Tanatswa Borerwe Dissertation 2016 by Tanatswa Lesley Borerwe

VISIONARY Narrative

Cover Image: (Places Journal, 2012), <https://placesjournal.org/article/fairy-tale-architecture-the-little-matchgirl/> [accessed 10 August 2015] Photo Credit: Andrew Bernheimer Copyright Tanatswa Borerwe, 2016. All rights reserved Newcastle University

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take the opportunity to thank Kati Blom for tutoring and providing insights into the architectural communication methods. I would also like to thank Kate and Andrew Bernheimer for showing me new ways of being in the strange yet unknown world of fairy tales, based on their Fairy tale research and Series. This discussion has enheighted my own knowledge of the complexities experienced in finding a balance between personal architectural perception with an observerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perspective.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES •

To examine a selected group of architects and their use of the ‘fairy tale’ in addressing real world issues and the approach used to illustrate them.

•

To determine how architects have manipulated ‘fairy tales’ to explore deeper issues concerning humanity.

CONTENTS ABSTRACT

METHODOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

SETTING THE SCENE: 1.1 What is narrative?

1.2 Why Fairy tales?

THEORY OF IMAGERY USING JUHANI PALLASMAAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INSIGHT 2.1 The Dominance of Visual Narrative 2.2 Architecture Typology

RESEARCH - QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF ARCHITECTS AND THEIR USE OF VISIONARY NARRATIVE IN ADDRESSING FAIRY TALES: THE STORY TELLERS 3.1 A Brief Overview of Imagery

3.2 Architect One: The boy who Set Forth to Learn What Fear Was by Bernheimer Architecture

3.3 Architect Two: The Little Match Girl by Bernheimer Architecture

3.4 Architect Three: Jack and the Beanstalk by Leven Betts Architecture

3.5 Architect Four: The Library of Babel by Rice+Lipka Architecture

DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABSTRACT

Competitions such as Blank Spaces’ competition, ‘Fairy tales: When Architecture tells a story’ and a Fairy Tale Series curated by Kate and Andrew Bernheimer, which is published at Places Journal Observer are becoming an increasingly important part of the daily landscape for designers, artists and architects. These platforms allow them to produce visionary imagery to communicate their ideas across. This paper provides a critical analysis of the images produced by three architects, all of whom use storytelling to change their audience’s perspectives of well renowned fairy tales. In redefining these stories, the architects in question are delineating perceptions of architecture itself. This dissertation examines how visionary narrative is used as a communicative tool in Architecture. As Sophia Psarra believes in her book “Architecture and Narrative”, narrative enters architecture through the manipulated structure of space to achieve specific effects on our perception.’1 Thus the essay demonstrates how architecture is used to communicate with its audience.

1 Sohpia Psarra – Architecture and Narrative pp 2 2009.

METHODOLOGY

The research method used for this particular study is qualitative. The study will analyse past literature and look at the perspective of architects. The advantage of using this method is that it will provide insight into the field

The architects explore the intimate relationship between the domestic structure of fairy tales and the imaginative realm of architecture. The fairy tales that are interpreted in this study range in context,

from the point of view of the participants (the architects in question). Whilst simultaneously balancing their intentions for their fairy tale images with an ‘outsiders’ observations.

location and address topics that are global such as; challenges of our interconnected world suffering, deprivation and limitation. Secondly, the paper will identify whether the previously mWentioned, were created in response to the lack of communication between people and architecture.

For some, projected spatial interpretation is significant not only by how it is described and designed, but, by how it challenges individuals to think about the methods by which they represent the narrated spaces. This dissertation will examine participating architects such as, Bernheimer Architecture, Rice+Lipka and Leven Betts Architecture. These particular architects deal with the multiple connections between human experience and the fictional world. The analysis will consist of four images, two by Bernheimer, one by Rice+Lipka and the other by LevenBetts Architecture. These examples demonstrate the architect’s recreation of the visionary narrative of imagined spaces into real life spaces, through images that communicate real life concerns that are all expressed as fictional illustrations.

The analysis of visionary narratives that share similar themes, is used in the expectation that conclusions regarding the research question can be drawn from them. Theorist, Pallasmaas’ ‘the embodied image’, will be used to explore and to obtain a thorough understanding of each ‘image’ that was produced by the three architects. They will each be organised into two categories. In addition, the qualitative approach of this research consists of an email interview with the architects together with their own perspectives from literature and other written work.

INTRODUCTION

‘Narrative enters architecture through the ways in which space is structured to achieve specific effects on our perception.’2

A fairy tale series was curated by architects and designers such as Andrew and Kate Bernheimer. Additionally, Matthew Hoffman and Francesca Giuliani’s competition entry entitled ‘Fairy tales: When Architecture Tells a Story’ explored the same ideas. These visionary narratives come from the very people who make relating to and organising the physical world we live in, their professional mission. These two series’ are examples of how architects experimented with an alternative approach to architecture by which they used architecture as a narrator, in respect of using the visionary method to narrate fairy-tales. Fairy tales might appear to be a foreign concept for the realm of architecture. However, at their core lies the power of communication. Fairy tales are intended to be relatable, yet sophisticated and nuanced. According to Psychology research for children, they are a gateway to significance, a way of making sense of the intricacies of the real world. They present problematic situations and the ways in which they are dealt with by their protagonists. ‘They are paradigmatic examples of experiences children have not yet had, nonetheless they are used as some of the initial training tools in logic, empathy and creativity. In like manner, communication is at the core of design’3. It has been argued by various authors such as, Matthew Hoffman and Francesca Guliani Hoffman that lack of communication within the business of architecture relies on the mass production of dull infrastructures, sacrificing architecture’s true spirit, ‘marginalised in its role as an aesthetic commodity, trapped in technical jargon, architecture has lost its ability to send universal messages.’4 Architecture no longer represents culture in its time, and it has failed to address issues at the core of human existence. The study has set out to break this by analysing how three architects abandoned their comfort

zones with no restrictions to scope, typology, budget and location. The result proved to be unconventional and unexpected as they evidently exceeded their boundaries within the trade. Psarra states ‘while architects are fascinated by narrative, writers are fascinated by architecture’. 5 She believed that narrative based on “successive actions in a story or on spaces that are seen sequentially, is at the centre of creative imagination.” 6 For instance, the Grimm brother’s fairy tales invite readers, and in this case architects, to approach the theme of an unusual fascination. According to my research, reading these tales, the architects could not fail to notice feelings of primal fear and desire, whilst they got lost in the labyrinths of their plots. As well as this, the architects noticed the genius language of the Grimm Brothers as it influenced them in their own designs. In them, the architects were reminded about the way fairy tales were written with “a preference for action rather than lengthy descriptions”7. Perhaps, the architects used these tales as an influence in their work as they also wanted to convey the notion of a perfect life in their designs.

Firstly, the following discussion begins with a short summary (Section one) of what narrative is and the role of imagery in architecture. The next section presents how Visionary narrative is used as a communicative tool in architecture. Section three analyses the multiple faces of the ‘images’ chosen by the architects to illustrate their chosen fairy tale, in particular, its mediating role between the world and the realm of thought and imagination. Each analysis of the architects provides a personal perspective on 11

a polyphony of architectural messages, giving new strength to architecture as a force of social innovation and dialogue.

During the beginning stages of this dissertation, the first draft was written under the working title of Fairy Tales, contain secrets and dreams. However, it had an ambiguous and Bachelardian association. As the dissertation developed, I discovered the work of Juhani Pallasmaa, ‘The Embodied Image’. Within his book there were three topics consisting of the meanings of image and imagination, image affect and empathy and finally, Architecture as an organising image. These discussions, shifted the emphasis of the dissertation’s manuscript to the notion of ‘narrative’. The surprising commonalities between imagery and architecture that emerged, strengthened that of Pallasmaa’s view that “The poeticised image is a magical mental act, a shift and transference of awareness which becomes embodied as part of our life world and ourselves.”8

1.1 What is Narrative?

SETTING THE SCENE What is Narrative?

