Memento Mori-Wall Eternal: A Monument to the City by Kim Võ

The University of Melbourne Master of Architecture Studio C 2021

MEMENTO MORIWALL ETERNAL -A Monument to the City

Project by Sichong SHAN As part of Studio 22 - Capriccio, Folly, City Tutors: Kim Vo + Richen Jin

TABLE OF CONTENTS The Site

The New City

Appendix 1 - Cappricio + Folly Appendix 2 - Diary Bibliography

26 49 102

THE SITE Cementerio de San Cataldo, Modena, Italy San Cataldo Cemetery (Cementerio de San Cataldo) is designed by Aldo Rossi in Modena, Italy, as an extension of the 19th century gothic cemetery next door. Rossi took fragments of formal composition found within the gothic cemetery, transforming, and reducing specific elements, however the cemetery was never completed as only half of the cemetary is currently constructed. The two cemeteries are selfcontained, surrounded by high walls and large empty fields on all sides, clearly distinguish them apart from the town of Modena in the distance. To Rossi, monument and memory are fundamental to his style. as Rossi’s forms are composed of repeated recognisable types, simple and unornate, to allow people to easily connect through collective memory. Rossi's idea of “Form follows memory”, is most evident in cemeteries, a place of where the memories of the living and the dead connects. In addition, the idea of memory is amplified through the contrast between the Rossi's form (simple & unornate), and the form of gothic cemetery (classical & ornated). Familiar yet strange, the contrast in form creates a confrontation between the old and new. (the familiar and the strange) 6

SECTION OF THE UNCOMPLETED CEMETERY

PLAN OF THE UNCOMPLETED CEMETERY 7

THE NEW CITY WALL ETERNAL INTRO- ETERNAL WALLS The proposal rethinks the new city as a collective artwork, with architecture being as its decorative frame, which is in itself monumental. However true monumentality lies in the history, the collective memory of its inhabitants, what the architecture is trying to frame. Therefore, the city become a sequence of these artwork, like an art gallery, with the previous acting as predecessor for the next, one framing the next, a link from one monument to the next, mimicking how memory works, from one point to the next.

ACT I – REPOSITORY OF HISTORY (FORM) The confrontation between the old and new form of the Rossi cemetery and the gothic cemetery next door is amplified through the repetition of contrasting form. Inspired and reinterpreted from the form of the city of Modena and Roman column formation found in the gothic cemetery to create the experience of the familiar yet strange. The form allows the new architecture to become a repository of the history of the city. ACT II – COLLECTIVE MEMORY (FUNCTION) The new city sees the world as a stage of life, and as inhabitants we can choose to be the actor or the observer. Actor - Enfilade of architecture spaces directed by the axis act as a progressive stage to frames views & control and direct movements thus create collective memory, the result is a city of pilgrimage from birth, death to transcendence. Observer – the hierarchy of corridors creates a frame within frame (similar to those in the theatre) We are watching the act from inside the wall (auditorium) while being watched by people from outside the wall (upper auditorium) As being watched is part of the stage, constitute to the act as well. ACT III – THE CYCLE OF LIFE (EVENT) In the new city, past, present and future are merged to create a timeless totality. The city celebrates every arrival, as its griefs every departure. The collective ritual of life and death constitutes and defines this city for both the living and the dead. ACT IV - TRANSCENDENCE We all live inside the collective artwork we call the city, transcending time, as we are living both in the presence of history and in wonder of what the future holds. The frame that is architecture becomes the urban artifact, a repository of history (form), through collective memory (Event). The city act as a silent watchman, witnessing the cycle of life and death, and carry on this collective memory that is the identity of the city. ACT V – IMMORTAL GOD The city as an accumulation of memory, overseer of past, present and future, a confrontation of life and death. The new city does not live for itself, but gives life to others as its meaning transforms, Therefore, as long as the walls are standing, the city stays eternal. 9

APPENDIX 1- CAPRICCIO + FOLLY

CAPRICCIO 1- MEGALOPOLIS - A Rem Koolhass Capriccio

Background Projects: Parc del la Villette, Koepel Panopticon Prison, Zeebrugge Sea Terminal 27

