Architect as alchemist

A rch i t ect as alchemist v i rt ua l i t y a n d t h e c r e at i o n of experience

Forget t i ng of a i r oliver hester Tutor: Na bil A hmed M o d u l e : AR 7 0 0 6 Ac a de m ic Y e a r : 2 015 - 2 016 T h e C a s s S c h o o l o f A r t , A r c h i t e c t u r e & D e s i g n , L o n d o n M e t r o p o l i t a n Un i v e r s i ty

CONTENT 1 -

Introduction

2 -

Blurred Boundaries

3 -

Association & pre - judgement

4 -

Enhance & Experience

5 -

Legacy : Traces of the Virtual

6 -

Conclusion

7 -

Bibliography

8 -

Pecha Kucha Presentation

9 -

Painting Collage

Mathias Merian, Mylius Tractatus III Seu Basilica Philosophica‌ (1618)1

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http://www.ncsu.edu/~kimler/hi322/correspondence.html Last accessed on 12th May 2016

A rch i t ect as a lch em ist

I n t roduct ion Int r o d u c t i o n

The manner in which we observe is always in flux and similarly how we design, create and adapt the world around us is constantly changing. Architecture is a form of alchemy; the combining of a variety of disciplines, methods and representations to create a built form.

Introducing a tangible example throughout this piece, in a simplistic form, helps us to grapple with the more intangible and subtle qualities considered by an Architect. A ceramic drinking vessel which having been, sourced, created, formed, perceived and the end product then experienced brings a tactile quality to some of the main themes discussed.

The process of Architecture is the amalgamation of a series of ingredients. This image by Mathias Merian, from the start of the 17th century, shows a schemata and representation of the order of things as he perceived them. The concept of creating a simple form from a variety of ‘ingredients’ can be likened and simplified to the approach of a ceramicist with clay and water.

Initially a ‘paper’ Architecture is born, a theoretical building is created, before being bumped, and shaped by experiences.

The Architect is in a way enticing a degree of Virtuality 1 out of their representations, exposing their abstract thoughts and testing reactions between different extents of design. These processes are not subtle or discreet nor are they rigid and regimented, they are in between; in a state of flux.

These constraints are politically charged and have many socio economic influences. Artists can normally test without constraint “The goal of art is to put the spectator … in a state of elevated order. To conceive, it is first necessary to know what one wishes to do and specify the proposed goal” 4. This assortment creates a diverse range of outcomes; rarely in Architecture do you have the experimental state manifesting itself in the built physical form. To simplify this argument a focus has been placed onto a simple building component, the stair. The stair has a direct experiential and emotional quality. The specific example chosen is a stair in a large private apartment in Bayswater, West London, by Robin Lee Architects. The stair is formed from mild sheet steel and is then ‘water – cut’ to create the hexagonal perforations in the material, much like the practice of a ceramicist manipulating clay.

Alchemy can be defined as a chemistry based process in mixing and transformation of matter.

“Roughly speaking, the old alchemists expected that, if the right procedure and conditions could be found, then sulfur would fix mercury to yield gold, precisely as form unites to matter to give a real object.” 2 Architecture is the amalgamation of a series of ingredients to create a ‘paper’ or theoretical building. The ‘firing’ of the ceramic drinking vessel, which can be seen to represent the process of construction, creates the physical. The ingredients leave traces of themselves in their final physical manifestation – imprints or hints of ideas, theories and representations.

The built environment profession has a narrow framework of physical expression and these ‘real objects’ can be mundane and dull due to certain regulations and limitations. “The end form must in some way accommodate itself to the constraints of conventional strictures and professional expectations, client preference, (and) cost projections” 3. This quote, taken from the text ‘Sensing the Virtual, building the Insensible’, where Brian Massumi critiques the phenomenological theories of the early 20th century philosophers such as Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger and Gaston Bachelard to name a few, has a pragmatic approach to the Virtuality concept.

1

“Real but not actual, ideal but not abstract” Proust Marcel Translated by Scott Moncrieff (2006). Remembrance of things past. 2nd ed. Wordsworth Editions.

Photograph (above) James Newton 5 “These are water-cut to a series of geometric profiles and patterns creating a structure both industrial and crafted, massive and filigree” Robin Lee, Architects Journal 6.

