Architecture as a theatre Analysis of the relation between architecture and the idea of a ‘stage’ The theatre has always been connected to architecture, not only in a sense of construction, but also through the idea of performance. Most particularly, the concept of a ‘stage’, which physical definition according to the dictionary is: “a raised area, usually in a theatre, etc. where actors, dancers, etc. perform” 1. This could be understood both literally and metaphorically. The scenic design, deals with similar issues to those of the built environment- the use of acoustics, lighting, geometry and most importantly relation of human to the created space. On the other hand, both are spaces of performance. Even though scene is a visual, experiential and spatial composition, it shouldn’t really be seen as an act itself. Similarly, a building being a piece of urban equipment, shapes the physical and social space, yet should be able to perform an objective of background, medium or a narrative for performance too. As Bernard Tschumi once stated: “there is no space without [an] event, no architecture without [a] program” 2. In the concept of the ‘stage’, the element of movement and one’s relation to space is not only leading the performance but also is a defining characteristic of a building’s program. Shortly, it becomes a link between performing arts and the contemporary understanding of architecture. Background The roots of the western theatre tradition span back to the Ancient Greece, more specifically, the city celebration of Dionysia. The urban festivities, held during Spring in honour of the god of grape harvest, consisted of representative parade and ceremonies at the Theatre of Dionisius. The performances included political speeches, religious rituals and plays of tragedy and comedy. Participation in those was a great deal of citizenship and a way to feel as a part of the community. With the growing audience, design for a structure to accommodate those had to carefully thought through. The initial theatres were held on a slope of a mountain with a prearranged performance area, which over the years evolved to the buildings as we know it now. Those early constructions were built on hills in order for the auditorium to be slightly raised up. This arrangement improved visibility, audience reception and sound propagation. Furthermore, placing the stage in centrum and auditorium encompassing it, it defines the importance of those spaces and the main purpose of the theatre- celebration. The site placement wasn’t accidental itself, the landscape behind the stage was used as a background for the performed play. Even though it wasn’t in the spotlight, as the various tools guided the eye towards the stage, it had the ability to set the context or mood and support the overall artistic appearance. [Fig.1] The above demonstrates how the ‘stage’ is a physical place of performance, central space of celebration and how environment as well as the use of space, light and sound can steer the user’s experience. Creating the set, it is vital to understand its perceptual nature, which fundamental spine is invisible and sometimes abstract. "Scenography is not simply concerned with creating and presenting images to an audience; it is concerned with audience reception and engagement. It is a sensory as well as an intellectual experience, emotional as well as rational."3
1
Hornby, A. (2010). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. Oxford University Press, p.1500 Tschumi, B. (1996). Architecture and Disjunction; MIT Press, p.139 3 McKinney, J. (2009). The Cambridge Introduction to Scenography; Cambridge University Press, p. 4 2
Spatial experimentation The later architects’ interest in the idea of ‘stage’ can be found in the works of the iconic school ‘Bauhaus’ in the 1920s. The institution was founded in the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk, ‘total work of art’, in which all the arts including architecture would be eventually brought together. Its interdisciplinary approach influenced the architecture not only by contributing to the leading in twentieth century movement of modernism but also through its spatial experimentation on human movement: “involved not only the design and execution of architecture in the narrow physical sense [but rather] delineated a fundamentalist- and universalist-oriented design activity, which referred to the spatial ‘organization of life processes’ just as much as to the elemental creation of spatial effects through forms, colors, light, and movements”4 The stage was brought to Bauhaus in 1921, with Lothar Schreyer as a head of the department. Nevertheless, it didn’t get much attention until Oskar Schlemmer took his place in 1923. He was invited to Weimar to run the sculpture and painting classes. Having previous experience with theatre, he transformed the stage workshop to become the experimental laboratory combining architecture