Ecological architecture as performed art

Nant-y-Cwm Steiner School, Pembrokeshire

Bibliographic Data

ID3131291
AuthorsP Kraftl (0000-0002-7915-4808, University of Northampton, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume7
Issue6
Pages927-948
Publication date2006-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649360601055854
OpenAlexW2094514931
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited33

This article focuses on a group of buildings that form the site for a Steiner school in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. It examines the ways in which an environmentally friendly, ‘ecological’ structure was (and is) constructed such that the building and its accompanying practices might be seen as ‘performed art’. By more critically examining the school's geographies through ethnographic material, the paper moves away from the buildings' symbolic meanings to demonstrate how art and nature intersect in various ways, in the school's life. Art and nature were crucial to the type of education there, the physical process of building the school, and daily uses of the buildings. The paper also explores how the art-nature intersection is involved in the construction of ethical discourses and practices constitutive of ‘childhood’ and ‘education

Architectural engineering · Art · Cartography · Ethnography · Geography · Intersection (aeronautics · Process (computing · Sociology · Visual arts · Anthropology · Computer Science · Engineering · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Urban Green Space and Health · Architecture · Ecology