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Building Change: Architecture, Politics and Cultural Agency PDF

244 Pages·2005·10.07 MB·English
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Building Change Building Change provides a vision of a revitalized role for architecture as a critical cultural and spatial practice. It discusses the dynamic between power and building and lays out the spatial strategies those in power use to manipulate and control the physical world. These include segregation, marginalization, construction of hierarchies and the spatial transformations of mechanisms such as colonialism and globalization. The book goes on to investigate the shifting relationships among power, space and architecture in a world where a number of subjected people are reasserting their political and cultural agency. Lisa Findley argues that architecture, as a primary participant in the production of space, has an important role to play in supporting these changes. The question is how, within the scope of the design and making of buildings, can this be done? To explore this question, the book describes and analyzes four recent building projects embedded in complex and diverse historical, political, cultural and spatial circumstances: the Tjibaou Cultural Centre in New Caledonia; the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre in Australia; The Museum of Struggle in South Africa; and the Southern Poverty Law Center in the US. While the context of each project is unique, Findley finds that inherent in the agency of architecture itself there are numerous opportunities and strategies for architects to actively support the goals of social change. They do this while still embedded in the primary pursuit of architecture: the making of real inhabited buildings in specific settings. While the examples in Building Change are in highly charged environments, the lessons learned from them are applicable across a range of architectural projects. Lisa Findley is an architect, writer and teacher who has an academic background in architecture, environmental studies and political theory. She is an Associate Professor in Architecture at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, where she coordinates the Master of Architecture program and teaches design studios and seminars. She is a contributing editor for Architectural Record and has written for numerous other publications including Architecture, Harvard Design Magazine, Architecture Australia, Architecture South Africa and Baumeister. Building Change Architecture, Politics and Cultural Agency Lisa Findley LONDON AND NEW YORK In memory of my parents, Geraldine Warren Findley and William Scott Findley. First published 2005 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 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 http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/. © 2005 Lisa Findley All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized 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 Cataloging in Publication Data Findley, Lisa, 1955– Building change: architecture, politics, and cultural agency/Lisa Findley. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Architecture and society. 2. Architecture—Political aspects. 3. Architecture, Modern—20th century. 4. Architecture, Modern— 21st century. 5. Social change. I. Title. NA2543 . S6F533 2004 720′.1′03–dc22 2004012504 ISBN 0-203-60149-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-33781-6 (Adobe e-Reader Format) ISBN 0-415-31876-9 (pbk) ISBN 0-415-31875-0 (hbk) Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction x 1 Power, Space and Architecture 1 2 Building Future: Tjibaou Cultural Centre 37 3 Building Visibility: Uluru Kata-Tjuta Cultural Centre 77 4 Building Memory: The Museum of Struggle 124 5 Building Presence: The Southern Poverty Law Center 166 6 Architecture and Change 200 Appendix: Project Credits 215 Notes 218 Bibliography 222 Index 227 Acknowledgments This book has grown out of the generosity and support of numerous people, some of whom I include here. Reed Kroloff, during his tenure as Editor-in-Chief of Architecture magazine, triggered the whole process when he sent me to New Caledonia to write about the Tjibaou Cultural Centre. Long, winding conversations and short, incisive observations over the years have had critical impacts on this book. I am indebted to Craig Barton, Haig Beck, Dana Buntrock, Paul Carter, James Clifford, Jackie Cooper, Mark Cottle, Rodolphe el Khoury, Jane M.Jacobs, Sabir Khan, Lesley Lokko, Iain Low, Paul Memmot, Leslie Musikavanhu, Jennifer Taylor, Vikram Prakash, Samia Rab, Sandra Vivanco, Mabel Wilson and many others for these crucial contributions. Of course, this project would not have been possible without the enthusiastic cooperation of the offices of the architects, their clients, and many people at each project locale. William Vassal, site architect for the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), introduced me to Kanak food, buildings and the landscape and to the Tjibaou Cultural Centre. He patiently answered questions and gave me full run of the voluminous files of drawings in the construction office. Gionna Justo, Stefania Canta and Chiara Casazza of RPBW facilitated my visit to New Caledonia, a subsequent visit to Genoa and the generous loan of visual materials for this book. Renzo Piano carved out precious time in his schedule for conversations with me about the project. Emmanuel Kasaherou, Cultural Director at the Tjibaou Cultural Centre provided invaluable insight into the Kanak participation in and perceptions of the project. Greg Burgess, architect of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre, generously opened up his project and slide archives to me, spent hours in conversation, and provided visual materials for this book. I am indebted to the Anangu women elders who entrusted me with their stories about the project. Tina Bain walked me through the Park Service’s archive on the project and, based on her years of experience in the region, increased my understanding of the Anangu. Tracey Holbrook, Caroline Parsons and Christine Templeton, also of the Park Service, facilitated my visit and the permits for research and photography. I want to thank the Anangu for permitting me, through their trust in Greg Burgess, to tell their story, show Uluru and the Cultural Centre, and to use some of their words and names in the book. In South Africa, Jo Noero and Heinrich Wolff also gave me free range of their archives and have continued to answer endless questions and keep me posted on the construction