Formlessness and Architecture: How The Formless could reshape and Architect's approach to Design.

Formlessness and Architecture How the study of The Formless could reshape an Architect’s approach to Design.

Emma Kemp

Cover Art Shade and Darkness - the Evening of the Deluge, 1843, Joseph Mallord William Turner

“Man’s self forgetting, his attempt to be formless and free, is revealed in the activity of the Clouds” (Nichols, M, Socrates and the Political Community: An Ancient Debate, 1987 p. 14)

“Dissipative systems therefore offer an alternative way of thinking about life … They propose an alternative, bottom-up probabilistic, dynamic model of living structures,” (Armstrong, R, 2016, p. 33)

A note on the form of this essay:

My study of the formless has demonstrated that the traditional format and methods through which we approach everyday tasks are not necessarily the most effective way of conveying or achieving what we are aiming to do. I hope to demonstrate and attempt to exemplify this by structuring my dissertation in two ways: the formal versus the formless. The formal essay structure follows all the rules of academic writing, whilst the formless demonstrates the true organic process that has allowed the writing to take shape. I hope this provides visual representation of some of the many iterations and added discoveries that occur when writing a dissertation, and shows that there is value in showing this process. In addition, it allows me to be able to physically locate paragraphs that have a strong relation to each other together, when they cannot sit adjacent within the formal essay. It could be interpreted as an integrated appendices or an elaborate footnoting method, however I hope it demonstrates the value of a formless writing approach.

The formless inserts do not follow the page numbering system, and are not included in the contents. The information included in these inserts relates to information being discussed in the formal essay at the place of their insertion. All information and images used in the formless essay is referenced within the formal bibliography and list of images.

Formlessness and Architecture How the study of The Formless could reshape an Architect’s approach to Design.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of BA in Architecture Newcastle University 2018 Emma Kemp B5026426

Abstract

Form and architecture are two words that are often synonymous with each other; one cannot be without the other. Architects are obsessed with the manipulation, creation and manifestation of form, grasping at any opportunity to exert the maximum control over every element of a design. This embodies the typical approach to design where the form is created as a whole and then filtered down through every element of the building, i.e. top down. Recently, increasing numbers of creators have begun to explore a new approach of working from the bottom up, to a certain extent relinquishing control over the final outcome. This is apparent in many pioneering biological designs, where seemingly organic forms respond to their environment and thereby are partially allowed to shape themselves.

This movement towards a bottom up approach could indicate a potential need for a change in design methodology, where the grip of control over the final form is loosened. By considering the antithesis of form, formlessness, and extracting the different elements from this, this essay aims to demonstrate how formlessness could be used to alter an architect’s approach to design.

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Light and Colour (Goethe’s Theory) - the Morning after the Deluge. Turner, J (1843).

Wind Section - Instrumental.

Robbins, C. (2013).

Empty Space Exhibition, Sandström, Å as cited in Akner-Koler, C. (2007).

Dissipative Structures. Myndreskou, N. (n.d.)

Contents

Abstract 11 Contents 13 List of Illustrations 14 Introduction 18 Chapter 1: Enclosure and Disclosure 20 Chapter 2: The Cost of Control and the Just City

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Chapter 3: Experimental Solutions 31 Chapter 4: Formlessness 36 Chapter 5: Formless Architecture

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Chapter 6: Informal Settlements, Formlessness and the Perfect City

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Conclusion 49 Bibliography

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List of Illustrations Acconci, Panelists. (2013) When Buildings Melt Into Air & Air Re-Forms into Buildings. [scan] Manifesto Series 01 - Formless. Zürich: Lars Müller Publishers. pp. 172 - 173.

Allais, Bargmann. (2013) This is our National Park. [scan] Manifesto Series 01 - Formless.

Zürich: Lars Müller Publishers. pp. 2 - 3.

Amazon. (n. d.) Perdido Street Station : Tome 2, 2004. [image] Available at: https:// www.amazon.com/Perdido-Street-Station-2-French/dp/2265072907/ref=la_ B001IQUN20_1_22?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365575889&sr=1-22. (Accessed 16 Jan 2017).

Authors own. (2017) Grundbau und Siedler project when visited in 2017, with resident’s own amendments and additions.

Authors own. (2017) Aker Brygge harbour in Oslo, Norway.

Bargmann. (2013) Finding the Formless. [scan] Manifesto Series 01 - Formless. Zürich: Lars Müller Publishers. p. 10.

Binet, H as cited in McManus, D. (2017). Heydar Aliyev Centre, Baku. [image] Available at: https://www.e-architect.co.uk/azerbaijan/heydar-aliyev-centre-baku. (Accessed: 23 Dec 2017).

Boiffard, J as cited in MoMA (n.d.). Un cadavre. Paris, January 15, 1930. [image] Available at: https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2009/modernlibrary/ (Accessed: 6 Dec. 2017).

Carbon Engineering as cited in Lewis, T. (2015) A series of giant fans could suck carbon dioxide right out of the air. [image] Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/giant-fanscould-trap-carbon-dioxide-2015-7. (Accessed: 15 Jan 2018).

Cooke, L. ( n.d.) Shacks and Shanties in Manila. [image] Available at: https://glam4good. com/they-call-this-happy-land-a-heartbreaking-view-from-inside-manila-slums-onthanksgiving-day/ (Accessed: 16 Jan 2018) 14

Cook, S. (2017). Dharavi. [image] Available at: https://www.tripsavvy.com/mumbai-dharavi-slum-tours-4072927 (Accessed: 6 Dec. 2017).

Design to Improve Life. (2011). Social Housing by Alejandro Aravena for ELEMENTAL architecture practice. [image] Available at: https://designtoimprovelife.dk/elementalsocialhousing/ (Accessed: 15 Jan 2018) Getty images (2013). Typical British Cul-de-sac, Becontree, East London. [image] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325921/The-road-happiness-cul-sac.html (Accessed: 6 Dec. 2017).

Haselberger, L. (1985). Inscribed lines depicting temple structures. [image] The Construction Plans for the Temple of Apollo at Didyma. Scientific American. 253 (6 (December)), pp.

126 - 133.

Haselberger, L. (1985). Ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Didyma. [image] The Construction Plans for the Temple of Apollo at Didyma. Scientific American. 253 (6 (December)), pp.

126 - 133.

IBA Hamburg GmbH. (2013) Grundbau und Siedler project upon completion in 2013.

Available at: http://www.iba-hamburg.de/fileadmin/Mediathek/Whitepaper/130612_ Grundbau_und_Siedler.pdf. (Accessed: 6 Dec 2017).

Joachim, M., Greden, L. and Arbona, J. (n.d.). FAB TREE HAB: Living Graft Prefab Structure. [image] Available at: http://www.terreform.org/projects_habitat_fab.html (Accessed: 6 Dec 2017).

McKee, S. (n.d.). Tourists in front of the big cathedral in Cologne. [image] Available at: https://www.gonomad.com/5847-germany-cologne-s-carnival (Accessed: 6 Dec 2017).

Myndreskou, N. (n.d.). Dissipative Structures. [image] Photo Š Saatchi Art. Available at: https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Printmaking-Dissipative-Structures/52309/207680/ view (Accessed: 15 Jan 2018).

Palma, C, as cited in Phaidon (n.d.). The Quinta Monroy housing development after residents moved in. [image] Available at: http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/architecture/articles/2016/january/14/why-2016s-pritzker-winner-makes-half-built-houses/ (Accessed: 16 Jan 2018).

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Phaidon. (n. d.) Villa Verde, Chile, 2013, by Alejandro Aravena’s Elemental practice. [image] Available at: http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/architecture/articles/2016/january/14/ why-2016s-pritzker-winner-makes-half-built-houses/ (Accessed: 7 Dec 2017).

Pollock, J, Photo © JacksonPollock.org (n.d.). Number One (Lavender Mist), 1950. [image] Available at: https://www.jackson-pollock.org/lavender-mist.jsp#prettyPhoto (Accessed: 17 Jan 2018) Pollock, J, Photo © JacksonPollock.org (n.d.). Number 31, 1950 [image] Available at: https://www.jackson-pollock.org/one-number31.jsp#prettyPhoto (Accessed: 6 Dec 2017).

Quinto, E. (2015). The Bioluminescence illuminated Christmas tree in darkness. [image] Available: https://www.scribd.com/document/19889987/ BIOLUMIN-Blue-Light-Green-World. (Accessed: 6 Dec. 2017).

Robbins, C. (2013). Wind Section - Instrumental. [image] Photo © MONA Museum Available at: https://mona.net.au/museum/general-collection/wind-section-instrumental-2013-cameron-robbins (Accessed: 14 Jan 2018).

Sandström, Å as cited in Akner-Koler, C. (2007). Empty Space Exhibition. [image] p. 5.

Available at: http://cherylaknerkoler.com/cheryl_akner_koler/PhD_files/Form_Formlessness_thesis%20coat1-77.pdf (Accessed: 16 Jan 2018).

Smithson and Morris as cited in Bois, Y. & Krauss, R. (1997) [scan] Formless: A User’s Guide.

