What slice of sun enters your window?

What slice of sun enters your window?

Reflection on Reverse Perspective

KU Leuven | Campus Gent International Master of Architecture 2016-2017 [ELG1] Architecture and Art | 2nd year | 1st Semester Tutors: Wolkmar M​ü​lheis | Wim Goes | Johannes Berry Student: Mónica Cardoso [r0610447]

Reverse Perspective contradicts the standard single or double viewpoint behind the elements (horizon) and places it between the observer and those elements - a method which enables the viewer to see more sides of the same objects, a better approach of representation of what our eyes really see. However, is the search for a closer representation of reality the true purpose of exploring reverse perspective?

Introduction This was the challenge launched by the Architecture and Art tutors, a reflection about what Reverse Perspective means at an individual (or even personal) level. Starting by the current theoretical explanation of reverse perspective, what makes it different from the common linear perspectives is the shift of the viewpoint towards the viewer, which causes him the sensation of being part of the picture. Before this idea, the first thought that came to mind was that, in reality, our viewpoint, our focus, can actually determine different inner sensations of experiencing a space. And that is something architects constantly work with: directing people’s look towards specific points or directions in space in order to communicate with them. While some perspectives can become disturbing or overwhelming, others can make you feel peaceful and still, among other sensations.

The train of thought Once this thought started to flourish, the mind was assaulted by past memories of physically experienced spaces. The first, a very strong and striking staircase inside a “Music House” in Portugal: an brutalist building designed by the dutch architect Rem Koolhas (OMA), kindly acclaimed by the portuguese people as an UFO that landed in the city center of Porto by accident, right before the turning of the millennium (1999). The music concert hall is filled with overwhelming interior spaces, culminating in its central staircase, a dancing diva full of different angles and over-shaped steps, wrapped around by multiple shiny surfaces. Even though the detail given to each space is remarkable, this particular access is so complex that it makes it difficult for the human mind to process it, turning it into a nauseating passage for those who visit the building.1

After thinking about “Casa da Música” as an example of a real perspective that causes negative inner sensations to the human body, the search for the opposite idea started: which spaces did I visit that left a positive imprint on my mind?

The immediate response was yet another artistic House, this time a “House of Stories” (“Casa das Histórias”). The museum, dedicated to Paula Rego (a very respected portuguese female painter), was designed in 2008 by her fellow countryman, the architect Eduardo Souto de Moura, next to the historical greenpark of the city of Cascais. In spite of being a very discreet and bright space on the inside, the exterior appearance of the building reflects 1

Attachment 1_”Casa da Música” staircase

the feeling caused by the exhibition it contains: a very pink concrete cube with two pyramids on top, certainly blushed with shame by the disturbing paintings from Paula Rego that it hides within itself.2 Illustrations of torture scenes, rappings, monsters, all the exhibition route intends to represent a collection of our human most terrible nightmares, some of them so impacting because we know that they actually are real.3 Even though all the rooms were bright enough to assure the art pieces visibility, each coming space seemed colder than the other, in a clear correlation between architecture and art. However, it was the last room that caused the most memorable picture on my mind: once one reaches the end of the exhibition, a gently excavated corner of a room presents us with a big window and a small stone bench. As if the architect had predicted the tumultuous adventure that all the art-lovers and curious critics would go through when visiting his building, the lines of the space seem to not only direct our gaze towards this sculpted corner, but also tempt us to experience it, in a smooth invitation to take a seat and contemplate the view of the park outside.4 And the truth is, once one dares to accept the so well-deserved reward, our inner stillness seems to be re-established by this last frame of green and blue sky, proving the whole journey to be yet another happy ending story.

However, the mind quickly jumped from the fairytale scene into a more realistic and socially active approach. Within the same territorial borders - and equal palette of primary colors - there is a “Blue Theatre” which also had something to say about this Reverse Perspective interpretation.5 Situated in Almada, “Teatro Azul” seems to be another misplaced creature, this time not because of its eccentric shape, but due to its program.

