History Booklet| 2020 Charleston

Yuting Lu History & Theory of Architecture III | Spring 2020 ARCH 8620 | Clemson University | Prof. James G. Thomas, AIA

Contents 01|17 Assignment 1 Venice 01|24 Assignment 2 Villa

4 Detail Palazzo Dario Urban Rialto Bridge

Context Villa Emo Detail Villa Godi

9

02|07 Assignment 3 “Heidegger’s thinking on Architecture”

14

02|14 Assignment 4 Orientation, Identification

16

02|28 Assignment 5 Figure, Identification

21

02|28 Assignment 6 Questions about Dwelling

27

03|13 Assignment 7 30 “the fourfold”: Man and Nature at Middleton place WG. Clark “the fourfold”: in the architecture of Middleton Inn 03|27 Assignment 8 “Toward a Critical Regionalism”.

36

04|03 Assignment 9 Kandalama Heritage Hotel

39

04|10 Assignment 10 The Poetics of Space

46

04|17 Assignment 11 Dominican Motherhouse

Design Form Tectonic

04|24 Assignment 12 The Thinking of Louis. I. Kahn

50

56

01|17 Assignment 1 Venice

4

Palazzo Dario, Venice, Italy

“A renaisance Venice become a city of stone.”

The Palazzo Dario is a palace located between the Palazzo Barbaro Wolkoff and the narrow Rio delle Torreselle on the Grand Canal in the sestiere of Dorsoduro, of the city of Venice, Italy.

The palace was built in the floral Venetian Gothic style and was renovated with Renaissance-style. It was remodeled by Pietro Lombardo.

This building is built in early Renaissance and a great mixture of Gothic and Renaissance style. The chimney, flat and straight roof, little balcony and decorations make it so special. The marble with mars left by sea wind, which is my favorite part, reminds me of the old Venice described by Ackroyd, still shines in today’s sunshine.

5

01|17 Assignment 1 Venice

6

“In truth, there are two cities, which exist only in the act of being seen.”

7

01|17 Assignment 1 Spirit of Place in Venice

Rialto Bridge, Venice, Italy The present stone bridge, a single span designed by Antonio da Ponte, was finally completed in 1591. It is like the wooden bridge it succeeded.

In Venice: Pure City, Peter Ackroyd says, “In truth, there are two cities, which exist only in the act of being seen.” While the canal is the symbol of division, the bridge is the token of unity in Venice. As the marble bridge successfully replaced the wooden one, Venice started to become a city of stone and remained what it was for hundreds of years.

8

01|24 Assignment 2 Villa

Villa Emo, Veneto, Italy Villa Emo is one of the many Palladian creations conceived by the great architect Andrea Palladio (and one of his late works). It is a patrician villa located in the Veneto region of northern Italy.

Palladio mentioned the functional parts of the villa, like the working of lands and the storage of agricultural products in his Four Books of Architecture. I am attracted to Villa Emo because of the sense of safety it creates. “It was not at sea, but in agriculture that prosperity and the future of the state should be sought.”

From a bird’s eye view, the villa is in the ocean of greens. The gardens surrounding it may be renovated several times, but the main axis lines are kept there for hundreds of years. Compared to Palladio’s early works, Villa Emo has more openings, longer wings and larger gardens. Thus, it is closer to the ground and opener to the environment.

9

01|24 Assignment 2 Villa

10

“It was not at sea, but in agriculture that prosperity and the future of the state should be sought.”

11

01|24 Assignment 2 Villa

12

Villa Godi, Veneto, Italy Villa Godi is a patrician villa in Lugo di Vicenza, Veneto, northern Italy. It was one of the first projects by Andrea Palladio and the interior was decorated with frescoes initially by Gualtiero Padovano. The perspective I choose is from the entry loggia to the outside, after we climb from the big entrance stair.