Precedant Cappricio: Piranesi, 1750-Parte di ampio magnifico Porto

The concept of the capriccio is Megalopolis, a city of accumulation and congestion. Like portrayed in the precedent capriccio, city is an accumulation, a build-up of layers and layers of human history and experiences on top of each other. In the city everything is different and acts autonomously, but the experiences are connected and modified through the proximity of the others, In this capriccio, the intersection of Parc’s vertical axis and horizontal strips with the panopticon obliterating the central "eye", turning it into a communal circulation central. The Sea Terminal's connection with Panopticon superimposes another layer of circulation and function above the existing Parc, continuing the horizontal bands across the site vertically, through the floors of the tower, creating a visual representation of the city's history, As time goes by, layers are added, cities transformed, the forms and activities changes, however the memory remains. Therefore, the ideal city is both old and new. It is that complexity of the juxtaposition of different forms which creates the city, a dramatic megalopolis of accumulation and congestion. 28

CAPRICCIO 2- A CITY WHERE MEMORIES REIGN SUPREME - An Aldo Rossi Capriccio

Background Projects: San Cataldo Cemetery, Teatro del Mondo, Une Torre 30

Precedant Cappricio: Piranesi, 1750-Ancient School built according to the Egyptian and Greek manners To Rossi, monument and memory are fundamental to his style, Rossi’s forms are composed of repeated recognisable types, simple and unornate, to allow people to easily connect through collective memory. In the cemetery’s case, Rossi took fragments of formal composition found within the gothic cemeter y next door, transforming and reducing elements. In Theatre’s case, the form is recalling the characteristics of the floating theatre and lighthouse in Venice in the 18th century. To Rossi it is almost like “Form follows memory”, and the idea of memory is most evident in cemeteries, a place of where the memories of the living and the dead connects, that is why I have chosen the cemetery as the site. The theme of Rossi’s cemetery is memory and oblivion, forgetting and remembering. However, the emptiness of Rossi’s cemetery gives an almost haunting and melancholy atmosphere, from the absence of roof, window and doors and the rib Like ossuary, signifying the absence of inhabitants, creating a city of the dead. I want to add on to that, death should not be portrayed as empty and as pessimistic as Rossi does, but a meaningful destination, a grand finale to a life worthy of celebration. 31

Isle of the Dead: "Basel" version, 1880 Therefore, I want to portray an atmospheric journey of forgetting and remembering, rather than a typical city of the dead. As Rossi believes “the city is the locus of the collective memory.” Therefore, to traverse through the city should be a link from one monument to next, mimicking how memory work, from one point to the other. In this capriccio, the link would be from the point of living to the point of the departed. I take the isle of the dead painting as inspiration, aim to create a "stairway to heaven". The rib like ossuary is transformed in to the metaphorical “sea”, the difference in levels represents the waves, the staircase. The Theatre will act as “houses of light” on water, as the traveller traverse through the cemetery on the metaphorical wooden ships and gondolas, they act as the guiding light that points the way, create almost a theatrical experience, similar to that in the Isle of the Dead painting. While the Une Torre act as “the final destination”, the stairway to the other side for the ones departing, and act as a gigantic monument for the ones who are left behind. Like people, the city too remembers its past. However, the modern cities are dictated by commercial billboards, the ideal city should be remembered as a monument for the memories, gone but not forgotten, a city where memories reign supreme. 32

FOLLY 1- MEMORIES ETERNAL Time elapses, Space distorts, Structure decays, As everything turns into dust, There is one thing that will always remain constant, Memories, We never truly forget; we just cannot remember...

Quote: "To live outside time, detached..." - A Miserable Life 34

The form is inspired by Aldo Rossi’s approach to form, simplifying the gothic elements to create visual memory, a reference to the gothic cemetery next door. Taking Key words from quote, to live outside time, and detached. Creating architecture that transcends time and space. A parabolic connection from the point of living to the point of the dead, which acts as the asymptote, the point we can never reach as living being, the final destination. As people approaches that asymptote, time and space starts to distort, as they gradually get detach from this world, into a world of concepts and memories. As time passes, the structure decays, represented by the increase in perforation of the facade as people pass through, Space distorts, represented by the turning of the outer walls, and the falling of the cross. However, there is the one thing that remain constant, the gate structure in the centre, a reference to the Japanese torri gate, which represents a transition from mundane to sacred. They represent the memories which will always remain constant. Therefore, For the dead, it will be a journey of transcendence, transcending through time and space, through the thresholds of life and death, towards the other-side.For the living, it will be a journey of reassurance, that the memories of the loved ones will forever remain in ones hearts, never decay, never distorts. 35

FOLLY 2- HELIOS The Sunrise marks the birth of a new dawn, As harps of angels play the song of departure, The ark of lights set sail towards the distant horizon. Life goes on, and Grief will be no more, In that perfect harmony, through the pillars of light, ascending towards the palace of eternity...