Before examining the concept of communication the nature of the narrative must be explored. What is narrative? The Oxford dictionary tells us that the word means ‘a spoken or written account of connected events; a story’. According to Nigel Coates, narrative “organises events of a real or fictional nature into a sequence recounted by the narrator”9. Narration outlines

ment in order to propel narrative and precipitate an immersive experience for an audience. The study will be on visionary narrative and architectural typologies, spaces that both represent the physical and the imagined, used to connect the viewer to the narratives highly detailed perspective.

and simplifies events into a sequence that can stimulate the imagination, and with its consideration comes the possibility of the story being retold – verbally, pictorially or spatially. Furthermore, according to an Architectural journal: ‘storytelling is about the construction of a story by setting up a timeline of events.’10 The term narrative used in architecture, refers to the architecture of books and images, which rely on imaginary environments. Meaning is constructed in buildings and how it is communicated to the viewer. ‘Narrative enters architecture through the ways in which space is structured to achieve specific effects on our perception’11. However, in order for the viewer to engage with these environments, they must employ boundaries which give the fictional realm coherence and continuity. In addition, Juhani believes that lived space is space that is inseparably integrated with the subject’s concurrent life situation. “We do not live separately in material and mental worlds; these experiential dimensions are fully intertwined….We live in mental worlds, in which the experienced, remembered and imagined.”12 When these boundaries are applied successfully the viewer experiences an immersion in narrative space which generated memories of place which are comparable to that of a physical environment. A few selected fairy tales are used as the vehicle of exploration. This dissertation seeks to explore how storytellers use overlapping real and fictional architectural environ

1.2 Fairy tales?

Considering that each storyteller has a unique method and individual style, there are various techniques that both writer and architecture narratives may use in order to build compelling fictional spaces. Consequently, when architects are confronted with the challenge of exploring these varied methods, they may attempt to create an immersive imaginary space. The most effective way they could do this would be to look at a successful example. Hence, in a world that involves many magical fairy tales that entice the reader in both a language and visionary aspect. The three architects whose images were analysed, had to pay attention to the tale they chose in order to reinterpret it visually. When Zipes attempts to establish the term Fairy tale, he points out that fairy tales are associated with the ‘supernatural and make-believe’13. The middle class in the 17th and 18th century consumed these tales as an art form for entertainment purposes. It is believed that their entire motif was branded as ‘damnable and inspired by the devil’14. The imaginative aspect of the fairy tales, was inspired by the upper class’s yearning for disorder and rebellion. The pre-capitalist fairy tales participated to the expansion of the Bourgeoious class where they were made irrelevant and supressed15. The term Fairy tale is viewed a ‘Misnomer’16 by Zipes. It seems that the attitude towards fairy tales are ambivalent. “The way the English language calls these children stories “fairy” tales can be partially deceiving. The word “fairy” describes fantastical, magic creatures such as elfins and spirits. Those are often are involved in such stories, and in the plots of these tales there is a magic component playing a role in the events: 16

a magic object is needed, a cursed object is found, a person who has magic powers helps the protagonist or keeps them from succeeding, a spell is cast and needs to be broken. However, many of the Latin words that are blended in the English definition for these folk tales have meanings that reveal a deeper level of significance. For example, the Latin verb “farior” simply means “to tell a story.” The verb “fari” means “to speak.” Another very similar word is “fatum,” fate in English: the tales we are talking about are often telling the story of someone’s destiny. Fairy tales, therefore, are not simply about fairies, they are also about fates, and about the relational activities of speaking, of telling someone a story.”17 In addition, Psarra states that “while architects are fascinated by narrative, writers are fascinated by architecture.”18 She believes that narrative based on “successive actions in a story or on spaces that are seen sequentially, is at the centre of creative imagination.” 19 The Grimm brother’s fairy tales invite readers and in this case architects to approach the theme of an unusual fascination. Reading their tales, the architect can hardly fail to notice the feeling of primal fear and desire into the labyrinths of their plots. The Brother’s close attention to a language that describes events and actions in their fairy tale: the chosen sequence of events which have ‘a preference for action rather than lengthy descriptions.’20 Readers are fixated on fantasising about the wonders of a perfect life. In terms of interpreting

the architectural structures in fairy tales, the action and challenges of walls, verticals and puzzles constitutes the interface between the dual worlds of real and the fantastic: the gateway to the fantastic world. According to Coleman, he argues that ‘Fairy tales permit access to the unconscious is by giving it access to consciousness’21 They seem to test the dominance of reality over possibility. To my understanding, fairy tales open a pathway to the reader/ designer to confront ‘death, aging, and the limits of our existence’22. Hence, an exploration of the concept in human geography, from Michel Foucault to describe places and spaces of ‘otherness’ which are neither here nor there that are simultaneously mental and physical. To do this, fairy tales give clues in order to ‘state an existential dilemma briefly and pointedly’23. Interestingly, Louis Kahn saw a future in fairy tales that have suggestions to a utopian realm. According to him ‘each building for an institution is a retelling, extension and interpretation of the original story of human desire’24 Coleman agrees with this notion: he argues that ‘Oral tradition transmits living knowledge; each retelling of its generative, capable of transforming, thus refreshing what it communicates’25. Perhaps this may be a reason why designers and architects have used the fairy tale’s platform to express their own perspectives to an audience.

NOTES

Psarra, Sophia, Architecture and narrative: The formation of space and cultural meaning in buildings (United Kingdom: Routledge, 2008) p.2.

Ibid,

Matthew Hoffman and Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman, Fairy tales: When architecture tells a story ([n.p.]: [n.pub.], 2015). Vol 1

World Architecture Community, Why fairy tales matter to architects (WAC Portal System V3, 2006c), <http://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/chfff/why-fairy-tales-matterto-architects.html> [accessed 21 July 2016].

Sophia Psarra, Architecture and narrative: The formation of space and cultural meaning in buildings (United Kingdom: Routledge, 2008) p. 67.

Ibid, p. 68.

Marie-Luise von Franz and Kendra Crossen, The interpretation of fairy tales (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1996) p. 28.

Juhani Pallasmaa, The embodied image: Imagination and imagery in architecture (paperback) (United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, United Kingdom, 2011) p. 11.

13 Jack David Zipes, Breaking the magic spell: Radical theories of folk and fairy tales (United States: The University Press of Kentucky, 2002) p.28 14 Emily M. Schossberger and Linda Degh, Folk tales and society: Story-telling in a Hungarian peasant community (United States: Indiana University Press, 1989) pp.65-66

Jack David Zipes, Breaking the magic spell: Radical theories of folk and fairy tales (United States: The University Press of Kentucky, 2002) p. 120. 15

Ibid, p. 119.

World Architecture Community, Why fairy tales matter to architects (WAC Portal System V3, 2006c), <http://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/chfff/ why-fairy-tales-matter-to-architects.html> [accessed 21 July 2016]. 17

18 Sophia Psarra, Architecture and narrative: The formation of space and cultural meaning in buildings (United Kingdom: Routledge, 2008) p. 67. 19

Ibid, p. 68

Nigel Coates, Narrative architecture (London: John Wiley & Sons, 2012) p. 14

20 Marie-Louise Von Franz and Kendra Crossen, The Interpretation of Fairy Tales (New York: Distributed in the U.S. by Random House, 1996) p. 28.

10 Building stories â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the architectural design process as narrative â&#x20AC;&#x201C; conference paper, <http://www.cristina-ampatzidou. com/building-stories-the-architectural-design-process-as-narrative-conference-paper/> [accessed 17 May 2016].

Sophia Psarra, Architecture and narrative: The formation of space and cultural meaning in buildings (United Kingdom: Routledge, 2008) p. 2.

21 Nathaniel Coleman, Utopias and architecture (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2005). p. 168. 22

Ibid, p. 168.

Nathaniel Coleman, Utopias and architecture (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2005). p. 168. 23

Ibid, p. 169.

Juhani Pallasmaa and Juhani Pallasmaa, The architecture of image: Existential space in cinema (Finland: Rakennustieto Publishing, 1999) p.18 12

THEORY OF IMAGERY USING JUHANI PALLASMAA’S INSIGHT 2.1 The dominance of Visionary Narrative

“Images either focus or control the subject’s attention and awareness for purposes of manipulating emotion and behaviour, or they liberate and inspire his [or] her imagination opening up a dimension of individual imaginative freedom.”26 Juhani Pallasmaa uses the word ‘image’ in order to refer to visual communication and artistic representation. It is commonly used a synonym for ‘picture’ or even ‘photograph’ According to Pallasmaa’s book “The embodied Image” the notion of imagery in this case is used in deferring meanings and context. He points out that there are two type of images: “images that dictate, condition and manipulate and images that emancipate, empower and inspire”27. (Fig 1 and 2) Altogether, images lead communicate ideas that channel specific themes to the human mind. However its ‘channel’ can be used for diverse and conflicting purposes. Even in today’s culture, disjointed facts are compiled into images and narratives, and our understanding of those narratives are fully dictated by these truncated and pre-narrated images of the flow of places and events.

The word image has been poorly defined and understood as a tool that can host meaning. The image has been traditionally acknowledged in its perceptual and mimetic roles but less as a medium of thought, creative exploration and artist expression’28. It has appeared much less in literature or architecture. The recent emergence of the ‘pictorial’ architecture of an eye-catching image has, however, introduced the notion to architectural contexts. The idea of ‘dream’ and ‘hallucinatory’ images, all of which have often been viewed as unreliable, has reduced imagery as an inadequate vehicle of our productive mental processes, consciousness and creative capability, rather than a dominant one.

Images either focus or control the subject’s attention and awareness for purposes of manipulating emotion and behaviour, or they liberate and inspire his/her imagination opening up a dimension of individual imaginative freedom. For instance, J. Howard Miller’s political poster ‘We Can Do It!’ demonstrates an ability to condition its intentions to the viewer. (Fig 1). However, the image by Sigurdur Gudmundsson ‘Study for Horizon’ may empower the viewer to empathise and open up a dimension of individual freedom. (Fig 2).

Figure 1 J. Howard Miller’s “We Can Do It!” poster from 1943 The commanding image of a political poster. The images weakens the viewer’s sense of self by focusing his/her imagination

SIGURDUR GUDMUNDSEN Study for Horizon

Figure 2 Sigurdur Gudmundsson: Study for Horizon 1975, The emancipating poetic image of an Icelandic artist. The image empowers the viewer and opens up his/her imagination.

Imagery that emancipates

Imagery that conditions

However, the visual image is a built fusion of fragmented and sporadic elements. In fact, M. Devitt and K.Sterelny believe that “thoughts are like sentences in being abstract…Images, diagrams may be associated with thoughts, particularly with perceptually based ones, but they are not themselves thoughts.”29 The present supposition is that speech originates from gesture. The image has the capability to communicate and convey meaning deprived of words and beyond verbalised meanings. ‘Several of Renè Magritte’s paintings point out the arbitrariness of words. (Fig 3). The knowledge that the brain has about other things than its own storage system is stored by homoeomorphic mental models’30

When Juhani Pallasmass writes: “the unconscious image may have a forceful mental and emotional impact”31 in his book ‘The Embodied Image’ he also quotes Bachelard who remarks: ‘The image has touched the depths before it stirs the surface.’32 In addition, Colin St John, the architect of the British Library, also questioned how, in this instance ‘Architectural Imagery’ has a deep impact on his mind. He explains the mental power of architectural imagery: ‘It is as if I am being manipulated by some subliminal code, which acts directly on the nervous system and imagination, at the same time stirring intimations of meaning with vivid spatial experience as though they were one this. It is my belief that the code acts so directly and vividly upon us because it is strangely familiar; it is in fact the first language we ever learned, long before words, and which is now recalled to us through art, which alone holds the key to revive it ….’33 Over time, the cultural task and essence of storytelling was to maintain “the other level of reality”34 in which the purpose lies in creating essentially a balance with the mundane reality. However, the responsibility of artists and writer seems to have reversed, where now their task is to strengthen the experience of the reality. In his book ‘Crash’, JG Ballard suggests that we live more progressively in the fictional world, therefore, the task of the writers is not only to invent fiction. Rather, fiction already exists here, and the “writer’s task is to invent reality.”35 According to Juhani, in his book ‘The Embodied Image’, the artist or maker often feels that

Figure 3 The Son of man by Rene Magritt (1946) On the discrepancy of no words.

the image world that they have created has pre-existed. Therefore they that the creative process is a matter of revealing what has already been developed.’36 Imagery or visionary narration is not restricted to certain art forms but rather it can be associated to more general characteristics of human perception. For instance, some of human’s basic experiences of security, enclosure and intimacy. Examples of this are demonstrated when analysing the three architect’s intentions behind their images. “We are representing things to ourselves and other all the time; it is the way we understand the world around us. Without representation, we could find no meaning in the world.”37 Architecture has somewhat fictionalised reality and culture through converting human settings into images of idealised order by fictionalising the architectural narratives. In fact Juhani Pallasma believes that “mental imagery is the crucial vehicle of perception, thought, language and memory”38 A similar process is used by storytellers in order to manipulate the viewer’s perspective of the environments within their narrative. It could be argued that architects are also story tellers. The events in a plot are purposes constructed ways that allow us to experience fictional spaces. It could be argued that architects are also story tellers.

NOTES

Juhani Pallasmaa, The embodied image: Imagination and imagery in architecture (paperback) (United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, United Kingdom, 2011) p. 21 26

Ibid, p. 21

Ibid, p. 33

29 Devitt, Michael Devitt, and Kim Sterelny, Language and reality: Introduction to the philosophy of language (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1987) pp. 115- 117. as quoted in Strᴓmnes, The Fall of the Word and The Rise of the Mental Model, 2006, p 26.

Frode J Stromnes and Frode Jens Strmnes, The fall of the word and the rise of the mental model: A reinterpretation of the recent research on spatial Cognition and language (Germany: Peter Lang Publishing, 2006) p, 31

Juhani Pallasmaa, The embodied image: Imagination and imagery in architecture (paperback) (United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, United Kingdom, 2011) p. 64 31

32 Gaston Bachelard and M. Jolas, The Poetics of Space (Boston: Beacon Press, 1994) p. XIX

Colin St John Wilson, Architecture – Public Good and Private Necessity’ RIBA Journal, March 1979. 33

Juhani Pallasmaa, The embodied image: Imagination and imagery in architecture (paperback) (United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, United Kingdom, 2011) p. 22 34

Ibid, p. 22.

Ibid, p. 65.

37 Colin Davies, Thinking about architecture: An introduction to architectural theory (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2011) p. 22.

Juhani Pallasmaa, The embodied image: Imagination and imagery in architecture (paperback) (United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, United Kingdom, 2011) p. 10 38

2.2 Architectural Narrative

“Architecture is an untapped source of magnificent stories waiting to be imagined, visualized, and built.”39

The similarities between architecture and fairy tales are useful in three main ways. Firstly, narrative carries cultural knowledge. In fact, Benson believes that the early pursuit for a utopian future, in terms of expressionists, began as a return to the past, as much as an attempt to find ‘a lost paradise as to build new world’. Secondly, fairy tales and architecture have a social dimension that ‘both establishes the context of a given society/ tales do this by transmitting deep insights about life in a particular culture. Architecture does this by establishing, as a physical presence, the settings of institutions’40. In addition, ‘experience and comprehension occur in distraction’41 when they convey a content to the reader that works on an emotional level. As with architecture the emotional comprehension is transmitted directly to the body. Thirdly, Coleman talks about how Kahn uses fairy tales that reveal ‘their utopian dimension’42 – both utopian realm and fairy tales are stories told in present about future possibilities. For instance, Kahn’s ‘Salk Institute for Biological Studies’, discovered this dimension by distinguishing between needs and desires, giving him room to focus on ‘desire’ or a ‘realm of dreams required for psychological survival’43. For some architects spatial interpretation is significant not only to the way in which they describe spaces or

design but also in that it challenges their thinking regarding the methods they represent the narrated spaces. Ernst Bloch agreed that art “derives its essential validity from its ability both to confront reality and propose an alternative vision”44 Upon observation of other firms who have worked with fairy tales, it appears that they set the context of the tale. The way in which architects interpreted the tales were by the details that are rarely described; such a great and powerful structure needs no description. In order to capture the nature of the fairy tale, they were able to pinpoint two or three keywords. Besides the fairy tales cultural impact, there were particular characteristic of the tales chosen by the three architects which make it an appropriate focus when studying how internalised architecture may be represented by the architects. Take for instance, in Jack and the Beanstalk, the vehicle for all the magic in this story – its deception, poverty, children as the principal protagonists. Most importantly, the story exists in several media; literature, art and theatre. This condition not only allows for the examination of the child’s need to venture into the world but also an attempt to return home. LevenBetts Architecture, took part in the brother, sister duo Fairy Tale Series by Kate and Andrew Bernheimer and were asked “What are the key elements of your architectural design and how is it sited?” “We chose to think of the beanstalk as an infrastructural network between Jack’s world and the Giant’s world. Jack and the Giant are both plundering from each other and the beanstalk is the inhabited highway between them, with different

environments and ecosystems. We also thought of the beanstalk as both natural and machined”45 For this series of architectural fairy tale, participating firms such as, Leven Betts, Rice+Lipka Architects, Bernheimer Architecture, have produced works exploring the intimate relationship between the domestic structures of fairy tales and the imaginative realm of architecture using visionary narrative. Kate Bernheimer expresses her love for fairy tales. She identified two themes of abstraction and intuitive logic in almost any fairy tale. For instance, ‘abstraction’ allows fairy tales to be described with an open language. She writes how fairy tales rely on abstraction for their effect. For instance the description of colour is limited. For instance, specific colour (“Little Red Riding Hood”, “Snow white”, “Rose Red”) can be interpreted. In addition most fairy tales involve what Katie calls ‘intuitive logic’, as there is never an explanation of every detail of every event in a tale. Captivatingly, she argues that despite their reputation as ‘plot driven’ narratives, they are associative when you begin to disentangle them.

experimentalism, psychology and abstraction. Reading the uses of enchantment Bruno Bettelheim compares myths and fairy tales and argues that fairy tales are suggestive: “Fairy tale messages may imply solutions, but it never spells them out”47. When he points that the fairy tale “proceeds in a manner which conform to the way a child thinks and experiences the world”48. With this in mind, a child trusts in fairy tales because its world view accords with his own. What if there is a method to bring these experiences that children have to an adult audience?

Interestingly, she writes that “Many fairy tales rely on the sensed relationship of words to story – the art of putting words together in a strange order / put together again with everyday logic”46. Abstraction and intuitive logic, in fairy tales, act as the link between the so-called realism and non-realism, convention and

3.1 Brief Overview

NOTES

Karissa Rosenfield, #FairyTales2015: Blank space launches architecture storytelling competition (ArchDaily, 2014b), <http://www.archdaily.com/557652/ fairytales2015-blank-space-launches-architecture-storytelling-competition> [accessed 15 July 2016]. 39

40 Nathaniel Coleman, Utopias and architecture (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2005). 41

Ibid, p. 170. Ibid, p. 170.

<http://ErnstBloch the Principle of hope//1954–59, 2013 <http://www.thespiritofutopia.org/Ernst%20Bloch. pdf> [accessed 11 January 2016]. p. 1> [accessed 25 September 2015] p. 1.

Design, Leven Betts, and Full Bio, Leven Betts (Places Journal, 2011), <https://placesjournal.org/article/fairy-talearchitecture-jack-and-the-beanstalk/> [accessed 10 August 2015]. 45

46 Kate Bernheimer, ‘‘Fairy tale is form, form is fairy tale’’ (2016) <http://www.academia.edu/3174316/_Fairy_ Tale_is_Form_Form_is_Fairy_Tale_> [accessed 1 May 2016].

Bruno Bettelheim, The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairy tales (London: Penguin Books 1978, 1991) p. 45 47

Ibid, p. 45

RESEARCH A Brief Overview

The following architects each recreate visionary narrative of imagined spaces into real life spaces through images that communicate real life concerns that are all but fictional. Secondly, the paper will identify whether the exercises were initiated in response to the lack of communication between people and architecture, in response to the problem previously mentioned. According to Matthew Hoffman, author of ‘Fairy Tales: When Architecture tells a story: ‘Architecture has remained one of the slowest forms of media in the world.’49 An analysis will be conducted of the visionary narratives that share similar themes, with a hope to find patterns from which conclusions can be drawn. Theorist, Pallasmaas and his work on ‘the embodied image’, will be used to explore and to obtain a thorough understanding of each image that visually narrates their perspective, as shaped by fairy tales.

Kate Bernheimer is both a scholar [or] academic and a creative writer whilst Andrew remains an architect. They curated a Fairy tale series in December 2011. Within this series, a diverse range of architects were invited to select beloved tales and produced works exploring the ‘intimate relationship between the domestic structures of fairy tales and the imaginative realm of architecture’50. Some presented ‘images’ by hand through model making, some digital images, through the ‘poetic’ language and phrases that make up the spaces in the tales. The stories developed by the selected architects from the series, borrow from fiction. Although the tales differ, they are based on repetitive themes, such as blurring the distinction between the real and the fantasy, between linear and cyclical time and between occurrence and absence.

3.2 The Boy Who Set Forth to Learn What Fear Was by Bernheimer Architecture

Bernheimer Architecture is a Brooklyn-based practise. As a studio, they strive to create ‘beautiful space through contemplative research.’51 Their studio believes in creating sustainable and resilient architecture by creating productive environments for people and their communities. Therefore when they were approached to choose a tale that focuses on emotions, the boy who searches for ‘fear’ was fitting and allowed them to ignite imagery that ‘conditions’ its audience with fear.

Figure 4 “Night Collage ‘At first we weren’t quite sure what to make of the Brothers Grimm Fairy tale. We drew site-less interpretations of the spaces of the story’s happenings”.. - Andrew Bernheimer and Vera Leung (Image by

Bernheimer Architecture)

Figure 5 Site Plan with Plane Path

Architect’s Name Name of Imagery/ Chosen Fairy tale Description of Image Composition

What they seek to achieve

Architect’s perspective

Communication and Narrative (Image Interpretation)

Bernheimer Architecture The Boy Who set Forth to Learn What Fear Was Halloween Edition -

Composition: Views consist of plans, sections and aerial views. (Fig 4 and 5)

The tale opens up with the hero and his sister. Fear of the dark woods terrifies the sister whereas the boy feels nothing. During his pilgrimage, he searches for the meaning of fear. ‘The Fairy tale gives him the real sensation of fear, not a representation, of it

The brother sister duo produce not only images but a form that represents ‘fear’.

The story of the dam bombing from World War Two is based on a battle that took place in Black Forest, Germany the region of Brother Grimm’s upbringing. The basis for writing their own version was the boy learning what the concept of fear (is). Their tale focuses on the experiences of fear and attack whilst stationed at the dam. (Fig 4).

Their site- specific moment in a 20th- century war in Germany sees their re-imagination of a German soldier who is placed at the Edersee Dam in May 1943, when it was destroyed by the British Royal Air Force. Therefore, the boy who set forth to learn what fear was experiences the fury of the bombing; ‘a violent … disruption of inhabited space’.

“These shapes were conceived of as the representation of an imagined experience of the space of an explosion during the dam bombing.”52

The Architecture of this particular story also resides in its “almost there, not yet there”53 quality. Andrew and Kate point out how the story seems endless and it has, in various retellings and interpretations over the centuries. Hence the relationship between the linear and cyclical time is present.

“We chose this path… because the structure of the story wasn’t accessible, the events were scattered, random and untethered to a place. So we had to … make the place, invent a story-space outside the tale itself. (Fig 5).

Andrew talks about how he was interested in converting figurative, metaphoric words into delineated images that can be explored literary spaces.

Bernheimer Architecture’s images consist of real ice and a model who posed behind the sheet of ice.

Perhaps, the clever composition’ conditions’ the viewer’s feelings of ‘fear’.

Since the Architects had the freedom of plot the images they created may be concluded as images that condition the viewer.

The commanding image of a political background by placing the character on a post War site. Pallasmaa in his book ‘The Embodied Image’

Audience are cohesively placed in to the story and able to relate as there is a real site that has connotations of fear.

We tell stories with our drawings, just as authors tell stories with their words. We have used this series to catalyse thought about how stories, their spaces, and our drawings act as narrative tools.

3.3 The Little Match Girl by Bernheimer Architecture

Figure 6 â&#x20AC;&#x153;The New Yearâ&#x20AC;? ( Image by Bernheimer)

Figure 7 “Grandmother” – Bernheimer Architecture

In the Places Journal Observer, Andrew Bernheimer writes of his childhood and ‘how reading the story brought him great sadness’54. Perhaps, this is a reason why he chose to represent the images above (Fig 6 and 7) with atmospheric feelings. The Little Match girl was written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The plot consists of a young girl who is sent out by her parents to sell matches. The story challenged an architecture firm to practice sadness, grief or space of suffering in their work. The emotive challenge, Bernheimer faced corresponds with how viewers project their emotions into the image in order to empathise, according to Pallasmaa.

Architect’s Name

Bernheimer Architecture

Name of Imagery/ Chosen Fairy tale

The Little Match Girl by Bernheimer Architecture

Description of Image

Composition: -

Ice sheets that are placed in front of a human face in order to create the feeling of death from ice. (Fig 6).

1:1 scale (Fig 6 and 7).

Material is the forefront as the architecture use the ice’s translucency to reimagine a ‘wall next to her … became translucent, glowing walls.’ (Fig 6 and 7)

What they seek to achieve

Looked at the condition of the death, as opposed to the physical structures in the tale in order to communicate their ideas across. (Fig 6 and 7).

Architect’s perspective

‘The sadness of the plot was overwhelming and paralysing,’ – Andrew B

Communication and Narrative

A sad tale has indicated the significance of atmosphere and architectural spatial design.

The atmospheric qualities of ‘ice’ and the human emotion of ‘sadness’ are shown through the 1:1 scale of the human. (Fig 6 and 7).

The images allow the viewer to project their emotions in order to empathise.

Composition

3.4 Jack and The Beanstalk by Leven Betts Architecture

Figure 8 (Image from Leven Betts)

Figure 9 LevenBetts Architecture â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Perspectives have changed to a human scale of the Beanstalk.

Leven Betts Architecture is an award winning New York practice which was founded by David Leven and Stella Betts in 1997. They focus on all scales of design from urban design, public architecture, and housing. The studio employs a variety of methods to decide innovative solutions within the programs and site of architecture.

Architect’s Name

Leven Betts Architecture

Name of Imagery/ Chosen Fairy tale

Jack and the Beanstalk

Description of Image

Composition:

Composition of Image

“We chose to think of the beanstalk as an infrastructural network between Jack’s world and the Giant’s world. Jack and the Giant are both plundering from each other and the beanstalk is the inhabited highway between them, with different environments and ecosystems. We also thought of the beanstalk as both natural and machined.”55 (Fig 8 and 9).

Architects show us a beanstalk that is rarely described; ‘such a great and powerful structure needs no description.’56

In this story, ‘nature’ constitutes the interface between these two worlds: vegetation, light, sky, clouds the key elements shaping Jack’s journey experience.

What they seek to achieve

The ‘vehicle’ for all the magic in this tale is ‘its adventure and triumph’ the beanstalk.

Architect’s perspective

Leven Betts settled for the beanstalk – the gateway between the reality and the fantastical – the gateway between the ground where Jack and his moth live and the sky where the Giant lives. (Fig 8 and 9).

Communication and Narrative

The chosen images consist of human perspective close ups of the ‘infrastructure’

1:1 Scale – imagery is more personal and the ‘abstractness’ allows freedom for the viewer, however, the clever composition’ conditions’ the viewer’s feelings of ‘adventure’

Since the Architects had the freedom of plot the images they created may be concluded as images that condition the viewer.

The commanding image of a political background by placing the character on a post War site. Pallasmaa in his book ‘The Embodied Image’

Audience are cohesively placed in to the story and able to relate as there is a real site that has connotations of fear.

3.5 The Library of Babel by Rice+Lipka Architecture

Figure 10 “Necessities” (Image by Rice+Lipka)

Figure 11 “ The Universe”

Rice+Lipka Architects is an innovative, New York based architectural platform for ‘memorable works that approach normative issues that bring energetic mix of civic-mindedness and personal engagement to a range of projects’57. The firm are typically interested in producing spaces, images that are inventively embraces practical constraints often ending with unexpected design opportunities. They were drawn to the tale about a library that houses all the books ever written and yet to be written. ‘Borges’s language is everyday – the story is a municipal prayer. The world is an infinite library and we are pilgrims

destined for beauty and failure.’58 They were fascinated by the story that houses all the books ‘that could ever be written.’

Architect’s Name

Rice and Lipka Architecture

Name of Imagery/ Chosen Fairy tale

The Library of Babel

Description of Image

Composition: The image employs an mathematical detail.

‘A library that houses all of the books ever written and yet to be written. The Library is arranged non-hierarchically; all of the volumes — from the most rudimentary to the most inscrutable — are equally important in this infinite space. Its rooms are hexagons. Its staircases are broken.’59 (Fig 10 and 11).

Imagery consists of how people interact with the space. For instance, visitors are ‘elated, dogmatic and anguished as they fall down air shaft and weep.’

What they seek to achieve

‘We took care not to veer from specific descriptions of the spaces’60 Their method of interpretation was to look for holes in the story in order to open interpretation.

Architect’s perspective

Their method of interpretation was to look for holes in the story in order to open interpretation.

Communication and Narrative

Illusion is the main concept of the tale.

The realm of the imagined is explored through the scales of the perspective. For instance, they imagined the scale of the individual unit or unit cluster so that it is easy to imagine. However, they found out that by extending the imagination to a size that is even smaller brought them great ‘magical glitches’ For instance, gravity, spare-time, causing their understanding of the library and of the universe limited.

The analysis of the architect’s interpretation against dualism and contrast of the reality and the natural – the staged scenes, opened up to specific emotional responses they found in the narrative, which are: journeys are repeated differently.

Perhaps these images are the second type of imagery that inspire change in perspective.

NOTES

49 Matthew Hoffman and Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman, Fairy tales: When architecture tells a story ([n.p.]: [n.pub.], 2015) p. 37

Design and Bernheimer Architecture, Fairy tale architecture (Places Journal, 2016), <https://placesjournal.org/ series/fairy-tale-architecture/> [accessed 21 August 2016].

About (Bernheimer Architecture, [n.d.]), <http:// bernheimerarchitecture.com/about/> [accessed 18 August 2016].

52 Design, Bernheimer Architecture, and Full Bio, Andrew Bernheimer (Places Journal, 2012), <https://placesjournal. org/article/fairy-tale-architecture-halloween-edition/> [accessed 10 August 2015]. 53

Ibid,

54 Design, Bernheimer Architecture, and Full Bio, Andrew Bernheimer (Places Journal, 2012), <https:// placesjournal.org/article/fairy-tale-architecture-the-littlematch-girl/> [accessed 10 August 2015].

Design, Leven Betts, and Full Bio, Leven Betts (Places Journal, 2011), <https://placesjournal.org/article/fairy-talearchitecture-jack-and-the-beanstalk/> [accessed 10 August 2015]. 55

Ibid,

57 Rice+Lipka Architects, Rice+Lipka architects â&#x20AC;&#x201D; about (2016), <http://www.ricelipka.com/about.php> [accessed 21 August 2016].

