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Johannesburg: 26.1497° S, 28.0342° E London: 51.5072° N, 0.1276°

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Lexicon

A foray into the field notes, fragments of archaeologies, histories, presences, absences, futures, rituals, visions and politics of place that make the ground for counteracts in architectural practice. An expanding and expanded lexicon to supplement and counteract architectural tools.

Abelana

to share (Xhosa)

Afterglow

a glow remaining where light has disappeared

Aggregate

a whole formed by combining several separate elements

Articulation

the state of being jointed; the formation of clear and distinct sounds in speech

Augment

the process of increasing the size, value, or quality of something by adding to it

Autodidact

a self-taught person

Choreography

sequence; written notation

Configuration

an arrangement of parts or elements in a particular form, figure, or combination

Contamination

he action or state of making or being made impure

Convention

an agreement between states; standard of practice

Counter (archive)

act in opposition of; responding to something of the same kind, especially in opposition

Dastarkhwan دسترخوان _

tablecloth

Diaspora

From the Greek διασπορά (‘scattering’, ‘dispersion’) the term ‘diaspora’ refers to a scattered population whose origins lie within a smaller, usually fixed, geographic locale. Diaspora has come to refer in particular to the historic dispersions of an involuntary nature, such as the Jewish Diaspora; the fleeing of Greeks after the fall of Constantinople; the African trans-Atlantic slave trade; the Irish after the Great Famine and, more recently, the dispersion of Syrians, Iraqis and Kurds in the aftermath of the Gulf Wars. Scholars have historically distinguished between different types of diaspora, based on different causes: imperialism, trade, labour or wars, for example. Social cohesion within diasporic communities and the strength of ties to their original or ancestral lands also varies, with some communities maintaining strong political ties with their homelands and others dreaming endlessly of return. Within architecture, however, scant attention has been paid to the spatial, urban and architectural implications of migration. Refugee camps, deportation centres and prisons appear to be the only spaces or architectural programmes that deal in any way with this most contemporary of issues, yet the epistemological potential locked into the history and experience of diasporic communities around the world has far-reaching consequences for all built environment disciplines, at multiple scales and levels, and from multiple perspectives. Unit 12 will visit the island of Réunion, a region of France separated from the ‘mainland’ by 6,000km and the outermost region of the EU, in order to uncover new potential spatial languages of movement, migration and diaspora to augment the architectural vocabulary of our times. The Major Design Project of the year will be the Ministry of Home Affairs. Projects may look at landscapes, seascapes, edge conditions, boundaries between land and sea, between past and present and between 'home' and 'away'. The aim is to challenge each student to find their own appropriate architectural tools of representation, form, structure, materiality, programme, with which to propose a new architecture that, in Derrida's words, 'bears some resemblance to that which might be found in it.'

Different

distinct; separate

Divination

healing physical, emotional, and spiritual illnesses, directing birth or death rituals, finding lost cattle, protecting warriors, counteracting witchcraft, and narrating the history, cosmology, and myths of their traditions.

Enchantment

the state of being under a spell; magic

Equitable

fair and impartial

Erase

rub out or remove (writing or marks)

Erasure

rubbing out, wiping out/off, crossing out, striking out, scoring out, blotting out, blanking out, scratching out

Excavate

uncover earth to discover things about the past

Ghost

a faint secondary image caused by a fault in an optical system

Hustle

a state of great activity

Hybridisation

mixing atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals

Indigenous

originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native

Intervention

the action or process of intervening

Intimacy

close familiarity

Izwe

zulu the world, country, world, land, territory

Jasad جَسَد

(em)body; flesh; corpse

Lalela

listen, obey, and be blessed

Linguistic

relating to language or linguistics

Magic

having or apparently having supernatural powers

Manipulation

the action of manipulating something in a skilful manner

Metalepsis

a figure of speech in which a word or a phrase from figurative speech is used in a new context

Mutate

change in form or nature

NowNow

Estimated Time of Arrival: *Now Now:

Shortly. A term widely used in South African conversations relating to the period of time which will elapse before the given task, time or opportunity will present itself. The actual word is derived from the Afrikaans ”nou-nou” (which can be used both in future- and immediate past-tense) idiomatically used to mean soon (sooner than just now in South Africa, but similar to just now in the United Kingdom).

Opacity

Oral

Other

distinct from, different from, or opposite to something or oneself

Performed

Pollution

Port

refers to land, air, water, and cyber scapes; may explore edge conditions, trade relations, and cultural exchanges; and can be situated between past and present

Precedent

preceding in time, order, or importance

Procession

a number of people and objects moving forward in an orderly fashion, especially as part of a ceremony

Purdah پرده,

screen; veil; covering; conceal

Realm

Realm _ a field or domain

Reconfigure

configure (soething) differently

Riot

Ruin

Semantics

suttle shades of meaning

Signage

signs collectively

Signifiers

a sign's physical form as distinct from its meaning

Space

an interval of time; the dimensions of height, depth, and width within which all things exist and move

Syntax

the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language

Tension

the state of being stretched tight; application of a force

Tokoloshe

shapeshifters from different geographies

Reference: Aicha Kandicha

Traditional

existing in or as part of a tradition; long-established

Transition

the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another

Translate

Zama Zama

informal miner; take a chance/try your luck