Disrupting the Architectural Line: Wandering Domestic Objects in Public Spaces

ABSTRACT

With a particular focus on the construction and occupation of space, we will engage and trouble habitual distinctions between the interior as a site of private domestic occupation and the street as a public domain. Drawing from philosophical and cultural discourses about nomadism, mobility and everyday life that prioritise the dissolution of boundary conditions, the article will develop a feminist lens through which to interrogate three architectural practices and projects by the essay authors. Notably, each of the three case projects – Fence Parasite, Streetlife, and Public Beds – involve the placing of domestic objects and actions in different public or non-residential urban settings, thereby unsettling their usual associations with the home and thus the boundaries between the inside-outside and, by extension, private-public space. From the dynamic overspill of domestic labours and artefacts into the urban streets through to the deliberate breaching and co-option of footpath boundaries, these projects support a wider conception of both the location of the home and its political agency, particularly in considering what is urban and architectural within design practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Interior architecture
• architecture
• nomadic
• urban space
• urban mobilities
• public space
• domestic artefacts

Acknowledgments

Fence Parasite was supported by a University of Newcastle New Staff Grant (2014, grant number 1031772) with research assistance by Rowan Olsson.

Streetlife Studies is collaboratively convened through an academic-practitioner network in Australia and Cambodia, including Kong Kosal, Chhay Karno, and Phal Piseth (Royal University of Fine Arts, Phnom Penh), Vuth Lyno (Sa Sa Art Projects), Pen Sereypagna (nk-a), Tia Vannvera, Richard Briggs, and Giacomo Butte. This project is conducted according to the University of New South Wales’ Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) requirements for the conduct of research, Approval Number HR191056, 30 March 2022. Funding for this project is provided by the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan Mobility Program (grant number 29619) and the Southeast Asia Neighborhood’s Network (core funding from the Henry Luce Foundation, UNSW grant number PS66736 ), with past philanthropic support from Design Tribe Projects and Action Change.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a 2014 University of Newcastle New Staff Grant (grant number 1031772), an Australian Government New Colombo Plan Mobility Program grant (number 29619), and a Henry Luce Foundation Asia Program grant (grant number PS66736).

Notes on contributors

Cathy Smith

Cathy Smith is a registered Australian architect, interior designer and academic whose transdisciplinary research and practice seeks to understand and promote inclusive built environments. Her scholarly research on DIY production methodologies, creative placemaking and meanwhile property use has been widely published in sector and scholarly journals.

Ainslie Murray

Ainslie Murray is an interdisciplinary artist and academic trained in architecture. Her practice-based research explores the formation and inhabitation of architectural space in everyday life through attention to atmosphere, motion and itinerancy. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.

Demet Dincer

Demet Dincer is an award-winning international architect and academic who applies transdisciplinary approach to her research and practice, with an emphasis on nonhuman agencies in design.

Eva Lloyd

Eva Lloyd is an interdisciplinary educator with professional qualifications in architecture and interior architecture, and a particular interest in social justice through community-centered design practice. She specialises in education collaborations connecting academia, civil society, and creative practitioners, in local and international contexts.