Redrawing the Drawing

redrawing the drawing - a collection of first year architectural book reports -

redrawing the drawing - a collection of first year architectural book reports -

redrawing the drawing - a collection of first year architectural book reports first edition first published 2012 by : unbuilt printing press, brighton.

Contributors to redrawing the drawing, first edition : Louis Hardy Beata KĂ–nig CHRISTOPHER LONG FARIA MeHMOOD konstantina miltiadous Printed and bound in great britain by : unbuilt printing press, brighton. typeface in franklin gothic : Morris Fuller Benton dinpro light : fontfont garamound : Claude Garamond / Jean Jannon gill sans : eric gill architect : Hank gillette font: christopher Long Paperstock tecco 130 gsm duo matt and a special thanks to all our loved ones. x

contents

introduction - i invisable cities - talo calvino towards a new architecture - le corbusier immaterial architecture - jonathan hill delirious new youk - rem koolhaas in prase of shadows - junichiro tanzaki

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bibliography - 33 -

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Introduction

Dearest reader, Redrawing the Drawing is a collection of architectural book reports by first year students of Architecture at The University of Brighton School of Architecture and Design. The book reports cover a wide array of architectural writing from modernism to the orients, investigating the shadows and architectural theory.

Our collection of book reports opens with the classic writing of Invisible Cities by Talo Calvino. This book report was prepared by Konstantina Miltiadous who describes her book as; Invisible Cities the guide on how to read the cities we live in. The author aims to describe not only the visible parts that make a city, but also everything invisible that mark a city, the habits and the customs of their inhabitants. An alternative but in the same time interesting and meaningful book that could be enjoyed by all.

Our second book report, Le Corbusier’s Towards a New Architecture will introduce the five principles of modern architecture. The book, which discusses the implications of industrialisation, mass production, economic progression and foremost states the guidelines for better design, also resonates Le Corbusier’s purist theory. This book report was prepared by Faria Mehmood who will be analysing all of these in detail as well with reference to the usage of these ideologies in his later architectural endeavours such as Villa Savoye.

The third book report written by Christopher Long is on Jonathan Hill’s Immaterial Architecture, which deals with the perceptions we have of the material and the immaterial. Immaterial Architecture engages the reader to focus on the immaterial and draws our attention to the challenges we face in doing so. Such as, how we begin to define this invisible and immeasurable presence that affects how we feel, see and experience a space.

(Fourth book report outline missing.)

Finally, Our last book report is Junichiro Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows. Written by Beata Konig. Tanizaki is one of the most popular Japanese novelists, who wrote this book about his perspective of what defines traditional Japan. This is a long essay on traditional Oriental aesthetics compared to the West, arguing for the disappearing old shadows of his country.

We hope you find pleasure in reading our collection of loving prepared book reports and hope they bring as much pleasure to you as they did to us.

Regards, Louis Hardy Beata KŐnig Christopher Long Faria Mehmood Konstantina Miltiadous

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Invisible Cities Italo Calvino Book Report: konstantina miltiadous

Biography of Italo Calvino in Wikipedia.

1

Italian literature: Italo Calvino, Instituto Galilei.

2

Italo Calvino (15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. He is the most translated contemporary Italian writer at the time of his death and a noted contender for the Nobel Prize for literature.

1 His best known works are the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952– 1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities(1971)which won a nebula award for Best Novel in 1975 and If on a winter’s night a traveller (1979).2 It is a book with multiple genres; a literature, philosophy, traveller book, with subtle humour but also a book that can make you cry. It is a book that can be read any time of the day, a book the reader can read the stories with order or without order from the start to the end or from the end to the start. It became a classic book through the years.

Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities. p5 3

Invisible Cities is the dialogue of the explorer Marco Polo and the emperor of the tartars the great Kublai Khan about the cities that Marco Polo has visited. Kublai Khan expresses his tiredness of the stories brought to him by his messengers across the empire. Only the stories told by Polo, of the cities that he met during his travels, keep him interested but he not necessarily believe them “Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says” ”does continue listening with greater attention and curiosity that he shows any other messenger or explorer of his“ .3 Although Marco Polo was an Italian citizen he never talks directly about his own city, Venice.

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4

ibid. p86

5

ibid. pp98-99

6

ibid. p152

On the contrary he describes several magical, strange cities that no one has ever seen. Only after Kublai Khan mentioned Venice in one of their conversations Marco Polo gives an explanation why he never mentions Venice’s name in his descriptions. “To distinguish the other cities qualities, I must speak of a first city that remains implicit. For me is Venice”4 Italo Calvino in the book gives us important elements such us considering the past, through desires, images of things that mean other things through experiences on how we see and understand the character and atmosphere of the cities “I speak, speak, speak but the listener retains only the words he is expecting, is not the voice that commands the story. Is the ear”. Every traveller in a foreign place is influenced by the city in which he lives. For Marco Polo is Venice.

Starting from the book title, it immediately makes us think what Italo Calvino means with the title Invisible Cities? Cities are always visible we live in them. The Cities Calvino refers with the title are cities that can not be located into maps. There can only be located into imagination and memory. “So then yours truly is a journey into memory”, “Only imagined” 5 Writers in classic Novels also describe as cities which do not exist; they are lost in the time and also give us the atmosphere and the experience of living in a city. For example Charles Dickens in “Great expectations” describing London, Charles Baudelaire describing his own Paris in “the swan” and Georgos Seferis describing Athens becoming a metropolis. An unusual point to be mentioned in relation to this book and rather unexpected to the reader is that Marco Polo’s stories start always from the centre of the city. He never describes us the journey from the one city to the other.6

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The legendary Persian queen and the Story teller in “One Thousand and One nights” 7

Robert.E,Park, The city: suggestions for the study of human nature in the urban environment ,the American journal of sociology.

