LEFEBVRE FOR ARCHITECTS While the work of Henri Lefebvre has become better known in the English-speaking world since the 1991 translation of his 1974 masterpiece, The Production of Space, his infl uence on the actual production of architecture and the city has been less pronounced. Although now widely read in schools of architecture, planning and urban design, Lefebvre’s message for practice remains elusive, inevitably so because the entry of his work into the Anglosphere has come with repression of the two most challenging aspects of his thinking: Romanticism and Utopia, which simultaneously confront modernity while being progressive. Contemporary discomfort with Romanticism and Utopia arguably obstructs the shift of Lefebvre’s thinking from being objects of theoretical interest into positions of actually infl uencing practices. Attempting to understand and act upon architecture and the city with Lefebvre but without Utopia and Romanticism risks muting the impact of his ideas. Although Utopia may seem to have no place in the present, Lefebvre reveals this as little more than a self-serving affi rmation that ‘there is no alternative’ to social and political detachment. Demanding the impossible may end in failure but as Lefebvre shows us, doing so is the fi rst step towards other possibilities. To think with Lefebvre is to think about Utopia; doing so makes contact with what is most enduring about his project for the city and its inhabitants, and with what is most radical about it as well. Lefebvre for Architects offers a concise account of the relevance of Henri Lefebvre’s writing for the theory and practice of architecture, planning and urban design. This book is accessible for students and practitioners who wish to fully engage with the design possibilities offered by Lefebvre’s philosophy. Nathaniel Coleman is Reader in History and Theory of Architecture at Newcastle University, UK. He previously taught in the US, and practiced architecture in New York, USA, and Rome, Italy. Author of U topias and Architecture (2005) and editor of I magining and Making the World: Reconsidering architecture and Utopia (2011), Nathaniel recently guest-edited a special issue on architecture of the journal U topian Studies (2014). He has published numerous journal articles and book chapters, and presented his research on the problem of architecture and Utopia internationally. He is particularly interested in the convergences of architectural history, theory and design with Utopia’s generative potential. Thinkers for Architects Series Editor: Adam Sharr, Newcastle University, UK Editorial Board Jonathan A. Hale, University of Nottingham, UK Hilde Heynen, KU Leuven, Netherlands David Leatherbarrow, University of Pennsylvania, USA Architects have often looked to philosophers and theorists from beyond the discipline for design inspiration or in search of a critical framework for practice. This original series offers quick, clear introductions to key thinkers who have written about architecture and whose work can yield insights for designers. ‘Each unintimidatingly slim book makes sense of the subjects’ complex theories.’ Building Design ‘. . . a valuable addition to any studio space or computer lab.’ Architectural Record ‘. . . a creditable attempt to present their subjects in a useful way.’ Architectural Review Deleuze and Guattari for Architects Andrew Ballantyne Heidegger for Architects Adam Sharr Irigaray for Architects Peg Rawes Bhabha for Architects Felipe Hernández Bourdieu for Architects Helena Webster Benjamin for Architects Brian Elliott Derrida for Architects Richard Coyne Gadamer for Architects Paul Kidder Foucault for Architects Gordana Fontana-Giusti Goodman for Architects Remei Capdevila-Werning Lefebvre for Architects Nathaniel Coleman Virilio for Architects John Armitage Baudrillard for Architects Francesco Proto Kant for Architects Diane Morgan Merleau-Ponty for Architects Jonathan Hale THINKERS FOR ARCHITECTS Lefebvre for Architects Nathaniel Coleman First published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business. © 2015 Nathaniel Coleman The right of Nathaniel Coleman to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Coleman, Nathaniel, 1961– Lefebvre for architects / Nathaniel Coleman. pages cm. — (Thinkers for architects) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Lefebvre, Henri, 1901–1991. 2. Architecture and philosophy. 3. Visionary architecture. 4. Utopias. 5. Architecture—Philosophy. 6. Architecture and society. I. Title. NA2500.C57 2015 720.1—dc23 2014025868 ISBN: 978-0-415-63939-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-63940-8 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-73654-9 (ebk) Typeset in Frutiger and Galliard by Apex CoVantage, LLC To P, Z and E This page intentionally left blank ‘Change life!’ ‘Change society!’ These precepts mean nothing without the production of an appropriate space. [. . .] To change life, [. . .] we must fi rst change space. Lefebvre, Production of Space , pp. 59, 190 The architect occupies an especially uncomfortable position. As a scientist and technician, obliged to produce within a specifi ed framework, he has to depend on repetition. In his search for inspiration as an artist, and as someone sensitive to use and to the ‘user’, however, he has a stake in difference. He is located willy-nilly within this painful contradiction, forever being shuttled from one of its poles to the other. His is the diffi cult task of bridging the gap between product and work, and he is fated to live out the confl icts that arise as he desperately seeks to close the ever-widening gulf between knowledge and creativity. Lefebvre, Production of Space , p. 396 Surely there comes a moment when formalism is exhausted, when only a new injection of content into form can destroy it and so open up the way to innovation. Lefebvre, Production of Space , p. 145 No sooner is Marx pronounced dead than Marxism experiences a resurgence. [. . .] The scientifi c and technological changes of the modern world have now made a reconsideration of Marxist thought inevitable. The thesis presented here might be summarized as follows. Each of the concepts of Marxism may be taken up once more, and carried to a higher level, without any signifi cant moment of the theory as a whole being lost. On the other hand, if they are considered in the setting of Marx’s exposition, these concepts and their theoretical articulation no longer have an object. The renewal of Marx’s concepts is best effected by taking full account of space. Lefebvre, Production of Space , pp. 342–343