LSBU Critical Reading 2017 // Josh Ayettey

In the course of these 10 sessions, I have been introduced to a wide an array of writ ings as well as digital content each with their own ideal, an agenda, an argument. I must say I have thoroughly enjoyed the tasks that were set before us and the literature we were prescribed, so much so that I have obtained personal copies of a number of the books, to enjoy in my own time. Moreover, I have learnt a great deal about society and the influence that systems such as capitalism, socialism etc. have had on its evolution and in turn on what we consider to be our reality.   Being challenged to be critical when reading as opposed to just digesting the point of view of an author, or even taking what they say as fact but rather doing wider research around the subject and also investigating their own backgrounds, has taught me a lesson in believing the first thing you hear and taking it as gospel. No doubt the skills gained through this exercise will prove invaluable ...

The fountain head was quite an interesting film, full of heroism and the sort of motivation you got from watching a film like 'Rocky' where the once underdog finally gets the win, but I suspect such a feeling would be shared with architecture students as opposed to your average man on the street. T hroughout you felt like you could relate to the main cha racter , an aspiring young Architect Howard Roark who in this film is played by Gary Cooper. Howard Roark seems to stand for everything that doesn’t quite exist anymore in the field, or at least is dying a slow death for the majority, but is this a good thing?   Ayn Rand The novel itself is written by the Russian-American author Ayn Rand , she was a lady who stood for 'objectivism', being driven by the pursuit of your own happiness, essentially the world revolves around you and in everything you do it is your way or the high way. A position portrayed quite well in one scene where Howard is ...

Marshall McLuhan was a revolutionary in his own right, yet it seems apparent that his work was not fully realised, he was essentially documenting the evolution of media, and its potential grip on society influencing how we learn and interact with one another. For this session we were tasked to do something different, rather than have a book prescribed for us to read by a specified author, we were encouraged to go an exploratory journey through the medium of YouTube not quite knowing where we would be led as we delved into Marshall McLuhan’s ‘The medium is the Massage’. I would say I thoroughly enjoyed this task, Marshall proposed very compelling and fascinating concepts emphasising on how technology was becoming an extension of man.  In my own exploration I was led through a series of videos in discussion on how as technology advances, we in turn are dumbed down by its advances no longer thinking for ourselves, a view somewhat echoed in previous blogs although fro...

The mathematics of the ideal villa contrasts two villas which are centuries apart, v illa Foscari also known as Malcontenta designed by Italian Architect Adrea Palladio in the 16 th century and villa Garches designed by Le Corbusier in the 20 th century. Colin Rowe himself who is described by the AR's ( architectural review) Paul Davies as being "an intellectual who wrote like an angel and dreamt of Renaissance Italy " , had a global influence among the architectural society.    In his writings on the two villas Colin is able to pick out two key principles by which each designer in question applies to their design, we have Palladio who " is concerned with the logical disposition o f motifs dogmatically accepted, but attempts to discover a structural reason for his planning sy mmetries" , this approach is one that many 1 st year architecture students myself included we take to justify design decisions. However, in this case Palladio was of the...

Evelyn Waugh  Evelyn Waughs ‘ Decline and Fall’ is a great piece of parody , it is an easy read a thoroughly enjoyable piece of writing, there is a lot to take from it, yet it is  delivered   in such a light-hearted manner.   Paul Pennyfeather portrayed as a stereotypical, fine English gentleman who seems to just glide through life through the ups and downs without breaking a sweat, this being a way in which the author Evelyn Waugh attempts to portray English society at the time. Something which he does very well, we experience English society through the eyes of Paul. Like most who write, the story of 'Decline and Fall' contains elements of Evelyn's own personal life, in fact Ll anabba the small boy's school where Pennyfeather gets a job is said to be modelled around a school where Evelyn had a short-lived tenure, known as Arnold house Preparatory school also located in Wales. Arnold house was believed to be a ' g rotesque estab...

