1998.01.16
ideas
The sink in the lower foyer of the Villa Savoye could be used as denoting the profane realm when it comes to addressing the profane to sacred nature of the architectural promenade. Remember there is a whole essay about the sink in the new book entitled Plumbing.
2000.01.16
the arch, the trope, and the reenactment
Is Saarinen's Gateway Arch in St. Louis a trope or is it a reenactment? That is, is the Gateway Arch (actually the arch in St. Louis has a rather profound formal name which I cannot remember) a "turn" of manifest destiny into symbolic form, or is it a long standing architectural tradition enacted yet once again?
The assimilation of trope into recent architectural (theory) writing and criticism is an example of trope itself, is it not? And it often seems (to me at least) that "troping" (excuse my verbing) within current architectural parlance and design is treated somewhat as a whole new "Concept" in and of itself. Perhaps I'm here being overly simplistic, but recent architectural tropes and the pronouncements of such often appear to be elaborate justifications for what is otherwise plainly arbitrary in terms of ultimate design form. Personally, arbitrariness in design is not something I shun, but even I cannot escape the fact that 'arbitrariness' and 'design' are fundamentally anathema. [God forbid an architect actually says he did something purely arbitrary.] Nonetheless, informed decisions apropos design in no way lead to single conclusions; there are so many options, especially in our time, that ultimate design choices manifest a high degree of "post-objective subjectivity" (to perhaps coin phrase).
Here are my recent thoughts regarding symbolic arches and trope vs. reenactment:
I first 'found' the notion of reenactment within ancient Rome's Triumphal Way, which is itself an oft reenacted reenactment of something Romulus did after his victory over the Sabine men. The funeral of Princess Diana is the most recent reenactment of Romulus' parade. (Yes, because of the "turn" of Paganism into Christianity the Triumphal Way "troped" into elaborate, albeit highly meaningful funeral processions, however, it remains that still only heroes, and finally heroines as well, get the Triumphal Way treatment.)
With the Triumphal Way then came first the Triumphal Gate and then several Triumphal Arches. The Triumphal Gate was the gate within Rome's wall (and sacred boundary) through which the victor's entered the city after first assembling within the Campus Martius. Over time, special victories sometimes added a Triumphal Arch somewhere along the route of the Triumphal Way (e.g., the Arch of Titus, the Arch of Constantine, etc.). One could say that each of these subsequent arches, although rendering the victory newly being celebrated, nonetheless is a reenactment of the Triumphal Gate, but I'm now of a mind that, while indeed reenactments, the arches re-enact something more obvious:
Could it be that Triumphal Arches plainly reenact the structural arch itself?
Moreover, could it be that Triumphal Arches reenact the structural triumph of the Roman arch?
Was the arch an obvious form to use as symbolic of triumph because of its gateway /passage /breaking-through implications (the triumphal arch as trope)?
Or was there some clever designer back then that thought the arch was 'the' perfect manifestation of triumph because the arch itself is a structural triumph (the triumphal arch as reenactment)?
Does the Arch in St. Louis trope Manifest Destiny or does it reenact a triumph over gravity?
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2000.01.16 14:14
Re: architecting
Real scale deals primarily with physical limits and the coordinated representation/manifestation of those limits, while in virtual scale limits are 'fluid' and/or 'meandering' and/or 'oscillating' and/or 'undulating', etc..
It would seem then that the difference between real scale and virtual scale is in how each scale respectively treats and/or renders limits. Real scale and virtual scale do not treat or render different realities, however, because all reality is relative to the limit of its container.
2001.01.16
virtual architecture
I agree wholeheartedly that cyberspace offers a "parallel" realm within which to design and 'build'. The term I've used instead of parallel is 'other', as in the best architecture in cyberspace is something other than the architecture of the real world. I too am not interested in seeing the architecture of cyberspace merely being a reenactment of the real world. The real world of architecture already does an excellent job of reenacting itself.
What you say about amazon.com being mostly akin to catalogue shopping is true, but there is still more to amazon in that the catalogue is hypersized, and that many of the additional services such as automatic recommendations of similar products and free out-of-print book searches make for good usability. You didn't say anything about eBay, however, which is much more 'other' than the heretofore traditional auction house.
Oddly, I've never read Neuromancer, but that might be because when the book was published (1984) I was already well immersed in Intergraph 2D and 3D cad--drawing and designing in cyberspace was already a fact for me then, and definitely not a fiction. (Should I read the book now?)
