THE VISUAL EXPERIENCE OF PLACE Oliver Redmond
Oliver Redmond
CONTENTS
2
The visual experience of place
3
Perspec tive
4-7
Light and Shade
8 - 11
Peripheral Vision
12 - 15
The Promenade
16 - 19
Conclusion
20
Bibliography
21 - 23
The visual experience of place
THE VISUAL EXPERIENCE OF PL ACE A study of place relative to the sense of vision.
This thesis wishes to uncover the experience of place through the sense of vision. To distill this large topic into a managable piece of research, the thesis will investigate four fundamental aspects of the visual experience of place. One’s sense of foreground, middleground and background will be explored in the first chapter. The second chapter will look at the effect of light and shade on one’s perception of objects in space. An examination of our peripheral sense of vision and it’s impact on our understanding of the world will form the third chapter, and the final part of this thesis will review the use of the promenade as an artificial vessel through which we view the landscape, both built and natural. The aim of this thesis is to better understand how, through the design of architecture we can use these fundamentals of visual perception to heighten our experience of place.
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PERSPECTIVE The use of openings within an enclosure to communicate the near and far.
In 'The Poetics of Space', Gaston Bachelard critiques the metaphysics of his time by stating that when it comes to understanding the nature of being outside vs inside, it is commonplace to believe that the understanding of the self within space is rooted within a geometrical perception instead of an ontological one. The idea of being outside versus inside therefore, according to Bachelard, is being ideologically blended together into one homogenous concept within our verbal language. He believes there are no distinct words to describe outside features vs inside. 'Being here', for instance, has become about the geometry which fixes you to a place instead of describing the ontological interpretation of the being within space. In other words, the near and the far is seen more and more and as something which is measured and understood through physics and geometry instead of the through a first principle understanding of the self relative to the world.
“Where is the stress, for instance, on ‘being there’: on being or on there? In there - which would be better to call here, shall I first look for my being? Or am I going to find, in my being, above all, certainty of my fixation in a there?” (Bachelard, G. 1958. P. 213.) Here, Bachelard makes the point that without ‘being’,' here' would not exist. This idea is crucial when understanding ones experience of place. Interiority vs exteriority, foreground vs horizon, intimacy vs infinity - are all perceptual concepts that first rely on the existence of being. With this in mind, one is always inside. However, the degree to which one perceives one's interiority may vary. One perceives this degree of enclosure through the senses and, for the purpose of this thesis, we will focus on the sense of vision.
“...'This side’ and ‘beyond’…” (Bachelard, G. 1958 P. 212.)
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As a species, we fundamentally inhabit architecture to survive. These inhabitations manifest as enclosures of space, traditionally constructed from raw materials which are then assembled to form buildings. Our buildings, like the natural landscape, interact with us in a metaphysical way. The linings or walls of these structures enhance our perception of interiority and, the degree to which we feel within, is thereby heightened by inhabiting architecture. Visually, openings within architecture create moments of intrigue as the exterior is presented to us through a framed view. There is the wall, the ope, the threshold and then the exterior. The view that one meets may vary, but in most cases the eye establishes a very distinct perspective of foreground, middleground and background.
Fig 1.1
Renaissance artists latched onto this idea of perspective when trying to convey the landscape through their paintings. Life and landscape was captured through still images enclosed by a frame and hung on a wall. Those who view these works experience a moment in time captured and presented in a visually accurate manner through the use of perspective. One of the key understandings which stems from perspective, is that of scale. A tree in the foreground of an image is larger than a castle in the background, even though in reality one understands that a castle would be much larger. Similarly, architecture communicates scale and the landscape through the use of framed views. Ones appreciation of their context as well as an understanding of the degree to which they are within an enclosure, is communicated optically through views out of openings in the lining of architecture. Ones experience of place therefore, is heightened by this understanding of scale which is communicated through openings. The person is proportionate to the room in which they stand which is proportionate to the landscape that surrounds the room. Only through openings in architecture can we understand this concept.