Taking into account that a theatre show was not affordable by all social classes in Portugal, the site it was inserted in was, at the very least, a curious choice. The building designed by the architects Manuel Graça Dias and Egas José Vieira was inaugurated in 2006, right in front of a low-class housing street, blatantly confronting two opposite worlds.6

Be that as it may, the cranky beast didn’t remain quiet about the situation it ended up in; on the contrary, it choose to speak up its mind in a very clever and subtil way: by opening a single and majestic viewpoint right towards the street, framing the social housing facade and using it as a metaphor to awake the visitors of the theater about the reality standing right in front of them. The power of this big window reaches way beyond the usual opening that intends to catch some sunbeams for itself; it contains a subliminal message, so simple and yet impacting that it makes it hard to miss, even to the busiest eyes of the ones who are concerned with multiple things other than the reality around them. “This exists”, it says; 2 3 4 5 6

Attachment 2_”Casa das Histórias” Attachment 3_”Dog Woman”, painting from Paula Rego Attachment 4_”Casa das Histórias”, last room interior view Attachment 5_”Teatro Azul” Attachment 6_Teatro Azul street view from google maps

“this ordinary life is right in front of you, it is real, and it is important enough for me to frame it and show it to you”.

The aspiration When Reverse Perspective was discovered and used in religious paintings, it was meant to create a deeper approach of the viewer to the reality created in the drawings, making it easier to understand and connect to the message within it. I believe windows are the architect’s way of showing the users their perspectives of the context outside. That is the purpose of this paper and project: to show that windows are not only light openings; that those sunbeams can bring inside something more with them. To create an awareness to all the ones it may be useful for, about the opportunity that relies in every window; that every time a void is opened in a wall, it is framing a picture, a reading of the outside that can contain a message to anyone who contemplates it attentively enough. If architecture can cultivate some knowledge to its inhabitants, this is for sure one of the tools the architect can use to awake the thinking minds.

The place The building where our classes take place was never no one’s favourite spot to study; something seems not to fit in an old office-typology building reused to accommodate such creative courses. However, the atmosphere created in each Architecture & Art class was somehow a motivation to try to do something interesting about it, specially because all the creative people that were in contact with the space every week would also be able to experience it fully, both in its common arrangement and the new that was about to be created. This room made the feeling of exploring different new subjects become familiar, the process of developing our sensitivity about questions we are not used to discuss, an habit - and that mood that was set seemed incredibly appealing to create the previously mentioned awareness in all this people (or at least the ones who would be touched by it).

All this boosted the idea of playing with this classroom, more precisely with its 3 windows.

The windows In spite of displaying a beautiful landscape view from the buildings’ roofs in front, the display of the windows on this 4th floor classroom leaves the idea behind their design clear: they are part of a metric system that rules all the dimensions of the building and composes a clean facade on the outside. Which is usual and comprehensible; however, the purpose of this project was to show something more, try different spatial configurations and give it a different perspective from the one it currently has.

By having such big dimensions, all the information they communicate from the outside becomes a messy blur of buildings, with no apparent intention. Just like our diva staircase in “Casa da Música”, it asks for so much attention that, even if the first glance left some surprise and interest, after it our minds just mitigate the image and chose to ignore it. So the first step was to analyse this information and filter it, imagining what could be important to show and what would be interesting to hide. Given the fact that, many times, what is not there is as important as what it is, what should belong to this picture?

The project Recognizing that drawing is one of the most effective ways to truly understand the reality around us, the first step was to contemplate the landscape and draw it, absorbing the environment of the classroom while doing it.7 Afterwards, I started to cover the drawing with my own hands, playing with the number of uncovered windows, and once all three of them were covered, I finally attained an abstraction of the outside.8 This made me realize that by simply covering half of the windows, showing nothing else but sky, the classroom environment completely changes: it makes us lose the notion of place. The window doesn’t allow us to know the shape of the street in front of us, its dimensions. How far would the buildings be? Are there even any buildings in the first place? From which elements is the landscape behind it composed? I could see birds flying though; am I even in a city? By taking away what the mind already takes as guaranteed, the imagination started to flow, questioning these frames. And besides, there was a strange feeling about having to move my head up to look to the sky for the first time from inside a classroom. An ambiguous feeling, between smallness and vastness. And the light that flooded above me also seemed to shape the room in a different way, giving it a new perspective.

Nevertheless, the purpose of the project was not simply to eliminate the landscape these three screens used to display; it was to create a new perspective about the elements on the 7 8

Attachment 7_Drawing Attachment 8_Covered drawings

outside, a new reading of the context, and maybe a personal message underneath it. So I came to analyse each window (still trying to figure out what to frame) by coming close to them, and once again I was surprised by what this movement showed me: the image displayed in each different window was the same. The elements that by far were clearly separated by the frames of the 3 windows and the columns between them, were now visible from each different viewpoint close to them, repeating themselves as I moved along the interior side of this small piece of facade. After realizing it, it was quite obvious that it would happen - due to our peripheral vision - but it was something I never thought about before. After showing itself to me, this shift of the viewpoint had to become part of the strategy.

