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“Architecture has a strong link with the movies in terms of time progression, sequencing, framing, all of that.” Christian de Portzamparc
Throughout their respective histories, the link between architecture and film has always been a tight and intimate one. In his work “Vers une architecture” (Towards an Architecture – 1923), Le Corbusier defines architecture as “the masterly, correct and magnificent play of form in light." The description stands accurate for both architecture and cinematography. In their most condensed form, both these arts use the human sensibility to form and light to relay their message to the masses, writing their messages in the collective mind through imagery. It comes then as no surprise that many set designers – especially those who fled Nazi Germany for Hollywood – trained as architects. And the reverse is also true, as movies and sets have also inspired the architectural community and cast their influence on how we perceive certain movements. In this respect, architecture becomes a co-star in many films, setting the stage and atmosphere of a place, community or world, as well as making a vast social commentary on its influence on the inhabitants of said space. The art of world-building, so common in literature, is adapted to the new medium of the motion-picture through the use of architecture. While the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin or Frank Herbert have used a variety of maps and words to describe the world they have envisioned, setdesigners have teamed up with an existing form of concrete writing – buildings. Until the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in around 1440, books were a luxury that the common-folk could not afford, thus most of their “written” information came from architecture and the art featured on the edifices, as they were a visual means of expression that even the masses could be drawn to. The idea then of using architecture as the back-drop in cinematic productions becomes a natural step forward in world building, and eases the viewer into the world being created right before their eyes. The paper at hand will concentrate on how architecture mirrors the society and the zeitgeist of the world it inhabits on the screen. As a narrative thread we shall take a look at three currents and their respective takes on the dystopian worlds they create in the movies they are co-stars in: Art Deco and the movie Metropolis (1927), Brutalism and the movie Dredd (2012) and lastly PostModernism and the movie Bladerunner (1982).
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Through The Lens Architecture as the co-star in dystopian cinema 1927-2012 Oriana Fenesan Submitted for HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE COURSE Politecnico di Milano Architectural Design line 2016
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Contents I. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... - 5 I.1.0 Immersion................................................................................................................................................ - 5 I.1.1 Contextual perception ............................................................................................................................. - 6 I.1.2 Story boarding and the focus on image .................................................................................................. - 7 I.1.3 Frame within Frame ................................................................................................................................ - 8 II. Visions of Dystopia .......................................................................................................................................... - 9 III. Art Deco through the lens of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) ....................................................................... - 12 IV. Brutalism and the brutal world of Dredd (2012).......................................................................................... - 17 V. Post-Modernism and the decay of Blade Runner’s world (1982) ................................................................. - 20 VI. Roll the credits.............................................................................................................................................. - 25 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................................... 28
Table Of Figures Figure 1 Alfred Hitchcock. North by Northwest, 1959. ....................................................................................... - 5 Figure 2 The Smoking Room- storyboard 2- Ian Tomlinson ................................................................................ - 7 Figure 3 ARCHITECTURE IN MOTION - STORYBOARD - Kevin SI .......................................................................... - 7 Figure 4 Skyline of New York: a tableau vivant at the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects Ball, 1931, featuring the architects of New York dressed as the buildings they designed. ........................................................................ - 9 Figure 5 BSc Unit 2 2012 - 2013: Newtopia - Julian Krueger, Damjan Iliev ....................................................... - 11 Figure 6 on set, building Metropolis.................................................................................................................. - 12 Figure 7 Modern Tower of Babel - Still shot From the Movie ........................................................................... - 13 Figure 8Sketch by Erich Kettelhut for Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang 3, 1927 ............................................. - 16 Figure 9 Le Corbusiers' Plan Voison (top), Mega-City One (bottom) ................................................................ - 17 Figure 10 Mega-City One still frame .................................................................................................................. - 19 Figure 11 Storyboard for Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott, 1982 ............................................................ - 20 Figure 12 Ennis House, Frank Lloyd Wright: Deckard's Apartment in Blade Runner ....................................... - 22 Figure 13 Portion of Goddard's Alphaville- a clear take on Metropolis ............................................................ - 25 Figure 14 Brunel University, Middlesex. UK. Location also used in the Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange. (Brutalist Vision) ................................................................................................................................................ - 25 -
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I. Introduction I.1.0 Immersion Cinema and architecture have an intimate relationship that has been touched upon many times, and is partially what one would expect. In fact, architecture appears on many occasions as the background of a scene, a setting for the action or a way to convey the mood of a scene or era. As with other arts such as photography or paintings, cinema gives us a take on architecture, placing it both spatially and contextually as a backdrop to a story, making the viewer comprehend it in a subconscious way. Of course, it sometimes appears warped from reality as it is
Figure 1 Alfred Hitchcock. North by Northwest, 1959.
used more like a prop than a historical representation – one would assume that if the actors in Romeo and Juliet would drink actual poison, the play itself would be less popular amongst actors- and as such is placed in a special context, with optimal light and framing. Collectively, we all have a sort of prejudice towards certain architectural movements, due to our fondness of famous flicks. For instance, most know the generalization of Modernity through Hitchcock; for most, Tim Wenders encapsulates the surrealistic sensibility of the 50’s and more common David Lynch’s dreams of landscapes and life continue to form a relationship in the mind of the viewer between the fiction represented on screen and the reality that is the architecture represented in our day to day encounter. The most obvious difference between the two arts– cinema and architecture- is the fact that the first was born from the need to represent movement, while the latter is a static presence, cemented in time with an ethereal presence. In fact, a lot of critics tend to vocalize the fact that the architecture that tries to capture movement becomes ironically rigid, frozen in time in a sort of rigormortis of the idea behind it.
