Reading Architecture : A Spatial Inquiry Into Political Borders

Reading Design : A Spatial Inquiry on The Political Borders of The UK A Portfolio of Images On the project by Beimeng Zhang, Li Hua, Lakshmi Srinivasan, Pooya Hosseini, Ebru Sen and Zhao Xinfei for the MAAD Studio, The University of Sheffield Supervised by Dr. Nishat Awan, Dr. Krzysztof Nawratek & Dr. Aya Musmar Project Portfolio Document by Lakshmi S

Border Topologies Understanding e UK Border 5

A personal thinkboard showing the questions we discussed and explored to interpret the brief

Identifying & Examining e Border In a place where the physical border is not the place of conflict, we first need to identify where the border arises and how this zone becomes an area of conflict. We will first examine airports as points of entry into the border. By understand-ing how the entry process and some spaces in the airport work, we will be accessing the intangible workings of the border via tangible space. Immigration Removal Centers are a manifestation of the border itself - they’re the space between inside the UK and outside the UK. Due to this, the same laws that apply within the UK, don’t apply anymore. The lines between lawful & unlawful become fuzzy to the point that it becomes a question of human rights.

Global Capitalism allows for consumption of good produced in However, in order to experience the British culture live, one must the UK, elsewhere. Today British culture, heritage, music and go through a series of checks and procedures. Much like how the literature is heard, felt and seen all over the globe. The border British culture is only available around the world to those who that separates what is British from the rest of the world is thinning are ready to pay for it, the border is permeable only to those in other countries because it is in the interest of UK’s economy. who can feed the economy of the UK.

Global Capitalism & e Border Machine “ There is now a transnational class of capitalists (owners of the means of pro-duction and high level financiers and investors) whose shared interests shape the policies and practices of global production, trade, and finance. Relations of power are now global in scope, and while it is still relevant and important to consider how relations of power exist and effect social life within nations and local communities, it is deeply important to understand how power operates on a global scale, and how it filters down through national, state, and local governments to impact the everyday lives of people all over the world. ” - (Cole, 2014)

An International Student’s Journey To The UK Airports are spaces accessed to begin and end a journey. Their role at the end be- This narrative tries to address the following questions using the journey of 4 inter- comes more critical to our investigation because it signifies the entry or non-entry national students from Turkey, China, India and Iran : into the UK. Why are there differences in the standards people from different countries must To access these spaces legally and successfully, people must meet a certain set meet? standard. This process of meeting the standard takes longer for some What forms the basis for these policies and standards? than for others. 7

An International Student’s Journey To The UK Student A (Turkey) Student B (Iran) Student C (India) Student D (China) Passport Application Center During the process of application, the students have to pass through “sterile spaces” where there is a loss of identity i.e. spaces that have no identity other than their intended purposes. All these spaces are data-collection cen-ters (passport information, language testing etc). Irrespective of the country they are in, the mechanisms that operate the border, make the students go to these spaces that look similar on the inside irrespective of their location. 8

Inside An Airport & Vertical Aggregation Airports are sterile zones where the identity of an in- dividual becomes the documents he/she carries. (esp. the passport). All individuals become barcodes and numbers on passports. Because the information obtained from these documents that are so thoroughly vetted becomes a part of a large invisible intangible database that determines immigration policies that dictate who is allowed to become a citizen and who shall remain a non-citizen and how long someone is detained in the country. Due to the algorithms now in place and the model in which they work (called Vertical Aggregation), only parts of each person’s data is plugged into algorithms without main- taining its relationship with the rest of the person’s identity. We all become dots in these databases, not as whole individuals but as parts of an information system. And this information system is responsible for setting the very same rules and standards that we must meet before we arrive. 9

“ ..is also “unphotographable” for reasons of security, secrecy or law..... This invisibility and secrecy is what ” sustains the system, even as it corrupts it. - (Bridle, 2015b) : excerpt from “Seamless Transitions” by James Bridle 11

Immigration Removal Centers Location “ They (the Home Office) have this thing they write on our monthly report, ‘you don’t have enough family ties’. They say it to me and to everybody else. But they put you far away from your family knowing that you are going to have financial problems with the distance. We don’t have money we are not rich. For my daughter to travel such a long distance, she came once last year, it takes a long time to save that money. It’s extremely frustrating, they break our families. ” - (Omonira-Oyekanmi, 2016), article in NewStatesman 12

