The following article proposes rethinking architecture from object to subject. Carlos Medellín and María Victoria Londoño delve into the subject, questioning Vitruvian principles and the adaptability of the architectural object to its various uses through the example of the Metro Riviera Theater / Theatron in Bogotá.
We can easily recognize how architecture can shape or modify behaviors, opening up spaces for actions and fostering interactions. It also seems obvious that architecture can control and operate as an instrument of power. In other words, we have realized that designing and building is governing—that is, organizing, directing, and controlling. A paradigmatic example is the panopticon, a space designed entirely for control. As a penitentiary typology that allows a 360-degree field of vision, it is intended to enable a single guard to observe all inmates held in a prison. The panopticon seeks a psychological effect: the feeling of being watched day and night. The effect produced by the panopticon can also be found in the idea of a society that, in its entirety, observes and controls its members through its institutions. It is striking, as Foucault noted, that prisons, in their design, resemble factories, schools, barracks, and hospitals.[1] As a discipline, architecture seems increasingly dominant: a means to discipline members of society across all spheres.