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Another difference worth mentioning is the space they occupy. In recent years, cinema halls are turning into something dark and inexpressive, a sort of camera obscura, with the audience placed inside watching a projection of reality that will allow them to enter the realm of fantasy. Unlike in previous centuries, where the theater was a representation of life and an expression of architectural prowess, the current form is nothing more than a hall with no light, no expression, adequate acoustic and climatic conditions, and comfy chairs filled with leftover popcorn. In contrast, architecture sits in the open, under the harsh sunlight of reality, forced to express the current condition of both man and consolidate its presence through sheer endurance.
I.1.1 Contextual perception It was not until the 1920s that scenic design, or set design, was listed as a production role. The modern set designer emerged early in the new century. At that time electrical lighting was in its early stages and its use was rudimentary but poised for the huge advances to come. But, architecture, carpentry, painting and non-electrical lighting for the stage were well established and the period from roughly 1900 to 1970 was a highly innovative one for many scenic designers1. Influenced by the Bauhaus Movement, and other important developments in the visual arts, set design established itself as a distinct discipline and proceeded to develop conventions for what would be seen on Twentieth Century stages. The 21st century builds on the past, with the important difference of accessible and steadily advancing technology. The increasing use of computer generated imagery, computerized lighting systems, robotics and technologies that allow stage walls and floors to move, rise and drop at the touch of a finger to a keyboard, mean that the future of stage design will be one of innovation and stunning visual effectiveness. Film was often the way that the modern architecture of the 20’s and 30’s was experienced by the general population. Modernity was embraced within the films and was a means of creating and conveying a sense of future, innovation and splendor but also terror of what they perceived was to come. Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) is a version of the future inspired by New York and Mies van der Rohe. The world-building aspect of the movie tries to immerse the audience into a world of the
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Scenic Design: A History of Change and Innovation , Janet Irwin
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future-city, with modern architecture and a language of curtain walls, concrete, protruding elements, glass and basic shapes. However, these fictional cities and the spaces they represent create a vision that varies from dystopia to utopia depending on the filmmaker and the zeitgeist of the era.
I.1.2 Story boarding and the focus on image In the world of cinema, the storyboard is the means by which the filmmaker pre-visualizes the image he wishes to convey much like the way an architect talks through his sketches. The process by which the visual intention and vision is translated into moving images is akin to the movement of the architectural perspective through sketches made at certain views
Figure 2 The Smoking Room- storyboard 2- Ian Tomlinson
inside a project in order to convey a space and the mood it is to set to the inhabitant. There is a difference though between the two means of representation. In contrast to the succinct, continuous movement of the storyboard that creates rough ideas of perspectives that tell a particular story, a typical architectural style would more likely focus on producing several disconnected perspectives but at a highly detailed level. In an architectural project, storyboards would be used at different stages of the project layering information as needed in order to convey the maturing of the design.
Figure 3 ARCHITECTURE IN MOTION - STORYBOARD - Kevin Si
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I.1.3 Frame within Frame An architectural layout frame can be seen as a creation of materials as well as layering of different transparencies (from opaque to truly transparent) and a juxtaposition of the human scale (or form) in order to create the Architectural Frame. In contrast, the Film Frame depends more on the ratio format desired. It plays with perception, revealing or hiding the intent of the leads making use of the field of view of the human eye. As far as composition is concerned, in film as well as in architecture the placement and movement in time, at varying segments within a particular space are compositional choices that create emotion or accentuate an existing feeling. These geo-spatial movements are critical to both film-maker and architect. They are the one that create a relation with the audience. While in architecture the setting is fixed and the movement is freed by the physical exploration of the space by the user, in cinema the setting is the one that moves, while the filmgoer is fixed in the visualization. “In the same way that architecture manipulates space, it also manipulates time. ‘Architecture is not only about domesticating space,’ writes Karsten Harries, ‘it is also a deep defense against the terror of time. The language of beauty is essentially the language of timeless reality.’ Re-structuring and articulating time – re-ordering, speeding up, slowing down, halting and reversing – is equally essential in cinematic expression.”2 It is commonly said that an architect must create a “cinematic” space in order to attract his audience. He must give the space richness and a sort of underlying meaning or else the space in question will not be user-friendly. These segmented views that architecture offers must convey something both to the person in the car, passing through at high-speed having but a moment to soak in the information of his surroundings, but also to the neighborhood in which it resides, that will interact with the project throughout the year and see it in various seasons, weather conditions and light-frames.
