A
Meditation on Deconstructivism
Ella. A. Dagan
HTS Seminar
Term 2
Tutor - Maria Anna Kaprara
Transcendence /trɑːnˈsɛnd(ə)ns/ Noun
Existence or experience beyond the normal or physical level.1
Light
An insurgency of thought Break
While they walk together
We swerve
Not because we are cross eyed It is another, other destination we glimpse And run toward
Can you see me Am I a mad man to you No matter
I am mad, for you to look at And then you continue onward. Changed?
1 ‘Transcendence Noun - Definition, Pictures, Pronunciation and Usage Notes Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.Com’, accessed 19 March 2025,
1. Space As Symbol
Pre enlightenment, the role of God in one’s life was of an all encompassing ‘guide’.
So long as man lacked the capability and courage to exist without one, he was regarded as secondary to the higher power, and furthermore a servant of it.1 By extension, sacred spaces held a fundamental importance in society. In sacred architecture2 the observation of space itself as a symbol3, rather than simply a houser of symbols, is integral to the understanding of space as a nexus4
A symbol being essentially a connector of one thing to another, the sacred space, as one, can be understood as a place of possible divergence from one’s mundane world into that of the divine, for the brief moment of visit5 . This peculiar in-between dimension that space in this context takes on, establishes its integral role in the faithful’s experience of God, and this relationship is inherently bonded to the space.
The intriguing spatial ability to lend a feeling of transcendence takes shape differently according to each religion’s concept of the divine, and the narrative of man’s relationship to it, and thus spatial parallels to this relationship, are created and exemplify the tailoring of the different embodiments of god within architecture, accordingly.
However different these all may be one from the other, they all fulfill the role of the symbol, allowing one to momentarily step onto higher ground, caught between terrains6
One will continue to cultivate the need to do this, as long as the belief in this need of “alien guidance”7 persists.
1 Immanuel Kant, ‘An Answer to the Question: “What Is Enlightenment?”’, in KANT: Political Writings, ed. R I Ymono, 2nd enlarged ed, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 54–60.
2 Sacred spaces in the context of monotheistic religions, namely Churches, synagogues and mosques.
3 Symbol - that which is thrown or cast together.” syn-”together” (see syn-) + bole “a throwing, a casting, nominative stem of ballein “to throw”. ‘Symbol Etymology of Symbol by Etymonline’, Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed 19 March 2025, https://www.etymonline.com/word/symbol.
4 Nexus - a connection or series of connections linking two or more elements.
5 Gojnik, Zorana Sokol, and Igor Gojnik. ‘Space as Symbol in Sacred Architecture. The Problem of Christian Sacred Architecture’. Resourceedings 2, no. 3 (12 November 2019): 136.
6 Gojnik, Zorana Sokol, and Igor Gojnik. ‘Space as Symbol in Sacred Architecture. The Problem of Christian Sacred Architecture’. Resourceedings 2, no. 3 (12 November 2019): 136.
7 Immanuel Kant, ‘An Answer to the Question: “What Is Enlightenment?”’, in KANT: Political Writings, ed. R I Ymono, 2nd enlarged ed, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 54–60.
2. Death of God
When the mad man declared His death1, we momentarily shifted from foot to foot caught in a perpetual head scratch.
In the midst of this cloud of dust we stumbled forward, now alone. Those who have killed Him, the idealists of man, search for Him anew amongst the products of their making.
The dethroning of God, and the possible reframing of the glorified human idea, thought and reason, as perhaps our new God, leaves the notion of sanctity now emancipated from religious practice, hence unimaginably linked to us2
Transcending through obtaining something holy; in the pastGod, and now - our own capabilities, is the experience of stepping outside of oneself, attaining new heights.
Artistic practice revels in this, regarding art as an extraction of the purest findings of our inner world. As does science with its devotion to achieving new concrete understandings of our physical world.
In the case of architecture and space, perhaps the shift that has transpired at our hands is a shift from space that embodies proximity to God, to one that is Him, or another It of a sort - the embodiment of idea through space, idea being the paramount of human ability.
