Encyclopedia Entries

Encyclopedia Entries Theories of Architecture James R. Lennon

Kent State University Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative Master of Architecture ARCH 60301- Fall 2014 Professor Jon Yoder

Supermodernism (n.)

james lennon

“We could say of supermodernity that it is the face of a coin whose obverse represents postmodernity: the positive of a negative.”1 —Marc Augé (1995) “Supermodernism refers to what might loosely be called contemporary transformations of the built environment, many of which serve to erode the sense of place. The supermodern aesthetic... comprises buildings of high architectural quality which, however neutral, generic and non-symbolic in their design, are bound to stand out precisely because of their excellence and in doing so impart meaning to a place, even if that was not the intention.”2 —Hans Ibelings (2002)

Rem Koolhaas, OMA, Casa da Música, Oporto Concert Hall, Porto, Portugal, 2006 (photo by Phillipe Ruault)

Rem Koolhaas, OMA, CCTV Building, Beijing, China, 2012 (photo by Iwan Baan)

Protagonists: Toyo Ito, Rem Koolhaas, Herzog & de Meuron, Jean Nouvel, Bjarke Ingels, MVRDV, Dominique Perralt, Phillipe Stark, Antagonists: Michael Graves, Peter Eisenman, Renzo Piano, Norman Foster Architectural Theory Contributions: In progressing from the postmodern period around the turn of the twenty-first century, supermoderniity has established itself in the age of technology and informational abundance. In the mid-1990s, architects and theorists began to recognize a change in architecture stemming from many of the existing protagonists above.3 This architecture can be considered the birth of supermodernism. A paradigm shift from theoretical design to design intelligence has propelled the supermodernism phenomenon into realms of discourse between architects and theorists.4 Three distinct 1

Marc Augé, “Non-places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity,” (1992) John Howe Translation, (London/New York, Verso, 1995) 2 Hans Ibelings, “Supermodernism: Architecture in the Age of Globalization,” (1995) (Rotterdam, Nai Publishers, 2002) 3 Four crucial publications; Light Construction by Terrence Riley (Moma Exhibition 1995),Architettura in superficie; materiali, figure e tecnologie delle nuovo facciate urbane by Daniela Colafranceschi (Rome 1995), Monolithic Architecture by Machado and el-Khoury (Munich/ New York 1995), Less is More: Minimalism in Architecture and the Other Arts by Savi and MaMontaner (Barcelona, 1996) eluded to fundamental Supermodern conditions. These conditions include; lightness of contemporary architecture, glassy transparent buildings, smooth façade (the surface), eloquent but limited formal means, and architecture that refers to nothing but itself.

4 Michael Speaks argues that supermodernism is a shift in intellectual paradigm. It is a non-idealistic, transition from critical design to intelligent design utilizing thinking and doing in conjunction with prototyping in order to create unforeseen results. (Michael Speaks Lecture, University of New Mexico, School of Architecture and Planning, March 2012) Hans Ibelings further explains the global, economic, and spatial

characteristics describe the supermodern; the abundance of space, the abundance of sign, and the abundance of individualization.5 Globalization has allowed these ideals to transverse the globe, favoring architectural homogenization while dismissing contextual relation.6 Formal neutrality is an influence into the anti-typological nature of the architecture.7 The architecture, relating to nothing outside of itself, prioritizes direct experience easily understood through the diagrammatic composition.8 Supermodern buildings are often intentionally iconic in design, with hopes to mimic the Bilbao effect for touristic and capitalistic purposes.9 Consequently, the focus on place, individualization, and abundance of space has resulted in non-places.10 We have come to encounter these places and non-places on a daily basis, as people living in a period of supermodernism.

Keywords: Globalization, design intelligence, neutrality, diagram, non-place, information, Bilbao effect Bibliography: Besgen, Asa. "The Loos of Time and Space: From Production to Consumption."