The translation from sketch form to a physical representation is tested in this example of the stair, but is found throughout the majority of the Architectural profession. The workflow and process of fabrication is digitally conceived, as in this case the perforated steel balustrades are cut digitally on a water cutting bed, therefore an idea is translated into reality from the virtual to the physical. Similarly, with the ceramic drinking vessel, a 4

2 Giuseppe Del Re HYLE . (1997). International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry 3. Technology and the spirit of alchemy. 1 (1), 51-63.

Corbusier, Le - Ozenfant Amadée. (1920). Purism. In: Robert L Herbert Modern Artists on Art . New Jersey: Englewood Cliffs . p65-67.

5

3 Massumi, B. (1998). Sensing the virtual, building the insensible. Hypersurface architecture . 68 (1), p16-24.

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/71-queensway-by-robin-leearchitecture/10004936.article?sm=10004936

6

Lee Robin. (2016). 71 Queensway. The Architects Journal . 243 (-), 24-35.

A rch i t ect as a lch em ist

5

physical object is created from a conceptual and theoretical process although without the virtual.

Virtuality is a concept conceived and developed by 20th century French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Marcel Proust, one of the former Virtuality thinkers, originally defined Virtuality to be “real but not actual, ideal but not abstract” 7. Deleuze then developed this and it can now be summarised as “The potential existence (before – the potential existence of building. After – the potential existence of theory and representation).” In Deleuze’s text Bergsonism 8 “virtual’ is not opposed to ‘real’ but opposed to ‘actual’, whereas ‘real’ is opposed to ‘possible”. The virtual is in some cases fulfilled in the actual (reality), it can create a “kind of surface effect produced by actual causal interactions at the material level.” 9

The ceramicist then ‘fires’ the clay, and in this mere action permanence is created from a theoretical form to a physical object. The construction process can be related to this stage, albeit a more complex and intricate irreversible process.

“Form ‘follows’ the design process” 10. The Architect is a vital part of this process however are traces of the virtual found in the built form? “The art of the Architect is the art of the leap” 11. In this leap, do we lose track of the sensory values of a building, when designing in the virtual?

7 Ritzer George (2015). Sociological Theory . 8th ed. E Book: Cram 101.

6

8

Tomlinson Hugh, Translated Habberjam Barbara (1990). Bergsonism. Paris: Zone Books.

9

Tomlinson Hugh, Translated Habberjam Barbara (1990). Bergsonism. Paris: Zone Books.

A rch i t ect as a lch em ist

10 Massumi, B. (1998). Sensing the virtual, building the insensible. Hypersurface architecture . 68 (1), p16-24.

11 Ibid,

b lu r r e d b ou n da r i e s C r e at ion

The ‘leap’ is intrinsically apparent in creating Architecture, as there will always be a translation from an idea into a built form. Starting with the raw clay, which is neither soft nor rigid, once this clay has reacted - like cement - one cannot return it to its original state or form. Architecture has what is perceived to be, a very static and stationary feel however; Eyal Weizman introduces a concept of how Architecture has “an inherent dynamism” 12 and “viscosity”13.

Sir Christopher Wrens plan for rebuilding the city of London after The Great Fire in 1666 14 The Architect is evolving and the edges of the profession are becoming more malleable and are being tested. The Architect’s need to be a polymath 15 has been heightened in modern times. Sir Christopher Wren’s plan for London in 1666, after the Great Fire, is an example of how Architects can become integrated socially and politically into the field, merging different areas of their work. Guattari mentions how all minds are connected working in a collected manner. “Far from being ‘individual’ our minds are already multiplicities that work together as some sort of society. We are political all the way down to the unconscious bodily responses that we could not call ‘thoughts’” 16 .

The Architect continues to act as a politician, philosopher, and creator, but with a greater sphere of encompassment, absorbing other professions and merging boundaries between them. The need for the Architect to be easily shaped or moulded has never been so poignant, and the level of plasticity 17 needed in their work never greater.

12 http://moscowbiennale.syg.ma/cloud-as-a-radical-transformation-ofarchitecture Last accessed 14th May 2016.

13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvPhiUL3hz0 Eyal Weizman at a presentation for the Moscow Biennale September 2015. Last accessed 14th May 2016.

14

https://www.fulltable.com/vts/l/london/SH803.jpg Last accessed on 4th May 2016

Staircase detail and photograph, Private apartment, Bayswater, London18

15 An individual of wide ranging knowledge, learning and know how.

16 Ballantyne Andrew. (2007). Machines. In: Sharr Adam Thinkers for Architects: Deleuze and Guattari for Architects . Oxford : Routledge. 32.

