MA Architectural History
‘Architecture is born from the dialectic of departure and return’ Christian Norberg-Schulz, 1980 In an archival box in the Norberg-Schulz archive in Oslo, a folder marked ‘The 70s’ contains a stack of assorted papers that are Thorvald Christian Norberg-Schulz’s (1926-2000) personal, handwritten notes from the decade. The 1970s were fruitful years for the young professor. With the book Intentions in Architecture (1963) he had established himself within the international scene of architectural theory. He was invited to speak at the RIBA, The University of Cambridge, Yale University and MIT, along with being the editor of the Norwegian architectural journal Byggekunst and continuously publishing articles in international journals. In 1973 he moved to Rome to research his next book Genius Loci. After his first serious encounter with the phenomenology of Martin Heidegger in 1974, he developed what is considered to be his landmark treatise Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture (1980). The notes from this period are remarkable, addressing several issues that are vital to his thinking: place, landscape, language, philosophy and architecture. Less known, and therefore intriguing, are the keywords ‘translation’, ‘transposition’, ‘translocation’, which appear in one of the notes from the period, dated 18.04.1979, headed ‘Translation’ (see image above).
This report offers an analysis of the hitherto unknown document ‘Translation’ and investigates the role translation, transposition and translocation played in Norberg-Schulz’s theoretical formation and link this to the reality of his life, by uncovering his references. How does the document fit into a larger tradition of architectural theory? The Norberg-Schulz Archive owes part of its inaccessibility to the demands it places upon the language skills of its visitors. Norberg-Schulz both read and wrote in English, German, Italian and Norwegian, and on occasions communicated in French. One of the most intriguing examples of his multilingualism is seen in a notebook from 1957. Within the range of a few pages, he switches between the four languages, depending on what he had read. It is obvious that Norberg-Schulz was comfortable reading literature in its original language and moved easily in the landscape between languages. Nevertheless, this makes the archive difficult to encounter and read in the way it deserves, leaving the archive relatively unexplored. Besides Otero-Pailos’ archive-based study in Architecture’s Historical Turn, no major archivebased study of Norberg-Schulz has been conducted. Most studies, Norwegian included, rely on published material. The archive invites further research.
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The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014
Anna Ulrikke Andersen Translation Transposition Transposition: The Development of a Phenomenology of Architecture in Christian Norberg-Schulz, 1973-1980