In order to use it, two elements from the landscape were chosen, each with a special meaning for me. The meaning, however, was later revealed not important for the argument of the whole story, once the main point was to invite people moving through the space and be aware of the repetition of the image framed. It remains there, for anyone to interpret and unveil, and knowing the background of the study cases chosen makes it easier; but if it was too direct, would seem forced. Once the mechanism is found, the idea very often loses its strength. So I decided to focus on the idea and leave this question unanswered - who knows, even cultivating the viewer's curiosity and imagination.

After selecting the displayed elements, I then started experimenting on a picture how to cover the windows, using virtual collages, and analyzing how it would look like if I opened 2 small frames in each of them, placing 6 rectangles with similar dimensions but different positions on the inside (according to the specific viewpoint where the viewer would observe them).9 This virtual experiment rapidly asked to become real, and the search for the right material to cover the excess of window began. After several tries with different glass paints, the solution was to cover it with a more homogeneous material, that could be easily placed and taken afterwards (in the end, it was still a classroom used by many other people). So after trying it out week after week with old used paper, to redefine the rectangles’ shape and position, Pinocchio the real boy came to life, with a slight difference from the picture: on the final rehearsal before the main show, I placed the big white sheets of paper on the windows to check if they had the correct size. However, due to a shortage of time, I had only excavated the 3 rectangles on top, leaving the bottom of the windows completely covered. And somehow, it ended up making more sense to have only 1 element framed on the top of the three windows, which would still seduce the movement of the viewer through the different viewpoints, while instigating them to look up, simplifying the project and giving it the ambiguous sensation between smallness and vastness firstly felt.10

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Attachment 9_Virtual experiment on a picture Attachment 10_Final project

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Conclusion The final moment after placing all the paper sheets was worth all the effort made throughout the semester. Discovering this new part that a simple window can play inside of a space was truly gratifying, and gave an added meaning to my future as an architect or artist (or anything else I might possibly become). And as with all the other questions this class has raised, I was mesmerized by the amount of thought prompted by the two simple words “Reverse Perspective”.

As a self-critic, I believe the final exhibition created in the classroom would have been more complete if I had added a pamphlet or any other kind of small explanation about what was being displayed. Or at least a small text or sentence that would have given a clue about what was going on, and sparkle any small thought on the visitors. Nevertheless, after talking to some colleagues about the result, I was happy to realize that the underlying message had some effect on their minds. The fact that a window on a wall is not merely about opening a void of light in a dark cave, but can be used as a symbol to an underlying message, was clear by the simple gesture of framing the familiar windows everybody was used to contemplate in a different way. And as the sentence that gives name to this project claims, the core point is what slice of sun enters our window, which piece of the outside we chose to complete the interior space of our designs. In the end, the amount of thought we can produce with a small detail among this excuse of building.

“Gratifying and unpredictable are the permissions the architect has given to the chosen opening on which patches of sunlight play on the jamb and still that enter, move, and disappear” excerpt from “The Room, the Street and Human Agreement”. Louis Khan, 1973

Hope this project has also imprinted the vision of a window in someone’s memory.

Mónica Cardoso

Attachments

Attachment 1_”Casa da Música” staircase source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kuk/7379626346

A​ttachment 2_”Casa das Histórias” source: http://www.francisconogueira.com/work/casa-das-historias/

Attachment 3_”Dog Woman”, painting from Paula Rego source: https://sala17.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/paula-rego-1935 -percursos-pelo-imaginario-infantil-e-feminino/

Attachment 4_”Casa das Histórias”, last room interior view http://www.iconeye.com/404/item/4212-portuguese-museum-1?tmpl=component&print=1

Attachment 5_”Teatro Azul” source: http://complexidadeecontradicao.blogspot.be/2005/07/do-roofmate-pastilha-de-piscina.html

Attachment 6_”Teatro Azul” street view from google maps source: https://www.google.be/maps/place/Teatro+Municipal+Joaquim+Benite/@38.6787906,-9.162778 9,861m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!1m2!2m1!1steatro+perto+de+Almada,+Portugal!3m4!1s0x0:0xdb05 bab2cb33a062!8m2!3d38.6760121!4d-9.1597217?hl=pt-PT

Attachment 7_Drawing source: personal picture

Attachment 8_Covered drawings source: personal picture

Attachment 9_ Virtual experiment on a picture source: personal picture

Attachment 10_Final project source: personal picture