21 minute read
Introduction
Haarlemmermeer North Holland The Netherlands
Above - Fig. 1 Diagram of the site and its location in the Netherlands. (Kaye, 2022)
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1. INTRODUCTION
In the late-20th century, postindustrial cities began investing in new civic and cultural buildings to revitalize their economies. With the critical and financial success of the Guggenheim Bilbao, the lesson for regional cities across the developed world became clear: architectural landmarks bring investment and interest to communities (Plaza et al., 2009). Located eight kilometers southwest of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, the municipality of Haarlemmermeer wanted to construct such a project to mark the new millennia and spur development along transit corridors (Hoeckman, 2004, p. 36). After engaging Catalan architect and civil engineer Santiago Calatrava to produce a site vision, the municipality committed to erecting a series of three bridges. Designed in the 1990s, this project was conceived while the architectural discipline was beginning to benefit from access to novel digital tools (Gehry, Lloyd, et. al, 2020, pp. 16). These allowed the bridges to adopt complex curves and precise machining to optimize not only material utilisation, but form. Their appearance is informed by Calatrava’s biomorphic attitude and benefits from the form-making, movement, and dynamism of Modernism (Kutlu, 2020, p. 43).
Through his essays articulating the role of modern technology in architecture, architect and theorist Toyo Ito proposed disseminated digital tools as a novel information framework which create a virtual space upon application to the built environment. In Architecture in a Simulated City (Ito, 2002, pp. 337341), Ito provides a foundational understanding of virtuality not as a shorthand for digital or computation, but for simulation. He argues the fluid interplay of digital media with daily life applies filters to reality, where
instead of simply living actions begin to ape those experienced in imagination. This simulation of the built environment alters the effect of virtual time, a measurement framework which records a distinct encounter of the built environment in virtual space alongside the expected physical experience (Ito, 2002, p. 342-343). The opportunity to interrogate the role of this additional temporal filter motivated inquiry into the perceived experience of different conceptions of time.
Through his investigation of conceptions of linear and nonlinear time, French philosopher Henri Bergson’s Duration and Simultaneity became a key reference as its definitions of internalized, real time and rigid, abstract time established a foundation for comprehending duration (Bergson, 1896). This proved particularly useful for investigating how the bridges act as a series to influence apparent duration within their sphere of influence. Each bridge individually links physical space through their span across the Hoofdvaart, but they also act together to affect duration when transiting between them.
From Calatrava’s initial sketches presenting a virtual space (Fig. 2) to its final physical configuration, the bridges’ dramatic forms demonstrate interrelationships with site characteristics. To evaluate the elements of this assembly which affect the individual experiences of temporality, we inquired how do the physical components and intangible characteristics of the built environment affect our experience of time?
een doorlopend buisprofiel. In het deel van de brug met de grootste overspanning liggen de tuikabels alle in één verticaal vlak, in de lengte-as van de brug. Hier sluiten ze aan op de koppelliggers tusen beide weghelften. In het achterste gedeelte sluiten de kabels aan op de randbuizen die buiten de fietspaden lopen, zodat de kabels hier twee vlakken vormen. De tuien zijn aan het brugdek bevestigd met in de constructie ingebouwde doorvoerbuizen. Een onopvallende, sierlijke afsluitkap verhindert het indringen van regenwater. De 84 m lange pyloon steunt af op het wegdek. De verticale component van de drukkracht wordt naar de fundering geleid via een verticale, kegelvormige steun. Deze stalen steun is onderaan opgelegd op een stalen taats, die is ingestort in de fundering. De horizontale component uit de pyloon wordt opgenomen door de beide kokerliggers. Bij de ontmoeting van de pyloon en het wegdek komen grote krachten
© S.Calatrava
Luit
foto:A.KarchmerFig. 2a - Harp