Fig 1.2
Fig 1.1 Foreground vs Background through the frame of a caera in 2001 A Space Odessey.
Fig 1.2 Ideal City of Berlin by Francesco di Giorgio Martini - 1477.
The visual experience of place
The Boa Nova Teahouse exemplifies this concept of one’s scale in proportion to the room and the outside. The restaurant is nestled into the rocky Atlantic coastline to the North of Porto. The user is guided along a promenade which runs from a coastal street to the Teahouse. Once inside, Siza uses long horizontal windows to frame views of the Atlantic Ocean and surrounding coastline. The framed views demonstrate a clearly articulated foreground, middleground and background with objects such as large boulders forming the foreground, the coastline forming the middeground and the horizon meeting the ocean - the background.
Fig 1.3
An understanding of one’s scale relative to the landscape is established through these framed perspectives.
Fig 1.3 Boulder vs Horizon Foreground vs Background Fig 1.4 Fig 1.4 Coastline to Horizon. Sense of scale established within the immense surroundings.
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One’s visual perception of spatial interiority is heightened within the Katsura Imperial Palace through the layering of the lining within the enclosure. This layering manifests as partition walls. One’s perception of spatial depth is enhanced and as a result one’s visual perspective of foreground, middleground and background is heightened. The room itself is now framed, and thus sub frames the opening to the outside. This effect increases one’s awareness of their interiority and scale within the room, and thereby, one’s perception of one’s proportion to the exterior landscape.
Fig 1.5
Fig 1.5 Layering to create inner perspective which sub frames outer perspective. Fig 1.6 Foreground, middeground and background enhanced through layering of partition screens.
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Fig 1.6
The visual experience of place
In Villa La Roche Jeanneret, the interior world, more so than the exterior, becomes the subject matter of framing. Le Corbusier creates a journey through this building with the use of his Promenade Architecturale. Due to its urban context, the promendade is not outward looking at immense natural landscapes like in the Boa Nova Teahouse, rather it focuses one’s perception on the interior of the building. The perception of spatial depth is achieved through the layering of enclosed spatial volumes rather than linings as seen in the Katsura Imperial Palace. One translates through the the Villa in a sequential manner from volume to volume along the promenade.
Fig 1.7
Within the interior lining, openings establish perspectival views of this artificial landscape and are presented to the user along the promenade.
Fig 1.7 An interior landscape, linked and presented to the user through a promenade. Fig 1.8 Spatial depth is experienced visually through the layering of volumes which are framed by openings in the interior linings of the Villa.
Fig 1.8
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LIGHT AND SHADE The use of light and shadow within an enclosure to highlight and/or enhance a framed view to the outside.
When discussing the work of Rembrandt and Caravaggio, Juhani Pallassma remarks that; “The shadow gives shape and life to the object in light.” (Pallassma, J. 2012. P. 51.) Light and shade are what allow us to perceive spatial depth. Space becomes three dimensional when illuminated by light and contrasted by darkness.
"In great architectural spaces there is a constant breathing of shadow and light; shadow inhales and illumination exhales light.” (Pallassma, J. 2012. P. 51.) Windows serve a pragmatic purpose. Adequate light and ventilation is essential for inhabiting a space and has traditionally been facilitated through the use of windows. Architecture without openings within it’s enclosure for the admittance of natural light, only falls under specific types of programme, namely typologies in which humans do not live - like, for example, vaults or generators. However aside from the practicalities which fenestration and openings in architecture provide, there is also a metaphysical effect generated by allowing light to enter a space. As mentioned above, light and shadow visually transform your perception of enclosed space. However, they also illuminates the world beyond the enclosure. When shadow rests on the interior lining of a building, any opening within that lining is immediately highlighted, assuming it’s daytime, by the natural light which floods in through the gap in the wall. This is most striking when looking at highly dramatised spaces like those which intend to convey the experience of transcendence. For instance, this is evident in much ecclesiastical architecture, like Le Corbusier’s La Tourrette or Tadao Ando’s Church of Light. In these projects, openings to the exterior world shine bright against the shaded interior walls.
