ATHANASIOS KORRAS DS10
Glamour in social context
What is Glamour ? Glamour is not just beauty or luxury. It is not style, but an effect, a quality that depends on the play of the imagination. Its grace makes the difficult seem achievable, attainable to all. Its mystery invites identification, and just enough familiarity to engage with the imagination. It is all about transcending the everyday, to an ideal, non-existent, better world. It may demand opulence or aesthetic excess, in order to portray such world. It is an escape, an illusion, an ideal, a dream. It is not quite real. It is accessible, while it remains distant. Glamour is not transparent, nor opaque, but translucent, favorably revealing things. It comes in many styles, depending on the ideals it embodies. But while it does all those things, it has to maintain a sense of effortlessness. In order to maintain both its beauty and its essential distance, glamour must never let us see it sweat. Its creator must be careful to edit out all details that could break the spell. And that is why nothing can appear more glamorous than it does on photographs. But glamour does not strike awe. It operates on a human scale, giving utopia a tactile presence, a possible connection. While glamour’s escapism is inseparable from its charm, it shouldn’t be mistaken for true life, as it hides all of its textures. It is by nature deceiving, and thus glamour’s escapist pleasures are only meant to be temporary.
Glamour in Architecture From mid-century and the Modernism’s dogmatic moto “form follows function”, we can begin to observe pieces of Architecture that were brave enough to challenge that belief and set the production of sensual delight as their primary goal. A primary characteristic of such building was a tendency towards “surface or façade plasticity”. A quintessential example of mid-century glamour is the Beinecke Rare Book Library which demonstrates all of glamour’s characteristic elements, from the modulated seriality of the facades to its plastic sense of materiality. Another architect, renowned for his glamorous hotel designs was Morris Lapidus. He successfully summoned the mood and décor of 1930s and 40s movies, and essentially created a movie stage for the customers, a place for them to see, and be seen; all of them under the illusion of being movie stars. An important part of glamour architecture was played by the Peter Eisenman’s influential 1967-88 House series. Eisenman’s architecture disregarding conventional ideas of con-
text, site, and function, directly opposed the rhetoric “form follows function�. His projects reconsidered once-tranrgressive tendencies such as seriality, scalelessness, excess, and tattooing and in that way can be viewed as precedents for the digital glamour aesthetic. Nowadays, with the contemporary advances in digital technology and fabrication, an era of digital glamour has been created. A defining feature of this digital glamour is the transposition of decorative pattern into structural form. This allows the architects to blur the boundaries between formal characteristics and structure, surface, and occupiable space. Works of Herzog and De Meuron, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Bernand Tschumi and Hernan Diaz Alonso, to name a few, represent such pieces of architecture. All in all, glamour architecture has as primary target to seduce the eye and stimulate emotions through the production of visual delight. It may even sacrifice function in order to produce generate spectacle and drama. It treats the building more as an overwhelming, sensual journey instead of a function-serving space.
Glamour in Industrial Design For mid-century industrial designers, glamour was a characteristic defined outside the context of Modernism. While the machine aesthetic and massproduction goods were still championed by many avant-garde designers, the market for luxury items was also thriving. For the designers that embraced it, glamour was an opportunity to celebrate traditions of opulence and excess. The essential purpose of much of these designs was to flourish in an environment of spectacle, of visual delight for its own sake. Hans Harald Rath’s Metropolitan chandelier is an exuberant form, an explosion of tiny glass spheres radiating outward like fireworks caught in mid-air. The lighting fixture itself is a celebration of light in sculptural form. Some designers were inspired from anthropomorphic shapes, rejecting the industrial aesthetic. The 1961 Jaguar E-type coupe’s contours are more animalistic than machine based, emphasizing on emotional appeal rather than the engineering features that make its speed possible. The design is both voluptuous and eccentric. In contemporary industrial design, glamour is still associated with traditional marks of luxury: expensive materials, labor-intensive construction, and sophisticated design. But today the display of these features has become a value on its own right. Glamour can now be constructed through associative strategies
such as branding and marketing. Glamour can be strongly linked to a brand name, even as company’s designs evolve. The 118 WallyPower is an example of glamour migrating across product lines. This powerboat is infused with high end features but beneath its glamorous surfaces is a vessel designed for performance. Though glamour has always been associated with expensive materials and artisanship, contemporary items may be defined simply through stylistic references to those qualities. The Petra Blaisse’s “Touch” wallpaper line is printed with close-up photos of fine or handcrafted materials to create an allover 2-dimensional pattern. The result is a decorative surface that is visually arresting but physically no different than ordinary wallpaper. The emphasis of aesthetics in the contemporary design market acknowledges that seductive formal qualities have an emotional appeal that lies outside functionality. The Cascade chandelier’s function is greatly overshadowed by its form. The chandelier literally overflows. 10 foot strands of crystal spill over the table below, bathing the space in glass as well as light. In recent times, technology has made a novel range of eccentric or subjective design choices viable within the domain of glamour. An aesthetic once associated with handmade luxury objects is now applied, elegantly and easily, to a wide spectrum of mass-produced items.
