ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
by
EDWIN CHO Thesis 2014-2015
for
CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY School of Architecture
primary advisors
SPIKE WOLFF MARY-LOU ARSCOTT LARRY SHEA
secondary advisors
MARIA AIOLOVA_terraform ONE ANTONIO SANMARTIN_aSZ Architectes MATT FINEOUT_AE7 JONATHAN GOLLI_AE7 JIM O’TOOLE
ABSTRACT Architecture of Darkness in on the Heterotopia of Sight and how we can change the way we perceive in the realm of space and architecture. This thesis thrives to achieve a new architectural discourse where architects and inhabitants begin to embrace occulareccentrism where sight: the way we physically see an object and its sign and vision: the symbolic associates with what we see (perception) can be restructured to shift the way we perceive space. Space is composed of more than what you initially see and though it is never waiting to be discovered or recognized purely as a space defined by its signs, it always constitutes the relationship between its reality and the way we perceive. When space and perception are altered to redefine our conventional spaces, a heterotopic nature of space is revealed. In order to engage in a new architectural discourse where the focus relies heavily on using perceptive manipulations to expose heterotopic spaces, I have developed a framework that is necessary to the process of design: The Recognition of Space The Decomposition of Space The Manipulation of Space and its Compositional Elements The Experience: Dislocation The Unintended
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
1 T H E R E C O G N I T I O N O F S PA C E
We are often fooled by visual experiences that turn out to be illusory, an inclination generated perhaps by our overwhelming, habitual belief in its apparent reliability - Martin Jay
S PA C E / G I U S E P P E T E R R A G N I _
DANTEUM
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
The first process is the recognition of space: its historical background, its cultural reference, its inherent value as a space for occupancy and interaction, and most importantly, its elements, objects, and symbols
Seek a practical, utilitarian revision of conventional perspective, so that space becomes not a pictorial abstraction but a real arena in which every subject must act - Claire Bishop
S PA C E / L A R R Y B E L L _
ST14
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
Though this thesis is fueled by the static and repetitive nature of space and experience this new architectural discourse does not necessarily seek to challenge the statement as irrelevant or problematic but is rather a speculative exploration on the effects of a new radical discourse as an intervention in our period of time.
By your individual participation in these situations, you may...structure yourself a “new state of real,� but it is you that does it, not me, and the individual responsibility to reason your own world view is the root implication - Maurice Merleau-Ponty
S PA C E / H E L I O O I T I C I C A _
GRANDE NUCLEO
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
Before moving onto any applications and modifications to achieve a new state of perception, it is crucial to understand the existing space and how our mental and physical bodies reflect itself within the space. Though the user becomes a crucial variable to the transformation of space and perception, one must strive to understand the literalism of space and its environment.
Looking back concerns the possibility of detaching the subject from the rationalization of space. In other words, too allow the subject to have a vision of space that no longer can be put together in the normalizing, classicising, or traditional construction of vision: an other space, where in fact the space “looks back� at the subject - Peter Eisenman
S PA C E / D A N G R A H A M _
P R E S E N T C O N T I N U O U S PA S T
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
2 T H E D E C O M P O S I T I O N O F S PA C E
Traditionally, walls are read as the perimeter of spaces: they either contain, enclose, or exclude - Peter Eisenman
D E C O M P O S I T I O N / M I E S VA N D E R R O H E _ B R I C K C O U N T R Y H O U S E
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
The second process involves the decomposition of space. The decomposition of space and its language allows for the manipulation of its elements and compositional make-up. Space can be seen in many ways and due to its heterotopic nature, we will never fully understand its complete range of limits, but we can begin to dissect the space in certain ways to understand where perceptive manipulations can occur. Space can be seen as a series of grids, axis, and surfaces
The possibility objects have of “appearing,� that is, of abandoning themselves to pure and simple resemblance behind which there is nothing - except being. Only what has surrendered itself to the image appears, and everything that appears is, in this sense, imaginary. - Maurice Blanchot
DECOMPOSITION / STUDY ONE
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
Space can be seen as a series of elements, objects, and movement
The perceptual spirit and metaphysical strength of architecture are driven by the quality of light and shadow shaped by solids and voids, by opacities, transparencies, and translucencies - Steven Holl
DECOMPOSITION / STUDY TWO
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
Space can be seen as a series of typologies that involves scale, depth, range, and composition
We only see what we look at. To look is an act of choice. - John Berger
DECOMPOSITION / STUDY THREE
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
3/4 T H E M A N I P U L AT I O N & D I S L O C AT I O N
“ In an environmental experience, there is an unconscious bodily identification with the object, a projection of body pattern onto what is experienced, or a physical mimesis, an unconscious mimicry” - Juhani Pallasmaa
M A N I P U L AT I O N & D I S L O C AT I O N / L I G H T
L I G H T A S A M AT E R I A L O B J E C T : C O M P O S I T I O N & PA R T I T I O N
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
The third process involves the physical and visual manipulations of space. Using existing spaces as a medium for particular interventions and abstractions, these tools for manipulation are used to dislocate and disorient users from the space. In a certain way, these techniques blind and detach users of the normalities and contemporary standards of space and opens them up to a new perceptive experience. As architects, we can carefully tailor and design these manipulations, but the newfound discovery and personal interpretation of experience within the space is heavily dependent on the user.
