Cartography of architectural controversies: Stabilising architectural motives as putative agents

How can buildings be perceived not only for their properties as stable objects and spatial organisation, but also and at the same time as series of transformations, as socio-material orderings, as movements? Coming from a background in architecture and architectural theory I propose that spatial visions can be followed as issues of dispute and investigation in distributed, cognitive processes. This paper is based on studies of the planning a new secondary school, focusing on a spatial concept emerging during the course named ‘The x-zone' - a spatial zone for interaction. Through analytic emphasis on the visual materials and documents produced during the process, and interviews with architects, clients and engineers, I describe the continuous efforts to establish and strengthen architectural motives, and how they eventually gain the ability to align other motives and other actors. I suggest that employing the visualising methods of the recent development of Actor-Network-Theory called ‘Cartography of Controversies' might contribute to trans-disciplinary efforts to develop analytic understanding of the conflicting human purposes and power-struggles at stake in the be-coming of architecture.