Dormitory

Rear Window, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 2016

‘Form follows function’ is a phrase commonly applied to modernist architecture, based on the principle that a building should be designed according to its intended use or purpose. At its peak in the mid-twentieth century, modernist architecture was proposed as a utopian solution to public housing needs. Despite its aims, the style fell out of fashion and this model for high-density housing became linked with social issues.
Kirsty Lillico’s Dormitory (2016) deconstructs one of Dunedin’s most recognizable examples of modernist (‘Brutalist’) architecture, Ted McCoy’s ‘University College’ – a hall of residence designed for the University of Otago in 1969. In her work Lillico reduces McCoy’s three dimensional built structure back to its two dimensional beginnings (a floor plan). Re-rendered as a soft sculptural wall hanging – limp and sagging – any sense of ‘function’ has been stripped back to its rudimentary formal qualities.