School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Faculty Member, Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects

Associate Professor

Thesis Title: Phd research at University of Edinburgh (awarded 2011): Locating Contradictory Architectural Imperatives - Appropriation and Subversion in the Urban Field

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The PhD thesis investigates the possible value of locating contradictory architectural imperatives when attempting to understand the nature of uneven development in the urban field. As the title suggests, the thesis is an attempt at establishing seemingly necessary, yet conflicting modes of architectural praxis. Argued through issues related to ownership and subversion in contexts where tracts of urban space are sometimes taken over or appropriated by otherwise marginal groups, and as evident in informal settlements, by re-adapting civic symbols, and in building as a form of protest or re-alignment. This is visible in most contested territories, along borders, and in the temporal occupation of space in moments of anticipation. The thesis is supported through empirical investigations in a number of such sites in South Africa where these tactics are increasingly becoming controlled and institutionalised. At the same time the empirical reality exposes new forms of social awareness and a growing autonomous resistance from still marginalised groups – pointing towards innovative formations in the young democracy.

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