17 ‘the quality of being easily shaped or moulded’ Catherina Malabou’s description of plasticity to Noëlle Vahanian, in their conversation in the Winter of 2008, Paris. http://www.jcrt.org/archives/09.1/Malabou.pdf Last accessed 14th May 2016.

18 Lee Robin. (2016). 71 Queensway. The Architects Journal . 243 (-), 24-35.

A rch i t ect as a lch em ist

7

Condensing these themes and focusing them onto the stair at Bayswater, we can begin to see how some areas are being neglected or are regulated by rule and legislation. The built reality of an Architect’s drawings gains a sensual dimension and yet still reflects and resembles what came before it. Without this drawn representation would its potential be realised?

These subtle differences can also be read in Ruskin’s The Storm Cloud of the 19th Century 21, where he gives a personal account and description of various cloud formations in relation to Turner and various artworks and paintings, descriptive language such as “Yesterday, an entirely glorious sunset, unmatched in beauty since that at Abbeville,—deep scarlet, and purest rose, on purple gray, in bars; and stationary, plumy, sweeping filaments above in upper sky, like “using up the brush,” 22.

These examples show how an unconventional way of representation through 3D printing, painting and software, and writing can evoke stimulating outcomes between disciplines, the Architect in some cases seems trapped and restricted by the paper form of creation, and its transition to the physical.

The next Rembrandt, to be exhibited in Amsterdam 19.

Representation and creation of art can be considered; as this medium is not directly affected by the governmental strictures and regulations that Architecture is controlled by. Modern digital creations such as ‘The next Rembrandt’ painting, Google’s ‘Deep dream’ project and Turners 19th century landscape paintings are referenced.

A team of scientists in Holland partnered up with Microsoft and ING to digitally analyse Rembrandts portrait paintings from the 17th century. They then produced a 3D printed painting or representation of a statistically ‘typical Rembrandt’, a Caucasian male wearing a hat and looking to the left. This representation challenges our traditional manner of perception of just looking and begins to question what and how we are seeing. Similarly a project funded by Google named Deep Dream in 2015, interprets an image with a complex neural algorithm, this algorithm then creates a “dreamlike hallucinogenic appearance in the deliberately over-processed images” 20. The images created have a brash and crude nature to them but delicate differences can also be distinguished in the representations.

8

Mou l di ng t h e c l ay

“In current literature we may distinguish between two uses: Space as three dimensional geometry, and as a perceptual field” 23.

The Architect has traditionally communicated their ideas on paper to the built reality, therefore continually losing the dynamism and flow required to create a fulfilled Architecture.

The paper restricts the outcome on a bureaucratic legislative level, and on the representation of reality. The tactile qualities given by the malleable action of moulding the clay, is lost in translation of ‘paper’ to ‘physical’. Shaping with the hand is directly giving form; plasticity is transferred to the object. The stair as a basic component is also translated from the drawn form to the object, the simple and sometimes mundane nature of the stair as a drawing, when translated into reality, can become something of beauty.

19

https://www.nextrembrandt.com 3D printed painting representing Rembrandts particular style, made in Last accessed 1st May 2016.

21

20

Alexander Mordvintsev, Software Engineer, Christopher Olah, Software Engineering Intern and Mike Tyka, Software Engineer. (2016). Inceptionism: Going Deeper into Neural Networks. Available: https://web.archive.org/ web/20150703064823/http://googleresearch.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/ inceptionism-going-deeper-into-neural.html. Last accessed 15th May 2016.

22 Ibid,

A rch i t ect as a lch em ist

Ruskin John . The Storm Cloud of the Nineteenth Century. Michael Wheeler (ed.), Ruskin and Environment: The Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century.

Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995. p5

23 Schultz Christian Norberg (1971). Existence, Space and Architecture. London & New York:

A s s o c i at i o n & p r e - j u d g e m e n t pe rce p t ion

The drinking vessel, much like the stair, is a simple object.

Architecture embodies a larger field such as towns, cities, countries and worlds; all with varying styles, marks and impressions. Architecture reacts and influences many different parts of the environment it exists within. Fashions, trends and styles of representation change our perception of the physical.

Different representations of the translation of the theoretical and virtual to the physical are considered in this piece.

is exemplified in his work titled 7000 Oaks for the Documenta 7 project in 1982 25. The project was to plant 7000 trees in the German town of Kassel; the project was an ecological and social intervention involving the local community, in doing so bringing Art to everyone. This is predominantly changing how people perceive ‘Art’ to be. Architecture is used and perceived by all humans in some way, so in its very nature the field of Architecture is brought to everyone.