Glamour in Fashion After World War II, when a variety of materials had been strictly rationed, fashion houses built their reputations through an emphasis of extravagance and excess. After years of enduring conservative styles, women were eager to indulge in clothing as an expression of affluence, sophistication, and freedom. With Christian Dior leading the charge, mid-century designers renewed their obsession with the classic hourglass silhouette and other traditional signs of femininity. As the postwar economy surged with mas-produced goods, designers sought to emphasize their specialized skills as artisans. The attention shifted from the shape of the body to the structure of the garment itself. Exotic or unusual materials could also make a design aesthetically daring. In the 1960’s and 70’s Paco Rabanne championed the use of unconventional materials as a means of pure visual expression. He created dresses from elaborately fastened lattices of plastic buttons or small aluminum tiles for his “Unwearable” series. These experiments, playfully disregarding the question of functionality, achieved the glamour of inutility-of art for art’s sake. Today’s designers reinvent as often as they invent. Traditional look of companies may be transformed by the new chief designer, who will put his personal
touch while preserving signature details. In updating styles of the past, contemporary designers often exaggerate and embellish traditional traits of glamour, creating looks that fetishize femininity or luxury. A dress designed by John Galliano for Christian Dior has the skirt so elongated that it gathers in piles on the floor, an obstacle to the sweeping movement it implies. Contemporary designers have manipulated a range of unconventional materials in their quest for a radically new aesthetic. A slinky purple gown designed by Giorgio Sant’ Angello evokes the casual decadence of nightclub attire with its principal appeal being the glitz. The relationship with glamour and sexuality has become increasingly overt in recent fashion. Designers often exploit the shock value of sexually provocative styling. A 1980’s Thierry Mugler suit asserts a certain conservative elegance. However the material is a couture approximation of latex, a substance allured by sexual fetishists. Designers continue to resurrect and transform traditional elements of glamour. Contemporary couturiers create self-consciously and frequently flout the rules, but the primary ideas of glamour –theatricality and extraordinary beauty- preserve.
Glamour Fetish Item The Car Grille In luxury car brands, highly sophisticated and specialized designs are produced for specific parts, such as the grille or the wheels, in order to celebrate traditions of luxury, elegance and style or simply to communicate the principles and values of the respective brand. The grille is a key part of the car as it is really its face. It is the first thing to be observed when a car is moving towards someone and it can really define the character and qualities of it. I will attempt to extract qualities of elegance and glamour from some grille designs of famous car brands.
The Rolls – Royce grille can be considered one of the trademarks of the infamous company, alongside with the spirit of ecstasy and the wheel height. It is a dominant element, designed with clear perpendicular lines that repeat themselves in a very straightforward linear pattern. While its form and ornament are straightforward, evoking no mystery at all, it manages to produce a feel of intimidation upon its viewing through its enormous size and its refined edges. It successfully merges principles of excess, scalelessness and patterning in order to glamourize the viewer.
The grille of the Bentley Continental is a high-tech, laser-cut pattern of twists and turns, highlights and shadows, a complex, gleaming shape of chromed metal. It evokes the woven wire grilles of classic Bentley racers and sedans, but it is rendered in a depth made possible only by computers. It also harks back to the armor and heraldy of the days of chivalry, summing up a brand compounded of Britishness, racing, and the romance of the automobile. It designers calls its glamorous pattern a “matrix�. The design explores the dynamics of shadowing, patterning and craftsmanship to achieve this highly glamorizing result.
