HISTORY AND THEORY

 

“…Somehow in the streets of London, on the ebb and flow of things”

Angeliki Sioli, Louisiana State University

 

ABSTRACT

Engaging the novel Mrs. Dalloway (1925) by Virgina Woolf this paper discusses how the fleeting atmospheres of the city of London are depicted with a mesmerizing precision and vividness that escapes traditional tools of architectural representation and scientific means of measurement.  London’s urban entropy, “the ebb and flow of things” appears abundant in changes so subtle “that no mathematical instrument, though capable of transmitting shocks in China, could register the vibration,” as Woolf eloquently argues. This rare representation of London’s life and atmospheres is exemplary achieved through a constant dialogue with memories of both the city’s and the characters’ past; revealing moments of beauty and euphoria in the middle of the most unexpected urban circumstances: “For it was the middle of June. The War was over.” In the midst of a bursting summer vitality London directs the characters’ decisions and provides the conditions for important self-realizations. Its architectural landmarks play an important role to this end, partaking from the constantly changing atmospheres while simultaneously contributing to them. Beyond the fictional plot punctuated by the archetypal emotions embodied in such atmospheres, the narrative draws heavily upon the topographic and cartographical reality of the city offering architects a valuable understanding of the multifarious richness of the urban

environment and its impact on human consciousness. Opening up the conversation on the

potential of literature as architectural theory, the paper discusses how this knowledge can guide urban choices and architectural decisions. It is based on the premise that the interconnections of entropy, memory and beauty in London’s emerging qualities as captured by the novel, do not speak only about London of the 1920s; they rather represent a general condition, framing life experiences that in their majority speak to basic human existential quests and feelings thus revealing possibilities for an architecture with cultural and emotional aspirations.

 

BIO

Angeliki Sioli, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture in Louisiana State University and a licensed architect in Greece. She obtained her professional Diploma in Architecture from the University on Thessaly, Greece. She was granted a post-professional Master’s in Architectural Theory and History by the National Technical University of Athens. She has worked as a professional architect with work ranging from office buildings to the design of small-scale objects and books. She completed her Doctor of Philosophy in the History and Theory of Architecture in McGill University in 2015. Her research seeks connections between architecture and literature in the public realm of the early 20th century European city, focusing on aspects of embodied perception of place in the urban environment. It has been published in a number of edited volumes and presented in interdisciplinary conferences.