New York: Zone Books, pp. 22, 23, 38, 39.

Tooze, S. and Armstrong, R. (2010). Future Venice concept image. [image] Available at: https://www.lsnglobal.com/opinion/article/1626/rachel-armstrong-grow-your-own-city (Accessed: 6 Dec. 2017).

Turner, J (1843) Light and Colour (Goethe’s Theory) - the Morning after the Deluge - Moses Writing the Book of Genesis. Photo © Tate, CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported). Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-light-and-colour-goethes-theory-themorning-after-the-deluge-moses-writing-the-book-n00532. (Accessed: 16 Jan 2018).

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Turner, J (1843). Shade and Darkness - the Evening of the Deluge. Photo Š Tate, CC-BYNC-ND 3.0 (Unported). Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-shade-and-darkness-the-evening-of-the-deluge-n00531. (Accessed: 29 Dec 2017) Morisset, V, for Centre Pompidou (n.d.). Revue Documents, Paris, 1929-1934. [image] Available at: http://mediation.centrepompidou.fr/education/ressources/ENS-revues/ ENS-revues.html (Accessed: 6 Dec. 2017).

Zhang, Y (2016). Slum housing alongside the railway in Mumbai. [image] Available at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/building-slum-free-mumbai (Accessed: 16 Jan 2018)

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Formlessness and Architecture

Introduction

Throughout history, humankind has consistently attempted to create safety, structure and order from our seemingly chaotic environment, whether that be in belief systems that attempt to explain the then inexplicable, or buildings that shelter us from turbulent and unpredictable climates. Over time these have evolved with us, becoming the pillars on which we have built modern society. With an increased understanding and control of the world around us, architecture fulfils this purpose less and less, leaving architects to pointlessly play with forms. Consequently, it could be argued that current design often falls short of achieving meaningful form, whilst simultaneously proving to fail to prevent the increasingly apparent destruction of the natural environment. By accepting this proposition that architecture as creation of meaningful form no longer serves its purpose, and taking inspiration from bottom up approaches to design I hope to question what it could mean to liberate the obsession with form altogether, and what benefits could be gleaned by considering this approach.

Directly opposing form is formlessness, or ‘L’informe’, a term introduced to the world by controversial philosophical intellectual George Bataille in 1929 (Bois & Krauss, 1996). When he first wrote of l’informe in his magazine series ‘Documents’, he only intended it as a methodology to celebrate the debased humanity in all of us. Bataille (1929, p. 31) hoped to use the formless “to bring things down in the world”, in particular the art that many intellectuals of his time held in the highest regard. Despite Bataille coining the term to work in direct opposition to the art world in his time, formlessness became a prolific term in the art community to describe many abstract modernist works from artists such as Jackson Pollock. Bois and 18

“By observing dissipative structures through a number of scales it becomes possible to see new potentiality in the community of life... Such a viewpoint changes our understanding of the project of designing and engineering with life and begins to make alternative suggestions about how we may engage with it architecturally” Armstrong, R, 2016

Architects are obsessed with the manipulation,

“The Elytra Filament pavilion shows how a bottom up approach to design could completely change the way we use and interact with our public spaces, and I hope to further explore this concept by examining of a new way of thinking about design that forces the architect to relinquish their role of predetermining the final outcome.” Kemp, E, 2017

creation and manifestation of form, grasping at any opportunity to exert the maximum control over every element of a design. This embodies the typical approach to design where the form is created as a whole and then filtered down through every element of the building, i.e. top

down. Recently, increasing numbers of creators The increasing popularity of bottom up prohave begun to explore a new approach of workjects and their successes demonstrate that aling from the bottom up, to a certain extent relinternative methods of design can and are being quishing control over the final outcome. This is applied to increasingly varied fields. In architecapparent in many pioneering biological designs, ture, bottom up approaches force a degree of where seemingly organic forms respond to their relinquishment of control over the final outenvironment and thereby are partially allowed to come. By applying this in the extreme you reach shape themselves. This movement towards a botthe formless, which focuses on the process of tom up approach could indicate a potential need living and somewhat disregards traditional aesfor a change in design methodology, where the thetic values. grip of control over the final form is loosened.

To consider formlessness as an approach to design, you must first consider form.

Architecture, in the simplest sense, has provided the necessary shelter by which we can survive, and build our lives around and within. Firstly then, Architecture is concerned with “the enclosure of human life” (Borgmann, 2010).

Introduction

Krauss further took ownership of the term in their 1996 work; ‘Formless, A Users Guide’, that methodically worked through many avante-garde modernist artwork, categorising and explaining their relation to the many principles of formlessness.

This enabled the term to be opened up, defining it as a method of interpretation without a definition; that is, formlessness, or aspects of it can be applied in whatever way the beholder sees fit. As such only recently has the term formlessness begun to be applied to architecture, and subsequently the potential of using the formless becomes apparent in its application across a wide range of architectural practises.

Rose and Ricciardi begin to exemplify how formless principles could be applied to understand elements of architecture in ‘Manifesto Series 01 Formless’, a collection of various designers work that exhibit formless principles. From the examination of these along with other texts, my own concept of formlessness has developed, to where I propose alternative areas through which formlessness is exhibited.

By examining informal settlements through the paradigm of formlessness, I hope to extricate how they successfully exhibit the base human needs of settlements that architecture today might be losing, and how these successful elements could be refined and applied to methods of design. Thus, by assessing our current approach to design and it’s shortcomings, and comparing this to the benefits that could be gained from a different approach, I hope to set out guidelines that show that the relinquishment of the obsession of form could produce a more effective and fruitful method for design.

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Formlessness and Architecture

1 Enclosure and Disclosure

To consider formlessness as an approach to design, you must first consider form. Architecture, in the simplest sense, has provided the necessary shelter by which we can survive, and build our lives around and within. To understand what must be retained in form, and by extension, the formless, the purpose of meaningful architecture must first be ascertained.

To begin, Architecture is concerned with “the enclosure of human life” (Borgmann, 2010). Domestic architecture, particularly in Britain often follows a consistent blueprint that began post industrial revolution. Vincent Scully coined the term ‘the shingle style’ to fully explain the predominant style of domestic architecture in the latter half of 19th century America, comparable to Victorian era houses in Britain. Both styles tried to encapsulate space, whilst the shingle style attempted to “merge [space/rooms] into an integrated but not ‘exclusive’ whole” (Scullly, 1974, p. 7), the Victorians worked to create the illusion of space with lofty ceilings. Both, although the best examples of which were reserved for the upper echelons of society, held spaces that were “deeply sheltering, well-heated, well-cooled interior spaces, sheathed in an impenetrable weather seal.” (Scullly, 1974, pp. 9-10) Thus was born the standard for modern housing in the US and the UK, as we understand it today. Both these styles encapsulate the image that springs to mind when attempting to describe the typical domestic architecture of each respective county.

Since then, in the western world, the basic blueprint has remained the same, yet it has suffered deterioration under the force of increasing populations. Housing in the most populous areas has become a model of efficacy, in many cases losing the 20

Enclosure and Disclosure

character and life that is supposed to be inherent within architecture. Enter any typical British cul-de-sac, and countless houses all built from the same plans, regardless of client or location, will surround you, all sporting faux nods to Victorian (and equally Tudor, Elizabethan and Georgian) architectural qualities, now often crafted out of plastic. In the mid 20th century, post-war Britain suffered a housing crisis, and during the 50s and 60s high-rise flats were constructed to respond to this need.

Although driven by an increasing demand for housing, this change in approaches to design coincided with the increase in the availability of modern technologies. Scully, among others lamented the “destructive force of automotive culture” (Borgmann, 2010), declaring the modern mode of design emerged as a result of “the culture of television and the automobile, no less than by economics, until the stripped, air conditioned box of the present emerged.” (Scully, 1974, pp. 12-13) I feel then that in the sense of ‘enclosure’, on the smaller scale, in our homes and our intimate lives, many modern constructions are simply that, a box to keep us safe, having lost the art and beauty of finding truly meaningful form.

Typical British Cul-de-sac, Becontree, East London.

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(Getty images, 2013)

Formlessness and Architecture

Architecture has always been rife with symbology and is connotative by its very nature, and with skilful and purposeful design “The art of architecture makes our existence not only visible but meaningful” (Ching, 2014). Borgmann surmises that Vincent Scully, along with Martin Heidegger, also agreed that the secondary function of architecture was the “disclosure of the modern universe” (Borgmann, 2010). This refers to the human need to create order out of chaos by providing explanations for everything that occurs around us. In nearly every society this has developed into some form of religion. Religious architecture has the ability to use “the form of the building that discloses a world” (Borgmann, 2010) thus inherently being of a more evocative nature. Not only this but many also feel that the presence of meaningful historic public buildings increases the quality of the city itself.

For many years these sacred architectures have witnessed and also been the cause of massive social change. Their forms not only stood above the city as a constant reminder of the presence of the deity in whose name they were built, but also to encapsulate many of the traditions and beliefs with their material form.

