The Factory Gate - Boundary Architecture

The triumphal arch was a popular inspiration for factory gates in the 1890´s – a victorious monument, built for a conqueror. A simultaneous and often subconscious subject of humiliation accompanies these images, however. Adjacent to the triumphal arches were the much lower gateways for the enslaved folk, through which it was necessary to parade in a stooped defeated position before the eyes of the spectators. Today, the delivery vehicles roll through the central gateways while the workers must pass through the smaller side entrances where they are forced into queues of single, and thereby, controllable units. The erectors, that is the factory owners, are paid homage to as the emperors of the new age.