Studies in Contemporary Architectural Theory Compare and contrast 3-4 ways that the human body has been woven into theories of architecture and urbanism. Relate these to concrete examples from your experience of space and place. Anirudh Sood S1151929
Compare and contrast 3-4 ways that the human body has been woven into theories of architecture and urbanism. Relate these to concrete examples from your experience of space and place. The body has played an intrinsic role on architecture since the very beginning of civilisation. From the construction of architecture to the affect and movement within it, the body has been the measure to which architecture takes place. In this essay I am to explore several schools of thought to whom the body is a central element in architecture. Throughout history, the influence of the body on architecture has been evident. Architecture of the ancient civilisations from Egypt, Greece and India have derived and based their architecture on the human form in both metaphysical and spiritual sense. The ancient Hindu temples of India take the form of Mandala. The term Mandala, which forms part of the ancient Indian theories of architecture, Vastu Shastra, is a Sanskrit word with a root of “mand”, meaning to mark off or decorate, and the suffix “la”, meaning essence or the sacred centre. The Mandala can be considered as an ancient ‘plan of the cosmos’, where Space and Time are expressed through the vocabulary of circles and squares. It offers the worshippers a means to visualise the universe and their place within it. The Mandala would also contain an image or a sculpture of deity at the centre of the space, symbolising the importance of the proportion and hierarchy given to the form itself. The metaphysical plan of the architecture however is the Vastu Purusha Mandala, a diagrammatic means of generating design of spaces.
Fig. 1 – The Mandala Form as a cosmic
Fig. 2 – Vastu Purusha – This usually
Fig. 3 – The Mandala Form translated as an
diagram.
involves placement of the figure on top of
architectural plan for a building.
the site to resolve the placement of the programme.
Much in the same manner as the Mandala, Le Modulor, the anthropomorphic scale of proportions devised by Le Corbusier was an attempt to see the built environment in both urban and architectural scale through the proportions of the human body. Le Corbusier aimed to continue the role of proportionality in architecture through the method of Standardisation. Standardisation was proposed at the time by multiple governments to allow the good and materials to be interchangeable around the world. The Modular was also an attempt to unify the various methods of measure that were applied around the world such as the metre and the foot.
Le Corbusier regarded the level of connection with the human body the ancient civilisations as having great importance. He spoke with admiration of the ancient architecture in the form of the huts, houses and temples of the Egyptian, Chaldean and Greek civilizations,
“…they were infinitely rich and subtle because they formed part of the mathematics of the human body, gracious, elegant and firm, the source of that harmony which moves us: beauty” Le Corbusier. 1954. The Modulor, p.19. The Modulor follows the principle of the golden ratio, found in the human body. This proportional system was based on a man, 1.829 meters in height, with a raised arm at 2.26 m in height. The figure, which was inserted into a box, was further subdivided following the Golden Section. This would then be further subdivided using Fibonacci sequence, a series of numbers creating a pattern that can be found in nature. As Curtis notes,
“the Modulor was more than a tool; it was a philosophical emblem of Le Corbusier’s commitment to discovering an architectural order equivalent to that in natural creation.” Le Corbusier. Ideas and Forms, Curtis
Fig. 4 – ‘Le Modulor’ graphic consists of a man with an upright arm. The red and blue series of proportions indicate the golden
The Modulor was an attempt through which the language
ratio and the Fibonacci sequence.
and proportionality of architectural design could find a method. Just as the musical notation had become a tool to write and describe music with, much in the same manner, “elbow (cubit), finger (digit), thumb (inch), foot, pace, and so forth...” would become the tools for architectural design. These tools which had served as measures for the construction of huts, houses and temples, could perhaps be used in the modern times to determine the sizes and proportions of machines, buildings and even cities.
“If a tool of linear or optical measures, similar to musical script, were placed within our reach, would it not help in the process of construction?” Corbusier, Le, Pg. 17 Le Corbusier’s practical application of the Modulor system can be seen in his project, Unite D’Habitation, which he describes in Le Modulor through the means of the proportions. It is evident that the spaces he aimed to create were to be harmonious in their proportionality rather than materiality.