In many Christian places of worship, such as churches and cathedrals, the building itself takes on the shape of a cross, where the transepts effectively dissect the central aisle. This practice predates the plan of the modern cruciform church, referencing the square Greek cross plan of early Byzantine churches. In Hindu temples, the ties between the architecture and the beliefs and practices of Hinduism are even more apparent. Hindu architects use ‘perfect’ geometries and mathematical principles to create repeating structures that embody central beliefs and myths.

(Meister, 1983) Imagery of gods and nature permeate the temple, which represents the balance of the elements, the holy feminine and masculine and the eternal nothingness yet universality (Kramrisch, 1976). In ancient times, the Egyptians pushed the forms of their buildings to an even higher order of purpose. As they believed that one day their dead would reawaken, they designed their iconic pyramids as giant preservation chambers, demonstrating and embodying their beliefs in huge monoliths that pointed towards the heavens. These connotations have evolved over time, such as how the Greek column originally represented democracy, yet was 22

Human experience of walking around overly designed landscapes.

What makes a place unnerving and lifeless?

Embracing formlessness means we are no longer obsesses with form, encourages the unintentional, what occurs acciden-

man instinct for survival. Where are the successful cities, if any? Are all members of society included in that success?

Benefits to primal forms of living – concerned with survival not aesthetic values. Caves, huts – possible in a modern way today through a connection to materials.

tally as an offshoot from another process. Trying to force ‘place’ into our ‘ideal’. What is an organic way to live, that grows naturally, in connection to our basic hu-

Oslo, Authors own, 2017

Housing in the to have become cases losing the posed to be

most populous areas appears a model of efficacy, in many character and life that is supinherent within architecture.

I feel then that in the sense of ‘enclosure’, on the smaller scale, in our homes and our intimate lives, many modern constructions are simply that, a box to keep us safe, having lost the art and the beauty of finding truly meaningful form.

Borgmann surmises that Vincent Scully, along with Martin Heidegger, also agreed that the secondary function of architecture was the “disclosure of the modern universe” (Borgmann, 2010). This refers to the human need to create order out of chaos by providing explanations for everything that occurs around us.

The evolution of the emotive meaning that architecture holds seems to have stagnated, becoming superficial and commercialised. Furthering this, Scully grounds religion in the natural world, and notes that as mankind “begin[s] to live life totally divorced from nature” (Scully, 1979), we lose our connection to its divinity.

In his 2010 paper, Borgmann continues to condemn our current technologically obsessed culture for the lack of meaningful interactions in our lives. He asks us to consider Winston Churchill’s renowned quotation; “We shape our buildings, and afterwards they shape us” (Churchill, 1943) (Borgmann, 2010). He then furthers this point by adding a preliminary consideration of the process of our culture first influencing the architecture. This suggestion of a lack of fulfilment in our society being a cyclical process via which we are continuing to make unfulfilling architecture drives home his point that modern architecture has failed in both its potential for enclosure and disclosure.

Enclosure and Disclosure

assumed by 19th century America as a symbol of “the presence of civilization in a new world” (Ching, 2010).

Historically, religious architecture acted as a place of cultural and spiritual guidance and enlightenment. As science has progressed and technology has permeated society, this architecture increasingly benefits the city by providing economic gain as a tourist attraction. As a result the evolution of the emotive meaning that architecture can hold appears to some degree to have stagnated, becoming superficial and commercialised. Furthering this, Scully grounds religion in the natural world, and notes that as mankind “begin[s] to live life totally divorced from nature” (Scully, 1979), we lose our connection to its divinity. Accordingly, the importance of these forms hold a disclosive power “only as long as the god has not fled from it” (Heidegger, 1950), which I feel, amongst modern man, for the majority they have.

Tourists in front of the Cologne Cathedral

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(Susan McKee, n. d.)

Formlessness and Architecture

In his 2010 paper, Borgmann continues to condemn our current technology-obsessed culture for the lack of meaningful interactions in our lives. He asks us to consider Winston Churchill’s renowned quotation; “We shape our buildings, and afterwards they shape us” (Churchill, 1943, as cited in Borgmann, 2010). He then furthers this point by adding a preliminary consideration of the process of our culture first influencing the architecture. This suggestion of a lack of fulfilment in our society being a cyclical process via which we are continuing to make unfulfilling architecture drives home his point that modern architecture has failed in both its potential for enclosure and disclosure. As a result architects have found themselves “pointlessly playing with form” (Borgmann, 2010). If architects have lost purpose in our pursuit of form, it may be time for radical change.

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The Cost of Control and the Just City

2 The Cost of Control and the Just City

If architecture is lacking fulfilment in its duty of enclosure and disclosure, it should leave room for achievements in other fields. One of the greatest challenges facing almost all industries is that of climate change, and any architecture that is created today must be created with suitable environmental considerations. By first establishing the challenges that we are facing in these areas, I hope to demonstrate how approaching design through the paradigm of formlessness could help combat these rising issues.

Just as Borgmann deduces that the decline in significant meaning of form in architecture can be traced to the industrial revolution and the rise of the influence of technology that permeates every aspect of modern life, so can the effect of climate change be accredited to this same period. Climate change is an ever-present challenge when it comes to design, with tightening regulatory constraints that attempt to decrease the damage caused by the construction industry. Architecture is constantly fighting to withstand the turbulent environments caused by the effects of climate change, without contributing to the cyclical problem. If, as Borgmann suggests, architecture has lost its purpose as meaningful form, then it surely should have the potential to achieve purpose by combatting current global issues.

Since the industrial revolution global temperatures have risen at unprecedented rates. The emission of ‘greenhouse gases’ are causing temperatures to soar, and in recent years, it has been impossible to escape the increasing occurrence and severity of natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods and droughts, driving home the tangibility and importance of the effect we have on our surroundings. Unfor25

Formlessness and Architecture

tunately by this point, most concur that we are well past the point of no return for reversing the damage we have done. (Anderson, T, Hawkins, E and Jones, P, 2016).

As climate change’s effects have become increasingly inescapable, and have become a primary focus with politicians and governments, guidelines relating to emissions and climate change have saturated almost every field.

In architecture, almost every new build must adhere to multiple restrictions and guidelines for sustainable construction. But almost every standard that is enforced is simply trying to minimise the damage done, rarely eliminating it and never contributing to the solution. In 2006, the government set a new target that by 2016 all new homes in Britain would be zero-carbon. The construction industry responded to this target with some ambitious new designs of green homes. However very few people live and use these dwellings as the architect intended. As Dr Kathryn Janda points out in her research “Buildings don’t use energy – people do!”. (Janda, 2011, pp. 15–22). Without the correct changes to the occupant’s lifestyle, the installation of solar panels has very little effect on energy consumption – people still use the same, they just pay less on their energy bill. Without the knowledge of how to change a whole country’s, or even planet’s, energy usage habits, the introduction of small changes to new and existing builds with not have any significant impact (Janda, 2011). Perhaps ominously mimicking this sentiment, the 2016 target was scrapped in 2015, no longer requiring new builds to be zero-carbon.

Architecture’s role in society is so crucial that it is often expected to become the miraculous solution to a multitude of problems. In her paper, “Is there something beyond ‘outside of the box’?”, Rachel Armstrong acquiesces that our current approach to design is not doing enough to combat our rising population’s needs.

She posits that we need to stop thinking of ways that we can reduce the damage we inflict on the environment, instead becoming completely harmonious with it, “actively participating in the biosphere” (Armstrong, R, 2011). However the most ambitious designs seem to be moving further away from this objective; instead of becoming harmonious with the environment, they exert brute force in their control 26

The presence of water vapour, carbon dioxide and ozone on the surface of the planet is the perfect combination to trap heat radiated from the earth’s surface, raising global temperatures to 15C, the perfect environment to harbour life. However the emission of other ‘greenhouse gases’, including hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) found in fridges and aerosols, along with naturally occurring gases such as methane and carbon dioxide produced in excess via practices such as mass intensive agriculture or combustion of fossil fuels, has and will continue, to cause global rises in temperature.

Other systems that are vital for life on earth are disrupted by the sudden upswing in temperature, such as the global ocean currents, and these create knock on effects on weather patterns. In recent years, it has been impossible to escape the increase in occurrence and severity of natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods and droughts, driving home the tangibility and importance of the effect we have on our surroundings.

Climate change was first brought to the attention of the wider scientific community and soon after the public in the late 1980s, 150 years after it’s founding cause, the industrial revolution. However the urgency and severity of the impact our actions had, haven’t truly gripped the world until the most recent decade, by which point most concur that it is too late and we are well past the point of no return. Predictions current state that we will experience a global temperature rise of between 1.0°C and 3.7°C by the end of the 21st century, the exact increase dependant on our greenhouse gas emissions (Anderson, T, Hawkins, E and Jones, P, 2016). As climate change’s effects have become increasingly inescapable, and have become a primary focus with politicians and governments, guidelines relating to emissions and climate change have saturated almost every field.