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However, this contrast between light and darkness does not need to be dramatic to have the effect of emphasising openings within an enclosure. One is still visually drawn to windows in cases where the contrast is subtle. There is the effect of attraction to an opening in a wall through the contrast of light and darkness created through that said opening. The frame is highlighted through the contrast of light and shade and a curiosity about what is beyond intuitively emerges. This curious intuition generates the potential for the architect and architecture to heighten the users experience and understanding of place. What is framed can be strategically planned into the architecture through design. Therefore ones understanding of one’s surrounding landscape can be heightened through the use of openings within enclosures which are focused and highlighted by the contrast of light and shade. Fig 1.9
Fig 1.9 Johannes Vermeer - Girl with the Pearl Earring, c. 1665. “The shadow gives shape and life to object in light” (Pallassma, J. 2012). Fig 1.10 Edward Hopper Rooms by the Sea, 1951.
Fig 1.10
The visual experience of place
Herbert Simm’s seating shelters dot the Bull Wall and offer momentary stillness coupled with views to the surrounding landscape. One’s sense of spatial enclosure is heightened by the contrast of light and shadow on the roof and walls of the structure. Openings within the walls admit light which, when contrasted by shadow, highlights the opes and thus entices the users to look through them. The landscape gleams at the user and appears sharpened and enhanced due to this contrast. One’s sense of scale in proportion to the landscape is immediately evident, one’s spatial awareness is thereby heightened through the sense of vision.
Fig 2.1
Fig 2.1 The Seating Shelters dot the Bull Wall.
Fig 2.2 Lining in shadow contrasting against the light from opening.
Fig 2.3 Lining in shadow contrasting against light from opening. Fig 2.2
Fig 2.3
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The chapel in La Tourette displays a highly striking visual contrast between shadow and light. The chamber, which is lit by low horizontal windows which are chamfered in section so as not to reveal a view to the outside and a narrow slip at ceiling level, is dimly illuminated. The degree to which you perceive your interiority is heightened by the lack of direct views to the outside world. The high levels of contrast between the dark interior of the enclosure and the coloured light entering through the painted opes creates a level of glare which furthermore obscures your perception of exterior landscape. The lack of direct connection to natural world coupled by the glaring slips of light which dot the perimeter of this space gives the chapel a sense of transcendence. The vestibule between the room and the beyond is designed to be unclear and therefore, so becomes one’s perception of space and one’s understanding of one’s spatial fixation.
Fig 2.4
Fig 2.4 Openings of light contrasted against the Chapel’s dark interior walls. Fig 2.5 Coloured light filters through the angled windows. Fig 2.6 The obscured threshold between interior and exterior allows no view from room to outside. Fig 2.5
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Fig 2.6
The visual experience of place
Comparatively speaking, the Nantes School of Architecture differs almost entirely to the aforementioned La Tourette in terms of ones visual experience. Lacaton & Vassal establish a concrete framework which supports a steel infill structure in which the program of the school is faciliated. One’s sense of spatial enclosure here is a lot more subdued than in La Tourette and feels more similar to that of the seating shelters on the Bull Wall. The Steel structure is enveloped in a system of glazing and polycarbonate sheeting making the school abundent in light and views to the exterior context. The transparency of the enclosure’s lining also reduces the contrast of light and shadow to a substantial degree.
Fig 2.7
This subdued contrast between light and shade blurs the visual line between the room and outside. This fine line is not only emphasised experientially but also physcially through the use of light, transparent materials. Fig 2.7 The line is fine between the interior and exterior
Fig 2.8 The blurred exterior.
Fig 2.9 Form visually obscured to masses of coloured light.
Fig 2.8
Fig 2.9
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PERIPHER AL VISION An existential understanding of eyesight.