Joseph Beuys a German philanthropist and artist working in the Fluxus art movement 24 of the 1970’s and 80’s begins to challenge the perception of space on a social level. Beuys uses Art as a power for social and revolutionary change; this

24

An experimental merging of a range of artists media and disciplines mainly in the 1960’s to the 80’s

25

http://www.documenta.de Last accessed 15th May 2016

A rch i t ect as a lch em ist

9

only to mouse or keystrokes anchored to the screen but to gestures movements and sounds” 31 .

Joseph Beuys, 7000 Eichen (1982) Joseph Beuys/VG BildKunst Foto: Dieter Schwerdtle Architecture, however, has a commanding and assertive view on the observer and occupant due to its permanence, historical significance and its reluctance to change. Perhaps this is due to our anthropomorphist 26 tendencies of wanting security and comfort. Or could it be the way that Architects have been perceived, where they are put on a pedestal and worshipped as some form of deity, or is it simply the bureaucratic and assertive government we live in?

“Where there is nothing, everything is possible. Where there is architecture, nothing (else) is possible” 27 The concept of windowing is spoken of as being a highly philosophical concept, however it directly relates to the perception of Architecture within a locality, whilst being removed from technological and communication advances.

“Windowing provides a framed and tamed static perspective from one local space onto another that remains structurally distinct from it” 28 .

Architectural style has now become mixed in with the virtual, creating a generic viewport into the built environment.

Heidegger touches on this theme in his Question Concerning Technology essay “The fundamental event of the modern age is the conquest of the world as picture” 29. The virtual has now become a way of representation and communication, and is altering the way in which we perceive buildings. In the future the digital may become Architectural, no longer present just in our pockets and as hidden infrastructure within buildings, but as fixtures or furnishings in direct relation to the occupants.

The technological digital display may become as “structurally Architectural/ as a window” 30. Perceptions become more immersive and integrated into the design. “Responding no longer 26

Trait of humanity, impossible to escape

27

Koolhaas, Rem (1995). S,M,L,XL. New York: Monacelli Press. p156-157.

28 Massumi, B. (1998). Sensing the virtual, building the insensible. Hypersurface architecture . 68 (1), p22.

29

Heidegger Martin. (1977). Part 3 :The Age of the World picture. In: Loviit William The Question concerning technology & other essays. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc. 115-155.

30 Massumi, B. (1998). Sensing the virtual, building the insensible. Hypersurface architecture . 68 (1), p21.

10 A rch i t ect as a lch e m ist

(Top) Notting Hill housing 32 (Mid) Housing block in Chiswick blocks 34.

33

(Bottom) Brixton housing

31 Massumi, B. (1998). Sensing the virtual, building the insensible. Hypersurface architecture . 68 (1), p22.

32 http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/local-news/work-begun-build-63new-6393979 Last accessed 16th May 2016 33 http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/west-london-news/wheatstone-housedeveloper-lq-promises-10724503 last accessed 16th May 2016 34

http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2016/04/lambeth-council-expected-toapprove-planning-application-for-20-storey-apartment-block-on-site-of-oldbrixton-cycles/ last accessed 16th May 2016

enh a nce & exper ience These differences in representation influence how people perceive. These renders of planned housing blocks (left) in London show how the monotony of the virtual form is influencing the environment we live in. These designs are often envisaged digitally, and due to the detachment of reality and a refined, well-trodden workflow of virtual to physical, the essence and sensual qualities of the built form are neglected.

The demand for housing in certain locations only intensifies and expedites this neglect.

En h a n c e a n d Ex p e r i e n c e

The digital begins to inform how we design and feel within a space. Using two built examples this section will inquire if

the virtual enhances the space that we are inhabiting, or if it creates a pre-perceived outcome without any scope for positive accident. Or are the outcomes unknown, are the Architects designing in the virtual whilst speculating on a random result, have they become even further detached from the materiality of the physical, moving further into the virtual?

The examples used are MJP’s Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre in The Cotswolds and Daniel Liebeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin. Some aspects of the physical form are only apparent when built, such as the sensual and phenomenological qualities of the spaces created.

The drinking vessel helps us to understand; hints of the

A r c h i t e c t a s a l c h e m i s t 11

ceramicist are found on the vessel much like the hints of the Architect and their ideas and theories on the physical built form, but the viewer then perceives the vessel in an objective manner unlike when the Architect is designing in the virtual realm, where they are more subjective as the design can change easily. The Architect in some cases easily loses touch of the physical parameters of the reality for which they are designing.

