined in recent architectural

consider how to ‘recover a pure ‘subaltern’

debate and have begun to monopolise design

consciousness’.51 It is the duty of the ‘subaltern’ student to

conversation. Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing

recover a ‘subaltern consciousness’ by developing new

Architecture has explored ways in which the notion of this

ways to practice architecture whilst architectural pedagogy

alternative model is radically reframing the profession and cultural identity of the architect. With the view that 45

Hunter, W, ‘Social Design’ creeps into the mainstream: Is it here to stay and in what way? March 2012 [http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/dpublog/2012/03/19/socialdesign-creeps-into-the-mainstream-is-it-here-to-stay-and-in-what-way/] accessed 28.01.2012

Association of Architectural Educators [http://www.ntu.ac.uk/adbe/document_uploads/130031.pdf] accessed 3.02.2013

Awan, N, Schneider T, Till, J, Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture, Routledge, Oxon, 2011, pp.27

Hill, J, Occupying Architecture: Between the Architect and User, Routledge, London, 1998, pp147 Hill, J, Occupying Architecture: Between the Architect and User, Routledge, London, 1998, pp147

50 51

Morton, S, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Routledge, London, 2003, pp52

should inform prospective students of these alternatives.

multidisciplinary in scope, which cheerfully lack ARB registration. While some are completing their diplomas,

I will now define the ‘subaltern student’ as the point at

others voice a militant resistance to the idea of resuming

which students must make a conscious decision between

an institutional education. Other practices such as Practice

entering into the mainstream architectural profession or

and We Made That, whose members are in their mid- late

becoming an 'agent: no longer obligated to construct’ ,

twenties and not long left university, seem to be following a

and in doing so redefining what the terms 'architect' and

similar trend. Noticeably, the names of their practices are

'architecture' mean to our generation of potential 'agents'.

not made up of individuals’ names, like so many of the

Do I eschew the well- trodden trajectory of devoting five

star- architects who eclipse their eponymous studios. This

years of my life to an established firm before embarking on

generation of younger practitioners design co- operatively

a decade of house extensions, competition entries and

and have idiosyncratic approaches. Many of their creations

teaching on the side? 53

are ephemera, temporary structures, things the PR world has called pop- ups, whose short lives leave an impression

For those who have experienced the ‘subalternity’ of an

on the memory.54

architectural education, it is important to note that an emerging type of multidisciplinary practice such as Assemble (a group of practitioners based in London, who have recently dominated contemporary architectural discussion, for their temporary and self built architecture in the capital) do not contain any individuals with more than a part II “RIBA validated” qualification, much less a part III. Thus in this case, Spivak’s notion of the recovery of the notion of ‘subaltern consciousness’ lies in valuing an education in architecture as a learning process in its own right. There is a potential for prospective students entering architecture school with a different cultural agenda than the majority of those today. There are emerging practices such as Assemble, 52

Hyde, R, Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture, Routledge, New York and London, 2011, pp.77

‘Assemble’s team building is a glimpse of the future’ by Ellis Woodman, published in Building Design, November 2012, pp.10-13

Moore, R, Meet Britain’s brightest young architects, The Guardian online [http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jan/09/young-architectscineroleum-franks-hastings] accessed 28.01.2013

QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture.

Figure 4: Cineroleum by Assemble

of or exterior…yet it is in this founding moment of relegation that the sovereignty of the self or the same is

However, Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing

constituted.’56

Architecture argues against the notion of ‘an alternative’, as “in critiquing the norm… the alternative is necessarily reactive…and thus may remain in thrall to it.”55 As Stephen Morton emphasises on the topic of otherness and in

‘…Often, as in any binary structure, the alternative becomes bound by exactly the terms of reference that it would wish to escape’57

relation to Spivak, ‘the other is relegated to a place outside 55

Awan, N, Schneider T, Till, J, Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture, Routledge, Oxon, 2011, pp.26

56 57

Morton, S, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Routledge, London, 2003, pp.37 Awan, N, Schneider T, Till, J, Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing

Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture

mainstream protocols is a threat to pure potential.60 He

This would suggest that ‘spatial agents’ have ambitions to

goes on to say that true agency would have a huge impact

present a legitimate new paradigm for praxis rather than

on the methodology of practice and ‘if the representations

merely a reaction to established ‘mainstream’ practices or

and viral publishing of this movement is lazily glorified sans

indeed alterity for its own sake: Saussure argues that in

the critical rigor they deserve, then the larger cause of

the process of mean making (signification) something is

shifting an agency for practice will be lost’.61

defined in relation to what it is not. However considering this binary opposition, one would question what right the

Furthermore, there has also been a recent surge in the

centre has to control the ‘margins’ following the global

commercialisation of a number of temporary structures in

financial and environmental crises and their concomitant

London that risk associating corporate branding with the

social divisions?

work of this new generation of multidisciplinary practices.

