Fragment 01 Memory Fragment by Studio Twenty Seven Architecture

memory fragment

01 01

Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollections, longer than knowing even wonders.

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William Faulkner, Light in August, (1932), pg. 104

m e mory f ra gm ent Todd Ray, AIA, Principal Studio Twenty Seven Architecture

Architecture must fully engage the preconscious, conscious, and subconscious. Architecture must seek to frame experience by engaging one’s sense memory through spatial and material fragments in order to connect space with the layers of consciousness.

Urban Figure Grounds 1999 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2012 Washington, DC

f ra gm en t | fie ld The first act in the visual study of an object is to extract it from its context. In its abstraction, the object rises to the foreground and loses its full contextual meaning. This initial separation is necessary for the intellectual study of its individual qualities, as its qualities within a field are reestablished during the creative act of reassembly. This is a method for seeing the difference between a tree (figure) and the forest (field); an object positioned against a field can be identified and critiqued as it relates to a surface or background fabric. The reverse can also occur. This distinction permits each object to first attain unique meanings and then to be subtly changed in order to experiment with new conditions. Each may be changed; each may be dissected. The dissection of the object leads to the discussion of fragments: the legible object may fissure to allow the existence of a fragment; a fragment | field relationship is established. The legibility of the object occurs when it can be fully distinguished from the background. This is figure | ground or figure | field identification: analysis of an object or figure set against the space, surface or ground within or upon which it resides. The essence of this method is to visualize patterns and identify differences â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the uniqueness within the fabric; the variations in spatial conditions.1

Col i n Rowe a nd Fred Koet ter out l i ne a t wo-d i mensiona l met hod of ana lyzi ng objects i n t hree d i mensiona l spaces, as a means to d i f f e r e nt i a t e t h e t w o . C o l i n R o w e a n d F r e d K o e t t e r, C o l l a g e C i t y ( C a m b r i d g e , M a . : M I T P r e s s , 19 78 )

HUIZ-JCMZ 2002 Chevy Chase, MD

fra gment | le g ibility Objects may be concealed or overlaid by another object or plane. Transparency — both literal and phenomenal — results from the disappearance and fragmentary reappearance of an object behind another. Discussing architecture in terms of literal and phenomenal transparency elicits the identification of elements which are consistent — that might have interpenetrations through a facade or other two dimensional projections. Consistency occurs when fragments of the same element connect visually as they disappear and reappear behind another element. This spatial phenomenon is what leads to the abstraction that allows the perception of depth and layering. Can analysis occur readily within a three-dimensional context without the two-dimensional intellectualization? How few fragments lead to the interpretation of consistency? What meaning do these fragments have? How much space may occur between them? Does this space have meaning? This array of questions frames an explorative process for an inquiry into the essence of three-dimensional space from the imagined world of abstraction. In many ways, this is architecture.

fa ca d e fo ld li n e

HUIZ-JCMZ 2002 Chevy Chase, MD

fa ca d e fo ld li n e

A fragment is legible if it can be understood as a comprehensible portion of some greater object. The fragment carries an apportioned meaning from the original object. Fragments can also be legible relative to the balance of an absent volume. Within this condition the fragment is multi-referential; it has gesture reference. The comprehension of a volume, which is distinct in its three dimensional form, is of identifiable material. Phenomenal transparencies occur not only in the visual reading of a faĂ§ade or plan, but also in the experiential journey through a building. Patina steel columns rise vertically behind a taunt shear glazing system three strides behind before passing through the ebonized wood-grained pivoting wall. Penetrating through the plane of glass, steel, and wood is a short, almost insignificant knee wall that provides respite for the weary walker. The wall appears as a small trapezoid on the figure ground of the facade and as a broken zigzag through the figure ground of the plan; the wall is a fragment. Upon completing the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s circuit, the walker has engaged fragments of this wall for rest, lunch, diaper changing, and a reflective pause. The wallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dimension and material reminds her or him of warmth, comfort; repose. Why?