International Conference in Architecture and Urban Design, 2013: 280-88 Speaks, Michael. “Design Intelligence” Constructing a New Agenda: Architectural Theory 1993-2009, New York, NY, Princeton Architectural Press, 2010 Koolhaas, Rem. “Architecture and Globalization,” William S. Saunders (ed.), Reflections on Architectural Practice in the Nineties, (New York, NY Princeton architectural press, “ --- S,M,L,XL,” New York, NY, Monacelli Press, October 1998 Van Dijk, Hans. "Supermodernism?" Archis. Issue 7 (1998): 72-73 aspects of the Supermodern in “Supermodernism: Architecture in the Age of Globalization”.

5

Marc Matienzo explains these abundances in "The Ethnology of Nowhere." Marc Auge's Non-places as an Analytical Tool for Supermodern Transience” (2007); Abundance of space is the access to space through the digital realm, resulting in “shrinking planet”; better transportation and technology results in connection to more spaces, with less emotional attachment.(non-places) The abundance of sign is the bombardment of information. The abundance of individualization or lack of interaction between users of non-places.11 6 Anthony Giddens defines globalization as “the intensification of worldwide social relations which link global relations between nearby and distant communities” in “Modernity and Self Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age” (1991) Architectural homogenization is inferred from international architects completing projects across the globe, with a standard style, the idea that architecture has become dull, and eerily similar.

7 Modernism looks ahead, Post-modernism looks back, but Supermodern is neutral. (Michael Speaks Lecture, “Design: Intelligence vs. Ideology” Hong Kong University, February 2012). It is neutral in its being and in its relationship to its surroundings while also being anti-typological, which does not imply that there is lack of meaning behind the architecture, but the meaning is now derived directly from the architecture itself based on how it looks, how it is used, and how it is experienced. Context neutrality is authentic, often having a bold, high contrast.

8 The diagram is easily understandable, therefore the building is understandable as a diagram. The architecture becomes the diagram. See Bjarke Ingels Group as an example 9 The Bilbao effect is a business model involving the construction of extravagant, Supermodern icons in hopes of capturing the global tourism market. It is a consequence of the economic shift from state to the individual city. Oversaturation can be attributed to the architectural homogenization, causing less of an economic impact.

10 With an expanding globalized world, familiar territory is expanding. A large portion of space is only a momentary experience. Places such as Supermarkets, and airports have experienced a jump in scale, where people act as currency with limited human interaction. These momentary experiences can be considered non-places. Places have meaning associated with it. Non places are simply just spaces. These non-places are a consequences of the abundance of space. Joe Moran, “Non-places: Supermodernity and the everyday,” in Reading the Everyday, (2005) (New York, NY, Routledge pp. 94-128)

Walter Benjamin (1892-1940)

james lennon

"Couldn't an exciting film be made from the map of Paris? ... From the compression of a centuries-long movement of streets, boulevards, arcades, and squares into the space of half an hour? And does the flâneur do anything different?”11 – Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin in the Bibliothèque Nationale France, Paris (1937)

(photo by Gisèle Freund)

Paris Arcades, Passage Jouffroy Delion,

Paris, (early 1930s) (photo by Galerie Vivienne)

Walter Benjamin was a German social and literary critic, philosopher, and author during the early twentieth century who played important roles in the relationship between urban psychoanalytic interaction, aesthetics, technology, and commodity. He has published a variety of works, which are being posthumously revisited due to a revived way of thinking about present architecture and theory. Benjamin, a Weimar Marxist and contributor to the Frankfurt school of thought, is considered a theorist of modernity.12 Degree: Walter Benjamin studied philosophy in Freiburg, Munich, Berlin and Bern, eventually graduating from the University of Bern, Switzerland in 1919.13 Architectural Theory Contributions: It is evident through Benjamin’s writing that his influences were Karl Marx, Charles Baudelaire, Sigmund Freud, and Theodor Adorno.14 His writings reveal some of the most significant

11

Walter Benjamin, “The Arcades Project,” (1927-1940) Rolf Tiedemann translation, (Harvard University Press, 1982) the flâneur exemplified the urban spectator browsing without destination. Flânerie is defined as aimless idle behavior.