On the other hand, the media hyperbole and enticing

Much of this type of architecture has spawned from the

rhetoric (self built projects are an antidote…escaping

adaptive and transient nature of the 2012 Olympics.62 The

micro- station lethargy ) surrounding ‘spatial agency’

enduring attraction of something temporary is in many

(which itself becomes a buzzword) spurred on by more

ways an obvious marketing tool63…where pop up offers a

recent publications such as Rory Hyde’s Future Practice:

sophisticated branding tool in which a deeper social

Conversations from the Edge of Architecture and riding on

agenda is lost.

the work of Cedric Price, results in criticisms that this potential paradigm for practice must deal with in order for it

In a letter to the Editor of Building Design from November

to convince architectural stalwarts of its critical relevance.

2012: Assemble are accused of being a ‘bunch of rich kids being indulged’ whilst ‘their privileged position gives them

In William Hunter’s article, ‘Social Design creeps into the

the space to “act out”…whilst being insulated from the

mainstream: Is it here to stay and in what way?’ on

constraints of the real world’.64 Many have been quick to

MoMA’s recent exhibition called Small Change Big Change, he explores the extent to which a possible coopting of the outsider activists and true agency of architecture by the object driven mentality of the

Architecture, Routledge, Oxon, 2011, pp.26

58 59

Morton, S, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Routledge, London, 2003, pp.26

Moore, R, Meet Britain’s Brightest Young Architects, Guardian 09.01.2011 [http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jan/09/young-architectscineroleum-franks-hastings] accessed 3.02.2013

Hunter, W, ‘Social Design’ creeps into the mainstream: Is it here to stay and in what way? March 2012 [http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/dpublog/2012/03/19/social-design-creeps-into-themainstream-is-it-here-to-stay-and-in-what-way/] accessed 28.01.2012

Fieldhouse, E, Pop Ups 2012 Temporary Structures in London, Blueprint Magazine, January 2013

23.11.12 letters to Building Design ‘Just a bunch of rich kids?’ pp.8

dismiss these practices as ‘middle class kids indulging in a 65

with the dominant class? Mel Dodd suggests the role of

hobby’. It can be said that some of these practices are

the architect as ‘activist as well as an entrepreneur.’68 In

formed from some of the UK’s top art and academic

this sense, a kind of hybrid practitioner could evolve

institutions and further ‘have the space to act out’ using

through a gradual transformation in which the form is

London as a cultural base in order to experiment. Indeed,

retained but the substance is replaced. Spatial Agency:

Rowan Moore in his article, ‘Meet Britain’s brightest young

Other Ways of Doing Architecture advises, ‘in our context

architects’ makes it clear that, ‘there’s a danger that

this means avoiding the temptation to ditch the traditional

architecture like this could become a delightful middle

architectural skills of design and spatial intelligence, but

class game’.66 Whilst this suggestion has been made, one

instead seeing how they might be exploited in different

might observe that the training to become a qualified

ways and contexts.69

architect costs thousands of pounds in any case, worsened particularly by the government’s decision to

Whilst Bledstein declares that, ‘the culture of

raise tuition fees to up to £9,000 a year.

professionalism requires amateurs to trust in the integrity of trained persons and to respect their moral authority’ 70,

In the case of practitioners such as Assemble, a more

Mel Dodd from ‘socially engaged art practice’ Muf says,

grassroots approach to design would provide a more

‘[as an architect] you get pigeonholed into the production

convincing case for those who question the legitimacy of a

of buildings alone…this idea that you’re somehow an

shift to a more socially responsive architecture. In contrast,

expert because you design buildings always makes me

Wouter Vanstiphout writes in Building Design in July 2012:

feel a bit uncomfortable.’71 In Wouter Vanstiphout’s words,

‘architecture veers wildly between subservience to

this could provide the opportunity to, ‘drastically open up

corporate power and neo- anarchist bottom up

the closed, professional, jargon- laden debate about

experiments’, clearly a balance is desperately needed

architectural quality and legitimacy to the public, towards

between the two. Therefore if the ‘subaltern student’ takes

an even popular, debate.’72

the path of the ‘agent’, the change in values would allow for the emergence of a new type of architect or practitioner as a result: one who in fact aligns themselves both with the ‘rebels’ and almost sub cultural modes of practice but also 65

