FOR VIEWING ON SCREEN TO FULL EFFECT PLEASE: • enter full screen mode • go to view • select the single pages option • do not scroll • use your arrow keys to change page
THANK YOU
INHABITING THE IMAGE OF TERROR
the role of architectural iconography within the ubiquitous depiction of warfare
Nicholas Zembashi Third Year History & Theory Studies Seminar Tutor: Nerma Cridge
IMAGE
THE EXTENSION
OF THE EYE
1
“When you arrive at the scene of human disaster, the first thing to do is to stop the bleeding. There is nothing architecture can do until that is done. I was wrong.�
Lebbeus Woods, (Anarchitecture: Architecture is a Political Act)
3
HUMAN DISASTER
STOP THE BLEEDING
5
ARCHITECTURE CAN DO INOTHING WAS WRONG
7
image: a representation or simulation of an idea drawing: a particular type of image, by making marks through a process of mind-hand-eye coordination; an action that tends to be seen as indispensable to architecture inhabit: a habitat or space for our habits; an action physically compressed by a technological acceleration of reality terror: the construction of fear space: the condition of boundaries perceived as interior to self experience: perception
transformation
of
reality
through
construction: the invention of reality reality: a state necessitating the invention of construction
9
OVERTURE: TRAGICOMIC IMAGE To lack existence within an image means non-existence altogether
“Nobody gives a shit but you. Let’s face it … you are doing this because you want to feel relevant again … well guess what; there’s an entire world out there where people fight to be relevant every single day and you act like it doesn’t exist. Things are happening in a place that you ignore … that has already forgotten about you … I mean who the fuck are you? You hate bloggers, you mock twitter, you don’t even have a Facebook page! You are the one who doesn’t exist. You’re doing this because you’re scared to death, like the rest of us, that you don’t matter; and you know what; you’re right you don’t. It’s not important ok; you’re not important! Get used to it!” 1 A lack of a virtual identity, an online ‘image’ of one’s self, translates into non-existence. Such was the assertion made by Emma Stone’s character in the film, directed toward her self-absorbed father, portrayed by Michael Keaton. Keaton’s role is of a washed-up actor staging a Broadway play with high hopes to resurrect his fame. The comic-tragic nature of Birdman unfolds in a cleverly edited singular shot between interiors and exteriors, fantasies and realities. What seems to be montaged is not the spatial environment on-screen in a traditional cinematic sense, but time itself. Time collapses into a singularity. The entire film could almost be imagined as a long, continuous image in the form of a strip from beginning to end. Transitions from hours to days are executed with the subdued shift from room to room. With a similar subtlety spaces accommodate claustrophobic moments of character frustration and explosive behaviour, amidst a steady acceleration of events. The unfolding narratives become snapshots of life within a changing spatial framework. They escalate toward a climax where the boundary between ‘real’ and ‘staged’ actions becomes increasingly blurred. Can it be said that the representation of architectural space in imagery is undergoing an identical blurring of perception tied to imagery and speed? With Birdman, the role of the image in society is emphasised as a vehicle for struggle, competing for recognition and constructing and perfecting identity. An image, in its broadest sense, encompasses the representation of an idea or, as an approximation or fake reproduction, it may further be dubbed a simulation.