This chapter will look at one’s peripheral vision in relation to one’s visual experience of place.
Openings in the linings of enclosures reveal to us the nature of our context. For a moment, we simply register what it is we are looking at, before focusing on more specific elements that the view offers. This moment of vague visual registration is facilitated by our peripheral vision, generated using a part of our eye that covers more than ninety percent of our field of view and yet only contains half of the photoreceptor cells (Zeiss.com, 2017). The other half of these cells are used to acutely comprehend the details of objects in space, this is refered to as focused vision. Understanding these two types of eyesight is essential when attempting to study how we visually experience place and for the purpose of this chapter, we will look specifically at peripheral vision. A peripheral interpretation of our surroundings evokes in us a much deeper understanding of the body relative to it’s environment than one might initially think. Objects in space become a lot more elemental in nature and for a moment, the world is percieved as just shapes and colours in space. The body mimics these shapes in order to react to potential risks. For instance, the eye is instinctively drawn to a sudden opening in the lining of an enclosure and the body will usually follow suit. The view is then taken in by the observer in the sequence mentioned above whereby there is a momentary adjustment followed by a specific focusing. This momentary adjustment is interesting as it reveals to us the communicative power of peripheral vision. In less than a second, the essence of the world around us is internalised through the eye and our subsequent bodily gesture reacts to the embodied environment which we have just registered. The connection between the world around us and our eyes is so closely intertwined in peripheral vision that Maurice Merleau Ponty would argue that they effectively are the same thing.
“Things are an annex or prolongation of itself; they are incrusted in it’s flesh, they are part of it’s full definition; the world is made of the very stuff of the body.” (MerleauPonty, Johnson and Smith, 1993).
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Here, Merleau Ponty refers to this idea, echoed by Gaston Bachelard, that without the self, the world would not exist. That the flesh which makes up the eye is integral to the perception of the things that make up space, including the eye itself. In other words, the eye and the objects it percieves are one and the same thing. Peripheral vision therefore, not only allows us to understand our surroundings, but also provides us with a fundamental understanding of ourselves in space as well. Architects can play into this idea through the design process. Architecture facilitates a realm in which the self and the landscape are separated spatially in a controlled manner. The visual experience of place becomes subject to the architect’s will, their body is expressed through their architecture. The connection between man and the landscape is bridged through the act of building. Juhani Pallasmaa discusses this idea in “The Eyes of the Skin” as the ‘Mimesis of the Body’;
“... the architect gradually internalises the landscape, the entire context, and the functional requirements as well as his/her conceived building: movement, balance and scale are felt unconsciously through the body as tensions in the muscular system and in the positions of the skeleton and inner organs.” (Pallasmaa, J. 2012).
Fig 2.10
The techniques employed by architects to express this internalised, peripheral vision vary and are quite often understated. For the purpose of this thesis, the remainder of the chapter will focus on case studies which demonstrate these techniques. In particular we will look at openings in the linings of architecture and how they interact with our peripheral sense of eyesight in order to stimulate or heighten our visual experience of place. Fig 2.10 Focused and peripheral vision at work when reading thicket of trees.
Fig 3.1 Similar visual experience to thicket in Pollock’s Lucifer 1947. Fig 3.1
The visual experience of place
An Turas Ferry Shelter funnels the user between two parallel walls which leads them to a three sided glass box that provides panoramic views to the bay. The visual experience of place is heightened in this scheme due to a sense of compression and release as one makes their way through the viewless tunnel into the vista like viewing box at the end. This effect is largely generated by ones peripheral and focused vision. As one moves through the shelter, one’s focus is on the large view at the end of the tunnel while one’s peripheral vision is reading the ground, walls and sky and communicating a sense of spatial enclosure. Any feeling of spatial interiority is nullified however in one climactic moment as the user steps across a short bridge like structure, which is fully enclosed by a roof and walls, and into the glazed box at the end. One’s vision goes from being peripherally compressed by the enclosure and narrowly focused on the view at the end of the tunnel, to being released again into the panoramic visual experience of the outside world. One’s peripheral vision goes from reading the gound walls and sky within an enclosure, to reading the landscape on all sides. The ground treatment in this space is even carefully considered to further enhance the visual experience. A local stone is used to pave the floor of the viewing box, further communicating a sense of being back in the landscape.