In this session we were given the option for which text to read, either Beatriz Colomina's 'The Split Wall: Domestic Voyeurism' from Sexuality and Space (1992) or Jane Rendell's chapter in Occupying Architecture (1998) ' doing it, (un) doing it, (over) doing it yourself- Rhetorics of Architectural Abuse'. As attractive as the first title appeared, I chose Jane Rendells text which in its entirety covers how architecture can be made by those other than architects.    A mention is made in the paragraph 'I between doing it and undoing it' where Jane states "the architectural profession encourages us to think of architecture exactly in these terms – as something only architects do", ultimately there lies something deeper, the fact that according to Luce Irigaray , 'any theory of the subject' has always been masculine'. Jane Rendell herself is an advocate for "French Feminist Theory that posi ts critical thinki...

Marshall Berman Marshall Berman known as a “radical intellectual” and former student of Isaiah Berlin, was a Distinguished American philosopher who had great admiration for the early thought of Karl Marx. According to an obituary produced by the guardian, the book which is the subject of this blog ‘All that is Solid melts into Air’ is recognised as a major work of his whereby “he reclaimed the idea of modernity from the cultural pessimists who saw in contemporary life cultural decline and disintegration”. Towards the end of this section of the book in the chapter ‘The Tragedy of Development’ we see how a city is formed, a collection of people from different lands in this case small villages and towns of closed communities seeking “ to form a new kind of community: a community that thrives not on repression of free individuality in order to maintain a closed social system” but a community that offers a new kind of freedom, thriving on “ free constructive action i...

Dave Hickey Air Guitar – Essays on Art and Democracy is written by former art critic and writer Dave Hickey, from the research I have been doing Dave Hickey is a living legend in his field and a beautiful writer, the life he has lived and the people he has rubbed shoulders with over his career such as David Bowie gives an added awe to the content of his writings.  The  text in question for this blog is ‘A home in Neon’, the first essay from Air Guitar, in which he describes a place that is dear to his heart, Las Vegas. Dave Hickey’s fondness of Las Vegas does make one wonder how different Vegas was in the 90’s as to now, due to the way in which he affirms it as being a place that truly felt like home. For him Vegas is almost utopic in the sense that it presents a social system very different to that of many other American cities at the time, there is no hint of social hierarchy, in fact when describing why his colleagues may not share the same love for Vegas he says...

Matthew Crawford In this session we looked at ‘The Case for Working with your Hands’ written by Matthew Crawford an American writer, mechanic and Research fellow at the University of Virginia. For this blog were looking at the chapter titled ‘The Separation of Thinking from Doing’ which opens with the below quote: “The dichotomy of mental versus manual didn’t arise spontaneously. Rather, the twentieth century saw concerted efforts to separate thinking from doing. Those efforts achieved a good deal of success in ordering our economic life and it is this success that perhaps explains the plausibility the distinction now enjoys. Yet to call this “success” is deeply perverse, for wherever the separation of thinking from doing has been achieved, it has been responsible for the degradation of work.” P37  A statement that is highly credible if we are to consider both Matthews academic and vocational background. Traditional Wheel Wrighter working on Carriage Wheel ...

What is Post Capitalism? What even is Capitalism…… Before this book was brought to my attention, these were terms that I was not really accustomed to, generally there aren’t many books on capitalism that tended to captivate my interest although I do have an eagerness to learn new things (an ironic statement to make since a lot of learning comes from books, but I learn a lot from doing).  From further research Capitalism essentially is a system where trade and industry are owned or controlled by private owners rather than the state, who because of it’s set up are given almost free reign to manipulate the competitiveness of prices, in order to drive profits and keep making profit. Paul Mason writing in the book ‘Post Capitalism A guide to our Future’ highlights many issues with this system which currently runs in the United Kingdom along with many other Nations. Paul Mason formerly worked for BBC as part of the BBC Two team on the Newsnight Programme as Business Edito...