The façade lacks ornamentation while the interior wall is full of detailed decorations. The pointed arch and the arch under it remind me of Gothic styles. But with a second look, I find that the stones tell a completely different story. Because of the pleasing proportion created by Palladio, the openings of the loggia form a horizontal balance. Two platforms extend like wings, inviting visitors to stay and enjoy the views drawn by the continuous hills, the welcoming gardens and the circle fountain. The openings are the spirits for Veneto villas, and they are the symbols that people start to be willing to be connected to nature.

13

02|07 Assignment 3 “Heidegger’s thinking on Architecture”

Reflections on “Heidegger’s thinking on Architecture” by C. Norberg Schultz and class discussion with Mr. Tom White.

Thinking architecture as how Heidegger is thinking, is like diving into the ocean, deeper and deeper, until the body becomes part of the water and the “ego” disappears.

According to Norberg-Schulz, Heidegger’s view of the primary purpose of architecture is to make a world visible. The world here, consists of four elements: the sky, the earth, the mortals and the divinities. Each of the four mirrors the other, thus humans are living between the sky and the earth, the mortal and the divinity. The building is making a place in the fourfold: it admits or opens the world and installs the world. Building is never an isolated entity, it produces a space melt between the sky and the earth, gathering humans and the god. The building is in the world and the world is also in the building. So, the architecture does not represent images and signs since it presents the truth of the world; it neither works as functionalism buildings because it is connected to the world and understands the relationships of the four elements.

When Heidegger tries to describe relationships, he prefers “between”, “extension” or other indefinite words. To understand this relativity is vital for us to understand his thinking. The thing in the fourfold has auras, or soft edges; Even if they are different, they do not break up; They can belong together. A boundary, as

14

an embodiment of a difference, according to Heidegger, is “that from which something begins its presenting.” The redefinition of boundary is presented in Carlo Scarpa’s buildings. Although he was a crazy lover of geometrics and duplicated so many geometrical details, his design still seems to emerge and rise in itself. It is amazing to look at the opening from the inside. At that moment, we would forget about Scarpa and only feel the sky.

We would never know how he could think of opening at that place in that way. The architect disappears; the space appears.

It is similar in Van Gogh’s “Road with Cypress and Star”. The tree is being there, between sun and moon. We cannot stop focusing on the tree and cannot remember who is watching the paint or who painted it. This kind of “non-ego” is Heidegger’s ultimate task for today’s architects, to let the architecture speak, and to let the man dwell poetically.

15

02|14 Assignment 3 Orientation, Identification

16

Identification | 84 TRADD STREET, Charleston

Identification | 84 TRADD STREET, Charleston The pink house stands there. Once I saw it, I stopped and could not help staring at it. It is between the neighborhoods; the narrow side yard for the left pearl house and the porch entrance for the right sage house. They seem to share the same path, but they have two iron gates for two openings and slightly different patterns for the “earth”. Houses in the historic district are usually aligned to the boundary of streets. However, the pink house is so far back away, yet it sings a beautiful song with the bold color, the twisted potted plants, the trees from the backyard and with its neighbors.

House, according to Norberg-Schultz, is the most private type of dwelling and represents the personality of its owner. The pink house gathers the space between the other houses; it pictures a deeper and more lively daily life scene; it realizes the hidden behind space. We can see the “world” and the “identity” here. And I am so curious about who is the humorous owner living here.

17

02|14 Assignment 4 Orientation, Identification

18

Orientation | Rainbow Row, Charleston

19

02|14 Assignment 4 Orientation, Identification

Orientation | Rainbow Row, Charleston “Orientation, therefore, implies structuring the environment into domains by means of paths and centers.”

Rainbow Row is the name for a series of thirteen colorful historic houses located from 79 to 107 East Bay Street. They were painted with pastel color in the 1930s and 1940s. The colors create a constancy of the thirteen houses, form a horizontal path and become the center of the district. They remind me of houses in Venice, since we always focus too much on the façade and ignore the behind. When I see them from the bird’s eye view, I am surprised by the compact layout and the hidden back gardens: The close buildings’ facades blur the boundaries between them while the gardens separate the private life inside. Spaces are so different on the two sides. Visitors are intoxicated with the rhythm of Rainbow row, but for residents, their daily life just starts from the “boundary”.