This idea of materiality is interesting in relation to our peripheral vision. The way in which the ground treatment at An Turas Ferry Shelter visually communicates to us something about the nature of the place also alludes to the power which peripheral vision has on our subconscious experience and understanding of place.
Fig 3.2
Fig 3.3
Fig 3.2 One point perspective at An Turas Ferry Shelter. Fig 3.3 Panoramic views in glazed structure at the end of the tunnel. Fig 3.4 Section illustrating the three parts of the shelter. Fig 3.4
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Materiality, however, can play a much more practical role relative to our peripheral vision. Depending on the material, the textures and transparencies of objects in space vary greatly. Understanding place and one’s relationship to it is one thing, but materiality can have a much more straight forward, yet equally powerful effect on one’s peripheral vision. The windows on the Maison de Verre’s North elevation, for instance, interact with our peripheral vision in an interesting way. The opaque blocks of glass do not allow for full transparency to the outside. Instead, the world beyond the lining of the enclosure is reduced, visually, to shapes and colours. This elemental deptiction of the world is similar to what we naturally see using our peripheral vision. However, Pierre Chareau introduces another type of glazing to this North facade which is not found on the main, entry facing, East facade. Chareau adds a line of horizontal windows with clear glazing. The windows, which are at head height, adjust the users perception of the outside world from inside the room. No longer are the views outward merely blurred outlines, now there is clarity, something to focus on. This diad between the indistinct and clear transparency using a sublte change in materiality is particularly interesting relative to our sense of peripheral vision versus focused vision.
One will intuitively focus on what is clearly visible and sharply defined as opposed to some other subject matter which is blurry and obscured. Visual ambiguity therefore, evokes within us a more subdued experience of place. Our perception of interiority is heightened by our peripheral sense of vision and enhanced futher more when even our focused vision cannot dicern any sharply defined subject matter. However, the simple detail of clear paned glass against opaque blockwork can create a rich visual experience where the architecture almost aids the user in identifying their target of focus.
Fig 3.5 North Elevation of the Maison de Verre. Fig 3.6 Opaque glass blocks and fully transparent window panes.
Fig 3.5
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Fig 3.6
The visual experience of place
As seen in Maisin de Verre the materials used in architecture have an prominent effect on our peripheral sense of vision. The living room in the Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier, however, demonstates that the positioning and layering of the objects in a room is also majorly impactful to how we experience the place. No matter how hard one tries to focus on the horizontal views to the land surrounding the Villa Savoye, one cannot help but sense the presence of the columns in the living space. It is this sense that we know to be peripheral vision. This gesture of boldly expressing the structure and services in the Villa Savoye illuminates to us the fact, mentioned earlier in the chapter, that peripheral vision makes up around ninety percent of our eyesight. One cannot help but notice the bits and pieces around the openings as they attempt to gaze outside. Le Corbusier understood this phenomenon and subtly crafted the living space in the Villa Savoye so that the structure is not overpowering, but is still defiantly present. By placing the columns in front of the windows, he insists that the eye should pick up on the structure instead of just solely focusing on elements within the view. This has the effect of bringing the mind back to the enclosure and heightening one’s visual experience of the place. Though the average observer may find having their gaze disrupted in the corner of their eye a little frustrating, the effect is clear.
Fig 3.7
Fig 3.7 Living Room in the Villa Savoye. Fig 3.8 Structure ever present in one’s peripheral vision. Fig 3.8
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THE PROMENADE The architec tural promenade a device for the visual communication of a place.