“The building is 140 metres long, 24 metres wide and 56 meters high...” Le Corbusier. 1954. The Modulor, p.132. The scale at which Le Corbusier applied the proportionalities was not only limited to individual buildings. The theory is further tested with experimental urban plans such as the Radiant City, Plan for Saint Die, Antwerp and Paris. Prior to the Unite d’Habitation, Le Corbusier had worked on plans for a Radiant City, devised with the proportions of the Modular.
“We may safely say that such exactitude, such rigour of mathematics and harmony have never before been applied to that simplest accessory of daily life: the dwelling.” Le Corbusier. 1954. The Modulor, p.132.
Fig. 5 – The Modulor sequence applied to both plan and section
Fig. 6 – Plan for Saint Dié. The plan for which was ‘melody and
of Unite D’Habitation.
rhythm, geometry and nature, human proportion and a landscape of hills and vales.
The city can be seen as a rational approach to urbanism, where the rational proportions of its layout regulate the daily life of the inhabitant to a certain extent. The proportionality transcended all scales, from city to human. The proportional harmony enforced onto the inhabitants of the city was for their own benefit.
" Authority must step in, patriarchal authority, the authority of a father concerned for his children," (Le Corbusier 1967, 152) The works of Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo Da Vinci, in particular the Vitruvian man, had influenced the Modulor. These works, primarily investigative means from which to find the man’s place in the world, became studies for the human form. These were visual attempts to find patterns between the proportionality of the body and nature. As Pallasmaa argues,
“Alberti’s statement that ‘painting is nothing but the intersection of the visual pyramid following a given distance, a fixed centre and a certain lighting’ outlines the perspectival paradigm which also became the instrument of architectural thinking.” Pallasmaa, Pg.26 One of the critical failures of the Modulor System has been its emphasis solely upon proportional harmony, a visual architectural paradigm. Having visited the ancient temples of India, constructed out of stone, the forms seem to contain a certain sense of visual harmony. However I feel this is as implicit through the body’s connection with the architecture, as worshippers are required to sit on the floor, as is the proportional harmony of the temple. The cool surface in a warm climate allows architecture to be felt, touched, providing a holistic environment to worship in. The architecture belongs to the place and there is an element of vernacular which adds atmosphere to the architecture. In its truest form however, Vastu Shastra itself isn’t as rigorously applied. In contrast, there is a lack of emotional engagement for man with the architecture that is influenced and finally based on the theories proposed by Le Corbusier. Regardless of the fact that Le Corbusier himself declared the project to be a
prototype or as he describes it machine à habiter. The analogy of ‘machine for living’ itself distances the architecture and the building away from the human body. The human body is merely a part of a machine to be fitted into. At the time of its conception, Modernism offered a structured approach to architecture, based on the principles of the rational harmony, away with the archaic architecture of the previous eras of extravagance and décor. However, it failed to provide the human element to its architecture, instead the architecture and the cities we lived in became machines and monotonous. Another theory by which architecture can be seen to be influenced by the human body is through the phenomenological school of thought. The phenomenological approach to architecture aims to engage the human experiential senses through various means of creating a space and place. The theory dates back to the late 1970’s with influence from the writings of Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
phe·nom·e·nol·o·gy Noun \fi-ˌnä-mə-ˈnä-lə-jē\ 1: the study of the development of human consciousness and self-awareness as a preface to or a part of philosophy. Fig. 7 – A dictionary entry for the term phenomenology.
Edmund Husserl, the father of phenomenology as a philosophy, wrote concerning a ‘‘crisis’’ that had resulted from a dependence on scientific rationalism. In response to the Modernist ideals of architecture, in particular Le Modulor which had centred on the proportionality paradigm predominantly, phenomenology in architecture and designed urban spaces aimed to create an atmosphere for their inhabitants through the use of materials, light and sound that engage with the various senses of the human body.
“A building becomes a collection of possible points upon which … bodily action may operate” (Merleau-Ponty, 1962 Pg. 121) The dominance of sight however as a sensory force in aesthetic practices, much present in Western architecture, has been evident from the Greek architecture to Modernism. Phenomenological thought presents a way to challenge the vision hegemony supported and endorsed by the Modernist ideals. As Le Corbusier remarked,
“I exist in life only if I can see.” Precisions, Le Corbusier Pg. 7 In his book The Eyes of the Skin, Juhani Pallasmaa examines the role of the eye in culture and philosophy, and its dominance over the other senses. Since ancient Greece, sight has been the principle sensory function through which we examine our environment, and with it the built environment. Architecture offers us an insight into our relationship with the world and the place we inhibit within it.
