Occupying architecture: between the architect and the user

163 Pages·1998·10.67 MB·English

by  Jonathan Hill

occupying architecture
The term ‘architect’ is enshrined in law but ‘architecture’ has no legal protection. To counter this contradiction, architects
resist two intrusions: one into the body of their profession, and the other into the body of their architecture. The former occurs
when the work of an ‘illegal’ architect is recognised as architecture; the latter when the user occupies architecture. To repel
these incursions many architects falsely maintain that architecture is merely a physical phenomenon with specific materials
and dimensions— a building, but not any building: their building unoccupied. This book illustrates that architecture is not just
a building: it is the relation between an object and its occupant.
There are two occupations of architecture: the activities of the architect and the actions of the user. The architect and the
user both produce architecture—the former by design, the latter by use. But the terms ‘architect’ and ‘user’ are not mutually
exclusive: they exist within each other. Just as the architect is a user as well as a creator, the user can be an (illegal) architect,
occupying and making architecture through both use and design.
Occupying Architecture has three key aims: to investigate the relations between the architect and the user, to redefine the
relations between the architect and architecture, and to challenge the separation of the architect from the user by a reworking
of the terms themselves.
Beginning with the architect, the book proceeds to explore models for architectural practice that actively engage the issue
of use, and concludes with an examination of the user. The authors draw on illustrations and examples from London, Las
Vegas, Barcelona and elsewhere to discuss how and why architectural production and discourse ignores the user. The
apparent contradictions between the ‘producer’ and the ‘product’ of architecture are highlighted before the activities of the
architect and the actions of the user are explored.
Occupying Architecture focuses on the importance of the user in architecture, emphasising the cross-currents between
design, theory and use, and the need for a wider cross-cultural approach to architecture. Proposing a complete re-working of
the relations between design and experience to transform the practices of the architect, the authors call for the development of
architecture within an expanded cultural and social practice. Architecture can be made of anything and by anyone.
Jonathan Hill is an architect, and a Lecturer in Architecture at The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College
London. His work has been published and exhibited internationally; most recently ‘The Death of the Architect’ has been
exhibited at the Bartlett in London and Haus der Architektur in Graz, Austria.
Cover illustration:
Jonathan Hill, Exterior, The Institute of lllegal Architects, 1996 Model, Bradley Starkey. Photograph, Edward Woodman.
occupying architecture
BETWEEN THE ARCHITECT AND THE USER
Edited by
Jonathan Hill

London and New York
First published 1998
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Reprinted 1999
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 1998 Jonathan Hill, selection and editorial matter;
individual chapters, the contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known
or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing m Publication Data
Occupying architecture: between the architect and the user/edited by
Jonathan Hill.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Architecture—Human factors. 2. Architectural design.
I. Hill, Jonathan, 1958–
NA2542.4.156 1998
720′.108—dc21 97–34765
ISBN 0-203-98382-3 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-16815-5 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-16816-3 (pbk)
CONTENTS
Illustrations vi