8

“The story takes you right into the heart without telling you of the space that stretches between one city and the other” . The author used this technique probably to set focus to the way the citizens experience the life in their cities, he wanted to illustrate their habits, how they interact with each other but also the spectacular architecture that is mostly fictional.

Calvino’s hero Marco Polo as another Secherazante 7 tells us stories from exotic and far away Cities but In fact Calvino with his novel want to say that every city has stories that never end. Invisible cities are a guide how to read cities we live in. He aims to describe not only the visible parts that make a city but also everything invisible that makes a city the habits, customs of their inhabitants.

The sociologist Robert Park 8 suggested that cities are not only the buildings but also social processes that take place into them. Cities are not only what we can see there are also things that are invisible to eyes. Italo Calvino and Robert Park believe that cities are things we can see but also things we can not see but engage with.

The book includes 55 short stories –prose poems about the cities named with female names which provide, inspire and travel the reader. The stories are separated to 11 categories: Cities and memory Cities and desire Cities and signs Thin cities Trading cities

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Cities and eyes Cities and names Cities and the dead Cities and the sky Continuous cities Hidden cities Each one of those categories aims give us a different angle how to experience the cities but also to irritate our mind into reflections that apply to every city or the definition of the city generally.

Before and after every chapter there is a short passage in italics in which Marco Polo and the emperor Kublai Khan contemplate and comment sometimes dialogically and other times imaginary.

The historical background that the book is set are the travels of Marco Polo through the Mongol empire written in a travelling diary in the 13TH century. Kublai Khan was the descendant of Genghis Khan the emperor of the Mongol empire. In the book Calvino names him emperor of the Tartars; it remained as a literary tradition.

Lecture of Italo Calvino to the students of Graduate Writing division of Columbia University of New York with theme Invisible Cities.

9

As Italo Calvino says9 his Marco Polo wants to discover the hidden causes that led people live in cities, causes that may apply over and above any crisis.

Cities are a set of things : memory, desire, signs of a language, cities are places of exchange as all the economic books explain but not only trade in goods but also trade in words, desires, memories. His book opens and closes with images of happy cities which constantly

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change shape and size and disappear and hide in unhappy cities.

He also says that he thinks he wrote something like the last love poem about cities when it is increasingly more difficult to live in them Italo Calvino described the elements and parameters that compose the “cities� not only as a concept but as an experience too The book discusses some topics and sets questions to its self as it is still written.

An image of a big city, a continuous uniform city which starts to cover the world dominates in the book.

Reading the book, discovering the cities you may choose which short-story to read next and every reader record each own path: personal meetings, sounds, images that Marco Polo to Kublai Khan chose to describe the cities of his empire.

It is a strange but a fantastic book and although it is brief it takes days to read it properly. After each story you have to stop, to think, to contemplate on the ideas and meanings that you have just encountered. The book has extraordinary scenery and the ideas and meanings are reflected with a very clever way through each individual story.

A remarkable point to mention about this book is that it makes the reader return to it and re-read it because of its contemplative nature. Reading every time reveals new thoughts new considerations.

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Overall through out the whole experience it is a very pleasant, interesting and meaningful book that should be part of the bookshelves of readers that want to find something different and alternative.

Sometimes the book seems to be confusing because all the stories are different but in the end the puzzles pieces get together and the reader have a better image of the aim of the book an the ideas inside it . Considering the quality of the meanings and depth of the book it is surprisingly affordable and that it adds another advantage to this book. Furthermore the book cover which changed through the years became more sophisticated and simple and without any unnecessary elements can catch the eye of the reader.

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towards a new architecture Le Corbusier Book Report: faria mehmood

Born Charles-Douard Jeanneret but adopted the name - Le Corbusier, as a pseudonym, reflecting his belief that anyone could reinvent themselves.

1

His deeply felt responses to the works of the architects he met during the journey.

2

Purism was a form of Cubism. Purist works are notable in their explicit use of geometric form and pure colour, Working with detached surfaces.

3

The mere mention of the essence of modern architecture brings along the name - Le Corbusier. 1 Undoubtedly one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century, he is to modernism, what Picasso is for painting. A self-promoted celebrity, his vision has an unquestionable impact on generations of architects, becoming a subject of both controversy and inspiration.

Le Corbusier began travelling widely from an early stage of his career, observing historical works and meeting many early modern architects. This led him to seek reconciliation of his ideas 2 with the perspective he gained of the compositions of the historic works. He also began to indulge in the idea of Purism 3 rejecting the decorative trend and advocating ordered forms and pure proportions.

His attachment to these issues greatly resonated in his essays published in the Purist journal L’Esprit nouveau.

Vers une architecture (1923) which was later translated into English as Toward an Architecture (1927), also known as Towards a New Architecture is a collection of seven essays, all but one of which was published in the Purist journal L’Esprit nouveau. Each of the essays is an intriguing view into the mind of this iconic modernist, as he dismisses the contemporary trend of decoration and eclecticism, replacing them with functionalism and artistry based on pure forms.

To begin with, the layout resonates with the idealism of simplicity, since it makes the comprehension of the book simpler; specifically because of the aphoristic arguments placed before each section (all of which also appear at the front of the book). It helps by preparing for the impending content which aids in grasping the views of the writer significantly, which otherwise would have been slightly difficult because of his complex prose.

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Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture. p25 4

5

ibid. p29

The essays are arranged in chronological sequence to focus on architects, clients, academic ideas and practical ones. Also the opening paragraphs is an outline of all the ideas discussed before that particular section, this is especially helpful because this allows skimming, giving independence to concentrate on any section. The usage of line drawing, photo illustration aids reading by giving examples while helping to identify the architectural features and theories described.