It is within an image that oneself is designed in much the same way as the depiction of space is constructed. architecture exist within imagery and if so prompt a space to engage in? As a medium for representing, not only people, but environments, the image embraces many forms from traditional artistic techniques, framed within tangible objects such as paintings, to photographs and films viewed through digital interfaces, as are screens. It is only within two of its extremes that its implications on space may be pursued. On one end the architectural drawing, seemingly framing moments in time. On the other its more dynamic, hyper-real, digital counterpart transmitted though communication technologies, often as a photograph or film clip. “There is nothing inherently good about images” though, since “they can just as readily be used to deceive as to tell the truth.” 2 Whether an image precisely represents or by simulating misleads, is a discussion that leads nowhere but into a loop. To clarify, by making any universal claims regarding the ‘real’ collapsing into representational forms is a ubiquitous epistemological argument that had ran through post-modernist thinking. After all, buildings are representational; conceptual; symbols of an idea . The question, rather, lies in how communicating a project through mediums of simulation addresses the way a building is ‘read’ or ‘viewed’ as opposed to experienced in built form. In other words, can imagespace be inhabited despite being visual? Can architecture exist within imagery and if so prompt a space to engage in? The proliferation of image production and the acceleration of their distribution are intrinsic in addressing the transition from physical habitation of space to that of the image. “We are living in the accident of the globe, the accident of instantaneousness, simultaneity and interactivity that have now gained the upper hand over ordinary activities.” 3 With the consumption of information through communication technologies, existence in space is put into question. This causes the construction of image-identity itself to obtain a claustrophobic and frustrating dimension in Birdman. And yet, its an indistinct spiral leading to a form of mental fear. A type of terror induced by the main character’s dread of not existing. He is scared to death by the prospect of failure in reconstructing the image of himself. “Promotion is the most thick-skinned parasite in our culture.” 4
1 ‘Birdman’, 2015, by Alejandro González Iñárritu 2 Baudrillard, J., The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, (Power Publications, Sydney, Australia, 2006) p.12 3 Virilio, P., The Administration of Fear, (MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2012), p. 45 4
Baudrillard, J., The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, (Power Publications, Sydney, Australia, 2006) p.31
I AM AN IMAGE I
DON’T EXIST
WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?
10
ACT I: TERROR - SPACE How changes in the way terror is perceived affect architecture’s role when dealing with conflict
Terror, in the more violent form of destructive warfare, is becoming unavoidable within architectural image-space. Few are the architects who directly deal with the topic. It is hard to see architecture obtaining any role beyond reconstruction in the aftermath of terror. Isn’t the speed with which terror is spread and physical environments destroyed, changing preconceptions of architecture’s very role in such matters? The accustomed conventions of war-making range from the logistics behind the construction of the war-machine, to its deployment and the reconstruction necessitated by its outcome. These involve processes humanity had been adhering to since time immemorial. Terrorism however, as an image of constructed fear attached to anyone, anywhere and at anytime, is only a recent phenomenon. It is perpetuated by the advancements in communication technologies. The perception of terror is further accelerated through technology as its images are hyper-realised on our devices. Hence, with such changes in the transmission and experience of destruction, architecture’s role as an instigator for positive change in the aftermath of disaster may be put into question. To put it differently, it is no longer as straight forward as ‘we are going to war; war is taking place; war has ended; now lets re-build.’ Why is this take on architectural imagery important to its habitation? Image and speed have become the modus operandi of the warmachine; “terror is the realisation of ... movement.” 5 It is where destruction beckons “an architecture of the new [to] grow from a new conceptual ground, one having to do with the dramatic and sometimes violent changes that mark the present era.” 6 There is a potent irony in exploring the ramifications of such incredibly imaginative projects. Especially in light of upheavals in the Middle East and their backlash on ‘Western’ Capitals. 7 Imaginative architectural drawings had been tools for speculating over the ruinous fallout of destructive forces. The contemporary nature of destruction is less of a natural causality and more of a human-technological one. For instance both Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Lebbeus Woods, although centuries apart, practised this notion of constructing fantasies. Through a prolific production of imagery, they draw from the ruins of destruction.