Quote: "To live outside of passion, beyond emotions...In that harmony you find in completed artworks... in that enchanted order..." - A Miserable Life 39

If in shadows, we reflect, In light, we connect. The second folly is called Helios, inspired from the sun god in Greek mythology. Creating a collective experience focusing on light, reflection, and projection. To create the ark of light "Live outside passion beyond emotion", Interpret as the end of mourning, the act of letting go. "In that harmony find in completed artworks", Interpret as a representation of the atmospheric, artistic nature of the departure. "In that enchanted order..." Interpret as the destination, in this case the other side. Form is focusing on the Une Torre, and consists of three main elements. The sun disk at the back projects the movement of the actual sun, form is inspired by the ancient Egyptian sun disk, believed as the creator, giver of life, and nurturing spirit of the world. The cords of the harp, acting as the buttress to the tower, With Metal materiality, reflects sunlight, like the pillars of light, in the form of embrace. And the ark disembarks into the light. The cord at top represents the sail of the ark. The folly divides The Une Torre’s form according to experience into three stages. First stage - The pillars of light connected to the tower at one end and each of the ossuary at the other end. Represents the experience of the departed together travelling through a dynamic bridge of light which is always changing according to the different angles of the sun. This represents leaving the physical body behind, while the spiritual body traverse through the metaphorical light bridge. Second stage - The ark located where the light converges. With sails of light, boarding the spirits of the deceased, departing into the horizon. Third stage - As the tower is orientated towards the north, the sun disk acts as a veil, projecting the actual sun’s movement at the south, symbolise the giver of a new life after death, a new beginning to a new world. 40

FOLLY 3- MANJUSAKA HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH the lanterns ascending higher and higher, carry the wishes of living, The candlelight flickers in the cold night , Fragile yet beautiful, Like the fire that burn through darkness, death shall be no more, If you are willing to look up into the starlit sky, You will find that Heaven is a place on earth.

Quote: "Somethings at night this darkness, this silence, weighs on me. Peace frightens me... To me it seems that it’s only an outer shell and that hell is hiding behind it..." - A Miserable Life “The world will be wonderful,” they say…From what print of view? When a phone call can announce the end of the world.” - A Miserable Life 44

The final folly is called Manjusaka, heaven is a place on earth, The name Manjusaka is inspired from the Red spider lily; a flower believed to bloom around the forgotten river, the river of the dead, connecting past to present, living to dead. And this is just what the final folly is about, a ceremony of connection, breaking down the boundary between the living and dead, bring heaven down to earth. The Interpretation of the quote is that: The darkness, silence interpret as the setting of the typical cemetery. Just the thought of death weighs on people, it gives a melancholy, haunting effect, like the one portrayed by Aldo Rossi. “Peace is only the outer shell; and hell is hiding behind”. Like a deathly silence, Cemeteries frightens people on what is hidden behind, the deaths, the decay. “The world will be wonderful, when a phone call can announce the end of the world”. Interpret as the fragility of life, and usually, cemeteries are places which remind us of it. And “From what point of view?” People fear death and decay as it reminds us of the fragility of life, however from another point of view, the fragility, the finite of life is what makes it beautiful, and worth treasuring. This folly will become a reassurance of gone but not forgotten memories, a grand finale to a life worthy of celebration, a festival for both the living and the dead, In the form of a ritual connecting past, present, and future. Past - Gothic element of Arch and the lighthouse, represents the hard engraved memories. Present- As the structure light up from inside, looks like a spider lily blooming in darkness, as the meaning of the flower suggests, linking past to present, Bring back memories of loved ones. In this time, People come together in cemetery, Form Connection, Remember the dead, Waiting for them to come home. Similar to the Mexican tradition day of the dead Future - Top of structure formed like an oferenda, An altar to connect living and dead, Taking inspiration from the Chinese Sky lantern, People put wishes into lantern, Signifies putting hopes on tomorrow. And life goes on. 45

APPENDIX 2- DIARY

THE CITY FORM Modena, Italy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modena.

Modena is a city in I taly ’s EmiliaRomagna region. It’s known for its balsamic vinegar and opera heritage, plus Ferrari and Lamborghini sports cars. The Enzo Ferrari Museum has exhibits on the life and work of the car designer, in his childhood home, plus iconic models in a futuristic building. In the 18th-century Museum Palace is the Estense Gallery, with works by Tintoretto and Correggio.

City Landscape 51

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modena.

Modena Church, The centre of city 52

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modena.

Torre Ghirlandina, the symbol of city 53

https://montecristomagazine.com/magazine/spring-2014/modena-italy

Ducal Palace, The Military Centre 54

THE SITE Cementerio de San Cataldo, Modena, Italy

https://www.uncubemagazine.com/blog/16269531.