De Citer in Bennebroek is een combinatie van How do the 38 BOUWEN MET STAAL 181 DECEMBER twee bruggen. Constructief levert dat de zeer ongebruikelijke oplossing waarbij de beide 2004 physical componentsbrugdekken via de tuien in evenwicht worden gehouden; de ene brug vormt het contragewicht van de andere. Op een uitgekiende wijze heeft Calatrava het evenwicht tussen beide in and de vormgeving uitgedrukt. Het is alsof het intangible characteristicssamenstel een beweegbare brug vormt. De pyloon staat op een centrale pijler die tegelijk de fly-over ondersteunt. Zowel het brugdek van de fly-over als de pyloon rusten excen- of the built environment trisch op deze steun. Meest opvallend is de fly-over met zijn 149 m overspanning en sterke hellingen. Deze ligt affect our evenwijdig aan de Hoofdvaart en overspant de nieuwgebouwde Bennebroekerweg. De fly-over experience of time?is bedoeld voor lokaal verkeer; daarvoor volstond één rijstrook voor beide richtingen. Verkeerslichten aan beide kanten van de brug regelen het verkeer. Fietsers en voetgangers mogen tegelijkertijd in beide richtingen over de brug. Constructief is de fly-over vergelijkbaar met de Harp. Ook hier is het brugdek opgebouwd uit een stalen koker met gekromde onderzijde, waaraan uitkragende liggers zijn bevestigd voor de ondersteuning van het fietspad. Een verschil met de Harp is dat het brugdek hier aan één zijde, dus asymmetrisch, door de tuien wordt ondersteund. Hierdoor ontstaan grote torsiekrachten in het brugdek. De tuikabels sluiten
BOUWEN MET STAAL 181 DECEMBER 2004
aan op de randbuis van het brugdek en lopen waaiervormig uit vanaf de pyloon. Loodrecht op de fly-over ligt de laaggelegen hoofdbrug. Deze ligt maar net boven het water en overspant in 20 m de Hoofdvaart. In beide rijrichtingen zijn er drie voorsorteervakken en een vluchtstrook. Voor elke rijrichting is er een kokervormig brugdek, ook hier verbonden door I-vormige koppelliggers. Daaraan zijn de tuien bevestigd die de hoofdbrug dragen. foto’s:A.Karchmer Het brugdek van de Luit in Toolenburg verschilt van beide andere bruggen. In plattegrond omvat deze brug twee wegdekken van elk 26 m overspanning, één voor elke rijrichting. Aangezien deze brug deel uitmaakt van een rotonde, zijn beide brugdekken horizontaal gekromd. De pyloon vormt als het ware de wijzer van deRight - Fig. 2 Sketches of the three bridges which comprise the case study. (Calatrava, n.d.) weegschaal tussen de beide brugdekken. Uniek is dat de pyloon niet verbonden is met de brugdekken; hij staat er midden tussen, op een betonnen uitkraging. Samen met de achtertuien
© aquarellen:S.Calatrava
Harp Lyre
Above - Fig. 3 Diagram of the position of three bridges over the Hoofdvaart. (Kaye, 2022)
Lute
2. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK
Physical Components Intangible Characteristics
The applied role of the physical components and intangible characteristics will be evaluated through the case study Bridges over the Hoofdvaart. Physical components will be described as the bridges’ materiality and situation. Intangible characteristics will be understood through Toyo Ito’s provocation that modern humans experience space in two coexisting bodies: one natural and the other virtual.
Above - Fig. 4 Diagram of the two categories being researched. (Kaye, 2022)
Haarlemmermeer — a polder Hoofdvaart — its primary drainage canal
Above - Fig. 5 Diagram of the case study site as a polder with central canal. (Kaye, 2022)
2.1 - Bridges over the Hoofdvaart (1999-2004)
Santiago Calatrava Architects & Engineers
Harp Lyre Lute
Reclaimed in the 19th century, the polder of Haarlemmermeer is an artificial landscape. Located between the cities of Den Haag and Amsterdam, its primary transportation arteries, along with the Hoofdvaart (its central drainage canal), transit the polder from Southwest to Northeast (“Haarlemmermeer,” 2012). To facilitate efficient crosstraffic, the three Bridges over the Hoofdvaart were built along the three kilometer stretch between Nieuw-Vennep and Hoofddorp (Fig. 7). As a project which fulfills a public function and acts as a landmark, these bridges are contextually respectful, yet dramatic in their design (Hoeckman, 2004, p. 36). Each makes reference to the height and dynamism of historic windmills through their fine, distinctive forms visible for kilometers. The bridges’ expression in white steel are based on specific musical instruments and their interpreted forms facilitate crossing with different primary modalities at varying speeds: walking, cycling, and driving (Hoeckman, 2004, p. 35).
Above - Fig. 6 Diagram of the three bridges seen in section. (Kaye, 2022)
Virtual Space within Series Virtual Time Media Suit
0.5 km
Above - Fig. 7 Diagram of the theoretical principles of virtual space, media suits, and virtual time applied to physical space. (Kaye, 2022)
2.2 - Simulated Time
In his essay The Image of Architecture in the Electronic Age (Ito, 2006, p. 342), Toyo Ito posits that the modern “Electronic Age” imposes an additional layer, a sort of virtual body composed of electrons, alongside the natural body’s primitive connection to the world.