20

02|28 Assignment 5 Figure, Identfication

Reflections on the Concept of Dwelling According to Heidegger, “poetry speaks in images…the nature of the image is to let something to be seen.” The image, or the figure mentioned in the concept of dwelling, appears as a concrete shape or volume of the architecture. Instead of being just a visualized façade, it needs to manifest some inherent spirit of the world; it represents the permanent mode of dwelling. And the successful figure means that a work of architecture finally exists as something- a gathering of the world, which finally helps people to dwell poetically. “To dwell”, Norberg-Schultz mentioned, “implies the establishment of a meaningful relationship between man and a given environment.” In other words, to dwell is belonging to a specific space, and the sense of belonging is identification, a way for us to be in the world. We first need to explain dwelling here. Dwelling has four modes: the natural, the collective, the public and the private, of which the stages are settlement space, urban space, institution and house. Each type has its own values; they “sing” differently to the surrounding environment and “radiate” different things at the same time.

Human beings need to have a gift to distinguish between each archetype with the help of the figure. The figure may consist of general principles of embodiment and spatial organization, which are significant elements between the sky and the ground.

Embodiment is the identification that we have discussed; spatial organization is the orientation. Among them, orientation is more obvious than identification, as it has a path, axis, center or direction and their relationship is easier to understand. But identification needs to be “felt”. Identification is more humane; it is closely related to daily life and is about quality.

21

02|28 Assignment 5 Figure, Identification

22

Figure | St. Michael’s Church, Charleston

23

02|28 Assignment 5 Figure, Identification

24

Identification | St. Michael’s Church, Charleston

25

02|28 Assignment 5 Figure, Identification

For the figure and identification drawing, instead of a private house, I chose St. Michael’s Church. Most houses in Charleston present the personality of its owner and tell the story from the different combination of plants in the garden to the color and material of the facades. Different from them, as an institution, the spirit here is about the public. While the house sings the songs created by its resident, the church plays an opera. The bell steeple points directly to the further sky, so obvious from all directions. The sound of the bell reminds people of its existence.

While looking to the ground level, the entrance is melted in the crossing roads. Can anyone who is passing through it recognize that they are under the tower? And the important detail in the zone is the traffic light, which means modern time in the fourfold world. The sky and the ground, the church and the human beings, all gathered in the crossroad. The dialogue between them becomes the identification of the public building in Charleston.

26

03|06 Assignment 6 Dwelling

1. Explain the notion of human “dwelling” as developed by Heidegger and as articulated by Norberg-Schultz.

Heidegger thinks that human dwell in language and the final goal of architecture is also to let human dwell poetically. Norberg-Schultz translated the poetical dwelling into setting a meaningful relationship. In the concept of dwelling, he mentions, “To dwell implies the establishment of a meaningful relations between man and a given environment.” Depending on the different “beings” human choose, the dwelling has various modes: collective, public and private, or settlement, urban space, institution and house. And the environment consists in orientation and identification, constituted by organized space and built form.

2. Speaking of Architecture’s role in the Concept of Dwelling, explain the following, and give examples of the components by which each is made manifest. topology/ morphology/ typology To serve as an experience of arrival, a settlement needs figural quality in relation to the surrounding landscape. The figural quality depends on the built form and organized space. And they can be explained from three concepts: topology, typology and morphology.

The morphology is the local character of the environment presented by a building’s figure quality, which is usually more about the built form, or elevations of architectures and the relations between them and the sky. We can say “it revealed by its silhouette.” The best example is the difference in slope of roofs from southern to northern. Their shape reveals different climates behind and how human relate to the natural environment.

The topology is the settlement patterns organized by individual places, and it has three types of spatial organization: the cluster, the row and the enclosure. The rainbow row in Charleston 27

03|06 Assignment 6 Dwelling

is a typical row pattern for the city. They use colors to form a “whole”, but at the same time, different colors mean “freedom” and “individual”. The row presents the direction of the beach shore they are facing.

