PhD Research Projects 2014
PhD Research Projects 2014
Tuesday 25 february 2014 Conference: 9.30am–6.30pm The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL Wates House / 22 Gordon Street / London
contents
5 6
8
Preface
22
Introduction
Learning from Los Santos:
The Spatial Controls and Cultural
Bernadette Devilat
Locomotive of Videogames
Re-Construction and Record: Exploring
as an Architectural Procedure
Alternatives for Heritage Areas after Earthquakes in Chile 10
24
cindy walters
in Formerly Jewish Shtetls 26
Colin Herperger
Aesthetic of (High) Entropy
with Which We Might Play 28
Elo Masing
16
30
Practice: Reading and Writing
Text, Image, Space: A Preliminary Inquiry
John Soane’s Lectures (1810–1836)
into the Architecture of the Philosophical
18
32
Benjamin’s Radio Talks for Children
An Architectural Enquiry into the
34
Theory of Peace-Process Landscapes
Laurie Bamon
Crisis in the Garden?
Wesley Aelbrecht
Photographing Detroit: Decline
in-between Irelands 20
Tom Wilkinson
Architecture on the Radio: Walter
Irene Kelly
Sublime and Beautiful: An Aesthetic
Sophie Read
Architectural History as Performative
Gregorio Astengo
Transactions, 1665–1700
Onya McCausland
Turning Landscape into Colour
Mapping or Choreographing?: Redefining Musical Notation
Niccolo Casas
Catabiosis: Toward an
Making an Architecture
14
Natalia Romik
Memory and Emptiness
Rethinking the Pavilion 12
Luke Pearson
and Renaissance in the 1950s and 1980s 36 38
Biographies Credits
preface
Dr Penelope Haralambidou Co-ordinator, MPhil/PhD Programmes
Professor Jonathan Hill
Director, MPhil/PhD Architectural Design
Dr Barbara Penner
Director, MPhil/PhD Architectural History & Theory
P
hD Research Projects 2014 is the
discussions between presenters, exhibitors,
exhibition related to doctoral research
The conference papers are organised in
seventh annual conference and
at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. The event is open to the public and involves presentations by students undertaking the
MPhil/PhD Architectural Design and MPhil/ PhD Architectural History & Theory with
invited contributions by students from MPhil/
staff, students, critics and the audience.
pairs of thematic or methodological links, while this year’s exhibition considers the relations between doctoral research,
architectural design and expanded notions of drawing and making.
Organised and curated by Dr Penelope
PhD at the Slade and History of Art, UCL.
Haralambidou, PhD Research Projects
by MPhil/PhD students at the Royal
Royal Academy of Music; Dr Emma Cheatle,
This year we have again invited contributions Academy of Music, as part of our continuing collaboration with the school. Leading to
2014 has six invited critics: Dr Sarah Callis,
University of Westminster; Dr Roy Kozlovsky, Tel Aviv University; Professor Perry Kulper,
a PhD in Architecture, the two Bartlett
University of Michigan; Professor John
encourage originality and creativity. Over 70
and Dr Nina VollenbrĂśker, UCL.
School of Architecture doctoral programmes students are currently enrolled and the range
Macarthur, The University of Queensland; Presenting this year are: Wesley
of research subjects undertaken is broad.
Aelbrecht, Gregorio Astengo, Laurie
exhibition focuses on a smaller selection
Colin Herperger, Irene Kelly, Elo Masing,
However, each annual PhD conference and of presentations from students who are starting, developing or concluding their
research. The purpose of the conference
and exhibition is to encourage productive
Bamon, Niccolo Casas, Bernadette Devilat, Onya McCausland, Luke Pearson, Sophie Read, Natalia Romik, Cindy Walters and Tom Wilkinson.
5
Introduction
New Scores, New Events
T
their respective disciplinary procedures
students from the departments of the
not agree? In what ways could concepts
his year’s PhD Research Projects
invites doctoral candidates to
present from the programmes of
Architectural Design and Architectural
History & Theory at The Bartlett, alongside History of Art and the Slade School of
Fine Art at UCL, with researchers from The Royal Academy of Music.
Across the papers, investigations
range from the study of specific landscapes, physical sites and their layered cultural and social histories; to enquiries into
different kinds of photographic records,
What happens when such projects and
come into contact here? What critical and
creative questions could they be said to ask of each other and where do they perhaps and conventions from music inform art,
architectural or historical practice? How
do discourses of materiality, drawing and
from design, history, visual art and
composition, many of the papers presented appear to approach their diverse materials as if live and living – spanning contexts of
political conflict, biological systems, musical development, and historiographies that give access to the past through various transmissions in the present.
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representation and analysis that chart and describe, whilst simultaneously point to
scoring and shaping future events, buildings and actions.
Concepts of scoring space or the
any means new within architecture, art
notation?
