Tate Gallery / Millbank Penitentiary, 1992BBC Billboard Project, Horseferry Road, London
The British Museum, 1987
Millbank Penitentiary, 1994
Millbank Penitentiary was a prison which existed on the site of what is now Tate Britain in London. While the two institutions may be very different by their primary nature, similar practices and interactions occur within them. The attractive symmetrical form of the plan of Millbank Penitentiary allowed the masters physical and mental control. The six petals/prison blocks permitted the gaolers to split apart the various inmates by type and danger.
Millbank Penitentiary embodies many paradoxes: the flower like formality of the punitive plan, and the journey from Old World penal institution to modern day art gallery. The role of Tate, like most art galleries, is arguably to manipulate and control art. The works are split up in much the same way as the Millbank prisoners, categorised, and treated differently in each section. Visitors are processed through the galleries by prescribed routes, while receiving a particular set of experiences. The final irony is the high level of social constraint imposed. In order to maintain control certain rules are applied. Throughout the galleries the visitor route is monitored. The whole visit is surveyed.
Maison de Force, 1991
The British Museum, 1987Images of three wood and glass encased books containing scale models of three buildings or structures: The British Museum in London, layout in plan showing the Round Reading Room at the centre of the building; the interior of The Round Reading Room at The British Museum, showing the readers tables radiating out from the librarians desks and catalogues at the centre of the room, and a perspectival model of the interior of a Panopticon prison at Breda in Holland showing the individual cells and access gantries as seen from the centre.
Millbank Penitentiary, 1994
Millbank Penitentiary was a prison which existed on the site of what is now Tate Britain in London. While the two institutions may be very different by their primary nature, similar practices and interactions occur within them. The attractive symmetrical form of the plan of Millbank Penitentiary allowed the masters physical and mental control. The six petals/prison blocks permitted the gaolers to split apart the various inmates by type and danger.
Millbank Penitentiary embodies many paradoxes: the flower like formality of the punitive plan, and the journey from Old World penal institution to modern day art gallery. The role of Tate, like most art galleries, is arguably to manipulate and control art. The works are split up in much the same way as the Millbank prisoners, categorised, and treated differently in each section. Visitors are processed through the galleries by prescribed routes, while receiving a particular set of experiences. The final irony is the high level of social constraint imposed. In order to maintain control certain rules are applied. Throughout the galleries the visitor route is monitored. The whole visit is surveyed.
Maison de Force, 1991The chair mediates between the body and the building and the arrangement of furniture within a room reflects evidence of the relationships between people using the space: witness a parliament, a court room, a school room, or a prison.
Seven white chairs containing models of seven prisons from Europe and north America. The plans of the prisons are cast as shadows on the floor, calling to mind the way we become imprinted with buildings as we use them.
One of the main functions of architecture is to contain and direct social activity. The prison is the place where containment and order are achieved with more emphasis than anywhere else. In some senses the prison may operate as a metaphor for the social function of architecture.
Seven white chairs containing models of seven prisons from Europe and north America. The plans of the prisons are cast as shadows on the floor, calling to mind the way we become imprinted with buildings as we use them.
One of the main functions of architecture is to contain and direct social activity. The prison is the place where containment and order are achieved with more emphasis than anywhere else. In some senses the prison may operate as a metaphor for the social function of architecture.
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