Architecture is no exception. Every new build must adhere to multiple restrictions and guidelines for sustainable construction. Every appliance and material is given an energy efficiency rating. But almost every standard that is enforced is simply trying to minimise the damage done, rarely eliminating it and never con-

tributing to the solution. Architecture’s role in society is so crucial that it is often expected to become the miraculous solution to a multitude of problems. These challenges combined with the growing threat of overpopulation continue to threaten many, and architecture is increasingly being turned to, as a solution to the problem. In her paper, “Is there something beyond ‘outside of the box’?”, Rachel Armstrong acquiesces that our current approach to design is not doing enough to combat our rising population’s needs. She posits that we need to stop thinking of ways that we can reduce the damage we inflict on the environment, instead becoming completely harmonious with it, “actively participating in the biosphere” (Armstrong, R, 2011). The most pioneering amongst us agree, and many technologies are beginning to emerge that attempt to do just that.

In 2006, the government set a new target that by 2016 all new homes in Britain would be zero-carbon. The construction industry responded to this ambitious target with, in some cases, ambitious new designs of green homes. Many homes rushing to become ‘zero-energy’ make use of renewable power sources - photovoltaic solar panels for example. This grid connected solar panel has the potential for allowing many homes across the globe to become completely self sufficient, when used in the right way. The problem arises when only homes that are insulated properly and are sufficiently energy efficient throughout are able to subsist solely off of power they generate themselves; i.e. well-designed, brand new builds. In addition, the uses of the inhabitants cause a secondary, much larger issue. Whilst many people are increasingly living in carefully considered designed homes, people do not tend to live exactly as the architect intended. As Dr Kathryn Janda points out in her research “Buildings don’t use energy – people do!” Without the correct changes to their lifestyle, the installation of solar panel has very little effect on energy consumption – people still use the same, they just pay less on their energy bill. Without the knowledge of how to change a whole country’s, or even planet’s, energy usage habits, the introduction of small changes to new and existing builds with not have any significant impact (Janda, 2011). Perhaps ominously mimicking this sentiment, the 2016 target was scrapped in 2015, no longer requiring new builds to be zero-carbon.

The Cost of Control and the Just City

over the formation of materials at the cost of the environment.

Architects’ obsession with creating form sits directly at odds with the natural environment. The buildings we construct are a far cry from organic structures that naturally form, and the building materials that we construct with are forced into shapes and structures that they would never naturally create. Take Zaha Hadid’s iconic Heydar Aliyev Museum. Whilst the form of the building itself almost looks as if it has grown out of the ground, or is reminiscent of a crashing wave, the design and construction were anything but an organic process. Each element of the design was carefully calculated, and during construction each material was forced to conform to incredibly strict constraints. Modern high-tech construction techniques of “a steel space frame and glass-fibre-reinforced concrete panels” (Fairs, 2014) were used, the panels hiding the vertical supports in the walls. The effort, technology and precision behind the construction of this building seems incongruous to the seemingly effortless curving form. The dichotomy set up between architecture and the environment is this; Architects are wrestling the elements from our environment into precisely considered forms that only appear to be in beautifully harmony with their surroundings.

Heydar Aliyev Centre, Baku 27

Hélène Binet

Formlessness and Architecture

Architects continue to use ‘green’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘environmentally friendly’ as buzzwords when touting the benefits of their projects. In almost every corner of the globe, pioneering new projects seem to be striving to achieve new feats in sustainable design. Whilst this is hardly detrimental to the cause, it continues the perception that striving and achieving these goals is a beneficial side note, as opposed to an imperative given. Recently The Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Center (SZDLC) opened in Abu Dhabi as a museum and research centre for environmental and ecological issues. It has been certified as platinum standard by the US based LEED programme (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) (Selke & Schubert, 2016). It is considered to be state of the art in its design and construction, especially considering the arid location. During construction 92% of construction waste was “recycled, reused or reduced”, and now boasts that it has achieved a 50% saving in energy and water use (Moukhallati, 2016). The structure is partially subterranean and has minimal glazing on above ground facades, minimising solar gains and cooling requirements significantly. In addition the building uses innovative concrete core thermal activation elements and solar heat driven cooling systems to meet further cooling demands, yet these need close “monitoring and adjustments during start-up phase in order to reach the planned performance” (Selke & Schubert, 2016). Whilst impressive, this effectively demonstrates that even the most pioneering new projects, with almost limitless funding, are still incapable of reaching a state of complete harmony with the environment. If these projects whose primary aim is to be world leading in environmental design cannot achieve this, what does it mean for the rest of our cities?

Modern cities vary widely in location, form, structure, history and purpose across the globe, however they all spring from the potential of economic growth. In his 1996 seminal text, (Moore, 2016) ‘Green cities, Growing cities, Just cities?’, Scott Campbell explores this notion further, proposing a triad of conflict of interests.

He proposes that a city rests on three cornerstones; the economy, the environment, and social equity, and the axis between these construct the conflicts between them.

He furthers this by stating that planners tend to think about a singular cause, as a 28

2

Architecture’s role in society is so crucial that it is

often expected to become the miraculous solution to a multitude of problems. In her paper, “Is there something beyond ‘outside Currently 40% of the urban carbon footprint is caused by some of the box’?”, Rachel Armstrong acquiesces that our current apstage of the architectural process, and with the global populaproach to design is not doing enough to combat our rising poption predicted to rise to 9 billion by 2050, the size of this footulation’s needs. She posits that we need to stop thinking of ways print will only continue upwards (Armstrong & Spiller, 2010). that we can reduce the damage we inflict on the environment, One potential solution could be the rapidly developing fields instead becoming completely harmonious with it, “actively parof emergent design, specifically synthetic biology. By designing ticipating in the biosphere” (Armstrong, R, 2011). However the with more organic forms, a bottom-up approach to design with most ambitious designs seem to be moving further away from a reduced control over the final form becomes more natural. this objective; instead of becoming harmonious with the enviTerraform 1, an organisation for philanthropic architecture, urronment, they exert brute force control over the formation of ban and environmental design, has devised many schemes that materials at the cost of the environment. Architects’ obsession try to justify and rectify the relationship between our society and with creating form sits directly at odds with the natural envithe natural world. In ‘FAB TREE HAB’, a conceptual project, it ronment. The buildings we construct are a far cry from organic is suggested that dwellings be constructed from native trees via structures that naturally form, and the building materials that we pleaching (trained to grow around a framework and woven into construct with are forced into shapes and structures that they a lattice to form a load bearing structure) (Joachim, 2008). The would never naturally create. project thereby fuses the urban and natural environment into one, completely “overturning traditional anthropocentric doctrines” (Joachim, 2008), achieving Armstrong’s call for “active participation in the biosphere” (Armstrong, 2011)

3

2

This suggestion of a lack of fulfilment in our society

In his 1996 seminal text, (Moore, 2016) ‘Green

1

being a cyclical process via which we are continuing to make un-

cities, Growing cities, Just cities?’, Scott Campbell explores fulfilling architecture drives home his point that modern archi-

this notion further, proposing a triad of conflict of intertecture has failed in both its potential for enclosure and disclo-

ests. He proposes that a city rests on three cornerstones; sure. As a result architects have found themselves “pointlessly

the economy, the environment, and social equity, and the playing with form” (Borgmann, 2010). If architects have lost pur-

axis between these construct the conflicts between them. pose in our pursuit of form, it may be time for radical change.

He furthers this by stating that planners tend to think about a singular cause, as a result of having to adhere to If the principles can be applied in a radical way, I propose that the

constraints set by a particular client, resulting in the other ‘perfect’ city could be formed. Referring to Campbell’s 1996 paper,

two corners becoming neglected. By focusing on economthree criteria need to be adequately achieved within this ‘Just’ or ‘Perfect

ic growth, you prioritise innovation and successful comCity’; Social Equity, Economic success, and Environmental considera-

petition with other cites at the cost of high consumption tion. The idea of a ‘Perfect City’ brings the focus of design and urban

of materials. Social equity locates the competition with the planning back to each individual’s needs, placing more emphasis on the

confines of the city, concerning itself with inequalities and humanitarian aspect of the city. By doing this, the previously discussed

distribution of wealth, becoming solely anthropogenic in dichotomy of enclosure and disclosure can be brought back into the

its worldviews in the process. The environmental planner city via the creation of meaningful architecture. In contrast to this ide-

sees the degradation of land as an inescapable by-product alised mode of design, far too often “the perception of the city [is]

of the city, and attempts to minimise the damage done by as a consumable good” (Bezerra, 2017) which subsequently causes the

implementing ‘urban greening’. These approaches all have “devaluation of the needs and demands of the local population” (ibid).

their failings and trying to reach “the elusive center of the As this attitude is now the norm, any city or area within that does not

triangle” (Campbell, 1996), that offers a successful balance achieve is viewed a this is viewed as worthless.

of all three, will require a reorganisation of society.