58 Design and Full Bio, Rice+Lipka architects (Places Journal, 2013), <https://placesjournal.org/article/fairy-talearchitecture-the-library-of-babel/> [accessed 10 August 2015]. 59

Ibid,

DISCUSSION ‘Empathy is an unconscious process in which the individual uses his own body as a template that enables him to feel into the other’s experience.’61 To review, the strategy of the qualitative research, involved gaining an understanding of how people in the real world ‘make sense’ of the architect’s environment and the images they produced. Or as Schwandt put it: the interpretivist researcher must struggle with “the paradox of how to develop an objective interpretive science of subjective human experience.”62 An initial objective of the project was to identity how visionary narrative can be used to communicate ideas. The first question in this discussion was sought to determine the relationship between narrative and architecture. In this instance, the selected architects, each chose a fairy tale from across time to proactively tackle real life concerns. By using the fictional aspect that fairy tales bring, they influenced the notion of science of the senses and the way people interact with the reimagined spaces. Every endeavour saw the architects being audacious enough to ignite imaginations. This will be discussed in greater detail in this section. According to some theorists such as Richard Kearney: ‘it is not the image that is persuasive, erotic or disgusting. It is we who persuade, excite and disgust ourselves by the very act in which we construct the image’63. The emotional content ascends in the encounter with the ‘image’ and the audience’s projection of aspects of him [or] herself on the work. Through the act of provoking and assembling the composition of the image, the viewer is persuaded. In Bernheimer’s second image: The Little Match Girl, the viewer is ‘conditioned’ to feel what ‘fear’ really is by projecting our ‘emotional content and mental meaning onto the artistic image’64.

In this instance Bernheimer use 1:1 close ups of a human hand and a face.

Bernheimer Architecture Image One On one hand Fairy tales and oral myths are stories that operate in a figurative format. On the other hand, architecture is a literal and an experienced entity. It is challenging to then attempt to achieve a fantastical imagery. With this in mind, Bernheimer architecture attempted to unite the figurative and the literal world.

Bernheimer Architecture Image Two Bernheimer architects explored the relationship between Hope and Fear away from the home, where secrets and dreams are supposedly stored. The strangeness in this tale is perhaps derived from the child’s fear – not selling her matches, nor death itself but a feeling of ‘dread’. The frozen girl was lost in her domestic hallucinations. Bernheimer Architecture ‘illuminates this story with images that are heart-breaking and strange. Their Little Match Girl suffers, dejected’65. Lost in her domestic hallucinations, the girl’s dreams of the mundane luxuries wondrously illuminate the cold when she imagines every time she lights a match stick. Bernheimer Architecture exhibit translucency layers that depict her suffering vividly. Interestingly Kate Bernheimer, believes that homes contain secrets and dreams.’ Unfortunately for the frozen girl, home is filled with fear and sadness leading to her unsettling death. Perhaps, the little girl’s ‘forever space’ is the

relationship between presence and omnipresence.

LevenBetts Architecture They chose to think of the beanstalk as an infrastructural network between Jack’s world and the Giant’s world. ‘Jack and the Giant are both plundering from each other and the beanstalk is the inhabited highway between them, with different environments and ecosystems.’66 That their vision between the ‘natural’ and ‘machined’ or ‘man-made’ counts as boundless just how the beanstalk has a limitlessness to its height.

Rice+Lipka Architecture Just as the story is written, illusion is the main concept of the tale. Therefore the architects found it difficult to decide on the scale of the individual hexagonal library unit. Perhaps this allowed them to attempt their own fantastical architecture that does not endure limitations. Thus allowing room to curate a timeless architecture that can be experienced through imagination. The journey in their fairy tales are repeated differently, Fear and desire became the central configuration of each tale interpreted tale. As previously mentioned in the Methodology section, ‘these examples demonstrate architects recreating visionary narrative of imagined spaces into real life spaces through images that communicate real life concerns that are all but fictional.’

The tale embodies a playfulness and whimsical element, derived from the role and image reversal. The scenes the children encounter are largely psychological spaces, taking cues from minimal architectural moments. Scenes that could open up specific emotional responses of ‘hope’ and ‘fear’. Instead of picking the house alone. Houses can’t really be made out of gingerbread, can they? For instance, the Grimm brothers’ close attention to a genius language the architects under questions returning to their fairy tales: the chosen sequence of events. This leaves the reader to imagine the empty gaps in a story, which is what makes a fairy tale fascinating. Please see Appendix 2: A coded analysis of the email interview results.

NOTES

Arnold H Modell, Imagination and the meaningful brain (Cambridge, MA: Bradford Books, 2003). 61

Thomas Schwandt, Qualitative Inquiry: A Dictionary of Terms (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1998), p. 221.

63 Richard Kearney, Poetics of imagining: From Husserl to Lyotard (London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1991) p. 59. 64 Juhani Pallasmaa, The embodied image: Imagination and imagery in architecture (paperback) (United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, United Kingdom, 2011) p. 71 65 Design, Bernheimer Architecture, and Full Bio, Andrew Bernheimer (Places Journal, 2012), <https://placesjournal.org/article/fairy-tale-architecture-the-little-matchgirl/> [accessed 10 August 2015].

Design, Leven Betts, and Full Bio, Leven Betts (Places Journal, 2011), <https://placesjournal.org/article/fairy-talearchitecture-jack-and-the-beanstalk/> [accessed 10 August 2015]. 56

CONCLUSION This study set out to determine whether visionary narrative is a tool that can both ‘condition and emancipate’ the viewer in order to change both the architect and the rest of the world’s perspectives. It was sectioned into two part. The first part of the paper discusses how the architects explores the intimate relationship between domestic structure and fairy tales by using visionary narrative. The second part pinpoints how images are a communicative tool that can help facilitate the lack of communication between architecture and people. Returning to the question posed at the beginning of this study, it is possible to state that visionary narrative possesses ‘emotive power’ that cannot solely entice the viewer. However, it can allow the author to persuade the viewer to empathise with the ‘real-life’ concerns that are expressed. As described throughout the investigation, the architects who used fairy tales were able to express their personal concerns to a wider audience. For instance, Bernheimer Architecture were able to reinstate and communicate the feeling of deprivation and sadness by their carefully chosen composition; a 1:1 scale of the Match girl. Additionally, LevenBetts Architecture used the topic of infrastructure that illustrates our interconnected world, as they looked at, Jack’s labour exploitation and human reliance on technology ad perceived the beanstalk as something that was “natural and machined”67 Each of these architects under question brought their unique perspective on pressing

real-world issues, as influenced by their individual cultural background. The popularity of a visionary narrative depends on how well the concepts explored resonate with the intended audience. Therefore, a study of the most successful examples (fairy tales) can provide insights into the predominant ideals that characterise the culture which has embraced them. As the influence of popular media expands, artists and designers are able to disseminate to wider audiences, even though, the variety of imagery explored in this discussion is fictional. However, unfettered by the restrictions with its conventional equivalent, fairy tale imagery, can push boundaries in order to embody new concepts, portraying the author’s their own perceptions on 1. Setting 2. Form and finally Composition. This visual language has proposed alternative ways or relating to the world around us. For instance, these virtual settings, respond to prevailing cultural ideas and the two types of ‘imagery’ as stated by Pallasmaa. They may then inspire the imagery that architects, designers and artists can use to speak to the public. Take, for instance, the ‘Blank Space’ - Fairy Tale competition curated by Matthew Hoffman and Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman. Their winning entry “Empty” was described by author Zigeng Wang as unsustainable ecology in the backdrop. In fact he wrote “The ultimate purpose of it is to uncover the contradictions and tensions in the geographic landscape of capitalist activity, the questioning of globalisation. The fact that it is happening now”.68 The investigation of how ‘imagery’ can narrate ideas through two opposing types; images that (1) dictate,

condition and manipulate and (2) that emancipate and inspire is evident in research. The example is a clear representation of the way the architects articulated their concerns regarding the connection between existence and imagery, regardless of whether the imagery dictates or emancipates the intended audience. In order to explore the various methods that storytellers can use to communicate real life issues using fiction, this study employed four fairy tales to function as a case study. The series has been credited with reintroducing designers and architects to the evolving techniques of communicating to the rest of the world by the freedom of exploration. Firstly, the analysis of the four images consisted of three principles through out the research. For instance 1. Composition, 2. Form and 3. Setting. In addition to literarure research, this comprehension involves the interaction of meaning in the image: ‘narrative grammar’. According to Coleman, he argues that “Fairy tales permit access to the unconscious by giving it access to the consciousness.”69 Secondly, the relationship between the real and the imagined, which storytellers use in order to change their audience’s perspective of architecture, is not only well executed in the images produced by the three Architects and entries of the Blank Space competition. For instance, the ‘Fairy tales: When Architecture Tells A Story’ competition. As summarised by thier competition juror Juer gen Mayer, “Each entrant brought their own perspective... that creates an inclusive conver sationabout the role of architecture from its multitude of influences, characters, ideas and experiences.”70