Whether it be a 3D scan of a building,
the form of architectural language that
Through a broad range of methodologies
user to side-step an intended narrative for
that presenters have developed forms of
and question contemporary composition and
behaviours of performers and players of or indeed the process of research itself.
for bringing into focus the differing ways
use of drawings that resemble notation
architectural spaces and experiences inform
a graphic score of a performance, calculus
architecture, a piece of music, a video-game,
in different ways, including through the
‘Mapping or Choreographing?’) are useful
the representation of different kinds of
documents and digital facsimiles of the built environment; to explorations of bodies and
any specific case’ (as well as her paper’s title
the status and subsequent uses of such
translations. Here Elo Masing’s reflections about the ‘choice of notation’ being a
question of determining ‘the nature of information to be transmitted and the
mode of communication to be applied in
memory or through intervening with
constructed imaginaries attached to various imaged versions of a city.
Through such different and varied
databases for future building become
Tschumi’s Manhattan Transcripts, or Fluxus’s
Event Scores – tending to demonstrate
when traditional methods could not do so.
transcription of different kinds of data, and
the land, to the excavation of unformatted
or composition practice – for instance,
interprets the form and content of specific
interrogate processes of transference and
between pigment-‘ochre’ materials and
processes: manifestoes, peace-process
attempts to accommodate and make
to consider just how many of the papers
example, or the uncovering of connections
from music or dance are of course, not by
to analyze a living process, or notation in
historical textual documents, it is interesting
adoption of cheat codes to allow a game
legible aspects of spatio-temporal reality There is perhaps something interesting
to reflect on between the impulse behind
such well known attempts, and that of the motivations of many of the researchers to adopt notations or approaches that seek
to work against or interfere with the thing
infrastructures, transactional fields, and activated, whilst different hidden and
sometimes latent pasts, pleasures and paints are unearthed. The aim of PhD Research Projects is to initiate interdisciplinary
dialogue and critical questioning between
each of the researchers’ objects, approaches to research, and some of these new and
uncovered scores, pointing to new events. Sophie Read
that is being studied, often as a means to
reactivate existing scripted architectures,
historical architectural publics or materials. This dimension manifests in the papers
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Bernadette Devilat The Bartlett, UCL
Re-Construction and Record: Exploring Alternatives for Heritage Areas after Earthquakes in Chile
E
arthquakes have progressively
third, the design of reconstruction projects
the years. Even though changes in
imitate only the appearance rather than
destroyed Chile’s built heritage over
regulations have led to a safer behaviour of buildings in earthquakes, especially in
urban areas, the built heritage has suffered significant damage, due mainly to the
age of the buildings, lack of maintenance
and accumulated damage over the years.
However, the built heritage has been affected not only by the initial destruction produced
as new ‘heritage’ constructions that try to
understanding that heritage, which, in the cases studied here, includes sustainable
modes of construction in accordance with specific climatic conditions. This occurs in
places where previous records are sometimes non-existent, which poses a question of authenticity.
The objective of this research is
by the earthquake, but also because of
to generate new architectural design
the two selected case studies: the 2005
heritage villages. The visual understanding
applied reconstruction approaches. In
earthquake, that registered a 7,9 in Richter scale and occurred in the northern area
of the country; and the 2010 earthquake,
that registered an 8,8 in Richer scale and occurred in the central-south area of the
alternatives to address re-construction in
of heritage is contrasted with a visual record of the actual built environment, where the material sustainability of historic houses becomes evident.
By enquiring into inhabitants’ social
country, three main issues concerning
perception and by using accurate recording
exist. First, the lack of an integral approach
the role that the record has in the definition
reconstruction approaches continue to
that does not allow for the reconstruction
and repair of whole heritage areas but only of selected buildings in them; second, the
indiscriminate demolition, which takes places usually immediately after the disaster; and
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technologies, such as 3D laser scanning,
of heritage and the design of re-construction projects is explored. This leads to an
understanding of the technologies’ capacity
as a virtual database for memory, preservation, demolition, intervention or replica.
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Cindy Walters The Bartlett, UCL
Rethinking the Pavilion
M
y central research question relates to the contemporary relevance
of the pavilion as an archetypal
architectural form and how this can mediate between ideal notions of design and the exigencies of architectural practice.
In the work of my practice, Walters
and Cohen, there is a recurrent interest in, and use of, the pavilion as a building type;
this is evidenced in our references, such as
Donald Judd and Walter De Maria, Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House and classical
Greek architecture, for instance the Temple of Apollo at Bassae, and in our projects
for an Art Gallery in South Africa, a visitor centre in West Sussex, an art gallery at
Kew Gardens and a new art school for the
American School in London. Other projects tend to take the form of complex additions
My research is particularly interested
in analyzing how the pavilion type fares within the socio-economic realities of
British architectural practice. Indeed, there is a significant dichotomy in our practice
between those projects commissioned by
clients who select us as architects through design competitions and who encourage
and facilitate conversations about design
intentions, and those for whom the notion of design is less important than political, social and financial considerations. The
process of design review – internal/external, small scale/large scale, and public/private –
mediates between these two circumstances mentioned above, and ensures a successful outcome, irrespective of the ambitions of the client.
