Will McMahon - Other Architectures

Will McMahon
OTHER ARCHITECTURES

This talk will try to draw a common thread through several themes of that MA. Firstly, borrowing heavily from Jane Rendell’s work on the space of text, Site-writing, I will think of the space created by Anne Frank in her diary. Coupled to this is Zizek’s notion of the “spandrel”, the accidental consequence of deliberate design that creates a “remainder” between what is inside and what is outside. Finally, I will bring this to bear on 12th century monastic practice, looking at the ways in which monks defined a “space” for themselves and for their practices (or habits). In short, I will be looking at the interplay of physical and “non-physical” techniques that delineate space, and so might be considered “architecture”.

Bio:

• MA in Architectural History at the Bartlett
• Alumni of Leeds School of Architecture

Having completed the BA in Architecture at Leeds School of Architecture, I worked briefly at the Venice Biennale [is that scheme running again this year? Perhaps it would be easier to name it], before working for a small architecture practice in the Netherlands. Traditional architectural practice seemed constrictive to me, though, so rather than return to it, I looked for other possibilities. This included an MA in Architectural History at the Bartlett, where I ended up specialising in architectural ecologies.