The typology is the different types of given spaces and forms to show the different identity of buildings. It used to be classified by built forms, and now is more sorted by the spatial organization of the space. Like when we talk about a house in a city and a house in a farm, we will think of a smaller house in a more compact city district with less space for gardens. And we may ignore the concrete form or decoration details of the two houses.

3. Explain how a piece of architecture is “set into work” within any given situation.

For an architecture, to set into work, is to become somewhere, to offer human “the sense of arrival” and to bring the landscape closer. And according to Heidegger and Norberg-Schultz, the architecture should “gather” the surroundings. Its built form and spatial organization should build meaningful relationships to the landscape.

4. Explain “Visualization” versus “Complementation” with respect to how a work of architecture responds to its situation.

Visualization and complementation are two processes of how an architecture responds to its situation. Visualization works when the location has its natural center, and the architecture will reveal and emphasize the quality of the center. Just like Veneto villas, they use opening loggias to offer a place where people can observe and enjoy the beautiful scenes. Especially for those on middle hills, they even have loggias for entrance. Complementation is for the situations lacking natural centers, like deserts and plains. The building will define the area or create a center for it.

Like the steeples in Charleston, they gather the earth and the sky, and become new centers in the district.

28

29

03|13 Assignment 7 WG. Clark

30

“the fourfold”: Man and Nature at Middleton place

31

03|13 Assignment 7 WG. Clark

32

“the fourfold”: in the architecture of Middleton Inn

33

03|13 Assignment 7 WG. Clark

Reflections on the Concept of Dwelling Last Friday, before starting our tour in Middleton place, I was exhausted after a late working night for studio. But when I saw the peaceful pond, the smells, colors, and sounds-all that I could sense, clearly told me that spring is here. I was surprised and felt refreshed after the tour. Because of the experience, the two drawings are more “emotional” rather than “realistic”, and they depict my memories of the trip. “the fourfold”: Man and Nature at Middleton place The first drawing is a really moving moment for me. It is a white camellia leaning on the marble statue. The sky here is composed of Spanish mosses; the earth is embellished with pink petals.

The luster of the statue and camellia is so soft and gentle that the “fourfold” merge in a harmonious way. However, tension still exists. The camellias on the ground are bright and random, while that close to the statue is pure and carefully placed. Someone once stayed here and showed the respect for and adoration of the place. And that act made the world gather at this little corner.

34

“the fourfold”: in the architecture of Middleton Inn The Middleton Inn, realized what WG Clark hoped: “truly belongs to its place, rather than just being sited on it.”

Clark used grey concrete, dark green wood for the elevation, and cubic boxes for the units, yet the design still forms a lightness and Charleston style. When looking from the courtyard garden, I find that it loses weightiness and thickness, and becomes an extended drawing. The sky penetrates through the surprising corners, fills the light boxes and finally merges with the ground.

Although nobody is now in the drawing, it seems that someone will appear from the stair, in the window or at the bench. It is a place with power from the sky and the earth. And the spirit here is created by the opening. By opening the roof and walls, Clark broke the old frame, stretched the canvas towards the sky, and made the building a landscape at the same time. When the ivy climbs over the wall, the last boundary disappears.

The sky here is green instead of bright blue. Because when I stand in the opposite direction of the “drawing”, or the entrance, the long wall is covered with ivy, which makes me feel that even the wind is green.

35

03|27 Assignment 8 “Toward a Critical Regionalism”.

TOWARDS A CRITICAL REGIONALISM: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance 1.

In light of the quotation by Paul Ricoeur, cited by Frampton at the beginning of his essay, what is the dilemma facing progressive contemporary architects in the age of globalization?

Architects are facing the conflicts between taking part in modern civilization and preserving the past dormant civilization.

Since modernization means science, technology and political rationality which usually requires to get rid of the influences from the past culture. However, people also hope to find a sense of belonging, which often comes from the tradition.

2.

Distinguish the difference between civilization and culture.

Frampton uses “instrumental reason” for civilization and “specifics of expression” for culture. Civilization seems to be pure mean or reason, while culture is end or the result, which presents the existing civilization and the evolution as well. Civilization is the body of the society and culture is the behavior.

3.