This chapter will discuss how the promenade impacts on one’s visual experience of place. The architectural promenade has long since been used as a vessel through which one may visually experience place. As this thesis has already discussed, the boundary between the inside and outside of an enclosure can very often be blurry. Therefore, the surrounding context and approach to a building, is usually integral to the experience of the architecture as a whole. The promenade facilitates and defines this journey from the landscape to the enclosure. It marries architecture and landscape through the experience of movement from the natural to the built world. This movement, through the environment in which the building sits, and though the interior landscape within the building itself, can be controlled by the architect through the process of design. The room may become the interstitial space between the user and the outside and the design of the room therefore, can shape and determine the nature of one’s visual experience of place.
Wright who incorporated the promenade into their schemes to helpt them tell the story of place. Visually, one’s experience of place is heightened in these schemes using the promenade and the remainder of this chapter will discuss case studies that demonstrate this.
“… ‘Let me recall for you that man seated at his table… the furniture, the walls, the openings to the outside… all speak to him.’ The building here offers structure to the narrative and acts as a protagonist in its drama.” - (Samuel, 2010) Here, Flora Samuel quotes Le Corbusier when describing the communicative relationship between man and the room. Le Corbusier alludes to architecture’s ability to communicate a spatial narrative to us through our senses. The idea that we ‘read’ architecture seems logical considering the fact that visually, it speaks to us through form and materiality. The visual experience of place therefore, can be structured and organised through buildings. The sequential nature of movement through architecture is ordered and enhanced using the promenade. The unfolding journey is an informative one as the place is throughtfully revealed to us as we make our way through it. The careful consideration and design of this journey manifests as the promenade, a narrative device. The use of the promenade as a narrative device can be seen in a lot of work by Alvaro Siza, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd
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Fig 3.9 Charles Jeanneret at the Acropolis in 1911. Fig 3.9
The visual experience of place
Visually, the Clontarf Promenade tells a story of Dublin Bay. The experience of walking the promenade from Fairview Park to the end of the Bull Wall, can be enlightening for somebody who is new to this particular perspective of the city. If you start at Fairview and walk North Eastward, you are met by a series of views which slowly change and unfold before you as you move. First Tolka Quay, then Poolbeg and the horizon, then Howth and the Bull Wall and eventually a view back towards the city and the hills beyond. The visual experience of the promenade in Clontarf, therefore, is quite a transient one. On a warm day, for instance, one may linger along the promenade for hours, but this is typically unusal considering the lack of adequate weather in Ireland. However, there is also no real destination to the scheme and it is this missing factor which gives the promenade a truly transient quality. It offers a brief, visual tour of Dublin Bay in a controlled or uncontrolled, still or dynamic fashion, depending on how one uses it. Unlike, for example, a ‘Zen Journey’ in which the user moves through a series of follies along a path in a large garden belonging to a Buddhist tea house. However, the Clontarf Promenade is not a linear pilgrammage to a distinct destination. Instead, it is more reminicent of Victorian era piers around the coastal towns of England. The user in this case would assume the role of the flaneur and walk the length of the pier, stopping at follies which usually provided entertainment, before turning at the end and walking back. The visual experience here, is somewhat defined by the stop start nature established by the follies.
One is consistantly met by these small, folly like structures along the Clontarf promenade which mostly facilitate enclosed moments in which to reflect on one’s surroundings or shelter from poor weather conditions. These shelters however, also break up the narrative which is being communicated visually to the user on their journey. Each folly is effectively equal in distance from the next and thereby break one’s visual experience up into equidistant and sequential parts, varying in the content and the type of view. One finds themselves for instance, either out in the open, enjoying full panormic, vista like views of the bay, or enclosed in a shelter, gazing through openings in it’s lining or through the framing made by it’s roof and walls.
Fig 3.10 The Clontarf Promenade and Bull Wall - Follies highlighted in orange.
Fig 3.10
Fig 4.1
Fig 4.2
Fig 4.1 Seating folly - Herbert Simms. Fig 4.2 Bathing folly - Herbert Simms Fig 4.3 Margate Pier - Kent.
