About this site
Play
Praxis is the idea that you do something because you want to do it, and after you've done it you find out all the reasons why. [Tony Wilson]
To play is an intrinsically critical operation that questions all information the player is confronted with. The player asks: what if? And moves on by trial and error. Questioning the meaning of things and situations, considering the possibilities for alternatives, checking the obvious against the obscure, all are essential to play. [Max Bruinsma]
Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion. [Francis Bacon]
...what I've done is treat the Church as a design problem - take things apart, look at the pieces, see if they can be assembled in different ways, respond to emerging contexts, imagine alternative futures to aim for. It's playful in the sense of exploration without commitment to predetermined outcomes (which would prevent genuine breakthroughs). This is very different from the Church's tendency to fix its forms for theological reasons. Churches often assume that they already have the right forms, having found out what God really wants. But I think God wants to play. [Steve Collins, interviewed in 'Curating Worship' by Jonny Baker]
Church and architecture
This site represents my personal thinking on a range of subjects, mostly church-related because (perhaps unexpectedly) that is the field in which I have been able to express my personal creativity most freely.
My particular region of the church is an experimental critique of the institutions and their relationship with culture. It shares with architecture concerns around power and organisational structures, physical environments and behaviours. I use my architectural knowledge to reimagine church and use my church experience to reimagine architecture.
My architectural work takes place under the umbrella of my employers, and is invariably subject to non-disclosure agreements and the wishes of clients to control publicity, so it cannot be represented on this site.
Categories
Most of the site menu categories are thematic in the manner of a tag cloud, and do not indicate any fixed organisation of the material. The same item may appear in several menus, in relation to different subsets of other items. Menu categories may come or go, without addition or subtraction of actual material - they're just ways of bundling it up.
Iteration
I often return to old ideas and reiterate them in new ways and in the light of new circumstances and knowledge. This is why the date of the material is indicated - it may have responded to a particular situation in the past, I may have moved on from that position, and yet I still stand by some of it or think it is still of interest.
As time passes the references to cultural fashions and technologies that are now outmoded become amusing. This site has existed in various forms since 2001, the earliest material dates from the late 90s, so the size and resolution of images (or ideas) may not always be up to modern standards. Maybe I'll get round to remaking it or doing another iteration.
About me
I'm an architect and live in London. Since 2000 I've mostly specialised in interior fitout and workplace design for major corporate clients. I'm interested in the relationships between environments, social/power structures, and technology.
I belong to an experimental and creative Christian community called Grace. Through Grace I have been able to pursue installation art, event curation and the design of rituals. Much of the material on this site has been created for, or through, Grace, especially in the Small rituals and Grafix sections.
I have an enormous amount of stuff on Flickr. I spend more time there than anywhere else online.