And perhaps our experience of transcendence within architecture is forever intertwined with our previous all encompassing relationship with God and the spaces we dedicated to Him which now are maybe forms of negative space. Although we now live in the shadow (or light) of His death, we recognise these peculiar sensations of a new kind of sacred, and tie them and understand them in regards to our knowledge of what sacred once meant in the long lost past.
1 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Gay Science, trans. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Vintage Books, 1974).
2 Ross Anderson and Maximilian Sternberg, eds., Modern Architecture and the Sacred: Religious Legacies and Spiritual Renewal, First edition (London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2020). P.3.
3. The Concern of the Object
And so, amid this conversation of modern spatial sanctity, an underlying dialogue between genres of narcissism through a dialogue between man and object, is laid upon us.
There will be those that stand on the altar of function, waving a flag, shaking their fist.
Architecture as servant.
Functionalism maintains the needs and practicality of the structure as the driving force of the design and looks at the idea of man being placed at the center of space, both in the process of design and also in the actuality of his inhabitation of it.
In his writings on Post-Functionalism, Peter Eisenman regards Functionalism as an evolution of Humanistic theories wherein ideas of architectural design are derived from ideas of the human body.
As an extension of this, Functionalism too, places man at the center of design, not in his physical form but in the form of his needs.
Architecture in this approach is regarded by Eisenman as “..an object whose primary purpose was to speak about man”1.
In this approach, the architect is not concerned with reaching a sense of transcendence with his design, but rather he is concerned with the concept of solution.
The positioning of function as ‘highest’, is also a means of positioning human ability at the center of interest, and it may also be a means to transcendence, but that is not its concern as has been established.
This matter of concern is what dictates the ability of an object to transcend.
The object that places not man, but his mind on the pedestal, is not concerned with being functional even as it is being critiqued for being dysfunctional. This critique in itself is irrelevant seeing as the objects primary concern is “with its own objecthood”2; and with its ability to embody idea, as its sole purpose.
This is an act of stepping outside of oneself, in pursuit of new possibilities. This shift from creating for (man) to creating something about (anything in the realm of idea) - is not only a shift into critique, but also theory and understanding of what lies beyond our physical experience of a space or an object physical or theoretical3 .
4. The Question of Realisation
The possibility of creating an object that can be entered and physically experienced from within is reliant on it existing in the physical world. And while the architectural profession consists of a rich culture of written theory and similarly theoretical designs, still the fact of physicality remains at the core of the discipline.
This leads to a contemplation of the criticality of physical realisation. Does an unrealised work hold the ability to grant the same impact of sensation as one attains when in a physical structure? The answer is most likely, no. Perhaps a strong one provided the non material articulation is precise and encapsulating, but to liken a read or seen experience to one of actual presence is a lost battle.
This is not to say that spaces that remain in the non physical realm are devoid of the capability of transcendence, however by far their impact is felt smaller. Understood idea and experienced idea, are not one and the same.
In the endlessly growing virtual landscape of today, and amidst the 21st century’s extreme culture of excess, design - in particular design that is not primarily concerned with function, is increasingly collected in this parallel warehouse of thought - a storage room of sorts, especially for the nonconforming.
And since the room is limitless, there is a danger of normalising their stay there, forever accumulating, but frozen in virtual form.
What determines the hierarchy of the realised ideas. What is the fate of the unrealised.
Moreover, what is our fate, devoid of the unrealised.
1 Peter Eisenman, ‘“Post-Functionalism” Oppositions 6 (Fall 1976)’, in Architecture Theory since 1968, by K. Michael Hays (Cambridge, Mass. London: the MIT press, 1998), 236–39.
2 Peter Eisenman, ‘“Post-Functionalism” Oppositions 6 (Fall 1976)’, in Architecture Theory since 1968, by K. Michael Hays (Cambridge, Mass. London: the MIT press, 1998), 236–39.
