ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the concept of villainy – the diabolic intellect vs noble hero dichotomy in relation to the question of inequality within architect profession. In reflecting on the paradox, architects are proposed as being inherently uneasy with their own identity and purpose, miring careers in a complexity more fundamental than binary readings of gender. To momentarily set aside the gender conundrum, a review of the essential alterity of architecture is necessary; architectural proposals are, arguably, already negotiated outside social codes. The sheer exposure of architecture–and its difference in perceived value to building–further suggests it may also comprise a fundamental act of aggression. Although western accounts of the architecture of the city routinely celebrate the effects of imposing axial Cartesian logic on unworked landscapes to emphasise hierarchies of order, awe and architecture is a flawed conflation. However, Piranesi dealt with drawing and cartography–powerful abstracts, but less influential than architecture’s role in displacement, a further pillar of villainy.
