Projection by David McDiarmid

There’s a kind of dominance,
AB: laying out an exhibition. Do
you feel that?
In some respects, but
DMc: it’s more playful for me. I
wouldn’t say I set out to dominate how
the viewer should view or experience
my work. If I see an unusual aspect to
a space, I immediately see that as a
challenge to address. There’s a lot of site
specific interventions going on as well,
like the addition of the temporary pillar
in the space for Abeyance. The pillar was
actually going to be in a different place
for the show at IR11 until we noticed
the skylight next to the diagonal wall.
I was always really unsure of what to
do with that diagonal. It was such a big
feature but awkward to find the right
work to hang for it. We ended up putting
the pillar there and it worked well as an
entry into this second space in the show.
It’s almost awkward looking in images,
but I think it works quite well in the actual
space. There’s something nice about the
skylight above it. There’s this wonderful
light which illuminates the pillar and
gives it this very grandiose presence; it
reminded me of the black space obelisk
in the film Space Odyssey. I found it
amusing seeing how people responded
to it. In some cases people totally
missed that it was a fake pillar!
These superfluous pillars
AB: bring up the idea of the
non-functionality of ornament and
the kind of features that might just
be intended to dominate a space or
to be impressive. But you’re going
for odd spatial decisions, specifically
seeking out interestingly awkward
configurations. I think this idea of
the different kinds of architectural
difficulties and even failure seems
to cut across a lot of your practice.
There’s that point again about not
just using a 3D printer, so not making
the perfect models. So you frustrate
yourself, and by doing so you bring all
the issues of design going awry right
to your desk by using media that
will keep resulting in this moment
of self-defeating. It shrinks down to
the role of an architect to its most
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