Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture

Tatjana Schneider (Lecturer, University of Sheffield) and Jeremy Till (Dean, University of Westminster and author of the award winning book Architecture Depends) collaborated before on their book Flexible Housing (which won the 2007 RIBA President's Award for Research). This time they are joined by Nishat Awan (Researcher).

"Spatial Agency is a timely and uplifting treatise on the successful ways that architects have addressed some of society’s most vexing global problems. With compelling analysis, richly illustrated by inspiring examples of transformative spatial solutions, the authors argue persuasively that the consequences of architecture are as important as the objects of architecture. This accessibly written book is a must read for anyone seeking an ethical understanding of the role of spatial production in the human struggle to create a democratic and sustainable existence." – Leslie Kanes Weisman, Emerita Professor of Architecture, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and author of Discrimination by Design: A Feminist Critique of the Man-Made Environment (University of Illinois Press)"Spatial Agency’s lively entry into the discourse around spatial practice, subjectivity and alterity, inspired by the introduction of Henri Lefebvre and feminist theory into architecture in the mid 1990s, asserts the importance of the concept of agency for understanding architecture’s counter-culture over the past 30 years. This succinct and stylish handbook provides the reader with an essential resource for grasping the extraordinarily diverse range of ethical architectural practice. Here is a truly global map of inspiring ‘spatial agents’ who collectively define architecture – against the grain." – Jane Rendell, Vice Dean of Research at the Bartlett, UCL, and author of Art and Architecture (2006), Site-Writing (2010) and co-editor of Critical Architecture (2007)"Ultimately this is a valuable book for those interested in pursuing alternatives to traditional architecture, those searching for ideas about how to make positive change when other means are not available, and for those gauging the state of architecture today." – Archidose“The book presents, from an easy and open approach, different ways of understanding the new ways of doing architecture. In all cases it is evident that the spatial production does not imply exclusively to architects and development possibilities are endless. An optimistic crisis for architecture.” – Arquilecturas"‘A timely study that raises vital issues for the future’. Such were the words recently used by the Royal Institute of British Architects in announcing its decision to award the 2011 RIBA President’s Award for Outstanding University-located Research to Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture, the book edited by Nishat Awan and Tatjana Schneider of the University of Sheffield, and Jeremy Till of the University of Westminster... Amid the rhetoric that often surrounds these events, the succinct description does indeed do justice to the work compiled by the three academics and the intellectual platform supporting it. A reflective analysis of the various ways of contributing to change in the built environment outside the canonical plots of professional practice, Spatial Agency tackles some of the central tenets of architecture as a discipline, asking whether these in fact maintain currency for both the profession and the built environment." - Paolo Tombesi, Construction Management and Economics, September 2012

• 1. Introduction 2. The Motivations of Spatial Agency 3. The Sites of Spatial Agency 4. The Operations of Spatial Agency 5. Other Ways of Doing Architecture