“Architecture is our primary instrument in relating us with space and time, and giving these dimensions a human measure.” Juhani Pallasmaa, Pg.17
It is imperative then for architecture to create an appeal that not only caters to vision but to the other senses as well. Architecture, which lacked tactility under Modernism, requires texture, triggering the sense of touch, smell and sound. A purely visual world separates us further from the world, where objects are merely at the end of our gaze. However, a tactile space brings us closer to the object, touch bringing us closer to the environment we inhabit. Merleau-Ponty’s “The Intertwining: The Chiasm” has been one of the major written works on the subject of phenomenology and perception of architecture. It challenges the experience of the piece of art, where experience is substantiated as thick and with tension. The ‘flesh’ is the new form of the body and ‘chiasm’, Greek for crossing over, is the combination for both objective and subjective existence. The Intertwining: The Chiasm is essentially about the sensation of one hand touching the other hand. Both are part of the same body, where the hand that touches can be felt to be touched. In the same manner, the body can solicit from architecture the same level of response. The work has influenced significantly the architecture of Steven Holl. His noted response to the writing has been Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki. In Holl’s own words, Fig. 8 – A view of the atrium space inside the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art. The visitors to the museum experience varying levels of the light and spaces, triggering a personal emotional response to the architecture.
“This building could somehow be a vehicle of the body moving through space and of the notion of natural light.” Holl, Architecture Spoken, Pg. 270
The phenomenological approach to architecture that Holl uses suggests a need to engage the body fully with its architecture. There is no hierarchy among the senses, and the body is used as a measure against which architecture varies its position and texture. The building is an attempt to intertwine the programmatic volumes with the historical and cultural geometry of the city. It is an intertwining between the nature and culture that surround the site in the form of Lake Töölö and the buildings of Aalto and Saarinen. The result is a rectilinear volume, housing the museum galleries, meeting a curved volume responding to the historical morphology of the city. The museum offers the visitors a chance to explore the varying atmospheres of the building. The relationship between the curve and rectilinear allows varying levels of light to enter the gallery spaces, with each space offering a different experience for the art displayed in its volume. The affect of the architecture plays with the various senses of the body and renders emotion within the building. These are memorable spaces that are not only triggered by sight, but through our journey within them. The movement triggers more than sight, as our relative position to the object and architecture changes. Different objects come into view and recede, creating a parallax. This brings awareness to the body of the objects and architecture within our environment and our relationship to it. The circulation undulates between each of the levels, and no two points of arrival or departure between the volumes are the same. The movement of the body through the building becomes pivotal to the circulation and perception of space; it therefore becomes a measure of space.
As Holl writes,
‘‘The movement of the body as it crosses through overlapping perspectives formed within spaces is the elemental connection between ourselves and architecture. [. . .] Our faculty of judgement is incomplete without this experience of crossing through spaces, the turn and twist of the body engaging a long and then a short perspective, an up-and-down movement, an open-and-closed or dark-and-light rhythm of geometries—these are the core of the spatial score of architecture.’’ Steven Holl, Parallax, p. 26. This mirrors Merleau-Ponty’s assertion that the body is essential to the act of sensation.
“‘[...] it is that by which there are objects.’’ Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception, p. 92. If we look at the house as an analogous medium that can be entered, inhabited and occupied by the body, and the notion that Merleau-Ponty proposes, that by looking at an object we inhabit it, there lies the perception that the objects become ‘transparent’ through our gaze. Gaze, as being part of the body, inhabits space. The objects are implicated in the perception of space by the body. It also sets true the statement that if we are able to inhabit an object, there is an idea of the inside and outside, similar to the inside and outside of the body. The museum, with its curved walls and undulating surfaces, embodies a sense of wonder and perception. The intriguing way in which we react or experience the habitable space not only brings attention to the space but also to our own body.
