Architecture in the work of visionary architect and artist

1.2 ARCHITECTURE IS VIRTUAL

Architecture in the work of visionary architect and artist

The definition of architecture has evolved throughout time, from real structures to hand-drawn views, to

imaginary and utopian spaces, to digital imagery and virtual reality. Otto Ettlinger (2007), a virtual

architect, and media theorist, argues that architecture space is a result of visual mediums that have

evolved from painting to literature, film, and, in recent decades, virtual reality and video games.

Architects cannot construct a physical structure without the virtual filter, which is a communication tool

that portrays structures through plans, sections, facades, perspectives, renderings, animations, VR, and so

on.

During the Renaissance, the invention of the linear perspective altered the way buildings was portrayed.

For the first time in history, during the Renaissance, this type of depiction placed the person at the center

of his visual experience. Individuals can view in three dimensions via a window, on a canvas or rectangular

screen, which is like virtual reality in many ways (fig.5). Brunelleschi’s approach demonstrated the link

between space, the spectator, and the space of representation. According to Lev Manovich's digital media

theorist, we live already in the screen era. As technology advances, the screen will become part of our

bodies, similarly as machines are now attached to us.

Figure 5 Linear perspective by Brunelleschi

During the XVIII century, architects and artists searched for means to represent utopias, dystopias,

fantasies, visions, possibilities. Piranesi created several drawings of rebuilt and reconstructed Rome

vistas via monumental ancient structures, like "Campo Marzio," which depicts an idealized accumulation

of architectures, rich of details integrated innovatively ( fig.6.a). Furthermore, he created the well-known

imaginative exploration "Invenzioni capric de carceri," a theatrical fantastic portrayal of prisons

atmosphere ( fig.6,c) .

In Rome, Pannini, one of Piranesi's mentors, created a new type of cityscape or "veduta" called

"capriccio" or architectural fantasy, based on a haphazard arrangement of buildings and sculptures on

the canvas (fig.6.b). Murray, 1971. While Pannini is more concerned with a realistic portrayal of fictional

ruins emphasizing the scenic and atmospheric nature, Piranesi is more interested in the impact provided

by the contrast of light and shadow, deeper lines, and so on. That creates a sense of movement in

Piranesi's works. In Piranesi's drawings, this creates a sensation of immersion.

Figure 6, a) Piranesi Campo Marzion, b) Pannini “ Caprici”, c) Carceri d’invenzione, Plate X: Prisoners on a Projecting Platform.

Piranesi. 1750

Other visionary architects and artists whose works can now be considered virtual architectures include

Claude Nicholas Ledoux, Etienne-Louis Boullée,Bruno Taut with their Utopian projects, Escher with his

impossible world drawings and El Lissitzsky, with his series of paintings "Proun" (fig.8.b) which are

considered as 'imaginary space" constructs, among others. Virtual architecture has its deep and

profound precedents in these histories of visualization and visionary works. Étienne-Louis Boullée was the first to challenge Vitruvian notions of architecture as merely the art of

construction. Boullée, on the other hand, argued that:

“ …in order to execute, it is first necessary to conceive. Our earliest ancestors built their huts only

when they had a picture of them in their minds. It is this product of the mind, this process of

creation that constitutes architecture … ” (Boullée, E.L, 1976, p.83)

In fact, Boullée is almost entirely known for the futuristic and utopian unbuilt projects he made in the

last two decades of his life such as “the grand project” for the rebuilding of Versailles, a cenotaph

dedicated to Isaac Newton, a theatre , a church, etc.. (Fig.7) All these monumental and utopian

structures were never built but Boullée's various sketches and models brought them to life. The interior

of the church shown a section drawing presents something like three-thousand columns. Boullée's

fantasies offer an extraordinary and yet terrible atmosphere that comes from their scale, stylistic

severity, setting, and function. Boullée's drawing create an idea of a desertic world of structures that

want to keep their occupant(s) out at the point that it is difficult to even imagine that this

world has occupants. Boullée saw architecture as a fantastical setting that, via its formal features and

interactions with light, aroused the intellect. The functionalities of his structures become secondary, if

not non-existent, compared to aesthetic effect.

Figure 7 a) An elevation of I. Newton cenotaph

b) An interior view of a church for the "cult of the supreme being"

Imaginary or virtual space can embody characteristics of the physical space or negate them since they

are not real constructions. According to Otto Ettlinger, “the characteristics of places in virtual space are based on the characteristics of physical space, which serves as their initial point of reference.” (Ettlinger,

2007). The drawing Relativity by M.C. Escher rejects the rules and in particular the gravity of the physical

world, while being close enough to the principles of the physical world to resemble physical realities in

certain ways. The similarity can be in terms of functions, forms, representation, events taking place, etc.

Figure 8 a)Escher’s drawings; b) El Lissinsky Proun

In modern times, American Architect, Lebbeus Woods (1992) present compelling images of radical and

visionary architecture on paper on the examples of Steven Holl and Le Corbusier that invented totally

new types of buildings and urban conditions. In “Berlin Free Zone” Project (fig.9), Woods proposed a

completely new type of space, opposite to the “universal space” of Mies van de Rohe. It represents the

extremely regular buildings of Berlin, intersected with a free, organic, jagged forms and voids called

“Free Spaces” , which are free, of any predetermined meaning or purpose. These spaces are not suitable

to be inhabit because of their complex form and the difficulty to fit with the restriction of livable space.

In fact, space was not meant to have a predefined function.

This new landscape is joined by instrumentation of speed of light communications, in changing

interactions with inhabitants. It is called free zone because it provides free access to communication and

dialogue and to new types of activities, out of political or institutional control. This relationship becomes

cybernetic. Spaces are useless and meaningless in physical terms, but they offer devises for interactions

and dialogue facilitation through new digital tools that extend the senses and capacities of people

communication. Moreover, they have a symbolic value. It is an architectural gesture, almost an act of

rebellion to reunited Berlin, and to restore the symbolic centre of the modern German culture. This

space represents the idea of intersection of the ordinary forms of space with the new form, and

represent a manifesto of where architecture could go in the future with the use of digital tools.

Figure 9 Paper Architect - Berlin Free zone, Lebbeus Woods