Explain what Hannah Ehrendt meant when she said, “Utility established as meaning generates meaninglessness.”

Before this statement, Ehrendt mentioned today’s civilization is meeting a difficult civilization where the chain of “means and ends” never end. From my perspective, today’s society keep finding a culture to express itself. Culture used to be a natural end for the civilization, but now becomes a “goal”. A new culture to present culture appears and its meaning is to find a meaning.

36

4.

Explain why avant-gardism can no longer be sustained as a liberative movement.

Avant-gardism has an initial utopian promise. Instead of achieving pure entertainment, it starts to move towards commodity or pure technique or scenography. And the internal rationality brings the end to sustain avant-gardism as a liberative movement.

5.

Describe Frampton’s notion of the arriere-garde.

Frampton thinks that only arriere-garde can cultivate a resistant, identity-giving culture and combine the universal technique at the same time. Instead of pursuing pure technique, nostalgy or decoration. It preserves the spirit of the existing culture and learns from the modernization.

6.

Explain the fundamental strategy of Critical Regionalism and how it is at variance with populist employment of “communicative or instrumental signs”.

The fundamental strategy of critical regionalism is to “mediate the impact of universal civilization with elements derived indirectly from the peculiarities of a particular place” and to maintain a high-level of critical self-consciousness. Compared to its aim to evoke a critical perception of reality, “communicative or instrumental signs” tries to evoke a preconceived level of gratification in behavioristic terms.

7.

What is the importance of the “place-form” in the metropolis?

The “place-form” is important for the domain it defines, or the

37

03|27 Assignment 8 “Toward a Critical Regionalism”.

boundary it creates in the metropolis. It has a latent political and resistant potential. According to Hannah Arendt, it is essential to “the space of human appearance”. Since the units of institutional and physical form present the legitimate power in the city.

8.

Cite the five realms where Critical Regionalism involves a more directly dialectical relationship with nature than does the abstract, formal tradition of rationalist modern architecture.

The five realms are: topography, context, climate, light and tectonic form.

9.

What does Frampton mean by the tectonic as distinct from the merely “technical” or the “scenographic” in architecture?

Frampton cites explanation from Stanford Anderson “tectonic…referred to the activity that raises this construction to an art form…The functionally adequate form must be adapted so as to give expression to its function.” So, the tectonic use the art to express the function, and make the function become an art.

10. Explain how the “tactile resistance of the place-form” can suggest a strategy for resisting the dominance of universal civilization.

Frampton finds tactile is an important dimension in the perception of built form. Besides seeing, people also use hearing, touching, smelling and listening. In today’s architectures, readdressing the tactile design will create a tactile sensitivity for people and a sense of nearness. Architects can think more about the design for the sensory, for example, the material, the composition of light and darkness, the humidity and so on.

38

04|03 Assignment 9 Kandalama Hotel

Kandalama Heritage Hotel Geoffrey Bawa | Sri Lanka Villa Godi is a patrician villa in Lugo di Vicenza, Veneto, northern Kandalama Hotel, Geoffrey Bawa and Sri Lanka are all special for me. I visited there in 2014, the first year I started to learn architecture. The trip was not an “architecture” trip. So, I experienced the building without any knowledge about the famous architect. Trees were everywhere, and the entrance was artless or even a little plain. But now I believe it is Bawa’s illusion to use a modest entrance; once the visitors walk along the rough rock, they will never have a chance to escape from Bawa’s song which will be keep resounding for many years.

39

04|03 Assignment 9 Kandalama Hotel

40

“The typology or figure"

41

04|03 Assignment 9 Kandalama Hotel

42

“The topology and morphology"

43

04|03 Assignment 9 Kandalama Hotel

The typology or figure In the first drawing, instead of a perspective view, I put a sequence of scenes in the hotel. Because I can not pick up only one perspective to introduce Kandalama hotel. The building is in the experience. The sketch starts from the “ordinary” entrance and does not have an obvious ending. Also, the nature seems to be the main role in the sketch and the architectural elements minimalize the ego of themselves but present the best views of nature. Black steel columns are the frames for pictures of nature; flat roofs become a free canvas for the plants; polished floor forms a peaceful “water” surrounding the rock. And all the scenes are not still. Since Sri Lanka is a tropical country, the building is easily covered into plant, the sun light creates different shadows and the materials have different temperature here.

