ABSTRACT
Recent literature on alternative design praxis calls for a reconfiguration of the role of the architect. Following this lead, this chapter investigates the ethics of insurgent design through the work of Santiago Cirugeda – a self-defined ‘guerrilla architect’ in Spain. It argues that architects and urban designers have an ethical mandate to engage with social groups and issues traditionally rendered ‘invisible’ by mainstream policies, thus challenging the foundations of what is considered legal. Insurgent Architecture is a mode of activist practice acting through generosity of spirit. In this chapter, it is studied through a relationship between space and legality which can be understood through a theoretical framework based on Rancière’s Spaces of Politics. Cirugeda’s discourse and work show how design can be a tool for social and political activism through the subversion and questioning of what is considered legal. Two of his projects – The Insect Strategy and Pepe’s House – illustrate how the relationship between space and legality unfolds through insurgent practices. The chapter concludes by discussing the challenges of such an approach to design in relation to scale(s), timeliness, and what generosity means in contemporary architectural and urban design practice.
