Bentham's Panopticon | Study notes Architecture

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Bentham's

Panopticon

An

Incident

in

the

Social

History

of

Architecture

Ro

bin

Eva

ns

'A

zua

y

of

obtaining power,

pOWe/"

of

mind

over mind,

il1

a

quantity

hitherto withoUl

exampl

e.'

Jeremy

Bentham,

sire

of

Utili-

tarianism

and

famou

s

legislator

manque,

is

rarely

praised

for

his

eccentric

forays

into

the

field

of

architecture.

His

numerous

pro-

jects are

usually

seen

as

idiosyn-

cracies

in

an

otherwise

rational

life's work.

Many

architectural

historians

have

ne

v

er

heard

of

the

Panopticon

principle

of

construc-

tion,

while

philosophers

and

peno-

logists

tend

to

pass

over

it

with

a

scratch

of

the

head

or

a

raised

ey

e

brow.

It

is

therefore

with

a

certain

trepidation

that

I

now

put

it

forward

as

the

most

significant

monument

to

a

forgotten

creed

that

linked

human

betterment

with

architecture

above all else.

For

these

projects

seem

to

suggest

that

an

ethical

purpose

can

be

set

in

motion

by

the

workings

of

an

aptly

appointed

work

of

architecture,

implying

that

a

well-designed

in-

stitution

could

fulfil a

moral

role

by

the

very

functioning

of

its

parts,

and

thus

might

be

an

extension

of

moral

philosphy-not

as

language

or

symbol,

as

Pugin

and

Ruskin

were

later

to

hold-but

as a

cata-

lytic

agent

inducing

human

good-

ness

or

reformation

as

part

of

a

purely

mechanicai

operation.

The

Panopticon,

or

Inspection

House,

was

devised

by

Jeremy

Bentham

in 1787.

It

was originally

intended

as a

model

for all

kinds

of

institution

in

which

the

control

of

humans

or

even

animals

was

considered

important

.

It

tends

now

to

be

associated

only

with

pri

s

on

architecture,

but

Ben-

tham

himself

thought

it

could

serve

equally

well

for

schools,

hospitals;

lazarettos,

poor-plan

build-

ing

s ( i.e.

accommodation

for

the

destitute),

houses

of

correction,

lunatic

asylums,

orphanages,

nur-

series,

institutions

for

the

blind

and

deaf,

homes

for

deserted

young

women,

factories,

and

even

a

gigantic

chicken coop.(1)

The

idea

originated

from

a

struc-

ture

designed

by

Samuel,

Jeremy'

s

younger

brother,

while

he

was

reorganising

the

estates

of

the

z.

/Jf5

Russian

Prince

Potemkin

.

This

proto-panopticon

was to

have

been

a

manufactory

situated

in

the

town

of

Kritchev,

but

the

Turko-Russian

war

intervened,

diverting

Potemkin's

attention

from

local

to

international

affairs,

and

the

project

floundered.

e)

Jeremy

had

joined

Samuel

in

Russia

and

from

there,

in

1787,

he

wrote

a series

of

contrived

'letters'

(a

common

device for

arranging

descriptive

material

for

publication

at

that

time

)

setting

out

in

excruciating

detail

his

ideas for

the

design

of

institutions

on

the

Panopticon

plan.

Briefly,

the

Panopticon

or

In-

spection

House

was

to

be

a well

fenestrated

cylindrical

sheath

lined

with

4

or

6 stories

of

cells

or

rooms.

These

cells all faced

into

a

large

covered

shaft

of

space

within

which

there

was a

smaller

cylindrical

kiosk.

This

latter

afforded a

perfect

view

of

every

nook

and

crevice

of

every

cell

and

was to serve as

the

lodgings

for

the

governor

or

manager

of

the

institution.

Here

we

have

the

essential

carcass

of

an

encompassing

environment

that

would

enable

one

person

to

control

a

large

number

of

subordinates.

There

were

many

refinements

directed

to

this

same

end.

Light

and Order

The

qualities

of

light

for

example

were

used

to

enhance

the

powers

of

the

mandarin-like

overseer

in

his

central

lodge.

In

the

earliest

schemes

all

the

daylight

for

the

governors

lodge

entered

through

the

windows

of

the

outer

cylinder.

This

light

would

illumine

the

cells

and

pass

on

into

the

lodge

.

Those

confined

in

the

cells

would

then

be

unable

to

see

into

the

apartments

of

the

lodge

in

much

the

same

way as

people

outside

in

the

street

cannot

see

into

a

house

window.

To

ensure

this

di-

re

ctional

property

Bentham

pro-

posed

to

erect

a

blind

or

curtain

system

around

the

apertures

of

the

lodge

and

to

provide

screens

within

it

to

nt

the

through

passage

of

light.

Nor

was

the

effi-

cacy

of

this pervasive

sur-

veillance

to

be

compromised

by

the

threatening

equality

of

darkn

ess.

~

11_A

Robin Evans, "Bentham's Panopticon: An Incident in the Social History of Architecture," 12-37.

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22. Ibid., Letter II.