Every picture mentioned is a lively scene with various smells from the plants, sounds from the nature and different touch of the materials.

Kandalama hotel is thought as a good example for regional design and minimalism. The ego of architect disappears, and the beauty of Sri Lanka is remembered, with the “tactile” design mentioned by Frampton. And I more agree to use Bawa’s own words, all the architecture should be experienced.

44

The topology and morphology The plan and the section are shown in the second drawing. I first remembered the “experience” and then tried to look for architectural drawings. Bawa’s drawings are very interesting. It is difficult to find another architect who pays so much attention on the landscape. Each tree is depicted with specific details. And the built environment is very close to the drawing. In the two drawings, buildings, just like what now looks like, is hidden in the landscape. Bawa chose trees to create a boundary, where everything starts. The green grow from the earth to the sky. Human add new trees, but the trees cover the building, the artificial elements, and finally become part of the nature. The fourfold for Bawa is connected by trees. Also, the plan shows the “ordinary” entrance I mentioned. See, it is Bawa’s trick!

Since 2014, I have read hundreds of other architectures from books, and many of them moved me. But Kandalama hotel is the first architecture that moved me with the experience before the “logical” judgement.

45

04|10 Assignment 10 The Poetics of Space

The typology or figure From the Forward to the 1994 Edition: 1.

Bachelard is described as “the master penetrator of anthro-cosmology”. What is anthro-cosmology?

Anthro-cosmology is a set of knowledge, beliefs, interpretations and practices of a society or culture. It is related to the origins and evolutions of the universe from the perspective of “human”, like the meaning and role of human, life, society and so on.

2.

What is the role of the house in Bachelard’s anthro-cosmology?

The most important argument is that people need house in order to dream and imagine. According to Bachelard, the house is the first universe for people, it will be impacted by the habitants and habitation, and at the same time, it will influence the habitants.

From the Introduction by Gaston Bachelard: 3.

Describe Bachelard’s characterization of the poetic imagination. From where does it come? How does it emerge? What does he mean by “a phenomenology of the soul, rather than of the mind”?

Bachelard thinks that the poetic imagination is not rational, not based on experience or thoughts. Rather than reminding people of an image in memory (phenomenology of the mind), the imagination brings out the instinct sense (phenomenology of the soul). The poetic imagination starts from an inner-subjectivity and tries to trans subjective. First the creator has an “inner light” or “inner vision”, that is, creating with a more relaxed and less intentionalized consciousness. Then the reader experiences the work, calmed and relaxed. They give up describing or understanding the work. Primitiveness comes before thinking.

46

Chapters I &II 4.

Daydreaming. In the life of human beings, what is the psychic significance of Daydreaming? How does the house serve this daydreaming?

Daydreaming connects thoughts, memories and dreams, the reality and virtuality. The daydream extends the inner world to the outside world and creates a vast domain for people. And the house shelters daydreaming, protects the dreamer, allows one to dream in peace.

Chapter IV 5.

Nests. Discuss how the mother bird, without tools, makes her nest. What “beginning” does this signify?

The mother bird builds the house from inside like making a shell.

She will constantly turn around and press the walls on every side where the father bird put all the materials from the outside.

Then there comes a hollow space- the nest. It is a physical existence of intimacy. The nest comes from inner pressure and is formed by the protection the resident needs, which is different for different residents.

Chapter V 6.

Shells. “…life begins less by reaching upward than by turning upon itself.” (p.106) In the context of the growth of shells, discuss the relationship between life and form. (pp. 109, 114) Shell has a solid protection at first, but the solid shelter keeps growing, by seeping from the interior creature. The interior soft creature moves along the spiral space inside, and then the new protection keeps the same form, just in a bigger size. For a shell, life is turning upon itself and thus creates the spiral shape. The form is created by the life inside. It also presents the simplicity, the primitiveness of life.