Assemble team building is a glimpse of the future- 7 November 2012, BD, pp.11

Moore, R, Meet Britain’s brightest young architects, The Guardian online [http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jan/09/young-architectscineroleum-franks-hastings] accessed 28.01.2013

‘We are drifting away from democracy’ by Wouter Vanstiphout, Building Design, 20th July 2012

Hyde, R, Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture, Routledge, New York and London, 2011, pp.79

Awan, N, Schneider T, Till, J, Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture, Routledge, Oxon, 2011, pp.26

Bledstein, BJ, The Culture of Professionalism, The Middle Class and the Development of higher Education in America WW Norton and Company inc. NY 1976, pp.90

Hyde, R, Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture, Routledge, New York and London, 2011, pp.77

‘We are drifting away from democracy’ by Wouter Vanstiphout, Building Design, 2012, pp.7

“Cedric Price would say, ‘the answer may not be a building’. I would go further- there may not be a answer.” Mel Dodd of Muf73 Arguably, those deeply committed to mainstream architectural practice will never be satisfied with any definition of agency. The radical notion of the ‘subverting reader breaking down the distinction between the author/architect/professional and the reader/user/amateur’74 may be pertinent to only a new generation of architecture students, willing to risk their reputations and experiment. The ‘subaltern student’ must be willing to misbehave, to ask difficult questions, not to settle for unemployment or drudgery but to look for other applications of architectural thinking.75

Hyde, R, Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture, Routledge, New York and London, 2011, pp.76

Hill, J, Occupying Architecture: Between the Architect and User, Routledge, London, 1998, pp147

Parvin,A, How to be a Good Architecture Student? Be Bad [http://subutcher.posterous.com/how-to-be-a-good-architecture-student-bebad] accessed 29.01.2013

DESIGNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S PARADOX disillusioned adj having lost one's ideals, illusions, or false ideas about someone or something; disenchanted76

Collins Online dictionary [http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/disillusioned] accessed 25.02.2013

Figure 5: design perspective for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;image chamberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;: facilitating local knowledge and cultural exchange

In critiquing the misguided assumptions of the architect by

again, and therefore heavily dependent on experience.

the wider public, it is important for the subaltern student to

Dodd comments, ‘you can’t generalise, assume or overlay

realise that they are complicit in the perpetuation of this

ideas about improvement without understanding the

myth, as it was the same notion of the creative

context of your own prejudices.’79 Therefore I believe that

professional that lured them into an architectural education

when we stop, as students, being so preoccupied with the

in the first instance. However, with this realisation comes

notion of the defensive professional trying to solve

an understanding that we have the responsibility and a

problems, we can begin to collaborate and design

certain influence to affect change within the profession and

effectively, in a way that reflects the social and cultural

future practice, in the hope of preventing many, though not

concerns of our generation.

all, prospective students from following similar and inevitably disillusioning paths.

“A lot of people never use their initiative because no one told them to.” Banksy80

The study of architecture for three years at university has taught me to reject the professional understanding of what it means to be an architect but to embrace the possibilities

A scattering of manifestos offer students feel-good plans

of what it means to practice architecture. I echo the

devised in bouts of blog-inspired reflection on what ‘rules’

position of Reyner Banham: ‘his argument is with

can be applied to achieve successful design. Many

architects not with architecture; he despairs of the former

designers outline precise rules of ‘good design practice’,

while yearning for the promise of the latter.’77 To quote

as helpful advice for design students to follow.

Banksy: ‘there’s nothing more dangerous than someone

Paradoxically, many of these ‘rules’ often contain advice

who wants to make the world a better place’.78 This is in

that purposefully aims to question accepted paradigms and

line with Mel Dodd’s view that the traditional model of the

the status quo.

architect as expert professional possesses concomitant characteristics of paternalism, ideology and the striving for

Hence, I would describe my relationship with my

constant amelioration, ‘practice makes perfect’. This

architectural education as paradoxical. This unique form of

pertains to the dangerous notion that if you do something

pedagogy, whose current aim is to mould the professional

enough times, a certain ideological model can be applied

creative through the vehicle of the assimilating design

to any given spatial situation resulting in the production of

studio, provides a much higher level of contemplative and

architecture as a repetitive process, refined and refined

absorptive learning than other creative and professional

Till, J, Architecture Depends, pp.8 in Banham, R, A Black Box: The Secret Profession of Architecture in A Critic Writes, Essays by Reyner Banham, University of California Press, London, 1996, pp. 294

