An ‘interface’ refers to the spatial condition(s) that divide segregated working class residential zones across Northern Ireland. They are highly contested spaces that often become flashpoints for ongoing sectarian violence and are made physical by the presence of conflict architectures, such as walls, fences and barricades. Some refer to them as ‘peace walls’ or ‘peace lines’, leaning heavily on their material characteristics. ‘Interface’ instead acknowledges these architectures and spaces as repositories of social memory, with deeply elastic psychic consequences. An ‘interface’ can be material, yet also a more discrete demarcation that holds a breadth of socio-political and psychosocial significance.
interface
We engage in a deeply expanded interpretation of what constitutes ‘architectures’. From the micro of an individual building to the scale of the urban; policy, systems and discursive encounters, to people, communities and habits – we approach spatial histories that challenge what the history of architecture means and what architecture can be. Here, we are indebted to the work of architectural historian and writer Professor Jane Rendell, whose ‘critical spatial practice’ method has here encouraged a more localised and ethical engagement with bordered urban and rural conditions.