Marie Bels (Brüssel, Bonn): Contemporary Courthouses. Architectural images and spatial representations of Justice
Abstract
In the last twenty years, a few courthouse competitions have completely unsettled the traditional architectural representation of justice, such as it appears in the palace with colonnade and pediment, the classical Temple of Justice. Designed by the most famous architects, some of these new judicial buildings are very spectacular, by their forms, volumes and materials, in such a way that they become a new presence in the city, featuring their technical nature in the urban space. Is that a sign of significant changes of the place and the role of the judicial institution in our hypermodern societies? Or a consequence of the functional requirements of performance and productivity, which the institution is now facing?
Beyond the work of design teams, these public architectures are the product of a social culture. Looking at drawings, plans and views, we will try to understand how the architects have answered to the complex and paradoxical demand of judiciary and politicians: conciliate efficiency and security with visibility and monumentality, and, furthermore, invent an aesthetic language that might be “read” by the largest public, in a multicultural and global context.
Dr. Marie Bels
Curriculum Vitae
Die Architektin und Architekturhistorikerin Marie Bels studierte in Straßburg und Venedig und wurde 2013 an der École nationale supérieure d’architecture Paris Malaquais / Université Paris Est in Architektur promoviert. Dr. Bels lehrte unter anderem an den Architekturhochschulen Paris-Belleville, Paris-Malaquais und Marseille-Luminy. Zudem ist sie als Übersetzerin architekturtheoretischer Werke tätig und arbeitete als unabhängige Wissenschaftlerin für Architekturbüros, Firmen und Gemeinden. Zuletzt hatte sie eine Postdoktorandenstelle am Laboratoire d’étude de l’architecture potentielle (LEAP) der Université de Montréal inne. Seit Januar 2015 ist Marie Bels Fellow am Käte Hamburger Kolleg „Recht als Kultur“.
