
H Blocks
An Architecture of the Conflict in and about Northern Ireland
Louise Purbrick(Author)
Bloomsbury Visual Arts (Publisher)
Published on 22. August 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
216 pages
978-1-350-24006-3 (ISBN)
Description
Shortlisted for the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion 2023
Shortlisted for the Colvin Prize 2023
A place of incarceration and liberation, political debate and historical denial, the H Block cell units of Long Kesh/Maze prison in Northern Ireland housed members of both Republican and Loyalist military groups during 'The Troubles' and are now considered 'icons' of that conflict. The H Block's dual status as an articulation of and resistance against power mean that the area is still one of the most contested sites of conflict in Europe.
Based on a long-standing site-specific investigation, and drawing on a range of sources from architectural plans to photographs of street protests, H Blocks explores the material relationship between the prison as a built articulation of power and its inhabitants, highlighting the ethical and political roles that architecture can play in situations of conflict. It also addresses the afterlife of such sites after the end of conflict and how they can adapt to the changing cultural meanings of their space.
The book demonstrates how the conflicted histories of the prison are configured in its design and destruction, and the inhabitation and attempted preservation of the site itself, revealing how its architecture is bound up with questions of power and resistance, embodiment and attachment, witnessing and remembering, the materiality of history and its commodification.
Shortlisted for the Colvin Prize 2023
A place of incarceration and liberation, political debate and historical denial, the H Block cell units of Long Kesh/Maze prison in Northern Ireland housed members of both Republican and Loyalist military groups during 'The Troubles' and are now considered 'icons' of that conflict. The H Block's dual status as an articulation of and resistance against power mean that the area is still one of the most contested sites of conflict in Europe.
Based on a long-standing site-specific investigation, and drawing on a range of sources from architectural plans to photographs of street protests, H Blocks explores the material relationship between the prison as a built articulation of power and its inhabitants, highlighting the ethical and political roles that architecture can play in situations of conflict. It also addresses the afterlife of such sites after the end of conflict and how they can adapt to the changing cultural meanings of their space.
The book demonstrates how the conflicted histories of the prison are configured in its design and destruction, and the inhabitation and attempted preservation of the site itself, revealing how its architecture is bound up with questions of power and resistance, embodiment and attachment, witnessing and remembering, the materiality of history and its commodification.
Reviews / Votes
In this brilliant study of a place known to most only as an icon, Purbrick asks who and what made the H Blocks? As she shows, these processes are ongoing, long after the prison's closure. Deeply sensitive to the challenge of writing about the trauma of others, she fills the site with bodies and things, politics and feelings. * David Crowley, Head of the School of Visual Culture, National College of Art and Design, Ireland *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
40 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
351 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-24006-3 (9781350240063)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
01/2023
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Visual Arts
€32.99
Available for download

E-Book
01/2023
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Visual Arts
€32.99
Available for download
Person
Louise Purbrick is Tutor in Design History, Royal College of Arts, UK.
Content
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Building the Blocks
2. Living in the Cells
3. The Global Witness and the Hunger Strike
4. Women Visitors: Waiting to Understand Prison Architecture
5. Erasure: The Last Murals and Final Performance of Long Kesh/Maze
6. On eBay: Who Owns the Keys of the H Blocks?
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Building the Blocks
2. Living in the Cells
3. The Global Witness and the Hunger Strike
4. Women Visitors: Waiting to Understand Prison Architecture
5. Erasure: The Last Murals and Final Performance of Long Kesh/Maze
6. On eBay: Who Owns the Keys of the H Blocks?
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index