Through this investigation I am
to campuses such as Bedales School in
seeking to develop my critical thinking
Mercers’ Company in London and South
Rather than the more traditional historical,
Hampshire, or cities such as offices for the Camden Community School in Somers
Town, London. All these schemes contain examples of my interest in exploring the
possibilities of the pavilion as a fundamental architectural type.
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Image: Dennis Gilbert
and contextualise the work of our practice. technological or sociological discourse, I
am particularly interested in investigating the complex and evolutionary process of architectural practice, a relatively unexplored field of academic study.
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Colin Herperger The Bartlett, UCL
Making an Architecture with Which We Might Play
A
n inquisitive sense of play may
begin to foster a curiosity that can
grow and extend itself throughout
I wonder, what role does architecture hold in this progression? What role might it offer? My research is focused upon better
a lifetime. As Philip Beesley discusses in
understanding the role of the unspeakable
looking past man as the pinnacle of the
architecture and the process of making.
his lecture on the Hylozoic Ground Project, world with everything else being a servant and suggests the opportunity of striving towards creating a mutual relationship
with the environment. In such a condition, architecture might have a range of
performance that is outside the bounds of supporting known programs. I would
also argue that far too often architecture is conceived of as a device to serve our
desires, simply making life easier and more comfortable. In doing so, it begins to take
on the role of anaesthetic. Floors are flat, temperature is controlled and moderate,
and unanticipated stimulation is removed in favour of the constant and comfortable. We
dimension of tacit engagement within
From this inquiry, the greater questions the PhD seeks to engage are:
1) How can play and the pleasure of
uncertainty become a vital part of the process for making architecture?
2) What role could the tools, discrete material behaviours and built assemblages of our
surroundings hold in engaging the realm of the unspeakable spatial experience? 3) How might one design for a curious
sense of existence? And might this tease at the edge of perception?
The work begins with the consideration
of a very simple question: How do I play?
may be unwittingly removing the pleasures of the uncertain and the possibility of
discovery. As a child, one tends to possess a
tremendous curiosity for the world yet as we get older it seems too often these wide eyes begin to shift towards a more closed mind.
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Elo Masing The royal academy of music
Mapping or Choreographing?: Redefining Musical Notation
T
his paper deals with certain aspects
determine the nature of information
to my compositional practice, which
communication to be applied in any
of musical notation that are relevant
casts the physicality of instrument playing as one of the basic starting principles of
compositional work. It can be argued that the choice of a notation belongs directly to the process of musical creation. It is a question
of defining, for each composition, the areas of interest the composer is dealing with in
that particular piece. The composer has to
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to be transmitted and the mode of
specific case. Based on these views, the
process of physicality-centred composition can be defined as both mapping musical
instruments and also choreographing the movements of the performer. The ideas
discussed in this paper are primarily based
on the doctoral research I have done so far at the Royal Academy of Music.
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Gregorio Astengo The Bartlett, UCL
Text, Image, Space: A Preliminary Inquiry into the Architecture of the Philosophical Transactions, 1665–1700
T
he Philosophical Transactions of
journal are studied as an expression of spatial
a periodical publication created in
images and architectural contents were
the Royal Society of London was
1665, in order to publish accounts of the
activities in the newly established Royal
Society. The Transactions were intended to
create a network of international knowledge and information that could be quicker and more effective than any other means of
communication. As a unique product of the
XVII Century and a highly creative material
entity, its influence could go beyond written words. The journal itself, an innovative way of delivering and presenting information,
can reveal its nature as a physical and, more specifically, as a spatial and architectural environment for scientific experiences. The Philosophical Transactions can be
understood as a space, meant to deliver information on an architectural level. The research aims to offer an
architectural reading of the Transactions
creativity, examining how its structure, text,
designed to offer a visible place for scientific enquiry. Thus, the character of the journal is revealed as ‘architectural transactions’,
a textual and visual ‘building’ for scientific
enquiry, a pre-modern architectural ‘review’ and an early modern ‘laboratory’. It is
suggested that the spatiality of the written page was designed in order to ‘build’ an
architectural space in which early modern
scientists could express their activities in a
three-dimensional way – meaning with this a communication that could go beyond the
spatiality of words or images, towards a more complex multi-directional involvement of
the subjects. The Philosophical Transactions
constitute a primary environment and an architectural ‘Manifesto’ for early modern science.
