The Transcendental Stupidity of Architecture

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59490/footprint.19.1.7498

Abstract

This article discusses, within the transcendental empiricism of Deleuze’s philosophy, how stupidity comes to be seen as a positive possibility for thought. Nomad architecture, which is contrasted with the state science of architecture, has a certain stupidity about it, but this is nothing other than the stupidity which allows us access to the groundless ground, the field of the real, which can be perceived as a depth within the forms which architecture creates as an aftereffect.  Examples are given, including that of the 2017 Grenfell fire and Anne Querrien’s nomadic architectural work.

Author Biography

Tim Gough, Independent architect

Formerly senior lecturer in design, history and the theory of architecture at Kingston University School of Architecture and Landscape, Tim Gough has an architectural practice in London. His research interests include the work of Gilles Deleuze, Francesco di Giorgio, Roman baroque, and the ontology of architecture.

References

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“Grenfell Tower was so dangerous ‘it was like throwing match into petrol’“, Metro, 5th June 2018 https://metro.co.uk/2018/06/05/grenfell-tower-dangerous-like-throwing-match-petrol-7607068/ Accessed 30/3/24

Prescription of qualifications: ARB Criteria at Parts 1, 2 and 3, Architects Registration Board, 2010. https://arb.org.uk/information-for-schools-of-architecture/arb-criteria/ Accessed 30/3/24

Gilles Deleuze, Nietzsche and Philosophy, trans. Hugh Tomlinson. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006 [1983].

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Andrew Pollhammer, Between Natural Stupor and the Thought of Stupefaction: On Gilles Deleuze’s Transcendental Stupidity, p.20. Research paper, August 2017. https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/983013/1/Pollhammer_MA_F2017.pdf (accessed 30/3/24).

Anne Querrien, Constantin Petcou and Doina Petrescu, “Making a Rhizome, or Architecture after Deleuze and Guattari” (trans. Doina Petrescu) pp. 262-275 in Deleuze and Architecture, eds. Hélène Frichot and Stephen Loo. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2013.

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Published

2025-06-20