001: Amy Butt
The first episode of Hold the Space is an interview with Architect, doctor of science fiction, and lecturer in architecture at the University of Reading, Dr. Amy Butt.
In this conversation we talk about:
- How to engage non-architects in architecture
- Science fiction as a way to practise the future together
- Amy’s indirect route towards her current teaching and practice
- The design crit process, and how to improve it
- A few of the ethical issues with practising and teaching architecture
- A workshop run in the Horniman Museum
- Time management
- And more!
Jump to a section
- (00:00) - 001: Amy Butt
- (00:11) - Introduction
- (03:22) - What do you do?
- (05:52) - Audience
- (08:53) - Personal journey
- (14:54) - Criticising critiques: how to improve the design critique process for students
- (22:47) - Sustainable modes of practice
- (26:55) - Teaching and workshops: The Horniman Museum
- (40:49) - Time and project management
- (50:22) - The Absent Paradigm and science fiction reading communities
- (56:53) - Beyond Gender and collaborative writing
- (01:08:21) - Success criteria
- (01:12:20) - Building communities
- (01:19:51) - Outro
- (01:20:22) - Credits
Links and references
Links
Groups
Articles
- The Present as Past: Science Fiction and the Museum (2021) by Amy Butt (article and photos from the Horniman Museum workshop we discuss in this episode)
- Performance, Utopia, and the "Utopian Performative" (2001) by Jill Dolan
Books
From the Horniman Museum workshop
- The Time Machine (1895) by H.G. Wells
- We (1924) by Yevgeny Zamyatin
- The Wanderground (1979) by Sally Miller Gearhart
From the Beyond Gender reading group:
- Brown Girl in the Ring (1998) and The Salt Roads (2003) by Nalo Hopkinson
- Your Faces, O My Sisters! (1990) by James Tiptree Junior - featured in the collection Her Smoke Rose Up Together
- The Dispossessed (1974) by Ursula K. Le Guin
Contact
This show is new and evolving - if you have any suggestions or comments, things you’d like to hear (or not!) please email me at holdthespace@olliepalmer.com
Credits
This podcast is made possible by the Situated Art and Design Research Group at Caradt, the Centre for Applied Research in Art, Design, and Technology. Each episode is recorded, edited, and mixed by me, Ollie Palmer. For more information - including full transcripts for each episode, links to relevant work or resources, please visit the podcast website at www.holdthespace.art, or click the link in the podcast notes.
Thanks for listening, and see you next time.
Creators and Guests
Host
Ollie Palmer
Artist, film maker. Researcher, Situated Art and Design Group, Caradt (Centre for Applied Research in Art, Design, and Technology). Tutor, Situated Design MA, Master Institute of Visual Cultures, St Joost School of Art and Design.
Guest
Amy Butt
I am an architect and lecturer in architecture. As an educator, I explore the role of narrative and empathetic engagement in design, using science fiction literature to provide a critical point of reflection on cities we currently inhabit as well as the future worlds we may be constructing. As a researcher, I examine the way in which the fictional worlds we construct influence and reflect the world we inhabit, writing about utopian thought and the imaginary in architecture through science fiction literature and film. As an architect, I specialise in higher and further education design, with a focus on client consultation, brief development and student engagement. I have a passionate interest in education building design, with a strong belief in the importance of wider consultation and narrative communication, to create spaces which can engage and inspire all users of the built environment.