Le Corbusier begins the book with the stern declaration that - architecture is lost in the past. It is incoherent with the present, which is ruled by the engineers with their hold on technologies to manipulate construction. He suggests that for architects to gain relevance, they must dispose the decorative style and dig deeper into an element which can stir a mind both rationally and emotionally. He criticised the architects to be timid, exploiting their training on superficial aspects of the order from ‘Gothic’ to ‘Classical,’ to ‘Tudor’ to ‘Byzantine’, resulting in production of what cannot even be categorised as good architecture. He states that “Architecture has nothing to do with various ‘style’”4 , but rather - “Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light.”5 He introduces the idea that architecture is manifested by mass and surface while being generated by plan in the essay – “Three Reminders to Architects”. The essay echoes the purist theories that he robustly holds. His fervour for pure forms cased with plastic surfaces which will accentuate the form rather than causing destruction, is spot on to the present modern designs. Furthermore, the issues discussed in the section ‘Plan’ with ideas of Tony Garnier that demonstrated in the A City of Tower is greatly relatable to today’s plans. Corbusier shares some visionary ideas such as flat roofs, green roofs, plain facades and cafe on the roof, as well as reinforced concrete stilts and glass used as walls; which has been manifested into reality since then.

An aspiring proposal which caught my attention was that of ground level

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Corbusier said that “ new architectural forms; elements both vast and intimate but on man’s scale; freedom from the ‘style’ that stifles us; good contrast between the solids and voids; powerful masses and slender elements.” fig. 1

ibid. p99

fig. 2

Ibid. p116

Corbusier refers to the ingenious works of engineer showing their development and compares architects to them who have still held to their comfort zone.

He urges architects to take inspiration from engineered works and make the leap the new century requires. fig 3

ibid. p137

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used for merchandising and performing the clumsy task which impedes traffic. He highlighted the importance of town-planning in order to get an arranged, clean and healthy environment. He believed that the organisational solutions needed to raise the quality of life and the moral landscape of urban cities, laid in his new and modern architectural forms.

6

ibid. p.101

7

ibid. p.103

Le Corbusier has explained architecture in the light of mathematics, specifically geometrical forms and machines.

He praises engineers’ commendable usage of mathematics for innovative outcomes and suggests that these should be used as a source of stimulation. He declared that “Machines 6 will lead to a new order both of work and of leisure.”

Corbusier talks about the industrial revolution and its impact on engineering, resulting in “regulating lines” that created a simple, clean aesthetic, stripped of decoration. The various references to machines to explain the architectural crisis makes the read more interesting, such as the referencing of the pure proportions of ocean liners which according to him “is the first stage in the realisation of a world organised according to the new spirit.”7 Another intelligent usage of reference is that of the aircraft as a solution to a well stated problem. Le Corbusier states that first a properly determined problem has to be proposed for architecture and then only a proper solution can be found. The discussion of experiments carried to gain understanding of aeronautics and properties of lift to achieve flight, and the invention of the artificial product ‘airfoil’ through rational and industrial process as a result to the former problem is well written and attention grabbing.

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8

9

ibid. p95

ibid. p121

“The house is a machine for living in.�8 This is one of the most important quotes, not just in this book but in his career and in modern architecture.

This highlighted that functionalism was more important than appearance and that a house should be built to serve its purpose like a machine does; that it is a primary place to live in, devoid of unnecessary decorations. He states five principles for designing, presenting it in the work - Manuel of the Dwelling. 9 Simple ideas such as windows used not as decor but rather for usage for illumination and view of the outside is introduced here, along with others involving chairs, painting, electricity and so on. The architecture with context is talked about in the book; an abode which will enliven the people so that they no longer rush outside for diversion.

Le Corbusier was the first one to understand that human agglomeration would greatly be influenced by automobiles. To him automobile held the focal point of his vision of the future and ultimate symbol of modernity. The in-depth discussion of the science of automobile is absorbing. He glorifies the usage of automobiles as transportations between the destinations, and by doing so also harmonised the idea of freeways in spaces. He used the automobile to refer to development of standardised forms, allowing continuous progress and refinement. He also suggested the process of mass production, referring to the mass produced chassis of an automobile and proposed that if a house was mass-produced too then the fine precisions might be attained as well.

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Parthenon designed

by Phidias made a great impression on Le Corbusier as seen in this book since he refers it as a masterly architecture, one to draw inspiration from.

Corbusier said that “Phidias in building the Parthenon did not work as a constructor, engineer or designer.

All these elements already existed. What he did was to perfect the work and endue it with a noble spirituality.� fig 4

ibid. p147

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Corbusier travelled to observe the compositions of ancient architecture, and he sketched to gain perspective. In this book he not only talked about the industrialisation and excellence of engineering, but drew from the ancient architecture and discussed them in the light of mass, surface, plan and regulating lines, as well as discussed the lessons architects should draw from them. fig. 5

ibid. p194

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10

ibid. p.X

Pilotis are reinforced concrete stilts.

11

Frederick Etchells wonderfully sums Corbusier’s take on architecture in the light of history and machine in the following lines, “We cannot escape the past or ignore the pit from which we were hewn. True; it is precisely Le Corbusier’s originality in this book that he takes such works as the Parthenon or Michael Angelo’s Apses at St.Peter’s and makes us see them in much the same direct fashions as any man might look at a motor car or a railway bridge These buildings, studied in their functional and plastic aspect - all that is accidental or merely stylistic being relegated to its proper minor place - emerge under a new guise and are seen to be far more closely and strangely akin to a firstrate modern concrete structure or Rolls Royce car than to the travesties of themselves in which we have battened.”

The principles that Corbusier talked about in this book is omnipresent in his architectural endeavours throughout his career; ideal example is Villa Savoye. Firstly he used pilotis to support the structure while lifting the bulk of the structure off the ground. The pilotis allowed him to work out free facade, which meant that architectural freedom without worrying about supporting walls, and an open floor plan, again giving independence to configure rooms without concern for supporting walls.