12 Vanessa R. Schwartz argues this claim in “Walter Benjamin for Historians,” American Historical Review (Oxford Mass, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 1735.) Weimar Marxism, relating to the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) argued critical theory related to the divide between modernism and mass culture. “Weimar Thought: A Contested Legacy” (2013) (Princeton University Press) The Frankfurt School of thought is a group of Marxist thinkers who practiced Bourgeois Ideology.

13 In 1925, Benjamin withdrew his thesis paper from the University of Frankfurt, preventing him from becoming a professional academic. Ironically his submission, Habilitation, became the subject of a seminar course taught at Frankfurt University in 1932. In 1933, Benjamin fled to Paris when the Nazis took office. 1940 he committed suicide in fear of returning to Nazi Germany. According to Bernd Witte, “Walter Benjamin: an intellectual Biography” (1985) (Detroit, MI, Wayne State University Press) 14. Benjamin’s “The Optic of Walter Benjamin” One Way Street: Optical Unconsciousness (translated 1999 by Alex Coles, Black Dog Publishing) and the idea of mimesis stem from Freudian psychoanalysis in “A note on the Unconscious in Psychoanalysis.” Mimesis is a linguistic concept relating to the link between self and other. Benjamin expanded Baudelaire’s argument on the flâneur in “The Arcades Project”. Theodor Adorno was a correspondent to his thought, however argued that Benjamin often focused on obsolete

contributions to architectural discourse on the topics of experience, photography, time, commodity, and most notably aura.15 Benjamin’s views on aura were further developed by Manfredo Tafuri, Marshall McLuhan, and Sarah Whiting to name a few. Aura translates to architectural mimicry, or mimesis which he deemed distasteful and cheap.16 In studying the Parisian arcades, Benjamin argues for their progressive potentials which were not being implemented due to profitable, capitalistic agendas. Kenneth Frampton was influenced by Benjamin stating that in regards to technology and tectonics, there is an industrialization crisis in architecture deriving from the capitalist economic paradigm shift.17 He argued capitalism endowed objects, instead of architecture and society, with the ability to express dreams.18 The current technological paradigm shift can be attributed to the revisited Benjaminian thought.19 Keywords: Marxist, modernity, political radicalism, capitalism, technology, commodity, Weimar Republic, Frankfurt School, aura, mimesis, distraction Bibliography Ballantyne, Andrew. “Architecture Theory” Walter Benjamin, Louis Aragon, and Karl Marx, 2005, London, New York, Continuum, pp. 88-93 Benjamin, Walter “Paris, Capital of the Nineteenth Century,” 1939 Bruno, Guiliana. "Visual Studies: Four Takes on Spatial Turns." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 2006, vol. 65, pp. 23-24 Frederich, Jameson. "Walter Benjamin, or Nostalgia." Salmagundi, 1970,p 52-68 Fléche, Betsy. "The Art of Survival: The Translation of Walter Benjamin."

SubStance, 1999, pp. 95-109 Gage, Foster. “Aestheric Theory: Essential Texts for Architecture and Design,” Walter Benjamin, 2011, New York, NY, W.W. Norton and Co. pp. 197-210 Gilloch, Graeme. "Myth and Metropolis: Walter Benjamin and the City." Journal of Design History, 1997, Vol.10, Oxford Journals pp. 101-102 Koepnick, Lutz. “Walter Benjamin and the Aesthetics of Power,” 1999, Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Leslie, Esther. "Benjamin: Traces of Craft." Journal of Design History 1998 Martin, Reinhold. "Critical of What?" Harvard Design Magazine, summer 2005

elements of civilization in a new society of modernistic views. Neil Leech “Mimesis” Walter Benjamin and Architecture (2010) (New York, NY, Routledge) 15 “The work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” In Illuminations (1936) (Hannah Arendt, Harry Zohn, trans. New York, Schocken Books, 1968, pp. 217-251) argues the loss of aura in the modern age because of its reproduction, claiming that the authenticity of the original is where the aura lies.