3

The Cost of Control and the Just City

result of having to adhere to constraints set by a particular client, resulting in the other two corners becoming neglected. By focusing on economic growth, you prioritise innovation and successful competition with other cites at the cost of high consumption of materials. Social equity locates the competition with the confines of the city, concerning itself with inequalities and distribution of wealth, becoming solely anthropogenic in its worldviews in the process. The environmental planner sees the degradation of land as an inescapable by-product of the city, and attempts to minimise the damage done by implementing ‘urban greening’. These approaches all have their failings and trying to reach “the elusive center of the triangle” (Campbell, 1996), that offers a successful balance of all three, will require a reorganisation of society.

Campbell’s theory, by his own admission, is a simplified tool by which to evaluate the needs of a city. In reality a city is far more complex, further muddying the path to a potential perfect solution of equilibrium. A paper analysing Campbell’s proposition scraps the previous notion of a triangle, adding two extra corners, Art and Health, creating a ‘planner’s pentagon’ (Hirt, 2016). This cherry picks two aspects of society that particularly interest the author, and similarly, could be applied to many different disciplines. In a comparable way, it is basic human nature to face the problem that is most pressing to us at any given time. Social undercurrents are continuously being debated and discussed in politics on a day-to-day basis. Economic pressures are placed on every person to provide for themselves and their loved ones. It is only ecological issues that people feel the ability to pick up and drop at will, as the repercussions are not immediately felt. Those who are directly in contact with the environment, often those on the lowest rung of the hierarchy of labour, are the primary witness to the effects we have on our environment. Yet environmental concerns remain a luxury of the elite, as they are unable to justify economic security with environmental protection (Campbell, 1996).

Another dimension to the problem discussed by Campbell is the inherently anthropomorphic stance by which we approach all environmental issues. Ideally, the most 29

Formlessness and Architecture

efficient solution to climate change and other ecological issues would be for every person to adopt an ecocentric worldview overnight. Many environmentalists would argue for this to be the ideal, however simultaneously we must recognise the privilege and social opportunity that have afforded the ability to support this movement in the first place. Conversely, a purely anthropocentric stance reduces nature to only “reflecting the beauty of the human aesthetic” or containing potential for “the value of human labor” (Campbell, 1996). Neither one approaches the objective of becoming harmonious with nature, to the point where it becomes innate within our society, whilst simultaneously maintaining the delicate and essential balance of economy and equity. Campbell’s paper illustrates the primary concerns that must be considered when designing a ‘just city’, and notably excludes any concerns for the aesthetic value of the buildings that a city contains. This stance therefore prioritises the functionality of a city over the form that it takes, whilst uplifting environmental concerns to the same level as societal equity and the economy. If this could be achieved Armstrong’s goal of “actively participating in the biosphere” (Armstrong, R, 2011) would naturally follow.

30

Experimental Solutions

3 Experimental Solutions Currently 40% of the urban carbon footprint is caused by some stage of the architectural process, and with the global population predicted to rise to 9 billion by 2050, the size of this footprint will only continue upwards (Armstrong & Spiller, 2010). One potential solution could be the rapidly developing fields of emergent design, specifically synthetic biology. By designing with more organic forms, a bottom-up approach to design with a reduced control over the final form becomes more natural. Referring back to Armstrong’s 2011 paper, she discusses how these fields could hold the potential for new ways of designing that could change the expectations of a building’s potential, and benefit the economic and social elements of society in the process. Unlike modern trends of today, many of these new fields of exploration are opening up truly sustainable biological design for all, not just benefiting those with the time and money to add it to their self gratification and congratulation. In their paper, Armstrong and Spiller detail some of the important first steps the multi-disciplinary design community is taking to achieve truly ‘carbon-negative’ buildings and cities.

To achieve true carbon-negativity, buildings not only must have zero carbon emissions, but also imbibe carbon from the atmosphere, thus becoming truly beneficial to the surrounding microclimate. On a smaller scale, specialised coatings could trap pollutants, dust particles or carbon dioxide (Armstrong & Spiller, 2010) in a similar way to green walling, without the additional water usage, expense and materials used by the latter method. Simpler solutions such as these are within reach, however more complex examples of synthetic biology at present remain subject to experimentation and testing. Despite displaying increasingly bottom-up approach31

Formlessness and Architecture

es to their design, these technologies are still in early germination, and those who conceptualise them continue to exert control over their final forms.

Edward Quinto, of the International Society for Bioluminescence and Chemiluminescence, researches the potential that bioluminescence holds for sustainable lighting. He created a media frenzy in 2007, after using Vibrio fischeri bacteria, which he extracted from deep-sea squid, in a water medium atop the branches of his Christmas tree (Quinto, 2015). This sparked ideas of combining the bioluminescent gene with that of a plant, to create trees that use their own energy gained via carbon dioxide during photosynthesis to emit light, replacing the need for electrical streetlights. A hugely successful Kickstarter project emerged as a result in 2013, which raised nearly half a million US dollars, on the promise that each backer would receive seeds to grow their own bioluminescent plant (Evans, 2013).

The project ultimately failed, and bioluminescent plants, even on a small scale, are yet to become a reality (Hargrave, 2017). This demonstrates a significant problem with many of these conceptual ideas. Whilst on paper they are within our grasp, in practise, the expertise and knowledge necessary remains, for the time being, just out of reach.

The Bioluminescence illuminated Christmas tree in darkness 32

(Quinto, 2015)

To achieve true carbon-negativity, buildings not only have to have zero carbon emissions, but also imbibe carbon from the atmosphere, thus becoming truly beneficial to the surrounding microclimate. On a smaller scale, specialised coatings could trap pollutants, dust partiIn architecture, almost every new build must adhere to multiple restriccles or carbon dioxide (Armstrong & Spiller, 2010) in a similar way to tions and guidelines for sustainable construction. But almost every green walling, without the additional water usage, expense and mastandard that is enforced is simply trying to minimise the damage done, terials used by the latter method. Simpler solutions such as these are rarely eliminating it and never contributing to the solution. In 2006, within reach, unlike more complex examples of synthetic biology. the government set a new target that by 2016 all new homes in Britain would be zero-carbon. The construction industry responded to this target with some ambitious new designs of green homes. However very few people live and use these dwellings as the architect intended.

Giant walls of fans that draw in air and pass it through liquid that absorbs carbon dioxide could soon be built en mass in areas where trees cannot grow. (Lewis, T, 2015)

Experimental Solutions

Terraform 1, an organisation for philanthropic architecture, urban and environmental design, has devised many schemes that try to justify and rectify the relationship between our society and the natural world. In ‘FAB TREE HAB’, a conceptual project, it is suggested that dwellings be constructed from native trees via pleaching (trained to grow around a framework and woven into a lattice to form a load bearing structure) (Joachim, 2008). The project thereby fuses the urban and natural environment into one, completely “overturning traditional anthropocentric doctrines” (Joachim, 2008), achieving Armstrong’s call for “active participation in the biosphere” (Armstrong, 2011), whilst sustaining all three points of Campbell’s ‘planner’s triangle’. Many similar conceptualisations are also still in embryonic

FAB TREE HAB

(Joachim, Greden and Arbona, n.d.)

form, inhibited by the lack of a technological solution to bring them to realisation.

Others, such as the ‘meat house’, are prohibited by their expense. Three square centimetres of growable “skin”, that has the potential to form a biodegradable, inhabitable structure, currently costs US$1000 (Armstrong and Spiller, 2010). This presents the second challenge when working with such new technologies; when we can actually bring them to fruition, a lack of economic viability almost always initially holds them back from being accessible to the open market.

33

Formlessness and Architecture

In a comparable project to the ‘Meathouse’, ‘Future Venice’ could use synthetic biology to potentially form a limestone reef under the sinking foundations of Venice. As opposed to altering pig cells, ‘Future Venice’ would utilise programmable protocells with a response system that allows them to act as a living organism. In this way they can be engineered to be photophobic, driving them away from light sources, and when still, then react with minerals and carbon dioxide in their surroundings thereby forming a carbonate shell (Armstrong & Spiller, 2010). When exposed to air, the protocells form a protective layer called ‘biocrete’. In theory this could allow the protocells to be released into the waters around Venice, where they would intelligently adapt to their surroundings; heading for the dark spaces of the foundations, bonding with the wood, and, should they ever be exposed to air as a result of Venice’s changing tides, protect the exposed wood piles (Hobson, 2014). However this project is also in germination, taking form only in conceptual images and is not yet formal technology, reinforcing the problems found with bioluminescent plants. Importantly though, ‘Future Venice’ effectively demonstrates the increasingly changing tide from a top down approach to design to bottom up methodologies.

Future Venice concept image

(Tooze and Armstrong, 2010)

Conversely, the ‘Solar Sinter’ project holds massive potential for future sustainable development with a top down approach. Developed by Markus Kayser in 2011 as 34

Experimental Solutions

part of his research for his Masters into maximising the use of the sun’s full energy potential, it harnesses two natural materials to create new forms (Kayser, 2011).