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Juhani Pallasmaa – The architecture of Image : Existential Space in Cinema, 2008
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II. Visions of Dystopia “The dystopian imagination places us directly into a terrifying world alerting us of the danger that the future holds if we do not recognize its symptoms in the present”.3 In 1973 a publication came out that marked the synthesis of Manfredo Tafuri’s reflections that had already been in the works since the late 60s, on the ideology of modern architecture, called Progetto e Utopia. It begins with the architectural visions of Piranesi, unsettling in his view, and continues to trace the erratic attempts of avant-gardes to organize both spatially and productively industrial society. He managed to subject the utopias proposed in order to arrive at a concrete view of what architecture’s new condition was. The result he reached after much dissection of their ideological ambitions and creations was a condition of crisis. Architecture had been forced to a stage of regression, into a status of “pure architecture” without utopian valences, in best cases arriving “to sublime uselessness”, in Tafuri’s analysis.
Figure 4 Skyline of New York: a tableau vivant at the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects Ball, 1931, featuring the architects of New York dressed as the buildings they designed.
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Prakash, Gyan. Noir Urbanisms: Dystopic Images of the Modern City, 2010. P.150-152.
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Just a few years prior, some radical Italian, Austrian, English and Japanese artist had expressed a similar view on the contemporary cultural phenomenon. They rebelled against the vision and started questioning the foundations of the modernist utopia, and such they used the capitalism crisis as a starting point in expressing the current realities of the consumerist society, creating startling images of dystopia. These experiments inspired a generation of architects who sought to use dystopia in another way – constructively. The design method they resorted to would thus be able to generate creative solutions for urban planning and architectural expression. This resulted in the neoEnlightment taxonomies of Aldo Rossi4, the pop-empiricism of Denise Scott Brown, Robert Venturi and Steven Izenour5, and the process-based architectural theory of Rem Koolhaas.6 These methodological explorations allowed the “heterotopias” 7 created by the industrial metropolis to evolve in the last decades of the twentieth century into a dystopian architectural style. Until recently, until the most recent economic crisis, it always took place in great urban agglomerates and in centers that are viewed to hold the power. Though a question arises from this line of thought, is it really possible to define a unified dystopian method? Or does this type of architecture, by its pure foundation, resist systematization? Is it possible that the most recognizable element of this architectural expression and its theoretical frame be merely isolated cases that with their displays of technology and structure at an overwhelming scale hold an iconic power? And are these disturbing expressions that come from utopian thought a model of “negative thought”? The grimy, dark, hard-edged and chaotic future that this methodology encompasses seems to be the forerunner in many artistic currents, especially in the architecture of sci-fi movies. Often characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government, repressive social control systems, a lack or total absence of individual freedoms and expressions and a state of constant warfare or violence, dystopia is one of those concepts that seems to induce terror. However
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L'architettura della città,1966 Learning from Las Vegas,1977
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Delirious New York 1978, S, M, L, XL, 1995 and Junkspace, 2000.
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Focault,1967
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for some this is already reality, and can be pinpointed on our planet as of now, making it an everyday normal for a lot of people who would most likely want it to disappear. The utopian future becomes a non-place, which is created for a purpose and for the people. But this is also a start to the definition of dystopia- unrealized utopias, spaces built with a purpose that due to unrealistic concepts and greed negate their own utilitarian function. It is “super-modern times” that produce “non-spaces”. 8 This claim may be due to the obvious correlation between the rise of capitalism and commercialization throughout history that manages to alienate and create conflict, ultimately leading to wars, that in turn affects the architecture of the spaces inhabited. One may even argue that dystopia is the natural course of utopia, and the cycle is an ongoing one. Transitional forms do arise, but it is ultimately these two states of presence that both architecture and society tends to revolve around.
Figure 5 BSc Unit 2 2012 - 2013: Newtopia - Julian Krueger, Damjan Iliev
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Marc Auge, Non-places :Introduction to an Anthropology of Suermodernity p.29
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III. Art Deco through the lens of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) The depiction of a future that segregates the controlling elite and the toiling underclass by levels, a symptom of the industrialization that had been taking place in recent years and was reshaping the social European fabric over the past decades, is the focal point of Fritz Lang’s sci-fi masterpiece. It was never seen as just a movie. The expensive flick created its own aesthetic, marking the collective minds of those who saw it with special effects, shocking dramatizations and setting the bar for the genre for years to come. It remains to this day impressive, a testament to its influence. It also represents the apex of the German expressionist movement in cinema. Figure 6 on set, building Metropolis
Although the backdrop is varied, from Gothic to Futurist architecture, Metropolis has as its center support the architectural vision of 20’s New York’s towering Art Deco skyscrapers. Production of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis began on May 22, 1925 and ran until October 30, 1926, and most set pictures of the time picture the set-hands toiling away on miniature cities. Most of the representative pictures are believed to be taken by Horst von Harbou, set photographer and brother-in-law to Lang.