Supposing the existence of such a virtual body, he defined several functions of architecture in relation to humans: Measuring the passage of time from building construction to image establishment, particularly the shift from real time relationships to a place imposing virtual time.
To situate Ito in relation to existing theories, Bergson’s definitions of real time will act as an interpretive lens for virtual equivalents.
Acting as virtual space or simulation which represent the flow of human activities;
Embodying an inhabitable representation of human culture into which one can place themselves utilising a media suit (an applied phenomenological lens);
Natural Body Duration
Henri Bergson
Motion = Real Time Space
Virtual Body Virtual Time
Media Suit Virtual Space
Toyo Ito
Above - Fig. 8 Diagram comparing Ito and Bergson’s theoretical teminology. (Engelsma, 2022)
Bergson’s theory supposes three intangible characteristics affecting human understanding of the present situation: duration, space, and motion (Bergson, 1896, pp. 280-281). His theory assumes “Pure duration is the form which the succession of our conscious states assume when our ego lets itself live, when it refrains from separating its present state from its former state…” (Bergson, 2019, p. 100).
When this succession is situated perspectivally through memories, it is placed into space and becomes an abstract form of orientations to the psychic state. The passage of real time can therefore be understood as motion through which duration is oriented in space. Using Bergson’s terminology, Ito’s theory can be defined according to the virtual body. The media suit can be compared to duration as it represents the psychic state. Human flows, or moments in time, are defined by Ito as virtual space, and are analogous with Bergson’s comprehension of space. The passage of virtual time is described as the process of designing, or the continuous motion of thoughts cataloging and envisioning a virtual space.
2.3 - Methodology
Three Experiments Comparable Results
To evaluate how the experience of time is affected by the tangible and intangible, an experiment was conducted to compare the experiences of the three authors through virtual time and real time.
Experiences in virtual time focus on the perception of media suits in virtual space, with real time defined as the baseline measurable, individual experience. Three themes have been employed: memories (media suit), seriality (virtual space), and references (media suit situated in virtual space).
Results will focus on the insights offered through perceived variations across thematic lenses.
Above - Fig. 9 Diagram of the proposed methodology. (Kaye, 2022)
Three Themes
Memories Seriality References
Above - Fig. 10 Diagram of the three experimental themes. (Kaye, 2022)
Above - Fig. 11 Diagram of the physical routes traveled by Sharon along the Hoofdvaart. (Kaye, 2022) 0.5 km
Walking Driving
3. EXPERIMENTATION
3.1 - Memories | Sharon Engelsma
The origin of my analysis of the Bridges over the Hoofdvaart was the image in my head composited from previous memories. Its fidelity made me ponder what is the difference between experiencing time within memories and having a real experience? To evaluate, I collected my memories across different speeds and compared them to a real experience with the bridges. These memories included transit by train and driving by car on the highway next to the bridges (Appendix A - B), while novel real time experiences include driving and walking along the individual bridges (Appendix C - D). The experiences of time within memories versus real life are compared through diagrams (Fig. 12 - 13) where passing time is framed as abstract time (as measured by a clock) to create a shared axis for comparison. The first comparison between the diagrams are the virtual and real time experiences of driving a car. In stream-of-consciousness form, a detailed description of a previous drive (Appendix B) reveals that surrounding traffic diverted attention from the bridges, an experience which was repeated during real time. In the virtual time of memory, it was possible to view the bridges slowly, while in real time both the Lyre and Lute bridges were experienced rather quickly, despite the similar amounts of heavy traffic in both situations. This suggests memories alter time by slowing down perception in relation to the real experience.
The second comparison considers apparent passages of time at varying speeds / modalities. From memory, the train seemed to move with a
Car Train
Above - Fig. 12 Virtual Time v. Abstract Time mapped from the perspective of driving a car and riding the train. (Engelsma, 2022)
speed faster than the car, yet it is perceived as reducing the passing of virtual time. Although driving is physically slower, the available attention with my state of mind was higher in the train as I was only sitting and looking outside. In the real experience, I had greater attention while walking than driving. In these experiences, there were no surrounding effects altering the time, except near the Lyre Bridge, where no clear path existed for walking. The actual speed of the transport does not seem to affect the experience of time in either the virtual time of memory or real time, rather the state of mind clearly affects a change in the experience of time.
Car Person
Above - Fig. 13 Real Time v. Abstract Time mapped from the perspective of driving a car and walking. (Engelsma, 2022)
In seeking a conclusion to the difference between experiencing time within memories and having a real experience, we must recognize its formation was guided by the initial conclusion: memories can alter virtual time by sowing down the apparent experience in relation to the real time. Yet there is also another theory which reveals a larger discussion: the state of mind and body affect the speed at which time is experienced. This will be further discussed in the conclusion when compared to others’ experiences.
Above - Fig. 14 Diagram of the physical routes traveled by Jonathan along the Hoofdvaart. (Kaye, 2022) 0.5 km
Bicycling
3.2 - Seriality | Jonathan Kaye
In antiquity, the meaning of the number three includes the “…definite, its actual intrinsic value; another, symbolic, mystic, esoteric; and the third, indefinite, of an indeterminate number of times...” (Lease, 1919, p. 57). This triune heritage instills sets with value beyond their mere physicality and definitional primality, extending to their conveyance of completeness. However, in contemplating the Bridges over the Hoofdvaart before visiting, it became difficult to envision the virtual space defined by the bridges’ extents as anything other than fragmentary. Viewed on the internet using a satellite map, the situation appeared clearly defined as a set of three bridges along a single, diagonal axis, yet it also seemed incomprehensible. Objects can have proportional absolutes which are deconstructable in narrative form. In the electronic age, there is a new digital reality alongside the physical and in this scaleless realm, the same electronic screen can be infinitely dimensioned to remix the size and orientation of physical components. As they seek identity, how do series rely upon virtual space to define their extent?
As my understanding of virtual space shifted from the digital to physical, my media suit resisted the new objective boundaries being encountered. No longer were the three bridges overlapping, now each inhabited a defined space and required measurable duration to move between them (Fig. 15). As I bicycled the distance between each bridge, motion became defined not by the pinching of fingers, but through the regularity of trees and the irregular form, function, and scale of the three
Abstract Time (in minutes)
Types of Virtual Space by Modality
Above - Fig. 15 Graph of bridge position in Virtual Space and Abstract Time. (Kaye, 2022)
bridges. Publicity photographs captured the project in its prime, establishing the forms as pure and gravity-resistant, yet these bridges now share a palette of dirty white coloration, and rusting steel structure. Distance and speed blur these effects, yet the modality of the cycle provided a panacea to over- and under-indulgence. The expected superimposition of bridges together proved impossible with the kilometers between them, but their connection was also reinforced through the distinctive
Legend:
Harp Bridge Lyre Bridge Lute Bridge
way they define space together along the axis of the Hoofdvaart.
Each bridge engages the bicycle lane in its own way, but only one bridge, the Harp, becomes an overpass and crosses the lane. This frames a space beneath it where real time is suspended and virtual time accelerates as
Passage of Virtual Time (relationship to series)
—
Position in Virtual Space (relationship to media suit) +
Above - Fig. 16 Diagram comparing conceptions of Virtual Time and Space. (Kaye, 2022)
media previously experienced are mentally rewound to search for evidence of such a pause. Yet, this duration resists record because it is reliant upon the experience of the series for its definition. As the start and terminus of the series, my motion became reliant upon this frame as a reference. Through the layering of distinct moments in virtual time, new understandings of virtual space established the scale and proportion of each discrete object and the comprehensive whole. It was through the physical encounter of the bridges that the ways series rely upon virtual space were revealed. Through movement, their overlapping forms emerged as separate moments bound in a singular virtual space. Through this passage of virtual time, the series’ extent connected duration, space, and place as expectations coalesced with experience (Fig. 16). No longer three digital, equidistant moments, virtual space became clarified into true relationships and dimensions.
Above - Fig. 17 Diagram of the physical routes traveled by Iris along the Hoofdvaart. (Kaye, 2022) 0.5 km
Driving
3.3 - References | Iris van Leeuwen
As an architecture student, the phase “Calatrava bridges” is burdened with references to both the architect and his trademark slender, organic forms. My first experiences with the Bridges over the Hoofdvaart came from research completed before visiting. The process of constructing such a reference frame guided my inquiry into how do preconceived ideas and knowledge affect the experience of time?
