‘This Building Is Never Complete’: studying adaptations of a library building over time

Patel, H. and Tutt, D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9216-8617 (2018) ‘This Building Is Never Complete’: studying adaptations of a library building over time. In: Sage, D. J. and Vitry, C. (eds.) Societies Under Construction: Geographies, Sociologies and Histories of Building:. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783319739953 doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-73996-0

Abstract/Summary

Moving beyond the concept of buildings as fixed physical objects, Patel and Tutt draw on a rich empirical study of the adaptations and refurbishments of a 50-year old library building. An innovative methodology is developed, through utilising visual data from archives, undertaking ethnographic fieldwork and curating an exhibition, to help trace the changes in the library building over time. Patel and Tutt build an ontology of the library in which different versions of the library are relationally and multiply enacted. They push for empirical visions and theoretical frameworks of research that look beyond notions of the fixity of the buildings and infrastructure, towards acknowledging their flexibility and heterogeneous nature over time; ‘building’ as always in the making.