16 Manfredo Tafuri agrees that there is an agenda behind architecture relating to power and capitalism, which reiterates the loss of aura, and fuels the obsession of commodification. Andrew Leech “Manfredo Tafuri and the Age of Historical Representation” Walter Benjamin and Architecture (2005) (New York, NY, Routledge) McLuhan is influenced by the loss of experience, and aura, and studies the impact of new media in sociology. He argues that “Hot” architecture does everything for the user, lacking authenticity. “Hot and Cold Media” (1964) Sarah Whiting focuses on the atmospheric implications of aura. “Notes around the Doppler Effect and Other Moods of Modernism” (2002)(Perspecta 33 pp. 71-77) 17 Frampton reiterated Benjamin’s “Work of Art in the age of Mechanical Reproduction,” (1936) (Illuminations New York, NY, Schocken Books, 1968) We must return to the structural unit as “the irreducible essence of architectural form.” Stating that the engineer has clarity over the architect in advancing technology, Benjamin questioning “Are not all great conquests of form ultimately a matter of technical discovery?”

Kenneth Frampton “Industrialization and the crisis of Architecture” Oppositions (Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press) 18 Walter Benjamin, in The Arcades Project argued for the progressive potentials of technology, in a capitalistic world, where progressive potentials were used as means for profit.

19 He would be intrigued by the originality of Supermodern architecture and the technological feats they overcome, however he would be against the loss of aura that digital technologies grant us in viewing this architecture.

Eyebeam Art and Technology Center

james lennon

Chelsea Arts District, New York, NY USA (2000) "The Eyebeam project is at the intersection of our passions, architecture and new media art. The great challenge ahead is to reconcile the discrepancy with speed: architecture is permanent while new media is transient. We will have to invent the map as we navigate it." -Elizabeth Diller (2002)20 Framing the Competition: A three-round design competition created by John S. Johnson was held to deliver design proposals encapsulating the relation of two evolving mediums; architecture and technology.21 Competition advisor David Hotson argues, “If new media art is art that has been significantly impacted by digital technology, then some architecture also falls into this category. It’s only younger firms emerging within this area that are really going to have the most penetrating insights.”22 Finalists23: Diller + Scofidio(winner), Leeser Architecture, MVRDV

Competition Winner, Diller + Scofidio, 2001 (Image courtesy of DSRNY)

Competition Runner-up, Leeser Architecture, 2001 (Image provided by Leeser)

Second Runner Up, MVRDV, 2001 (Image courtesy of MVRDV)

Diller + Scofidio Proposal: Through Diller + Scofidio’s work, a rooted understanding of media, arts and architecture has been developed.24 The eyebeam competition provided an opportunity to showcase their values on a much larger scale than previously explored. Evidence of media and architecture

20

Ryan, Zoe. "Fluid Spaces." Blueprint (June 2002), p.26-27 John S. Johnson, film director and heir to Johnson & Johnson Co. founded eyebeam in support of digital artwork, research and advancement of new media. "Eyebeam Atelier's Architectural Design Competition." in Architecture & Urbanism (May 2002) pp. 380-86.

22 David Hotson, New York architect and advisory committee member for the competition, reiterated by Terence Riley, curator for architecture and design at MOMA. "Eyebeam Atelier's Architectural Design Competition."

23 Semifinalists include: Architecture Research Office, Asymptote Architecture, David Chipperfield Architects, Preston Scott Cohen, Neil M. Denari, Foreign Office Architects, Greg Lynn Form, Gluckman Mayner Architects, Reiser + Umemoto, Rogers Marvel Architects. Other notable invites were Rem Koolhaus and Toyo Ito, but neither submitted a proposal. See Marc Kristal, "Measuring the Competition." In Metropolis, (Nov 2002) (vol. 22, no.3, pp. 99-131) 24 D+S’s Strength has historically been the link between professional language, cultural language, and media. See key works relating to art, technology, the human condition and architecture, including: Sentinel (1987), Para-site (1989), Suitcase Studies (1991) Overexposed (1994), Flesh (1994), Jet Lag (1999), Master/Slave (1999), and The Brasserie (2000). See Edward Dimendberg, “Diller Scofidio + Renfro” Architecture After Images (2013) (Chicago, IL/London: University of Chicago Press) 21