HUIZ-JCMZ 2002 Chevy Chase, MD

s p a ce | tim e | e ve nt

T h e M a n h a t t a n Tr a n s c r i p t s . B e r n a r d Ts c hu m i , 19 81

f ra gm en t | me an in g Our minds identify element consistency through associative memory. The memory of passage collects the fragments and threads their reappearances into meaning. Much like Ariadne finding her way through the labyrinth, this thread of meaning interprets spatial intent and guides experience. Thus the architect imbues each fragment with referential, sequential, and mnemonic associations the participant can use to understand their place. Though architecture is thought of as material — concrete — it can also be understood as sequential events or cinematic frames of situation. The challenge is to construct a phenomenological essence of space to contend with the political, social and cultural ramifications of our time. At left, Bernard Tschumi illustrates how a fragment, full of meaning, may redefine the interpretation and ultimately the meaning of the space. Tschumi equates the question of fragment legibility to written language: “The text instead is composed of fragments that relate only loosely to one another. These fragments … are all to be considered not only within the reality of ‘ideas’ but also within the reality of the reader’s spatial experience: a silent reality that cannot be put on paper.”2 Meaning is thus conveyed through the composition of fragments. 2.

B e r n a r d Ts c hu m i , “ T h e P l e a s u r e o f A r c h i t e c t u r e ” i n A r c h i t e c t u r e a n d D i s j u n c t i o n ( C a m b r i d g e , M A : M I T P r e s s , 19 9 6 ) p g. 8 3

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Fragments of architecture (bits of walls, of rooms, of streets, of ideas) are all one actually sees. These fragments are like beginnings with ends. There is always a split between fragment which are real and fragments which are virtual, between experience and concept, memory and fantasy. These splits have no existence other than being the passage from one fragment to

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another. They are relays rather than signs. They are traces. They are ‘in-between’. Bernard Tschumi, Questions of Space: Lectures on Architecture, (1990) pg. 58

Though the first step in identifying an object is to remove it from its context, it is contextualization that defines how an object — or fragment — is to be interpreted. A fragment in isolation is but a word. A fragment within a context becomes a full thought. These thoughts when strung together, create a full perception of meaning. Much like a word is within a sentence, or a frame defines the view of a picture, the spatial context of a fragment determines how the mind creates meaning and references. The meaning of a fragment can, therefore, be modified by its context.

Unit Derwin 2003 Washington, D.C.

Design Army Headquarters 2007 Washington, D.C.

fra gment | me mo r y

He laughed back, into the lamp; he turned his head and his laughing, running on up the stairs, vanishing as he ran, vanishing upward from the head down as if were running headfirst and laughing into something that was obliterating him like a picture in chalk being erased from a blackboard.

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The legibility of architectural fragments is akin to reading. Fragments are distributed through a space as text is on a page. As text is read, thoughts emerge and engage memory and emotion. A writer employs text to set mood, narrate plot and foreshadow future experience.

William Faulkner, Light in August, (1932) pg. 81

As with words in text, fragments in architecture alter experience by engaging memory. In the above quote, the subject is fragmented by an imagined – remembered – visual disruption. The act of recollection may be perceived as subtle or as distinct and fully evident. An architectural fragment that references previous or current experiences allows for a new lived interpretation.

Design Army Headquarters 2007 Washington, D.C.

Nu d e D e s c e n d i n g a S t a i r c a s e , N o . 2 , M a r c e l D u c h a m p , 1912

Design Army Headquarters 2007 Washington, D.C.

Wo m a n Wa l k i n g D ow n s t a i r s , E a d w e a r d J . M u y b r i d g e , 18 87

Design Army Headquarters 2005 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2007 Washington, D.C.

fra gment | allu sio n Fragments are vehicles of allusion. They are referential, referential to the object they are perceived to be a part of, referential to the conditions from which they have sprung. It is the multiplicity of meanings which gives an architectural space richness; the texture of memory. The Roman orator Cicero used a sequence of imagined fragment | field conditions to remember, in great detail, elaborate and lengthy works of oration. He imagined a series of rooms within a palace and mentally placed pieces of his oration within each. In the course of the speech, Cicero re-experienced this path moving sequentially through the imagined palace mentally collecting fragments in order to assemble the meaning of the whole.3 Considered in reverse, a sequence of architectural fragments assembles for the viewer an elaborate and meaningful spatial experience. 3.

N o w c a l l e d t h e m e t h o d o f l o c i ; l o c i i s L a t i n fo r p l a c e s o r l o c a t i o n s . C i c e r o , D e O r a t o r e , 5 5 B .C .

Zimmerman Residence 2006 Washington, D.C.

Once hidden and enclosed in a great rock, I came down, against my will, from a great ravine in the high mountains to this lower place, to be revealed within this little stone…

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Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), The Poetry of Michelangelo, translated by James M. Saslow, (1991) pg. 464

Awakening Slave, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, 1520-1523

fra gment | ambig u ity “Architectural space is born from the relationships between objects or boundaries and from planes which do not themselves have the character of the object, but which define limits. These limits may be more or less explicit, constitute continuous surfaces forming an uninterrupted boundary, or, on the contrary, constitute only a few cues between which the observer establishes relationships, enabling him to interpret an implicit limit.” . . . “By ‘eroding’ these planes to leave no more than the essential cues (angles and corners) or by reducing these curves even further to just edges or boundaries, we continue to distinguish an ‘inside’ and an ‘outside.’” . . . “As human beings we do not consciously need to register in a linear fashion all the fragments present in order to obtain an overall idea of the space which we are visiting or in which we are living.”4 Pierre von Meiss challenges the designer to contend with degrees of explicit delineation and inversely, the degrees of implicit space. Space may be modulated by varied delineations created by objects or fragments. Fragments define the edges or boundaries limiting spatial perception. 4.

P i e r r e Vo n M e i s s , E l e m e n t s o f A r c h i t e c t u r e : F r o m F o r m t o P l a c e ( L o n d o n : E . & F. N . S p o n , 19 9 8 ) p g. 101

Corl Residence 2010 Washington, D.C.

What amount of an architectural fragment implies a full form? How much of an architectural fragment may be removed until it is no longer identifiable?’ “If having fixed the original form in our mind’s eye, we ask ourselves how that form comes alive and fills with life, we discover a new and dynamic and vital category, a new property of the universe: reverberation.”5 At the moment of ambiguity, the fragment is found and its multiple meanings are most salient. Reverberation is found within the moment of memory ambiguity. Often, discussions exploring the identifiablility of a fragment involve terms like sliver, shard, chunk, part, piece; terms that begin to verbally articulate a gradation of fragmentation. This represents a process by which the moment of ambiguity is investigated. Intention is being set. This apportionment of an object is the seeking of memory intensity and essence definition. Even within fragment ambiguity a legible reference must be achieved. It may simply be an allusion to an essence but intent remains. 5.

E u g e n e M i n k o w s k i , Ve r s u n e C o s m o l o g i e , F r a g m e nt s p h i l o s o p h i q u e s ( P a r i s : A u b i e r- M o nt a i g n e , 19 3 6 )

Salvaggio Residence 2005 Washington, D.C.

fra gment | arch ite ctu re Architecture is an assembly created from fragments of form, memory, and conditions each gathered from the physical and metaphysical realms of our existence. “Thus a piece of architecture is not ‘architectural’ because … it fulfils some utilitarian function, but because it sets in motion the operations of … the unconscious.”6 Fragments grasp the subconscious, enriching the mental engagement of the subject to the constructed world. The arrangement of fragments to achieve the reverberation of memory ambiguity is not limited to the manipulation of form. The process may apply to phenomenal conditions related to a multiplicity of fragment aspects; in lieu of form, it may be a textural reference or a more haptic condition of memory. The light reflection off the glass harkens to water within the Venetian canal when romance warmed the souls of the two lovers. “The architecture of pleasure lies where concept and experience of space abruptly coincide, where architectural fragments collide and merge in delight…”7 Some memory constructs the architect anticipates; others the architect may only leave to chance and serendipity. 6 . B e r n a r d Ts c hu m i , “ T h e P l e a s u r e o f A r c h i t e c t u r e ” i n A r c h i t e c t u r e a n d D i s j u n c t i o n ( C a m b r i d g e , M A : M I T P r e s s , 19 9 6 ) p g. 9 6 7. i b i d . 9 2

Salvaggio Residence 2005 Washington, D.C.

Architecture is a collection of object fragments, all of which carry imbedded references and mnemonic relationships. Architects can use these fragments to choreograph experience through a space. The fragment must be distinctive from its surroundings. Once legible, the meaning of the fragment draws upon the memory evoking references. The sequence of the fragment collage reveals an experiential architecture that connects space and consciousness.

Salvaggio Residence 2005 Washington, D.C.

L ist of Images : C over i m ag e :

S i t e P l a n, Aca d emy for Ed u cationa l D evelop m e nt Globe T he at e r Re novat ion

I m a g e c red i t :

S t udi o Twenty Seven Architectu re 2009

P h o t o c redi t :

A ll ph o t og ra p hs a re by Anice Hoa chla nd er, H oachlande r Davis P hot og raphy

un le s s n oted otherwis e.

ii- i i i :

D e t a i l s h ow i n g t h e Pa ntheon a nd v icinity, G ia mb iattis ta Nolli, Pia n ta Gra n d e d i Roma (1 7 4 8 )

Vi ci n i t y pla n s fo r va riou s Stu d io Twenty Architectu re p roje c t s , from right t o le ft : (t o p) 1 9 7 2 F l o ri da Avenu e NW, T heater Renovation; 4801 Be nning Road SE, Ne w P re K - 8 S ch o o l ; 1 7 08 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Historic Building Renovation; 50 M a s s a ch us e t t s Ave nu e NE, Bu s Ter mina l. ( c e n t e r ) 1 5 1 2 B l a d ensburg Road NE, New Multi-Family Residences; 2620 Doug lass Road S E , P re K - 1 2 S ch o ol Renovation; 1444 Irving Street NW, New Sing le Room Occupancy; 1 8 4 1 C a l i fo r n i a S t eet NW, Residential Renovation. ( b o t t o m ) 4 2 5 C S t reet NE, Librar y Renovation; 1504 4t h Street NE, Residential Re n ovat i o n ; 8 0 0 Benning Roa d SE, C linic; 800 F lorid a Ave nue NE, Dor m it or y Re n ovat i o n s i m a g e s cre di t : S t ud io Twenty Seven Architectu re

4-5 :

HUI Z - J C M Z Re s i d ence, Stu d io Twenty Seven Architecture ; im age c re dit : M axwe ll M a c k e n z i e, 2 0 0 6

6-7 :

HUI Z - J C M Z Re s i d ence, Elevations ; ima g e cred it: Stu d i o Twe nt y Seve n A rchit e c t ure, 2006

HUI Z - J C M Z Re s i d ence, Shing le D eta il; ima g e cred it: Maxwe ll M ac ke nz ie, 2006

HUI Z - J C M Z Re s i d ence, Liv ing Room; ima g e cred it: Maxwe ll M ac ke nz ie, 2006

10 :

T h e M a n h at t e n Tr ans crip ts, Ber na rd Ts chu mi, 1981

13 :

D e rwi n Re s i de n ce, Detail at Beam and Clerestor y, 2003

14 :

D e rwi n Re s i de n ce, O rientation D ia g ra ms ; ima g e cred it: S t udio Twe nt y Seve n Arch i t e ct ure, 2 0 0 3

15 :

D e rwi n Re s i de n ce, Exp lod ed Is ometric ; ima g e cred it: Studio Twenty Seven Architecture, 2003

16 -1 7 :

D e rwi n Re s i de n ce, Stu d io Twenty Seven Architectu re, 2003

18 :

D e s i g n Ar my He a dq u a rter s, Sk y lite Sta ir, Stu d io Twent y Seve n A rchit e c t ure, 2005

20 :

D e s i g n Ar my He a dq u a rter s, Interior, Stu d io Twenty Seve n A rchit e c t ure, 2005

21 :

N u d e D e s c e n d i n g a Staircase, No. 2, Marcel Duchamp, 1912

22 :

D e s i g n A r my, Tra ns lu cent Ra ils, Stu d io Twenty Seven Archit e c t ure, 2005

23 :

Wo ma n Wa lk i n g D owns ta ir s, Ea d wea rd J. Mu y b rid g e, 1887

24 :

D e s i g n A r my, L i br ar y D eta il, Stu d io Twenty Seven Archit e c t ure, 2005

26 -2 7 :