Contributors viii
Acknowledgements x
Introduction 1
Jonathan Hill
CHAPTER 1 Building an Architect 9
Mark Cousins
CHAPTER 2 Curriculum Vitae: The Architect’s Cultural Capital: Educational Practices and Financial 14
Investments
Katerina Rüedi
CHAPTER 3 ResponseAbility: The Ability to Provoke or Provide Response 21
Lesley Naa Norle Lokko
CHAPTER 4 Architecture of the Impure Community 34
Jeremy Till
CHAPTER 5 Contaminating Contemplation 43
Fat
CHAPTER 6 Space Within 56
Carlos Villanueva Brandt
CHAPTER 7 Shared Ground 68
Muf ArtArchitecture
CHAPTER 8 An Other Architect 77

Jonathan Hill
CHAPTER 9 The Landscape of Luxury 91
Paul Davies
CHAPTER 10 The Knowing and Subverting Reader 103
Ben Godber
CHAPTER 11 Body Architecture: Skateboarding and the Creation of Super-Architectural Space 111
lain Borden
CHAPTER 12 Striking Home: The Telematic Assault on Identity 126
Philip Tabor
CHAPTER 13 Doing It, (Un)Doing It, (Over)Doing It Yourself: Rhetorics of Architectural Abuse 135
Jane Rendell
Index 146
ILLUSTRATIONS
INTRODUCTION
Figure 1 Joolz Pohl, Clean Square, Dirt Square, Place Georges Pompidou, 1993. 1
Figure 2 Bradley Starkey, White-hall, 1995. 3
Figure 3 Bradley Starkey, White-hall, 1995. 3
Figure 4 Jonathan Hill, Occupied Territories, 1994. 8
CHAPTER 3 RESPONSEABILITY
Figures 3.1–8 (no captions). 33
CHAPTER 5 CONTAMINATING CONTEMPLATION
Figure 5.1 Helen Chadwick, Donor/Donee, 1994. Contribution to Outpost, commissioned by Fat. 51
Figure 5.2 Fat, Night Club, 1995 52
Figure 5.3 Fat, Spatial Configuration, 1992. 53
Figure 5.4 Fat, Spatial Configuration, 1994. 53
Figure 5.5 Fat, House Interior, 1995. 53
CHAPTER 6 SPACE WITHIN
Figure 6.1 Takashi Hasegawa, Example a: ‘Nostalgia’ Posters in Glasgow. 57
Figure 6.2 Takashi Hasegawa, Example a: Live Event in Meadowside Quay. 58
Figure 6.3 Knut Hovland, Example b: Schoolboy and Painted Corner in Govan. 59

Figure 6.4 Knut Hovland, Example b: Proposal for 146 Corners on Either Side of the Clyde. 59
Figure 6.5 Sara Cole, Example c: Sample for ‘Museum 2’. 60
Figure 6.6 Sara Cole, Example c: Museum for 8 Minutes, ‘Museum 3’. 61
Figure 6.7 Domenico Raimondo, Example d: Drawing of ‘The Square’, Glasgow. 61
Figure 6.8 Domenico Raimondo, Example d: Taping out of ‘The Square’, Glasgow.
Figure 6.9 Robert Bishop, Example e: Marking Out the Points of the ‘Fictional Estate’. 64
Figure 6.10 Robert Bishop, Example e: The ‘Fictional Estate’ presented at the Kingshold Estate Tenants’ Association 64
Meeting.
Figure 6.11 Carlos Villanueva Brandt, Example f: Sectional Sequence of Spaces in the Landscape. 65
Figure 6.12 Carlos Villanueva Brandt, Example f: The ‘Shogawa Pavilion’ Seen From the Park. 65
CHAPTER 7 SHARED GROUND
Figures 7.1–3 (no captions). 70
Figure 7.4 Jake, Pottery From Wilcox House. 74
Figure 7.5 (no caption). 73
Figure 7.6 Kane, Posh Spice. 74
Figure 7.7 Bosun, River Thames. 75
Figure 7.8 (no caption). 76
vii
CHAPTER 8 THE ILLEGAL ARCHITECT
Figure 8.1 Swimming pool, Los Angeles. 77
Figure 8.2 Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona Pavilion, 1929. Reconstructed 1986. 78
Figure 8.3 Stephen Harty, Individual Acts of Terrorism Are Entirely Pointless But They Feel Fantastic at the Time, 79
1992. Photograph, Hugo Glendenning.
Figure 8.4 Jonathan Hill, Building a Drawing, 1992. Photograph, Hugo Glendenning. 82
Figure 8.5 Richard Wilson, 20:50, 1987. Courtesy Matt’s Gallery and The Saatchi Collection. Photograph, Edward 84
Woodman.
Figure 8.6 Yves Klein, Fire Wall and Fountain, 1961. Copyright ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 1998. 85
Figure 8.7 Jonathan Hill, Exterior, The Institute of lllegal Architects, 1996. Model, Bradley Starkey. Photograph, 86
Edward Woodman.
Figure 8.8 Jonathan Hill, The Transient Elements, The Institute of llegal Architects, 1996. 87
Figure 8.9 Jonathan Hill, Perspective, The Production of Space for Sound (with Transient Elements), The Institute of 87
lllegal Architects, 1996.