intermingling can be seen in the implementation of the “undulating ribbon.”25 The resulting universal space is a consequence of new technologies, allowing the systems and structure to be housed within the ribbon itself.26 The fluidity of this surface speaks to the integrated spaces which are able to adapt to the oscillating program within, highlighted by the transparency of the façade.27 The design is often referred to as an organism, having humanistic qualities.28 The design proposal offered significant contributions to the field.

Architectural Theory Contributions: Diller + Scofidio’s eyebeam museum has many Duchampian concepts associated with the development of the project, however the idea of this continuous surface can most notably be related to the ideas of Giles Deleuze.29 The intersection of architecture and media has brought about new ideas exploring space, form, and experience.30 This experience is not perceived personally but digitally, marking a key paradigm shift from traditional practice to utilizing computer technology in practice as a design mechanism.31 Although never constructed, Diller + Scofidio’s Eyebeam Museum serves as a precedent for many other continuous surface explorations, as well as explorations involving architecture, media, and technology as one.32 Keywords: Fold, continuous surface, fluid space, universal space, experience, architecture and media Bibliography: Betsky, Aaron. “Scanning: The Aberrant Architectures of Diller + Scofidio,” New York, NY, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2003 "Diller Scofidio Eyebeam Museum of Art and Technology." Architecture, Washington D.C., issue 92, (2003), pp 76-77.

Hall, Glen, Eric Nash, and Tom Vanderbilt. "Art's Next Generation [Eyebeam Atelier Museum of Art and Technology]." In Architecture no.

90.9(Washington D.C), pp. 71-73 Mitnick, Keith. “Diller Scofidio: Eyebeam Museum of New Media,” Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 2003 Tigner, Amanda. “Why Duchamp? The influence of Marcel Duchamp on Contemporary Architectural Theory and Practice,” in Succession, Paris, 2005.

Wolfe, Cary. “Lose the Building: Systems Theory, Architecture, and Diller + Scofidio’s Blur,” Architecture Theories of the Environment: Posthuman Territory, New York, NY, Routledge, (2013), pp. 115-137 25

The continuous surface or “undulating ribbon” derives from: MVRDV’s Villa VPRO (1997), Rem Koolhaas’ Educatorium (1997) and Jessieu Library (1992).

26 “Universal space” or open, adaptable space uninterrupted by columns.

27 The blue side of the ribbon represents presentation while the gray represents production. It can be described as a system of controlled contamination with interacting views. The idea of behavior under gaze relates to Michel Foucault “Panopticism” In Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1975) 28 The building is referred to as an organism, the industrial zone as the nervous system, and the media jacks in the continuous surface as skin pores. -Architecture After Images 29 Influenced by the ideas of Marcel Duchamp in breaking culture and media, as well as Giles Deleuze in his work The Fold 30 “The technologies of the spaces are the sole function of the space. The space does not define the function. The users themselves will define the function”, as described

by Elizabeth Diller in Guido Incerti’s “Diller + Scofidio (+Renfro): The Ciliary Function,” (2007) (New York, NY, Rizzoli International Publications Inc.) regarding flexibility and technological driven flânerie.

31 The eyebeam museum’s relation to this paradigm shift is discussed. Vincenzo Genovese.

"Diller Scofidio: A Ribbon in Space. The New York Museum of Digital Art." in Architecttura (Jan. 2003). The introduction of millennial technology in the eyebeam proposal is “a leap comparable to that of the elevator in high rise buildings of the 1920s” according to Hani Rashid, principal of Asymptote.

32 Traces of the eyebeam museum and the continuous surface, or fold, architecture is detectable in a wide variety of work. It is especially evident in much of Zaha Hadid’s work, namely the Heydar Aliyev Centre.