Book – Architecture and Violence

Space for place defined by practice, where people live and breath is always contested. It is not just, it is to be made, remodelled and reshaped constantly through negotiation. The result is a mix of interests, desires and statements.

Aspects of violence as part of the social structure becomes an element of the process. With its imposing and shattering presence violence marks the territory, cutting lines and burning patches. It eats into the construction of place imposing its own kingdoms of subcultures.

Architecture as a form of spacial geometrification with functional provisions can be a driving ground for violence. Often architecture is the stage for violence, but it can also be a driving force in that it can be violent in itself. Violence might be part of architecture since it is always set in a cultural context which in turn is based on the same negotiation process.

Image taken from enroute / B 018, a bunker or bomb shelter night club at the fringe of the city of Beirut in the Quarantine district. The project is discussed in the book by Elie Haddad on page 93.

Bechir Kenzari has edited a new book Architecture and Violence with a selection of texts by a range of architectural theorists. It is published by ACTAR with contributions by Libero Andreotti , Annette Fierro , Elie Haddad , Dorita Hannah , Sarah Treadwell , Andrew Herscher , Bechir Kenzari , Donald Kunze , Nadir Lahiji , William B. Millard.

From the back of the book: From propaganda exhibitions to suburban residential complexes, from slaughterhouses to jails, from illegal settlements to governmental palaces, from separation walls to concentration camps, and finally, from actual, material environments to image-architecture performing through flickering media screens, not only is architecture able to sanction and legitimize violence, but also to give it a spatial ground to thrive.

Have a preview here at issuu:

Kenzari, B. ed., 2011. Architecture and Violence, Barcelona: Actar.