Their speculative renderings seem far from being buildable. Yet their impact on architectural discourse has been immense to say the least. Piranesi’s astounding arsenal of work features almost 700 drawings as well as over 1000 prints. “Though only few of his designs were actually realised, [much like Woods] Piranesi considered himself to be first and foremost an architect.” 8 In short, Piranesi’s polemical drawings emphasise their author’s creative fantasy, while lying between a rationality on the one hand and a pre-Romantic enthusiasm derived from a notion of artistic freedom on the other. Akin to Woods, he was a creator of worlds who “overcomes the border between dream and reality.” 9 The case of Woods bears a fascinating insight into the changing role of architectural image-construction. All this, at a time when the act of destruction is overtaking that of construction in terror-images and even the methods of architectural visualisation have undergone dramatic change. His projects are profoundly more telling in the contemporary architectural role on disaster, as opposed to Piranesi’s depictions of ruins which are of a different nature. How do works, such as Woods’ evocative drawings, represent optimism in the aftermath terror? They could be naively attempting some political statement beyond any tangible reality. Architects often dismiss them as whimsical art pieces for lacking physical feasibility. In defence, the physical environment isn’t the only place inhabited by architecture. The image can be considered as another. How could such drawings be inhabited as images? From the media’s projection of warfare to petty acts of staged violence in film, the proliferation of the image of terror and its spatial qualities are topics architects are increasingly confronted with. After all, in Birdman the protagonist only achieves success in amplifying his fame by an on-stage, attempted suicide. The audience are unaware of any truth behind the act and resort to a jubilant applause. Architecture is caught between such a confusing, tragicomic condition when called to radically respond to the aftermath of violent political scenarios. Can it only seriously be inhabited within its speculative imagery and not in a physical form? What value do these images possess for architecture, if any?
5 Arendt, H., The Origins of Totalitarianism, (Harcourt, New York, 1966) 6 Woods, L., Anarchitecture: Architecture is a Political Act, Architectural Monographs, No. 22, (Academy Press, England, 1992), p.9 7 In other words, an image in Paris instigates urban warfare, with the tragic events of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, followed by the demonstrations that flooded cities across Europe, including London. Meanwhile, screens are saturated to the point of mass desensitisation with beheading after beheading by the so-called Islamic State. The speed with which such events are perceived through imagery has eradicated the real meaning behind the event. Much like Jean Baudrillard questions the very definition of warfare in the‘The Gulf War did not Take place’, images from real-time disaster experience squestion the definition of arhciettcural space. Meanwhile the entire preconception of ‘Western’ areas being hit is also being blurred. Japan found itself involved an ISIS hostage scenario. Sydney bore witness to its own hostage crisis. When asking someone outside the field of architecture their thoughts on the profession’s role in the aftermath of conflict their response was typically along the lines of ‘why would people who have just been bombed need any level of architectural intervention and not the most basics to survive?’ - what Woods asked himself; ‘to stop the bleeding.’ 8 Biermann, V., et al., Architetcural Theory: From the Renaissance to the Present, (Taschen, Köln, Germany, 2003), p.164 9 Woods, L., Anarchitecture: Architecture is a Political Act, Architectural Monographs, No. 22, (Academy Press, England, 1992), p.6
DRAWING
NOITCURTSED
THE EXTENSION OF
EHT NOISNETXE FO
NUG
D
T
AN H E H
13
EHT
D
T
AN H E H
boom! ... terror?
not if you don’t know its real
14
ACT II: THE IMAGE AS HABITABLE SPACE Spatial experience amidst an accelerated perception of reality
“I don’t want to paint too cheerful a picture of the new architecture, the new culture to come… Invasions, I cannot deny, are sometimes painful, even brutal … What new and painful Renaissance awaits us?” 10
Whichever the case, both assertions can be seen as interchangeable. Whether the current nature of imagery is collapsing space into a singular point or expanding it to an infinite void, its architectural representation is drifting away from convention.
For Woods the fear of impending disasters is anticipated within this single sentence at the very end of his introduction to Anarchitecture: Architecture is a Political Act. The brutal, cataclysmic event that will ‘tear the system down’ is expected but, nonetheless, skipped. By a “rejection of existing social forms and proposal of new ones”11 he concentrates on the aftermath. Yet, what of the warfare before or as it unfolds? The role of the image of terror today is profoundly technological and inseparable from its speed of distribution. This argument is rampant throughout Paul Virilio’s work, exploring the immediacy of conflict and the logistics of war are more often explored in pre-disaster scenarios as opposed to Woods.
Hence, the meaning of space has been distorted, irreversibly obscuring the distinction between the built and unbuilt. In the minds of figures like Woods, architecture is no longer as tightly bound to being realised through building as it had been. It is then safe to assert that buildability is not the decisive measure of a project’s value. More importantly, Woods addresses war-torn landscapes with the image in such a politically provocative manner that probably surpasses any necessity to act within physical reality.