Guidelines from the book even influenced the long strips of windows that allowed unencumbered views of the surrounding in the second floor. He created a green roof to compensate and replace for the green area consumed by the building. For allowing an architectural promenade through the structure he placed a ramp rising floor roof terrace. His admiration towards ocean liner can be seen in the white tubular railings. And the main homage to this guideline and declaration of his keenness to the machine, he created the driveway in the ground floor, which is a semi circular path and exactly measures the turning radius of a 1927 Citroen automobile.

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Coming back to the book, after explaining the implications of industrialisation, mass production, economic progression and foremost stating the guidelines for better design,. Corbusier concludes with the note that revolution can be avoided through active intervention resulting in improvement, by designing and planning continuously inspired by both past and present.

Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture. pX 12

This book is a classic read for those interested or related to architecture. It is a pleasant surprise as it comes out to be much more than the patronising tone and words that Corbusier uses throughout the book. This book is a challenge to the fellow architects. He writes both as an architect as well as a scholar with an understanding of greater periods and he writes filled with more sorrow than anger! It is a must read, if only because it forces us to think in what direction we are going. It has in many ways facilitated the evolution of modern architecture. It may annoy but will certainly stimulate!12

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My first anxiety attack occurred during a Louis Armstrong concert. I was nineteen or twenty. Armstrong was going to improvise with his trumpet, to build a whole composition in which each note would be important and would contain within itself the essence of the whole. I was not disappointed: the atmosphere warmed up very fast. The scaffolding and flying buttresses of the jazz instruments supported Armstrong’s trumpet, creating spaces which were adequate enough for it to climb higher, establish itself and take off again.The sounds of the trumpet sometimes piled up together, fusing a new musical base, a sort of matrix which gave birth to one precise, unique note, tracing a sound whose path was almost painful, so absolutely necessary had its equilibrium and duration became; it tore at my nerves of those who followed it. My heart began to accelerate, becoming more important then the music, shaking the bars of my ribcage, compressing my lungs so the air could no longer enter them. Gripped by panic at the idea of dying there in the middle of spasms, stomping feet and the crowd howling, I ran into the street like someone possessed.

A passage from Marie Cardinal, The Words To Say It. (London: Van Vactor & Goodheart, 1984)

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Immaterial Architecture Jonathan Hill Book Report: christopher long

INTRODUCTION

Jonathan Hill, Immaterial Architecture p2 1

2

3

ibid. p3

ibid. p2

It could be argued that throughout the history of architecture, we have been led to believe that architecture has represented something that is “solid” and “stable”1 and belonging to the material domain of reality. Hill challenges this assumption in his book Immaterial Architecture, where he argues that architecture consists of more than just the material, though also of the immaterial, which he describes as the “perceived absence of matter rather than the actual absence of matter”2 .

The structure of the book is divided into two parts. The first part comprises of two chapters, followed by a conclusion. The two chapters are “they are best understoof d parallel”3 as they both address and challenge the material and immaterial dichotomy present in architecture. The first part concludes by arguing that architectural practice should strive to value both the material and immaterial. The second part of the book consists of Hill’s Index of immaterial architectures, which intends to reinforce the importance of the immaterial being equally valued in the architectural imagination.

This section of the book takes the structure of a vocabulary framework layout and aims to re-conceptualise material concepts in a new light, by illuminating how each concept relates and relies closely to immateriality.

First published in 2006 Immaterial Architecture explores the blurred boundaries between the material and the immaterial. Throughout, Hill encourages the reader to focus on the immaterial and draws our attention to the challenges we face in doing so. Such as, how we begin to define this invisible and immeasurable presence that affects how we feel, see and experience a space. Overall, although Hill argues that there is a symbiotic relationship between material and immaterial, his writ-

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part one

ing style is from a philosophical standpoint where he allows and guides the reader to reflect on their own personal experiences and feelings to reach their own conclusions as to whether architecture is immaterial.

Chapter one, titled House and Home, takes a historical look at the concept of the home and its origins; from a primitive hut to the beginnings of modern housing. It illuminates how architecture has been encouraged

4

ibid. p7

5

ibid. p9

Michel Foucault, Space, Knowledge and Power. p239 6

Jonathan Hill, Immaterial Architecture. p9 7

Philip Tabor, Striking Home. pp221-222 8

to evolve into a reliable and solid 1 practice in society and therefore has inevitably constrained architecture to be conceptualised in the material realm. Hill argues that seventeenth-century Netherlands was the birthplace of modern domestic architecture and “is crucial to the development of ideas and images relevant to the contemporary home” 4 . Hill also suggests that during this time, architecture was a means of social stability and social control, where there was a shift in domestic life going from the public to private space. Hill argues that this had an enormous impact on the architecture being produced at that time and to the overall way that society began to function. It is thus highlighted the inevitable connection between material stability and social stability5 leading to the policing of public and private spaces where domestic life encourages people to be contained inside their homes. These ideas appear to come from a Foucauldian school of thought, where the organisation of architecture relates directly to social control and where architecture serves to govern society and its citizens’ behaviour.6 Hill states that over the last few centuries, the role of the home as a protector of its occupants has evolved from the idea of its function being to “keep out vagabonds and homeless people”.7 Which then developed onto it being seen as the protection against various weather conditions, which is an idea that can be recognised in many current day conceptualisations. Tabor notes that contemporary experiences of the home consist of a similar process, where media communications and access to information are threatening and changing domes-

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Jonathan Hill, Immaterial Architecture. p21 9

10

ibid. p75

11

ibid. p32

Tom Porter, The Architects Eye. p10 12

tic spaces.8 Hill goes on to refer to this idea as Electromagnetic Weather, where “contemporary telecommunications alter our concept of home so that it is associated not just with a place, but with a device and their capabilities.”9 Overall, this chapter looks at the historical origins of the home and how the concept has changed and shifted over the years. In doing this, Hill draws our attention to how the home could relate to the detainment of its occupants and social control.

