The production of built form : some notes on dialectical materialism, methodology and an associative/projective architecture

Abstract

This thesis is the beginning of a parallel study of dialectical materialism and built form, with the objective of understanding how our observation of, association with, and construction of the material world is conditioned by social practice and production. I am convinced that we must produce non-reductive and non-deterministic forms as part of the continuing process of transforming existing social and economic relations and structures. Therefore we need a non-reductive and non-deterministic critical working method, to understand the range of consequences of any particular form[al) phenomena in order to make informed selections in the production of new, transformed and intensified physical definitions for our use now. Within the condition of making an informed selection is the question of: informed by what? This thesis will focus on the groundwork for a continuing study of the dialectical exchanges between built use-form/territorial definitions and the dynamic social/economic relationships in a society. The work will consist of three topics: -- Dialectical Materialism; -Form; -- Production. The first two topics will examine and make explicit a general understanding of dialectical materialism and built form. The relationships between them as both independent and interdependent aspects of the material world, and of our associative and social relationships to the material world will be outlined. The explication of these two topics will rely on the critical readings of, and assemblage of selections from, the relevant works (written and built) both historic and contemporary. The third topic will focus on generative work. A transformational design study of an existing early 20th century housing project will be used to clarify a projective methodology.