“Our reality has become uninhabitable in milliseconds, picoseconds, femtoseconds, billionths of seconds.” 12 In other words technology has allowed for the acceleration of reality, compressing and shrinking space by speed. “we still want even more speed and instantaneous” 13 retorts Bertrand Richard, as he questions Virilio in The Administration of Fear (2012). The acceleration of daily life by the spontaneity of information has made images environments. Even where warfare is not experienced directly, the perception of imagery has rendered fear as one of these environments. Through a further exploration the habitability of an image could be proven possible. Regarding the environment of fear, Virilio prefers the term habitat, alluding to a place of our habits. The notion of a habit may also be correlated with patterns of activity and repetition, hence time. In essence, where being-in-the-world is defined by speed and the place of habits is thusly compressed, “the question is not the end of history but the end of geography.” 14 The overall experience of habitation is not exclusive to space but can be expanded to time; it can be as much a physical act as it can be a mental one. Therefore, within the image of terror an environment is created that is arguably habitable. Where Virilio speaks of a compression of space Woods sees it as an over-abundance, “an infinitude of space - from the atom to cosmos.” 15
The advancements in image production allow to record and distribute events to incredible detail, beyond any hand-drawn techniques could ever do, the understanding of destruction of the built environment is regressing to a point of utter indifference. Uncertainty reigns in the age of the information bomb. The viewer has become immunised to shock and the role of the designer is not as much to provoke with imagery, as Woods does, but to simulate an appeasing reality through his digital render, more real than reality itself. It is irrelevant, though, to enter the maelstrom of digital versus hand-drawn. Let it be said that both, as tools, should not be fetishised. Neither obsessively applying the digital due to an absolute belief in technology being the only ‘way forward’, nor clinging onto the hand-drawn with romantic nostalgia. They are both equal in their capacity for positive as well as negative representations of architecture. The commercialisation of architecture and institutionalisation of image production are probable instigators of a deterioration in the value of drawing and its political power within the discourse. Evidently, what is key, is rather how the changing role of images and the speed with which they communicate physical destruction, is influencing the value of unbuilt architectures. Perhaps looking at Woods’ oeuvre, will provide an insight into how architects can deal with too-much-too-fast information. How to handle being overfed with yet another pretty render, another ruined landscape. Leave the former to architecture the latter to the news?
10 Woods, L., One, Five, Four, (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1989), p.10 11 Woods, L., Anarchitecture: Architecture is a Political Act, Architectural Monographs, No. 22, (Academy Press, England, 1992), p.9 12 Virilio, P., The Administration of Fear, (MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2012), p. 35 13 Ibid., p. 43 14 Ibid., p. 32 15 Woods, L., Radical Reconstruction, (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1997)
OVERFED
WITH
too cheerful a picture
16
too cheerful a picture sometimes painful, even brutal
18
TERROR
IMAGES sometimes painful, even brutal
20
ARCHITECTURE
AFTERMATH
22
ACT III: POST-TERROR DRAWING Drawing as provocation against the hyper-real image of terror
“I am compelled more and more to live and work in the precise, often painful, dimensions of the present.” 16 “It would be nice to think that, despite the stress and trauma of demolition, some understanding comes of it.” 17
Are then these scale-less, almost place-less worlds architecture? Many would beg to differ. What seems to be abstraction for the most part, ought to be read more critically as the source of creative power and political provocation.
Woods speaks of his work as a political act. He dismisses those who hold onto a belief that architecture is somehow nobler and above politics. Idealism is something he further claims to avoid. Working within present trauma and reacting to existing urban scenarios, his drawings re-invent the world in the light of new social orders, forms and architectures. As Joseph Becker reflects on the work he reveals an optimism in line with Woods’ speculations over demolition; that some understanding may indeed come of such events. The crux of the work is precisely a positive outlook amidst the aftermath of terror, constructed through the medium of the drawing.
Take Woods’ controversial drawings of Sarajevo as an exemplar case. With a daring attempt, Woods drew architectures that “turned the incredible forces of politics, nature and human creativity into architecturally benevolent opportunities.” 20 All the material published in the 15th Issue of Pamphlet Architecture is devoid of people. What Woods’ defines as Scabs and Scars, become ghostly, fluid forms, parasitically intertwined with the existential remnants of a broken capital. His compelling forms, lying within the alternate reality of image-space, are more powerful and engaging than many of the raw, literal representations of the terror during the Serbian/ Bosnian war.
