Architecture & Built Environment · Architectural Theory & Criticism
A topic within Architectural Theory & Criticism, itself one of 9 topics in that field and part of Architecture & Built Environment.
2 works
Jeremy Bentham
A single circular building can let one inspector watch every inmate without their knowing when they are watched, so that the mere architecture of visibility disciplines behaviour on its own.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Michel Foucault
Architecture is never a neutral technical backdrop to power but can itself be one of its instruments, so Bentham's panopticon is best read as a general diagram of how a spatial arrangement can produce and distribute discipline, independent of any single building.