Divisible by 2

by John Whiteman

Divisible by 2 documents an architectural experiment by John Whiteman that articulates the preoccupations and concerns of the current generation of architectural and cultural theorists and practitioners. It investigates questions of embodiment, signification, visual perception and physical experience developed in a square pavilion that was erected in Austria as part of the Geburt einer Haupstadt (Birth of a Capital) exhibition. Integrating the text with images and drawings of the building, Divisible by 2 reveals the project's philosophical concerns and explains the design processes. John Hejduk's commentary establishes a dialogue with the project, acting as a critical counterpoint to text and images. More specifically, Divisible by 2 explores the cross-relationships between building, image, and word. Partly inspired by Jacques Lacan's depiction of a figure of two doors, one marked for men, the other for women, in his writings on the "agency of the letter in the unconscious," Whiteman's pavilion marks the architecture of human and sexual difference. John Whiteman is the Director of the Chicago Institute for Architecture and Urbanism.

62 pages, Paperback

First published December 7, 1990