Greetings from Malaysia
Just an update on where i am heading with pain and architecture (although it has been put on hold for the time being).
Thinking of a sequence of events that follows the development of bad architecture and the pain it causes on society and the individual user. Social disorder, crime, and injuries. That sort of thing.
Starts off with a green field site, moving into developing cities to explosion point and finishing with the disintegration of the city and its users.
More next time

Architecture and Pain

First thoughts on this was the Monty Python "Architects" sketch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwwztaZUkUw and the quite literal extension that Architecture causes pain. This idea developed to include current issues of OH&S and related injuries and the attempt to limit the activities that take place to limit liability. The skateboarders out the front of the Red Centre, for example, are outlawed to prevent them from suffering pain as a result of the misuse of Architecture, which limits the financial pain to the University as a result of any injury that might be sustained. I suppose it limits the pain inflicted on the Architecture as well... at a stretch.
So "Architecture causes pain" as a theme, covers the physical pain that the built environment inflicts on the publicand the resulting financial.