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2002.01.16 12:41
Period Rooms of the World Unite
It's odd to think how "culturally" rich modern Greece would be if all the art of ancient Greece were returned to its original site(s). Of course, much of ancient Greece is now modern Turkey as well, just like much of Byzantine Greece is now modern Turkey. Sure it would be nice (for some) if Hagia Sophia were once again a Christian house of worship (as it originally was) rather than the mosque-turned-museum it is now.
There are equally great pedimental ancient Greek sculptures (though not as famous as the Elgin Marbles) in Munich, Germany, and don't forget the altar of Pergammom in Berlin, which I think is in the same museum as the Gate of Babylon. Let's here it for returning this Gate to Iraq.
Maybe it's time for someone to do a great study on architecture that has moved and perhaps really hasn't stopped moving.
At Ryerss Museum in Burholme, Philadelphia there are the entire contents of a Buddhist Temple purchased pretty much as travel souvenirs by wealthy Americans almost 100 years ago. Again, where is that study on architecture that moves when you need it?
Period Rooms of the World Unite!!! Can you just imagine such a call to action? Perhaps this group could ultimately be precisely avant-garde because of its unabashed unoriginality.
2002.01.16 15:06
Re: still about Romans
If the Elgin Marbles were returned to the Acropolis, would one be able to call this action an exenactment?
2002.01.16 17:37
Re: still about Romans
In referring to exenactment, I was thinking more of the effect that the return of the Elgin Marbles to the Acropolis would have on the British Museum. An undoing rather than a reconstruction.
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2007.01.16 15:14
Minimalism in Architecture
"In the future, everything will be an advertisement." Even minimalism.
2007.01.16 13:39
if you wear camper shoes do you become a better architect :)
"In the future, everything (including what I wear) will be an advertisement."
2007.01.16 17:23
Minimalism in Architecture
Be it Loos, Aalto or Zumthor, etc., I don't see an aesthetical ethics argument. All I see is someone trying to control someone else.
You can grant Loos, et al, the authority, but the authority does not actually exist. The authority of their arguments is virtual at best, hence the ethics is also virtual, and the imperative is non-existent.
Basically, I literally don't buy into it. And those that do buy into it, do so literally as well.
2007.01.16 20:00
Minimalism in Architecture
I understand what you're saying, but is any aesthetic really objective?
You can understand an architect's work by learning their intentions, but you can understand even more of an architect's work by learning from their mistakes too.
2007.01.16 20:11
Minimalism in Architecture
And, to answer you're question, I believe Loos made a virtual moral argument about architecture.
And regarding "any particular imperative," I don't see you advocating an imperative (toward minimalism), rather, I see that there is no such thing as an imperative toward any aesthetic, i.e., outside of the virtual realm, there is no such thing as an ethical imperative toward any aesthetic to begin with.
What is there to learn from Loos's architecture without his aesthetical ethics? Gosh, I hope the answer isn't, "Not much."
2007.01.16 20:26
Minimalism in Architecture
Maybe study the workings of persuasion then.
Yes, and the act of being persuaded toward any aesthetic pretty much boils down to literally buying into it.
So again, maybe it's the workings of persuasion that should be studied.
These priests and pristesses were aesthetically persuasive for several millennia.
Persuasion has a lot to do with control, doesn't it.
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09011601 ICM scan 003 Philadelphia IQ08 2419i06
09011601 ICM scan 002 2419i07
09011601 ICM scan 001 2419i08
2012.01.16 13:20
Dynamism in Architecture
Rudolf Arnheim, The Dynamics of Architectural Form (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977).
Based on the 1975 Mary Duke Biddle lectures at The Cooper Union.
A book I've owned since May 1978, and read completely circa 1984, and maybe it's time to read it all again.
13011601 Capitoline Hill Roman Forum plan scan final registration IQ11 206fi02
15011601 IQ09 model some streets/blocks fixed 2392i96
16011601 Governor's Palace plans images attached 2177i35
18011601 atypical atemporality Philadelphia model working data 2467i09
18011601 Souto de Moura Campus de Enseñanza
20011601 Villa dall'Ava model wireframe work 2276i18
21011601 Palace of Versailles Pruitt-Igoe Housing Karastan iq58.07 plans model wireframe 2092i47
21011602 Pruitt-Igoe Housing Parc de la Villette Ottopia iq58.08 plans model wireframe 217ai16
21011603 Pruitt-Igoe Housing Parc de la Villette iq 58.12 plans model wireframe 217ai17
21011604 Farnsworth House 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments Pruitt-Igoe Housing Parc de la Villette Karastan iq58.11 plans elevations models 2174i16
21011605 Governor's Palace model work 2177i39
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