Lefebvre for Architects

172 Pages·2015·1.4 MB·English

by  Nathaniel Coleman

LEFEBVRE FOR ARCHITECTS
While the work of Henri Lefebvre has become better known in the English-speaking world
since the 1991 translation of his 1974 masterpiece, The Production of Space, his infl uence on
the actual production of architecture and the city has been less pronounced. Although now
widely read in schools of architecture, planning and urban design, Lefebvre’s message for
practice remains elusive, inevitably so because the entry of his work into the Anglosphere has
come with repression of the two most challenging aspects of his thinking: Romanticism and
Utopia, which simultaneously confront modernity while being progressive.
Contemporary discomfort with Romanticism and Utopia arguably obstructs the shift of
Lefebvre’s thinking from being objects of theoretical interest into positions of actually
infl uencing practices. Attempting to understand and act upon architecture and the city with
Lefebvre but without Utopia and Romanticism risks muting the impact of his ideas. Although
Utopia may seem to have no place in the present, Lefebvre reveals this as little more than
a self-serving affi rmation that ‘there is no alternative’ to social and political detachment.
Demanding the impossible may end in failure but as Lefebvre shows us, doing so is the fi rst
step towards other possibilities. To think with Lefebvre is to think about Utopia; doing so
makes contact with what is most enduring about his project for the city and its inhabitants,
and with what is most radical about it as well.
Lefebvre for Architects offers a concise account of the relevance of Henri Lefebvre’s
writing for the theory and practice of architecture, planning and urban design. This book
is accessible for students and practitioners who wish to fully engage with the design
possibilities offered by Lefebvre’s philosophy.
Nathaniel Coleman is Reader in History and Theory of Architecture at Newcastle University,
UK. He previously taught in the US, and practiced architecture in New York, USA, and
Rome, Italy. Author of U topias and Architecture (2005) and editor of I magining and Making
the World: Reconsidering architecture and Utopia (2011), Nathaniel recently guest-edited
a special issue on architecture of the journal U topian Studies (2014). He has published
numerous journal articles and book chapters, and presented his research on the problem of
architecture and Utopia internationally. He is particularly interested in the convergences of
architectural history, theory and design with Utopia’s generative potential.
Thinkers for Architects
Series Editor: Adam Sharr, Newcastle University, UK
Editorial Board
Jonathan A. Hale, University of Nottingham, UK
Hilde Heynen, KU Leuven, Netherlands
David Leatherbarrow, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Architects have often looked to philosophers and theorists from beyond the
discipline for design inspiration or in search of a critical framework for practice.
This original series offers quick, clear introductions to key thinkers who have
written about architecture and whose work can yield insights for designers.
‘Each unintimidatingly slim book makes sense of the subjects’ complex
theories.’
Building Design
‘. . . a valuable addition to any studio space or computer lab.’
Architectural Record
‘. . . a creditable attempt to present their subjects in a useful way.’
Architectural Review
Deleuze and Guattari for Architects
Andrew Ballantyne
Heidegger for Architects
Adam Sharr
Irigaray for Architects
Peg Rawes
Bhabha for Architects
Felipe Hernández
Bourdieu for Architects
Helena Webster
Benjamin for Architects
Brian Elliott
Derrida for Architects
Richard Coyne
Gadamer for Architects
Paul Kidder
Foucault for Architects
Gordana Fontana-Giusti
Goodman for Architects
Remei Capdevila-Werning
Lefebvre for Architects
Nathaniel Coleman
Virilio for Architects
John Armitage
Baudrillard for Architects
Francesco Proto
Kant for Architects
Diane Morgan
Merleau-Ponty for Architects
Jonathan Hale
THINKERS FOR ARCHITECTS
Lefebvre
for
Architects
Nathaniel Coleman
First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business.
© 2015 Nathaniel Coleman
The right of Nathaniel Coleman to be identifi ed as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
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.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe.
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
Coleman, Nathaniel, 1961–
Lefebvre for architects / Nathaniel Coleman.
pages cm. — (Thinkers for architects)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Lefebvre, Henri, 1901–1991. 2. Architecture and philosophy. 3. Visionary
architecture. 4. Utopias. 5. Architecture—Philosophy. 6. Architecture and society.
I. Title.
NA2500.C57 2015
720.1—dc23
2014025868
ISBN: 978-0-415-63939-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-63940-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-73654-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Frutiger and Galliard
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To P, Z and E
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‘Change life!’ ‘Change society!’ These precepts mean nothing without the
production of an appropriate space. [. . .] To change life, [. . .] we must fi rst
change space.
Lefebvre, Production of Space , pp. 59, 190
The architect occupies an especially uncomfortable position. As a scientist and
technician, obliged to produce within a specifi ed framework, he has to depend
on repetition. In his search for inspiration as an artist, and as someone sensitive
to use and to the ‘user’, however, he has a stake in difference. He is located
willy-nilly within this painful contradiction, forever being shuttled from one of its
poles to the other. His is the diffi cult task of bridging the gap between product
and work, and he is fated to live out the confl icts that arise as he desperately
seeks to close the ever-widening gulf between knowledge and creativity.
Lefebvre, Production of Space , p. 396
Surely there comes a moment when formalism is exhausted, when only a
new injection of content into form can destroy it and so open up the way to
innovation.
Lefebvre, Production of Space , p. 145
No sooner is Marx pronounced dead than Marxism experiences a resurgence.
[. . .] The scientifi c and technological changes of the modern world have now
made a reconsideration of Marxist thought inevitable. The thesis presented here
might be summarized as follows. Each of the concepts of Marxism may be taken
up once more, and carried to a higher level, without any signifi cant moment of
the theory as a whole being lost. On the other hand, if they are considered in
the setting of Marx’s exposition, these concepts and their theoretical articulation
no longer have an object. The renewal of Marx’s concepts is best effected by
taking full account of space.
Lefebvre, Production of Space , pp. 342–343