DWELLINGS: DETERMINISM & AGENCY

My project examines the power and powerlessness of the architect to determine the usage and meaning of buildings. Through challenging the privatisation of public housing and land, my project questions the agency of the architect and the agency of the dweller, exploring the interplay of economics, conceived design and lived experience.

It considers architecture’s role within the nexus of powers that pre-determine the socio-spatial homogeneity of the contemporary dwelling. It critiques our servitude to an economy predicated on property finance and challenges the prescriptive and assumptive methods in which architects design.

It seeks an architecture that is indeterminate: de-commodified, realigned towards social outcomes and re-affording the greatest agency to a diverse public. It considers the primacy of the act of dwelling; the public and private processes that give character and ontological meaning to the home and neighbourhood.

Dwellings: Determinism & Agency suggests that the architect operates within a relatively closed system of logic, which may never achieve complete relevance, integrity or objectivity. However, it highlights the importance of an awareness of this discourse, the powers which we serve and the wider implications of architecture.