Chapter two Hunting the Shadows locates the dominance of drawing (within architectural practice) and places it in its historical, political and social context.This chapter aims to explore the space between the material and immaterial by looking at “the creative artist and the solid professional.”10 It argues that modernist architecture strives to work in harmony with materials, whereas in the renaissance period, there was more of an artistic drive to designing buildings. Hill indicates that this process of formulating ideas is closely linked to the immaterial world and it was the Italian renaissance period that saw architects as having a higher status due to the act of drawing being recognised and valued in society. Until this time drawing was understood as merely “a flat surface, and the shapes upon it were but tokens of three dimensional objects.”11 It was the architect and the command of drawing that challenged this perception, establishing drawing as a “truthful depiction of a three-dimensional world and a window that places the viewer outside and in command of the view.”12.

This chapter looks at architecture as a profession and locates its emergence in the valuing of drawing in the renaissance period. It guides the reader up to the modern day and concludes with the practice of drawing as a means in which the immaterial can be expressed. Hill makes a poignant point in this chapter, that an architect’s practice is independent to labourers and builders; it is to create intellectual immaterial ideas and drawings. Hill recommends that immaterial architecture should be a term more openly embraced by architects, as it is associated with the

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13

ibid. p33

14

ibid. pp76-77

part two

15

ibid. p84

16

Sidra Stich, Yves Klein. p9

Evaluation Jonathan Hill, Immaterial Architecture. p72 17

intellectual and the generation of ideas. Hill believes that architecture results from “the individual creation of an architect in command of drawing”13 and states that his primary concern is “the perception of the material as immaterial, the immaterial is conjured forth not by a lighter paper... but by the ideas of the reader, formulating immaterial architectures from within and between the images and words juxtaposed on these pages.”14 Part two of the book consists of an Index of immaterial architectures which takes a vocabulary format and provides the reader with numerous examples of material concepts being re-conceptualised as immaterial. Such subheadings as; Cloud, Dust, Fireworks, Nordic Light, Oil, Sound and Weather are introduced to the reader and re-worked. By way of an example as to how he does this, we will now introduce Hill’s subheading of Air where he describes an act that the French artist Yves Klein performed in 1960 with the assistance of American photographer Harry Shunk. In October of 1960 Klein dived from a second story window in a suburb of Paris, into what he called his subject matter; space. Leap into The Void Fig.1 is what he defined as “a sensual, spiritual and immaterial expanse in which the body is active and immersed.”15 This is highlighted as a method in which the body interacted directly with the immaterial, as Stich noted on Klein; “the experience of space was not a passive activity, nor was it considered to be predominantly retinal. It sought to engage all the senses and to liberate the mind, body and imagination.”16 This idea of complete freedom and total emersion into a sensory experience is what only could only be conveyed by the immaterial. By providing the index of immaterial architectures, Hill re-conceptualises the age-old conflict between immaterial and material.

This vocabulary of immaterial architecture shows us that the immaterial and material can compliment each other in the architectural discipline.

This book lends itself to the conclusion that the concept of immaterial architecture and the “perceived absence of matter”17 must welcomed by the architectural world. Hill argues that Intelligence and sensory

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reality are needed to perceive objects, so the immaterial is always working alongside the material. Although the immaterial is seen as unpredictable, Hill believes that architecture being seen as a solid practice is limiting. His proposal of immaterial architecture confronts architectural practice and suggests that the practice represent a more creative involvement with the experience of contradiction. This books takes the binary and contradiction of Immaterial-material and attempts to rework the dichotomy in the

18

ibid. p77

conclusion

architectural discipline by arguing that they are not so far apart. Hill makes a convincing argument that the immaterial is just as superior in architecture as the material, solid practice is. He provides an argument that is optimistic in suggesting that to challenge the immaterial-material paradox we must re-conceptualise our perceptions of the material as immaterial though ultimately let the “user decide whether architecture is immaterial.

But the architect creates conditions in which that decisions can be made.�18 Overall, this book report has provided an in-depth analysis and evaluation of Immaterial Architecture. It has analysed the content of the book and placed it within its historical, social and philosophical context. Hill convinces the reader that immateriality is as important as materiality and must be in the forefront of every architect’s imagination.

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fig. 1

Yves Klein, Harry Shunk, Janos Kender: Leap into the Void 1960 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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delirious new york rem koolhaas Book Report: louis hardy

Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York. blurb 1

Koolhaas observes: “Manhattan is the arena for the terminal stage of western civilisation... a mountain range of evidence without manifesto” and so writes Delirious New York: “A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan”, an engaging review of modern architecture and urbanism; an account outlining factors that sculpt Manhattans ‘culture of congestion’. He describes New York as “a theatre of progress” and “the capital of perpetual crisis” Architectures’ “Rosetta Stone”, emphasizing New York’s mark on architectural history. Koolhaas still describes New York as a “proto-type of modern metropolis” a collaboration of architects and designers that have extruded the city out of the prewritten grid system and made the city a truly “irrational experience”.

He focuses in particular on the skyscraper as “a product of the physical manifestation of ‘Manhattanism’ on the grid, along with the relationship between this density-focused architecture and the culture of congestion”2. At a time where New York had gained a reputation as “a graffiti-covered, crime-ridden relic of history”3, Koolhaas, “the recent founder of OMA and visiting lecturer at Eisenman’s Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York,”4 begins to assess and promote what it took to make the city an ideal system and what it would take to regain its rightful place on the world stage. He is reconstructing the ‘perfect Manhattan’ outlining its successes and failures that have become more evident, and it is by selecting New York as the focus of his first work that Koolhaas sets a foundation for his career.