Fig 4.3
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Unlike in Clontarf, the promenade at the Santa Maria Church by Alvaro Siza, facilitates a journey which leads to a destination. The church is perched upon a large plinth on the hillside town of Marco de Canaveses in Portugal. If one approaches from the South East, one is met by an opening in the plinth which leads to a ramp. The ramp moves parallel to the South East side of the church and brings the user to a small urban square onto which the main entrance of the church faces. It is this sequence, from the public realm on the street, up through the plinth, along the ramp and into the church that forms the promenade. The user is guided along an axis, all the while taking in an enormous panoramic view of the mountains to the South East and is eventually led to their destination - the main body of the church. It is here that Siza re-introduces the view in a beautifully considered fashion. A long, narrow window, runs almost the entire lenght of the South East wall of the building and is at approximately head height for somebody sitting in a chair. The horizon is consumed by the skinny window in the lining of the architecture and is then released back to the user in a decisively controlled manner. One understands their own relationship to the landscape and architecture very clearly in this scheme. The vista like views along the ramp communicate a sense of the scale of the landscape to the user and this sense is heightened when the journey takes the user into the church which presents them with the landscape again. On this occasion however, the landscape is almost squashed into a narrow window frame. The gargantuam vista seems like it has been wrangled into the frame, visually compressed by
the architecture and presented to the observer almost like a tamed beast. This is the power of promenade as a device for the visual experience of place. The architect can hone this device to communicate exactly what he or she sees fit. In the case of the Santa Maria Church, Siza understands the significance of the promenade as a tool to heighten one’s visual experience of the rolling landscape surrounding Marco de Canaveses. However, one’s experience of place does not have to be enriched by an understanding of the outside world relative to one’s self and the inside world of buildings. The place that the architect wishes to highlight or enhance using the promenade may be entirely of his or her own creation. The landscape which shapes a place may be completely artificial for instance, within an architecture or a masterplan scheme. The promenade as a device however, remains very useful. The architect is still able to design a sequence of movement around the artificial landscape within his or her architecture and use the promenade to visually communicate the scheme back to the user like an unfolding narrative.
Fig 4.4 The promenade passing the controlled window frame Church of Santa Maria. Fig 4.5 The uncontrolled vista from Marco de Canaveses
Fig 4.4
Fig 4.5
Fig 4.6 The opening in the plinth Fig 4.7 The ramped promenade Fig 4.8 The controlled window frame
Fig 4.6
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Fig 4.7
Fig 4.8
The visual experience of place
In London, the Royal College of Physicians exemplifies this idea of an artificial landscape. Denys Lasdun established a scheme which is highly engaging and communicative to the user through the act of movement. in this project, the promenade revolves around a staircase and landings which provide views throughout the heart of the building, showcasing the undulating interior landscape. One begins their journey at the main entrance which faces St Regent’s Park. There is a flight of steps which lead to the entrance lobby. From here, one is encouraged to venture forward, up another short flight of steps and into a larger, circulation lobby. This space is the core of the project and consists of an angular, twisting staircase that facilitates diagonal movement upwards to the first and second floors. When one reaches these upper levels, one is met by landings which wrap around the core space and provide access to the more programmatic parts of the college. It is this sequence, from the entrance to the circulation lobby and then to the landings, which provide access to the programme in the college, that forms the promenade. One does not look out to panoramic views of a natural landscape on this promenade however, instead, the vistas are of the architecture itself. The level changes, landings and slightly convoluted circulation in this scheme provide a rich visual experience to the user. The interior promenade showcases the building, the landings provide moments of repose to look back from where you came and the changes in level add to the drama of this experience. One is constantly engaged visually with their surroundings, which change in a sequential manner as the
journey progresses. The stop-start nature of the promenade in Clontarf is reminiscent here. Like the folly enclosures along Dublin’s coast, the landings in the college encourage moments of stillness in which to reflect on Lasdun’s landscape. Similarly again to Clontarf, the user has many options with regards destination depending on the programme with which the intend to engage. In other words, the architecture does not revolve around one core space or key element of programme like in Siza’s hillside church, instead it incorporates the promenade to link multiple elements of programme together while simulataneously enhancing one’s visual understanding of the place. In Paris, we see this again. However this time, the in the Maison la Roche, Le Corbusier establishes a relatively clear start and finish to the interior promenade within this house. The user enters into a triple height space on the ground floor and is prompted to ascend one of two staircases - one to their left hand side or one to their right. The promenade effectively begins here. Like in the Royal college of Physicians, the core of the project revolves around this large, open circulation space. As one moves up through the house, one is consistantly re introduced to this space but from different vantage points each time. Therefore the visual experience here, like in each of the promenade schemes we have looked at in this chapter, is highly transient. The interior landscape of the Maison la Roche is communicated through the sense of vision to the user via the promenade and one’s understanding of this landscape subsequently develops as one reaches the final chapter Le Corbusier’s narrative - the library space.