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Figure 7 Modern Tower of Babel - Still shot From the Movie
The movie features a modernized version of a Tower of Babel so to say, placed in an industrial hell-hole, made solely for the workers to produce at the bottom with the peak of creation being represented by the super-modern, almost inspiring omnipresence offices that show the creators’ intent and knowledge. This knowledge of the very latest European architectural progresses was the stepping stone for their architectural vision of the world they had created. Whether it was an interpretation of Expressionism, Bauhaus, Modern or Art Deco style every single representation of the buildings create a sense of terrifying overshadowing gloom. The effect thus obtained is somehow ominous, Gothic, shadowy and most of all fear-inducing. Designed in vertical layers instead of horizontally, the architecture of the world is built to physically reflect the social statuses of the society that inhabits it.
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Lang's team of set designers – including Karl Vollbrecht, credited as "film architect", and Erich Kettelhut – were led by Otto Hunte, art director and production designer. Hunte had previously artdirected Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919); a master of dark films, he went on to work on the crudely anti-semitic Jud Süß (Veit Harlan, 1940). Lang and Hunte employed the cinematographer, Eugen Schüfftan, who developed a process whereby Metropolis actors could be projected, through mirrors, into miniature sets. This bold play with "futuristic" architecture and newly developed filming techniques helped make Metropolis a powerful influence on real-life architecture for decades to come. Futurist architecture, is an early 20th century form born in Italy and characterized by antihistoricism, strong chromatic schemes, dynamism in shapes and the feeling of movement and speed, almost urgency. In his Manifesto of Futurism (1909) Filippo Tommaso describes these exact traits and as a whole creates the basis of the current. It considers as a whole history and the past as something outdated and in need of rejection, and machinery, speed, violence, youth and industry are to be the forerunners. It was a sign of rejuvenation in the cultural sphere of Italian Architecture. It comes then as no surprise that part of the Metropolis aesthetic is based on this exact feeling. Art Deco had nebulous beginnings in Paris during the salons of 1912. Raymond Duchamp-Villion, Marcel Duchamp's brother, designed a set of Cubist interior ornaments that were displayed at the Salon d'Autumne and the Paris Salons. This was quite the coup, as salons were pivotal events in the international art world. These exhibitions represented an opportunity for artists to compete for recognition and patronage, as well as for ideas and styles to propagate through the artistic community.
The Duchamp-Villion style did indeed propagate through the hands of more established architects such as Peter Behrens and Josef Hoffmann. However, unlike Duchamp-Villion, these architects were more interested in the coming Machine Age of industrialization and industrial design. The resulting mixed style took on a life of its own in the hands of various designers throughout the 1920s, characterized by angular lines, rich surfaces, and stylized figures. It earned its name "Art Deco" later from the 1925 International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts.
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The Art Deco style influenced all areas of design not just architecture. Different mediums seemed attracted to it including interior design, fashion design, jewelry, painting, graphic art, film and industrial design. It represented a type of elegance and modernity that had become in fashion, rendering a glamorous aesthetic combined with functionality and a use of symmetric linearity - a departure from its predecessor Art Nouveau – a style that embraced organic curves and flowing asymmetry. It is also interesting to note that it is a style that has its basis only in a decorative aspect, unlike many other design movements before and after it that had political or philosophical intentions. This world of terrifying dystopia set in the (then-distant) year 2000 is so well intertwined with skyscrapers made of stone that soar into the distant stratosphere that make the human form pale in comparison and creates a sense of awe for the impending future. The skyline is defined by dynamic angular bridges typical in design to the Art Deco movement and create a city not for the human but for the machine – as hordes of eerily similar black vehicles storm the highways and biplanes buzz overhead. This vision was made possible due to a visit of The Big Apple for Lang: “I looked into the streets – the glaring lights and the tall buildings – and there I conceived Metropolis. […] The buildings seemed to be a vertical sail, scintillating and very light… suspended in the dark sky to dazzle, distract and hypnotize." The aesthetic is also influenced by his love of the German Expressionist style and the fact that his nick-name “The Master of Darkness” is well deserved being more or less the father of film noir (with the classic thriller “M”). Thus the dash of Gothic is unsurprisingly present - the cathedral and the mad scientist’s lab, forgotten by the centuries. This completes the image of the “world above” Below, it is the land of The Machine. Pivots, corks, screws mechanical arms, exposed copper and alloy pipes, sudden blasts of steam all coming together in the realization of a fantastic vision of the future – based on the technical limitations of the 20’s. The attention to detail in this world designed for the machine is visible even “on the clock”. In one of the scenes a clock can be observed: the worker’s clock divided into 10 minute blocks for the simpleton laborer and an overhead piece divided into 24 hours for the more sophisticated industrialists. This attention to detail and the way that architectural and design details are employed to enhance the mood make Metropolis an influencer of style to this day. The plot of Metropolis, is at most a mishmash of ideas, and reportedly even Lang himself later said that he hated it (though that might have
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been influenced by the fact that it was written by his then ex-wife) so it comes as no surprise that the star of the show is the style and the mood. We can clearly see that in Metropolis, it is Architecture and Art Deco that steal the show, chew the audience inside and out and become ingrained in our perception of the “city of tomorrow�. Movies keep using Metropolis-like visions of the future, only they have to keep pushing the date further and further back. Blade Runner had similar giant buildings separating the rich above and workers below for its Los Angeles of 2019, becoming a sort of spiritual successor of the futuristic dystopia.