“What is experienced is the atmosphere, not the object as such.” Wigley, Pg. 18
Similar to that, The National Museum of Scotland engages with the body on a several layers. The circulation of the spaces differs on many levels, and the body’s reaction to this creates an affect to which we measure each space. The curved walls and niches within the plan of the building invite the body to explore. There are playful moments where the level of engagement operates on a different scale, such as one-person balcony overlooking a larger space accommodating museum exhibits. Here not only are we engaging with the museum contents but also the museum itself. The architecture that appeals to our senses leads us on to the question of atmosphere and the role architecture plays in creating the atmosphere that addresses the concerns of the user. User specific architecture can take many forms such as hospitals, baths, places of worship etc. It is in these situations Fig. 8 – A view of the atrium space inside the Kiasma
architecture can create an atmosphere within itself, directly out
Museum of Contemporary Art. The visitors to the museum
of its built form that engages with the body on a physical level.
experience varying levels of the light and spaces, triggering a personal emotional response to the architecture.
The embodied experience of architecture thus can be related to the materiality, emotion and performance of the inhabited space. The atmosphere therefore is essential to people, where they ‘actually derive countenance and sustenance from the atmosphere of the things they live in or with’. Modern architectural practices attempt to create a certain atmosphere inside the building. Architecture creates atmosphere that the body desires and hence sells the services of the architect. The sense of atmosphere is usually illustrated in proposed visualisations and drawings, even before construction has begun, directly in contradiction from Wigley’s observation that,
“Architecture seems to start precisely where the construction stops.” Wigley, Pg. 18 As Wigley states, architecture always seems to take place in conditions of good weather in architectural representations. Not only are the contemporary architects guilty of this practice. Frank Lloyd Wright, who proclaimed himself to create architecture of atmosphere, asserted his desire to remove ‘rank and unwholesome atmosphere’ from architecture. Yet even his architectural drawings dissuaded from being seen in the atmosphere that the architecture would certainly be a part of. As Wigley notices,
“Even if Wright insisted that the ‘protecting’ shape of his distinctive overhanging roofs if a response to ‘the climate being what it was, violent in extremes of heat and cold, damp and dry, dark and bright’, we never see his houses in the rain.” Wigley, Pg. 20 The architecture of Peter Zumthor aims to embody atmosphere, through its use of materiality, performance and the emotion it creates with its built form. The Therme Vals, in Switzerland have been literally constructed out of stone and water, both present at site. The baths allow the architect to fully engage with the functions of the body, and Zumthor has done precisely that with the various atmospheres created for the varying programmatic requirements of the baths. The atmosphere within individual baths is created through the use of colour and light; for example, the Fire Bath uses the colour red predominantly. The body is allowed the tactile experience of touching water on different textures and temperature, under varying levels of light. For architecture to be grounded in its place, it is necessary for the body and the mind to feel that the atmosphere of the building adds to the atmosphere of the place. Emotion plays an important role in our perception of the Fig. 9 – Interior view of the Therme Vals. Combination of light, sound, tactility
architecture.
of surfaces helps to create a unique experience. The space celebrates the ritual of bathing and the body is at the central to its experiential qualities.
The body plays a crucial role in my architectural education. In the design studio, I am investigating the role water plays in the city and the building of Olbia, Sardinia. However, the scale of the body is important to understand the use, politics and the effect of water. The narrative of the project involves flooding of the city’s rivers in order to create a land condition on
which architecture may take place. Not only does this provide the city with a new situation, it alters the pattern of the city to a more river aligned metropolitan landscape. The very nature of the project is based upon our experiences and perceptions of the city from one site visit in November. In that respect it is difficult to design architecture for the city, especially when the thesis revolves around the seasonal changes in the city’s waterscape throughout the year. The experience of the body in this case is limited to the time span spent at site. However personal experience from life guides us through the challenge of designing architecture. Therefore I feel it is imperative to create architecture with emotion, as the building is grounded in the phenomenology of the place. The title of the project has been named Hand Basin, implying a direct response from the body to the city conditions. I am proposing a house that sits within the floodplain of the river, on the periphery of the old historic city. The river at its present position neglected from the city and the frequency of its flood means that architecture’s engagement to the flood plain remains at a minimum. In response to the design challenge, I have aimed to consider the phenomenology of the site, with respect to the historic, cultural and design values of the city of Olbia. This works in conjunction with the empirical values such as measure, volumes and the scientific condition of extreme weather conditions.