1

Carrie Bayley, “Rem Koolhaas: Delirious New York: A Retrospective Manifesto for Manhattan” (1978) A blog from the MA Architecture + Urbanism course at the Manchester School of Architecture, http://architectureandurbanism.blogspot. co.uk/2010/05/rem-koolhaas-delirious-new-york.html 2

3

ibid

4

ibid

Koolhaas describes himself as New York’s ghost writer when writing this book, he tells the story of Manhattan, a ‘mythical island’ a place of an urban experiments which then acts as a factory for man-made

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5

ibid.

Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York.

6

Carrie Bayley, “Rem Koolhaas: Delirious New York: A Retrospective Manifesto for Manhattan” (1978) A blog from the MA Architecture + Urbanism course at the Manchester School of Architecture, http://architectureandurbanism.blogspot. co.uk/2010/05/rem-koolhaas-delirious-new-york.html 7

experiences, a sort of laboratory that tests the potential of modern life in the city, as if the city is the seed of modernism which will then grow in to a mecca of modern architecture. He talks about the city using the term ‘Manhattanism’, an urbanistic concept which describes the hyper-density of Manhattan and its ‘congested culture’. “With Manhattan as an example, this book is a blueprint for a culture of congestion.”5 In 1807-1811, “the final and conclusive”6 plan for Manhattan was created, made up of 2028 blocks which became the grid to which Koolhaas pays a particular critical focus, he describes the grid as an “artificial domain, planned for non-existent clients in anticipation” suggesting that the canvas has already been made and it awaits the oil and artist.

Split into five distinct “blocks”, an anthology covering “Coney Island, The Skyscraper, Rockefeller Centre and the European invasion”. Their order and juxtaposition reinforce their separate meanings, each block correlates to a chapter; The first chapter gives an overview of the islands history, it then goes on to talk about the grid system in Manhattan, and how it depicted the future condition of the city; “its two dimensional restrictions but its three dimensional potential”7. Elaborating on why the city’s architecture was forced to be built vertically rather than horizontally because of its location. Koolhaas unravels and re-weave New York history, explaining why the tallest buildings are where and why, before then showing pictures that show there height. Along with why the congestion of the city has forced architecture upwards as if the island where the soil and the people where nutrients and water and as the soil became richer the buildings grew higher. The ever growing population makes the skyscraper inevitable, limited ground level space and growing congestion forces the invention of this giant structures, Skyscrapers are described as ‘extrusions’, buildings forced upward to maximise use of the location and profit. He describes Manhattan as an experiment, discovered by the Dutch in 1609, a link with the Europeans, an expansion on the newly formed American enterprise.

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8

ibid.

Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York. pp66-74 9

Carrie Bayley, “Rem Koolhaas: Delirious New York: A Retrospective Manifesto for Manhattan” (1978) A blog from the MA Architecture + Urbanism course at the Manchester School of Architecture, http://architectureandurbanism.blogspot. co.uk/2010/05/rem-koolhaas-delirious-new-york.html 10

Koolhaas then goes on in the second chapter to talk about Coney Island and he describes is as a resort, a binary opposite to that of Manhattan’s dense, professional working environment. “Manhattan is a theatre of progress...the cyclical restatement of a single theme: creation and destruction irrevocably interlocked”8 a quote that applies to many of the described scenarios through the book. An overview of Manhattans answer to Crystal palace is introduced to the reader, described as a public spectacle as opposed to something that is integrated into direct professional reality. Coney island is described as a site for social experimentation, “surrealism in the form of reality”, suggesting the island is used in a more alterative and leisure-filled way, an escape from the stern and serious lifestyle that Manhattan evokes. “A resort implies the presence, not too far away, of a reservoir of people existing under conditions that require escaping occasionally to recover their equilibrium.”9 With the invention of new technologies for building upwards such as stronger steel and the elevator, the sky scraper was born. Created through the representation of the meeting of three breakthroughs, the worlds reproduction, the annexation of the tower and the on its block own, each defined separately by Koolhaas “before they were integrated into a ‘glorious whole’”. With need for office space growing and limited virgin sites that all had their own destine occupations, architects had limited control. The skyscraper is described as the coming together of urbanistic breakthroughs, and with the introduction of the 1916 zoning law “comes a level of control on the cities scale explosion”10, without being too restrictive and therefore unintentionally providing a need for intelligent architectural invention. He says the metropolis needs/deserves its own specialized architecture. He also talks about his theory the further you ascend, the more you leave behind undesirable circumstances below suggesting professional hierarchy within a building

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where you would usually find the boss traditionally on the top floor.

11

ibid.

12

ibid.

Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York. pp162-230 13

Carrie Bayley, “Rem Koolhaas: Delirious New York: A Retrospective Manifesto for Manhattan” (1978) A blog from the MA Architecture + Urbanism course at the Manchester School of Architecture, http://architectureandurbanism.blogspot. co.uk/2010/05/rem-koolhaas-delirious-new-york.html 14

Koolhaas explains “a summary of the phases of Manhattans urbanism, featuring all the strategies, theorems, paradigms and ambitions that sustain the inexorable progress of Manhattanism”11. He depicts this by explaining the construction of Waldorf Astoria hotel and the Empire State building, “a skyscraper surpassing in height anything ever constructed by man”12, from virgin site to skyscraper in 150 years, he calls these ‘auto monuments’. It is not described as a monument in the way that it would create nostalgia, not an emblem or monument of the past, rather a taster of what is to come. He describes the empire state as the first raw example of Manhattanism, a building sculpted by surrounding factors, particularly the 1916 law of zoning. A law passed to measure and control building in New York so not to starve the street of light and air. Hugh Ferris is highlighted here, the famous renderer or ‘Delineator’ (creates building perspective drawings) who focused his work on the unexplored potential of the zoning law. One of his works Koolhaas calls ‘The Ferissian void’. “a pitch black architectural womb that gives birth to the consecutive stages of the Skyscraper in a sequence of sometimes overlapping pregnancies, and that promises to generate ever-new ones...Manhattism is conceived in Ferris’ womb.” In the next chapter, we begin to see Koolhaas’s reasons for introducing certain characters, themes and scenarios when he starts describing the creation of the Rockafella centre. It is described as “a masterpiece without a genius,”13 a hybrid building, that isn’t assigned a hierarchy, not built for any specific occupation, but parts of the building where designed to harbour specific functions Koolhaas says “the vertical schism, which creates the freedom to stack such disparate activities directly on top of each other without any concern for their symbolic compatibility”14 suggesting that congestion, light and space must be weaved into one, business’s stacked on top of each other to create the Rockafella “the city within a city”.