[http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/28811.Banksy] accessed 22.02.2013

Hyde, R, Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture, Routledge, New York and London, 2011, pp. 82

Bennet L, 10 Things they don’t teach you in architecture school, ArchiNinja, [http://www.archdaily.com/280028/10-things-they-dont-teach-you-inarchitecture-school/] accessed 20.02.2012

courses of study. I believe then that the key to

empowerment, ownership and mutual knowledge. Hamdi

understanding this process of learning is to follow the

notes how this would encourage, ‘new forms of partnership

recommendations of Ken Robinson who says that it is

and governance based on networks not hierarchies’.83

necessary to ‘disenthrall ourselves’, remove ourselves

One way of achieving this is to realise that it is important

from the ‘tyranny of common sense’ and in doing so move

for the ‘subaltern’ student to overcome their disillusionment

towards innovation.

with architectural education and its consequences for practice and the profession. They ought to allow any new

‘Innovation is doing something that people don’t find

perspectives they have regarding this, to inform and

very easy…things that we take for granted…things

influence their current perspective rather than surrendering

that we think are obvious- the tyranny of common

their previous values or and ideals completely.

sense…that’s the way its done’ Ken Robinson81

There are further questions when taking into account a new paradigm for spatial practice. Is ‘agency’ a more suitable or subversive term than ‘practice’? How do we go

In terms of the education system, he states that ‘life is

about teaching ‘qualitative social understanding’? Mel

organic not linear’ so why do we champion an education

Dodd advises that we would not need to unlearn our

system where students are put through a process of

training but to apply the same sets of skills and knowledge

‘manufactured learning’. This is supported by Doreen

differently and in a way that acknowledges the expert

Massey who talks of that way in which space is the ‘sphere

knowledge of other people, the notion of the ‘expert

of the possibility of the existence of multiplicity; that is

citizen’.84

space, ‘as the sphere in which distinct trajectories coexist; as the sphere therefore of coexisting heterogeneity’.82 If

It is crucial to stress that educational methodologies ought

then, the nature of space is so diverse and the process of

to be polarised along a continuum from the didactic to

designing it encompasses so many social and cultural

Socratic ‘midwifery’; that is from putting things in the

dimensions, why homogenise education? I believe that in

learner’s mind to bringing out something from within the

doing so, professional status aims to safeguard control

learner.85 This could be a way in which an individual could

through teaching. This results in a static education system.

allow his or her own cultural background to inform their

Instead, I argue that architectural pedagogy needs to

studio work but at the same time allowing architectural

expand to encompass the potential that spatial practice

training to aid the communication of these thoughts. This is

can offer and not to be afraid to engage with notions of 81

Ken Robinson, Bring on the learning revolution!, TED talk, filmed February 2010 [http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html] accessed 3.02.2013

Massey, D, For Space, Sage Publications, London, 2005, pp.13

Hamdi, N, Small Change, Earthscan, UK, 2004, pp.42

Hyde, R, Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture, Routledge, New York and London, 2011, pp. 78

[Ed] Jones, RA, Clarkson, A, Congram, S and Stratton, N, Education and imagination: post- Jungian perspectives, Routledge, London, 2008, pp.67

supported by Hamdi who argues in Small Change, ‘it

about conformity to it or on the other hand, allowing

follows ‘the Freirian concept of “conscientisation”, calling

individuals to be autonomous. However, I disagree with

for raising the self reflected awareness of people (including

Freire in the extent to which he states that a simple binary

our students) rather than educating or indoctrinating them,

structure of the two exists. I believe there are many ways

for giving them power to assert their “voice” and for

in which students can engage in ‘a practice of freedom’

stimulating their self- driven collective action to transform

and still adhere to the ‘logic of the present system’ and

their “reality”…’86 In this way, the integrity of education is

vice versa. I believe this is a state wherein individuals are

preserved within a pedagogical strategy that nurtures

‘self- individualised’, according to Jung: ‘those who are

individuality.

adapted to life within a culture but are unspoiled in the process of acculturation.’88 It can then be said that