47

04|10 Assignment 10 The Poetics of Space

Chapter VIII 7.

Intimate Immensity. Discuss the human contemplation of the vastness of the cosmos with respect to man’s sense of his own inner being. What did Thoreau say happens to man when he looks into the lake? From d’Annunzio’s observation of the hare in the freshly plowed field, what was the “sacred instant of contemplation”? (pp.208,209) According to Thoreau, when man looks into a lake, he will also start to look at his own nature and to measure the depth of it.

The man feels the peace of the lake, which makes him focus on the world and brings deep peace for his inner being. The more he focused, the broader world he could feel. His inner world is opened through the lake to the cosmos. From d’Annunzio’s observation of the hare, the sacred instant of contemplation seems to describe how focused the hare is looking at the world, free of fear. But actually, it depicts how the man is focused on the hare and feels the peace the hare “feels”. At that moment, the man forgets about self-ego and just feels the world. His inner world is extended vastly. When man senses his own inner being, he finds peace and energy in the inner world, which helps to extend this world. And to some point, the inner world is extended vastly enough and the boundary between inside and outside disappears. It becomes the cosmos. This is the moment of contemplation.

48

04|17 Assignment 11 Dominican Motherhouse

Louis Kahn | Dominican Motherhouse The Dominican Motherhouse in Media, Pennsylvania, is an unbuilt project. Louis Kahn worked on it from 1965 to 1968. The design has many versions because of the tight budget and changes of mission. Through the evolution of Kahn’s designs, it is interesting to understand what John Lobell mentioned about Kahn: you must continue, and even death cannot satisfactorily conclude your struggle.

49

04|17 Assignment 11 Dominican Motherhouse

50

Form

51

04|17 Assignment 11 Dominican Motherhouse

52

Design

53

04|17 Assignment 11 Dominican Motherhouse

54

Tectonic

The first drawing is a diagram of the fourth schemes for the motherhouse. What does the building want to be? Kahn thinks the Form comes first before Design and it is like the visualization of the desire. Through all the diagrams, he gave up the curves and reorganized the shapes, but he insisted on the two spatial groups here: the private dormitories and the communal public spaces. The relationship between them was the form for the motherhouse and the lifestyle for which the sisters wanted.

Then he came to the design. He used the Design to test the Form for so many times. The fourth version becomes the most rational yet sophisticated one; it simplified the visible and measurable outlines and composed more intriguing connections inside, which are shown in the second drawing. Kahn used two axes for the cubes and created different circulations to “experience” the space. From the center to pass the gateway, through the corner to the schools, along the interior cycle for the chapel, the connection system here is “eternal”. Together with the courtyards, I can feel the various layers of shadows he created. He had some sketches for the cubes; they are based on loadbearing concrete walls, but with different sections. Like the “tectonic” mentioned

by Frampton, the axes in the plan layout also responses to the structure: we can imagine the structure from them and at the same time understand the different function of each cubes. The third drawing is a small sketch about the section and elevation of the dormitory unit based on Kahn’s sketch. It probably is made of masonry. I tried to imagine the shadow inside.

For all the sketches, I chose oil pastels. I changed my opinion about Louis Kahn since I saw his sketches. How could they be so colorful and enthusiastic? The potential motherhouse design is purple for me, a silent yet energetic dream.

As Lobell says, “architect may be a profession for many, but for him is a spiritual path.”

55

04|24 Assignment 12 The Thinking of Louis I. Kahn

The Thinking of Louis I. Kahn “You realize when you are in the realm of architecture that you are touching the basic feelings of man and that architecture would never have been part of humanity if it weren’t the truth to begin with.”

-Louis I. Kahn My first impression about Louis Kahn’s architecture was mysterious and slightly somber. I was confused with the complete geometrical elements and the rough sense of materiality in his design. I should admit that in my first years as an architecture student, I refused to study Kahn’s works. My negative attitude changed occasionally by the documentary film, My Architect: A Son’s Journey. When talking about the Parliament of Bangladesh, the local resident’s eyes were welled up with tears. His joy and respect suddenly touched me, which, however, made me even more confused: why did he almost cry?