San Cataldo cemetery is made up of two very different areas. The first was built in the 19th century by Cesare Costa; the second one was projected in 1971 by the famous architect Aldo Rossi. 56

https://www.uncubemagazine.com/blog/16269531.

The XIX-century part is rectangular, characterized by a Doric four-sided portico with tympanums and niches. 57

https://www.uncubemagazine.com/blog/16269531.

The Madonna del Murazzo church Outside of the cemetery is in gothic style and has a high bell tower. 58

PERIPHERY City Boundary, Walls & Intersection of Walls “… because any architectural figure be understood as an assembly of parts, and every ground understood as the relationship between the parts, we can the city as a unified object - an aggregated object.” (Trummer 2013)

TEXT: The City as an Object: Thoughts on The Form of the City, Trummer 2013 59

“I define four kinds of city-objects: the city as a circle, the city as a grid, the city as archipelago, and the city as a solid.” (Trummer 2013)

“Reading the circular city as an object would mean that figurative common spaces are nested within an aggregation of inhabited buildings." (Trummer 2013)

“The grid without particular boundary. logic was the potentially equal form of circulation sub dividing the territor y into identical square blocks of habitation. the city as a political form disappeared. The grid city became the model for the capitalist, or postliberal city.." (Trummer 2013)

“...the architectural figure can be understood as an agglomeration of inhabitable cells. .." (Trummer 2013)

The city as a solid was reinforced by Rem Koolhaas's idea of bigness. The cit y as a solid becomes a pure architectural figure with no relationship to its ground.

“In the city as an aggregated object, every building provides the access, the construction, and the ground for the next building.” (Trummer 2013)

PERIPHERY Size of City, Walking & Driving & Railing City

Walking City 1-2km

Driving City / Old vs New / Expansion of Suburbs 67

Railing City / Express Connections

Combined 68

PRECEDANTS “Rossi defines the city as a man-made object, an urban artifact that, as a work of ar t, goes beyond the individual's experience of a building, street, or district. What lies behind any urban or architectural artifact, he writes, is a constant: something permanent or typical, something much deeper, namely, a type that explains the essence of the object.” (Trummer 2013)

Architecture of the city/ Aldo Rossi

A Field of Walls/ Dogma

RESEARCH & ITERATION VER.1

“… C i t y a s a c o m p l e x organism…” “O ne cannot plan cities if one does not believe in life.” (Giedion, 1952)

Landmarks Shrines - Destination of pilgrimage Road Linkage - “Make the whole of Rome into ‘a single holy shrine”. Nodes Obelisks – “the most important squares would develop”, “the confluence of main streets” Squares - Social implementation, inverse (void) landmark TEXT: Sixtus V and the Planning of Baroque Rome, Giedion, 1952 72

Walls “i m a gi ne a c i t y i n whi c h the basic datum is not the apparatus of circulation but rather form and limits.” City of Walls - “...Movement is liberated from the predetermined trajectories of streets.” “… D e f i n e s c l e a r l i m i t s , while leaving the rest undetermined.” Aquaducts - Form parts of a unified structure rather than a group of separate building. "The physicality of the aqueducts dictates the urban form and represents a visible struc ture of the city, demonstrating a clear alternative settlement principle.” TEXT: Field of Wall-Dogma 11 Projects 73

Node / Landmarks

Edges / Boundaries 74

First iteration testing different ideas & the grided layout

RESEARCH Aldo Rossi - Form Follows Memory

Rossi describes the architecture of the city with two different meanings; first, the city is seen as a gigantic man-made object, growing over time; second, as urban artifacts characterized by their own history and form. These two aspects relate to the quality and uniqueness of the urban artifact. In this sense, urban artifacts are superior to newly constructed buildings in terms of historic richness. However, the quality and uniqueness of urban artifacts are derived not only from their form which was developed in both time and space, but also from their characteristics as works of art. According to Rossi, the urban artifact as a work of art intimately relates to a specific place, event and form in the city. For Rossi, the city is a totality, in other words, all urban artifacts and the city are a collective. Hence, concerning the urban artifact in its totality, this gives us a complete picture of the city. Chapter One: The structure of urban artifacts Rossi underlines that the value of the city and the urban artifact is estimable not by their functions but by their permanent forms, since the form of the city is closely bound up with time of the city, while the functions are changeable and can be lost over time. Chapter Two: Primary Elements and the Concept of Area For Rossi, proper understanding of a part of the city could be derived from overall aspects such as psychology, linguistics, geography, history, and their relationships. The author announces that there is an unbreakable connection between the urban history and its geography since entire parts of the city specifically indicate their own form, their own way of life and the trace of their memories, and in turn it raises the concept of the locus. In this respect, all the cities have their own individuality, derived from a specific destiny and a life of each urban artifact, and furthermore urban artifacts and primary elements participate in the process of evolution of the city. Chapter Three: The Individuality of Urban Artifacts; Architecture According to Rossi, the locus is a relationship between a certain location and the buildings within it. From this view, the entire urban artifact acquires its singularity from its locus. * In this way, the form of the architecture in the city is revealed in its various monuments, and each of the monuments shows us the sequence of the city and finally, it shows us the history of the city. Chapter Four: The Evolution of Urban Artifacts Since the city chooses its own image by its political institution, the sign of citizenry’s will, Rossi considers politics as problems of choice. In addition, he says that politics reveals its own semblance in the urban artifacts when we consider everything in the city as a sign of the city’s progress. WEBSITE: http://architectureandurbanism.blogspot.com/2012/06/aldo-rossi-architecture-of-city-1966.html 77

