‘Readers in architecture, theater, anthropology, philosophy, and other fields will discover

here not only the interdependencies of these disciplines, but their roles in the configurations
of imaginings that endow human life with its most eloquent communications. Face-to-
face, hand-to-hand, at rest or while moving, dramatic actions performed spontaneously or
seasonally, in houses or on streets, are shown to situate and orient us in the world, as we
alternately succeed and struggle with interpersonal and environmental justice.’
— David Leatherbarrow, Emeritus Professor, University of Pennsylvania, USA

‘This collection establishes embodied architecture as an essential theatrical, imaginative and

compassionate practice. The sacred, the magical and the political appear with surprising ar-
chitectural relevance and dramatic force. The scholarship is impeccable; the stories engaging
and inspiring.’
— Marcía Feuerstein, Associate Professor at Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture,
Washington Alexandria Architecture Center, USA and co-editor of
Architecture as a Performing Art, among other publications

‘From the performativity of public spaces to theaters of the world reinterpreted as eco-eth-
ical dramas, this highly original book puts into play new notions of memory theater for
contemporary architectural discourse. Critical examples from antiquity to post-colonial
contexts provide timely reflections that will enliven readers’ architectural imagination.’
— Federica Goffi, Professor of Architecture, Carleton University, Canada and
editor of Marco Frascari’s Dream House: A Theory of Imagination,
among other publications
THEATRES OF ARCHITECTURAL
IMAGINATION

This volume explores connections between architecture and theatre, and encourages imag-
ination in the design of buildings and social spaces.
Imagination is arguably the architect’s most crucial capacity, underpinning memory, in-
vention, and compassion. No simple power of the mind, architectural imagination is deeply
embodied, social, and situational. Its performative potential and holistic scope may be best
understood through the model of theatre. Theatres of Architectural Imagination examines the
fertile relationship between theatre and architecture with essays, interviews, and entr’actes
arranged in three sections: Bodies, Settings, and (Inter)Actions. Contributions explore a
global spectrum of examples and contexts, from ancient Rome and Renaissance Italy to
modern Europe, North America, India, Iran, and Japan. Topics include the central role of
the human body in design; the city as a place of political drama, protest, and phenomenal
play; and world-making through language, gesture, and myth. Chapters also consider sacred
and magical functions of theatre in Balinese and Persian settings; eccentric experiments at
the Bauhaus and 1970 Osaka World Expo; and ecological action and collective healing amid
contemporary climate chaos. Inspired by architect and educator Marco Frascari, the book
performs as a Janus-like memory theatre, recalling and projecting the architect’s perennial
task of reimagining a more meaningful world.
This collection will delight and provoke thinkers and makers in theatrical arts and built
environment disciplines, especially architecture, landscape, and urban design.

Lisa Landrum is Associate Professor and Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Archi-
tecture at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Archi-
tecture from Carleton University, and a post-professional Master’s and PhD in Architectural
History and Theory from McGill University. She is a registered architect in New York State
and Manitoba, and a fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Her research on
architectural agency and the theatrical origins of architectural acts is published in several
books, including Reading Architecture ( Routledge 2019), Confabulations: Storytelling in Architec-
ture ( Routledge 2017), Architecture’s Appeal ( Routledge 2015), Architecture as a Performing Art
( Routledge 2013), and Architecture and Justice ( Routledge 2013).
Sam Ridgway is an architect and Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Architec-
ture and Built Environment at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He has a Master of
Architecture from the University of Adelaide and a PhD from the University of Sydney. His
research and publications have focused on a theorization of factory-made buildings, con-
struction theory, architectural representation, and the texts and buildings of the remarkable
architect and academic Marco Frascari. Recent work explores architectural imagination
by enquiring into the complex relationship between architecture and theatre. His publica-
tions include Architectural Projects of Marco Frascari: The Pleasure of a Demonstration ( Routledge
2015), and “A Theater of Architectural Monsters,” in Ceilings and Dreams: The Architecture of
Levity ( Routledge 2020).
THEATRES OF
ARCHITECTURAL
IMAGINATION