One could further see the work as “murderously visionary images, real, frightening, and at the same time liberating.” 18 Worlds devoid of fear. As visually engaging and evocative Woods’ drawings may be, how do they measure against the reality of the traumas they propose to revolutionise? His is an architecture that grows amongst the devastating ruins of war. Forms are often elusive, while their material composition seems haphazard. Line, shade, tone and colour are playfully deployed to obtain both clarity and the evocation of atmosphere. There always remains a degree of ambiguity, only subtly interrupted by recognisable elements of scale (material thickness, existing city fragments and people). Violence and devastation loose their prominence within the landscape. Inventive proposals take over. How much of the real landscape is lost with selective omission? The almost 500 of Woods’ works featured on his web page,19 range from the late 1980s up to his passing in 2012. As a sample, they comprise of his more recent adventures in drawing but are nonetheless interesting indicators of how he goes about constructing his images. To elaborate, over two thirds of these images are drawings and sketches while the rest photographs of models or installations. Of these, a mere tenth is populated by shadowy figures and nearly just as much includes fragments of buildings as further references to scale.
The intentional absence of information becomes the author’s singular language and power over the ruins he charts. Just as much as these images are arguably habitable despite being unbuilt, they are also provocative in their speculative nature. The majority of his creations come to highlight his flaming conviction that drawings can tell of architecture that which neither words, nor buildings or even photographs of conflict, can. The overarching aim is not to blatantly shock, but to collectively remember the past war, while simultaneously tearing through it by suggesting positive, alternative architectural approaches. “Architecture must learn to transform the violence, even as violence knows how to transform the architecture.” 21 By saying so, it is never a case of disaster being aestheticised but of a changing outlook over its consequences. The challenge is to look at the beautiful and constructive side of chaos. Woods’ drawings are imbued with an allegorical nature which grants them power beyond built form. Nevertheless, they may still be questioned for their position amidst the wider topic of terror. Particularly, the role of allegorical imagery within the context of accelerated reality and its impact on architectural information. As projects they remain in the clear aftermath of terror. What of architectural space where warfare no longer unfolds in a such clear sequence? Where the speed of destruction and its imagery have redefined the conventional habitation of space?
16 Woods, L., One, Five, Four, (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1989), p.10 17 Justin Paton, December 4, 2013, The Fault Is Ours: Joseph Becker On Lebbeus Woods, [online] Available at: http://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/bulletin/174/the-fault-isours-joseph-becker-on-lebbeus-woods/ [Accessed March 15 2015] 18 Virilio, P., The Administration of Fear, (MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2012), p. 19 Lebbeus Woods, official website [online] Available at: http://lebbeuswoods.net [Accessed March 28 2015] 20 Neil Spiller, October 31, 2012, Lebbeus Woods, visionary architect of imaginary worlds, dies in New York, [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-designblog/2012/oct/31/lebbeus-woods [Accessed March 13 2015] 21 Woods, L., Archietcture and War, (Pamphlet Architecture, Issue 15, Princeton Architetcural Press, New York, 1993), p.24
painful, dimensions of the present.