The Cancer Care Centre in Cheltenham (left) has a very specific function; to provide support for those who have been affected by cancer. They have to be sensitively designed and considered. In The Architecture of Hope 37 the building was not built and was in the Future Centres section of the book. The building was only drawn and not built at this time as the book was published in 2010 and the building was constructed later on in 2010, after construction one rendered virtual image is shown next to a similarly positioned internal built and finished photograph. This structure has been designed intuitively and although it was designed specifically for the function there are parts within this design that cannot be represented in a ‘paper architecture’, such as the feeling and emotional qualities that the space creates.

“An inspiring, healing environment” 38 . This highlights the phenomological theory that an environment will directly affect the people inside the building, but on the contrary you cannot design this ‘ feeling’ into the building. A risk is taken - the ‘Leap’ from the drawn to the physical. Meticulous care is taken when designing such environments, however ‘places cannot be described by means of analytic ‘scientific’ concepts’ such as design guides and codes, which cannot inform the “everyday life world, which ought to be the real concern of man in general and planners and Architects in particular” 39 .

Photographs from Dezeen 35 Section render image 36.

35 http://www.dezeen.com/2011/01/04/maggies-centre-cheltenham-by-mjparchitects/ last accessed on 17th May 2016 36

Jencks Charles & Heathcote Edwin. (2010). Future Centres. In: Jencks Charles & Heathcote Edwin The Architecture of Hope. London: Francis Lincoln Limited . 150-159.

12 A rch i t ect as a lch em ist

37

Jencks Charles & Heathcote Edwin. (2010). Future Centres. In: Jencks Charles & Heathcote Edwin The Architecture of Hope. London: Francis Lincoln Limited . 150-159.

38

https://www.maggiescentres.org/our-centres/maggies-cheltenham/ Last accessed on 16th May 2016

39 Husserl Edmund (1936). The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology: An Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy (Northwestern University Studies in Phenomenology & Existential Philosophy).

(Above) Section drawing 40 (Photograph below) Jewish museum photograph 41.

The Jewish Museum in Berlin by Liberskind, was again conceived to its physical existence through a virtual interface of human to computer and then reversed back from computer to human, creating a form of alchemy, a mix of representation.

Virtualities are present, they blend into the built form but are still evident. Frédéric Neyrat in his conversation with Elizabeth R. Johnson mentions, “How is it possible to leave room for passivity in a world of permanent interactivity and interconnection?” 42

Architecture enriches the environment it is placed in and has a physical affect on the occupant in both cases. These examples are both positively and intuitively designed but aspects of Virtuality can be read through physical buildings, in some cases intentionally and in the majority of others unintentionally.

These buildings have a vestige 43 in the way they have been designed, perhaps accidentally, but aspects of this are being lost in the current approach of representation in the Architectural profession.

The Jewish Museum’s intention is to design in a state of chance and spontaneity, concealment and disorientation, emphasising the passivity and elasticity of the design.

40

http://libeskind.com/work/jewish-museum-berlin/ Last accessed 8th May 2016

41

Schneider Bernhard. (1999). -. In: Fuchshuber Julia and Wurm Katharina Jewish Museum Berlin. 5th ed. New York: Prestel Publishing. 46-47.

42

Neyrat F and Johnson E, 2014, “The Political Unconscious of the Anthropocene: A conversation with Frédéric Neyrat” Society and Space Open Site (http://societyandspace.com/material/interviews/neyrat-by-johnson/) Last accessed on 16th May 2016

43

A trace of something that is disappearing or no longer exists.

A rch i t ect a s a lch e m ist 13

l e g ac y : t r ac e s of t h e v i rt ua l p o t e nt i a l c r e at e d

ex istence

after

s pac e

is

The ceramic drinking vessel has remnants of the ceramicist’s sculpting on the vessel and their specific style; the plasticity can be transferred to the built sculptural form. Often the physical building does not encapsulate the virtual stamp that the Architect desires.

The clay, once again, can be used as an example. The malleable properties of the clay become continually more permanent as one develops their ideas. The process is molded and formed continuously, but always with an option to be able to go back and edit your perceived outcome, by adding

14 A rc h i t e c t a s a l c h e m i s t

water, delaying the process of ‘curing’ or ‘hardening’ and reforming the affected area. The properties of the material are constantly moving between fluidity and resistivity, these movements are lost in the physical Architectural building process, where the reality has no adaption it becomes ‘hardened’ before a possibility of alteration.

