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Weaponized Architecture: The Impossibility of Innocence by Leopold Lambert
Weaponized Architecture is an examination of the inherent instrumentalization of architecture as a political weapon; research informs the development of a project which, rather than defusing these characteristics, attempts to integrate them within the scene of a political struggle. The proposed project dramatizes, through its architecture, a Palestinian disobedience to the colonial legislation imposed on its legal territory. In fact, the State of Israel masters the elaboration of territorial and architectural colonial apparatuses that act directly on Palestinian daily lives. In this regard, it is crucial to observe that 63% of the West Bank is under total control of the Israeli Defense Forces in regards to security, movement, planning and construction. Weaponized Architecture is thus manifested as a Palestinian shelter, with an associated agricultural platform, which expresses its illegality through its architectural vocabulary.The book includes interviews with Bryan Finoki and Raja Shehadeh and will be published both in paperback and as an expanded mobile book, with Augmented Reality [AR] interaction, so the content itself will be expanded through mobile devices.
- GenresArchitectureNonfiction
Paperback
First published July 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 2, 2024
It's such a shame the chapters were so short! Haven't found any other book about war and architecture besides this one, so I should definitely check the bibliography. Illustrations, photos and interviews are really well curated. Every chapter covers almost every question you may have about the role of architecture in war, especially in the Palestine / Israel conflict. Must read.
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January 28, 20252025 reads: 23/300
this book explores how architecture is used as a political weapon. while this does touch on some of the ways this plays out in other countries, the author focuses on how this is used by the apartheid state of israel. i do think there were several areas in which the concepts in this book could have been better fleshed out. with that said, it still did give me a lot to think about, both in my own country and in palestine. architecture as a political weapon isn’t something i’ve ever given much thought to, but i think it’s safe to say this book changed that.
this book explores how architecture is used as a political weapon. while this does touch on some of the ways this plays out in other countries, the author focuses on how this is used by the apartheid state of israel. i do think there were several areas in which the concepts in this book could have been better fleshed out. with that said, it still did give me a lot to think about, both in my own country and in palestine. architecture as a political weapon isn’t something i’ve ever given much thought to, but i think it’s safe to say this book changed that.
January 6, 2014
Good book, though mostly derivative and extending of Eyal Wiezman's Architecture of Occupation. The best part is the long interview with Bryan Finoki.
"The mode or surveillance is shifting from a transcendental mode - the centralized proctor, symbolizing an entity like a government or an institution - to a complete immanent mode in which each member of the society is supervising the ensemble of other members while being supervised himself." (28)
"Gated communities can be said to be conceptualized on a medieval scheme that implies a state of continuous war against exteriority. It needs therefore to maintain a paranoid imaginary to retain its illusionary legitimacy to exist and to develop defensive means against exteriority. Gated communities, as examples of secluded and remote living communities, when studied at a larger scale then can be understood as examples of a suburban living in the strategical spirit the latter has been created in." (29)
"Suburbia was a way to kill the Mediterranean model of the street to replace it with the road or highway to prevent any social interaction between people." (30)
"Under an appearance of openness, privately owned public spaces are in fact extremely selective of their public. Employees working in the towers are of course welcome, those open spaces are part of a post-modern biopolitical capitalism that appears to be taking care of its subjects.... Others are regarded are unwelcome, even suspect, and can be asked to leave in case of 'subversive' activity such as playing with a ball, taking pictures, or picnicking." (33) "The design is also oriented in order to compose a whole interior fantastic world that is supposed to be perceived as better than the outside reality. The world is safe, clean, warm, entertaining and attractive, which fits with a depoliticized population that is more attached to standards of comfort than some abstract principles of freedom." (34)
On "holey spaces": "In a world where sovereignty is operative through surveillance and processes of normatization, holey spaces embody restive zones by hiding their internality from the outside." (40)
"The revolutionary act stands for itself, produces a moment of liberation and does not require a finality that would achieve a permanent state of this same liberation. Instead, it constitutes a horizon, unreachable yet directing the movement that aims toward it." (171)
He interview Bryan Finoki, who says:
* "The video camera as a simple object becomes an intense nexus point in the constant spatial political negotiation of the homeland city's production as both a site of necessary preservation as well as one of a compulsory target that helps justify the War on Terror national security discourse." (51)
* "From a cultural perspective it is the 'society of the spectacle' and the Orwellian prophecy manifesting together in a pronographic micro-governance of what geographer Stephen Graham calls the matrix-like spatialization of 'architecture of control.'" (51-52)
* "Architecture is the embedding of social ordering and class divisions, and various forms of knowledge that can only be fossilized by its construction." (54)