The Car Wheel Highly customizable parts of a car are the wheels. There is usually a broad selection of design choices offered by the manufacturer for each specific model. These can vary in materiality, size and shape. Apart from the obvious reason to maintain a circle outline, the designers have been really creative with wheels. However, there are a limited number of designs demonstrating values of elegance and glamour. This is possibly because of the limitations posed by the need of support within the wheel preventing counterparts to be as refined as one would have hoped, or because many car manufacturers emphasize on the wheel to communicate the power and speed of the vehicle rather than its beauty and elegance.
In Maybach Exelero however the wheel is an elegant feature. It manages to capture the essence of motion while it remains still. It achieves that through separating the wheels façade in what appears to be two layers. The first, foreground layer is a samurai star-like shape with curved edges that are suggestive of movement. The second, background one, is a fill shape similar to the blur that would be created in the human eye if that star was in motion due to the eye’s inability to capture images more often than 0.1 seconds. In reality the shape is continuous but appears as multi-layered by treating the material in different ways. The star shape is highly polished in order to appear glossy, while the fill shape maintains a mat coating imitating blur.
On the other hand, Bentley’s wheel design manages elegance in a different way. While it doesn’t create the illusion of motion, it creates a very interesting geometric pattern by overlapping the same shape in different sizes. The design starts form the wheels’ center where sets of two, refined in shape, radiuses extent to the outline circle. In the meantime, a smaller radius in length is fitted between each set and slightly, inwardly offseted which creates a sense of depth. The whole design is reminiscent of two graphic sun-shapes within each other.
Testing Glamour Strategies
Glamourizing the Everyday Object For my first physical exercise on glamour I decided to emphasize on the plastic sense of materiality and how a glamour material reflects light. I took everyday objects that I find interesting in shape and applied a silver or gold coating on them. I did this in an attempt to demonstrate my belief that glamour is not merely found in luxury materials or complex forms. As I tend to observe with most of the objects I used for this exploration, the key element for the experiment to work is for the object to have an interesting structure –either because of its balance, its pattern or fluidness – and an intense sense of materiality. Then the silver coating applied to it, translates the object from a typical everyday-use one, to a sensual spectacle.
Dramatic Lighting In this exercise, I explored the principle of the patterned faรงade in buildings and the effects in can produce in relation to light, both interior and exterior. The basic idea is that a repetitive geometric pattern combined with the shadow effects that the cast of light would produce, would increase the drama in the spaces affected and thus create a sensual delight to the inhabitant. I found that the effect is enhanced if that pattern is not completely continuous but its repetition breaks at various points that seem arbitrary. This applies a mysterious effect around its nature and in that way, invites further investigation.
Redesigning the Everyday Object In this exercise I attempted to create an inventive design for an egg-holder, an item that I had already experimented it with. The first design treats the egg as a jewel, enclosing in it in a form similar to a ring box. The concept is that through this stylistic reference, a deceiving value is inherited on the object.
Inspirational Image
On a more funky and funny tone I created another design for the egg-holder inspired by the form of the fried egg. The case, imitating this form, visualizes the viewer’s desired final result, encouraging the spectator to “forget� about the procedure required to bring the eggs to that state. In that way it transcends him to the desired state by creating an illusion.
Elegance : Glamour’s Core Quality
Fluidity in Elegance A basic characteristic of elegant forms is the sense of fluidity that they reflect. The idea of a friction-less, continuous journey enhances the sense of effortlessness and sophistication of the design.
Lightness in Elegance A revisiting value in elegance is the concept of lightness. The illusion of an anti-gravity world memsemerizes the spectator.
Curvature in Elegance The use of dramatic curves is a very common tool in the design of elegance, either in the form of objects or pictures, as it increases the perception of fluidity, as well as producing sensuality.
Seriality in Elegance The repetition of a single, well - designed component in a distinctive rythm, in order to achieve drama, is a common feature of elegant spaces.