during their first 35 years of publishing. The study stresses the architectural substance of the journal as a ‘transactional field’
(Ackerman, 1979), both informative and
interactive. The material features of the
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Irene Kelly The Bartlett, UCL
An Architectural Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful: An Aesthetic Theory of Peace-Process Landscapes in-between Irelands
T
he thesis begins with making a space
an alternative to the ‘mise-en-abyme’ effect,
common ground through dispelling
into an enquiry to be continued. The chapter
for a methodology that constitutes
binary myths as part of the workings in
the Northern Ireland Peace Process. I then
undertook three traverses from different sites – Shannon-Erne Waterway, Divis Mountain next to Belfast City and the watchtower
landscape between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland – exploring the
physical altering of boundaries, and gathered film footage on route. This paper is the
final chapter of my PhD thesis. It borrows Edmund Burke’s enquiry as a medium to
corral thoughts and to position the gathered
footage as a cohesive part of the thesis – that is as a medium to construct a Peace-Process
Infrastructure.
Active politicians during the height of the
troubles now admit that the Northern Ireland ‘situation’ was exacerbated and made to last
for so long because the place was interpreted as remote/insignificant and as a result no imagination was applied.
This paper analyses the ‘enquiry’ as a
mode of investigation of the past in the
Northern Ireland context, while offering
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that is the inevitable enquiry into an enquiry also questions one final binary myth of the thesis; that is Burke’s absolute distinction between the sublime and the beautiful.
The ‘push/pull’ dynamic of experiencing the sublime within these sites works to
reconfigure what is considered remote from a geographical standpoint, by re-gauging distance through the physiological and a
reinterpretation of the ‘time’ of an enquiry.
As ultimately, the ‘hairs on the back of your
neck’ require a present ‘presence’ to stand-up. In overcoming geographical distance, the footage piques involvement in a greater catchment of audience.
This ‘architectural’ enquiry – in
conversation with Hannah Arendt, Yve
Lomax, Luce Irigaray, Judith Butler, Rosi Braidotti – ultimately binds its aesthetic
theory of peace-process landscapes with a
spatial construction, the in-between rather than the territorial line. This infrastructure makes room for Arendtian action – both deed and word – to positively influence the peace process.
Laurie Bamon The royal academy of music
Crisis in the Garden?
‘T
exture’ is a familiar term that
have been established: one explores texture
all levels. Ordinarily, it is used to
of ideas and experiences rooted in the visual
appears in music literature at
describe how the constituent – particularly linear – elements in a piece of music relate to one another. The potential for further
investigation into the relationships between texture and other aspects of music, such as rhythm and form, are often overlooked.
My research examines how texture is
defined, what texture is, and how it may be
used as a critical device to refine and expand my work as a composer. Two methodologies
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by casting it as a metaphorical expression arts and natural environments; the other focuses on texture as a practical tool to
provide me with a perspective from which
I can challenge my pre-existing ideas about the nature of musical development.
This paper draws on my research to show
how these methodologies interact with my compositional practice by discussing how I came to compose two versions of Urn
Garden, for string ensemble.
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Luke Pearson The Bartlett, UCL
Learning from Los Santos: The Spatial Controls and Cultural Locomotive of Videogames as an Architectural Procedure
T
he project is concerned with the
the quasi-photography of screenshots and
and by extension a manifesto,
be analysed as a further act of ‘nomadology’.
production of a visual cartography,
towards an architecture interrogating
and exploiting the spatial and aesthetic
translation into architectural drawing will
Beginning with a form analysis of Grand
Theft Auto V and its city of Los Santos,
possibilities offered by contemporary
the research seeks to investigate how
Venturi, Scott Brown’s conception of the
such as ‘procedural rhetoric’ or ‘ludonarrative
videogames. I will propose that the spirit of
analytical theories from games criticism,
‘cultural locomotive’ through their Las Vegas
dissonance’ – the difference between
paradigmatic media of our age. Following
experience and those conveyed through its
fieldwork re-emerges through games as the Atkinson and Willis, who argue that ‘our
interpretation of real urban space may be
warped, or, more subtly, influenced, by the
depth that gaming experiences now offer’ –
what they call the ludodrome – I will consider
a ludodromic architecture.
These investigations will be predicated
on the notion of ‘nomadism’ as defined by
Dyer-Witheford and de Peuter via Deleuze
and Guattari, where the ‘line of flight’ away
from an intended media experience becomes a resistance within machinic subjectivity, such as exploiting cheat codes for
generating new spatial phenomena within game worlds. The relationship between a
messages imparted by a game’s narrative
mechanics – will be used to interrogate the game as an architectural system of irony in relation to a digital facsimile of a real city.
