Architectural Storywork as a discursive design practice: on self-determined Indigeneity, architectural autonomy, and the transmission of knowledge through architectural discourses in Bali, Indonesia

This study documents the co-creation and implementation of a discursive, decolonial design practice with the Pusat Kegiatan Perempuan (PKP) community as they begin to re-design their Community Centre in rural Bali, Indonesia. This is timely, as architectural scholars call on the discipline to develop new decolonial practices and discursive design cultures that aim to reinstate difference, value alterity, and engage with pluriversal narratives; unsettling the theoretical and practical foundations of architectural history. This study also answers calls from Indigenous scholars to activate Storywork as a practice-based and decolonising methodology within architecture by developing and formalising a novel research methodology by applying the Indigenous practice of Storywork through a discursive architectural lens; an approach I have termed Architectural Storywork. A situated Storywork methodology is developed through the application of three parallel research strategies related to the metaphorical movements of Identity, Politics, and Knowledge within the PKP community. Discursive practices, including the co-creation of physical and conceptual architectural models, and rigorous analyses are implemented with the PKP community through guided storytelling workshops. This process defines an ‘architectural charge’ for the PKP Community Centre, outlining the buildings’ architectural responsibility to current and future inhabitants. Where genuine co-creation occurred, Architectural Storywork was able to support the PKP community in establishing new critical perspectives of Balinese Indigeneity, reconceptualising their architectural autonomy, and reflecting upon and retelling their Indigenous knowledge as creative transformational praxis through architectural discourse.

Grantor dc:publisher

University College Cork

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Brook, Alastair

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mccartney, Kevin

• Architectural Storywork
• Indigenous Storywork
• Discursive design
• Self-determined Indigeneity
• Architectural autonomy
• Transmission of knowledge through architectural discourses
• Discursive landscape
• Bali
• Indonesia

Statement dc:rights

• © 2024, Alastair Stuart James Brook.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10468/16396

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:cora.ucc.ie:10468/16396