Applying Glamour on Elegance Glamour is often achieved by applying a glamorous coating on pre-existing elements of an elegant form. In that way their sophisticated structure is highlighted and inherit a higher value in the viewer’s perception.
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Deriving Elegance through Mathematics
Creating Elegance from Mathematics Elegance can be derived by the fascinating world of mathematics, by the translation of equations into distinctive points in space. In this way complexity is generated but in a controlled manner.
The Moebius Strip Definition The Mรถbius strip or Mรถbius band is a surface with only one side and only one boundary component. The Mรถbius strip has the mathematical property of being non-orientable. It can be realized as a ruled surface. A model can easily be created by taking a paper strip and giving it a half-twist, and then joining the ends of the strip together to form a loop.
Equations x(u,v) = (4+v*(cos(u/2)))*cos(u) y(u,v) = (4+v*(cos(u/2)))*sin(u) z(u,v) = v*sin(u/2) 0 <= u <= 2*pi, -1<= v <= 1
Physical Construction
Mobius Strip Experiments In an attempt to create elegant forms, i experimented with paper models that explore the principles of fluidity, curvature, seriality and the use of mathematics in form-finding.
Digital creation Of Moebius Band
Script Definition
In order to be able to manipulate the moebius band in depth was to reproduce it digitally. For this reason I created a script that creates a moebius strip from a given closed curve. Moreover, it has the ability to apply any number of twists on the shape, rather than just the single one.
1 twist
2 twists
3 twists
4 twists
Moebius Sculpture 1 This object is an effort to create a “sculpture” based on the mathematical principles that I am exploring. The base is a Moebius strip-like surface which is highlighted by the addition of pipe-like items that in reality are dividing axes of the geometry. However, because of the confusing nature of the object’s curvature a sense of motion is generated.
Moebius Sculpture 2 In this digital sculpture the principles of the moebius strip are the starting point and are exploited through a series of spatial rotations. The digital sculpture is generated through a script that allows for different values on the number of twists the geometry endures. Initially, I believed that increasing the twists would increase the complexity and in that way the elegance of the object, but that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem to be the case. On the contrary, the more twisted the object becomes, the less elegant it appears.
1 twist
2 twists
3 twists
As I have done with most of my experiments, I try to use mathematics as a starting point in order to create elegance. Then, I attempt to glamourize the result through mechanisms I explored in eralier stages. This is an example that combines both the goldening and patterning excercise and works succesfully overall.
Attractors An attractor is a set towards which a dynamical system evolves over time. That is, points that get close enough to the attractor remain close even if slightly disturbed. Geometrically, an attractor can be a point, a curve, a manifold, or even a complicated set with a fractal structure known as a strange attractor. Describing the attractors of chaotic dynamical systems has been one of the achievements of chaos theory.
Curve Attractors A script is created to generate geometries based on an input curve / path and a defined grid of points. Depending on the proximity of each point of the grid to this path, the attraction is value is defined and influences the dimensions of the resulting volumes.
Boundary & Curve Attractor
2d Repreentation of the Attraction
3d Repreentation of the Attraction
Boundary & 2 Curve Attractors
2d Repreentation of the Attraction
3d Repreentation of the Attraction
Boundary & Curve Attractor
2d Repreentation of the Attraction
3d Repreentation of the Attraction
Boundary & 2 Curve Attractors
2d Repreentation of the Attraction
3d Repreentation of the Attraction
Visualising Attraction The possibilities for different geometries are infinite as are the possibilities for visualizing them. In order to highlight the essense of glossiness in Glamour, the scultural creations have a metallic quality.
Prototyping Attraction In order to acquire a better understanding of the physical qualities of the spaces created through the attraction rules, I created a rapid-prototyping model.
Glamourizing Attraction The most interesting results were gained from the 3d spline attractors that generate an endless and complicated environment, but in the same way clear and principled. The selection of materials blends well the concepts of elegance (white) and glamour (gold).