Learning From Los Santos will use
critical drawings and a visual manifesto to propose a series of design projects
examining the urban and ludic strategies
of videogames as an architectural project. The research will ultimately propose that a new ‘cultural locomotive’ is emerging
and that architectural approaches may be
derived from the strategies of control, flow and spatial manipulation that videogames regularly implement.
dynamic media and their transcription into
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Natalia Romik The Bartlett, UCL
Memory and Emptiness in Formerly Jewish Shtetls
T
explore specific questions involved in the
and Eastern Europe. Before the Second-
interventions as an attempt at architectural
his presentation explores the architecture of memory and
emptiness in the contemporary
urban reality of shtetls, which is the name
given to formerly Jewish towns in Central
World-War the majority of the shtetl
inhabitants were Jews, sharing space
with other ethnic groups such as Poles or Ukrainians. After the war, the social and
urban voids left by the Holocaust meant these towns came to be filled by a new
population who inhabited and adjusted the Jewish architecture according to their own needs. Currently the architectural memory of this post-Jewish property is overlaid
by numerous transformations, whether
it is state-imposed or created by private
owners, with the most recent adjustments being caused by the wave of capitalistic
development in Eastern Europe during the 1990s and 2000s.
and Nomadic Shtetl Archive from 2014)
architectural conversion of previously Jewish property into new functions. Instead, I
consider my own vernacular architectural homeopathy. By this I mean that my
designs try to excavate the layers of existing urban reality to uncover the continuity of
unformatted architectural memory. Hence my projects adjust to the local conditions, contingent with the changing of weather
and seasons, patterns of shades and light, soundscapes and palettes of fragrances.
My own architectural actions embrace these
fundamentals as a catalyst for contemporary development in reviving derelict urban
identity. Can architectural memory therefore change the quality of everyday life through a process of public experimentation with abandoned architecture?
My research merges architectural design,
artistic experimentation and theoretical
research. Spatial and design projects that I have created (such as JAD from 2011,
Signboard from 2012, Cloud from 2013,
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Niccolo Casas The Bartlett, UCL
Catabiosis: Toward an Aesthetic of (High) Entropy
C
atabiosis is the process of aging,
leads to the generation of a new and
It comes from the Greek word
Consequently, catabiotic design is the
declining and physical degradation.
kata, ‘down, against, reverse’ and biosis,
‘way of life’. It is generally used to describe
aging, senescence and degradation in living organisms and biophysics. The aim of this study is to understand the causes and the principles that lie behind catabiosis, to
analyze the aesthetic characteristics of this process, and finally to define the concept of ‘catabiotic design’. Through this research it
has become clear how catabiosis is associated
more probable whole (state of equilibrium). creative process that aims to investigate
new configurations via fragmentation and
decomposition of the object, increasing its entropy and complexity. The interchange
between catabiosis, entropy and complexity
implies how a new aesthetic tending toward high entropy is emerging in contemporary
design thanks to unprecedented computer calculus possibilities.
In order to develop a theory to support
with the second law of thermodynamics, and
and explain the notion of ‘catabiotic design’, I
entropy and complexity.
incorporating a number of instruments
how this process engenders an increase of Charles Baudelaire, Paul Bourget and
Vladimir Jankélévitch first dealt with the implications of the second law of
thermodynamics in art. In an attempt to
transpose this theory into an aesthetic code/ language, they gave birth to the ‘style of
Décadence’. Catabiosis may be defined as
the process of fragmentation of the social
and biological whole; a transitional process that through the intensification of the
singularities and the increase of complexity
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produced a series of design experimentations and techniques to analyze, reproduce and simulate catabiotic processes. I used 3D macrophotography, 3D photo-scanning (PhotoScan), 3D fractal software for
construction and exploration of fractal geometries (Xenodream), procedural
software for the simulation of fragmentation processes (Autodesk Maya with FractureFX
plugin), and procedural modelers combining volumetric modifiers with multi-octave 3D noise sampling (Acropora Voxelogic).
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Onya McCausland Slade, UCL
Turning Landscape into Colour
T
urning Landscape into Colour is
an investigation into the origins of neglected earth pigment-‘ochres’
in the landscape that considers their
significance as contemporary cultural
materials. Locating, mapping and extracting ochre from the land, and their processing, manufacture and presentation as colour
are explored as vehicles for re-integrating people’s experience of place and aims
to establish new connections between landscape and painting.
The names of pigments can provide
insight into the chemistry and physics of
materials as well as revealing the geology and geography of their origins and social importance. Oxford earths (historically produced by Winsor & Newton) were
sought after by painters across Europe, and Raw Umber and Burnt Siena, for example, embody cultural developments and trace a
very particular journey through landscapes
and art. Now synthetic versions have largely
replaced many of these original earths, their names only fabricate a connection with
Ochre is the generic name used for
natural earth pigments. The colour of an ochre deposit is as varied as the possible mineral constituents and variety of
settings in which it can occur; each ochre has a different chemical composition and physical characteristic. The differences
between ochres have determined their
use both as an historic material and can shape their potential uses in the future.
These differences in the past have been perceived as a disadvantage as artists
demanded consistency in their colours (the W&N factory were pioneering in providing that consistency). Now, with a renewed
interest in natural colour, those variables are seen as less problematic, and can even be presented as a distinguishing quality that
connects particular colours with particular places. The research focuses on the origins
of ochre pigments and their contemporary significance through tracing their journey from origins in the landscape into usable paint.
place that has been lost.