“What does the building want to be?” is the beginning of Kahn’s philosophy. Instead of responding directly to the utilitarian needs like functionalism, Kahn was looking for an order, or an essence of the building. And he also used the term “form” in his early writings. The realm of Order, according to Kahn, is Silence, which does not exist and is the unmeasurable “desire to be”. Man has the desire to learn, to live, to work, to meet, to question and to express. To realize the “desires”, the institution appears. It is a collective, shared life nature, which according to Heidegger, is the form of Being. To present the institutions, and

56

to express the will to be, Kahn mentioned Light, a measurable existence accomplished by art. The Parthenon is a good example used by Heidegger to explain how architecture becomes the art at the threshold where Silence and Light meet, or for Heidegger, how architecture is the gathering of the fourfold world. It relates the sky and the ground, the human and the divine and creates a world in the world. The stone column is Light, the feeling of opening to the gathered world is Silence.

Louis Kahn once traveled through Italy, Greece, and Egypt. When he visited the ancient Greek and Roman ruins, did he share the same mood as the Bangladeshis visitor? The beginning of the world is uncovered, and the individual is transcended. The moment just jumps beyond the control of time and a sense of eternalness appears. Then when I look at Kahn’s pastel travel sketches for the greatness of the past, which were forgotten by most modern architects, I was shocked by his enthusiastic colors, especially the strongly contrasted color in the “boundary” and the “shadow”. Kahn says, “whatever is made of light casts a shadow.” “Our work is of shadow.” Shadow is never a pure dark space; it is a part of Light. The visible material and structure are Light for eyes, but as a natural extension of Light, Shadow evokes deeper emotion through other senses. For me, Kahn’s “what” question, or the question for Form is hard to describe. Because rather than responding to the functional needs, it reveals the nature of being. This answer needs long time to explore. Then, how Kahn “makes” it?

Kahn calls the process of making as Design. Unlike the impersonal Form, Design belongs to the architect. “Form can be detect-

57

04|24 Assignment 12 The Thinking of Louis I. Kahn

ed as the nature of something, and design strives at a precise moment to employ the laws of nature in putting that into being by allowing light into play.” And as we mentioned before, Kahn thinks the task for architects is the Shadow casted by Light. I remember how visitors describe the materials of Salk Institute. In the sunset, the concrete together with the wood have a creamy gesture; in the shadow, the bold marks on the concrete bring out the inner silence. There is a story about the marks and Kahn’s scars, which he did not hide. I never had the chance to visit his works. All the photos seem to flatten the Shadow, and that probably explains my negative attitude. I thought the building was cool and rational. However, the experience of other visitors totally altered my opinion.

It is the similar situation when I learned about the Dominican Motherhouse, an unconstructed project of Kahn. This project stopped on the fourth version and therefore the material was not developed completely. Kahn’s struggle in Design was shown in the evolution of the structure. When I saw the plan consisting of five boxes, I was confused why Kahn chose this kind of language for a motherhouse. After sketching his struggling process, I recognized his insistence of the institution: the dormitory to live, the communal space to meet and the various layers of circulations between them. He retested the organization for so many times and found out an “eternal” circulation. Here, the circulation is a little different from his other works: the served and servant spaces were intrigued to the extreme. The variety and the connection of passages and stairs gave the servant space “characteristics”. Thus, they became rooms.

58

Kahn’s ideas may still be challenging for me to fully express, but they will be buried in my memory and someday become “aha” moments. From Heidegger’s being to Bachelard’s poetics, from the distant Venice to Charleston, from the field trips (both virtual and realistic) to the hand sketches, and from the campus to working from home, they evoke the human emotion which makes our architecture students to be “insiders”. Especially for the days that we have to stay at home, we start to recognize the existence of our other senses. And now I can slightly understand the tears for the Parliament of Bangladesh: it is because of Kahn’s joy for each architecture and purified happiness for humans.

59

Thanks for the beautiful and special spring 2020.