on site review 26: DIRT

Dirt. It is more than the neutral tray upon which we do our projects and live our lives. Dirt, as it emerges in this issue of On Site, has its own integrity, its own history, its own power. ‘Dirt is matter out of place’, that famous phrase of Mary Douglas, echoes through this issue. But often dirt is exactly ‘in place’.

original call for articles for on site 26: DIRT

Anthropologist Mary Douglas famously said ‘dirt is matter out of place’.  Issue 26, for Fall 2011, will be about dirt.  and weeds.  

This is a huge topic and could include –

outsider architecture – it used to be called architecture without architects, characterised by a deep relationship with the elements: earth, air, water and fire.  Is it in our sights at all these days?

geothermal heat recovery from the earth, and its dark twin, geophysical extraction of oil from the earth.

buildings that don’t fit in, for whatever reason

land: walking it, measuring it, drawing it, moving it

cleanliness: architectural propriety

transgression, pollution and taboo.  What are the things that we cannot do, in buildings, in planning, in design.  Where are we not allowed to go?

construction sites: semi-permanent installations, places of great danger, the ground plane of the city

rammed earth, adobe and any kind of mud construction.  Has the stuccoed straw bale house had its day?

vigorous hybrids (often considered weeds) – the case for micro-zoning, or no zoning at all.

and so on.

As always, interpret the theme keyword, DIRT, any way you wish, pushing the boundaries of our understanding of how dirt and architecture, dirt and urbanism, dirt and any kind of design are intertwined.

And, as always, the articles submitted hardly glanced at the call for articles, and proved to be much more interesting and provocative.

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