People
Dr Mark Dorrian
BArch (Edinburgh College of Art)
, DipArch
PhD (Architectural Association)
Reader in Architectural Design and Theory
Room: 3.64
Tel: 0131 650 2316
Email: mark.dorrian@ed.ac.uk
Architecture: School of Arts, Culture and Environment (ACE)
The University of Edinburgh
20 Chambers Street
EH1 1JZ, Scotland
Profile
What is it to 'teach' architectural design today? In a period marked by a loss of faith in the universal, one can no longer suppose it to be about the transmission of a set of truths. The tutor is less a 'teacher of' the student than a 'participant with' him/her in the architectural process.
When the destination of the project fails or becomes uncertain, its pursuit enters into a condition of inquiry that constantly redirects questions back to its own grounding - the 'brief' or originating text - which is now placed under a radical contingency. Thus the activity of the design studio inevitably emerges as a kind of research that develops under the question What if...?
This in turn unsettles even those aspects of architectural knowledge that seem most stable and straightforwardly transmissible - techniques - insofar as they are confronted with unexpected and problematic contexts and solicited for new performative possibilities.
Publications
Books
Rendell, Jane, Jonathan Hill, Murray Fraser and Mark Dorrian (eds). (2007) Critical Architecture, London: Routledge. www.routledgearchitecture.com
Dorrian, Mark and Gillian Rose (eds). (2003) Deterritorialisations: Revisioning Landscapes and Politics, London: Black Dog Publishing. www.blackdogonline.com
Dorrian, Mark and Adrian Hawker (2002) Metis: Urban Cartographies, London: Black Dog Publishing. www.blackdogonline.com
Book Chapters
Dorrian, Mark (forthcoming 2008) ‘Architecture and Adisciplinarity,’ in Architecture, Disciplinarity and the Arts, A. Leach and J. Macarthur (eds). Gent: A&S.
Dorrian, Mark (2008) ‘How the World Sees London’: Thoughts on a Millennial Urban Spectacle,’ in Architecture Between Spectacle and Use, A. Vidler (ed). New Haven: Yale University Press/Clark Art Institute. www.yalepress.yale.edu
Dorrian, Mark (2006) ‘Cityscape with Ferris Wheel: Chicago, 1893,’ in Urban Space and Cityscapes, C. Lindner (ed). London and New York: Routledge: 17-37.
Dorrian, Mark (2005) ‘Architecture’s Cartographic Turn,’ in Figures de la Ville et Construction des Savoirs: Architecture, Urbanisme, Geographie, F. Pousin (ed). Paris: CNRS Éditions: 61-72. www.cnrseditions.fr
Dorrian, Mark (2003) ‘The Breath on the Mirror: on Ruskin’s Theory of the Grotesque,’ in Chora: Intervals in the Philosophy of Architecture 4, A. Pérez-Gómez and S. Parcell (eds). Montreal: McGill/Queens Press: 25-48. chora
Dorrian, Mark (2001) ‘Surplus Matter: of Scars, Scrolls, Skulls and Stealth,’ in An Other Architecture: the Subject is Matter, Jonathan Hill (ed). London: Routledge: 193-206.
Dorrian, Mark (1998) ‘Mephistopheles’ Mirror,’ in Faust: an Exhibition of Drawings, Alan Magowan, University of Northumbria: 2-6.
Essays in Journals
Dorrian, Mark (forthcoming 2009) ‘Vertigo.’ Parallax.
Dorrian, Mark (forthcoming 2009) ‘Falling Upon Warsaw: Socialist Realism, Shadows and Aerial Discourse.’ Journal of Architecture special issue: Ella Chmielewska and Mark Dorrian, eds, Warszawa: Tracking the City.
Dorrian, Mark (2008) ‘Transcoded Indexicality.’ Log: Observations on Architecture and the Contemporary City 12.
Dorrian, Mark (2007) ‘Clouds of Architecture.’ Radical Philosophy 144, July/August: 26-32.
Dorrian, Mark (2007) ‘The Aerial View: Notes for a Cultural History.’ STRATES: Matériaux pour la Recherche en Sciences Sociales (special issue, Frédéric Pousin and Hélène Jannière (eds). Paysage Urbain -- Genèse, Représentations, Enjeux Contemporains), Paris: CNRS: 105-118.
Dorrian, Mark (2006) ‘The King and the City: On the Iconology of George IV in Edinburgh.’ Edinburgh Architectural Research 30: 32-36
Dorrian, Mark (2005) ‘Criticism, negation, action.’ Journal of Architecture June, Vol. 10 (3): 229-233
Dorrian, Mark (2003) ‘Of Skulls and Stealth: Reflections on the Image of the New Military Technology.’ Journal of Narrative Theory 33 (1): 98-111.