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Sophie Read The Bartlett, UCL
Architectural History as Performative Practice: Reading and Writing John Soane’s Lectures (1809 –1836)
M
y thesis proposes architectural
environment and afterlife of the words and
and explores the critical value of
shown in such events. In turn, I consider the
history as a performative practice
this approach in developing a contemporary understanding of the architectural object. I
do this in two linked ways: firstly through an investigation of the role of the lecture in the performance, production and circulation of
architectural knowledge in early 19th century London; and secondly, through analysis and
interpretation of existing performative work in the field of architectural history (Jane Rendell 2013 & 2010, Alan Read 2013 &
2000, Ines Weizmann 2012, Katja Grillner 2011, 2003 & 2000, Hélène Frichot 2010,
Katerina Bonnivier 2008). The concept and
act of transcription, in particular, is developed as a performative architectural historical
practice, operating as a reflexive technique for collecting data, a reenactive mode for
scholarly enquiry, and a critical, performative methodology for writing the role of the 19th
century architectural lecture and its afterlife. Using the case study of the architect
Sir John Soane’s lectures at the Royal
Institution and Royal Academy of Arts
in London (1809–1836) I explore the oral
delivery, visual/verbal performance, physical
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drawings reported to have been said and
effects these performative dimensions had
on the ways architecture was communicated, experienced and remembered by Soane’s
(and later?) audiences. I draw from recent
performance and theatre historiography and concepts of performativity and reenactment (Amelia Jones 2007, Joseph Roach 1996,
Rebecca Schneider 2011), largely neglected by the canon of architectural history, as
well as pay attention to both primary and
secondary evidence for an early 19th century understanding of performative utterance and active speech (John Thelwall 1810,
Angela Esterhammer 2008). This work
shifts the focus of existing scholarship on Soane and his lectures: from a discussion
of his intellectual journey in writing them and their formal content and discourse
about architecture (David Watkin 1996,
Arthur Bolton 1929), to one that considers the significance of the lecture events and
their preparation in terms of being a form of performative architectural practice, reception and transmission.
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Tom Wilkinson History of Art, UCL
Architecture on the Radio: Walter Benjamin’s Radio Talks for Children
W
alter Benjamin made over eighty
typologies). He uses the disaster to warn
1932 – the majority of them
failure to grasp the historical moment.
broadcasts between 1929 and
on the children’s hours of the Frankfurt
his audience of the risks resulting from a
Benjamin’s theoretical texts on radio
and Berlin stations – speaking on such
reveal that he hoped to forge an oppositional
artists, and puppet theatre. In this paper
However, the political and technological
diverse topics as Russian literature, con I will consider two talks he gave on the
subject of structures: the first concerned
Berlin’s notorious Mietskaserne, or ‘rental
barracks’ – the enormous unsanitary
tenements in which the majority of the
city’s proletarian population lived, and which Berlin city architect Martin Wagner was
seeking to replace. The second recounted the catastrophic collapse of the bridge
over the river Tay in 1879, which Benjamin said was caused by the application of
new technologies (steel construction)
to anachronistic forms (wooden bridge
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public sphere using the new medium.
status of radio in the Weimar Republic
rendered such an attempt Quixotic, to say
the least. Oskar Negt and Alexander Kluge
warn that ‘In wanting to use the mechanisms of the bourgeois public for their cause
[representatives of the labour movement] become, objectively, traitors to the cause that they are representing.’ In this paper I will reflect on the strategies by which
Benjamin sought to work around the media’s structural bias in order to develop a critical architectural public.
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Wesley Aelbrecht The Bartlett, UCL
Photographing Detroit: Decline and Renaissance in the 1950s and 1980s
F
rom pictures of major transport
renaissance from the 1950s urban renewal
to drug rehabilitation centres, vacant
in the 1980s. While in the 1980s renaissance
infrastructures and housing blocks,
lots and abandoned industrial warehouses, the City of Detroit has since the 1950s
been one of the most imaged of all cities.
Debates about the visualisation of Detroit,
programs to the era of the urban boosters and decline were two separate discourses –renaissance was constructed by the City
of Detroit and decline by the self-employed independent photographer JosĂŠ Camilo
however, do not reflect the complexity of
Vergara– during urban renewal in the 1950s
focus on two modes of visual production,
were built around one and the same style
these depictions. Instead, they primarily decline and renewal. Photographers of
decline are blamed for their lust for ruins
and detachment from the city and its history, while those focusing on renewal are equally
accused of misrepresenting reality with their abstracted messages and utopian promises. Although much has been written about
the historical legacies of urban change, far less is known about the complex practices of production, reproduction, consumption
both the discourse of decline and renaissance of photographs by the media, citywide
organisation and city government together. By discussing two discourses of the city at
two distinct moments in the development of
the city, this exposition wants to demonstrate that the discourses of renaissance and
decline have been in continual dialogue in
Detroit with photography assigned a leading star role.
and display of photographs of Detroit. This
presentation offers therefore a history of an
overlooked factor in the development of the city of Detroit, namely the role played by and given to photographs.