Fig 4.9
Fig 4.9 The interior landscape of the Royal College of Physicians. Fig 4.10 Promenade leading to the library in Villa Jeanneret.
Fig 4.10
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CONCLUSION
This thesis set out to examine the experience of place through the sense of vision. To hone the size of the research topic into a manageable piece of work, the paper was divided into chapters which dealt with some fundamental aspects of vision that affect how we experience place. The research illustrated how architecture can heigthen our visual understanding of place by serving almost like a lens through which we, as the users, are able to interact with our surrounding environments. Place is narrated to us using architecture and this thesis looked at how, in particular, perspective, light and shade and peripheral vision can be used in the design process to enhance one’s experience of place. The research then went on to look at the architectural promenade as a schematic element which may be incorporated into a building project to further heigthen one’s visual understanding of place. The case studies used in this thesis exemplifed that architecture is connected to the sense of vision in a very fundamental way. Architecture serves as a tool which may be used by the designer to enligthen it’s users. The user is presented with the landscape within the constraints of an enclosure that has been carefully formed to depict certain images of the world surrounding the building. This presentation is facilated by the sense of vision and this was explored in the paper. Each chapter introduced an element of vision and then dicussed case studies which demonstrated how an architect can use this element to the enhance the user’s experience of the place. The work was limited by the scale of the research topic chosen. In order to make this very broad
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subject manageable as a thesis paper it was necessary to cut it down into four chapters which examined essential elements of the topic. Due to the limitations of the work, this conclusion feels somewhat deficient. However, I have come to understand that the nature of a thesis is an iterative one. This paper is the beginning of an interest in the visual experience of place which I hope to continue to studying into the future. Despite these limitations mentioned above however, the research still provided much a very interesting reflection on architecture and the sense of vision. To conclude, this thesis has reviewed central aspects of the visual experience of place. It has looked at case studies to further understand how architecture, place and the sense vision merge to facilitate the experience of the user.
The visual experience of place
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Oliver Redmond
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The visual experience of place
Fig 3.4 Sutherland Hussey Architects. (2003) An Turas. Available at: http://miesarch.com/ work/2622
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Fig 3.9 Author Unknown. (1911) Le Corbusier. Available at: https://tigerloaf.wordpress. com/2015/10/06/le-corbusier-at-the-acropolis-1911/ Fig 3.10 Image by Oliver Redmond - Drawn 22.10.2017 Fig 4.1 Photography by Oliver Redmond - taken 12.10.2017 Fig 4.2 Photograph by Oliver Redmond - taken 12.10.2017 Fig 4.3 Author Unknown (c. 1890) Margate Pier. Available at: https://www.pinterest.ie/ pin/277041814557638051/ Fig 4.4 Siza, A. (1996) Church of Santa Maria. Available at: https://www.archdaily.com Fig 4.5 Ferriera, A. (2017) Marco de Canaveses. Available at: https://www.google.ie/ maps/
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