Title: Experiencing constructed landscapes: the use of autoethnography in the practice of architectural history
Abstract: A stroll through the park, swim at the beach, or visit to a building is common tourist activity. How can historians use the experience of these activities as a way to navigate relationships between: constructed landscapes versus seemingly natural landscapes, how a user negotiates these conditions, how they are performed by their users along with the sensory qualities of these spaces. The paper examines two waterside public swimming pools as types of constructed landscapes, where the juxtaposed water conditions bring a range of complex spatial tensions to the fore. How do users experience these tensions? How might the experience of the user be integrated within architectural histories? How might we begin to answer these questions by considering ourselves as the user? The paper argues for consideration of a critic's own in situ experience alongside conventional methods in order to highlight the sensorial qualities of a space, how a space is used, how it is experienced along with body/space relationships. This will be tested via the use of autoethnography where the author's own experience will be drawn upon. Firstly outlying the genealogy of this method, the paper will evaluate the value of autoethnographic methods within architectural histories. It will then document the author's own experience at using this method drawing from the author's current PhD research. In particular, it will focus on two waterside public swimming pool examples where the author employed photographic methods, personal written accounts, sound recordings and film recordings as possible tools to be used and adapted for the construction of future architectural histories.
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot