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Entry No.0042

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Cenotaph to Newton. Etienne Louis Boullee Diary entry of architectural experiences. Part of a larger collection. (See cat. No.3489 “A.A.F.Y�)

(Temporary allocation)

Purpose unknown. Date of entry 16th of March 2018. Author unknown. Original location unknown. Refer to the Secretary to the chief for further catalogue instruction.

16.3.2018 Catalogue entry_42 The investigation continued as usual today. 1 The winding roads eventually straightened up, forming two perspective lines that converged towards the cenotaph. The trees on both sides of the road served as my scale bar. As my eyes travelled further along my path, the trees got incrementally smaller, and the tiny spot in the centre of my vision now seemed to be much larger in comparison. Before I could even realise it, the small spot at the horizon suddenly grew into a gigantic façade that covered half of my windscreen. As soon as I approached close enough to identify trees, cars, and humans, the scale became much more apparent. I recalled gasping in amusement, shock, and excitement.2 It was as I got out of the car, without the obstruction of the roof, that the sky and the ground merged into one, and what was originally cropped finally joined up and formed a complete sphere. The façade had no decoration whatsoever. Even the cast marks were carefully removed. I looked down onto my data profile and read: 1784. I was confused as to what I was seeing. Something about the information and the appearance of the structure didn’t seem to add up. A building this tall and large seem to be a bit technically advanced for its time. I guess money really can get you anything.3

“They made words by superimposing stone upon stone. The Celtic dolman and cromlech, the Etruscan tumulus, the Hebrew galgal are words. Sometimes on a vast beach they joined these stone words and wrote a sentence. Eventually, they made books.”

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- Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Norte Dame, Book V, Chapter II

Along with the start of the French Revolution and the appearance of social philosophy (Harvard Edx, 2017), the message and context within architecture became increasingly personal. As an architecture design that only exists on paper for students, Boullée’s Cenotaph to Newton is closer than ever to Victor Hugo”s idea of stones as literary devices for architects. Thus, it is argued by many that the Cenotaph was never meant to be built. In fact, the cenotaph was merely a small part of a series of government and public buildings that he had designed on paper. Boullée uses techniques and elements in the form of 2D drawings to put forward his ideology. Every detail of the drawings contribute towards an overall experience, thus, Cenotaph to Newton is literally architecture as words 2 Scale: The scale of the building is sitting at an impressive 150 metres in height. This is half way up to the Eiffel Tower and it should be taken into

consideration that Eiffel tower is a full steel structure whereas the cenotaph is designed to be built in stone. Boullée tries to convey the idea of scale in the median in which he explored the project. The drawings that he produced for the building are themselves large. This is the architect’s way to convey the size of the building beside an arbitrary scale bar. The grandness of the building dwarves our bodies when we interact with it, and thus imposes a quantitative significance and even the feeling of fear. (Vogt, 1984) 3

Sphere: The “metamorphosis” (Kaufmann, 1939) or the change in forms and nature of architecture saw a great leap forward with Boullée pushing the boundary of what architecture could look like. Sphere encloses the most volume with the least surface area. In other words, the sphere is the most efficient shape to contain a space. To Boullée, this exact reasoning is the beauty of nature. This is an intentional departure from traditional architecture which was based on religion or religious centric design. Through the heavy influence from the Enlightenment, Boullée stripped out all the religious decorations and embraced math, physics, and in this case, Newton’s contribution in mechanical physics and astronomy. To him, using the same “language” to memorialise Newton’s achievement is not just suitable, but the “true” beauty on its own. There is also an intention to create am infinite architecture as an analogy for the endlessness of the universe. In this case, a sphere has no edge or end, just an endless surface. Thus, whether it is to the eye, or as a concept, it provides the sensation of an endless environment. (Kaufmann, 1939)