Here, Mayer confirms that fairy tale imagery is a chal56

lenging medium for designers and [or] architects that can fixated its viewers and ultimately express its concerns According to Pallasma’s theory, these would be considered to be ‘embodied existential metaphors.’71 The negotiation between the real and the fiction, the material and the spiritual, and the spaces in between, which inform the narrative’s plot and themes, are embodied inthe chosen architect’s choice to set the fictional universe within the context of the present day and regarding worldwide issues. Perhaps, it is a suggestion that fiction is nearby (but out of reach), with imagery that combines both environments in such a way that is seductive and feels authentic. There is plenty to learn about in terms of the direction in which, architecture is taking, and how it can engage the public in its concerns and objectives. Challenging architects to create visionary narrative has proven to harnesses the power of communication.

NOTES

67 Design, Leven Betts, and Full Bio, Leven Betts (Places Journal, 2011), <https://placesjournal.org/article/fairy-talearchitecture-jack-and-the-beanstalk/> [accessed 10 August 2015].

Matthew Hoffman and Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman, Fairy tales: When architecture tells a story ([n.p.]: [n.pub.], 2015). Vol 2 p. 7.

69 Nathaniel Coleman, Utopias and Architecture (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2005). p. 168. Ibid., p. 168.

Matthew Hoffman and Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman, Fairy tales: When architecture tells a story ([n.p.]: [n.pub.], 2015). Vol 2 p. 7 70

71 Juhani Pallasmaa, The embodied image: Imagination and imagery in architecture (paperback) (United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, United Kingdom, 2011) p. 106

APPENDIX 1

Email Interview from Andrew Bernheimer – on 01/11/2015 [Tanatswa Borerwe] What led you to start the fairy tale series? For my research I am interested to find out why architects explore this utopian fantasy? Or is there a particular method you used to narrate these spaces? [Andrew Bernheimer] We engaged this project during the Great Recession. I had a lot of free time, and my sister and I had spoken about collaborating on a project; her expertise is in the realm of fairy tales, as both a scholar/academic and as a creative writer. As an architect I had thought it interesting to explore literary space, how one interprets the spaces of stories into delineated images. So the project presented itself as a clear chance to work together. [T.B] Did you use a set of rules when designing these structure? If so what where your influences?

[A.B] This was drawn from the location of the Grimm Brothers’ upbringing. The story of the dam bombing from WW2 is based on a battle that took place in the region of their birth, and so the concept of a boy learning what fear became the basis for writing our own version of the story, where a young soldier stationed at the dam experience deep fear, at the time of the attack. The drawings describe the space and motion of the bombing and of the explosions and relate to the language of the story itself. [T.B] Therefore, do you have any examples of Grimm Brother stories that demonstrate fear? Or hope? [A.B] I don’t know much about other Grimm Brothers’ stories other than the two that I illustrated. My sister surely knows a lot more!

[A.B] There were no rules at all – every story simply requires the architect to envision the space of the story. Sometimes this manifests itself as conventional “architectural” space, and other times it has been abstractions of space, and in other cases the process interrogates what it means to draw. There are not restrictions/limitations, only a charge to draw “space”. [T.B] What are the key elements of your visionary narrative? [A.B] Per the above question, since there are no rules it is up to the individual architect to determine which spaces or conditions described in the story offer a meaningful opportunity to draw that space, to interpret the author’s description in two or three-

dimensional images.

[T.B] Reading your Halloween Edition about The Boy Who Set Forth to Learn What Fear Was How did you decide on the location of where the story unfolds?

[T.B] How does your Fairy tale series educate / teach / inform / narrate your real life concerns to a wider audience than architects and designers? [A.B] I hope that the series challenges architects to contemplate the spaces of stories – not just fairy tales. And pursuing this series has also challenged me to think about the making of drawings, the methods by which we represent design. This is the case for both conceptual projects as well as “real” projects for clients. We tell stories with our drawings, just as authors tell stories with their words. We have used this series to catalyze thought about how stories, their spaces, and our drawings act as narrative tools. [T.L.B] Reading through your series, I discovered that most fairy tales chosen present a notion of fear and are from the Grimm Brother collection. Was this done deliberately? [A.B] A question for my sister – who does most of the curating. I expect that there is some intent!

imaginative realm of architecture.’

[T.B] In addition, especially asking Kate, is there any literature or extra reading I can refer to, in order to educate myself in this type of architecture. I am honoured that you have taken the time to help me. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind Regards, Tanatswa Lesley Borerwe,

Email Interview with Kate Bernheimer on 15/11/2015 [T.B] Do you have any examples of Grimm Brother stories that demonstrate fear? Or hope? [K.B] There are so many fairy tales by The Brothers Grimm that have the effect of hope and fear, it is difficult to list only a few examples. But I’ll try to narrow it down for you. Certainly many fairy tales contain themes of primal fear and desire (“hope” is kind of desire). First, in broad strokes, countless international fairy tales — not just by The Brothers Grimm, but from thousands of authors over centuries all around the world — have plots of child abandonment, famine, incest, deception, spousal abuse, death, cannibalism, etc. These obviously point to the theme of “fear,” it could be said! As to “hope,” one can look to the determined heroes of fairy tales for indication of that — say, a girl who, despite being horribly mistreated, continues to treat others kindly and to work hard. She contains a kind of trust that “goodness” is worthwhile. I would call that hopeful. And there are so many fairy tales where the main character does precisely that: act right in the face of others’ wrongdoings. Those characters who are weak but overcome the strong also represent a kind of “hope,” it could be said. Specifically, some examples from The Brothers Grimm now.

You could look at “Hansel and Gretel” for themes of both hope and fear. The brother and sister in this iconic story — which appears in variations worldwide, but is breathtakingly rendered by The Brothers Grimm (look at translations by Maria Tatar and Jack Zipes) — are abandoned by their biological parents in the woods in a time of famine. The parents decide they must send the children out to the woods, because otherwise they all will starve; the parents choose to save themselves. Bruno Bettelheim pointed to this story as one of the most frightening of all; what child does not, consciously or unconsciously, fear being left alone? Yet the children do not sit in the woods and cry and starve. They set forth, stumbling across a witch’s cottage — where they are threatened with but cleverly escape narrow death. Then they return home, and are reunited with their father. (The mother, who instigated their abandonment in the Grimms’ version, has conveniently died.) We could say the children have “hope,” but the authors do not refer to hope. I prefer to say that this fairy tale’s plot depends on the children’s resilience. It takes resilience to face terrible problems. It does not necessarily take hope (if that makes sense). Another example of a story by The Brothers Grimm that refers to “hope” is “Rumpelstiltskin.” The little guy really wants a child. He makes a bargain with a pregnant woman that he can have her baby when it is born, unless she can guess his unusual name. When the baby is born, the woman tricks Rumpelstiltskin by sending spies to his campsite, where they overhear him dancing around a bonfire, deliriously happy he’ll finally have the baby he wants — and the song he’s singing in his happiness contains reference to his own name. So the woman “guesses” his name correctly, and he does not get the baby. He’s been tricked. He hoped for the baby — but his hope is not met. So this is a good example of an “unusual” tale vis-a-vis hope and it’s one of my favourites for that reason. He’s painted as a villain, but he’s a really hopeful figure — a hopeful adoptive father, I think, though some readers muse that maybe he wants a child so he can eat it. The authors don’t say that at all. As to fear, “The Boy Who Set Forth to Learn What Fear Was” is seriously the most emblematic example though there are many fairy tales by The Brothers Grimm that have fear in them. [T.L.B] How does your Fairy tale series educate / teach / inform more about architecture in general? [K.B] I hope that the series challenges architects to contemplate the spaces of stories – not just fairy tales.