Figure 8 Sketch by Erich Kettelhut for Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang 3, 1927
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IV. Brutalism and the brutal world of Dredd (2012)
When entering the world of Dredd we are first confronted with Mega-City One. This vast urban landscape is home to towering housing projects turned slums, with interiors and exteriors that evoke a negative perception of Brutalist architecture. Throughout its existence Brutalist architectural design has been linked with low-cost construction, decay of the urban space and failed social experiments. This is certainly evident in Dredd, a movie that follows a “Judge” navigating a day as a law enforcement agent in a dystopian society. The movies’ set is almost exclusively placed in the Peach Trees housing complex, a massive tower that could be classified as a city in itself. The construction feels oppressive and is intentionally mimicking impoverished social housing that was once created in the Brutalist style. The style itself got its start with French architect Le Corbusier, and his post-WW II projects, that featured raw concrete as a main element, this concrete, called béton brut, and is where Brutalism inherits its name from. It was soon adopted elsewhere as a means to cut cost but also as a way to express a simpler, stream-lined version of architecture. Something that would be sculptural. Not all Brutalist structures are necessarily oppressive, though the style's association with failed social housing—along with its use in huge civic and academic projects—led to its current disrepute. Architecturally speaking, Brutalism is a challenge for modernity, its lack of ornament is a true vision of the future, one that has been showed in numerous sci-fi
Figure 9 Le Corbusiers' Plan Voison (top), Mega-City One (bottom)
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works, a future in which everything blends together, and then becomes invisible in everyday life. But that invisibility can lead to calamities. The utilitarian structures do give of a vibe of Dystopian Utopia, where the social consensus of architecture is that the brutish appearance can be negligible. This is one style that is regarded as created by architects for architects. In the December 1955 issue of The Architectural Review, we see the first inkling of this new ‘ism’, as Brutalism starts to respond to a mass-producing society, ever in gear. Where most architecture tries to be welcoming to the onlooker and inhabitant, Brutalism takes the opposite approach, confronting and belittling those who have the nerve to enter. Due to the fact that these buildings have been largely unloved and left in abandon, the structures themselves have not performed well over time and their current look has become a sort of tangential metaphor of the decay the cities are suffering. Brutalism was a tool of the state-led reconstruction to rectify the vast devastation. The most un-shocking revelation is that the style has become synonymous with governmental buildings, shopping malls destined to be the make out spots for teens far and wide, but let’s not forget low rent public housing. If these all sound as a perfect description of the world Dredd throws us in, then it is by no mistake. The Peach Trees complex that defines the architecture of the movie is just that, brutal in a brutalist style that, in this fictionalized world, has suffered the same fate as its real-world counterpart. The complex appears as a mass-fortification, towering above the urban skyline having as rivals only others like it. Mega-City One, with all its faults encompasses what a true dystopian utopia is and it does so through its architecture. As it spans the eastern coast of the US and encompasses all the major existing cities, it is reminiscent of Le Corbusiers’ vision for Paris, “Plan Voison”. He envisioned buildings that would fit in an orthogonal grid shape and that would occupy an important place on the Seine, with a highly structured spaces. In his vision two new traffic arteries would pass through the city and the suburbs, connecting the capital to the four corners of France and why not even Europe. The crossroads between these two arteries would create at their intersection the center of the plan, the center of Paris and the center of France. This is exactly what Mega-City One represents in this future approach. The inhabitants of each housing complex must surely see themselves as a city at the center of a city, which balances a town that is the center of a country.
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Mega-City One also resonates with another project, this time one built in 1970, where “the future” came to life for one island, Roosevelt Island located in the middle of East River in Manhattan. This project really is something that only an architect could love, with an enormous sense of uniformity. The brain-child of Philip Johnson and John Brugee, this island was proposed as a project ground. Once dubbed Welfare Island and home to
Figure 10 Mega-City One still frame
hospitals, asylums and penitentiaries it was now to be a full-fledged community. Unlike Corbusier, cars were not allowed, and were to be parked underground, while the residents would use public transportation. The first phase of the project developed by Sert, Jackson & Associates and boasts concrete facades, signage on each generically named storefront for example Flower Shop 568. This all paints a rather remarkable dystopian picture. These two views in my opinion create the basis for what was to become Mega-City One, a gritty, oversimplified city, with uniformity created for social housing. Since the consensus was that this typology is brute and unwanted it became just that, decrepit and a perfect breeding-ground for a dystopian society. The interior of the social tower that our eponymous judge enters, is what has lately been referred to as “favela chic” in transition to abandonment.
