Architectural significance of Travel

This post aims to analyse the value of travel in architectural development and taste using Louis Kahn, an architect who many believed had reached the top of his field as a real world example of the importance of travelling.

Up until around 1950, Louis Kahn’s work had fitted comfortably into the modernist style which was the driving force behind most Architectural firms of the time. This is mainly accredited to the lasting influence of the revolutionary architectural thinkers: Van Der Rohe, Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier to name just three. In 1951, Kahn was invited to work in Rome and travel throughout the ancient world – his experiences during these travels would “change his life”.

The pyramids were perhaps the structures that had the greatest effect on Kahn. He stated that “No pictures can show you their monumental impact”. It’s clear from Kahn’s focus on vivid colour and shadow that he was beginning to view the great structures as vehicles and conveyers of light, rather than just being exposed to light; this brings to mind one of his most famous quotes, “the sun never knew how great it was until it hit the side of a building”. The pyramids set in place Kahn’s respect for historical architecture, allowing him to form ideas of monumentality and permanence that were lacking in the Modernist buildings being created at the time; buildings which he remarked looked “tinny” by comparison.

There is evidence to suggest that Kahn gained his penchant for exhibiting the weight of his buildings from observations he made during his time in Greece and Italy. The Baths of Caracalla were of particular interest to Kahn, as he wondered at man’s nature to go “beyond the functional” in regard to the hundred foot vaulted structure, a design that would have been equally functional at one tenth of the actual height. The Columns sketches created by Kahn show an interest in the power of ancient architecture, highlighting the immensity, permanence, and evident mass of the columns within the Temple Of Apollo.

It’s widely accepted that Kahn’s greatest works were created after his expansive travels; this creates a strong case in favour for architects experiencing as much of the world and historical culture as we can, enriching our world views and design taste.

Architecture and Poetry

There is an interesting intersection between the art of petry and architecture- the atmosphere and feeling of a piece of architecture can be reflected in poetry and description and vice versa. Traditionally both architecture and poetry have been classed as fine arts and so it is not surprising that there has been studies into this relationship. I believe this article gives an interesting insight into this relationship and the debates involved in it:

http://www.theguardian.com/global/2008/oct/21/poetry-architecture-hardy-larkin-betjeman

Artists Influence For The Future

Picking up on where I left my previous post on Eisenman and LeWitt I thought I should elaborate on a couple of things. I didn’t mean to imply that conceptually the work of Eisenman and Lewitt are the same, however i want to focus on the fact that artists influence architects and have done throughout history but not just in a physical and visual way.

Painting by Kasimir Malevich (1915):

Designs by Zaha Hadid for the Media Park, Dusseldorf (c.1990):

conceptually LeWitt and Eisenman are not synonymous. Later in the essay  Eisenman  indicated the idea that if LeWitts grids are ‘only’ mental entities, integers and unrelated forms, LeWitts notions can be considered philosophically naive. However saying that his grids ‘can be’ mental entities, as well as physical, pictorial things changes Eisenmans stance completely. The difference between ‘only’ and ‘can be’ is crucial to understanding the layers of the conceptual in Eisenmans eyes. This is the direction Eisenman takes Sol LeWitts theories on conceptual art and in turn conceptual architecture.

Peter Einseman

Earlier artistis and architects can influence the way in which later architecture is received and appreciated, through the philosophies and architectural theories that they voice. Without LeWitts theories on conceptual architecture the work of Eisenmman would have lost an aspect of its conceptual depth. It is not just the away people of the past inspire us, but about the way in which they push us and our ideas regarding our built environment and the way we approach design.

 

Putting Things In Perspective – Architecture and Painting.

Architecture began in the Renaissance.

For a long time it has been considered that the work of the famous Italian 15th century perspective artists played supplement to the main actors of the revolutionary period.

Paintings such as Carlo Crivelli’s Annunciation challenge this by using the imagined architecture of their images to tell a story, just as architects have done ever since.Their images tell the story through the buildings and begin to reverse space, flexing between interior and exterior. The buildings, the space within and the depth of view became fundamental to the story of the image.

The main shift was that artists were now producing what seemed  real , what the average Italian could look at and believe. inspiring an entire generation to think further and guess as to what was around the corner or in the next room.

A New Perspective

Amanda Lillie of the University of York and Caroline Campbell of the National Gallery − themselves point out “by looking afresh at buildings within paintings, treating them as active protagonists, it becomes clear that they performed a series of crucial roles”.

It made the common peasant think, and imagine new worlds, new cities and new lives. Over time, looking around the corner turned to looking for new corners. Artists such as MC Esher were able to depict new worlds with previously unimaginable geometry and form. The artist can understand space in a way most architects cannot because with one image they must pick the single most significant point to display or show their idea.

More recently, with the emerging breed of architecture, the architect is adopting the role of the artist more than ever. 

We have reached a point through the use of computers where anything can be digitally conceived and with the use of 3D printers, the impossible structure is being proved to be possible.

I feel that the current relationship between art and architecture is one of the most exiting periods for a long time, possibly since the Renaissance. As those first painters did over 500 years ago, we are continually imagining, representing and then conceiving the impossible, over and over and with the rate of digital progress, the speed of this process can only follow an exponential path.

Its amazing to think that a type of paining can completely transform the mentality of an entire civilization and art is still making us think.

Architecture and Sculpture… How Artists Influence Achitects

When Exploring the influence of artists on architects it is almost impossible to ignore the work of sculptures and instructional instillation artists. A perfect example of a sculptor who influenced an architect is seen when considering not only the physical but conceptual nature of the sculptures by Sol Le Witt and the buildings of Peter Eisenman. 