M A N I P U L AT I O N & D I S L O C AT I O N / G R A P H I C S
G R A P H I C S A S A D I S R U P T I O N O F V I S U A L S TA B I L I T Y
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
M A N I P U L AT I O N & D I S L O C AT I O N / G R A P H I C S
G R A P H I C S A S A D I S R U P T I O N O F S U R FA C E , G R I D , A N D D E P T H
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
M A N I P U L AT I O N & D I S L O C AT I O N / M I R R O R S : D U P L I C AT I O N O F S PA C E
M I R R O R S A S A P O R TA L & T R A N S PA R E N C Y O F S U R FA C E S
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
M A N I P U L AT I O N & D I S L O C AT I O N / M I R R O R S : V O L U M E
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
M A N I P U L AT I O N & D I S L O C AT I O N / I N F I N I T Y M I R R O R
I N F I N I T Y M I R R O R A S T R A N S PA R E N C Y, R E F L E C T I V I T Y, A N D S E L E C T I V E S PA C E S
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
M A N I P U L AT I O N & D I S L O C AT I O N / M I R R O R S
M I R R O R S A S A D I S R U P T I O N O F V O L U M E A N D S U R FA C E
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
VOLUME
S U R FA C E
BOUNDARY
M A N I P U L AT I O N & D I S L O C AT I O N / D E P T H S T U D I E S
P E R P E N D I C U L A R L I G H T : F U L L F L AT T E N I N G
DEPTH STUDIES: LIGHT
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
45 DEGREE LIGHT: LIMITED DEPTH RANGE
M A N I P U L AT I O N & D I S L O C AT I O N / D E P T H S T U D I E S : L I G H T
PA R A L L E L L I G H T : F U L L D E P T H & F L AT T E N I N G
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
M A N I P U L AT I O N & D I S L O C AT I O N / D E P T H S T U D I E S
D E P T H S T U D I E S : T R A N S F O R M AT I V E S U R FA C E S
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
M A N I P U L A T I O N & D I S L O C A T I O N / I N S T A L L A T I O N : D E P T H P A N E L S A S A P A S S A G E W AY
I N S TA L L AT I O N : A X O N
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
M A N I P U L AT I O N & D I S L O C AT I O N / PA N E L I N S TA L L AT I O N
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
M A N I P U L AT I O N & D I S L O C AT I O N / PA N E L I N S TA L L AT I O N : F O R WA R D
PA N E L I N S TA L L AT I O N : B A C K WA R D
ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS THE HETEROTOPIA OF SIGHT
5 THE UNINTENDED
UNINTENDED / ANTHONY MCCALL_ LONG FILM FOR FOUR PROJECTORS
The final process cannot be defined and articulated by anyone else other than the user. The final process involves the coherent unification of dislocation, the heterotopic revelation of space, and a new perceptival sense which remains unique to each and every user of the space. One can argue that an experience is absolute and an environment that biases experiences is relevant and necessary when applying these new architectural techniques, but the authenticity of experience is nearly impossible to gauge and predetermine. In pursuit of this new architectural discourse, we as architects can strive to create a new sophistication of space which is devoid of the explicit vocabulary of architectural symbols.
“ Architecture should never be contemplated directly and made an object of pure knowledge, but rather...experienced “ - Alberto Perez-Gomez
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WORKS, PRECEDENTS, PEOPLE
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Ad Reinhardt: Painting No.19 Andrew Zago: Selected Project Sci-Arc Anne Holtrop: Floating Gardens Anthony McCall: You and I, Horizontal Barbara Hertiman (film) Buckmeister Fuller: Geodesic Domes/Shelters Carsten Hooler: Lichtraum Dan Graham: Selected Mirror Works Darryl Chen: Tomorrow’s Thoughts Today David A Garcia: Sustainable Iceberg Living Station David Eagleman (Neuroscientist) Derek Jarman: Blue Derinkuyu: Underground City Dominique Perrault Donald Judd: Selected Sculptures Esther Stoker: Selected Installations Frederick Kiesler: Endless House Fred Sandback: Selected Installations Gerhard Richter: Strontium Guiseppe Terragni: Dantuem Hollwich Kushner LLC: Skygrove Hugh Broughton: Arctic Stations IwamotoScott Architecture: Hydro-Net SF 2108 James Turrell: Selected Light Installations Jim Campbell: Exploded View Julia Scher: Shurman House Magnus Larson: DUNE, Arenaceous Anti-desertification Architecture Maria Aiolova (Terreform ONE) Marlene Behrmann (Psychology Professor CMU) Martin Prekop MATSYS: Sietch Nevsada
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Michael Heizer: Double Negative Michael Reynolds: Earthships MVRDV: Galije Resort Paolo Soleri: Arcosanti Peter Eisenman: House I-VI Peter Kogler: DIRIMART Gallery Rebecca Horn: Kinetic Sculptures Richard Serra: The Matter of Time Robert Irwin: Disk Teinosuke Kinugasa (film) Verner Panton Vincent J. Stoker Walter de Maria: Earth Room