Designing Urban Seclusion in the Twenty-First Century: The 2009 Roth-Symonds Lecture

"We are beset by unspoken rules. As a result, we learn to find consensus in nots and to seek refuge in don’ts. A taboo is a restriction invented and agreed upon by a social group that maintains stability (disciplinary order) but also induces transgressions (the possibility of an avant-garde). Taboos structure our thinking and frame our discussions. In architecture, taboos create an operative way of thinking about and making architecture through unspoken agreement. This issue of Perspecta tackles architectural unutterables. In articles and projects, historians, theorists, and practitioners investigate contemporary and historical instances of taboo, aiming to uncover its function in the pedagogy and praxis of architecture. The contributors, asked simply “What is Taboo?”, respond with a range of examples."

Wacquant, Loïc. “Designing Urban Seclusion in the Twenty-First Century: The 2009 Roth Symonds Lecture,” Perspecta Vol 43, Taboo (2010): 164-175.