Acting like a solar 3D printer that constructs pre-programmable forms out of sand that has been melted into glass, it is able to print complex parametric forms. The use of high-tech yet affordable equipment (Kayser, M & De Boni, L, 2016) allows the project to harness two abundant, primitive materials in an organic yet modern way. The prototype offers the potential to run solely from solar power, which could give the machine limitless creation abilities. Although on a small scale, the project indicates innovative methods of design can and are being discovered that could harness energy that we are yet to make full use of, and create forms from our surroundings without producing detrimental by-products. Currently however, embryonic projects such as these remain on a small scale, reducing their potential for useful real world applications whilst also being limited by the need for a predetermined form to be programmed Despite many projects emerging in a variety of fields that hold massive potential to change the way we design and create, they are comparatively small in number compared to the number of traditional new builds being constructed each day. If every corporation and business owner in the construction industry suddenly changed their investments to these new technologies, the world, as we know it, could change overnight. After rapid further development, this could result in the current trajectory of climate change being dramatically altered from its current path. However this is not the case, and will never be, as from an anthropomorphic view, we must always do what best directly benefits us. Instead, due to the speculative nature of many of these projects, they exist solely as forms, artist’s renderings, not yet brought to realisation in the world, and limited by the conceptual forms they have already been given. Is there a different approach that we could use to subtly change our paradigm from one obsessed with form and the immediate gratification that it offers?

If there is, by changing the framework through which every designer approaches a task, we could relinquish the hold we have on archaic habits of construction, instead focusing on the potential of what a building could achieve, as opposed to fixating on its aesthetic value.

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Formlessness and Architecture

4 Formlessness “He loves revolution for the revolt, not for the utopia of its realization” (Bois, Y & Krauss, R, 1996, p. 17)

The challenges facing today’s society are complex and manifold. We are trying to inhabit increasingly turbulent environments, whilst trying to prevent further damage being done. This must be achieved whilst adding meaning to our creations and subsequently finding fulfilment and connection in a world that feels increasingly isolated. I feel that potentially the first step towards building a better future must be a change in our current attitude towards the design of our dwellings, monuments and public spaces. By changing the paradigm through which we approach architecture, we are able to relinquish previous expectations, allowing us to tackle projects anew. Formlessness offers the opportunity to break down the obsession with form, instead focussing on the process of making and the offshoots created from that process.

Formlessness has its origin in the work of George Bataille’s study of ‘L’Informe’ or, ‘The Informal’ during 1929-30. Beginning as an art movement that challenged the perception of the sublimity of art, Bataille pioneered thinking into the concept that art could represent true humanity in all its forms. In this way he hoped that formlessness would represent all of human debauchery. (The Tate, n. d.) In his journal series ‘Document 1929-30’ he writes of his exploration into form and conversely, the formless, a text that became fundamental to our understanding of the concept of formlessness today. The principles of this text were later adopted by Rosalind Krauss and Yves-Alain Bois, who assessed many pieces of modern art in 36

Swarm Street, 2012, showing Acconci Studio’s solution to lighting a dark underpass by means of thousands of lights that interact with the space’s users.

Manifesto providesan anintroduction introductiontotoformlessness formlessness relation Manifestoseries series 01 01 Formless Formless provides in in relation to to Architecture accessibleway. way.InInVito VitoAcconci’s Acconci’sportion portion text, Architecture in in aa comparatively comparatively accessible of of thethe text, he designthat that“bypass “bypassaesthetic aesthetic input”, helists lists10 10projects projects relating relating to to computational computational design input”, exemplifying of design design without withoutaa predetermined predeterminedoutput. output.

2012 exemplifying the the possibilities possibilities of HisHis 2012 venture, meme particularly evoked the the principles behind Elytra Pavilventure,“Swarm “SwarmStreet” Street”toto particularly evoked principles behind Elytra ion in its ability reactto to its environment.

The project suggested a remodelling Pavilion in its toability react to its environment.

Thebrief project brief suggested a ofremodelling an underpass in alocated bad area town, that direct connection of anlocated underpass in aofbad area of provided town, that aprovided a direct between thebetween city centre the Cultural District, to become connection the and city centre and the Culturalthereby District,allowing thereby itallowing it to a become space that lone alikesafe would feelAcconci’s safe using. space thata lone travellers andtravellers families and alikefamilies would feel using. soluAcconci’s solution was thousands of motion LEDembedded lights to be embeddedthe tion was thousands of motion sensitive LED sensitive lights to be throughout throughout theand tunnel’s floors and ceilings. ‘swarms’ light tunnel’s floors ceilings.

These sensors These create sensors ‘swarms’create of light aroundofthe pasaround the passer-through, joinbyasanother, you pass by another, constantly transfiguring ser-through, that join as youthat pass constantly transfiguring and “symboliand blurring “symbolically blurring the lines between public (Acconci and private”.

(Acconci cally the lines between public and private”.

Studio, 2012)Studio, 2012)

Emma Kemp Dissertation Proposal

Excerpt from dissertation proposal, Authors own Martyn Dade-Robertson

(Kemp, E, 2017)

3

Instead, due to the speculative nature of

many of these projects, they exist solely as forms, artist’s renderings, not yet brought to realisation in the world, and limited by the conceptual forms they have already been given. Is there a different approach that we could use to subtly change our paradigm from one obsessed with form and the By celebrating the process of creation, the seemimmediate gratification that it offers? If there is, ingly formless landscapes in her selected photoby changing the framework through which every graphs act as the process frozen in time, demondesigner approaches a task, we could relinquish the strating a key operation of formlessness. Her work hold we have on archaic habits of construction, incan be compared to buildings that are created out stead focusing on the potential of what a building of need, constantly evolving yet never finished, at could achieve, as opposed to fixating on its aesthetany moment a perfect representation of the creaic value. tors current stage of life, with no inclination of the final outcome or form. Temporary shelters, favelas and slums all exemplify this mode of creation out of need as opposed to creation with a final form in mind. By approaching these constructions using formlessness as a paradigm, they become no less architecturally significant than any other great work of architecture.

5

Formlessness

their 1996 book ‘Formlessness: A Users Guide’, which displayed how many artists illustrated principles of formlessness in their work.

‘Documents’ was a French journal that published 15 issues over the course of the years 1929 and 1930. George Bataille contributed, edited and curated the texts, working in response and opposition to André Breton’s work with Surrealism, which was widely known amongst theorists, writers and artists at the time (Ades, Baker, Bradley, & Hayward Gallery, 2006). During the time of Bataille’s writing, modernism was burgeoning, with movements such as Cubism, Surrealism and Expressionism flourishing under the well-known names of Picasso, Dali and Pollock respectively.

However these movements within the artistic community were harshly critiqued by Bataille, who argued that the art was attempting to become a replacement for the human experience. Bataille adamantly believed that art was becoming a “panacea and substitute for human experience” and that the leaders of these movements were “plac[ing] the work before being” (Ades et al, 2006).

In contrast to the high-minded thinkers of his time, Bataille controversially published ‘Documents’ as a way to voice his opinions on what should be celebrated.

His provocative subjects included the comparison of André Breton (his contemporary who often opposed his work) to a corpse, his own pornographic literature, and

The magazine, Documents (Centre Pompidou, n.d.)

Un cadavre 37

(Boiffard, J as cited in MoMA, n.d.)

Formlessness and Architecture

the study of sacrifice (Ades et al, 2006). These, amongst many others represented to Bataille what it meant to be human, and became a form of art that art, in the traditional sense, had lost. By capturing debased primal human needs and desires that were shunned by society, Bataille hoped to shine a light on distinctly human processes, removing the taboo from the representation and discussion of these topics. When discussing The Formless, the predetermined framework of what is accepted and expected must first be removed.

Bataille (1929) defines Formless in his journal series as “a term which declassifies, generally requiring that each thing takes on form” thus conversely defining the term by its own antonym. He goes on to suggest that once something has been decried as formless its “has no claim in any sense, and is always trampled upon like a spider or an earthworm”. By saying that the universe is formless, many would fret that it is “tantamount to saying the universe is something like a spider or spittle” yet Bataille consistently demonstrates that there are benefits to relinquishing our obsession with form and embracing that which society finds distasteful. If ‘Architecture epitomises form’, as Bataille defined in his journals, yet as previously demonstrated, no longer serves this purpose, it must be reconnected to the base human needs that Bataille spent his lifetime propounding. As architecture should fulfil the primal need for enclosure and disclosure, the consideration of formlessness and relinquishment of the traditional rules of form that Bataille found that it offered, provides an avenue of thought by which architecture as simply form, can be reconsidered.

Although introduced by Bataille in the early part of the 20th century, formlessness was disregarded by most throughout the following decades, until it became the cynosure of Bois and Krauss’s 1997 book; ‘Formless, A User’s Guide’. The book followed an exhibition of the same name in Paris, 1996, which displayed a series of carefully curated work from a variety of artists that both felt presented elements of their interpretation of formlessness. Whilst Bataille uses l’informe as a way to criticise modern art and celebrate the debased, Bois and Krauss brought the term 38

Number One (Lavender Mist). Jackson Pollock (1950)

Dissipative Structures. Myndreskou, N. (n.d.)