One has to move with the clay, to be able to create an outcome. The ceramicist does not have full control of the medium with which they are working and so an element of chance and unpredictability is present. The Architect loses these chances and unpredictability’s in their translation to the physical form, as the flexible qualities and conditions are lost. This calls for Architects to be more malleable

and viscous in their approach, becoming more fluid and responsive with their design.

The stair in Bayswater has remnants of the malleable process due to its ‘water cut’ method of fabrication, but this is again a mere translation from the virtual to the physical.

Architecture’s permanence prevents the creation of a legacy of the virtual. The builder is a crucial actor on the physical form, for the translation of the drawn to the physical lies in their hands, the tactile qualities associated where materials meet and where environments are created are only impressionable by the builder and not the Architect, adding a freedom and openness to the outcome, a form of plasticity. This openness and plasticity is mentioned

by Catherine Malabou in her conversation with Noëlle Vahanian “it means, at once, both openness to all kinds of influences, and resistance.” 44 Artists are able to experiment further as they are not bound by strictures and regulations, and in many cases the Artist has a direct impact on the physical work created, in contrast the Architects concepts are often communicated and governed through another actor, acting on the physical, as a representation of the Architect themselves.

44

A conversation between Noëlle Vahanian and Catherina Malabou, Winter 2008, Paris. http://www.jcrt.org/archives/09.1/Malabou.pdf Last accessed 14th May 2016.

A rch i t ect as a lch e m ist 15

(Top Right) James Turrell’s Wedgework 3 (1974) 45 Virtuality is challenged in other mediums such as James Turrell’s light installations. These evoke a sensual response with no tactile materiality; a translation of the visual to the physical is displayed without any physical material properties, other than the waves of light observed. These are successful in translating a concept into a reality. These appear physical but are not tactile objects, much like the concepts discussed by Eyal Weizman where a state of inherent dynamism and elasticity is needed within the Architectural design.

Robert Wilson, an Artist, playwright and director uses light in a specific way in his work to investigate the structure of simple movement, and the scenic layout and design 46. The direct translation of light onto a stage set shows how a feeling and mood can be created from the simplistic use of light. This is not easily created but captures a sensitivity that is not apparent in the majority of Architecture.

(Mid Right) Robert Wilson’s play, Madama Butterfly, Los Angeles opera, 2008 47 These representations, although not physical buildings, have Architectural qualities, likewise they have similarities to the ceramic drinking vessel; light, space, materiality, form, function and aesthetics to name a few.

(Lower Right) Daniel Libeskind website 48 Considering Daniel Libeskind’s example of The Jewish Museum in Berlin, where glimpses of light are shown in the photograph of a wall joint, these show a play of light and shadow on the built form, are these fragments of the virtual carried through into the design of the building? These questions will remain unanswered, but one can speculate whether the virtual is teased out into the physical reality. In such buildings are we sensing a phenomenological link back to some of our past memories, therefore relating them to a personal account, creating a neural thread in our own mind, in short a legacy from the perceived virtual.

“You can’t really draw a line between the mechanical and the messianic. This is also what is very interesting in the brain, and in the computer: somebody like Daniel Dennett now shows that a computer may be said to be plastic” 49

45

http://jamesturrell.com/work/wedgework3/ Last accessed on 6th May 2016

46

http://www.robertwilson.com/about/ Last accessed on 17th May 2016

47

http://www.robertwilson.com/madama-butterfly Last accessed on 17th May 2016

48

http://libeskind.com/work/jewish-museum-berlin/ Last accessed 14th May 2016

49 A Conversation with Catherine Malabou. » In JCRT. 9.1, 2008. Last accessed 14th May 2016.

16 A rc h i t ect a s a l c h e m i st

Conclusion What now is the role of the Architect, have they become further detached from the reality in which they work?

Rapid advances in technological representation are replacing and shunning the more qualitative sensory values, which were previously highly considered and valued in Architectural design, disconnecting the human from the built environment. The tactile qualities of the clay are no longer evident in the Architecture designed, and remnants of the virtual are becoming increasingly few.

“The rapid expansion of knowledge and technical development has swept us into a world beyond our grasp; the face of nature is alien once again.

