The co-construction of spatial memory: Enriching architectural histories of 'ordinary' buildings

Stein, JA

The co-construction of spatial memory: Enriching architectural histories of 'ordinary' buildings

Stein, JA

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Publisher:: Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Fabrications, 2014, 24 (2), pp. 178 - 197 (18)
Issue Date:: 2014-11-12

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Stein, JA https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7031-9728	en_US
dc.date.available	2020-05-25T19:06:18Z
dc.date.issued	2014-11-12	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Fabrications, 2014, 24 (2), pp. 178 - 197 (18)	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1033-1867	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/30295
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/30312
dc.description.abstract	While the disciplines of oral history and architectural history are beginning to engage with the expansive possibilities for oral testimony in relation to architecture, the question of how spatial memory operates in an interview is yet to receive thorough attention. Earlier approaches combining oral history and architecture tended to focus on interviewing architects. This research takes a different tack, interviewing workers about their experiences of working life, and, in the process, discovering that the their narratives often have strong spatial and architectural specificity. Interviews with former printworkers about their memories of the NSW Government Printing Office in Sydney uncovered a wealth of spatial and architectural content embedded within workers recollections. The interview is also a site where meaning is made. Accordingly, this paper explores how, through oral history, a co-construction of spatial memory is produced between the interviewer and the interviewee, resulting in a mnemonic spatial reconstruction of architectural space. The results recover detailed accounts of much-loved fig trees, painted-on doors and dysfunctional woodblock floors, to name but a few. This method of charting architectural memories has important implications for how we interpret the architectural histories of oft-ignored institutional buildings, and it highlights disparities between `official concepts related to modernist factory buildings and the lived experiences of workers.	en_US
dc.publisher	Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Fabrications	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1080/10331867.2014.961222	en_US
dc.title	The co-construction of spatial memory: Enriching architectural histories of 'ordinary' buildings	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	2	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	24	en_US
utslib.for	1201 Architecture	en_US
utslib.for	1901 Art Theory and Criticism	en_US
utslib.for	2202 History and Philosophy of Specific Fields	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Design
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	2	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	24	en_US

Abstract:

While the disciplines of oral history and architectural history are beginning to engage with the expansive possibilities for oral testimony in relation to architecture, the question of how spatial memory operates in an interview is yet to receive thorough attention. Earlier approaches combining oral history and architecture tended to focus on interviewing architects. This research takes a different tack, interviewing workers about their experiences of working life, and, in the process, discovering that the their narratives often have strong spatial and architectural specificity. Interviews with former printworkers about their memories of the NSW Government Printing Office in Sydney uncovered a wealth of spatial and architectural content embedded within workers recollections. The interview is also a site where meaning is made. Accordingly, this paper explores how, through oral history, a co-construction of spatial memory is produced between the interviewer and the interviewee, resulting in a mnemonic spatial reconstruction of architectural space. The results recover detailed accounts of much-loved fig trees, painted-on doors and dysfunctional woodblock floors, to name but a few. This method of charting architectural memories has important implications for how we interpret the architectural histories of oft-ignored institutional buildings, and it highlights disparities between `official concepts related to modernist factory buildings and the lived experiences of workers.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/30295