Sol Le Witt Grids

Peter Eisenman Wexner Center for Arts

The conceptual influences Le Witt had on Eisenman is complex to understand. However in the essay ‘Notes on Conceptual Architecture’ Esinman explores in great deal the way in which Sculpture as influenced him.

Eisenman concludes Notes on Conceptual Architecture by comparing the work of Keneth Noland and LeWitt in an architectural framework. Both are basically ‘syntactic’, both have ‘a conceptual attitude’. However, he explores the difference between their works through physicality and code, which he states is ‘useful in an architectural context ’ Noland who’s work Eisenman deems to be spatial and non-coded, uses symbolism through the physicality of his artworks. In this sense there is conceptual as well as perceptual qualities. Contrary to Noland, LeWitt and his Serial grids ‘in an architectonic sense could be called a-spatial or coded’. However Eisenman explains that, ‘LeWitt’s grids have a latent pictorial structure…though their primary aspects are the obverse’. It is never exclusively coded or non-coded, spatial or a-spatial. In these examples of conceptual art and sculpture they are both present but the primary focus differs. This is significant in an architectural context.

 

Architecture and Photography

The module ‘Issues in Architectural History and Theory’ gave us reading on the relationship between the inventions of photography and the relationship it has with architecture.

This relationship was first established in the 1830s when the first cameras were invented. Architecture was more commonly photographed than anything else due to the increasing bourgeoisie interest in travel and the world beyond every day experience. The original relationship was simply as a documentation tool however this has morphed into a fine art today. This process started with the adoption of drawing conventions into photography such as perspectives and the incorporation of photography into the design process- architects could now design new buildings using photography of old ones as references to different historical periods.

Hight Court of Justice, Designed by Le Corbusier and photographed by Lucien Hervé, 1955, Source: http://www.dezeen.com/2014/09/25/barbican-constructing-worlds-photography-exhibition-le-corbusier-elias-redstone/

A famous human embodiment of the relationship between architecture and photography is Le Corbusier and Lucien Hervé. The worked together for 16 years until Corbusier’s death. This relationship allowed Corbusier to chose how his work was portrayed in books or publications, essentially manipulating the way that his work was seen.

 

Architecture and Fashion II

The module ‘History and Theory’ last year asked for us to design a dress based upon a building we were given.

In our case this was the Dominous Winery by Herzog and DeMeuron in California.

Exterior View of Dominous Winery, Source: https://fivenonblondes.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/dominous/

 

We analyzed the main design principles of both the piece of architecture and the architects and were asked to respond to this.

Light Quality inside the Dominous Winery, Source: http://www.dominusestate.com/the-estate/architecture/winery-features/

Close up of the Gabions, Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ximo_michavila/8399861034

In our case the design principles that we took forward into our clothing design were the geometric shapes from the building. We also gained inspiration from the wire baskets that hold the rocks on the facade of the building to create a cubic structure that follows an irregular pattern, like the rocks in the baskets. The different layers of wire also create a varying level of transparency across the piece, reflecting the light inside the building.

 

The Final Design

The final dress was made from hundreds of hand made mesh cubes of varying sizes, attached together with wire and arranged in a way so as to reflect the arrangement of the rocks inside the gabions.

 

 

Architecture and Painting

‘Akhob’ by James Turell

‘Untitled’ by Mark Rothko

Colour plays an important part in the spacial quality of my design and one of the precedents I looked at was James Turell who is known for manipulating light, space and time to create an ‘experience in perception’. Turell’s work is said to be inspired from abstract painters, Mark Rothko, Barett Newman and Ad Reinhardt.

Painting and architecture can be thought to be similar in that they are both forms of representing an experience. It may be that architects refer to paintings due to the fact that it gives them the starting point to start challenging the boundaries and possibilities of a 3-dimensional space. This is seen especially in abstract art where the artist breaks an object, analyses and reassembles it to explore different ways in which a subject can be depicted.

‘Untitled’ by Mark Rothko

‘Tycho White’ by James Turrell

For James Turell, he wanted to show that “light can hold a volume and have a surface” much like a paint can. Perhaps, painting and architecture is not about the object, the image or the focus itself but “you looking at you looking” and creating “an experience of worldless thought.”

Architecture and Fashion

‘Atmospheric Reentry’  by Maiko Takeda

In our design module, one of our briefs required us to create a device that captures the spatial quality of the space we designed. This led us to look at wearable architecture for a source of inspiration. Perhaps, fashion can be considered a fine art discipline because it is based on an idea or concept, (especially in Avant-garde fashion) which forms the basis of a fashion designers collection.

‘Sewn as a Site’ by Danica Pistekova

The relationship between fashion and architecture is that they are both based on the environment we live in and the emotional response we have to it. For example, the clothing that a person chooses to wear can define a person or even make them a more confident individual. Equally, the conditions formed by architecture (e.g. light, cleanliness and comfort) can affect a person’s mood or productivity.

In wearable architecture, the human body is the site for the installation ofthe architectural structure, therefore this ‘device’ serves to generate a unique experience between the wearer, the environment and the audience.

 

‘Body as a Site’ by Beau Sinchai

Perhaps, architecture and fashion have less to do with the design and aesthetics but more about feeling comfortable with our own self and the environment.

Architecture and Dance

The similarity in the relationship between architecture and dance is the way that they both use and create space, but in entirely different ways. Architecture is experienced by people as a solid and spacial entity and dance is experienced, whether as the dancer or the audience, as a free movement through space.

Architects themselves act as the choreographers of their visions; placing each different space next to each other to encourage movement through a space in a certain way, just as a dancer will have a series of moves in a certain sequence to complete their routine.

The definitive difference can be seen to be the fact that the space created through architecture tends to be static and fixed permanently whereas dance produces temporary space through movement.

Perhaps dance is not reflected in architecture as much as using the lines of movement as a concept, unless we begin to look as buildings that are more dynamic in their design.