ABSURD ARCHITECTURE: WAITING FOR GODOT AND THE ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAMME

Abstract

This dissertations aims to explore the relationship between the absurdist play, Waiting for Godot, by Nobel laureate Samuel Beckett and the architectural design process. The detachment of a distinct architectural programme from the architectural brief has resulted in architecture that is disingenuous and far too abstract in experience. These spaces often lack meaning and fail to engage with its users. Some of this can be attributed to the modern economy’s preference for efficiency and profit, to the point that architects are no longer designers, but mere decorators.

I propose that architects view the architectural programme as a design endeavour, by adopting the format of Waiting for Godot as well as borrow its narrative elements. By doing so, the programme that is created will help the architect structure meaning into spatial experience, with the ultimate aim of designing more meaningful architecture. By undertaking the architectural programme as a design endeavour, the architect will also be able to gain greater agency over the design process.

The dissertation is divided into two chapters. The first examines the contemporary architectural brief and programme, and the consequences of taking the brief for the programme as one and the same. The second analyses the play, both in terms of its format and subject, to offer better ways of crafting a relevant, meaningful architectural programme.