Informed spaces

Wilkins does a great job of explaining the importance of hip-hop to the formation of space, relating how context provides meaning and meaning contributes to identity. In the case of hip hop, the context is African American history, and the meaning is "reclaiming the Black subject from the Negro object" (2000, p.10), a phrase which Wilkins repeats liberally throughout this article.

Wilkins obviously takes a certain (but carefully argued and justified) lens through which to investigate this collective space formation–music, specifically rap turned hip-hop music. Music itself is just like space: it is used as a collective memory tool, and is dynamic and continuously updated, changed, modified, etc. Because it has the same three qualities that Lefebvre and de Certreau outline as characteristics of space formation, Wilkins is able to draw the conclusion that space can be expressed as the "'performed communication'" (2000, p.9) of sound, and therefore music (or hip hop).

Our discussion seemed a bit off track for me, but it was probably due to the fact that I was about to give a presentation on the production of space and Dolores Hayden's Politics of Space writing and was utterly consumed with this aspect of Wilkins' writing. However, there was appropriate concern addressed in the discussion surrounding the misunderstanding of hip hop culture and the misappropriation of hip hop space into mainstream architectural solutions.

Ironically, none of the individuals in the room were the people of which Wilkins was referring to as the producers of hip hop, whereas he could count himself among this group of African Americans. So, while our discussion raised issues, I still feel as though they were surface level concerns and coming from an outside perspective. Ultimately, I think Wilkins was addressing how the historical context of space and the formation of such can be investigated in order to better understand a specific population and design appropriate forms, structures, or solutions for it in the future. By looking at the space of hip hop, future architectural forms can be informed by the production and consequent meaning of space and perhaps allow for a similar responsive and organic system to develop.

Personally, I am fascinated by the concept of space. To me, much of what Wilkins said is reiterating what I am learning this semester. I have read other critiques of Lefebvre's The Production of Space, which argue that the main point is the peeling back of layers of space in order to get to the true root of its formation. This requires uncovering and investigating the political, aesthetic, and social factors that contributed to the meaning and making of a specific space, a process which I hope to explore more fully through my thesis work.

Reference:
Wilkins, C.L. (2000). (W)rapped space: The architecture of hip-hop. Journal of Architectural Education, 7-19.