the stress and trauma of demolition
24
DIGITAL RENDER
BUILT REALITY
26
ACT IV: THE HYPER-REAL & THE DRAWN precise imagery of absolute uncertainty
“Increasingly we live in a world where nothing makes any sense. Events come and go like waves of a fever leaving us confused and uncertain. Those in power tell stories to help us make sense of the complexity of reality. Those stories are increasingly unconvincing and hollow … This led us … to become a dangerous and destructive force in the world.” 22 The acceleration of reality is re-defining the sequential experience of terror. It has acquired far greater complexity and uncertainty than a matter of discernible cause-and-affect. This, vitally, changes the meaning of acting within the space of a disaster’s aftermath, as seen with Woods. Walter Benjamin assesses this condition in the Kunstwerk essay, by explaining Marinetti’s futurist view and his ties to fascist imagery of violence. His words are almost prophetic of a mounting “... artistic gratification of a sense of perception altered by technology. This is evidently the consumption of l’art pour l’art. Humankind, which once, in Homer, was an object of contemplation for the Olympian gods, has now become one for itself. Its self-alienation has reached the point where it can experience its own annihilation as a supreme aesthetic pleasure. Such is the aestheticising of politics.” 23 Not only has aestheticised terror been surpassed, the proliferation of the image of self-destruction pushes towards another extreme. Architects are left increasingly indifferent towards conflict scenarios, or have accepted their incapability to respond, both physically or through drawing. The production and spread of the hyper-realised image of terror nullifies responses to it. Compliance ensues.“At least let us have a sceptical intelligence towards it, without renouncing the pathetic feeling of its absurdity.” 24 The first Gulf War makes for an parodied example of such an oddity. It officially lasted 800 hours, but generated 20 000 hours of video footage. Essentially three-and-a-half years of images were generated to record one month of conflict. The ability to convey an argument is hindered by an over-abundance of the information at hand.
The quantity of information does not grant it any qualitative value. It is rather a “...masquerade of information: branded faces delivered over to the prostitution of the image, the image of an unintelligible distress.” 25 Despite an information-overflow and the availability of precise imagery documenting events, what is faced is absolute uncertainty. Paradoxically, even though the passing of Lebbeus Woods had only been three years ago, already publications of his work have gone out of print while specific images are not as abundantly available online as one may think. In any case, Woods’ post-terror drawings may just be able to assert themselves across this uncertainty of image-space because of their allegorical nature. He attempts to uphold a belief that his proposals are not static depictions of momentary space. “Any attempt to express in a form an idea external to it is an attempt to arrest the idea in time, to control it beyond its life. I despise all such expressionism.” 26 Does this truly adhere to his drawings? It maybe so, for the power granted to the viewer’s gaze. Architectural imagery of terror could attempt at encompassing the complexities of space, time and speed, via its relationship with its viewers. To elucidate, the purview of the image inheres within its ethical and political ambivalence.27 The extent of the ambiguity constructed by “extinguishing appearances” 28 implies degrees of agency to the viewer, implicating his gaze and by extension his presence within the image. Evidently, what Woods’ work proves is that the hyper-real depictions of warfare and their speed of distribution may have degraded the notion of space, but remain too literal to be inhabited in the same engaging way as his drawings could. It seems that uncertain images are those which deliver architectural arguments with absolute certainty.
22 ‘Bitter Lake’, Documentary by Adam Curtis, 2015 23 Benjamin, W., Gesammelte Schriften, Vol 7(1), p.383-4, Selected Writings, Vol.3, p.122 24 Baudrillard, J., The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, (Power Publications, Sydney, Australia, 2006) p.58 25 Ibid., p. 40 26 Woods, L., Anarchitecture: Architecture is a Political Act, Architectural Monographs, No. 22, (Academy Press, England, 1992), p.11 27 Broomberg, A., Chanarin, B.,War Primer 2, (Mack, Vale Studio, 62 Wood Vale Road, London, 2011), p.131 28 Ibid., p.130
FINAL ACT: ARCHITECTURE AND THE IMAGES OF TERROR Can the current role of imagery change the way architectural projects are communicated?
“I have no need whatsoever to draw my designs. Good architecture, how something is to be built, can be written. One can write the Parthenon.” Adolf Loos, 1924 29 Loos is not mistaken that architecture can be-written. He is wrong for being absolute about it. The accelerated perception of reality has clearly put into question the role of inhabiting architectural space. To postulate the habitation of the imagery is to call upon “a twilight of the places”. 30 Terror, in its construction of environments of fear, has become a place within the image. The constant bombardment with a plethora of hyper-real representations of conflict have made destruction a prominent phenomenon of every-day life and yet less and less architects are prepared to respond. However, there is not a definite way to respond. Only perhaps in the aftermath. It is within the fallout of terror where Lebbeus Woods’ finds an unique position within the discourse. His drawings prove a daring side to radical and imaginative architectural image construction. In memory of Lebbeus Woods, architectural critic Douglas Murphy states that “unlike many of that generation who eventually made the career transition from avant-garde upstarts to global superstars, Lebbeus Woods never got rich by building rubbish.” 31 Woods was never reluctant in pushing the boundaries. Critics would say that came at ease since his only built work came at the very end of his career. 32 Nonetheless, his take on warfare was one of optimism and faith in architecture’s positive ability for human beings “...to experience the world they inhabit - and construct that experience, that reality, ...unrestrained by fear.” 33 Architects are constructors of worlds, whether built or unbuilt. Just as a building could draw a viewer to inhabit it through an image, the same is possible via a piece of text, as Loos claims, a physical space, a film and just about every other medium at an architect’s disposal. It is up to the designer as author of reality to opt from the array of tools best suited for each project.