Like the forest and the mountains of medieval times, our new environment harbors strange menacing beasts.” 50

Concepts such as plasticity help to unpick and interrogate these neural ideas. There is an inherent dynamism in the method of design within Architecture. Eyal Weizman mentions how he has “no interest in analyzing architecture as a static thing” 52

Anja Kanngieser highlights the need for the Architect in her text on the Geopolitics and the Anthropocene; “This pushing away from a sense of oneself is impera- tive.

Anthropomorphisms are virtually impossible to escape, but it might be possible to become sensitive to that which humans have no claim to, or over, and to which humanity is of no concern. Such sensitivity can show what is at stake in making the imperceptible perceptible, or representable.”

53

The basic elements the Architect previously needed to design have now been over populated, polluted, diluted, and convoluted with unnecessary twists in the design methodology, therefore creating a physical form that is detached from all aspects that it is trying to engage with.

Instead, Architecture needs to amalgamate the lost qualities that have been overlooked by the recent technological advances and combine them, to form a dynamic and progressive Architecture. A breadth of knowledge is required to practice as an Architect but this knowledge, as previously mentioned, has been weakened and diminished by hectic reactions to create the physical built form.

.

This emphasizes the need to be aware of the environment, to create and mix it in the most captivating way.

Where would Architecture be without Architects, and their breadth of education, skills and knowledge? This is a question that we are starting to challenge, the human is losing touch of its environment, and so too is the Architect.

Bachelard in his text ‘The house from the Cellar to the Garret’ mentions how integration is key to evoke memories and sensory qualities to the physical.

“I must show that the house is one of the greatest powers of integration for the thoughts, memories and dreams of mankind” 51 .

The mere act of being human has not changed; the anatomical make up of the brain has not changed either.

The concept of plasticity can be related to the neural functions within the brain, this helps us to understand some of the thought processes associated when experiencing a space. A significant part of the function of the brain depends on how, and in what way we are and have been, living and experiencing. This is dependent on the past historical experiences that have been imprinted onto the mind.

Therefore this explains how a certain aura can be created from a space that has been considerately designed, in some way linking past experiences to current environments. In this manner plasticity can be likened to the experiential method of thought.

52 50 Chanel Dehond. (2001). [Un]Knowns. Available: http://lanternjournal.org/ wp-content/uploads/V3i4/unknowns_v3i4.pdf. Last accessed 3rd April 2016.

51

Bachelard Gaston. (1994). The house from the cellar to garret. the significance of the hut. In: - The Poetics of space . Boston: Beacon press . 1-37.

Umolu Yesomi . (2012). Eyal Weizman and Architecture as Political Intervention. Available: http://www.walkerart.org/magazine/2012/eyalweizman-architecture-confronts-politics. Last accessed 17th May 2016.

53 Anja Kanngieser (2015): Geopolitics and the Anthropocene: Five Propositions for Sound, GeoHumanities http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/237356 6X.2015.1075360

A r c h i t e c t a s a l c h e m i s t 17

18 A rch i t ect a s a lch e m i st

Bibliogr aphy Books

Bachelard Gaston. (1994). The house from the cellar to garret. the significance of the hut. In: - The Poetics of space . Boston: Beacon press Ballantyne Andrew. (2007). Machines. In: Sharr Adam Thinkers for Architects: Deleuze and Guattari for Architects . Oxford : Routledge.

Corbusier, Le - Ozenfant Amadée. (1920). Purism. In: Robert L Herbert Modern Artists on Art . New Jersey: Englewood Cliffs Heidegger Martin. (1977). Part 3 :The Age of the World picture. In: Loviit William The Question concerning technology & other essays.

New York: Garland Publishing, Inc Husserl Edmund (1936). The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology: An Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy (Northwestern University Studies in Phenomenology & Existential Philosophy).

Jencks Charles & Heathcote Edwin. (2010). Future Centres. In: Jencks Charles & Heathcote Edwin The Architecture of Hope. London: Francis Lincoln Limited .

Koolhaas, Rem (1995). S,M,L,XL. New York: Monacelli Press Proust Marcel Translated by Scott Moncrieff (2006). Remembrance of things past. 2nd ed. Wordsworth Editions.

Ritzer George (2015). Sociological Theory . 8th ed. E Book: Cram 101.

Ruskin John . The Storm Cloud of the Nineteenth Century. Michael Wheeler (ed.), Ruskin and Environment: The Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995 Schneider Bernhard. (1999). -. In: Fuchshuber Julia and Wurm Katharina Jewish Museum Berlin. 5th ed. New York: Prestel Publishing Schultz Christian Norberg (1971). Existence, Space and Architecture. London & New York Shields Rob (2002). The Virtual. New York: Taylor & Francis Tomlinson Hugh, Translated Habberjam Barbara (1990). Bergsonism. Paris: Zone Books.

