11306 The Operative Figure in Architecture

Alternatively repressed or privileged, the figure in architecture has continued to be a core architectural concern over the past century. The return of the figure to the foreground of current debate, however, has been in a markedly different form. This new figure is operative and contests the figure's traditional roles of delineating unique architectural elements from the 'ground' of the city fabric or a superficial, secondary element applied to building. It aims to directly impact on a building formally and spatially and to resist the tendency of architecture to unambiguously represent abstract concepts. The figure is no longer skin deep. The subject will look at the way in which the figure in architecture has been the site of an ideological 'battlefield' through the modern and post-modern period. Using Mark C Taylor's book Disfiguring: Art, Architecture, Religion to interpret the historical and theoretical responses to the figure in these periods, the subject will expand on his notion of the 'deconstructive' figure and investigate the work of firms like ARM and Lyons Architecture. In doing so the subject aims to place this work within the larger discourse on the figure and to reveal what the operative figure does, what forms it takes and practical and theoretical achievements in this area. An understanding of the operative figure will be accomplished through historical/theoretical research with an experimental/speculative component. The subject will use other textual references to develop a list of possible operations, which are then be enacted formally and spatially.