Architecture of Control: Identity and Surveillance in Gattaca through the Marin County Civic Center

Gizem Nur Bilici; Cemile Feyzan Şimşek

doi:10.46474/jds.1865451

Architecture of Control: Identity and Surveillance in Gattaca through the Marin County Civic Center

Abstract

This article critically examines the relationship between Andrew Niccol's film Gattaca (1997) and architecture's role in identity production and surveillance systems. The study argues that the architectural spaces in Gattaca function not merely as a backdrop accompanying the narrative, but as an active control mechanism that overshadows the appearance of a social order based on genetic determinism and influences bodies. This claim is reinforced by a spatial and cinematographic analysis of the Marin County Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, which is central to the film. Through the study of architectural devices —spatial arrangement, circulation, size, visual range, symmetry, illumination, and framing— in combination with cinematic techniques, it discloses the means by which architecture materializes biopolitics of control. This study follows an analytical method that combines Juhani Pallasmaa's understanding of bodily and experiential space with Michel Foucault's concepts of surveillance, discipline, and biopolitics. The article examines how a public structure conceived with democratic ideals transforms into a space that legitimizes institutional control and genetic discrimination in the context of film, revealing the ethical responsibility of architecture. In this respect, the study examines cinema's contribution to architectural theory as a critical tool that exposes architectural ideologies.

Keywords

Supporting Institution

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Ethical Statement

“This study was conducted in accordance with academic ethical standards. No human or animal subjects were involved, and no ethical approval was required.”

References

Althusser, L. (1971). Ideology and ideological state apparatuses (B. Brewster, Trans.). In Lenin and philosophy and other essays (pp. 127–186). Monthly Review Press.
Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (2010). Film art: An introduction (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Bruno, G. (2002). Atlas of emotion: Journeys in art, architecture, and film. Verso.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge.
Colomina, B. (1993). Privacy and publicity: Modern architecture as mass media. MIT Press.
Colomina, B. (1996). Privacy and publicity: Modern architecture as mass media (Revised ed.). MIT Press.
De Certeau, M. (1984). The practice of everyday life. University of California Press.
Deleuze, G. (1992). Postscript on the societies of control. October, 59, 3–7.

Foucault, M. (1977a). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (A. Sheridan, Trans.). Pantheon Books. (Original work published 1975)
Foucault, M. (1977b). Security, territory, population: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1977–1978 (Lecture series; published later in edited form).
Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality, Volume 1: An introduction (R. Hurley, Trans.). Pantheon Books. (Original work published 1976)
Frampton, K. (1992). Modern architecture: A critical history (3rd ed.). Thames & Hudson.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Anchor Books.
Habermas, J. (2003). The future of human nature. Polity Press.
Hillier, B., & Hanson, J. (1984). The social logic of space. Cambridge University Press.
Koskela, H. (2000). The gaze without eyes: Video-surveillance and the changing nature of urban space. Progress in Human Geography, 24(2), 243–265.
Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space (D. Nicholson-Smith, Trans.). Blackwell.
Lyon, D. (2007). Surveillance studies: An overview. Polity Press.
Niccol, A. (Director). (1997). Gattaca [Film]. Columbia Pictures.
Pallasmaa, J. (2001). The architecture of image: Existential space in cinema. Rakennustieto.
Pallasmaa, J. (2005). The eyes of the skin: Architecture and the senses (2nd ed.). Wiley.
Rose, N. (2007). The politics of life itself: Biomedicine, power, and subjectivity in the twenty-first century. Princeton University Press.
Vidler, A. (1992). The architectural uncanny: Essays in the modern unhomely. MIT Press.
Vidler, A. (2000). Warped space: Art, architecture, and anxiety in modern culture. MIT Press.
Wright, F. L. (1957). A testament. Horizon Press.
Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Design (Other)

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Gizem Nur Bilici ^*
0009-0007-8036-0469
Türkiye

Cemile Feyzan Şimşek
0000-0002-3503-3633
Türkiye

Publication Date

July 20, 2026

Submission Date

January 16, 2026

Acceptance Date

June 17, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Volume: 8 Number: 1

DOI

https://doi.org/10.46474/jds.1865451

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA38MH62CM

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Bilici, G. N., & Şimşek, C. F. (2026). Architecture of Control: Identity and Surveillance in Gattaca through the Marin County Civic Center. Journal of Design Studio, 8(1), 69-83. https://doi.org/10.46474/jds.1865451

AMA

1.Bilici GN, Şimşek CF. Architecture of Control: Identity and Surveillance in Gattaca through the Marin County Civic Center. JDS. 2026;8(1):69-83. doi:10.46474/jds.1865451

Chicago

Bilici, Gizem Nur, and Cemile Feyzan Şimşek. 2026. “Architecture of Control: Identity and Surveillance in Gattaca through the Marin County Civic Center”. Journal of Design Studio 8 (1): 69-83. https://doi.org/10.46474/jds.1865451.

EndNote

Bilici GN, Şimşek CF (July 1, 2026) Architecture of Control: Identity and Surveillance in Gattaca through the Marin County Civic Center. Journal of Design Studio 8 1 69–83.

IEEE

[1]G. N. Bilici and C. F. Şimşek, “Architecture of Control: Identity and Surveillance in Gattaca through the Marin County Civic Center”, JDS, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 69–83, July 2026, doi: 10.46474/jds.1865451.

ISNAD

Bilici, Gizem Nur - Şimşek, Cemile Feyzan. “Architecture of Control: Identity and Surveillance in Gattaca through the Marin County Civic Center”. Journal of Design Studio 8/1 (July 1, 2026): 69-83. https://doi.org/10.46474/jds.1865451.

JAMA

1.Bilici GN, Şimşek CF. Architecture of Control: Identity and Surveillance in Gattaca through the Marin County Civic Center. JDS. 2026;8:69–83.

MLA

Bilici, Gizem Nur, and Cemile Feyzan Şimşek. “Architecture of Control: Identity and Surveillance in Gattaca through the Marin County Civic Center”. Journal of Design Studio, vol. 8, no. 1, July 2026, pp. 69-83, doi:10.46474/jds.1865451.

Vancouver

1.Gizem Nur Bilici, Cemile Feyzan Şimşek. Architecture of Control: Identity and Surveillance in Gattaca through the Marin County Civic Center. JDS. 2026 Jul. 1;8(1):69-83. doi:10.46474/jds.1865451