Figure 8.10 Jonathan Hill, Exterior, The Institute of lllegal Architects, 1996. Model, Bradley Starkey. Photograph, 87
Edward Woodman.
Figure 8.11 Jonathan Hill, Exterior, The Institute of lllegal Architects, 1996. Model, Bradley Starkey. Photograph, 87
Edward Woodman.
Figure 8.12 Jonathan Hill, Exterior Detail, The Institute of lllegal Architects, 1996. Model, Bradley Starkey. 87
Photograph, Edward Woodman.
Figure 8.13 Jonathan Hill, Interior, The Institute of lllegal Architects, 1996. Model Bradley Starkey. Photograph, 87
Edward Woodman.
CHAPTER 9 THE LANDSCAPE OF LUXURY
Figures 9.1–5 Progression From Desert to Pool. The Mirage, Las Vegas. Photographs, Paul Davies. 94
CHAPTER 10 THE KNOWING AND SUBVERTING READER
Figure 10.1 Adams, Reynolds and Hume Shake Hands in Dublin, The Independent, 7 September 1994, p. 1. 105
Photograph, David Rose.
Figure 10.2 Mies van der Rohe, The Barcelona Pavilion, 1929. Reconstructed 1986. Photograph, Eloi Bonjoch. 106
Figure 10.3 Bill Clinton Meets Gerry Adams, The Times, 1 December 1995, p. 3. Photograph, A.Lewis/Sygma. 108
Figure 10.4 Carolyn Butterworth, Licking the Barcelona Pavilion, 1992. Photograph, Emma Cheatle. 109
CHAPTER 11 BODY ARCHITECTURE
Figure 11.1 Jay Adams, ‘Adolph’s’, May 1977. Copyright Glen E.Friedman. 113
Figure 11.2 Tony Alva, ‘Dog Bowl’, September 1977. Copyright Glen E.Friedman. 114
Figure 11.3 Jay Smith, Marina Del Rey skatepark, September 1979. Copyright Glen E.Friedman. 116
Figure 11.4 Jay Adams, ‘Teardrop’, October 1976. Copyright Glen E.Friedman. 123
CHAPTER 12 STRIKING HOME: THE TELEMATIC ASSAULT ON IDENTITY
Figure 12.1 Johannes Vermeer, Officer and Laughing Girl. Copyright, The Frick Collection, New York. 128
Figure 12.2 Richard Hamilton, Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?, 1956. 129
Copyright Richard Hamilton 1998. All rights reserved DACS.
CONTRIBUTORS
lain Borden is Sub-Dean of the Faculty of the Built Environment and Lecturer in Architectural History at the Bartlett,
University College London, and a founding member of Strangely Familiar. He is co-editor of Architecture and the Sites of
History: Interpretations of Buildings and Cities, 1995, Strangely Familiar: Narratives of Architecture in the City, 1996,
The Unknown City: Contesting Architecture and Social Space, 1998, Gender, Culture, Architecture: An Interdisciplinary
Introduction, 1998, Framed: Architecture on Film, Film on Architecture, 1998, and InterSections: Architectural History
and Critical Theory, 1998.
Mark Cousins is the Director of General Studies at the Architectural Association. Educated at Oxford and the Warburg
Institute, he was previously Head of Sociology at Thames Polytechnic. He has published widely on contemporary critical
theory, including Michel Foucault with A.Hussain, and on the relation between psychoanalysis and the human sciences.
Paul Davies studied architecture at Bristol University and the Polytechnic of Central London. Presently he is Senior
Lecturer at South Bank University and General Studies tutor at the Architectural Association. Writing about design for
tourism has led him to lecture widely across Europe and the USA, usually about his favourite city, Las Vegas.
Fat is a cross disciplinary practice involved in the design and construction of architectural projects, research into art and
architecture, the making of art, the design and organisation of exhibitions and events. The practice is made up of architects,
artists, graphic designers and film makers and specialises in the curation of large scale urban art events. They are amongst
the leading young practitioners in the fields of both architecture and fine art and have built widely in Britain and exhibited
recently at the Venice Bienalle, the RIBA and the Architecture Foundation. Their work aims to blur the boundaries between
architecture and fine art practice.