“There is no such thing as a neutral educational

imagination and education are a contradiction. How can

process. Education either functions as an instrument

one teach individuals to think for themselves? Surely it is

that is used to facilitate the integration of the younger

the way an individual actively responds to an institutional

generation into the logic of the present system and

education [such as architecture studio culture] rather than

bring about conformity to it, or it becomes ‘the

the fact that they have been subject to it, says more about

practice of freedom’ the means by which men and

their character, identity and what kind of person they are.

women deal critically and creatively with reality and

This is a lesson not able to be taught by others or by a

discover how to participate in the transformation of

formal or informal education, but potentially rather by a

their world.”87

form of auto- didacticism whereby an individual takes

Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

responsibly for their own learning. Alternatively, and following on from Freire, human beings are learning all the

As Freire states, there is no such thing as a wholly neutral

time. As Freire posits in Pedagogy of the Oppressed,

educational process. To a large extent, socialisation and

‘people educate each other through the mediation of the

acculturation takes place in any institutional education to

world.’89 Therefore the student of architecture should not

some degree and to an alarming degree in that of a

rely solely on his/her architectural education to shape

professional education. It can be said that the function of

his/her values and practices and instead be open to a

education can be categorised through a dialectical

variety of cultural influences. Whilst an occupation plays a

opposition between education as passing on the logic of

large part in our lives, we have the individual responsibility

the present system to a younger generation and bringing

to decide how much of ourselves we are willing to invest in them and equally how much we are willing for them to

Hamdi, N, Small Change, pp.128 from Rahman, MA 1995 ‘Participatory development: towards liberation or co- optation?’ In Craig, G and Mayo, M (eds) Community Empowerment, Zed Books, London, pp.25

Freire, P, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Penguin, 1996, pp. 16

Self- actualization [http://www.holisticeducator.com/selfactualisation.htm] accessed 20.11.12 Freire, P, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Penguin, 1996, pp. 14

shape our ever changing identities and diverse lifestyles. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Let [the student] be asked for an account not merely of the words of his lesson, but of its sense and substance, and judge the profit he has made by the testimony not of his memory, but of his life.â&#x20AC;? Michel de Montaigne90

University of Stanford [http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/cgibin/drupal_ual/esf] accessed 20.11.12

Figure 6: Image: the diverse geography of architectural and spatial practice today, with the architectural office as a shrinking polar ice cap ‘The Architect’s New Atlas’ by Hans Park and Martti Kalliala

QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture.

Bibliography Books •

Awan, N, Schneider T, Till, J, Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture, Routledge, Oxon, 2011

•

Bacon, F, The New Atlantis.The Harvard Classics. 1909- 14.

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Banham, R, A Black Box: The Secret Profession of Architecture in A Critic Writes, Essays by Reyner Banham, University of California Press, London, 1996

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Barber, L, An Education, Penguin, London, 2009

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Bauman Lyons, How to be a Happy Architect, Black Dog Publishing, London UK, 2008

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Bledstein, BJ, The Culture of Professionalism, The Middle Class and the Development of higher Education in America, WW Norton and Company inc. New York, 1976

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Flusser, V, The Shape of Things: A Philosophy of Design, Reaktion Books Ltd, 1999

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Foster, H, The Art-Architecture Complex, Verso, London and New York, 2011

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Freire, P, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Penguin, 1996

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Greenfell, M, Pierre Bourdieu Education and Training, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2007

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Hamdi, N, Small Change, Earthscan, UK, 2004

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Hill, J, Occupying Architecture: Between the Architect and User, Routledge, London, 1998

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Hyde, R, Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture, Routledge, New York and London, 2011

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Jacoby, M, Individuation and Narcissism: the psychology of self in Jung and Kohut, , Routledge, 1990 London

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[Ed] Jones, RA, Clarkson, A, Congram, S and Stratton, N, Education and imagination: post- Jungian perspectives, Routledge, London, 2008

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Massey, D, For Space, Sage Publications, London, 2005

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Miessen, M, & Basar, S, Did someone say participate? MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2006

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Morton, S, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Routledge, London, 2003

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Pevsner, N, An Outline of European Architecture, Penguin Books, 1990

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Schmacher, P, The Autopoiesis of Architecture: A new agenda for Architecture, Volume II, John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2012

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Schon, D, The Design Studio: An Exploration of its Tradition and Potential, RIBA Publications, London, 2005

•

Sennet, R, Respect: The Formation of Character in an Age of Inequality, Penguin, London, 2004

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Spivak, G, Can the subaltern speak? in Nelson, C and Grossberg, L, Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, 1988

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Till, J, Architecture Depends, Routledge, London, 2011