Dorrian, Mark and Adrian Hawker (2003) ‘The Tortoise, the Scorpion and the Horse - Partial Notes on Architectural Research / Teaching / Practice.’ Journal of Architecture 8 (2): 181 -190.
Dorrian, Mark and Adrian Hawker (2003) ‘Metis: Urban Cartographies -- Mapping as an Architectural Strategy.’ Arca: the Journal of Scottish Architecture 2 (3): 14-18.
Dorrian, Mark (2001) ‘On Some Spatial Aspects of the Colonial Discourse on Ireland.’ Journal of Architecture 6 (1): 27-51.
Dorrian, Mark (2000) ‘On the Monstrous and the Grotesque.’ Word & Image 16 (3): 310-317. Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte
Dorrian, Mark (1999) ‘The Middle Distance.’ KATALOG: Journal of Photography and Video (Summer): 2-11.
Dorrian, Mark (1996) ‘Monstrosity Today.’ Artifice 5: 48-59.
Dorrian, Mark (1994) ‘Neil Denari, Recent Projects.’ Artifice 1: 9-24.
Publication of Projects by Metis
Dorrian, Mark and Adrian Hawker (2007) ‘Metis: Parachute Pavilion’ in Zo Ryan and Jonathan Cohen-Litant, Coney Island: the Parachute Pavilion Competition, New York: Princeton Architectural Press.
Dorrian, Mark and Adrian Hawker (2007) ‘Northroom’, ‘Laputa’ and ‘Vetrina Per La Città.’ AND: Rivista di Architetture, Città e Architetti (Firenze) 8: 26, 46-49.
Dorrian, Mark, Adrian Hawker, and Victoria Clare Bernie (2006) ‘Metis: Mark Dorrian and Adrian Hawker / Victoria Clare Bernie: Northroom,’ in The Northern City: Between Light and Dark, Morag Bain (ed). Glasgow: The Lighthouse: 10-29 (includes an interpretative essay by Paul Carter, ‘Northroom: Agreeable Follies -- Mental Geography and the Polyoptics of Place’ ) www.northerncity.co.uk
Dorrian, Mark and Adrian Hawker (2006) ‘Laputa: a Construction.’ made 3: 68-69 (includes an interpretative essay by David Bass)
Dorrian, Mark and Adrian Hawker (2006) ‘Metis: Mark Dorrian + Adrian Hawker,’ in Emergence 4: Transmutations - European Architecture, Claude Parent et al. (eds). Paris: Pyramyd: 100-107.
Dorrian, Mark and Adrian Hawker (2005) ‘Metis: Nam June Paik museum.’ Architecture and Ideas 5(1): 82-89.
Dorrian, Mark and Adrian Hawker (2003), ‘Grand Egyptian Museum,’ in The Grand Egyptian Museum: the Book of the International Architectural Competition, Cairo: American University Press: 465-466.
Review Essays
Dorrian, Mark (2006) ‘Something Strange and Rather Wonderful in Portlaoise.’ Architecture Ireland 222: 50.
Dorrian, Mark (2004) ‘Mark Dorrian on 9/11, three years on...’ Architectural Research Quarterly 8(1): 83-88.
Dorrian, Mark (2000) ‘Neil Leach (ed), Architecture and Revolution.’ Architectural History Society of Scotland Journal XII:91-93.
Dorrian, Mark (1999) ‘Joseph Rykwert. The Dancing Column.’ Architectural History Society of Scotland Journal XI: 98-102.
Invited Lectures
‘Tracking the City: Approaches to Warsaw’, Urban Change in Eastern and Central Europe: Social, Cultural and Architectural Transformations, Vilnius University, Lithuania, 12-13 December 2008.
‘Warsaw Research’, CITUR2008, 2nd International Forum – City, Territory and Urbanism, Santiago de Compostella, 3-5 December 2008 (plenary).
‘Euphoria and Vertigo Beside the Thames: Two Aerial Views’, Eyes Over London: Reimagining the Metropolis in the Age of Aerial Vision, University of Westminster/Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 15 November 2008 (keynote).
‘Vertigo and Transparency’, The Aerial View, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinbrugh, 13 October 2008.
‘Skulls, Anamorphosis, and Stealth’, What Remains -- The Life and Death of Skulls in Contemporary Art, Fruitmarket Gallery. Edinburgh, 14 March, 2008.
‘Stealth, Monstrosity, and the Grotesque’, Department of Critical and Historical Studies lecture series: Fantasy and the Grotesque, Royal College of Art, London, 31 January, 2008.
‘Diagrams, Miniatures and the Aerial View’, University of Chicago Center in Paris, 8 December, 2007.