Urban Placement Remotely Located Located Near Airports Brookhouse, Tinsley House, Hammondsworth Dungavel House, Campsfield House, Yarlswood, Verne, Gatwick Gatwick & Colnbrook, South Lanarkshire Oxfordshire Bedfordshire Dorset Heathrow The orange continuous lines show the roads around IRCs which are available as streetviews Morton Hall, Larne House, in Google Maps. In all the abstracted images (for 6 IRCs) above, there are trees and Lincolnshire Antrim vegetation between the roads and the IRCs. 13

A Reading of Borderscaping: design patterns and practices on/across borderlands By Alice Buoli “In light of renowned research experiences in this regard (Multiplicity, 2003), three common design ‘patterns’ have been identified around borderscapes as: thick spatial fields; resistant places/places of resistance; ‘longing machines’ (Eker and Van Houtum, 2013).” - (Buoli, 2015) Borders are zones that evoke resistance. Immigration Removal Centers (formerly known as detention centers), have evoked public outrage in the form of protests. The location and urban geography of these IRCs have been strategized to minimise such forms of resistance. 14

Urban Character Picture Courtesies : Google Streetview On a street level, they’re barely visible from the roads ”Tinsley House and Brook House IRCs, built so close to the runway at Gatwick that the rumble of take off around and Google Street Views does not offer street is audible, have little of note to see.” (Bosworth, 2015) views from the roads immediately around these IRCs. - excerpt from Post by Mary Bosworth, Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford 15

A Reading of Terminal Architecture By Martin Pawley “The first rule of security is to make the target inconspicuous, so any uniqueness or undue prominence will be immediately ruled out... The result of these hundred allied measures is an architecture so styleless that it can hardly be imagined.” (Pawley, 1998) Martin Pawley talks about “Stealth Architecture” that is characteristic of security ar-chitecture that is required to protect buildings of military importance from terrorist activities. His description of this security architecture perfectly fits the appearance and design of IRCs. But what are the IRCs being secured against? Reading Buoli’s text, one wonders if this could be - The Public Eye. 16

Scale, Surveilance and Visibility The ones that are located in busy cities are located near airports, are high security zones and are sur- rounded by trees and sometimes moats that prevent them from accidentally being revealed or accessed by the public. (Right) Picture Courtesy : Google Streetviews “‘The cameras’ she suggests, ‘might be equat- ed with the masterful gaze of colonists...reflects the continual scrutiny by a dominating nation’” (Pawley, 1998, On Anne Eggebert’s March 1994 exhibition) 17

Re-Constructing An Architecture of Oppression The OUTDOOR and how it makes people feel Trapped The CORRIDOR and how it responds to the history & activities inside IRCs The ROOM and the intimate prison 23

e Fence Barbed Wire “ The field beyond, pleasingly green in the spring Tall Fence and summer months at least, has been earmarked for further expansion... ... In each outdoor area, however, even the sky feels curtailed... ...the barbed wire that surrounds them, it demon- strates the potential violence of state power. ” - (Bosworth, 2015) 24

e Corridor “ Although the centre – which is built to the same Lost Identity? standards as a category B prison – is designed Railing to hold detainees for no more than 72 Net hours, the report says the average time spent in Brook House is three months...... Its design as a short-term holding centre meant there was insufficient activity or education facilities. ” - (Bosworth, 2015) 25

e Room “ In the UK, IRCs are split between purpose-built facilities and re-used former prisons. Both kinds rely on prison design... their views are mainly internal, as most external windows are frosted. ” - (Bosworth, 2015) 26

Taking It Forward To propose design solutions to fight policies would be unrealistic. As architects, our role here is to make the invisible, visible. Showing the public these spaces that are hidden from plain sight is one way to combat the oppressive policies is important. One way to create a change in immigration policies is to create public awareness about immigration detention. The pamphlet in the image above was created to display how an information pamphlet for museum exhibit on IRCs would look. Other ideas for creating awareness could be to do public exhibits with models of the interiors in IRCs or encouraging PhD research on the same.

On Methods and Methodology Understanding e Intangible Via e Tangible : An Alternative Application Of Architectural Knowledge Understanding how space is tailored for certain purposes. Spaces that look similar on the inside irrespective of their outer appearance usually follow what Martin Pawley calls “Stealth Architecture”. (Pawley, 1998) These interior spaces are fully functional i.e. they are built for certain administrative purposes rather than human or social experience. Studying these spaces can give a clue about what is happening beyond the visible. Investigating IRCs Google Maps & Streetviews were used to investigate the urban charac- ter. However, they might not be a useful tool for all spaces since a lot of countries currently do not have streetviews available. Special attention was paid to scale and availability of light. Usually, these parameters can be used to understand how oppressive a space is. Representation Artist James Bridle (Seamless Transitions) has used rendered 3D models to show the spaces pertaining to immigration detention. (Bridle, 2015a) In my opinion, he manages to beautifully capture the impersonal nature of the of- fice spaces. However, he fails to capture the emotional power of detention centers (IRCs). Hence, we decided to use sketches with highlights to illustrate these spaces. 28

