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Chichu Art Museum
An Architecture History & Theoretical Study
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Chichu Art Museum – The New Architectural Language
The historical developments of the 20th century brought change to aspects of aesthetics not usually considered in life today. In architecture, the languages changed almost as if had gravity, with the birth of Expressionism, Modernism and Minimalist architecture notably in the 1920s, 40s and 80s. While the obvious and historians might claim simplistic architecture was birthed in the post-war 1920s or 50s, an interpretation of this architecture against the more recent developments post 1970 and the new century illustrates that – as a result of expression, the environment, urbanism versus minimalism and a realisation of what people want in urban society, our language has changed again. The Chichu Art Museum, by Tadao Ando (2004), venously embodies all these aspects in a remarkable project that houses pieces in the form of some of Monet’s finest artworks, among others. The museum not only houses the works of Monet, Walter De Maria and James Turrell, but many consider it to be an art piece in itself.1 2
Historical Developments of the 1920s and the Einstein Tower The strong shift away from ornamentation in the 1910s gave architects the opportunity to invent the new language - yet this move left some of the inherent design philosophies of classicist and traditional architecture that gave buildings their impression and grandeur. Expressionism - as a counter movement against the functional Werkbund or Bauhaus, explored this philosophy of impact, impression and optimism. The route of concrete as a material almost split into two directions, the imaginative and the more literal utilitarian. The Einstein Tower by Erich Mendelsohn, 1924, is a building that thoroughly examples expressionism’s antirational approach to industry and science.3 As an observatory, the Tower serves its functionality as a laboratory and research centre, while striving to, as art and architectural historian Kathleen James suggests, “generate an architectural form through the expression of energy”.3 This was an approach imagined by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, (1916). While the progressive curvature and forms of the tower ideate a philosophy of expression in an iconic statement, a brief view of the Chichu’s planular elements would contrast this. However, as supported by theorists Chang, Hsu and Lin4, Ando’s work actually explores expression through feeling. This notion grasps the later architectural trend of ‘the experience’ - when pre-war constructions may have focused on grandeur and making demonstrative impacts, this new
1
Willis, Amelia. 2019. ("Chichu Art Museum: Japanese Brutalism At Its Best".) Pollock, Naomi R. 2005. (“Tadao Ando Buries His Architecture at the Chichu Art Museum so Only the Voids Emerge from the Earth”.) 3 James, Kathleen. 1994. ("Expressionism, Relativity, and the Einstein Tower".) 4 Hsu, Hao-Long, Yu-Li Chang, and Hsiu-Hui Lin. 2015. ("Emotional Architecture-A Study of Tadao Ando’s Genius Loci Design Philosophy And Design Syntax".) 2
Chichu Art Museum
tendency would sit at a level more personal in a quiet accord with the viewer. Chang, Hsu and Lin reason that “by simplifying all the complex elements, [Tadao Ando’s work] intends to express several meanings with fewer composition elements, ensuring that the people’s experience is not diminished”.4 The Chichu museum’s minimalism through concrete panels in contrast to Mendelsohn’s Tower appreciates one ‘emotional’ interpretation of the expressionist notion.
Embodiment of Ideas of the Mid Century and Le Corbusier’s Work Le Corbusier’s Chapel of Notre-Dame-du Haut (1955) is a key example demonstrating this thinking and the solidarity between man and architecture as well as religiosity and nature.5 Not indifferent to Mendelsohn’s observatory tower, Le Corbusier returns the church to its function while distancing it from traditional symmetry and its authoritarian predeterminants. However, most importantly, the Church aligns with Ando’s Chichu Museum through both this untraditional approach to functionalism and its emotional approach to form and appeal. Tadao Ando’s Chichu has no exterior, lying within a hill with only the entrance at ground level. One overall assessment of the building might align it with the Brutalist spectrum. Architecture journalist Amelia Willis writes “Tadao Ando took a brutalist-style approach to the Chichu Art Museum, using concrete to create clean lines and in-built decoration.”1 It is dignified to accredit the museum’s stark, solid forms to this brutalist style. However, many, including architectural theorist Hao-Long Hsu state Chichu’s concrete masses are minimalistic. “Tadao Ando’s design presents a quiet, poetic world with clear geometric space planes. In the minimal design, straight lines, squares, and circular geometries are used and interweaved into the space situation and language”.4 Willis does agree that Ando’s approach to the construction “has been [beautifully] considered in terms of how it will be experienced by a person moving through the space”, yet one attitude of the Brutalist notion is its ‘raw and unpretentious honesty’.6 Hao-Long Hsu conversely maintains that ‘fair-faced concrete’ is employed by Ando to create simplicity and modesty. 4 The 1950s bringing New Brutalism, in contrast to Mies van der Rohe’s subdued use of glass and steel, created a focus on the monumentality of sculptural shapes and a return of functionalist principles. Alison and Peter Smithson conveyed a ‘stark austere rectilinearity’6 through their approach to urban housing. However, the Smithsons’ inconsequential Golden Lane Estate project greatly shifted their ideas of the brutalist concept.7
5
Multiple. 2019. ("Chapel of Notre-Dame-Du-Haut, Ronchamp, 1950-1956".) Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. 2016. ("New Brutalism".) 7 Malka, Liran. 2014. (“ALISON and PETER SMITHSON -The Shifts of Ideas from The Golden Lane Proposal to The Robin Hood Gardens (1952-1972)”.) 6
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Modern Ideologies of the 1970s, 80s, and New Century The ‘Chichu’, meaning ‘in the ground’ along with Le Corbusier’s Chapel of Notre-Dame-du Haut both express their own assimilation of spirituality and the cohesion of man and nature. Tadao Ando had explained some of his previous designs reflected his “idea of half-burying the buildings underground, out of consideration for the landscape,” and that in the Chichu, he pushed the method even further by submerging the building's entire volume below the ground. Architect and author, Naomi Pollock deduces from this that by pursuing this strategy, Ando “has done something remarkable: create monumental space without the monumentality,” while connecting both the architecture and the artworks within to nature.2 As the 70s brought New Urbanism as a result of economic issues and social resistance to Postmodernism, architecture, specifically concrete, made a shift away from Brutalism and monumentality towards Minimalism. Herzog de Meuron and Peter Zumthor’s work catalysed concrete minimalistic ‘art’. Zumthor’s Thermal Bath Vals (1994) rather looked at space and the user experience, and this brought architecture away from the opposed constructivism and functionalism. It is clear Ando’s work, including his Church of the Light depicts an architecture that focuses especially on feeling – and not one bogged down by the speculated needs of urban society or structural traditions.