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V. Post-Modernism and the decay of Blade Runner’s world (1982) Post-modernism has created some vast debates and literary studies throughout its existence. There seem to be three overarching positions in regards to the current: one concerning itself with sociology and literature (with frontrunners such as Umberto Eco and JeanFrancois Lyotard), one concerning itself with visual arts (most noticeably in the United States) and one that is related in
Figure 11 Storyboard for Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott, 1982
particular to the discourse of architecture. In order to analyze this current, Blade Runner will be taken as a metaphor of the postmodern condition. In order to better analyze the current in regards to the latter position, I would like to employ two terms taken from Fredric Jameson’s essays “Postmodernism and Consumer Society” and the latter version of the text “Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” those being schizophrenia and pastiche. In his work he suggests that the postmodern condition can be defined by a schizophrenic temporality and spatial pastiche. He employs schizophrenia in the way Jaques Lacan elaborates the notion. In his opinion, Jameson takes from Lacan that schizophrenia is basically a breakdown of the connection between signifiers, linked to the failure of access to the Symbolic. As for pastiche, he sees it as a process – the erosion of distinctions, the way boundaries and separations are blurred. It is intended here as an incorporation of form, an imitation of defunct styles sans any satirical impulse. Jameson’s take makes it a viable reference and guideline in analyzing the space and time in the film. As in the terms of Eco,
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these two terms will act as “umbrella terms” that cover diverse and vast areas of concern. I must indeed note that Jameson view of postmodernism is created from the field of architecture: "It is in the realm of architecture . . . that modifications in aesthetic productions are most dramatically visible, and that their theoretical problems have been most centrally raised and articulated; it was indeed from architectural debates that my own conception of postmodernism began to emerge." Blade Runner acts as a canvas for post-modernism. It’s architectural vision and layout best defines the pastiche between architecture and post-modernism and their connection to postindustrialism. The Architectural Landscape of the film mimics the dystopian feel of the society that inhabits it. Unlike most sci-fi movies, Blade Runner takes place not in some galaxy far, far, away, nor in a spaceship or extra-terrestrial colony, but in a city, Los Angeles, and in a time that is within our grasp and current timeline -2019. The decay of the post-industrial city brings to attention the interaction between postmodernism and late capitalism. The current state of the city is seen not as an idealized clinical representation of technology but simply as a natural evolution of the present state of the place and social aspects of postmodernism. Thus representative, the city of Blade Runner is not something that belongs in the realm of the ultramodern but the postmodern. It is not orderly, the skyline is chaotic, the interiors are not comfortable and the technology does not inspire. It is more of a representation of decay, neglect and a canvas to showcase the dark side of technology, and the processes it puts the cities through – erosion, disintegration. Architecture here is used as a way to emphasize the degeneration of the social aspect – a neglected neighborhood is where Deckard (the eponymous Blade Runner) goes to find solace in order to perform at work. He is there met with metropolitan punks, that are a sort of urban explorer out for treasure amidst garbage everywhere. J.F Sebastian (genetic designer working for the Tyrell Corporation) is surrounded only by his mechanical creations, living in a dilapidated building once majestic, now left as a mere carcass of its former glory. The use of natural phenomena such as rain to complete the ambiance over the neo-baroque lights seems fitting as water is one of the most known forces of erosion. The feeling of waste everywhere is a representation in a way of the functioning of the mechanism- to produce, develop and move, waste is created. The speed at which this happens
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though is far overbearing for the infrastructure. It then becomes a city of recycling even if not in ecofriendly terms. This aesthetic that the people of the street use such logic, taking what they can from the waste and turning it into a new aesthetic. “Wearable art� is being created as a byproduct of consumerism and late capitalism or more directly postmodernism. The look of the replicants mimics
Figure 12 Ennis House, Frank Lloyd Wright: Deckard's Apartment in Blade Runner
the aesthetic created by the city itself. Looking at the vision through this lens the city created by the movie is a result of fusion between different levels, blurring of boundaries, erosion and signifiers that lack continuality. The whole world-view is then that of a disconnected time, where the fashion of the replicants and the pastiche of the city are all due to the postmodern and postindustrial impact: everything is becoming a wasteland, decrepit and worn out. The city is in ruins.