Formlessness

formlessness to a better definition, in that they gathered “the projects of artists who had the radical idea to undo form” (Sedofsky, 1996, as cited in Highmore, 1999, p. 137). They further clarified this distinction between their own work and Bataille’s by stating, “We’re aligned with Bataille when it pleases us to be so, and not aligned when it doesn’t” (ibid). As a result ‘Formless, A User’s Guide’ becomes a compilation of “art that performs formless operations” (Highmore, 1999) that can be used to identify elements of formlessness that could be applied to other fields.

Examining as Bois and Krauss do, in their exploration of horizontality, the simplest demonstrator of formlessness in modern art is Jackson Pollock. Pollock transferred his axis of work from the vertical (a wall or easel, the traditional plane of an artist’s work) to the horizontal (the floor), the symbolic location of rubbish in “mainstream” cultures eyes. By creating his art on a horizontal plane “Pollock’s work seemed to propose, in being below culture, was out of the axis of the body, and thus below form” (Bois and Krauss, 1997). Pollock’s also captured every moment of creation within his paintings, in the loose buttons and cigarette butts dropped from the artist. Bataille also discussed l’informe as referring to base humanistic nature as well as the thought of that which is below form becomes formless. Bois and Krauss further surmised “he [Bataille] loves revolution for the revolt, not for

Number 31, 1950 by Jackson Pollock.

39

(JacksonPollock.org, n.d.)

Formlessness and Architecture

the utopia of its realization” (ibid, p. 17). Thus by comparing Pollock’s work (who’s goal is to capture the process of creation, even once the painting is hung) to Bataille’s principles, his drip paintings become perhaps one of the clearest examples of formless artwork.

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Formlessness Architecture

5 Formless Architecture

Formlessness as a topic has not been as greatly investigated as other modes of thinking, and as a result I have found there to be a lack of literature directly relating the formlessness and architecture. A seminal work that guided my investigation into formlessness, along with ‘Formless, A User’s Guide’, is Formless 01, a manifesto from multiple creators across the architectural spectrum, including an essay from Bois, a significant contributor to the field. The book itself breaks the boundaries of traditional formatting, with the shape and organisation of the texts within, breaking the boundaries of the norm and the book itself challenges convention.

Within, essays, projects and photographs are brought together to try and define the concept, arguing that “the formless is an operation” (Bois 1997), thus setting up a framework that when “form operates as a limitation or constraint, formless [can] open up alternative possibilities” (Rose and Ricciardi 2013) Manifesto series 01 Formless compiles a variety of projects to attempt to define formless in relation to architecture. Amongst them, Vito Acconci from Acconci Studios describes ten computational design projects that “bypass aesthetic input” instead allowing the user to shape the design. He argues that by allowing this relationship between the user and the design to occur the output displays formlessness.

He utilises his 2012 project ‘Swarm Street’ to demonstrate this point, where an underpass was remodelled and filled with motion sensitive LED lights, with the goal of making this key route more welcoming and accessible to all users. The motion sensitive lights ‘swarm’ around and follow the traveller, creating constantly moving and changing patterns. However whilst this interaction and display of the process of travel through the space exhibits formless qualities, I feel that the project was 41

Formlessness and Architecture

too highly predetermined and designed to be considered truly ‘formless’.

Whilst Manifesto series 01 Formless considers in the most part individual projects that exhibit beneficial qualities of formlessness, both old and modern architectural theorists, from August Endell to Alexander Eisenschmidt, consider the notion of ‘The Formless City’. Eisenschmidt proposes that The Formless is ingrained in our cities, epitomised by their unplanned, sprawling nature, created paradoxically by its diminutive pieces of highly designed and precisely constructed buildings. He touts the benefits of relinquishing previous modernist ideals of the creation of order to the celebration of chaos, in a way similar to Bataille’s love for the debased. Endell’s book ‘The Beauty of the Metropolis’ further celebrates this potential that a beautifully tumultuous and unbound city can offer in sparking creativity in the mind (Eisenschmidt, 2012) (Endell, A & Alexander, Z, 2014). They both promote this ideal of a ‘living’ city, free from constraining town planning or grid systems, allowed to grow unchecked.

The grid system in New York effectively demonstrates our obsession with the destruction of human instinct in our modes of design and city planning. Often described as ‘the loneliest city on earth’, it has lost any organically formed elements resulting in the unwelcoming feel of an urban wasteland. This is not a natural way to live; yet it is one of the most recognised and populous cities in the world. This exemplifies the problem with our current societal determination to continue old habits no matter how detrimental they are to our cause.

In contrast to this, and in line with Eisenschmidt’s and Endell’s thinking, Julie Bargmann celebrates the unintentional landscapes, promoting the accidental, the unplanned. She photographs industrial ‘wastelands’, the “landscapes that once worked hard to form things [that] now seem formless” (Bargmann et al, 2013).

She argues that the evidence that remains of the hard work that went into creating the final form is just as valuable as the final cherished outcome. By celebrating the process of creation, the seemingly formless landscapes in her selected photographs 42

Formlessness Architecture

act as the process frozen in time, demonstrating a key operation of formlessness.

Her work can be compared to buildings that are created out of need, constantly evolving yet never finished, at any moment a perfect representation of the creators current stage of life, with no inclination of the final outcome or form. Temporary shelters, favelas and slums all exemplify this mode of creation out of need as opposed to creation with a final form in mind. By approaching these constructions using formlessness as a paradigm, they become no less architecturally significant than any other great work of architecture.

Finding the Formless

43

(Bargmann, 2013, p. 10)

Formlessness and Architecture

6 Informal Settlements, Formlessness and the Perfect City

To understand how these principles learnt from the study of ‘The Formless’ can be applied to the city, I first need to establish what could be achieved. If the principles can be applied in a radical way, I propose that the ‘perfect’ city could be formed. Referring to Campbell’s 1996 paper, three criteria need to be adequately achieved within this ‘Just’ or ‘Perfect City’; Social Equity, Economic success, and Environmental consideration. True social equity would require unprecedentedly low, ideally non-existent, crime rates as well as no evidence of sexism, racism, or other discriminatory issues. In addition to this, there should be even and fair wealth distribution, and a just governing system. I feel that other social issues can also be included in this category, including the nurturing of public arts, and the implementation of a successful healthcare system. The second criterion for the ‘perfect city’ is a successful economy, in that it is thriving, and holds the potential for further growth. The city should also have the potential to offer skills and trade with other cities, showing a beneficial opportunity for investment for both parties. Lastly, the city should have environmental considerations. However as previously shown I feel that being dubbed sustainable or carbon neutral is no longer sufficient for the proposed ’perfect city’. Instead the ideal city would be carbon negative and work in harmony with its surroundings to rebuild the environment.

The idea of a ‘Perfect City’ brings the focus of design and urban planning back to each individual’s needs, placing more emphasis on the humanitarian aspect of the city. By doing this, the previously discussed dichotomy of enclosure and disclosure can be brought back into the city via the creation of meaningful architecture. In contrast to this idealised mode of design, far too often “the perception of the city 44

Informal Settlements, Formlessness and the Perfect City

[is] as a consumable good” (Bezerra, 2017) which subsequently causes the “devaluation of the needs and demands of the local population” (ibid). As this attitude is now the norm, any city or area within that does not achieve this is viewed as worthless. By examining these areas of the city, the settlements where the primary function is not to act as the “city’s brand image” (ibid) you see a more natural human experience. In this way I hope to demonstrate that informal settlements have the potential to exhibit qualities of both formlessness and the ‘perfect city’. However as Bois and Krauss show in ‘Formless, A User’s Guide’, it is not always necessary for their examples of ‘formless’ art to exhibit all qualities of formlessness, whether intentional or not, to be classed as formless. In this way informal settlements cannot be used as a perfect example that exhibits all qualities of formless architecture.

The idea of turning to slums and favelas for inspiration for cities is not new. Alejandro Aravena, winner of the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize has long been drawing inspiration from informal settlements and touting their benefits, and is renowned for designing for low income families. Whilst his work largely focuses on improving conditions in these areas, he “believe[s] that the advancement of architecture is not a goal in itself, but a way to improve people’s quality of life”(Aravena as cited in Martin, 2016). By focusing on the process of improving the resident’s quality of life, he inadvertently exhibits a formless principle by celebrating the process and relinquishing the final form as a goal. Often originating on poor geological sites, many slums are set up for failure from the start. Recurrently in high-risk areas for natural disasters or subsidence, residents must face the challenge of rebuilding much more frequently than cities in more stable sites. (Davis, 2006, pp. 122-123).

This, combined with the lack of funding from the state, results in a severe lack of infrastructure contributing to the poor living conditions that are inextricable from the preconception of a slum. A challenging dichotomy thus occurs when attempting to present what could potentially be learned from slums, as it is precisely this lack of funding and evolving nature that act as the catalysts for the settlement to be able achieve certain elements of formlessness.