FORMAL STRATEGY – urban artifact -City growing over time -Urban artifacts characterized by their own history and form -Locus, Memory, history, and event as definition of urban artifact.

WEBSITE: https://berilderensimsek.wordpress.com/2019/11/24/the-architecture-of-the-city-aldo-rossiindividual-commentary/ 78

REFLECTION & ITERATION VER.2 “In the city as an aggregated object, every building provides the access, the construction, and the ground for the next building.” “the form of the architecture in the city is revealed in its various monuments, and each of the monuments shows us the sequence of the city and finally, it shows us the history of the city.” “A city as a link from one monument to the next.” A CITY OF MEMORIES

DEFINE NEW CITY POSITION STATMENT The ideal city is a city of Never forgetting, the new city should not be built by covering its history and memories as they are what defines the city. The ideal city is a city of evolution, built on to each other, the old will act as support for the new, Without the old there will be no new, a city that will never forget its origins. The ideal city Is a city of Robustness and fragility. Robust as its accumulation of history and Memory, fragile as If the old city crumbles the whole city falls. The ideal city is a city of life and death. Death should not be left forgotten and isolated as in the new city Each day will be an appreciation of life, and a remembrance on death. The ideal city is a city of eternity. We are creating history as we live, the lives of the people are the identity of the city, and that should live on for eternity in the city. WALLS Walls as boundary (A field of walls) One essence of wall as define inside and outside. defines boundary, while leaving everything inside undetermined Walls as experience The placement of walls (distance) defines experience of the In between. Walls as history Layering of walls build on each other represents the city’s evolution. Walls as monument The function of wall (column) is to support structure. Walls each supporting each other informs the fragility vs monumentality. Wall as transition A Horizontal displacement of vertical experience

A crude attempt at trying to understand the grid of the city through precedent study of “A field of Walls” 81

RESEARCH Encyclopedia Ichnographica On Rossi “There are, in the city, urban facts which are permanent, that withstand the passage of time; these urban facts are the monuments that, in one way or another, constitute or make up and configure the city. The monument therefore has more than an intelligible and atmospheric value, it is not only architecture as anecdote, as the picturesque, but it gives meaning to the life of the city which, through these monuments, both remembers the past and uses 'its memory.'" (Quondam, undate) "This collective nature explains the value of history: "the city is a repository of history." (Quondam, undate)

WEBSITE: https://www.quondam.com/e25/2589.htm 82

Piranesi ichnographica campo marzio “It is through his plan of the city of Rome that Piranesi writes (and/or rights) the history of Rome itself. Through the Ichnographia Piranesi re-enacts the history of the city.”

“Rossi, who knew this Piranesi work perfectly well (a fragment of it appears in Rossi's drawing The Analogous City, 1976), has lifted Piranesi's vision of an Imperial ancient city of the dead within the context of late-antiquity Rome, and placed it in the middle of a 19th-century cemetery plan." --Eugene J. Johnson, "What Remains of Man--Aldo Rossi's Modena Cemetery" (1982).

