PARADE – Publication and Research in Art, Architectures, Design and Environments, seeks to explore the relationships between the built environment and the following disciplines:
INTERIOR DESIGN
The interior is both surface and space. It is linked to our understanding of textiles, it can be seen as a stage set. It can be defined as an interior environment and, in the renovation of buildings, as a form of architecture and engineering. In this privileged – or perhaps schizophrenic –position, it links the arts, design and construction worlds like no other. The interior allows us to explore the psychology of users and their interaction with their environment, it allows us to explore the tactile and the haptic. It permits the consideration of the social and the economic. This programme seeks to explore multiples ideas, issues and conditions related to interior design from the multitude of perspectives it opens up.
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ARCHITECTURE
Architecture is a discipline that rarely, if ever, attempts to stand alone. Architecture has been, even in its ‘object’ focused formulations, a discipline that understands context – whether that be the urban, the landscape or the socio-political. Architects fully understand their work impacts on society, on economies and on people’s lives. They also know that changes to society, communities and migration patterns can leave their work redundant. They are creators of spaces and places that have typically drawn inspiration from outside – from film, painting, sculpture, literature and more. They also know their work is, at times, at the ‘mercy’ of these disciplines. The journalistic approval or otherwise of projects can, easily, make or break an aspiring or established architectural studio. This programme explores the myriad of connections opened up by looking at architecture in this light.
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URBAN DESIGN & PLANNING
In a context of increased and, now, dominate urban living the implications of understanding urban design and the planning of cities and regions more generally is not only important, it is fundamental. It cannot be done in isolation, however. If a social and environmentally sustainable future is to be secured, urban designers and planners have to fully understand how individual buildings operate in their larger settings. They have to consider the implications on community development and growth of development models and large scale infrastructure projects. They have to consider the insights of sociologists, human geographers and specialists in public health. If they are to fully exploit the potential of new technologies and medias, they need to engage with the smart city and the artists and designers seeking to develop the technological infrastructures and possibilities of a fully digital future. This programme seeks to facilitate just such engagements.
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LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Landscape is an arena of activity that crosses all geographical locations, from inner city areas to large scale rural expanses. As such it cannot help but operate as an interdisciplinary area of study which involves collaboration with urban designers, architects, planners, community groups, social scientists and environmental designers of all types. In the guise of landscape theory, the issues of land and scape often morph easily with the thinking of philosophers, sociologists and psychologists. In an ever more digital world, it is also a discipline whose ‘traditional’ modes of working are potentially in flux, the recording of the environment through digital mapping being just a simple and obvious case in point. How this discipline area will continue to engage with others as it develops is a key reference point for this programme.
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