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Geoffrey T. Hellman “From Within to without,” parts 1 and 2, New Yorker, 1947 15

The end of the book is marked with the invasion of the Europeans that came back to reclaim Manhattan for their own. He talks about Salvador Dali the surrealist and his loathsome relationship with the architect Le Corbusier. The emphasis on these two artists demonstrates Koolhaas’s negativity towards Le Corbusier’s schemes through discussing why Dali does not want to tamper with New York’s ‘physique’ and in comparison Corbusier wanting to destroy it. Corbusier says that “there is no room for Manhattans technology of the fantastic” suggesting his notion of New York being more of a machine city and with his master plans of the ‘anti-Manhattan’ the ‘Radiant city’ are created. A scheme devised to destroy the culture of congestion with the idea that skyscrapers are used for business only, manifested through his design of the Cartesian skyscrapers, “the horizontal blocks enclose a complete cultural void” says Koolhaas referring to glass walls that create cultural divides but make good use of light and air. Koolhaas discusses parallels to Dali’s methods, particularly PMC (paranoidcritical method) when talking about Corbusier as a person, quoting him “I live like a monk and hate to show myself but I carry the idea of combat in my person”15 suggesting the paranoia in his character.

Within the ‘fictional conclusion’ Koolhaas creates four speculative and hypothetical projects for New York, factors of the themes which are discussed in the book can be seen in each project, he calls them an “interpretation of the same material”. Delirious New York is a retroactive manifesto of Manhattans architectural enterprise: Koolhaas revels its inner most secrets and untangles the theories and stories behind its construction, as well as revealing New York’s influence on world architecture in retrospect as a product of the movement of Manhattanism. Koolhaas writes in a way that describes the city as a dictionary of modernism, rather than architectural masterpieces, the buildings in New York are tools for reinventing city life.

The book is written like a manifesto announcing its propaganda for modernism and Koolhaas dispenses his heartfelt duty to modernity.

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In Praise of Shadows Junichiro Tanizaki Book Report: Beata KĂ–nig

Tanizaki’s book In Praise of Shadows, which is rather an extended essay, is a collection of personal thoughts and reflections on traditional Japanese aesthetics. He discusses it by comparing Western and Oriental cultures and traditions, and surveying how the West has become desirable in Japan, and remarking how in the changing, globalized world it is harder and harder to keep traditional values.

The book was first published in 1933; it was not translated to English until 1977. This is the time when, after long demarcation and hostility, with the 200 years long policy of isolation and the traumas of the First World War in vivid memory, Japanese cities began to look like those in Europe and North America. Neon signs flooded them, high buildings were erected, cars and telephones arrived, and women became more selfconscious. Tanizaki was deeply fond of the old traditions, the darker, shadowy Japan that was fast disappearing. For a short period of his life he lived in a Western style house and led a purposefully bohemian lifestyle. However, after a great earthquake destroyed a part of Kanto, an area of Tokyo especially rich in historical neighbourhoods and houses, he decided to move to the more old-fashioned Kyoto in 1923. This way he changed his life, and, in an environment more to his liking, his most renowned works were written. His other works are mostly fiction, novels such as The Makioka Sisters (1943-48), Some Prefer Nettles (1928-29) and Diary of a Mad Old Man (1961-62). Many of them feature traditional families, or strange sexual behaviour. He is a skilled novelist with a deep personal interest in the aesthetics of traditional Japan. In the times when the Western influence on Oriental culture was growing day by day, such a great writer with a huge library of knowledge in his head, and so fond of traditional values was not able to resist the urge to write this essay.

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In Praise of Shadows is about the value of darkness, of the deep hues and colours that cannot be seen in the piercing light. It suggests that seeing less of a space, of an object or of a figure is in reality seeing more.

The topics range from architecture to bathroom and toilet fittings to jade and sushi to women in the house of pleasure. Lacquerware, theatres, rice and soup are mentioned as are the method of building a house and golden embroidery. He starts by explaining how difficult it is for a committed individual, to build a house in Japan that is just like the old ones. Without the white porcelain, the glass windows. How sorrowful it is that he has to spend so much money on custom made products, agree to compromises to be satisfied with the result. Then he addresses the old style of toilets that stood outside, apart from the main building.

They were made of dark wood; they were dimly lit, usually by low level windows that offered privacy and a view of the garden, with the sound of the water droplets falling outside. He claims that these are wonderful places for meditation and deep thinking, and he thinks that this was where most renowned haiku poets came up with some of their best ideas.

In a later part he gets to architecture. He states that the Japanese, contrary to the Westerners, start building their house by building the roof.

Junichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows. p28.

1

2

ibid. p28.

“In the temples of Japan, on the other hand, a roof of heavy tiles is first laid out, and in the deep, spacious shadows created by the eaves the rest of the structure is built.”1 “In making ourselves a place to live, we first spread a parasol to throw a shadow on the earth, and in the pale light of the shadow we put together a house. There are of course roofs on Western houses too, but they are less to keep off the sun than to keep off the wind and the dew; even from without it is apparent that they are built to create as few shadows as possible and to expose the interior to as much light as possible.”2

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He treats the light and the shadow as almost metaphors to West and East is his essay. He carries on this theme to lacquerware, silver and other objects, saying that their qualities can only be experienced when they are viewed in the dark, how they acquire a special depth and beauty of age, that is, of course, in reality grime and stain and patina. His beautiful descriptions of traditional dishes, from plain rice to the complete recipe of a special salmon sushi show his exceptional writing and novelist talent. The reader can all but feel the taste of the salmon on the rice wrapped in persimmon leaf; see the steam of the hot white rice coming from the black container in the dark room.