And pursuing this series has also challenged me to think about the making of drawings, the methods by which we represent design. This is the case for both conceptual projects as well as “real” projects for clients. We tell stories with our drawings, just as authors tell stories with their words. We have used this series to catalyse thought about how stories, their spaces, and our drawings act as narrative tools.

[T.B] Reading through your series, I discovered that most fairy tales chosen present a notion of fear and are from the Grimm Brother collection. Was this done deliberately?

[K.B] As a fiction writer, when I write my own stories, I often write about things that scare me. This is a way to face my fears, you could say, but maybe it’s also just an obsession. So much of human life is about fear, and if we deny fear, how can we also experience the great consolation of safety? My life as a childhood reader may have had a similar function — I always feel secure when I am reading a book that I love, as the world disappears. So to get to your question it’s entirely possible that when an architect or designer asked me to recommend a fairy tale to them, I went to fairy tales with an element of horror to them. More than fear, I’d say horror or dread. In “The Little Matchstick Girl” by Hans Christian Andersen — her fear is of not selling matches, not of dying, which is interesting, though she dies of cold at the end. But the story has the feeling of dread. You know her fate isn’t good. But there are also stories I assigned that have a lightness to them, I think. “The Snow Child” (a Russian tale) has some beautiful imagery — even though the child does melt — perish — she has a gloriously happy, short life with her parents, and is a spectacular vision, joyously playing with friends on her last day. When I read and love a fairy tale, I’m drawn to its poetic qualities. It is through the language and images that I select tales for participating architects, rather than through the emotions, that is. I’m looking for structural elements that I think will inspire designs. These could be phrases, images, landscapes, and so forth. But it’s true that the fairy tales I choose often have a sad quality to them. Still, others such as Borges’s “The Library of Babel” is a highly intellectual, philosophical, architectural story. I try to vary the type as much as possible — when we started, I leant toward The Brothers Grimm and other stories lots of readers might recognize, but definitely wanted lots of diverse selections over time, and I’m happy that we do.

[T.B] I am hoping that these questions will help me hand pick a Grimm Brother fairy tale and curate series of images that explore the relationship ‘between the domestic structure of fairy tales and the imaginative realm of architecture.’ In addition, especially asking Kate, is there any literature or extra reading I can refer to, in order to educate myself in this type of architecture. I am honoured that you have taken the time to help me. I look forward to hearing from you. I know of no other fairy-tale writers who have written about fairytale architecture besides myself, to be honest, which is exactly why I wanted to do this project! But as to fairy-tale history, a fabulous place to look as Maria Tatar’s The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales and her delightful collection The Grimm Reader which has “notes” at the end of each story. Her Norton Classic Fairy Tales is also fantastic.

* Email interview with Architects at Leven Betts on 09/11/2015 Hello Tanatswa

[L.B] Thanks for your note. Great dissertation. We had a blast spatializing the fairly-tale of Jack in the Beanstalk. We thought if the beanstalk as an infrastructure and the hen who laid the golden egg as a machine. The challenges were the usual one associated with creating images that align with narratives - just like architecture. We did what we do: iterate until we’re satisfied that the image tells the story.

Enjoy!

David

LEVENBETTS

APPENDIX 2 Type of ‘imagery’ analysis

Description of the intended ‘Visionary Narrative’ from each Architect

Architect One:

Architect Two:

Architect Three:

The Boy Who Set Forth to Learn What Fear Was by Bernheimer Architecture

Jack and The Beanstalk by Leven Betts Architecture

The Library of Babel by The Little Match Girl by BerRice+Lipka Architecture nheimer Architecture

“We thought if the beanstalk as an infrastructure and the hen who laid the golden egg as a machine. The challenges were the usual one associated with creating images that align with narratives – just like architecture.“

“We took care not to veer from specific descriptions of the spaces”.

Site specific

Images produced in response to America’s Great Recession and used to reflect and communicate real life issues of the recession.

Images that The commanding image of a politi‘dictate and cal background by placing the charcondition’ acter on a post War site. Pallasmaa in his book ‘The Embodied Image’

n/a

Images that ‘emancipate and inspire’

The images “open sup, fortifies and liberates by means of strengthening personal imagination, emotion and effect”7

n/a

For instance, they imagined the scale of the individual unit or unit cluster so that it is easy to imagine

n/a

Illusion is the main concept of the tale from the perspective of the architecture firm. Therefore, they used imagery that ‘conditions’ people’s perspectives of the story by messing around with scale, objects, gravity. Refer back to section 3.4 for image.

Architect Four:

Bernheimer Architecture “illuminates this story with images that are heart-breaking and strange. Their Little Match Girl suffers, dejected, Lost in her domestic hallucinations, the girl’s dreams of the mundane luxuries wondrously illuminate the cold when she imagines every time she lights.” -

Close up images of material and human scale through photography.

“The drawings are images of the elements of the story photographed through the distorted surfaces of ice sheets” (Bernheimer,

“the sadness. While the story poses the death of the child as a release, a new freedom and salvation, I see it only as the death of an abused child, a wasted life. So the sadness was a huge blockage. Therefore, they purposely produced images that ‘condition’ sadness through materials and perspectives

The images “open sup, fortifies and liberates by means of strengthening personal imagination, emotion and effect”8

Figure 12 ‘Checklist Matrix’ Data table showing interview answers against the principles of two types of ‘imagery’ as escribed by Juhani Pallasmaa.

https://placesjournal.org/article/fairy-tale-architecture-halloween-edition/

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig 1 We can do it!, in Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Do_It!> [accessed 21 July 2016]. Fig 2 ‘The imminence of Poetics’ 30th São Paulo biennial (2012), <http://www.art-agenda.com/ reviews/the-30th-sao-paulo-biennial/> [accessed 21 July 2016]. Fig 3 L’Homme au Chapeau Melon, Rene Magritte paintings (1967), <http://rene-magritte-paintings. blogspot.co.uk/2007/08/son-of-man-1964.html> [accessed 21 July 2016]. Fig 4 Design, Bernheimer Architecture, and Full Bio, Andrew Bernheimer (Places Journal, 2012), <https://placesjournal.org/article/fairy-tale-architecture-halloween-edition/> [accessed 10 August 2015]. Fig 5 Design, Bernheimer Architecture, and Full Bio, Andrew Bernheimer (Places Journal, 2012), <https://placesjournal.org/article/fairy-tale-architecture-halloween-edition/> [accessed 10 August 2015].

Fig 7 Design, Bernheimer Architecture, and Full Bio, Andrew Bernheimer (Places Journal, 2012), <https://placesjournal.org/article/fairy-tale-architecture-the-little-match-girl/> [accessed 10 August 2015]. Fig 8 Design, Leven Betts, and Full Bio, Leven Betts (Places Journal, 2011), <https://placesjournal. org/article/fairy-tale-architecture-jack-and-thebeanstalk/> [accessed 10 August 2015]. Fig 9 Design, Leven Betts, and Full Bio, Leven Betts (Places Journal, 2011), <https://placesjournal. org/article/fairy-tale-architecture-jack-and-thebeanstalk/> [accessed 10 August 2015]. Fig 10 Design and Full Bio, Rice+Lipka architects (Places Journal, 2013), <https://placesjournal.org/ article/fairy-tale-architecture-the-library-of-babel/> [accessed 10 August 2015]. Fig 11 Design and Full Bio, Rice+Lipka architects (Places Journal, 2013), <https://placesjournal.org/ article/fairy-tale-architecture-the-library-of-babel/> [accessed 10 August 2015].

Fig 6 Design, Bernheimer Architecture, and Full Bio, Andrew Bernheimer (Places Journal, 2012), <https://placesjournal.org/article/fairy-tale-architecture-the-little-match-girl/> [accessed 10 August 2015].

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