Ben Godber is a graduate of the Bartlett, University College London. He is presently working in architectural practice and
pursuing research on London’s sewers, sections of which were published in The London Quarterly Literary Review and The
Guardian.
Jonathan Hill is an architect and graduate of the Architectural Association and the Bartlett, University College London,
where he is a Lecturer, teaching history, theory and design. His work has been published and exhibited internationally. His
most recent project, ‘The Death of the Architect’, has been exhibited at the Bartlett in London and Haus der Architektur in
Graz, developed at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart and published in Architectural Design, The Architects’ Journal,
Building Design, HDA Dokumente zur Architektur and Quaderns.
Lesley Naa Norle Lokko was born in Dundee, Scotland of Ghanaian-Scots parentage. She completed her primary and
secondary school education in Ghana and studied languages and sociology in the UK and the United States. She received
her BSc in Architecture at the Bartlett, University College London in 1992 and her Diploma at the same institution in 1995.
Since then, she has been a faculty member of the Bartlett and the University of Greenwich. She has worked in practice with
Elsie Owusu Architects, an all black women’s practice in London and in Namibia and South Africa. She is the editor of the
forthcoming anthology, White Papers, Black Marks, which looks at the relationship between race and architecture. Lesley
is currently Assistant Professor at lowa State University in the United States.
Muf Art and Architecture work as collaborative practice. The team have established an architectural notation which
swells to absorb subject matter traditionally censored out of architecture. Currently Muf are the consultants to the London
Boroughs of Hackney and Southwark implementing art and urban design projects which are embedded in the cultural and
social fabric of the city. The team have taught since the late 1980s at the Architectural Association, the University of North
London and Chelsea School of Art and Design, developing a body of theoretical work, which alongside built projects, has
been published and exhibited internationally.
Jane Rendell is an architectural historian and designer. She is engaged in PhD research at Birkbeck College into gender
and space in early nineteenth-century London. She is Senior Lecturer at Chelsea College of Art and Design. She is a
founding member of the Strangely Familiar group and co-editor of Strangely Familiar: Narratives of Architecture in the
City, 1996, The Unknown City: Contesting Architecture and Social Space, 1998, Gender Culture Architecture: An
ix
Interdisciplinary Introduction, 1998, and Intersections, a forthcoming book of essays on architectural history and critical
theory.
Katerina Rüedi is Director of the School of Architecture at the University of lllinois at Chicago. She previously taught at
Kingston University. With Duncan McCorquodale and Sarah Wigglesworth, Katerina was organiser of the Desiring
Practices conference and exhibition at the RIBA and editor of the book of the same title.
Philip Tabor studied architecture at Cambridge, where his doctoral research was in computer-aided design, before
becoming a partner in Edward Cullinan Architects. He is now Senior Lecturer at the Bartlett, UCL. Philip is also European
editor of the Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, is on the editorial board of Architectural Research Quarterly
and writes regularly for the Architectural Review.
Jeremy Till is a London based architect, teacher and writer. He has degrees in both philosophy and architecture and is
presently Senior Lecturer at the Bartlett, University College London. As an architect, he collaborates with Sarah
Wigglesworth Architects, including work on their widely published house/work project and a new building for the Siobhan
Davies Dance Company. He has lectured worldwide, including as Visiting Professor at the Technical University, Vienna.
Carlos Villanueva Brandt was born in Venezuela and studied at the Architectural Association, where he teaches, running
Diploma Unit 10 since 1986. Carlos has also been a Visiting Lecturer and Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art. A
founder member of Narrative Architecture Today (NATO), he has been in private (art and architecture) practice since
1984. He has published widely and exhibited work in Paris, Venice, Milan, Edinburgh, Boston, Tokyo and London. Carlos
has produced architectural projects of varied sizes in locations ranging from Venezuela to Kazhakstan and built projects in
London, Greece and Japan.