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The world of this postindustrial decay is set in an incorporative hybrid architectural design. The city still keeps its present day name, Los Angeles, but it is a Los Angeles that looks more like Tokyo or Hong Kong. Topographically speaking, this city is an illusion, a mélange of mental architectures. Due to its postindustrial nature it could be anywhere, it has a structure that can be interchangeable, and its geography is condensed and displaced. As ancient cities before it, this L.A. is superimposed on its predecessors, creating a displaced feeling of time and space, incorporating them into its current condition while also exhibiting their deteriorations and transformations. It also incorporates people, as we see it as a place of a massive immigration from overcrowded and impoverished countries that unfortunately gain a lower-class status. As happens in Metropolis, these “second class” citizens are the crowd of the city, but the indigenous populations are separated, in this case not on a different level of the same city but in the suburbs or “off-world”. The city is populated by crowds of undistinguishable people, merchants with clear oriental influences, punks, Hare Krishna followers that speak a language that is a true pastiche: an incorporation of Japanese, Spanish and German in one grating “city speech”. This is set over abandoned buildings, decay and waste in vicinity to crowded, over populated older areas and not far over high-tech districts, the whole city feels like a huge market with underground networks that disseminate throughout. What we get is a feeling of China Town – traveling without moving, a recreation of the third world in this case into the first, a futuristic high-tech meltdown into am overurbanized situation. By leaving every style to its own devices, the architecture in this case has lost its pertinence to the surroundings. Its specific uniqueness in relation to place, culture and times has been totally uprooted by postmodernism. This metropolis breaks down rules of architectural syntax and creates an architectural parataxis, unsubordinated and lacking in coordination. But by no mistake are these uncoordinated connections made at whim, they just follow a different type of logic that of the pastiche. "The resultant hybrid balances and reconciles opposed meanings.... This inclusive architecture absorbs conflicting codes in an attempt to create (what Robert Venturi calls) 'the difficult whole'.... It can include ugliness, decay, banality, austerity.... In general terms it can be described as
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radical eclecticism or ad-hoc-ism. Various parts, styles or sub- systems are used to create a new synthesis.�9 In Blade Runner recollections and quotations from the past are sub-codes of a new synthesis. 10
Roman and Greek columns provide a retro vibe for the city. Signs of classical Oriental mythology
recur. Chinese dragons are revisited in neon lighting. A strong Egyptian element pervades the decor. The Tyrell Corporation overlooks what resemble the Egyptian pyramids in a full sunset. The interior of the office is not high- tech but rather a pop Egyptian extravaganza. Elevators might have video screens, but they are made of stone. The walls of Deckard's apartment are reminiscent of an ancient Mayan palace. Pastiche, as an aesthetic of quotation, incorporates dead styles; it attempts a recollection of the past, of memory, and of history. These histories intertwine, and show that the city does has a desire for it, but it has an impossibility to return to it. Postmodernism, particularly in architecture preaches a return to historical as one of its goals, however in a distorted way, a new form, and an avatar of what once was. A historical pastiche that tries to gain redemption through retracing, deconstruction and the result is a mere simulacrum of history. All these definitions come together to paint the architecture of “future� 2019 L.A as a perfect backdrop for what most of us would fear a probable outcome. Post-modernism acts as a representation of the decay humanity has sunk to and the architecture of the city enhances it, if not even defines it. Out of rubble and abandonment it is hard to grow anew, but its almost violent appropriation of other cultures and styles, next to the uber-sci-fi makes it even more depressing.
9
Jencks, p. 90.
10
Among other elements, the city of Blade Runner includes a set called "New York street," built in 1919 and used in a number of Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney movies: and the Ennis- Brown house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
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VI. Roll the credits The representations we see in movies of the future, and implicitly the future of architecture is bleak. A timeline that can be considered starting at Metropolis and going all the way to Blade Runner suggest that we are heading for dystopia, at least in the eyes of the creative minds that have put their work in front of us. The image of the city has become more and more dystopic but in my opinion it is a mere reflection of how society sees itself. In the words of Kim Newman, novelist and film critic, films are very much reflective of their times. These films that best capture the zeitgeist of an era are those who normally do not excel at the box office but manage to gain cult-status. They
Figure 13 Portion of Goddard's Alphaville- a clear take on Metropolis
do provide a strange seduction with their dark rhetoric and the way they force us into submission and a strange acceptance of what they consider to be the future. In Newman’s words, “It is, I think, worth noting that films such as Alphaville, Blade Runner and Dark City […] adopt film noir-like devices to portray shadowy, brutal streets through which their lone anti-heroes prowl. This perhaps reflects a brooding cynicism pervading contemporary thought on all things urban after Fritz Lang’s classic Metropolis.”