From the examples stated above, it is clear that the body has played a major role in the aesthetics of architecture, which in turn are also determined by the construction of architecture, a very human act. The works of Alberti, Da Vinci and Corbusier have all left an impression on the way we construct and acquire materials in contemporary architecture. Its natural progression to the phenomenological based thought has meant that not only do we consider the body as a proportioned being, but also a measure of the senses that architecture aims to create. It is when the two combine that do we get memorable architecture.
Bibliography 1. Corbusier, Le. The Modulor. Trans. Peter De Francia and Anna Bostock. Vol. 2. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1973. Print. 2. Coyne, Richard. Affect, Atmosphere, Sensibility. Edinburgh. 20 Mar. 2012. Lecture. 3. Coyne, Richard. Bodies, Sense, Space. Edinburgh. 28 Feb. 2012. Lecture. 4. Drake, Scott. "The Chiasm and the Experience of Space." Journal of Architectural Education, ACSA (2005): 53-59. Web. 5. Ferguson, James, and Daina Ferguson. "Ideal-community." Ferguson Studio. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://www.ferguson-studio.com/ideal-community.html>. 6. Holl, Steven. Intertwining: Selected Projects 1989-1995. New York: Princeton Architectural, 1998. Print. 7. Holl, Steven. Parallax. Basel: Birkhäuser-Publishers for Architecture, 2000. Print. 8. Holl, Steven. Steven Holl: Architecture Spoken. New York: Rizzoli, 2007. Print. 9. Le, Corbusier, and William J. R. Curtis. Le Corbusier: Ideas and Forms. London.: Phaidon, 2001. Print. 10. Le, Corbusier. Precisions on the Present State of Architecture and City Planning. Trans. Edith S. Aujame. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1991. Print. 11. Le, Corbusier. The Radiant City. Trans. Pamela Knight, Eleanor Levieux, and Derek Coltman. New York: Orion, 1967. Print. 12. "Mandala: The Architecture of Enlightenment." Asia Society. Asia Society. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://asiasociety.org/arts/asia-society-museum/past-exhibitions/mandala-architecture-enlightenment>. 13. Merleau-Ponty, M. Phenomenology of Perception. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986. Print. 14. Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, and Claude Lefort. The Visible and the Invisible: Followed by Working Notes. Evanston: Northwestern UP, 1975. Print. 15. Olokowski, Dorothea. "Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Intertwining and Objectification." PhaenEx 1 (2006): 113-39. Web. 16. Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. Chichester: Wiley-Academy, 2005. Print. 17. "Vastushastra-the Science of Peace and Prosperity." VaastuPurush. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://www.vaastupurush.com/2011_09_01_archive.html>. 18. Wigley, Mark. "The Architecture of Atmosphere." Daidalos 68 (1998): 18-27. Web. 19. Zumthor, Peter. Atmospheres Architectural Environments - Surrounding Objects. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2006. Print. 20. Zumthor, Peter. Peter Zumthor: Thinking Architecture. Lars Müller, 1998. Print.
Image List •
Fig. 1 – The Mandala Form as a cosmic diagram.
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Fig. 2 – Vastu Purusha – This usually involves placement of the figure on top of the site to resolve the placement of the programme.
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Fig. 3 – The Mandala Form translated as an architectural plan for a building.
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Fig. 4 – ‘Le Modulor’ graphic consists of a man with an upright arm. The red and blue series of proportions indicate the golden ratio and the Fibonacci sequence.
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Fig. 5 – The Modulor sequence applied to both plan and section of Unite D’Habitation.
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Fig. 6 – Plan for Saint Dié. The plan for which was ‘melody and rhythm, geometry and nature, human proportion and a landscape of hills and vales.
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Fig. 7 – A dictionary entry for the term phenomenology.
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Fig. 8 – A view of the atrium space inside the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art. The visitors to the museum experience varying levels of the light and spaces, triggering a personal emotional response to the architecture.
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Fig. 9 – Interior view of the Therme Vals. Combination of light, sound, tactility of surfaces helps to create a unique experience. The space celebrates the ritual of bathing and the body is at the central to its experiential qualities.