The Barbican: living in an airport without the fear of departure
Rugg, Judith (2012) The Barbican: living in an airport without the fear of departure. In: Spatialities: The Geographies of Art and Architecture. Intellect, Bristol, UK, pp. 183-194. ISBN 9781841504681
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This research investigates the spatial paradoxes of living in a world-renowned arts centre with residential space. What are the issues and implications of the Barbican's location within a global centre of corporate and financial power? How might 20th century urban theory be applied to contemporary understandings of the subjective experience of modernity?
The aim of the research is to develop 'place-writing' as a contribution to interdisciplinary knowledge on the subjectivities of place and space. The research contributes to my ongoing development of methods of writing on place – distinct from geography, architectural theory or social theory – drawing on critical and urban theory.
The research employs primary research including location photography; and secondary research by drawing on the 20th century urban theory of Henri Lefebvre, Walter Benjamin and Georg Simmel. It investigates the Barbican's oppositional relation between place and space created by its cathedral like gloom, confusing signage, and disorientating floor levels and its wider location as a unique residential space in the City of London. The research reflects on the spatial paradox of living in the Barbican: its location within a centre of corporate and financial power within a local authority with its own police force and unique electoral system. It investigates how the Barbican as residential space embodies the alterity of the city: at once a defamiliarisation and a struggle for belonging; and where a sense of 'home' is a concept enmeshed within an ontological and epistemological struggle.
The research develops insights into, and understandings of, concepts of 'home'; explores the nature of subjectivity and the relationship between the domestic and the city; and highlights the imbrications of architecture and experience. The research aims to benefit architects, designers, planners, social and urban theorists.
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