“Windows in external walls are discouraged and courtyards or lightwells are pre- ferred” - Martin Pawley in “Terminal Architecture” (Pawley, 1998) Picture Courtesy: Seamless Transitions By James Bridle Primary Reading 4) “What is globalization? A sociological definition” by Cole, N.L. (web article) 5) “Views from detention” by Mary Bosworth (web article) 1) Terminal Architecture by Martin Pawley (book) Note : Details in Bibiliography 2) Seamless transitions by James Bridle (video and article) 3) Borderscaping: Design patterns and practices on/across borderlands by Alice Buoli (journal article) 29

Bibiliography for Border Topologies Bosworth, M. (2015) Views from detention. Available at: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2014/09/views-detention (Ac- cessed: 29 January 2017). Bridle, J. (2015a) Seamless transitions. Available at: http://booktwo.org/notebook/seamless-transitions/ (Accessed: 29 January 2017). Bridle, J. (2015b) What they don’t want you to see: The hidden world of UK deportation. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jan/27/hidden-world-of-uk-deporta- tion-asylum-seamless-transitions (Accessed: 2 December 2016). Buoli, A. (2015) ‘Borderscaping: Design patterns and practices on/across borderlands’, TERRITORIO, (72), pp. 85–94. doi: 10.3280/tr2015-072014. Cole, N.L. (2014) Global capitalism Five things that make capitalism ‘global’. Available at: http://sociology.about.com/od/G_Index/fl/Global-Capitalism.htm (Accessed: 30 January 2017). Cole, N.L. (2015) What is globalization? A sociological definition. Available at: http://sociology.about.com/od/Ask-a-Sociologist/fl/Globalization.htm (Accessed: 30 January 2017). detentioninquiry (2016) Detention inquiry panel members statement on the immigration act 2016 becoming law. Available at: https://detentioninquiry.com/2016/05/17/detention-inquiry-pan- el-members-statement-on-the-immigration-act-2016-becoming-law/ (Accessed: 31 January 2017). Fessahaye, R. (2015) Unlocked : My first time visiting the Verne. Available at: http://unlocked.org.uk/blog/my-first-time-visiting-the-verne/ (Accessed: 28 November 2016). GDWG (2012) The mental health implications of detention in Brook House immigration removal centre. Available at: http://www.gdwg.org.uk/downloads/gdwg-prisoninthemind.pdf (Accessed: 29 January 2017). Global Detention Project (no date) United Kingdom immigration detention profile. Available at: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/europe/united-kingdom (Accessed: 31 Jan- uary 2017). Nye, C. (2014) The secret world of the UK’s immigration removal centres. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27332370 (Accessed: 27 January 2017). Omonira-Oyekanmi, R. (2016) NewStatesman : The man in room Six: The story of a young man who died in a UK immigration detention centre. Available at: http://www.newstatesman.com/ politics/uk/2016/03/man-room-six-story-young-man-who-died-uk-immigration-detention-centre (Accessed: 30 November 2016). Pawley, M. (1998) Terminal architecture. London: London : Reaktion, 1998. Sheffield School of Architecture (2016) Theory forum 2016 - Nishat Awan (SSoA): Forms of non-belonging. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0xvn7Y6EjY (Accessed: 27 January 2017). The Migration Observatory (2016) Immigration detention in the UK. Available at: http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/immigration-detention-in-the-uk/ (Accessed: 2 December 2016). Travis, A. (2010) Gatwick deportation centre ‘not safe’ Gatwick deportation centre ‘not safe’. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/12/gatwick-deportation-centre-conditions (Accessed: 31 January 2017). Ward, P. (2016) Dungavel detention centre closure: Campaigners welcome end of immigration removal facility in Strathaven. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ dungavel-detention-centre-closure-campaigners-welcome-end-of-immigration-removal-facility-in-a7232541.html (Accessed: 29 November 2016). What is immigration detention? (2015) Available at: http://www.aviddetention.org.uk/immigration-detention/what-immigration-detention (Accessed: 31 January 2017). Whitaker, A. (2016) The Herald : ‘Life inside Dungavel’. Available at: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14478256.Life_inside_Dungavel/. 42

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