Edited by
Lisa Landrum and Sam Ridgway
Designed cover image: Marco Frascari, Occasio, c. 2010. Colored pencil on mylar.
Marco Frascari Collection, The Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania.
Back cover: Marco Frascari, Nara Theatre (detail) competition plan, 1991. Courtesy
Paola Frascari.
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Lisa Landrum and Sam Ridgway; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Lisa Landrum and Sam Ridgway to be identified as the authors of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted 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 identification 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
Names: Landrum, Lisa, editor. | Ridgway, Sam, editor.
Title: Theatres of architectural imagination/edited by Lisa Landrum and
Sam Ridgway.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022052007 | ISBN 9781032286136 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781032286112 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003297666 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Space (Architecture) | Performative (Philosophy) |
Imagination (Philosophy)
Classification: LCC NA2765 .T52 2023 | DDC 720.1—dc23/eng/20221109
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022052007
ISBN: 978-1- 032-28613- 6 ( hbk)
ISBN: 978-1- 032-28611-2 ( pbk)
ISBN: 978-1- 003-29766- 6 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003297666
Typeset in Bembo
by codeMantra
CONTENTS

List of Figures xii

List of Contributors xxi
Acknowledgments xxviii
Prelude: Significant Actions: On Theatre and Architecture xxix
Alberto Pérez- Gómez

1 Introduction 1
Lisa Landrum and Sam Ridgway

Bodies 13

2 The Dramatization of Architecture: Bodies in the Drawings of Álvaro Siza 15

João Miguel Couto Duarte

3 Die Turnstunde: Hans Hollein’s Museum Performing Itself 27

Eva Branscome

4 Theatrical Metaphors in Bruno Schulz’s Prose: A Play of Imagination

for Potential Architecture 39
Anca Matyiku

5 Lecoq’s Mimodynamics for Architects: Practicing a Renewal of

Architectural Imagination 48
Laura Gioeni
x Contents

6 Projecting the Eccentric Theatre: Representations of Synesthetic

Experience at the Bauhaus 60
Jodi La Coe

7 Performing the Common: Political Imagination of Protest in Place 71

Paul Holmquist

Entr’acte A
Constructing Table – A Polyphonic Drawing Experiment
Between Anamorphic Disguise and Dissection 83
Bahar Avanoğlu and DrawingConstructions

Settings 95

8 Roman Theatre’s Scaenae Frons as a Thematic Edifice 97

Dagmar Motycka Weston

9 A Question of Décor: Political Theatre in Renaissance Ferrara 109

Indra Kagis McEwen

10 Public Spaces as Theatres of Action: Lawrence Halprin’s

Phenomenological Perspective on Cities 120
Gaia Piccarolo

11 “The Play’s the Thing”: On Theatricality and Modern Public Space 131
Alexandra Stara

12 Imagining a Participatory Theatre in Ahmedabad 144

Daniel Williamson

13 Relations among Things: Aldo Rossi and Seville’s Semana Santa 156
Lily Chi

Entr’acte B
A Good Host 169
Roger Watts

Black Box of Imagination: Deconstructing the Notion of

Theatres of Imagination 173
Marianne McKenna
 Contents xi

(Inter)Actions 179

14 A Tale of Two Foyers: On Space between Thresholds 181

Adam Sharr

15 The Palace and the Plaza: A Postwar Convergence 192

Marcela Aragüez

16 A Delegated Performance for Public Space: The Mile-Long Opera 204

Alessandra Mariani

17 Monsters of Architecture and the Magical Function of Theatre: A

Look at Balinese Temples 217
Tracey Eve Winton

18 An Encounter with Wholeness: Vis and Ramin at Persepolis 229

Negin Djavaherian

Entr’acte C
Drumming in the Hall of the Mountain 243
Stefan Jovanović

19 Earthly Theatres: Plurality and Precarity in a Changed theatrum mundi 249

Frédérique Aït-Touati and Andrew Todd in conversation with and introduced
by Lisa Landrum

20 Janus/In Time: Universal Openings via Live Arts: Theatre, Dance,

and Architecture 270
Jacqueline Loewen and End of the West Collective, Avinash Muralidharan
Pillai Saralakumari, David Thomas, and Scott Henderson in conversation
with and introduced by Lisa Landrum

Index 291