and performing arts. Schlemmer thought of stage as a space of art and movement. His experimentation in geometry and spatial relativity can be found in his paintings and stage plays. The re-interpretation of the human figure and its movement transformed it into ‘moving architecture’. According to Schlemmer: “(the appearance of human figure becomes) a part of the stage, it also becomes a “space-bewitched” creature, so to speak. Automatically and predictably, each gesture or motion is translated in meaningful terms into a unique sphere of activity.”5 Theatrical experiment soon became an organic component of Bauhaus’ activity and an essential binding agent for social life. Growing interest in the stage workshop lead to construction of a stage in the new school facility in Dessau in 1926. Nonetheless, students never ceased to look for new platforms of creative fulfilment. The iconic pictures of Bauhaus stage were all taken outdoors- actors performed their acts with real buildings as their scene. It took the understanding of human figure and movement relation to space to a completely new level. [Fig.2] In addition, the man endorsing the theatre workshop, Walter Gropius- founder and the head of school, was interested in the notion of theatre himself. Inspired by Schlemmer’s ideas of ‘man in space’ and Moholy-Nagy’s theories about the use of mechanical devices and interpretation of space by means of actors and scenery 6. His most prominent project in the field is the ‘Total Theatre’ [Fig.3]. It consisted of variable theatre spaces, which could be modified depending on the needs of the production. Even though it was never built, his influence on contemporary theatre structures is evident (e.g. Loeb Drama Centre at Harvard, 1960; NYC Lincoln Centre for Performing Arts, 1962). The ‘stage’ practised at Bauhaus is both physical and abstract. It uses architecture to perform as a background in the production, showing the importance of the human figure and the movement through space in the overall of a building. Narrative Architecture, as stated before, is an urban equipment that shapes the environment and, in some cases, acts as a narrative or a medium of performance- either conveying a story, making a statement or stimulating for the response. Those can be perceived as a metaphorical stage as a place and means of performance itself.
4
Blume, T. (2008). The Historic Bauhaus Stage: A Theatre of Space; Jovis, p. 57 Schlemmer, Moholy-Nagy, Molnar (1961). The theatre of the Bauhaus; Wesleyan University Press, p.92 6 http://espaciosescenicos.org/; The theatre projects of Walter Gropius; Wendell, Cole 5
One of the defining moments of the Modern Movement in the European Architecture was the exhibition “Die Wohnung” in Weißenhofsiedlung, Stuttgart [Fig.4]; initiated by the Deutscher Werkbund- German Association of Craftsmen, whose focus at the time was on linking Arts & Crafts and Mass-Production. As the proposal of exhibition and planned construction works reached the Stuttgart city council, it was declined. Yet, after further consideration city council approved it. Council, going along with modern design intended to make a statement. Breaking with traditional German Architecture it was sort of cleansing from a cultural identity through the new international movement with distorted rows of houses and cubic structures, it was expressing the forward-looking new sense of style. The Weißenhofsiedlung is a ‘stage’ for a new movement to express itself and to make a statement. The exhibition conveying the narrative of a break-through, soon became the icon. The estate designed by the bunch of revolutionary architects of the time became a tourist attraction and started being used as a set for advertisements. The manifesto became the background, as did the Weißenhofsiedlung, when the spotlight turned from the idea about better human living to the echo of popular-culture. “the production of today’s architectural space and its growing approximation to the spaces and buildings of representation, increasingly iconographic and therefore increasingly theatrical” 7 Celebration In fact, exhibitions as the one above, are a celebration of architecture. As the whole idea of theatre, derives from the festivity, so does the concept of ‘stage’. Again, according to Tschumi: “Spaces are qualified by actions just as actions are qualified by spaces”8 This special movement through space shaped by amusement or curiosity, caused by the admiration of either physical or abstract performance. Yet some of the architecture, has the literal potential of storytelling and shaping the new realm. The currently most recognisable franchise of entertainment parks- Disneyland, might be a good example of it. Opened in 1955, the artificial site-specific structure of Disneyland established the postmodern ground for entertainment architecture and became its landmark [Fig.5]. Park designed by the well-known architects- Philip