of the Museum of Struggle. Nadia Dick of their staff became my guide to both the physical and cultural sides of Cape Town and environs. McCoy, with remarkable frankness, shared much about the brutality of apartheid during the time we spent in the townships of the Cape Flats. Members of the Red Location Museum Project Committee, Vuyisile Pandle, Tobeka Scolotela, Tozama Scolotela, Celia Mtati and Pumla Mngadi provided a lively history and tour of New Brighton, and Neal Langeveld and Gerhy de Bruin of Mandela Municipality filled in crucial background for understanding the project. Jo Noero, Heinrich Wolff, Leslie Musikavanhu, Iain Low, Piet deBeer and Albie Sachs granted important perspectives on the role architecture has to play in post-apartheid South Africa. Scott Erdy and David McHenry set me loose with the project archive in their Philadelphia office, answered questions and provided visual materials for the book. Joseph Levin and Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center provided crucial background on the SPLC along with stories of the making of the building. Penny Weaver, of the SPLC, graciously facilitated my visits to the Center, and provided background materials, press clippings and visual materials for the book, along with an introduction to a great Thai restaurant in Montgomery. Norwood Kerr at the Alabama Department of Archives and History patiently helped me navigate the materials in the collection. The extensive travel and research required to complete this book would not have been possible without the generous financial support of the Graham Foundation for the Advancement of the Fine Arts. The California College of the Arts, where I teach, helped as well with a faculty development grant to cover research travel to the Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Caroline Mallinder of Routledge had faith in this project, my first book, from the time she read the proposal. Michelle Green, also at Routledge, kept me on course, and Donna Gregory of Florence Production patiently saw this book through production. Kim Ramos provided essential support in preparing the maps and finalizing the images. Kimberly Naumann digitized other images. Robert McGiven in the office of Noero Wolff triumphed in his persistent efforts to digitally convey to me the latest drawings and photographs of the construction of the Museum of Struggle. My remarkable colleagues at the California College of the Arts also provided a range of support for this book. In particular, my thanks go to Rodolphe el Khoury for his useful and insightful reading of an entire draft and to Zsuzsanna Listro, Sandra Vivanco and Mabel Wilson for their faith and encouragement. Throughout the long process of researching and writing, Brit Andresen, my mentor and dear friend, asked her usual incisive questions, encouraged me with outright faith tempered with wise advice and read and commented on the book in draft from her perch on the edge of Australia. My family and friends were steadfast in their enthusiasm and encouragement and were good-natured about my frequent disappearances on research trips and into the studio to write. Finally, without the remarkable and humorous common sense, keen mind, editorial eagle eye and unflagging support on every possible front from my husband, the architect Rod Henmi, this book would, quite simply, never have happened. Three of the four case studies in this book have been presented in embryonic forms as papers at academic conferences. I am indebted to those who provided feedback in each instance—challenging assumptions and directing me to references and resources I had not been aware of. In addition, portions of some of the chapters have been previously published. Parts of Chapter 2 on the Tjibaou Cultural Centre were published under the title “Representing Culture: Resisting Globalization through the Transformation of Tradition”, in Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Working Paper Series, vol. 123, (2000). Portions of Chapter 4 on the Museum of Struggle were published as “A Tale of Two Apartheid Museums” in the 2003 Annual Meeting Proceedings of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, and as “Red and Gold: Two Apartheid Museums and the Spatial Politics of Memory in the ‘New’ South Africa”, in Architecture South Africa (the journal of the South African Institute of Architects), no. 10, July/August 2004. Illustration Credits Photographs 2.1, 2.10, 2.17: John Gollings, courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop 2.4: James Clifford 2.14, 2.20, 2.24: William Vassal, courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop 2.15: Pierre-Alain Pantz, courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop 2.26, 2.28: Tim Griffith, ESTO 3.3: Craig Lamotte 3.7, 3.9, 3.14, 3.15, 3.19, 3.20, 3.21, 3.23, 3.24, 3.26, 3.27, 3.30, 3.33, 3.35: Gregory Burgess 3.8: Warlayriti Aboriginal Artists Corporation 3.10: John Gollings, courtesy of Gregory Burgess Architects, Pty 3.12: Sonia Peter 3.29; Jimmy Yang 3.28, 3.32, 3.34: Trevor Mein 4.13, 4.22, 4.23, 4.24: Jo Noero 4.2, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 4.14, 4.15, 4.20, 4.21, 4.22, 4.23, 4.24, 4.25, 4.26, 4.27, 4.28, 4.29: courtesy of Noero Wolff Architects 5.3, 5.4, 5.16, 5.19, 5.20, 5.21, 5.22, 5.24, 5.27: Tim Hursley, courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center Drawings and Maps 1.4 from the collection of Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 2.7, 2.8, 2.9, 2.12, 2.16, 2.18, 2.19: courtesy of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop 3.11, 3.13, 3.16, 3.17, 3.18, 3.22, 3.36: courtesy of Gregory Burgess Architects, Pty 4.7, 4.12, 4.16, 4.17, 4.20: courtesy of Noero Wolff Architects 4.27: Robert McGiven, courtesy of Noero Wolff Architects 5.9, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12, 5.13, 5.14, 5.15, 5.17, 5.18, 5.23: courtesy of Erdy McHenry Architecture While the author and publisher have made every effort to contact the copyright holders of material used in this volume, they would be grateful to hear from any they were unable to contact. All photographs not credited are by the author. All drawings not credited are by the author and Kim Ramos.

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Building Change investigates the shifting relationships between power, space and architecture in a world where a number of subjected people are reasserting their political and cultural agency. To explore these changes, the book describes and analyzes four recent building projects embedded in complex
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