This paper seeks to chart and unravel
changing depictions of cycles of decline and
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BIOGRAPHIES
Luke Pearson is a designer who has taught
Camden Arts Centre. Her research is funded by
at the Bartlett since 2009, running BSc Unit 4
the AHRC with paint manufacturer Winsor &
and on the MArch Architectural Design
Newton as collaborative partner.
programme. His research is serialised onto his website Alephograph, which investigates
Sophie Read has an MA in Architectural History
architectural arguments formed through
from The Bartlett, UCL, and a BA in Drawing from
delineation, and the agency of representation in
Camberwell College of Art, UAL. Her research
the face of ubiquitous digitality. Luke is recipient
explores architectural history as a performative
of a Graduate Research Scholarship, UCL.
practice, situating and arguing the critical value of this approach in developing a contemporary
Natalia Romik graduated from political studies at
understanding of the architectural object and role
Bernadette Devilat holds a MArch from the
Elo Masing is an Estonian composer/free
the Warsaw University. Since 2007 she has worked
of the archive. Sophie’s PhD is funded by the Arts
Catholic University of Chile. She has been studying
improviser based in London. Her music has
as an architect designing exhibitions and buildings.
and Humanities Research Council (2012–16).
re-construction after earthquakes in Chilean
been performed internationally by renowned
She has authored numerous artistic activities,
heritage areas since the 2005 earthquake, when
soloists and ensembles. Her research explores
installations and performances. Her projects
Tom Wilkinson is studying at the department
she co-founded Tarapacá Project. She taught
the physicality of instrumental performance in
explore problems of cultural memory, ephemeral
of the History of Art, UCL. His research
architectural design at the Catholic University
chamber music. She is mentored by Professor
aspects of architecture and urban emptiness.
concerns the mediatisation of art history during
of Chile between 2009–10 and worked in the re-
Simon Bainbridge, and with support from the
construction process after the 2010 earthquake at
Royal Academy of Music receives private
Niccolò Casas investigates the possible
and Mortals: Ten Great Buildings and the
the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development
tuition from Rebecca Saunders.
applications of digital techniques in the fields
People they Made, and is History Editor
of architecture, design and fashion design. He
of the Architectural Review.
of Chile.
the Weimar Republic. He is the author of Bricks
Irene Kelly is an architect (RIAI/RIBA – B.Arch.
graduated with a Master en Architecture at UCL,
Cindy Walters worked for Norman Foster for
1H, University College Dublin, Ireland). She has
ISA St Luc Bruxelles, after having previously
Wes Aelbrecht holds a MA Architectural History
four years after graduating and then established
worked both in public and private practice in
studied in Italy at the Università degli Studi di
from the Bartlett School of Architecture,
Walters and Cohen with Michal Cohen in London
Paris and in Dublin, and taught in South Africa.
Firenze. He has been part of international research
UCL, a Bachelor in Art History and Diploma
in 1994. The ethos of the practice encourages a
As a Fulbright Scholar, she subsequently obtained
programs at Sci-Arc, UIC and Architectural
in Architecture from KU Leuven. He currently
broad conversation about architecture and their
an MSc in Architecture and Urban Design at
Association. Niccolò is Professor of Digital
teaches a course at the department of the
buildings convey a raw sense of place and reduce
Columbia University, New York. Irene’s PhD is
Modeling Techniques Accademia di Belle Arti di
History of Art, UCL, and leads seminars on the
the complexities of site and programme to simple
funded by the EPSRC.
Bologna and he has previously taught as professor
contemporary city at the Bartlett School of
of Project Laboratory at Università di Bologna.
Planning, UCL. He is also the faculty editor of
architectural expression.
architecture at Opticon1826, a UCL peer reviewed
Laurie Bamon’s doctoral research is supported by Colin Herperger studied architecture at the
an Arts and Humanities Research Council Award.
Onya McCausland is a practicing artist based
academic journal. His PhD research is funded by
University of Manitoba. He is a BSc Unit tutor
She was commissioned to write a site-specific
in London. Between 2011–12 she was Honorary
the Arts and Humanities Research Council (2010–
at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL,
work for the Dartington International Summer
Research Associate at the Slade School of Fine
13) and a Fulbright Grant (Columbia University,
with Rhys Cannon, as well as Diploma Unit tutor
School in 2013, and is currently working with
Art, which led towards her current practice-
2012–13).
at University of Brighton, with Nat Chard. His
Canadian artist, Janice Kerbel, on her new work,
led PhD research. Onya has shown her work
research explores the possibilities of play and
DOUG, which will be premiered in Glasgow
extensively including in public spaces such as
misbehaviour within the processes of design
in May 2014.