W ebsites

http://jamesturrell.com/work/wedgework3/ http://libeskind.com/work/jewish-museum-berlin/ http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2016/04/lambeth-council-expected-to-approve-planning-application-for-20-storey-apartment-block-onsite-of-old-brixton-cycles/ http://www.dezeen.com/2011/01/04/maggies-centre-cheltenham-by-mjp-architects/ http://www.documenta.de http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/local-news/work-begun-build-63-new-6393979 http://www.robertwilson.com/about/ https://www.fulltable.com/vts/l/london/SH803.jpg https://www.maggiescentres.org/our-centres/maggies-cheltenham/ https://www.nextrembrandt.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvPhiUL3hz0 A rt i c l e s & pa p e r s

Alexander Mordvintsev, Software Engineer, Christopher Olah, Software Engineering Intern and Mike Tyka, Software Engineer. (2016).

Inceptionism: Going Deeper into Neural Networks.

Anja Kanngieser (2015): Geopolitics and the Anthropocene: Five Propositions for Sound, GeoHumanities Chanel Dehond. (2001). [Un]Knowns. Available: http://lanternjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/V3i4/unknowns_v3i4.pdf.

Giuseppe Del Re HYLE . (1997). International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry 3. Technology and the spirit of alchemy. 1 (1), 51-63.

Lee Robin. (2016). 71 Queensway. The Architects Journal Massumi, B. (1998). Sensing the virtual, building the insensible. Hypersurface architecture Neyrat F and Johnson E, 2014, “The Political Unconscious of the Anthropocene: A conversation with Frédéric Neyrat” Society and Space Open Site Umolu Yesomi . (2012). Eyal Weizman and Architecture as Political Intervention.

other

A conversation between Noëlle Vahanian and Catherina Malabou, Winter 2008, Paris. http://www.jcrt.org/archives/09.1/Malabou.pdf Last accessed 14th May 2016.

Catherina Malabou’s description of plasticity to Noëlle Vahanian, in their conversation in the Winter of 2008, Paris.

Neyrat F and Johnson E, 2014, “The Political Unconscious of the Anthropocene: A conversation with Frédéric Neyrat” Society and Space Open Site

A rch i t ect a s a lch e m i st 19

P e c h a k u c h a p r e s e n tat i o n Clay The raw ingredient for creation of form

1. Creation (M.C Escher)

2. Ingredients

3. Draw (Perry Kulper)

4. Building sites

Moulding Physical construction of form

5. Ceramic mug

6. Norwich Cathedral, reflection of mans ideas and philosophies

Form Sculpted thoughts

“I must show that the house is one of the greatest powers of integration for the thoughts, memories and dreams of mankind�

Bachelard The house from the cellar to garret

7. Bachelard quote

8. Form (Sculpted thoughts)

P e c h a k u c h a p r e s e n tat i o n

9. Sir Christopher Wren, map of London 1666

“We are political all the way down to the

10. Detail vs Reality, drawn representation of a stair and the reality

Experiencing Use and touch

11. The next Remrandt

12. Experiencing the vessel

13. Maggies cancer care centre, Dundee, Gehry. Jewish Museum, Liebeskind

14. James Turrell light sculpture

Legacy Imprints, remnants and hints

Pecha Kucha Presentation 18th March 2016

8. Form (Sculpted thoughts) 9. Sir Christopher Wren, map of London 1666

1. Creation (M.C Escher) 2. Ingredients 3. Draw (Perry Kulper) 4. Building sites

11. The next Remrandt 12. Experiencing the vessel

5. Ceramic mug

13. Maggies cancer care centre, Dundee, Gehry.

Jewish Museum, Liebeskind

6. Norwich Cathedral, reflection of mans ideas and philosophies

14. James Turrell light sculpture

7. Bachelard quote

15. Legacy of human on built form

10. Detail vs Reality, drawn representation of a stair and the reality

15. Legacy of human on built form

Pa i n t i n g C o l l a g e

S e c t i o n s o f p a i nt i n g s

On our visit to the Tate Britain we observed a variety of paintings, each of these paintings have been chosen, spliced and cropped to represent a 80 x 350 pixel segment of the image.

They have been placed in chronological order.