30 31 , 32
33
Loos, A., 1924, Douglas Murphy, October 31, 2012, Lebbeus Woods, visionary architect of imaginary worlds, dies in New York, [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecturedesign-blog/2012/oct/31/lebbeus-woods [Accessed March 13 2015] Lebbeus Woods’ only built project in colaboraration with Steven Holl, is called the Light Pavilion, in Raffles City complex, Chengdu. Interestingly, despite it having charachtarestics of Woods’ drawings and philosophy I would say it is argubaly far from possessing the qualities of the drawings. Quite obviously so, but this may be a telling sign of why certain architecture do exist in images and perform their arguments with a lot more strength. Woods, L., One, Five, Four, (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1989), p.11
BIBLIOGRAPHY Books, Articles & Other Publications: - Baudrillard, J., The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, (Power Publications, Sydney, Australia, 2006) - Virilio, P., The Administration of Fear, (MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2012)
5. Lamentation for Gaza and Rabbi Brant Rosen, September 9, 2014, [online], Available: http://www.kairosathand.com/2014/09/09/ lamentation-for-gaza-and-rabbi-brant-rosen/ [Accessed March 15 2015] 6. Syrian Civil War, A young boy mourns over that fact that his life has
- Arendt, H., The Origins of Totalitarianism, (Harcourt, New York, 1966)
crumbled right in front of his eyes. [online], Available: https://kemelito.
- Biermann, V., et al., Architetcural Theory: From the Renaissance to the
wordpress.com/blog/page/2/ [Accessed March 15 2015]
Present, (Taschen, Köln, Germany, 2003) - Woods, L., Anarchitecture: Architecture is a Political Act, Architectural Monographs, No. 22, (Academy Press, England, 1992) - Woods, L., One, Five, Four, (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1989) - Woods, L., Radical Reconstruction, (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1997) - Woods, L., Archietcture and War, (Pamphlet Architecture, Issue 15, Princeton Architetcural Press, New York, 1993), p.24 - Benjamin, W., Gesammelte Schriften, Vol 7(1), p.383-4, Selected Writings, Vol.3, p.122 - Broomberg, A., Chanarin, B.,War Primer 2, (Mack, Vale Studio, 62 Wood Vale Road, London, 2011), p.131 - McLuhan, M., The Medium is The Message, (Gingko Press, 2001) ..................................................................................................................... Online Articles & Other Web References: - Justin Paton, December 4, 2013, The Fault Is Ours: Joseph Becker On Lebbeus Woods, [online] Available at: http://christchurchartgallery. org.nz/bulletin/174/the-fault-is-ours-joseph-becker-on-lebbeus-woods/ [Accessed March 15 2015] - Lebbeus Woods, official website [online] Available at: http:// lebbeuswoods.net [Accessed March 28 2015] - Neil Spiller, October 31, 2012, Lebbeus Woods, visionary architect of imaginary worlds, dies in New York, [online] Available at: http://www. theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2012/oct/31/ lebbeus-woods [Accessed March 13 2015] ..................................................................................................................... Talks and Exhibits: - Organised by Nannette Jackowski and Ricardo de Ostos, ‘Lebbeus Woods: Projecting Realities’, November 4, 2014, Architetcural Association, London - Tate Modern, ‘Conflict, Time, Photography’, 13 January - 13 February 2015 ..................................................................................................................... Film: - ‘Birdman’, 2015, by Alejandro González Iñárritu - ‘Bitter Lake’, Documentary by Adsm Curtis, 2015 ..................................................................................................................... Images: 1. Still from the film ‘Birdman’, 2015, by Alejandro González Iñárritu 2. Giovanni Battista Piranesi Veduta, [online], Available: https:// salvatoreronga.wordpress.com/category/centanni-disolitudine/page/5/ [Accessed March 15 2015] 3. Lamentation for Gaza and Rabbi Brant Rosen, September 9, 2014,
