The underbelly of an architect: discursive practices in the architecture of Douglas Darden

The frontispiece to Douglas Darden's 1993 publication Condemned Buildings is a portrait of Darden depicted as a semi-naked androgynous figure. Darden stares out of the centre of the portrait, breasts exposed beneath the quasi-religious robes of a monk, with an expression of complete ambivalence. This image provides an introduction to the work of Darden, delineating a self-proclaimed position of ambiguity towards the representation and production of architecture, developed further in his architectural projects. Darden's complex genealogical method of collaging incongruous elements and blurring intellectual barriers potentially locates the architect ambiguously outside of the structures (such as gender, class, denomination) that traditionally define architectural production and enters an unconventional relationship with the accepted limits of architectural representation. Several important connections link Darden's work with the legacy of the enigmatic French Enlightenment architect Jean Jacques Lequeu, most notably its stylistic similarities and concern with the fictionalisation of the design process. This paper examines the lineage that exists between Darden and Lequeu focussing on the heavily symbol-laden frontispiece to Darden's book and its numerous references to the work of Lequeu. lt will look at the way in which both architects challenged the formal limits of categorisation, history and spatial organization, effectively blurring the boundaries that divide genders, classes and religions.