Architecture Promenade - Danteum ...the new ideas re: the architectural promenade that developed because of the Danteum. Essentially, the Danteum has the same sequential series of architectural "events" as the formula for the architectural promenade … The Danteum, however, adds the element of a journey from the profane to the sacred…

The Long (Spiritual axis) the Triumphal Way through the Campo Marzio

This sacred precinct generates a lot of energy and force, and the long thoroughfare axis is the greatest manifestation of the force the precinct projected. The fact that the triumphal processional route ends [sic] at the Templum Martis is Piranesi himself telling us that this complex is the most significant / symbolic / sacred place within the entire plan. 85

L i fe a n d D e a t h w i t h i n Pi r a n e s i ' s Ichnographia of the Campo Marzio

… the first axis of life (nympheums) while the second (cross) axis of death (tombs). This all still goes with the notion of these axis being of a scared nature, and, furthermore, it is significant that the life and death axes cross each other at right angles. the cardo, the north-south axis corresponds to the axis of death in the Ichnographia, and traditionally "refers to the axis around which the universe rotates." The Campo Marzio axis of life, the east-west axis, the decumanus, refers to the rising and setting of the sun. 86

RESEARCH Rituals Obstacles and Architecture "...to think of architecture not as form, but as organization, to influence the way lives are lived, an ultimate form of script writing." (Koolhaas, 2004).

TEXT: Tamburelli_2012-Rituals Obstacles and Architecture 87

“This performed religion touched all aspects of life: Romans had a ritual (and a terribly precise one) for every little thing. The correct execution of these rituals was essential…” “For the Roman religion, places were directly linked with rituals, without the mediation of any myth, and so Roman architecture did not need to say anything abut the ceremonies it hosted. There was no narration associated with places – no concept, no figure – only a content, literally something contained inside: gestures contained in space, or contained gestures and containing walls.” In a similar way, Roman architecture hosted actions, but it did not describe them. And it replaced the actions it referred to with new ( formalized) ones. Roman architecture operated as a technique for turning actions into rituals. The relationship between spaces and gestures was immediate but not literal. No explanation was needed. The relationship was just between the form and the gesture; there was no secret meaning, no hidden origin – just a certain gesture performed in a certain place and with a certain form. Formalism came from a desire to turn circumstance into ritual: to frame gestures, to stage events, to give form to actions. Architecture formalized the given. The Romans used construction as a means to ensure the correct repetition of rituals. The religious obligation to repeat complicated ceremonies in precise locations led the Romans to modify those very same places in order to avoid possible mistakes in the performance of future rituals. The interpretation of ritual was thus encoded into the physical organization of the place. By doing this, the Romans invented architecture. Architecture thus emerged as a relatively practical tool for avoiding religious mistakes. In the gloomy atmosphere of ancient Rome, architecture became a technique for the correction of landscape aimed at the precise repetition of ritual gestures: a technique for the repetition of gestures by means of physical constraints, a technique for the control of movement by means of immobility, a science of obstacles. Roman architecture was an attempt to control the future, to make sure that the future would be precisely like the present and the past, and that the equilibrium of the present and the past would be maintained. Roman architecture was explicitly built against the future to reduce possibilities, to prevent mistakes. It was a technology of repetition born from a desire for correct execution. By coupling rituals and places, gestures and spaces, the Romans opened up the possibility, to put it in contemporary terms, of relating space and programme to one another. Places were connected to gestures by means of construction; spaces were used to produce gestures, to enact behaviours. 88

RESEARCH Ritual and Walls The Architecture of Sacred Spaces

TEXT: Ritual and Walls The Architecture of Sacred Space 89

MORTAL GOD “…the city is the sphere in which the sacred reveal itself in all its power…” “…history of religion shows us that the founding of a city was an event in which the evocation of the sacred, as the “totally other, played a fundamental role.” “…which replaces god with a ‘mortal god’ in the form of the state.” (of DEATH) “German jurist Cal Schmitt said that modern political concepts of the state are nothing more than secularised versions of religious concepts.” (Aureli & Giudici 2016, 11) “’The nature passions of men,’ Hobbes says, need a ‘visible power’ – a worldly authority – ‘ to keep them in awe…” (Aureli & Giudici 2016, 12) LIMITS “…religion is form of canonisation of the sacred through the practice of prescribed rituals, that provide the means to experience a revealed truth which cannot be experienced in any natural way.” (Aureli & Giudici 2016, 14) “According to Burkert, religion has historically played a fundamental role in reducing language’s potential; for infinite complexity by providing an orientation for meaning, codifying reality as a series of binary oppositions…” “Within a community, religion thus manifest itself as a limit, an ethical boundary that defines what is, and is not, acceptable.” (Aureli & Giudici 2016, 15) TEMPLE VS EMPTINESS “Temenos, from the Greek temno,’ to cut’. Enclosed a space whose emptiness signified a zone of respect where everyday activities were suspended.” Temno - Templum Originally the temple was not a building but simply a space separated from everything else. (Aureli & Giudici 2016, 16)

RITUAL & GESTURES …Gestures spatialise languages… “Within the ritual, verbal language merges with gestures that both amplify and control its expressive power, raising it from pure logos to a bodily, and thus spatial, expression.” “Rituals… generate a collective consciousness and memory that is immediately spatial.” -Connects to Rossi’s collective memory idea (Aureli & Giudici 2016, 16) “Because of the procession enacted a spatial and temporal sense of orientation, it was a powerful tool to define a collective memory of places, things and events, provided it was repeated often enough.” “Rather than simply defining the boundaries of sacred space (as in the walls of the sanctuary), it serves to orient public action to a specific direction.” “Path…followed a sequence of carefully placed architectural structures…that framed the parade routes.” (Aureli & Giudici 2016, 17)

CASE STUDY - OBJECT “In Sixtus V’s road system, priority is given to the ritual gesture of visiting holy places, rather than mere circulation.” “Sixtus V’s Obelisk exemplify how objects within sacred space are never self-referential, even in their radical singularity, but always point to a sequence which unfolds in a specific direction.”

“… The place Royal in Paris, conceived by Henry IV… a perfectly uniform architecture backdrop framing an empty space… Here no building or institute dominates the square. Unlike sacred spaces, the emptiness of secular spaces appears uncharged by any explicit forces or direction, and yet it is precisely this apparent absence of direction that is the most powerful force at work – the fundamental aporia of secular space.” - The emptiness of Rossi Cemetery “emptiness signified a zone of respect” (Aureli & Giudici 2016, 20)

The church as an isolated monument that gives direction to the surround space. (Aureli & Giudici 2016, 20)

OBJECT & SPACE “Within the sacred, objects are like gestures that foster an explicit response.” (Aureli & Giudici 2016, 20) “… the idea of church as an ecclesia, an assembly, a communion of the faithful.” - Vs the idea of cemeter y as a communion to celebrate life. “Rather than being an institution that forbids, excludes and prevents, power now defines itself as a sovereign force that allows includes and accommodates.” (Aureli & Giudici 2016, 21) DISTANCE & SEPERATION - Separation as power Eg. “Within the space of the basilica the clergy emerges as a clearly recognisable entity separated from the people. “…public space is organised so as to create distance and thus ritualise, choreography and ultimately control a collective body.” - Distance vs problem “…distance may alienate the worshipper from their personal relationship with the sacred, on the other, distance is also a reminder of the origin of the sacred as what lies beyond, what cannot be fully grasped, what cannot be part of the everyday and can only exist as a suspension, a disruptive moment, an event.” (Aureli & Giudici 2016, 22) TIME … “different experiences of time, and the experience of a ‘different time’ was one of the main purposes of a sacred space.” (Aureli & Giudici 2016, 22)

RESEARCH Figures, Doors and Passages If anything is described by an architectural plan, it is the nature of human relationships since the elements whose trace it… are employed first to divide then selectively to re-unite inhabited space. (Evans 1978, 56)

TEXT: Figures, Doors and Passages 1978 95

DOORS Building (City) as accumulation of enclosures… Doors (Gate) “…making the house(city) a matrix of discrete but thoroughly interconnected chambers.” (Evans 1978, 64) PASSAGE “…corridor as a device for removing traffic from rooms…” (Evans 1978, 70) …with the matrix of connected rooms (Enfilade), spaces would tend to be defined and subsequently joined like the pieces of a quilt, whilst with the compartmentalized plan (corridors) the connections would be laid down as a basic structure to which spaces could then be attached like apples to a tree.” (Evans 1978, 78) Refer <A CITY IS NOT A TREE - CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER> CORRIDORS Corridors- “throughfares” … differentiated functions by joining them via a separate distributor. (Evans 1978, 78) …throughfares were able to draw distant rooms closer, but only by disengaging those near at hand.” In facilitating communication, the corridor reducers contact. (… purposeful or necessary communication was facilitated while incidental communication was reduced…) (Evans 1978, 79) ENFILADE The enfilade may be used as a processional route and is a common arrangement in museums and art galleries, as it facilitates the movement of large numbers of people through a building. The layout of the enfilade does this with it's alignment of open doors that draws the eye to the room beyond and beckons us to move from one room to another. (Dimensional Experience)

REFLECTION & ITERATION VER.3 “In the city as an aggregated object, every building provides the access, the construction, and the ground for the next building.” “the form of the architecture in the city is revealed in its various monuments, and each of the monuments shows us the sequence of the city and finally, it shows us the history of the city.” “A city as a link from one monument to the next.”