‘Google Earth: Beyond the Picturesque’, The Picturesque and Beyond: Landscape and Modernity, Gent Urban Studies Team/SMAK, Universiteit Gent, Gent, Belgium, 30 November, 2007 (plenary). www.gust.ugent.be
‘Architecture/Ideology/Pedagogy’, Galeria Zacheta, Warsaw, Poland, 30 October, 2007.
‘Google Earth: Terrestrial Mediatization’, Media Architecture, Central Saint Martins Innovation, London, 12 September, 2007 (plenary). www.mediaarchitecture.org
‘Clouds of Architecture’, Architecture, Disciplinarity and the Arts, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 17 August, 2007 (keynote).
‘Clouds of Architecture’, Radical Philosophy Biennial Conference: Materials and Materialisms, Birkbeck College, University of London, 12 May 2007.
‘The Failure of the Rhetoric of the Image: a Case Study in Trust’, Image and Trust, Visual Arts Research Institute Edinburgh, 13 December, 2006.
‘Visualisations of the 21st Century City’, RIBA, London, 9 February, 2006.
‘The Wheel and the Dome’, Alice B Kaplan Humanities Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, USA, 6 May, 2005.
‘Of Skulls and Stealth: the Image of the New Military Technology’, Department of German, Northwestern University, Chicago, USA, 5 May, 2005
‘How the World Sees London’, The Clark Art Institute Annual Conference: Architecture Between Spectacle and Use, Williamstown, USA, 29 April 2005 (plenary). www.clarkart.edu
‘Working through Representations’ (3 seminars), Rhode Island School Of Design, Providence, USA, 20-22 April, 2005.
‘Metis: Recent Work’, Rhode Island School Of Design, Providence, USA, 22 April, 2005.
‘Landscapes and Politics’, École Nationale Supérieure du Paysage, Versailles, France, 10 February, 2004.
‘Paysage urbain et changement des regards: le cas de la photographie aérienne’, Séminaire paysage urbain: genèse, représentations, enjeux contemporains, CNRS, Paris, France, 6 February 2004.
‘Response to Anthony Vidler’, e-Fusions: Is Reconciliation Possible After the Post-Modern Age?, University
of Edinburgh, 28 November, 2003.
‘Design as Research’, Department of Architecture, RUG, Ghent, Belgium, 12 November, 2003.
‘Mapping as an Architectural Strategy’, Memory and Identity Summer Academy, UdK, Berlin, Germany, 8 August, 2002.
‘Metis: Urban Cartographies’, Thinking Space, Bartlett, UCL, London, 8 May, 2002.
‘Metis: Projects for 4 Cities’, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA, 18 April, 2002.
‘Of Skulls and Stealth: the Image of the New Military Technology’, Ideas in Progress seminar, Visual Culture and Media,
Middlesex University, 12 February, 2002.
‘Contemporary Urbanism in Britain’, Department of Architecture, RUG, Ghent, Belgium, 6th November, 2001.
‘Urban Cartographics: Mapping as an Architectural Strategy’, Figurations/Transferts: les figures de la ville dans le développement des savoirs et de l’intervention spatiale, CNRS, Paris, France, 17-19 September, 2001.
‘Problems in Contemporary Urbanism’, Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic, 24 October, 2000.
‘The Matter of the Baroque’, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, Canada, 7th July, 2000
Conference Papers
‘Within the Ruins of the Spectacle’, Countering Consumption: Religious and Secular Responses, Institute for the Study of European Transformations, London Metropolitan University, 20-22 April, 2006.
‘Cityscape and the Rotary Eye’, Cityscapes: Perspectives from Modern and Contemporary Culture, University of Wales Aberystwyth and National Library of Wales, 8-10 July, 2004.
‘The King in the City: Gesture and Submission in the Iconology of George IV in Edinburgh’, Sixth International Conference on Urban History: Power, Knowledge and Society in the City, Edinburgh, 5-7 September, 2002.
‘Surplus Matter: of Scars, Scrolls, Skulls and Stealth’, The Adventures of Dialogue: Benjamin and Bakhtin, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 20--22 June, 2001.
‘The Breath on the Mirror: on Ruskin’s Theory of the Grotesque’, Association of Art Historians Annual Conference, Edinburgh, 6-9 April, 2000.
Awards and Grants
British Academy/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique: Joint Project Grant, 2006-2008. reviewing the aerial view
Arts and Humanities Research Board: Research Leave Award, 2004-2005.
Scottish Policy on Architecture: National Programme Innovation Award , 2004.
