Speaker: Dr. Tatjana Schneider, University of Sheffield
Title: architecture = building [crossed out]
Date: May 5th 2010
Time: 11am – 12 noon
Venue: Arthur Lewis Building, G0.35/36
Map: Building 36 on <http://tinyurl.com/yjgeau2>
Synopsis:
Today, architecture often is simply understood as a matter of concept and design ending up in the production of a building. The problem with reducing the architect to someone who merely designs or conceptually develops buildings is that work and projects are determined by externally set parameters. Architects often merely re-act rather than initiate, re-spond rather than take action, re-ply rather than co-formulate. The lecture will unravel episodes of architecture where spatial intelligence is applied beyond a built project through engaging with the unknown in mutual collaborations yet starting from a clear theoretical or sometimes ideological basis. This form of ‘spatial agency’ transgresses traditional disciplinary boundaries to understand architecture as an essentially political event.
Biography:
Tatjana Schneider is a lecturer at the School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, where she teaches design studio, history and theory. She worked in architectural practice in Germany and the UK, and has taught, lectured and published widely (including ‘Flexible Housing’ with Jeremy Till) and was a member of the worker’s cooperative G.L.A.S. (Glasgow Letters on Architecture and Space). Her work focuses on the production and political economy of the built environment. Current work includes a research project on ‘Spatial Agency’ (with Jeremy Till and Nishat Awan, Routledge 2011).