The footpath led straight to the entrance. As I walked towards the structure, the façade rapidly engulfed the background and the scene felt as if it magically fell into one line. The line divided the entire scene into two mirrored parts. At one point, I felt as if I was also part of that symmetry axis, split into two. I felt as if I was part of Boullée’s design.4 The cypress trees were ordered around the sphere in such an organised way that it almost deceived your eyes to believe that they were not products of nature. It was weird. As a person who loves expeditions into the nature, what I experienced was not quite that. The trees are definitely real. However, at the same time, they also felt like the tiny features that people put into their architectural models. Instead of giving me a welcoming feeling, the scene had a subtly eerie hint to it.5 What welcomed me next was a dark entrance. It must've been a very long time; or at least it felt like that. The darkness in the long tunnel didn't just blind me, it also distorted time. It felt as if the time stopped working once you stepped into the realm of this visual void. The ceiling suddenly opened up, but my eyes were slow to adjust to the details of my surroundings. I could barely figure out the silhouette of the coffin, but as I looked up, I saw soft rays of light travelling straight into this darkness. As the light bounced back and forth between the interior walls, I realised the scale of this enclosure. The light only bounced softly against the curvature of the stones, however, there was just enough contrast between the bright spot and the dark shadows to create a sense of depth. The ceiling was so high up not even the light could reach it before being absorbed into the abyss.6

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Symmetry: The symmetry is a direct reference to Classical Architecture where temples and even the entire city is build on a symmetrical aesthetic principle. What Boullée also referenced is the power that symmetry impacts on observers. The entrance placement is also at the central axis of the building; this in turn forces a “front” on a geometry that defies the nature of a “frontal” façade. The symmetry in this case also frames the building for the observer by limiting the direction from which people could approach the building. (Emil Kaufmann, 1939) 5 Cypress: Cypresses were often used in Roman periods around cemeteries or tombs, thus they have become a symbol for mourning and death.

(Harvard Edx) The amount of the cypresses needed in order to surround the building is large. Boullée is clearly using the trees as a scale reference to imply the grandness of the building.The sheer amount of the trees can also be interpreted as a demonstration of power. The trees follow the symmetry axis as they abruptly stop upon reaching the entrance, which gives the entrance an extra framing. The trees could be seen as a replacement of traditional pillars used in classical architecture. However, the more important imagery that his rendering of trees give is perhaps the almost perfect organisation, which gives a ghostly dystopian feeling to it. (Bressani M., 1993) 6

Shadow and light: To Boullée, a façade without decoration does not strip it of its beauty. Rather, on a plain façade, he often uses shadows and light as the median to express his notions. (Kaufmann, 1939) In the case of the cenotaph, shadows and light in the building interior is the tool for observers to figure out the scale of the interior. The play with the contrast can also be seen in a more conceptual sense. He intended to create a night sky in broad daylight and a bright enclosure in the darkness of the night. This literal fluctuation between day and night within his architecture resonates with his idea that “architects create light”. (Harvard Edx, 2017) The deliberate contrast in day and night could also be seen as an attempt to strip the observers away from reality. This causes the entire experience to be “out of this world” and into the vastness and endlessness of the universe.

This eerie void that dwarfed my existence gave my body a sense of lightness; as if I was floating in the deepest of the ocean, or perhaps, the outer space.7

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I believe that there are many ways to, so to speak, turn”stones into words”, and as a task to search for the “words” of the structure, it became increasingly clear that the the missing element needed to connect the stones to the words is an “experience”. This essay has to resort to imagination as a result in lack of a physical manifestation. Thus, this leads to a conclusion that architecture without an observer is merely stones, thus, by “experiencing” is to expose those cold stones to our own agendas, opinion, and words.

Bibliography Adolf Max Vogt, University of California Press on behalf of the Society of Architectural Historians (1984). Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and Etienne Louis Boullee's Draft of 1784. [online] Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/989976 [Accessed 15 Jan. 2018].

Bressani, M. (1993). Etienne-Louis Boullee. Empiricism and the Cenotaph for Newton. ResearchGate.

Emil Kaufmann, College Art Association (1939). Etienne-Louis Boullee. [online] Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3046639 [Accessed 15 Jan. 2018].

Harvard Edx (2017). BoullĂŠe's Architecture Parlante. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOnksawOHwE [Accessed 17 Mar. 2018].

Harvard Edx (2017). The Production of the Sublime: Cenotaph to Newton. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=04ymClkx36Y [Accessed 17 Mar. 2018].

Hugo, V., Cobb, W. and Robb, G. (2010). The Hunchback of Notre Dame. New York: Signet Classics.

Last Year at Marienbad. (1961). [film] Directed by A. Resnais. United Kingdom.

Wilkinson, P. (2017). Phantom Architecture. London: Simon & Schuster Ltd.