The post-war shift from monumentality to a more ‘compassionate’ architecture gave buildings new definition, and created the new language of, in particular, experience. Modernism looked at geometry, space and minimalism and as exampled by Le Corbusier’s Chapel, introduced feeling and solidarity. Brutalism almost sought to bring back the ‘impact’ and grandeur of ornamentation through ‘raw and unpretentious honesty’ and bringing function first – but the 1970s and 80s demonstrated the urban system did not want this.8 The Chichu Museum is a building contrived from the notions of design dating to the early 20 th century. The loss of ornamentation created a new language, but also generated a shift as to what leaving ‘impact’ was. Through this, Ando has in turn made a building that plays counterpart to the impact and significance of its artworks housed within.
References Ando, T. 2005. “Chichu Art Museum.” Ostfildern-Ruit, Hatje Cantz. Ando, T. 2005. “Tadao Ando speaks for the Record”. Architectural Record, No. 2, p. 172. Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. 2016. "New Brutalism". Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/New-Brutalism. Editors of Wikipedia. 2019. "Golden Lane Estate". En.Wikipedia.Org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Lane_Estate. Hsu, Hao-Long, Yu-Li Chang, and Hsiu-Hui Lin. 2015. "Emotional Architecture-A Study Of Tadao Ando’S Genius Loci Design Philosophy And Design Syntax". International Journal Of Chemical, Environmental & Biological Sciences 3 (6).
8
Murphy, Douglas. 2016. ("Notopia: The Fall of Streets in The Sky".)
Chichu Art Museum Itoi, Kay. 2004. "Asia's Art Island ; A Japanese Tycoon Opens a New Museum to Share His Dazzling Private Collection. just Don't Miss the Boat.: Atlantic Edition]." Newsweek, Jul 19, 52. http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url=https://search-proquestcom.proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/docview/214023575?accountid=8203. James, Kathleen. 1994. "Expressionism, Relativity, and the Einstein Tower." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 53, no. 4: 392-413. doi:10.2307/990909. Jayasuriya, Praveeni Maneshka. 2016. "The Importance Of The Quality Of Light In Public Architecture And Its Effect On Experiencing The Built Form". Honours, University of New South Wales. Kondo, Junko. 2012. "Revitalization Of A Community: A Case Of Art Site Naoshima". Masters, University of Jyväskylä. Ledsom, Alex. 2018. "Notre-Dame Du Haut: Le Corbusier's Fascinating Chapel In Ronchamp". Culture Trip. https://theculturetrip.com/europe/france/articles/notre-dame-du-haut-corbusiers-fascinating-chapelin-ronchamp/. Malka, Liran. 2014. “ALISON And PETER SMITHSON -The Shifts Of Ideas From The Golden Lane Proposal To The Robin Hood Gardens (1952-1972)”. Ebook. https://www.academia.edu/6856434/ALISON_and_PETER_SMITHSON_The_Shifts_of_Ideas_from_the_Golden_Lane_Proposal_to_the_Robin_Hood_Gardens_1952-1972. Melton, Lynne. 2018. “Building Connections: Architecture And The Visual Arts Syllabus”. Ebook. 6th ed. Sydney: NSW Architects Registration Board. https://www.architects.nsw.gov.au/download/education/building-connections_p1.pdf. Multiple. 2019. "Chapel Of Notre-Dame-Du-Haut, Ronchamp, 1950-1956". Edatlas.It. Accessed June 2019. https://www.edatlas.it/scarica/HTML_Arte_inglese_VOL5/assets/pdf/11_le_corbusier.pdf. Murphy, Douglas. 2016. "Notopia: The Fall Of Streets In The Sky". Architectural Review. https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/campaigns/notopia/notopia-the-fall-of-streets-in-thesky/10006944.article. Pollock, Naomi R. 2005. “Tadao Ando Buries His Architecture at the Chichu Art Museum so Only the Voids Emerge from the Earth.” Architectural Record 193 (10): 116–23. http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asu&AN=504095 434&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Richard, Sophie. 2010. "Arcadia in Japan." Apollo, 10, 63-67. http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url=https://search-proquestcom.proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/docview/894255622?accountid=8203. Stein, Sarah Noelle. 2013. "Architecture and the Senses: A Sensory Musing Park." Order No. 1547756, University of Maryland, College Park. http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url=https://searchproquest-com.proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/docview/1464779000?accountid=8203. The Architectural Review. 2014. Robin Hood Gardens: Requiem For A Dream. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5xEzkQDtQ8. Veal, Alex. 2002. “Time in Japanese Architecture: Tradition and Tadao Ando.” Architectural Research Quarterly 6 (4). Cambridge University Press: 349–62. doi:10.1017/S1359135503001878. Willis, Amelia. 2019. "Chichu Art Museum: Japanese Brutalism At Its Best". Open Journal. Accessed June 2019. http://openjournal.com.au/chichu-art-museum-japanese-brutalism-at-its-best/.
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