Calatrava often designs landmarks which emerge from their landscape and this assemblage of three bridges was no different. The images I examined portrayed enormous white pylons connected with guy cables to bridge decks, resulting in a playful geometric interplay of lines. Calatrava believes these “…bridges are designed for the future. These are urban bridges that anticipate urbanization that will give Haarlemmermeer a different appearance” (Hoeckman, 2004, p. 38). Other photographs and articles contributed to a more critical image of a project beset by maintenance costs. From their almost immediate oxidization to their proportions, repair expenses joined the forms themselves in being derided as “…out of alignment in the flat country” (Het Parool, 2007). This media suit negatively coloured my understanding of the project before the physical visit.
Above - Fig. 18 Photograph at night of the Harp. Time freezes. (Hofstra, 2021) Above - Fig. 19 Photograph at night of the Lute. Time skips. (Hofstra, 2021)
With a reference frame defined and a media suit donned, I visited the bridges at night in real time. Through the dark, all three of the bridges are visible from afar and time passes slowly as their forms rise in the distance.
The first bridge I experience is the Harp. As I move closer, suddenly time accelerates because of the interplay of lines formed by the guy cables. This virtual space feels frozen in time as the bridge adopts the effect of an optical illusion. At the second bridge, the Lyre, I am overwhelmed with how to experience the bridge as it is not completely accessible by car. Without clear direction, I become more occupied with navigation than visual appreciation. Unlike the previous bridge, I push my media suit away as I feel rushed and pressured, contributing to a shortened real time.
Above - Fig. 20 Photograph at night of the Lute Bridge. Time expands. (Hofstra, 2021)
I arrive slowly at the Lute. The third of three bridges in my experiential sequence, this roundabout proposes no particular direction to move or timeline to follow. This makes it easier to slowly and methodically examine the bridge and cross over it a few times. Its organic form extends toward the sky with its pylon and cables, creating an impression from below and above and framing a virtual space. of real time without visiting. This media suit of knowledge contributed to my perception of virtual time on site, guiding more specific analysis. The coalescing of real time alongside virtual time contribute to an understanding richer than either would be alone.
My opinion on the bridges has been informed by my research, yet this experience revealed that you cannot feel the passing
4. CONCLUSION
Toyo Ito elucidates a filter which mediates the different experiences of time between the natural and virtual bodies. This filter and its function is assessed by inquiring how the physical components and intangible characteristics of the built environment affect our experience of time. To understand their effect, the themes of memory, seriality, and referentiality were analyzed through the filter of the media suit and the virtual space defined by it. By relating them to conceptions of virtual and real time, the physical and intangible categories are evaluated through the situation of the Bridges over the Hoofdvaart.
First, the difference between time experienced within memories and reality was analyzed by considering varying speeds and modalities of transit. As both virtual and real time was experienced while driving, it can be concluded that memories appear to alter time by slowing down the rate of experience in relation to real time. This experiment also revealed that the measurable speed of the transport has minimal effect on the experience of time in both memory and real time, rather the state of mind affects this variation.
Next, the three bridges were evaluated as a series of frames defining virtual space. At the speed of a bicycle, the expected superposition of the bridges as a singular whole proved impossible due to the number of kilometers between them, yet their association was reinforced by the characteristic ways they define space along the axis of the Hoofdvaart. Their overlapping forms emerged as separate moments connected in a single virtual space. Through this passage, the extent of the series connects time, space, and place
as expectations align with lived experience. Physical encounters in virtual space clarify their three indistinct digital identities into interconnected relationships and dimensions.
Finally, the effect of a media suit fabricated from preconceived ideas and foreknowledge was considered. As knowledge and experience coalesced, a focus on details seemed to shorten the time between physical encounters and time began passing more slowly. Research alone is divorced from the emotion and experience of virtual space, but together they contribute to a meaningful frame of understanding which situates the passage of abstract time in relation to the apparent elongation of virtual time.
These results reveal the parameters of the media suit to be an integral filter. As a composite of personal and referential memories, this digital creation repositions physical experience farther from reality by slowing time in virtual space. The passage and experience of this virtual time within the built environment offers opportunities for knowledge gain. It is critical to pair this new conception with a real time, physical experience to gain a comprehensive perspective of applied temporality.
Memories
Temporal Experience in Virtual Time & Space
References Seriality
5. REFERENCES
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Gehry, F., Lloyd, M. and Shelden, D. (2020), Empowering Design: Gehry Partners, Gehry Technologies and Architect-Led Industry Change. Archit. Design, 90: 14-23. https://doi.org/10.1002/ad.2542
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Plaza, B., Tironi, M., & Haarich, S. N. (2009). Bilbao’s art scene and the “Guggenheim effect” revisited. European Planning Studies, 17 (11), 1711–1729. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654310903230806
