robert dutton twitter robdutton email robert.dutton@ gmail.com a a current academic work the dillitantes flotsam: a new arcadian fabric developing a series of 1:1 prototypes for architectural elements constructed from a porous, semi-translucent plastic fabric woven from cable ties, which engage with sources of artificial light (both static and moving) on a site in the north end of brick lane. 1. shawl for a street lamp 2. an arcadian fabric - surface qualities 3. site 4. 1:1 prototype 5. light studies 6. detail of an arcadian fabric (surface) 7. detail of an arcadian fabric (interior) 1. 3. 4. 6. 7. 5. 2.
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robert duttontwitter robduttonemail robert.dutton@ gmail.com
aa
current academic workthe dillitantes flotsam: a new arcadian fabric
developing a series of 1:1 prototypes for architectural elements constructed from a porous, semi-translucent plastic fabric woven from cable ties, which engage with sources of artificial light (both static and moving) on a site in the north end of brick lane.
1. shawl for a street lamp2. an arcadian fabric - surface qualities3. site4. 1:1 prototype5. light studies6. detail of an arcadian fabric (surface)7. detail of an arcadian fabric (interior)
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robert duttontwitter robduttonemail robert.dutton@ gmail.com
aa
current academic workthe department of experimental zoology
group project culminating in a 1:1 installation and exhibition, exploring formal generation through collaborative representational techniques
1. collective collage - design intentions2. the mad professors archive3. protest group social media prescence4. exhibition at the glass tank art gallery5. installation detail6. installation detail7. proposed intervention - parasite to drain energy from, and draw attention to, unethical experiments on animals at the department of experimental zoology8. public interaction with proposed intervention
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The dissertation was a discussion of the role of the user within architecture; specifically, an investigation of how it is not only possible for ‘users’ to be subject to architecture, but for them to participate in its production.
Subcultures which are primarily socio-spatial in nature (such as parkour, skateboarding, and graffiti) were offered as a diverse vehicle with which to examine the nature of spatial and architectural production; as subcultures the practices implicitly question our understanding of perception, spatial production, structure, temporality, transience, location, ownership and identity in relation to the contemporary city and urban space.
Interviews with practitioners of these subcultures were placed into the context of contemporary scholarship on the body, space and the city, particularly Henri Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau and Ian Borden.
The dissertation showed how the spatial performances, perceptions, representations and documentations of the subcultures collide to form a ‘lived image, which when enacted generates new spaces from the gestures of the body. These spaces are related, forming a contingent network generated by the users, highlighting the generative nature of place and demonstrating the means by which these subcultures undertake a critique of existing spaces, social practices and spatial structures.
In exploring the subcultures the dissertation found that they not only function as a negative critique of the nature of existing urban conditions, but in demonstrating dialectical methods of spatial and social production challenge hierarchical means of producing space and architecture and reveal possibilities of new approaches to producing architecture with which to re-engage with the city.
Before returning for my part II studies I undertook a Master of Research (MRes) in architecture whilst working full time. Continuing the theme of my undergraduate dissertation, I explored the ways in which contemporary British architects and educators aim to increase the power and participation of normally marginalised stakeholders such as occupants and end users.
To understand what is meant by ‘agency’ and what it’s relation to architectural practice might be, the thesis is split into two halves. The first section, ‘Towards an Understanding of Agency’, addresses the history of the term both inside and outside of architecture. The section investigates how a concern for acting ethically has driven the desire to engage with end users and occupants, which coincides with the propagation of Cedric Price’s assertion than a building is not nessecarily the best solution to a spatial problem.
The second half, ‘Engagements with Agency’, takes these theoretical investigations as the framework for evaluating a collection of case studies which are broken down into ‘sites’ of engagement; initiation, construction, occupation and education, Architects studied include muf, 00:I , Walter Segal, Sergison Bates and FAT. The thesis ultimately shows that the question of engaging with agency in architecture is a deeply political one, requiring a high level of self-awareness on the part of the architects. As the case studies contained in this thesis demonstrate, to engage with agency positively enables the architect to act ethically and transformatively. What that requires, however, is that the fundamental question of architecture shifts from ‘what’, to ‘how’ - and ‘with who’.
editing the city: socio-spatial subcultures as a critique of contemporary urban spaceba (hons) architecture dissertation, nominated for an riba presidents medal 2009
engagements with agencyin contemporary british architecturemres architecture thesis
robert duttontwitter robduttonemail robert.dutton@ gmail.com
aa
past academic workresearch & writing
robert duttontwitter robduttonemail robert.dutton@ gmail.com
aa
past academic workba (hons) architecture
plymouth temporary autonomous zone
Taking inspiration from anarchist Hakim Bvey’s text ‘TAZ: The Temporary Autonomous Zone’, the proposal is for a series of components which can be assembled, disabled and reassembled in a variety of configurations to enable a number of activities. The project aims to reintroduce social interaction currently missing from the predominantly commercialised city centre.
1. components2. inhabited section3. materiality4. inhabited perspective5. site analysis
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robert duttontwitter robduttonemail robert.dutton@ gmail.com
aa
past professional work
1. garden office + storage (private commission)2. james street landscaping (capita symonds)3. live project placement (tangentfield)4. sports rehabilitation facility for help for heroes (capita symonds)5. contemporary conversion of a listed assembly building (capita symonds) 6. proposal for a new public space inserted into a historic reservoir (capita symonds)7. carbon neutral townhouse (freelance)
