TMESIS: insertions and subversions of interstitial territories

Abstract

The exploration of our environment at physical and perceptual levels creates emergent and transcendent experiences; occupied territories that transform ideas into experiences. TMESIS (the separation of the elements of a compound word by the interposition of another; abso-bloody-lutley) operates as a language statement for the study of existing and proposed subversions and interventions within and beyond the spatial environment. The premise of this paper allows for the exploration of TMESIS at three key levels, and develops the argument and responses through these found areas. The first section will explore the principles of this TMESIS in reference to inserted and interposed environments within an existing (architectural) body; a descriptive device which explores the primary concerns of differentiation between host and incorporated commensal environment. The second section will explore TMESIS as a subversion of the existing occupied space and suggest the political and strategic potential of this view within current global and architectural design contexts. The third and final section will propose that current and future experiences and memories can act as a TMESIS within the existing environment; that architecture and design operate as interventions and subversions of the existing paradigm. This conclusion constructs an argument that through conceptual examination and exploration of a design TMESIS within an existing occupied space, new design agendas and potentials can be reinforced and discovered at both the temporal and illusionary levels. Conference Themes Addressed: Occupation & Place, Occupation & Appropriation Key terms: Architectural Insertion & Intervention, Design Subversion, Memory and Experience, Occupation and Intervention, Changing Architectural Paradigm