Z i m me r ma n Re s i dence, Interior a nd Book s helf a nd Sta i r De t ail, S t udio Twe nt y Seve n A rch i t e ct ure, 2 0 0 6

28 -2 9 :

Z i m me r ma n Re s i dence, G la s s Sta irwa ll, Stu d io Twenty Seve n A rchit e c t ure, 2006

30 :

Aw a k e n i n g S l ave, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonar roti Simoni, 1520-1523; A ca de mi a de l B e lle Arti Firenze

32 :

C o rl Re s i de n ce, E xp lod ed Is ometric, Studio Twenty Seven Architecture, 2009

33 :

C o rl Re s i de n ce, S t airwell , Stu d io Twenty Seven Archite c t ure 2009

3 4 -3 5 :

C o rl Re s i de n c e, C los et a nd Bath, Stu d io Twenty Seve n A rchit e c t ure 2009

36:

S a lva g g i o Re s id ence, Exp lod ed Is ometric, Stu d io Twe nt y S eve n A rchit e c t ure, 2006

3 8 -3 9 :

S a lva g g i o Re s id ence Sta ir s a nd Interior s, Stu d io Twe nt y S eve n A rchit e c t ure 2006

40:

S a lva g g i o Re s id ence, Bathroom D eta il, Stu d io Twent y S eve n A rchit e c t ure 2006

4 2 -4 3 :

S a lva g g i o Re s id ence Bed room, Stu d io Twenty Seven A rchit e c t ure 2006

Proje ct Teams : HUIZ-JCMZ: Contractor:

G l ass Construction Inc

E n g i n e e r s :

E h l ert/Br yan, Inc. (Structural)

M e trop olita n Eng ineering (MEP)

Unit Derwin: Co n t r a ct o r :

To b in C ons tru ction

Desi g n Ar my He a dqua rter s : Co n t r a ct o r :

America n Prop erty C ons tru ction

Engineers:

E h l ert/ Br ya n, Inc. (Stru ctu ra l)

Ba ns a l & As s ociates (MEP)

Zi m m e r ma n Re s i de n c e : Co n t r a ct o r :

A. C . C ontra cting

E n gi n e e r s :

E h l ert/ Br ya n, Inc. (Stru ctu ra l)

Co rl Re s i de n ce : Co n t r a c t o r :

P h e lp s & Phelp s C ons u lting

Engineers:

E h l ert/ Br ya n, Inc. (Stru ctu ra l)

S a l vag g i o Re s i de n ce : Co n t r a c t o r :

Hi C ons tru ction, Inc.

Engineers:

E h l ert/ Br ya n, Inc. (Stru ctu ra l)

STUDIOTWENTYSEVENARCHITECTURE is: John K. Burke, AIA Todd Ray, AIA Deborah Buelow Craig Cook Raymond Curtis Andrew Davis Enrique de Solo Ben Hoelscher Hans Kuhn Claire Lester Niki Livingston Jacob Marzolf Natalie Mutchler Soledad Pellegrini Jason Shih James Spearman Ana Zannoni Senan Choe Katie Floersheimer Bethan Llewellyn Joe Michaels Lukas Thorn

Studio Twenty Seven Architecture is a collaborative design and research practice based in Washington DC. For more information and to stay up to date with Studio Twenty Seven, please visit our website at www.studio27arch.com Point of Contact: Todd Ray P: 202-939-0027 E: tray@studio27arch.com

First published 2013 by STUDIOTWENTYSEVENARCHITECTURE www.studio27arch.com COPYRIGHT: ÂŠ 2013 STUDIOTWENTYSEVENARCHITECTURE. All rights reserved. 1600 K Street NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20006 All material is compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but published without responsibility for errors or omissions. We have attempted to contact all available copyright holders, but this has not been possible in all circumstances. We apologize for any omissions and, if noted, will amend in future additions. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying or microfilming, recording or otherwise, without permission from STUDIOTWENTYSEVENARCHITECTURE.

Fragment is an episodic publication of Studio Twenty Seven Architecture. Each issue is dedicated to a singular idea, project, or element associated with the Art of Architecture, published to foster future dialogues on architecture. Studio Twenty Seven is an architectural research and design collaborative located in Washington DC. $7.95 ISBN 978-0-9854362-2-3

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