Lidewij Tummers, Architect Tussen Ruimte
Rotterdam NL
Amongst the many things that can be said about autonomy & place, i can at this moment only contribute 2 short statements, and a reflection about my work as an architect:
Autonomy is a highly gendered issue. However, in my experience a lot of 'autonomy oriented environments' do not take this serious enough. The consequence is often that women opt out- maybe organize separately, which then becomes a reproach: separatism! Nonsense, there is that need to walk into the 'no-mans land' (Christina Thurmer Rohr) always. What is lacking is the way 'back': the openness & feedback to really adopt new concepts developed by feminists.
And more-over: for too great a number of women, basic autonomy, i.e. the right & possibility to decide about your own life, is not so evident. Let's work on it.
Both 'autonomy' and 'place' are inevitably contextualised. United in the extreme, on the one end autonomy becomes a prison, on the other end there is no need for any type of (demarcation of) limits. The truth, and everyday life, are somewhere on that scale. In any act there is an implicit 'decision' about where that is: from cycling to the other end of town to buy responsible goodies (since they don't have supermarket-spread distribution) to putting a lock on your studio because the insurance company (or the Woongroepen Regeling of the Urban Authorities) wants it. A variety of places that offer alternatives is needed to walk that scale, to have a choice, however relative choice may be.
As an architect, i use the concept of 'intermediate space' in design to create room for things to happen that have no name, as yet or ever: they may be inpredictable or furtive or unrecognised but in any case for the dweller to decide. In every project i try to incorporate this type of 'void' to secure a place for 'self-determination' beyond the control of budgets/m2 or blueprints for living/lists of 'functions'. This may be what you call 'autonomous zones': to me it is a very concrete and material act of creation and professionalism: where to locate the m2 (often considered 'extra' and thus cancelled for being too expensive); how to connect or seperate them from the formally required rooms (usually reduced to minimal therefore useless for anything else); how to equip them for multiple use (with heating, light etc.). They need to be defended always against the formal procedures, hidden between the lines of building applications. Sometimes an entire project is such a 'void': not mainstream, not margin; contextualized autonomy.