7. Lebbeus Woods. Region M (7), 37. 1984. Pencil on paper, 358 × 308 mm. © Estate of Lebbeus Woods [online], Available: http://thecharnelhouse. org/2014/09/#jp-carousel-22746 [Accessed March 15 2015] 8. Still from the film ‘Birdman’, 2015, by Alejandro González Iñárritu 9. Syrian Civil War, A young boy mourns over that fact that his life has crumbled right in front of his eyes. [online], Available: https://kemelito. wordpress.com/blog/page/2/ [Accessed March 15 2015] 10. Still from the film ‘Birdman’, 2015, by Alejandro González Iñárritu 11. Giovanni Battista Piranesi Veduta, Ancient Temple Wall, [online], Available: http://galleryhip.com/ancient-temple-wall.html [Accessed March 18 2015] 12. Israel in the Eye of the Hurricane, [online], Available: http:// mosaicmagazine.com/essay/2014/01/israel-in-the-eye-of-the-hurricane/ [Accessed March 18 2015] 13. Still from the film ‘Birdman’, 2015, by Alejandro González Iñárritu 14. Still from the film ‘Birdman’, 2015, by Alejandro González Iñárritu 15. Tumbuh Gigi! Berikan Makanan ini Agar Anak Nyaman [online], Available: http://makananmu.com/tumbuh-gigi-berikan-makanan-iniagar-anak-nyaman/ [Accessed March 18 2015] 16. BREAKING: ISIS Beheads Second American Journalist Steven Sotloff [online], Available: http://mrconservative.com/2014/09/48774-breakingvideo-shows-isis-beheading-second-american-journalist-steven-sotloff/ [Accessed March 18 2015] 17.Woods, L., Radical Reconstruction, (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1997) 18. Bombardements de Sarajevo (1993), [online], Available: http://www. cvce.eu/obj/bombardements_de_sarajevo_1993-fr-7a1b66fc-1719-44e2bf21-d55a08c74ab2.html,
[Accessed March 18 2015]
19. BREAKING: ISIS Beheads Second American Journalist Steven Sotloff [online], Available: http://mrconservative.com/2014/09/48774-breakingvideo-shows-isis-beheading-second-american-journalist-steven-sotloff/ [Accessed March 18 2015] 20.Woods, L., Radical Reconstruction, (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1997) 21.Woods, L., Radical Reconstruction, (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1997) 22. Woods, L., Radical Reconstruction, (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1997) 23. Woods, L., Radical Reconstruction, (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1997) 24. Colonial Williamsburg Offers To Save Iraqi Artifacts From Isis Destruction,
[online], Available: http://www.kairosathand.com/2014/09/09/
[online], Available: http://makinghistorynow.com/2015/03/colonial-
lamentation-for-gaza-and-rabbi-brant-rosen/ [Accessed March 15 2015]
williamsburg-offers-to-save-iraqi-artifacts-from-isis-destruction/
4. Syrian Civil War, A young boy mourns over that fact that his life has crumbled right in front of his eyes. [online], Available: https://kemelito. wordpress.com/blog/page/2/ [Accessed March 15 2015]
[Accessed March 23 2015] 25. Lebbeus Woods 1940-2012, Sarajevo, [online], Available: http:// thesuperslice.com/2012/10/30/lebbeus-woods-1940-2012/ [Accessed March 24 2015] 26. Najbolja zgrada (objekt) u Sarajevu?, [online], Available: http://forum.klix. ba/najbolja-zgrada-objekt-u-sarajevu-t11301.html [Accessed March 24 2015]