2d Division with Quad Trees QuadTree subdivision is the partitioning of space into discrete rectangles where every rectangle contains a number of points from the original pointcloud and all boxes together contain all points. Rectangles are subdivided if they contain more than N points, or if they exceed a certain area value or some other threshold. Flow Geometry Along a Curve
Point Cloud
1 Point per Cube
2 Points per Square
3 Points per Square
3d Division with OcTrees OcTree subdivision is the partitioning of space into discrete blocks where every box contains a number of points from the original pointcloud and all boxes together contain all points. Boxes are subdivided if they contain more than N points, or if they exceed a certain volume value or some other threshold. Boundary & Point Cloud
1 Point per Cube
Flow Geometry Along a Curve
2 Points per Cube
3 Points per Cube
2d Voronoi An attractor is a set towards which a dynamical system evolves over time. That is, points that get close enough to the attractor remain close even if slightly disturbed. Geometrically, an attractor can be a point, a curve, a manifold, or even a complicated set with a fractal structure known as a strange attractor. Describing the attractors of chaotic dynamical systems has been one of the achievements of chaos theory.
Boundary & Point Cloud
Voronoi Cells
Subtract Holes
3d Voronoi
Boundary & Point Cloud
Voronoi Cells
Subtract Cells
Subtract Holes
Spatial Applications
Organic systems The Voronoi subdivision of space created a great opportunity to generate complex systems of visual coherence and finite structure. Arguably it creates elegance by definition since it is designed to subdivide space in the most efficient way and efficiency is eleganceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main quality.
The attempt to glamourize an elegant structure through a glossy coating failed in this instance. I believe the superficial coating actually subtracts from the organic structure rather than enhance it. Glamour can possibly be achieved by the introduction of more layers that manipulate light and how it reacts with each cell and / or layers that are purely ornamental.
Interior Space This space is an attempt to bring all systems to work in conjuction. The basic geometry of the space is a cell generated with Voronoi subdivision, the ornaments on walls are geometries created by introducing attractor paths and the golden coated. Finally the tattooing embeded on windows to manipulate light and create drama are created by attractor paths as well. The next step would be applying this principles in site-specific projects.
Destination Moscow
Field Trip Building Russian Academy of Science The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals. Headquartered in Moscow, the Academy is incorporated as a civil, self-governed, non-commercial organization chartered by the Government of Russia. It combines members of RAS and scientists employed by institutions.
The building has a very bizzarre, fetish structure on the top. It is a highly complicated sculpture which seems to only serve as an ornament to the building. Overall, the building is partly cladded in a polished brass-like material that glamourizes it while maintining its strict Soviet form. While it is a science Îącademy it celebrates its heritage through showcasing its values rather than concealing them under a thick skin, which is the norm for buildings of such use.
Russian Glamour Golden Detailing In an otherwise deprived city, you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help but notice the overwhelming golden detailing that takes place in the most unexpected places. From a small chapel between social buildings to elegant sculptures positioned in an everyday park.
Selected Site Red Square, GUM department Store
Red Square Panoramas
GUM department Store
IL’INKA STREET
NIKOL’SKAYA STREET
VETOSHNY LANE
KEY entrance vertical circulation services
THE RED SQUARE
KEY car access GUM
indoor parking RED SQUARE
buildings outdoor parking
green space
Kazimir Malevich Kazimir Mlaevich was the inventor of a kind of art called ‘Suprematism’, from the Latin supremus (outstanding or supreme). He rejected every form of sensuality and natural representation, and endeavoured to attain ‘pure experience’ through abstract, geometric patterns alone. His famous Black Square was the ultimate product of this ambition, the definitive abstraction, the end and the new beginning of painting. He has also created a series of scultural/ architectural creations, called “Malevich Architectons”, that demonstrate Malevich geometries in 3D space and are part of constructivism early years.
Gum Intervention
Malevich on gum 2d Relationship experiments In this excercise the aim was to identify between a series of Malevichâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s paintings, the single one that could create the most interesting volumetric relationships with the GUM building. Whereas a variety could be succesful, I decided to select the one that followed the 2-axis of the GUM building while also introducing a 3rd one diagonal to it while mainting a balanced volume in comparison with GUM, avoiding a complete dominance over it.
Selected Painting
3D Interpretation of Malevichâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Painting
Decontsructing a Malevich
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Exploring Circulation Options
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BRIEF SUMMARY
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Glamour
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Mathematics
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Malevich
GUM