Anarchist architecture, also known asanarchitecture, is a term used to describearchitecture withanarchist intentions, or architecture by people who unconsciously follow anarchist principles such as decentralization and self-organization. According to anarchist theorists, anarchitecture should be done for the needs of individuals or small communities instead of power structures, such ascapitalism or the state, like conventional architecture. Examples include housing projects and conceptual art by anarchist architects, self-built houses ininformal settlements and squatted buildings modified by the inhabitants.
Anarchist architecture starts from the premise that architecture is a political act and its main concern should be to fulfill the needs of a person or a small community instead of a power structure.[1][2] It criticizes capitalist architecture, which is "increasingly commodified, sterile and elitist - part of a global capitalist system where urban space is equated with profit for a tiny few".[3]
It differs fromcommunist theories of housing distribution by giving responsibility to the individual instead of the government and by applying solutions readily available in the present, instead of making longer-term plans.[1][2] Whilemarxist architecture tried to overcome the division between thebourgeoisie class and theproletariat, architecture academic P. G. Raman argues, for anarchists each stratum of society, because of its peculiar history, develops different traditions of cooperation.[4]
The bookArchitecture and Anarchism, byPaul Dobraszczyk, catalogued 60 projects with "forms of design and building that embrace the core values of traditional anarchist political theory". Those values are, according to Dobraszczyk,autonomy,voluntary association,mutual aid andself-organisation throughdirect democracy.[3] On his bookHousing: An Anarchist Approach,Colin Ward also cites the importance ofinformal economy andLocal Exchange Trading Systems for the anarchist architecture to work out.[5]: 12
Anarchist architecture is deeply tied with theDIY culture. The structures often borrow elements fromavant-garde architecture and art.[1]
While anarchist architecture can be performed with explicit anarchist intentions, it can also be carried out unconsciously, as a community will simply react to their living conditions without the knowledge ofanarchist theory.[6]
The Italian anarchist architectGiancarlo De Carlo was an important figure in the development of anarchist architecture. De Carlo, who opened his office in 1950, was active in the Italiananti-fascistresistance and in the post-war anarchist movement.[7] He saw libertarian socialism as the underlying force of his design and considered non-hierarchical participation of inhabitants as an important factor in his architecture. During the design of a housing project in the early1970s for workers at the steel factory inTerni, De Carlo insisted that the workers were involved during the design process during working time, and that management should not be allowed to attend.[8]
De Carlo'sparticipatory design was opposed to the modernist architecture of his time. He heavily criticized thefunctionalism of modernism, which he viewed as "too simple and unsophisticated compared with the complexity of reality".[4] De Carlo viewed, according to architecture professor John McKean, that modernism "had succumbed to rigid bureaucratization and become formalist and prescriptive of aesthetic codes". He accused the architectural profession of surrendering to the interest of people without any principles: "The expert exploiter of building areas, the manipulator of building codes, the cultural legitimator for the sacking of the city organized by financiers, politicians and bureaucrats".[9] He wrote in 1970 that "architecture is too important to leave to the architects" and saw participation as a process of transforming "architectural planning from the authoritarian act which it has been up to now, into a process".[4]
The term "anarchitecture" was coined in 1974 as the title of an art exhibition by The Anarchitecture Group led byGordon Matta-Clark, who was schooled as an architect and criticized modernist architects such asLe Corbusier. The exhibition "challenged the conventional role of architecture in society, and explored the ways in which architecture collaborates with capitalism".[10] It attacked architecture as the symbol ofmodernist contempary culture's worst excesses and drawbacks. Group member and sculptorRichard Nonas described architecture as a "hard shell", or resistance to change.[11] The short-lived group discussed and debated spatiality, sculpture and resistance. It was described by member and avant-garde artistLaurie Anderson as "a completely literary thing".[12]
The meaning of the term anarchitecture is "elusive, appearing to shift depending on its user", according to writer James Attlee.[13] Matta-Clark "used the word in different contexts both before and after the show, in interviews and in his notebooks", Attlee writes. "Since his death it has become closely associated with his wider ideas about art and architecture; indeed, some would probably argue that it has been hi-jacked by those seeking to foreground their own agenda."
The term has also been used byLebbeus Woods, whose architecture was deliberately inspired by anarchistic ideas and was made to inspire people to reinvent their way of living.[10] Woods abandoned conventional architecture in the 1970s and devoted himself to experimental and conceptual art. While he also designed practical structures, the majority of these were never realized physically. One of his projects, the Berlin Free-Zone, designed shortly after thefall of the Berlin Wall, explored the intersection of architecture and violence. AThe New York Times article described the project as "aggressive machinelike structures" of which "the interiors were designed to be difficult to inhabit – a strategy for screening out the typical bourgeois".[14]
The housing projectNuovo Villaggio Matteotti for steelworkers in the Italian townTerni was designed by architect Giancarlo De Carlo according to his anarchist principles. De Carlo included future inhabitants during the design process of the project, which was realized between 1969 and 1974. Some of the principles that characterize the design was that the buildings “must be neither fragmented nor a single block” and his conviction that “pedestrian walkways [should be] built in a scale proportioned to the individual’s psychological needs: spaces that can be immediately perceived, walkways that are both variable and inspiring, the presence of greenery, carefully chosen details”.[4]
Squatting is considered a form of anarchist architecture, as people occupy an empty construction and modify it for their own needs. One of the best known examples isFreetown Christiania, a commune inCopenhagen that was built in 1971 in and around abandoned military buildings. Inhabitants of Christiania modified existing barracks and built their own structures in an "extraordinary diversity of styles and materials that survive to this day".[15]
Self built houses in informal settlements in theGlobal South, such as barriadas orfavelas in Latin America, have been described as anarchitecture. These buildings are an illegal alternative to housing provided by governments and private companies. British anarchist architectJohn Turner saw such communities as an example of self reliance of workers. Turner described informal settlements as "architecture that worked" and advocated that the inhabitants of such settlements should be free to produce homes and social spaces for themselves.[16]
Another example of anarchist architecture is the tents and makeshift buildings during activist occupations, such as during theOccupy movement. Activists across the world built camps to occupy public spaces and protest against economic injustice. Refugees or displaced people who are forced to build improvised housing in semi-permanent camps could also be described as anarchitecture.[3]
Building cooperatives where people work together to construct houses could be considered as anarchitecture. British-Asian and West-African communities in theUnited Kingdom created housing cooperatives during the1960s, where individuals would pay to join, take a loan from a fund and pay it back with no interest as a way to fund the construction of their houses.[17]
Some associations, such as the South London Housing Association (SOLON), were created with the objective of remodeling pre-existing houses. They became more active after the Housing Act (1974), that raised the funding for housing cooperatives in London. SOLON "was run on worker co-operative collectivist principles", where even the tenants were part of the association. In SOLON's case, even though the tenant had a lot to say about the reformations, the final decisions were made by the architect and the owner of the property.[17]
In some cases, associations were created to disrupt government building efforts, such as the Architects' Revolutionary Council (ARC), created in 1974. Leaded by Brian Anson, it had the objective of destroying the architectural establishment from England, speciallyRIBA, and invited architects to work directly for the population. ARC constantly interfered with RIBA's demolishing activities.[17]