Articles •

Avery, B, ‘Architectural Education, Deeply Flawed’ in Building Design in June 1992

•

Bennet L, 10 Things they don’t teach you in architecture school, Archi- Ninja, [http://www.archdaily.com/280028/10things-they-dont-teach-you-in-architecture-school/] accessed 20.02.2012

•

Blake, E, The Future of Architecture, Vice Design Week [http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/the-future-of-architecture? utm_source=vicefb] accessed 28.01.2013

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Fieldhouse, E, Pop Ups 2012 Temporary Structures in London, Blueprint Magazine, January 2013

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Hunter, W, ‘Social Design’ creeps into the mainstream: Is it here to stay and in what way? March 2012 [http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/dpublog/2012/03/19/social-design-creeps-into-the-mainstream-is-it-here-to-stay-and-in-whatway/] accessed 28.01.2012

•

Hunter, W, ‘Alternative Routes for Architecture’ by, Architects Journal, October 2012

•

Moore, R, Meet Britain’s Brightest Young Architects, Guardian 09.01.2011 [http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jan/09/young-architects-cineroleum-franks-hastings] accessed 3.02.2013

•

Schneider, T, Till, J, Beyond Discourse: Notes on Spatial Agency, Footprint, Agency in Architecture: Reframing Criticality in Theory and Practice, 2009, pp.97-11

•

Scruton, R, High culture is being corrupted by a culture of fakes [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/19/high-culture-fake] accessed 02.10.2012

•

Vanstiphout, W, ‘We are drifting away from democracy’ in Building Design, 20th July 2012

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Webster, H, Architectural Education after Schon: Cracks, Blurs Boundaries and Beyond [http://www.cebe.heacademy.ac.uk/jebe/pdf/HelenaWebster3(2).pdf] accessed 28th December 2012

•

Perspecta 44: The Yale Architectural Journal, Domain, Canada, MIT Press, pp.161

•

Letters to The Editor, Building Design, ‘Just a bunch of rich kids?’ 23rd November 2012 pp.8

•

Assemble team building is a glimpse of the future, Letters to the Editor, Building Design, 7 November 2012, pp.1112

Websites •

Lecture by Gayatri Spivak called The Trajectory of the Subaltern in my work, at Colombia University 2008, [www.uctv.tv] accessed 12.11.2012

•

Stein, M, Individuation: Inner Work, Journal of Jungian Theory and Practice VOL. 7NO. 2005 [http://www.junginstitute.org/pdf_files/JungV7N2p1-14.pdf] accessed 20.11.12

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www.unistats.direct.gov.uk

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•

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•

Good reads quotes [http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/28811.Banksy] accessed 22.02.2013

Videos •

Ken Robinson, Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity, TED Talk, filmed February 2006 [http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html?quote=92&utm_expid=16690714&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ted.com%2Fsearch%3Fcat%3Dquotes%26q%3Dken%2Brobinson] accessed 3.02.2013 Lecture by Gayatri Spivak called The Trajectory of the Subaltern in my work, at Colombia University 2008, [www.uctv.tv]

•

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, [http://vimeo.com/27393748]

•

Ken Robinson, Bring on the learning revolution!, TED talk, filmed February 2010 [http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html] accessed 3.02.2013

•

Parvin, A, Architecture for everyone, by everyone, TED Talk, July 2012 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=09QyFJXrPB4] accessed 18.02.2013

Film •

The Fountainhead, 1947 film directed by King Vidor

Radio Programmes •

Woman’s Hour on Ayn Rand, BBC Radio 4, 23.08.2012

Images •

Figure 1: my own sketches based on the work of the artist Tania Kovats

•

Figure 2: from photograph by Fernando Gomez courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics [http://wodumedia.com/wpcontent/uploads/2012/10/Gehrys-Sketch-of-The-Guggenheim-Bilbao-Spain.-Photo-by-Fernando-Gomez-courtesy-ofSony-Pictures-Classics-0-600x289.jpg] accessed 17.02.2013

•

Figure 3: Decentralised, centralised and distributed networks [http://larvalsubjects.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/baran_net1.gif] accessed 7.06.2013

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Figure 4: Cineroleum by Assemble practice [http://put.edidomus.it/domus/binaries/imagedata/big_391393_2360_07_web_VON60391.jpg] accessed 22.02.2013

•

Figure 5: own design work perspective

•

Figure 6: Hyde, R, Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture, Routledge, New York and London, 2011, pp.25