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Unlike architecture as we know it in the west, slums and favelas evolve from the basic need for enclosure. As these ramshackle structures fulfil this need, albeit primitively, there is an argument that they achieve a higher order of function in architecture than many more premeditated and designed forms. Each structure is unique, built by its occupants, and created specifically to provide the necessary space to accommodate its individual function. Despite the obvious challenges that come with living in an informal settlement, there are also many aspects that can and should be celebrated. In particular they can offer a creative and social space that demonstrates the organic way communities can form and grow.

Dharavi, one of the world’s most prolific slums, home to over 1 million people in the centre of Mumbai, is a thriving social and economic hub, offering a huge variety of products and services. Despite many people’s negative perceptions of slums, many inhabitants do not want to be moved into more formal housing, and many rehousing schemes where this has been attempted have ultimately failed (Carr, 2015) leading to many schemes calling for re-modelling as opposed to re-development (Apte, 2011). Liza Weinstein explores whether either option could be successful in her book ‘The Durable Slum: Dharavi and the Right to Stay Put in Globalizing Mumbai’ (Waldrop 2015), by examining some of the schemes that attempted to rehouse Dharavi residents in traditional, top-down designed tower blocks outside

Dharavi 46

(Cook, 2017)

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Each structure is unique, built by its occupants, and created specifically to provide the necessary space to accommodate its individual function.

Eisenschmidt proposes that The FormThe idea of a ‘Perfect City’ brings the focus of design less is ingrained in our cities, epitomised by and urban planning back to each individual’s needs, their unplanned, sprawling nature, created placing more emphasis on the humanitarian aspect of paradoxically by its diminutive pieces of the city. By doing this, the previously discussed dichothighly designed and precisely constructed omy of enclosure and disclosure can be brought back buildings. He touts the benefits of relininto the city via the creation of meaningful architecture. quishing previous modernist ideals of the

4

These, amongst many others represented to Bataille what it meant to be human, and became a form of art that art, in the traditional sense, had lost. By capturing debased primal human needs and desires that were shunned by society, Bataille hoped to shine a light on distinctly human processes, removing the taboo from the representation and discussion of these topics.

2

creation of order to the celebration of chaos, in a way similar to Bataille’s love for the debased.

5

... harnesses two natural materials to create new forms (Kayser, 2011). Acting like a solar 3D printer that constructs pre-programmable forms out of sand that has been

Climate change is an ever-present melted into glass, it is able to print complex

challenge when it comes to design, with parametric forms. The use of high-tech yet affordable equipment (Kayser, M & De tightening regulatory constraints that atBoni, L, 2016) allows the project to harness tempt to decrease the damage caused by two abundant, primitive materials in an orthe construction industry. Architecture is ganic yet modern way.

3

constantly fighting to withstand the turbuTour guides within Dharavi point out that there lent environments caused by the effects of are well over 100 recycling workshops withclimate change, without contributing to the in the slum, acting as a key component in the globcyclical problem. al plastic recycling chain (Jones & Sanyal, 2015).

Social Housing by Alejandro Aravena for ELEMENTAL architecture practice.

(Design to improve life, 2011)

The Quinta Monroy housing development after residents moved in.

(Palma, C, n.d.)

Shacks and Shanties in Manila (Cooke, L, n.d.)

Slum housing alongside the railway in Mumbai.

(Zhang, Y, 2016.)

Informal Settlements, Formlessness and the Perfect City

of the city centre. However all these schemes have become undone by a lack of understanding of the intricate social connections that formed gradually and organically that allowed these communities to initially flourish. Instead of both re-modelling and re-development, she continues to support the Dharavi resident’s “right to stay put” (Routray, 2016) in the community that they created despite the adversity stacked against them.

Whilst lacking the suitable infrastructure to sufficiently meet the population’s manifold needs, such as sanitation, and increasingly technological connectivity, many dwellers within informal settlements do successfully create thriving industries, and subsequently, economies. Due to the self start nature of many businesses in Dharavi, based on surrounding needs and availability of materials around them, many “small-scale, labor-intensive productive activit[ies] that provide relatively secure livelihoods” (Nijman, 2015, p. 406) can be found. These include pottery making, leather and textile production, steel production and the recycling of many different materials, (Apte, 2008) as well as bakeries and a vast assortment of other businesses that make Dharavi a thriving community (Kevin McCloud: Slumming it, 2010).

Residents consistently use their surroundings to create meaningful work and livelihoods from their chaotic environments. The slum itself becomes a creation of formlessness, exhibiting the processes that created it within its own ever-changing form.

Tour guides within Dharavi point out that there are well over 100 recycling workshops within the slum, acting as a key component in the global plastic recycling chain (Jones & Sanyal, 2015). If taken at face value, and using Dharavi as an archetype for most settlements, then strong relations can be drawn from informal settlements and the key elements of ‘the perfect city’; community, economy, environment. When combined with the nature of the evolution of informal settlements, from the human instinct for survival and need for enclosure, they become near perfect examples of Bataille’s formlessness, applied in architectural form, as “it is humanism above all he is after” (Bois, Y & Krauss, R, 1996, p 17). Informal 47

Formlessness and Architecture

settlements practise function over form, acting in harmony as a constantly evolving and adapting settlement according to it’s residents needs and on-going processes.

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Inscribed lines depicting temple structures (Haselberger, L, 1985)

Ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Didyma (Haselberger, L, 1985)

Conclusion

Conclusion

Whilst it is clear that it could be time for a change in our mode of design that has dominated since the industrial revolution, the solution is not clear-cut. By envisioning formlessness as the predominant methodology by which we approach design problems, embracing the process and its outputs as opposed to the final form, the ideal result would be meaningful architecture that not only sustains and enriches life, but also aids in solving the many challenges that face society today. In practice, using formlessness as a panacea is not feasible or possible. Holding informal settlements up as the perfection in human creation would be irresponsible and unreasonable. Instead I hope that reversing and thus challenging current approaches to design highlights the shortcomings of current methods and opens up avenues of consideration that have not previously been reflected upon.

Informal settlements also do not exhibit all qualities of formlessness in the same way that artworks can wholly do so, instead showing far more elements that must be considered resulting in a much more complex example. However by selecting certain aspects, as Bois and Kraus do, “when it pleases us to [do] so� (Sedofsky, 1996, as cited in Highmore, 1999, p. 137), and applying the beneficial qualities that can be found in informal settlements through the paradigm of formlessness as an operation (Bois and Krauss, 1996, p. 24); we can begin to form ideas about design becoming a way to achieve a successful process of living, as opposed to achieving a predetermined final form.

Historically, architecture was not a profession. Instead it was the past time of the wealthy, who created beautiful forms at the expense of the lower class. This role 49

Formlessness and Architecture

evolved, refining the creation of form to a fine-tuned profession, eventually resulting in the pioneering designers that are household names today. However, if, as previously demonstrated, the creation of form is no longer achieving significant true purpose, and other examples of creation, such as informal settlements, that always have existed, continue to encapsulate and exemplify the true human experience, then these could demonstrate a more meaningful existence. This does not mean that I am attempting to completely nullify the role of the architect. Rather, suggest an alteration to the role, to become the enabler and protector of the process of successful economy, equity and environment; thus achieving the formless’s celebration of the process and the exhibition of the human experience.

Thus, to face the challenges of today, architects should have a greater focus on what their design will achieve, freeing it from the fixation of control over the final outcome. In practice, this has already begun to happen. The Grundbau und Siedler project at the IBA exhibition park in Hamburg for example, allowed residents to complete construction themselves in a DIY approach to design, opening up the affordability of inner-city addresses to lower and middle income families. The

Grundbau und Siedler project upon completion in 2013 IBA Hamburg GmbH. (2013)

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Grundbau und Siedler project when visited in 2017, with resident’s own amendments and additions.

Authors own. (2017)

Conclusion

success of the project demonstrates that relinquishing the final form and allowing the occupant’s individual needs and lives drive the design of the dwelling can be done and should not be discredited. Similarly, Alejandro Aravena’s work with slum dwellers resulted in his creation of the ‘half house’, a social housing initiative that allowed occupants to expand their dwelling when funds allowed. The success of his work is apparent in the success of the scheme, and more formally in his winning of the Pritzer award in 2016. However whilst adaptable architecture seems increasingly a move in the right direction, towards architecture that has the ability to grow and change with our evolving needs, the consideration of formlessness could push this even further. The Formless has the potential to give design a true function, and give architects a new purposeful role in the creation of a ‘Perfect City’, eliminating the occurrence of playing with form to no meaningful end.

Villa Verde, Chile, 2013, by Alejandro Aravena’s Elemental practice

Phaidon. (n. d.)

It is human nature to experience the increasing need to rebel in the face of tightening constraints and rules. It seems then that our surroundings are experiencing the same effect; the greater the control we are trying to exert on our surroundings, the greater the spiral of destruction that seems to occur. Perhaps then we should 51

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be loosening that grip, relinquishing architectural control over the aesthetics of form, and instead focusing on the processes and needs of the occupants and our surroundings. Hopefully in this way, we could paradoxically regain some element of control over the increasing socio-economic and environmental issues that face society today.

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