Johnson, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and Robert A.M. Stern among others; is best known for its ‘Disneyland Experience”. It’s a rare combination of high design engaging the viewer- intriguing, provoking and most importantly telling a story. The childhood memories, attached deeply in the collective consciousness enable the adult visitors the adventure to the imaginary worlds. The well-known motifs previously explored through animation, sound, colour came to life through new medium of architecture. The brief for the original Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California challenged the architects to tell a story through their building, either literal or metaphorical: “At Disney, architects may strive for historic authenticity and recreate historic buildings; take a whimsical approach and exaggerate storybook images; create subtle, abstract images; or do all these things.”9 The fully realized structures evoked subconscious response, the set became the integral part of a told story. One of others Disney’s trademark attempts at staged architecture was through planned community of Celebration, Florida, which failed its purpose. The artificially created environment is supposed to bring the notion of
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Lacerda Lopes, N. (2011). From Architecture to Stage Design; Transnética, p. 19-20 Pearson, M. (2010). Site Specific Performance; Macmillan International, p.38 9 Marling, K. (1997). Designing Disney’s theme parks: the architecture of reassurance; Flammarion, p.37 8
the American Dream of the 50s. Unfortunately, pastel-coloured buildings and plastic-like constructions, followed by never-ending sets of quirky rules seem more creepy than pleasing. The ‘stage’ bringing the visitor to its new dimension, completely breaks the division between the performer and the audience. As in the Ancient Greek Theatre, it uses the surroundings to set a background for the performance, either physical or abstract. The staged environment can evoke positive or negative emotions, which impacts the human mood and perception. Conclusion Theatre and architecture have much in common and its not only the construction process. As it’s been taught in every architecture school- The process of designing a building is actually never-ending. Even when the construction works are finished, the structure must perform on a daily-basis as a ‘theatre of life’. The building can be understood as the background, the scene or the performance itself. In both fields practitioners are studying the importance of human movement and its relation to the created space, the possibility of breaking the barrier between the performer and public and ways of conveying the narrative through artistic forms, uses of light or acoustics. The environment has a colossal effect on how the audience consumes the performance. In a word, to quote Michael Eisner, the former Walt Disney Co. CEO: “Buildings, architecture, are something that stay with you in a way nothing else does, it's subliminal. You don't even know about architecture. Yet you get angry or you feel good and you don’t understand why you feel good.” 10
Dominika Rakoczy BA Architecture References Blume, T. (2008). The Historic Bauhaus Stage: A Theatre of Space; Jovis Dearstyne, H. (1986). Inside the Bauhaus; The Architectural Press, London Dunlop, B. (1996). Building a Dream- the art of Disney Architecture; Abrams Press Ferrari, R. (2011). Architecture and/in Theatre from the Bauhaus to Hong Kong: Mathias Woo’s Looking for Mies; Cambridge University Press Lacerda Lopes, N. (2011). From Architecture to Stage Design; Transnética Lamster, M. (2000). Architecture and Film; Princeton Architectural Press McKinney, J. (2009). The Cambridge Introduction to Scenography; Cambridge University Press Schlemmer, Moholy-Nagy, Molnar (1961). The theatre of the Bauhaus; Wesleyan University Press Tschumi, B. (1996). Architecture and Disjunction; MIT Press http://espaciosescenicos.org/; The theatre projects of Walter Gropius; Wendell, Cole [Available at http://espaciosescenicos.org/filter/arch/The-theatre-projects-of-Walter-Gropius-Wendell-Cole ] https://www.thoughtco.com/; Celebration, Florida - Disney's Plan for an Ideal Community; Craven, Jackie [Available at https://www.thoughtco.com/celebration-florida-disneys-ideal-community-178231 ] Http://workflow.arts.ac.uk/; The importance of the promenade in architecture: our perception of reality beyond the frame; Hessian, Scarlett [Available at http://workflow.arts.ac.uk/artefact/file/download.php?file=103005&view=16774 ] 10
Michael Eisner, quoted in Building a Dream- the art of Disney Architecture, 1996, p.12
Fig. 1- Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, Cynortion Mountain
Fig. 2- Bauhaus Stage, 1920s
Fig. 3- Total theatre by Walter Gropius, 1926
Fig. 4- WeiĂ&#x;enhofsiedlung, Postcard, 1927
Fig. 5- Opening of the Disneyland Park, Anaheim CA, 1955