Comparing light and darkness is used to compare West and East. How Western culture has always been about reaching for the sky and clearing every occupied space with light as if to claim it. Doing so by creating artificially bright rooms, using white, using shine, in search of progress.

On the other hand, oriental culture values subtle dim lights. Barely visible, mysterious shapes in shadows. The depth of aged materials such as gold, jade, lacquer. The patina that says the object has history. When an actor or dancer in the (greatly appraised) Noh theatre moves, his every move is more significant if only his face and hands are bare, creating a contrast with the clothes and background. Perhaps the most personal part of his essay is when he talks about the way Japanese women used to be, through the example of his own mother. These women almost never left their husband’s house and even there they stayed in the innermost, therefore darkest room, in plain clothes covering everything but their hands and faces. The tradition of shaving the eyebrows and blackening the teeth was intended so that everything but the face is pushed back into the dark. But it is apparent that these are only traditions of Japan, there has never been anything similar in Western civilization.

Later What

in the book Tanizaki does ask the question why. makes East and West so fundamentally different?

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They did progress very differently, the West being much faster and eager to always change, reach higher, be faster, and be richer… But clearly, seeking light and seeking shadows are opposites, so why is there this huge difference in their most basic approach?

3

ibid. pp. 47-48

“Why should this propensity to seek beauty in darkness be so strong only in Orientals? The West too has known a time when there was no electricity, gas, or petroleum, and yet so far as I know the West has never been exposed to delight in shadows. […] But what produces such differences in taste? In my opinion it is this: we Orientals tend to seek our satisfactions in whatever surroundings we happen to find ourselves, to content ourselves with things as they are; and so darkness causes us no discontent, we resign ourselves to it as inevitable. If light is scarce then light is scarce; we will immerse ourselves in the darkness and there discover its own particular beauty.”3 It is a fact that in Japan the architecture developed differently because of a number of circumstantial factors. For example, because of the more than frequent earthquakes the sensible thing to do is to build stable, lowrising houses out of thick timber. Paper walls are much easier to replace than brick or stone walls and in addition they let just enough light inside to avoid having to use more windows or total darkness. A heavy roof withstands the force of the elements, but it does not allow for many or big windows. It is obvious that the Japanese adapted to their surroundings, embraced them and developed techniques to get as much out of them as possible. Over the years these were perfected to an incredibly high level of craftsmanship. Then, with modern age came the Westerners, who were always known for being aggressive about showing other cultures their so thought better way. Japan was never a colony; on the other hand, it closed its doors to the west until 1854. Soon after the first treaties with Western countries it underwent major political, economic and cultural transformations which led it closer to the West. These changes brought along the new, different ways of building and suddenly what used to be the

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everyday way became the old, traditional way. Most people welcomed the innovations but some, like Junichiro Tanizaki, preferred what they grew up in. In Praise of Shadows is just what the title says: a praise of the old shadows of Japan, disappearing in the wake of the twentieth century.

Tanizaki in his essay gives a plea to a disappearing world. It is not the usual academic text. He talks about his personal experiences, thoughts of his friends or philosophers and history running back thousands of years. Sometimes this makes the reader feel like reading a textbook, sometimes a diary or maybe a gathering of ideas for later detailing, in a more voluminous form. And yet as he jumps from topic to topic and changes his writing style, it helps the essay to be a whole. This way of shedding light on parts of his arguments, always jumping to something unexpected, then, all too soon, after only a few paragraphs, moving to the next one, sometimes reaching back to a previous topic or telling an anecdote, has the ambience like the one he is talking about, the one in a shadowy, almost dark room. Just as if everything he thinks about with relation to his topic was all showcased to the reader in a dimly lit, shadowy room.

Junichiro Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows is a personal opinion, but at the same time it is a rich source of information on Japanese culture and cultural history as well as a wish that all that should not disappear because of the unstoppable globalization. Reading this book makes one feel the depth and the peacefulness of the shadows. Imagine the ambiance of kneeling on the floor around a low table with a bowl of rice and another with miso soup, listening to an old grandfather telling stories about the better, simpler, old times.

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bibliography

Invisible Cities Italo Calvino

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towards a new architecture Le Corbusier

Corbusier, L (2008), Towards a New Architecture. BN Publishing, ISBN 965-006-036-79000-0.

Benton, Tim (1987), The Villas of Le Corbusier. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-037805.

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Samuel, Flora (2007), Le Corbusier in Detail. Oxford, England: Architectural Press, ISBN 0-7506-0627-4.

Nicholas Fox Weber, Le Corbusier: A Life. Alfred A. Knopf, 2008, ISBN 0-375-41043-0

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Immaterial Architecture Jonathan Hill

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delirious new york rem koolhaas

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Carrie Bayley, “Rem Koolhaas: Delirious New York: A Retrospective Manifesto for Manhattan” (1978) A blog from the MA Architecture + Urbanism course at the Manchester School of Architecture, http://architectureandurbanism.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/rem-koolhaas-delirious-new-york.html http://www.architecture.com/UseAnArchitect/Home.aspx http://books.google.com/

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In Praise of Shadows Junichiro Tanizaki

Tanizaki, Junichiro. In Praise of Shadows. Translated by Thomas J. Harper, Edward G. Seidensticker. London: Vintage, 2001.

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Tanizaki, Junichiro. Diary of a Mad Old Man. Secker & Warburg, 1966.

redrawing the drawing - a collection of first year architectural book reports -