Figure 14 Brunel University, Middlesex. UK. Location also used in the Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange. (Brutalist Vision)
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The three dystopias analyzed in this paper feel like a natural progression of our vision of dystopia. Even though Metropolis was dismissed by famous names such as H.G. Wells, saying that it is an amalgam of “almost every possible foolishness, cliché, platitude, and muddlement about mechanical progress and progress in general” its longevity and influence in both film and most notably architecture cannot be ignored. The creators of Blade Runner openly admit even to their source, and say they feel indebted to Lang’s vision of architectural demise. It is interesting to note, in my opinion, that the three works have a sort of consensus, despite the periods they portray and come from, of where society is headed. Despite an overarching theme of industrial conflict and poverty, they all strive to portray a type of organized, ordered society, even though that order is not what many of us would call ideal. The cynical view of the future is most likely a by-product of the post-war period and reflects a deep pessimism in the Western culture as to what progress is. The sci-fi of the 50’s replace alien invasions with the “Red Menace” of Russian invasion in the west, while in Japan “Godzilla” was a way to express their grief after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both having as a co-star the architectural backdrop that could best evoke the feelings of loathing – decay abandon and destruction. Afterwards, the 60s see a slight improvement, a more optimistic cultural turn, but there still an underlying ambivalence toward technology and a dread of certain aspects of progress. Jean-Luc Goddard best presents this in his dystopian nightmarish vision, where the world of Alphaville (1965) is opposed to individuality, self-expression and love. There are rumors that the name was supposed to be “Tarzan vs. IBM”, as what is currently known as Alphaville tries to warn society of the horrors of “computerized cities”. The 70s then gave way to punk nihilism, and Stanley Kubrik’s adaptation of A Clockwork Orange (1971) anticipated this counterculture. It is unapologetic in its portrayal of brutality, and what Kubrik sees as urban thuggery. It is amoral in its tendencies and turns away from previous concerns that dystopian movies have had- mechanical progress, the toxic city and counter-culture. In Aldous Huxley’s’ view L.A. is ‘the City of Dreadful Joy’, a ‘ruinous sprawling ossuary’ subject to ‘deforestation, pollution and other acts of ecological imbecility’. This is carried on into Blade Runner (1982) where Ridley Scott added neon signs, digital advertising, full streets and mess, creating
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a post-modern pastiche collage where the past and future co-exist, even if barely, as opposed to what Lang’s Metropolis was (an ordered cityscape that portrays opposing worlds, the elite on the horizons and the mechanized slaving lower class below). But the running theme is nonetheless the same, the visions of the future are reflecting of the time they come from, and the zeitgeist of the era. Be it industrialization, poverty and famine that lead to body-enhancing drugs to make it easier to cope or replicants that are created to make it easier but are then considered inferior, there is always this underlying fear of progress. Fortunately, the architecture that these futures chose as their representation are the exact opposite, while they may be brute, cold and seemingly inhumane, they are never afraid. Rightly so, they are poised, with strong shapes and a decorum that best suits the power they wish to impose. The hold these movies have on our view of certain architectural styles is exactly because of this synergy that they manage to evoke, and it is perhaps why, in philosophical terms, the second half of the 20th century seems so quiet. The hope we have for the future, is largely subdued by fear and unexpressed. With or without our approval, the choice between Utopia and Dystopia is always a mere act of faith, thus the future becomes a metaphor of the present, a commonplace to expose our misgivings. It serves the same purpose as Dante’s Inferno: it provides us with an excuse and occasionally with way to confront our most carefully hidden truths that lie deep within. With the powers of simulation that movies hold, it is easy to understand why they have been one of the favored Medias when it comes to relaying information. And it comes as no surprise, that the co-star is architecture, the means by which, for centuries before the printing press we have left for posterity the synergy, zeitgeist and hopes of the era it was built in. In Carl Jung’s words “No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell”, and in my way this best describes our fascination with dystopia and why we choose to represent it in one of our strongest roots – architecture.
Bibliography Books Minden, Michael, and Holger Bachmann. Fritz Lang's Metropolis: Cinematic Visions of Technology and Fear. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2000. Lamster, Mark. Architecture and Film. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000. Koeck, Richard. Cine-scapes: Cinematic Spaces in Architecture and Cities. 2013. Jacobs, Steven. The Wrong House: The Architecture of Alfred Hitchcock. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2007. Albrecht, Donald. Designing Dreams: Modern Architecture in the Movies. Santa Monica, CA: Hennessey + Ingalls, 1986. AlSayyad, Nezar. Cinematic Urbanism: A History of the Modern from Reel to Real. New York, NY: Routledge, 2006. Ching D.K., Francis. Architecture: Form, Space, and Order. New York City: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1996. Corbusier, Le. Le Modulor. Basel, Switzerland: Birkhauser Verlag, 2000.
WEB "1927, Metropolis: Set Design, Cinema." 1927, Metropolis: Set Design, Cinema. Accessed May 28, 2016. http://theredlist.com/wiki-2-20-777-780-view-1920-1930-profile-1927-bmetropolis-b.html. "Star" Architects: The Story of 4 Architects Who Made It in Hollywood." ArchDaily. 2013. Accessed May 18, 2016. http://www.archdaily.com/388732/star-architects-the-story-of-4-architects-who-made-it-in-hollywood. "DAP." DAP. Accessed May 28, 2016. http://www.architecturalpapers.ch/index.php?ID=35. Architecture & Literature. Reflections/Imaginations. Accessed 18 May, 2016. http://www.oasejournal.nl/en/Issues/70. "EMagazine." Architecture and Film. Accessed May 28, 2016. http://www.worldarchitects.com/pages/film/architecture-film.
The usual disclaimer applies.
Naturally, I am responsible for the remaining errors -although, in my opinion, my friends could have caught a few more.