Newlyn Gallery, Kettle’s Yard, the Walker Gallery,
and making.
36
and she is currently working on a project at
37
credits
MPhil/PhD supervisors:
Rilling, Tea Lim, Jane Madsen, Samar Maqusi,
This catalogue has been produced in an edition
Dr Jan Birksted, Professor Peter Bishop, Dr Camillo
Igor Marjanovic, Matteo Melioli, Oliver Palmer,
of 300 to accompany PhD Research Projects
Boano, Professor Iain Borden, Dr Victor Buchli,
Christos Papastergiou, Luke Pearson, Mariana
2014, the seventh annual conference and exhibition
Dr Ben Campkin, Dr Marjan Colletti, Professor
Pestana, Henri Praeger, Felix Robbins, David
devoted to doctoral research at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, Tuesday 25 February 2014.
Sir Peter Cook, Dr Marcos Cruz, Dr Julio Davila,
Roberts, Natalia Romik, Merijn Royaards, Wiltrud
Michael Edwards, Professor Penny Florence,
Simbuerger, Eva Sopeoglou, Camila Sotomayor,
Professor Adrian Forty, Professor Colin Fournier,
Ro Spankie, Theo Spyropoulos, Theodoros
Edited by Penelope Haralambidou and
Professor Murray Fraser, Professor Stephen
Themistokleous, Quynh Vantu, Cindy Walters,
Sophie Read.
Gage, Professor Ranulph Glanville, Dr Sean
Stefan White, Michael Wihart, Alex Zambelli,
Designed by Avni Patel | www.avnipatel.com
Hanna, Dr Penelope Haralambidou, Professor
Seda Zirek, Fiona Zisch.
Printed in England by Aldgate Press Limited. Published by the Bartlett School
Christine Hawley, Professor Jonathan Hill, Dr Adrian Lahoud, Dr Ruth Mandel, Dr Carmen
MPhil/PhD Architectural History
of Architecture, UCL.
Mangion, Dr Yeoryia Manolopoulou, Professor Ruth
& Theory students:
Wates House, 22 Gordon Street,
Morrow, Dr Hayley Newman, Jayne Parker, Dr
Wesley Aelbrecht, Tilo Amhoff, Kalliopi Amygdalou,
London WC1H 0QB
Barbara Penner, Dr Sophia Psarra, Dr Peg Rawes,
Sabina Andron, Pinar Aykac, Tal Bar, Eva
Professor Jane Rendell, Professor Bob Sheil, Dr
Branscome, Eray Cayli, Stylianos Giamarelos,
Copyright © 2014 the Bartlett School of
Stephanie Schwartz, Mark Smout, Professor Philip
Kate Jordan, Irene Kelly, Jeong Hye Kim, Claudio
Architecture, UCL. All rights reserved. No part of
Steadman, Dr Hugo Spiers, Professor Neil Spiller,
Leoni, Abigail Lockey, Kieran Mahon, Carlo Menon,
this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
Professor Philip Tabor, Dr Claire Thomson.
Dragan Pavlovic, Matthew Poulter, Regner Ramos,
in any form or by any means, electronic or
Sophie Read, Sarah Riviere, Ozayr Saloojee,
mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any
MPhil/PhD Architectural Design students:
Huda Tayob, Amy Thomas, Freya Wigzell,
information storage and retrieval system without
Yota Adilenidou, Luisa Silva Alpalhão, Nicola
Danielle Willkens.
permission in writing from the publisher. www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk
Antaki, Anna Andersen, Alessandro Ayuso, Jaime Bartolome Yllera, Katy Beinart, Joanne Bristol,
Submitted and/or completed doctorates 2013:
David Buck, Matthew Butcher, Niccolo Casas,
Adam Theodoros Adamis, Rachel Armstrong,
PhD Research Projects 2014 is supported by the
Ines Dantas Ribeiro Bernardes, Bernadette
Emma Cheatle, Nicholas Jewell, Catja de Haas,
Bartlett School of Architecture and the Graduate
Devilat, Pavlos Fereos, Pablo Gil, Ruairi Glynn,
Guan Lee, Suzanne Macleod, Thomas-Bernard
School Skills Development Programme, UCL.
Polly Gould, Mohamad Hafeda, Colin Herperger,
Kenniff, Torsten Lange, Constance Lau, Malca
Popi Iacovou, Christiana Ioannou, Nahed Jawad,
Mizrahi, Maria del Pilar Sanchez Beltran, Brent
Tae Young Kim, Dionysia Kypraiou, Felipe Lanuza
Pilkey, Ben Sweeting, Nina Vollenbröker.
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On the cover: Luke Pearson, Learning from Los Santos: Long Zoom Landscapes, 2014.