EVOLUTION OF WALLS 1- Walls as Boundary (A field of walls) “…Defines clear limits, while leaving the rest undetermined.” 2- Walls as Event (Ichnographia Piranesi) The placement of walls frames views & control and direct movements, create events, creating collective memory. 3- Walls as Monument (Aldo Rossi) Walls become urban artifact, a repository of history (form), through collective memory (Event) ARCHITECTURE PROMENADE – IN DESIGN …turn circumstance into ritual: to frame gestures, to stage events, to give form to actions… sequential series of architectural "events" as the formula for the architectural promenade, a journey from the profane to the sacred… RITUALS - AXIS OF LIFE AND DEATH - IN DESIGN the north-south axis - axis of death the east-west axis - axis of life Central Node - point where life and death axes cross each other at right angles. POSITION STATMENT WALL AS FRAME The city is a collective artwork, with architecture being as its decorative frame, which is in itself monumental. However true monumentality lies in the history, the collective memory of its inhabitants, what the architecture is trying to frame, a transition from the mundane to the sacred. ARCHITECTURE PROMENADE The city become a sequence of these artwork, like an art gallery, with the previous acting as predecessor for the next, one framing the next, a link from one monument to the next, mimicking how memory works, from one point to the next. COLLECTIVE MEMORY We all live inside the collective artwork we call the city, transcending time, as we are living both in history and in the future. The frame that is architecture act as a silent watchman, witnessing the cycle of life and death, and carry on this collective memory that is the identity of the city. IN-MORTAL GOD As long as the walls are standing, the city stays eternal. 98

Active Memory (Life) The world is a stage, we can choose to be the actor(folly) or the observer (wall) Actor (enfilade)- Enfilade of architecture spaces (folly) as progressive stage to dictate vent (movement) & create collective memory (dimensional experience), a city of pilgrimage. Observer (corridor) –frame within frame(theatre) Watching the act (inside the wall- auditorium) while being watched (by people from outside the wall- upper auditorium) Being watched as part of the stage, constitute the act as well. History (Passive) Memory (Death) Memory (Action as artwork, with architecture as the decorative frame, overseer of time and memory. The city as a collective of artworks (a series of different interconnected experiences – enfilade) an art gallery. Timelessness (Transcendence) The city as an accumulation of memory, overseer of past, present and future, a confrontation of life and death. Form& confrontation – Rossi form void of decoration- familiar yet strange- timeless Roman formation- stand the test of time – timeless. Confrontation between old and new (familiar & strange) FramePast- memories eternal (void frame) Present- Helios (sun frame) Future- heaven place on earth (activity frame)

Preliminary design of thresholds and framing views 100

101

BIBLIOGRAPHY Aureli, Pier Vittorio, and Martino Tattara. 2012. Dogma. London: AA Publications. Aureli, Pier Vittorio, and Maria Shéhérazade Giudici. 2016. Rituals And Walls. London: Architectural Association. "Bender Statue". 2021. Futurama Wiki. Accessed June 3. https://futurama.fandom.com/wiki/ Bender_Statue. CANNIFFE, EAMONN, EAMONN CANNIFFE, and View profile. 2021. "Aldo Rossi: The Architecture Of The City (1966)". Architectureandurbanism.Blogspot.Com. http://architectureandurbanism. blogspot.com/2012/06/aldo-rossi-architecture-of-city-1966.html. Cera, Diogo. 2021. "The Evil Twin". Uncube Magazine. https://www.uncubemagazine.com/ blog/16269531. Evans, Robin. 1997. Translations From Drawing To Building And Other Essays. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Giedion, S. 1952. Sixtus V And The Planning Of Baroque Rome.

102

Johnson, Eugene J. "What Remains of Man-Aldo Rossi's Modena Cemetery." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 41, no. 1 (1982): 38-54. Accessed June 3, 2021. doi:10.2307/989761. Modena, Italy, and Current Issue. 2021. "Modena, Italy - MONTECRISTO". MONTECRISTO. https:// montecristomagazine.com/magazine/spring-2014/modena-italy. "Modena - Wikipedia". 2021. En.Wikipedia.Org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modena. SimSek, View. 2019. "The Architecture Of The City – Aldo Rossi | Individual Commentary". Beril Deren SimSek. https://berilderensimsek.wordpress.com/2019/11/24/the-architecture-of-thecity-aldo-rossi-individual-commentary/. Tamburelli, Pier Paolo. 2012. RITUALS, OBSTACLES AND ARCHITECTURE (FRAGMENTS OF AN ESSAY I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO WRITE) Pier Paolo. Trummer, Peter. "The City as an Object: Thoughts on The Form of the City." Log, no. 27 (2013): 5157. Accessed June 3, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41765780. "Www.Quondam.Com/E25/2589.Htm". 2021. Quondam.Com. Accessed June 3. https://www. quondam.com/e25/2589.htm. 103