Game and game playing in architecture: a study into the architecture of games

Abstract

During the Renaissance architecture was conceived as being part of an underlying harmonious order, which connected the universe and all its parts. The architect therefore used certain proportions as a way of providing a mysterious guarantee for architectural beauty. We now live in a world where there is essentially no longer any divine truths or absolute rules to guide or control architects in the design of buildings. In this report I want to argue that architecture can be played as a game in an appropriate and meaningful way. Where architects must creates their own rules, and give their complicity to these rules, as a way of controlling the infinite nature of play. I also want to look at the idea of design as play, focusing on the work of John Hejduk, who has been highly influential in the way architecture is taught. Through his work with the 'Texas Rangers' in the 50's and his continuing development as dean of the Cooper Union in New York, Hejduk has been a key figure in implementing a change from learning the rules of the game to a more open ended form of architectural 'playing.' In the last section I will look at the role that chance, accidents and the arbitrary in architecture. I will begin by briefly looking at the writer, Italo Calvino and the Dada artist Jean Arp, and finish by looking at the work of the architect Ben Nicholson.