3 Peter Eisenman, ‘“Post-Functionalism” Oppositions 6 (Fall 1976)’, in Architecture Theory since 1968, by K. Michael Hays (Cambridge, Mass. London: the MIT press, 1998), 236–39.
5. Defamiliarisation
The crash, a moment of multifaceted collision.
A brief (or continuous) moment of confusion. A grapple for a fragment of recognition.
We are regulated to expect familiarity in the spaces we come across and inhabit, and furthermore rely on them to be familiar in order for us to feel safe1 (Geborgenheit2), such is the format of our common reality for the most part. In the practice of Deconstruction, utilising defamiliarisation is key3 Breaking up, relayering elements or parts of them, reorganising, omitting, multiplying where needn’t be, into a new fragmented reality where one suddenly finds himself on foreign terrain.
Architectural islands.
A possible description for Eisenman’s House series4 for example, which through a diagrammatic approach, warps the house - a primary, familiar structure - into a foreign object.
Well is this not a crash - but a (re) becoming?
Not an act of disassembly but rather of r(e)assembly. If the elements lose their function/former meaning with this crash, there would be no reason to perform this act, but they give way to something new5 . And whether or not the observer acknowledges this in the midst of his shock or lack of recognition, he moves on with an aware or unaware concept of alternative possibility. This in itself, is an act of active critique of the current reality. And hence defines this practice as critical.
End Note
While the Deconstructivists plethora of verbal and written material demonstrates an inherent belief in their practice being the epitome of moral obligation and critical thinking, this conviction seems to circulate amongst them almost exclusively. Seemingly, there is a missing stepping stone between them and the actuality of their impact. The insistence on isolated making within their self created context of obligations, which generally disregards mediation to the external observer, leads to a stagnancy wherein the work is caught in an in between state of misunderstanding. Such a state deprives it of the aforementioned ability to induce unprecedented impact.
1 Bernard Tschumi, Architecture and Disjunction (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1994).
P.1.
2 Geborgenheit (german) - the sensation of safety.
3 Bernard Tschumi, Architecture and Disjunction (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1994).
P.1.
4 Peter Eisenman House series - a series of 12 houses exploring the grid system, designed between 1967-1975 of which six were built.
5 Richard Coyne, Derrida for Architects, Thinkers for Architects 7 (Abingdon, Oxon [England] ; New York, NY: Routledge, 2011).p.2-4.
Bibliography
° Anderson, Ross, and Maximilian Sternberg, eds. Modern Architecture and the Sacred: Religious Legacies and Spiritual Renewal. First edition. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2020. https:// doi.org/10.5040/9781350098732.
° Coyne, Richard. Derrida for Architects. Thinkers for Architects 7. Abingdon, Oxon [England]; New York, NY: Routledge, 2011.
° Eisenman, Peter. “‘Post-Functionalism’ Oppositions 6 (Fall 1976).” In Architecture Theory since 1968, by K. Michael Hays, 236–39. Cambridge, Mass.; London: The MIT Press, 1998.
° Gojnik, Zorana Sokol, and Igor Gojnik. “‘Space as Symbol in Sacred Architecture. The Problem of Christian Sacred Architecture.’” Resourceedings 2, no. 3 (12 November 2019): 136–40. https://doi.org/10.21625/resourceedings.v2i3.638.
° Kant, Immanuel. “‘An Answer to the Question: ‘What Is Enlightenment?’”’ In KANT: Political Writings, edited by R. I. Ymono, 2nd enlarged ed., 54–60. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
° Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, Bernard Williams, Josefine Nauckhoff, and Adrian Del Caro. The Gay Science: With a Prelude in German Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs. Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy. Cambridge, U.K.; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
° Online Etymology Dictionary. “‘Symbol | Etymology of Symbol by Etymonline.’” Accessed 19 March 2025. https://www.etymonline.com/word/symbol.
° Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. “‘Transcendence Noun - Definition, Pictures, Pronunciation and Usage Notes | Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries. Com.’” Accessed 19 March 2025. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/transcendence.
° Tschumi, Bernard. Architecture and Disjunction. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994.