Graham Foundation (Chicago): Publication Grant, 2002 www.grahamfoundation.org
Canadian Centre for Architecture (Montreal): Visiting Scholarship, 2000 www.cca.qc.ca
Metis
Metis is an atelier for art, architecture and urbanism that was founded by Mark Dorrian and Adrian Hawker at the University of Edinburgh in 1997. Over the past 7 years they have produced a sequence of installations, architectural and urban proposals that have been exhibited and published internationally. Their first book, Urban Cartographies, was published in 2001 and has been widely circulated and cited, notably in the USA. They have presented the work in lectures and discussions in Antwerp, Berlin, Calgary, Gent, London, Montreal, Paris, and Prague. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA, hosted an exhibition and discussions linked to their book in April 2002. They were shortlisted for a Scottish Arts Council 'Creative Scotland' award in 2003.
Metis' work focuses on the city and the complex ways in which it is imagined, inhabited, and representationally encoded. They aim to produce rich, multi-layered works that resist immediate consumption and that are instead gradually unfurled over time through interaction with them. Their approach is concerned with establishing a poetic but critical approach to the city that is sensitive to its cultural memory but is also articulated in relation to its possible futures.
Projects by Metis
Northroom, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Florence, collaborative commissioned installation with Victoria Clare Bernie, 2006-2007 www.northerncity.co.uk www.mapmagazine.co.uk
Laputa, Glasgow, commissioned installation, 2005
The Parachute Pavilion, Coney Island, New York, competition, 2005
House of Multiple Dimensions, of Alice’s scales, states and strengths, Shinkenchiku International Residential Design
Competition, 2004
Irish World Performing Arts Village, Limerick, competition, 2004
The Grand Museum of Egypt, Cairo, competition, 2003
The Nam June Paik Museum, Seoul, competition, 2003
Cabinet of the City, Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome, competition, 2002
Micro Urbanism, redevelopment of Parliament Hill, Ottawa, competition, 2001
Mimetic Urbanism, urban design project for the ex-Magazzini Generali district, Verona, competition, 2000
Britannia Basin Housing, Manchester, competition, 1999
Latitude and Longitude Resolved, Edinburgh, commissioned installation, 1998
Exhibitions
Northroom, The Lighthouse, Glasgow, 1 December 2006-4 March 2007, Il Palaggio di Parte Guelfa, Florence, 12--25 March 2007, and The Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, 17 May--1 June 2007.
Metis: Constructions, gallerA1, Leith, 10 February-6 April, 2006
Laputa, The Lighthouse, Glasgow, 12 August-2 October, 2005
The Parachute Pavilion, Van Alen Institute, New York, 2005
Metis: Urban Cartographies, Edinburgh Festival Exhibition 2003, Matthew Architecture Gallery, University of Edinburgh, 7 August-10 October, 2003, and BEB Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design, USA, 16-26 April, 2002
Britannia Basin housing, Cube Gallery, Manchester, 9 April-28 May, 1999
Latitude and Longitude Resolved, Pitshanger Manor, London, 12 June- 24 July, 1998, and Institut Français d’Ecosse, Edinburgh, 27 September-7 November, 1997
Publications
Awards and Grants
British Academy/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique: Joint Project Grant, 2006-2008. reviewing the aerial view
Arts and Humanities Research Board: Research Leave Award, 2004-2005.
Scottish Policy on Architecture: National Programme Innovation Award , 2004.
Graham Foundation (Chicago): Publication Grant, 2002 www.grahamfoundation.org
Canadian Centre for Architecture (Montreal): Visiting Scholarship, 2000 www.cca.qc.ca
Architectural Association scholarship (to attend the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia), 1993.
British Academy Major State Studentship (to undertake PhD research at the Architectural Association), 1991.
RIBA scholarship (to represent UK at UIA Summer School, Chateau de Fontainebleau, France), 1989.
Andrew Grant Travelling Scholarship (Edinburgh College of Art), 1989
Royal Scottish Academy Annual Student Award for Architecture, 1989
Edinburgh Architectural Association Commendation for Civic Design, 1989
Watt-Club Medal (Inter-faculty medal awarded for excellence in degree-year work at Heriot- Watt University), 1988.
Andrew Grant Travelling Scholarship (Edinburgh College of Art), 1988.
Donald P. Ewart Travelling Scholarship (University of Kansas), 1985.
Andrew Grant Bequest Scholarship (Edinburgh College of Art) to undertake a year of study in the U.S.A.,
Dorrian: Competitions and Exhibitions
Britannia Basin: an international competition for the development of prototypical housing for inner city brownfield sites. Commended entry. 1999. With Adrian Hawker. Latitude and Longitude Resolved, part of the Houseworks exhibition, Pitzshanger Manor, London, 12/06-24/07 1998. With Adrian Hawker.