* "I still have this vision of running around with a stealthy team of architectural hackers to bring some level of public space reclamation and political renegotiation through by fly-by-night urban interventions. But not subversive-for-subversive's sake, rather making adjustments to the built environment that relieve space of certain blockages of flow, efficacy, and ethicality. Spaces that need to be relieved of their pulsing commodification, their innate exclusionary principles; something like architectural acupuncture where architects are in it to restore a kind of level of optimism to space, to alleviate anxiety intrinsic with modern space, and ultimately to help instigate public agency." (56)
* "Let's face ut: we are facing ever-increasing compressions of space by forces of privatization and securitization. You have to be concerned about what's left for public agency...." (60)
"The mode or surveillance is shifting from a transcendental mode - the centralized proctor, symbolizing an entity like a government or an institution - to a complete immanent mode in which each member of the society is supervising the ensemble of other members while being supervised himself." (28)
"Gated communities can be said to be conceptualized on a medieval scheme that implies a state of continuous war against exteriority. It needs therefore to maintain a paranoid imaginary to retain its illusionary legitimacy to exist and to develop defensive means against exteriority. Gated communities, as examples of secluded and remote living communities, when studied at a larger scale then can be understood as examples of a suburban living in the strategical spirit the latter has been created in." (29)
"Suburbia was a way to kill the Mediterranean model of the street to replace it with the road or highway to prevent any social interaction between people." (30)
"Under an appearance of openness, privately owned public spaces are in fact extremely selective of their public. Employees working in the towers are of course welcome, those open spaces are part of a post-modern biopolitical capitalism that appears to be taking care of its subjects.... Others are regarded are unwelcome, even suspect, and can be asked to leave in case of 'subversive' activity such as playing with a ball, taking pictures, or picnicking." (33) "The design is also oriented in order to compose a whole interior fantastic world that is supposed to be perceived as better than the outside reality. The world is safe, clean, warm, entertaining and attractive, which fits with a depoliticized population that is more attached to standards of comfort than some abstract principles of freedom." (34)
On "holey spaces": "In a world where sovereignty is operative through surveillance and processes of normatization, holey spaces embody restive zones by hiding their internality from the outside." (40)
"The revolutionary act stands for itself, produces a moment of liberation and does not require a finality that would achieve a permanent state of this same liberation. Instead, it constitutes a horizon, unreachable yet directing the movement that aims toward it." (171)
He interview Bryan Finoki, who says:
* "The video camera as a simple object becomes an intense nexus point in the constant spatial political negotiation of the homeland city's production as both a site of necessary preservation as well as one of a compulsory target that helps justify the War on Terror national security discourse." (51)
* "From a cultural perspective it is the 'society of the spectacle' and the Orwellian prophecy manifesting together in a pronographic micro-governance of what geographer Stephen Graham calls the matrix-like spatialization of 'architecture of control.'" (51-52)
* "Architecture is the embedding of social ordering and class divisions, and various forms of knowledge that can only be fossilized by its construction." (54)
* "I still have this vision of running around with a stealthy team of architectural hackers to bring some level of public space reclamation and political renegotiation through by fly-by-night urban interventions. But not subversive-for-subversive's sake, rather making adjustments to the built environment that relieve space of certain blockages of flow, efficacy, and ethicality. Spaces that need to be relieved of their pulsing commodification, their innate exclusionary principles; something like architectural acupuncture where architects are in it to restore a kind of level of optimism to space, to alleviate anxiety intrinsic with modern space, and ultimately to help instigate public agency." (56)
* "Let's face ut: we are facing ever-increasing compressions of space by forces of privatization and securitization. You have to be concerned about what's left for public agency...." (60)
December 26, 2023
Generally speaking the second half was more interesting than the first half tho I did like the chapter of urbicide in the first half.
However I was put off by the 2 column formatting and some mistakes (missing punctuation, words smudged together etc.)
However I was put off by the 2 column formatting and some mistakes (missing punctuation, words smudged together etc.)
August 2, 2016
The best part of this book is the first section, "Architecture is a Weapon" that is chapters 1-8. The explorations of the Isreali occupation are interesting as well but I find the book most useful in understanding the terrain where I live.
I came to this book as a reader of To Our Friends by the Invisible Committee which the author reviewed on his blog, most notably the chapter "Power is Logistic. Block Everything!" which deals with the role of infrastructure in the continual reproduction of the social order as such. Other readers from this perspective will enjoy Lambert's exploration of architecture however underwhelming the proposed solutions may be.
I came to this book as a reader of To Our Friends by the Invisible Committee which the author reviewed on his blog, most notably the chapter "Power is Logistic. Block Everything!" which deals with the role of infrastructure in the continual reproduction of the social order as such. Other readers from this perspective will enjoy Lambert's exploration of architecture however underwhelming the proposed solutions may be.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews