Use of Spatial Patterns in Art and Architecture

Use of Spatial Patterns in Art and Architecture

By Marian Brenes This essay is about the concept underpinning the artwork titled Continuum of space. This artwork mainly explores how pattern (in art and design) might be used in three dimensions, working as a self-supportive and modular structure and mainly inspired by architectural forms. It will be introduced with some definitions and historical and contemporary issues; to explain, describe, and outline the context in which it has been developed. This is followed by a description of the development of the work itself and some final conclusions.

1. Definitions and historical and contemporary issues ‘The etymology of ‘pattern’ is from the Latin pater, or patronus, meaning father, patron, god or master, from which is derived the notion of pattern as a model, example, matrix, stencil or mould. The contemporary concept of pattern is as a sequence, distribution, structure or progression, a series or frequency of a repeated/ repeating unit, system or process of identical or similar elements’ (Garcia, 2009, p.8).

Behind this word, there is a multiplicity of meanings that point the different roles of pattern. For example in psychology doctors have studied pattern perception and recognition tasks in their patients, such as Asperger’s or Savant syndromes. But as Garcia writes, pattern is also part of a creative process (2009, p.8).

Over the years, many cultures have studied and produced patterns. Now that societies are becoming ever more multi-cultural, I would say that there is a desire for artists to see how patterns have been ‘borrowed’ and developed by successive cultures. Pattern has a link to many cultures, including modern technological society (architecture, textiles, etc), and it also has a clear relationship with both the natural and manmade worlds. Mainly inspired by nature, Wade says that pattern permeates the fabric of our universe that it is hardly surprising that societies should be prominent in any understanding or description of it. This is why patterns are “discovered” by scientists and “created” by artists (1982, p.1).

Ball defines pattern as ‘a form in which particularly features recur recognizable and regularly, if not identically or symmetrically, patterns are typically extended in space – they go on and on’ (2009, pp.18-19). Moreover Proctor states that virtually any shape or line repeated often enough will produce pattern of some sort because pattern, by definition, ‘results from the repetition of an element or motif’ (1969, p.8). He goes on to say that pattern has a unique ability to exist as both, surface and substance.

The most obvious role of pattern is in fact that of surface decoration added to enhance an existing product. As an art term (opposed to psychology or others) it’s commonly related to ornamentation. One of the prime examples is, the Islamic people, whose preoccupation with geometric ornament of all kinds are well known. In fact, Bunce and Phillips refer to Islamic architecture as a clear example of how mathematical systems and repeating number sequences can influence the ornamentation and construction of buildings. In the art of Islam, concept, number and pattern have always been closely interrelated, and have had an important influence on each other’s development. In Islam, illuminated script, metalwork, ceramics, textiles and architecture all express the same artistic vision and share a concern for pattern.

There is an interrelationship between the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional, and a sense of order is established through the integration of space, form and pattern (1993, p. 10). Figure 1, shows an example of Islamic pattern by Owen Jones, English architect and designer, whom in 1850’s made some studies in the Alhambra in Granada, which were pivotal in the development of his theories on flat pattern, geometry and polychromy.

Figure 1. Illustration from The Grammar of Ornament (1856), Owen Jones

But pattern can also be a vital part of physical structure. For Procter, weaving, knotting, braiding, bricklaying, and even the building of a skyscraper all involve integrating pattern with structure and ornament with function (1967, p.8). In this way, Wollheim says that the contemporary patterns stand in a modernist tradition, which is characterised by reduction of the means employed and by typification and seriality.

And they were developed from the same logic of construction (Schmidt, Tietenberg Wollheim, 2007, p 13). Bunce and Phillips explain that, ‘modernism’ considers ornamentation and decoration to be corrupt and meaningless, further exacerbated by repetition (1993, p.11). Such design elements do not lend themselves to being subsumed under the concept of ornamentation any longer. It is not a question of individual forms of adornment but of the repetition of technical details, which determine the construction of the facades and the interior spaces of the buildings. The elements used are integral constituents of the design as well as the construction; they were not added on subsequently and they can, therefore, not be removed without substantial losses.

At the turn of the 20th century the Austrian architect and designer Adolf Loos wrote a paper entitled ‘Ornament and Crime’, in which he put forward the hypothesis that the more advanced and civilized society becomes, the more psychological reasons for having decoration diminish. All this culminated in the comparison with tattooing, which only criminals or perhaps degenerates aristocrats sported (Website 1). Later on, architect Walter Gropius, founder of the 20th century ‘Bauhaus’ movement, thought in terms of standardizing production, with functionalism and mathematical considerations being paramount (Schmidt, Tietenberg Wollheim, 2007, p.14). Modern architecture was characterised by the simplification of the form, lack of ornament. Bauhaus made reference to the different tendencies of the modern art movement such as cubism, expressionism, minimalism, neoplasticism, and constructivism. Some of the critical ideas that were adopted were the self-expression, the autonomy, the work was evoked not by what colours represent, but for itself. The emotions aroused by the works of art were seen as categorically different to universal values, for example the work of Kandinsky and Mondrian. (Notes from critical studies) Mondrian was part of the De Stijl movement, who sought to express a new utopian ideal of spiritual harmony and order. They advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and colour; they simplified visual

compositions to the vertical and horizontal directions, and used only primary colours along with black and white (Figure 2) (Website 2).

Figure 2. Composition II in Red (1930), Piet Mondrian

Garcia writes that the modern period also produced psychological theorisations of pattern with the founding of the Gestalt (German for ‘pattern’) school of psychology in 1912. And it was also during the warring period that multivalent Surrealist morphing patterns, camouflage and the use of pattern design for security, privacy, dematerialisation and disguise/disarticulation in space was popularized (2009, pp.9-12). But this stereotyping of Modernism as dogmatically ‘antipattern’ and against decoration and ornament is inaccurate, as numerous examples attest. For Garcia, modernist patterns were notable for their associations with Fordism, Taylorism and ‘scientific management’ (and then later with artificial intelligence, cybernetics, computing, complexity sciences and information theory). In the 1930’s they can be found in the work (and particularly urban plans) of Le Corbusier, the Smithsons (urban pattern layers), Kevin Lynch (city types), DG Emmerich (knot road-patterns), Christopher Tunnard and Boris Pushkarev (city ‘scatter patterns’), the Metabolists (particularly Fumihiko Maki’s serialist concept of the ‘field’) and Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic (Figure 3), building energies and structural patterns (2009, pp. 9-12). However, aside from Fuller, one of the most significant roles of patterns in spatial design theory came in 1977 with the publication of Christopher Alexander’s book ‘A Pattern Language’. This book consists on spatial patterns, which were summarised as diagrams. It describes exact methods for constructing practical, safe, and attractive designs at every scale, from entire regions, through cities,

neighborhoods, gardens, buildings, rooms, built-in furniture, and fixtures down to the level of doorknobs (1977).

Figure 3. Montreal Biosphère Geodesic dome (1967), Buckminster Fuller

Wollheim makes reference to how these ideas of modernism are conceived now days, stating that contemporary architects and designers, who work with patterns, find themselves in a paradoxical situation. They do indeed follow the demands of Adolf Loos and of modernity for rational design; nevertheless they are aiding the breakthrough of the long suppressed decoration of surfaces. Yet today that does not count as a crime anymore (Schmidt, Tietenberg Wollheim, 2007, p.15). Indeed, Schumacher states that to oppose ornament or decoration to function would be a fallacy. In classical architectural theory, decoration was the complementary term for a fundamental distinction and was considered within an overall tripartite division of architecture’s teaching: distribution, construction and decoration. (Augustin-Charles d’Aviler in his Cours d’architecture, 1691-93 and Jacques Francois Blondel’s Cours d’architecture, 1771-77) (2009, p. 30).

Contemporary architects are making use of these concepts of pattern as selfstanding structures without forgetting designed patterns provide one of the most potent devices for architectural articulation. Schumacher ushers in a new era of ‘parametric architecture’ [computer modeling for designing complex curved forms. It allows to create any desirable form and shape, even curved surfaces that then can be rationalized into flat panels for production (Foster, 2001, pp.12-13)] in which pattern

becomes an innovative and powerful register of articulation, providing amplification of surface difference and correlation, ultimately resulting in dynamic, high performance ornamentation (2009, pp. 27-41).

This is how the glass façade designed by Herzog & de Meuron for the store of Prada in Tokyo (Figure 4) works firstly as an exterior, which consolidates the building with its variously raked roof planes and sets it apart as a notable stand-alone unit from its heterogeneous surroundings. The irregular pattern of facets on the facades frames what is going on inside to produce ‘quasi-cinematic’ images. Another example of the unity of construction and pattern is found in a residence in Japan by the Atelier Tekuto (Figure 5a & b). From outside, the check board pattern of the facades appears truly conventional. But inside, the system of single rectangular elements, stacked one on the other like bricks, reveals itself. An example of the parametric design is the work of the architect Zaha Hadid. Figure 6, shows the way in which the façade component is modulated.

Figure 4. Prada store Tokyo, Herzog & de Meuron

Figure 5a. Outside Cell brick house in Japan, Atelier Tekuto

Figure 5b. Inside Cell brick house in Japan, Atelier Tekuto

Figure 6. Civil Courts, in Madrid, Zaha Hadid Architects

As seen, most of the pattern described before is structural, and the repetition of technical details relates mostly to architecture. It’s not surprising really, because architecture is always working with space and 3 dimensions, and designers have worked to find out logic solutions for construction.

2. Description of the work In this way, I would like to introduce the work that relates to these terms mentioned before. Meaning by these terms to the use of pattern as a physical structure, as the repetition of technical detail, the use of elements that constitute an integral in the piece. These patterns that have been called by many as contemporary patterns, which do follow the demands of Adolf Loos and modernity for rational design; nevertheless they are aiding the breakthrough. This body of work I have called Continuum of space (Figure 7).  

Figure 7. Sketch drawing for Continuum of space (2010), Marian Brenes

The work is mainly inspired by architecture and the development of cities, but specifically for my own understanding and perception of it, in relation to the historical and contemporary issues. In history, from past to present, architecture has always been changing within generations; it has always been subject to different needs, cultural expressions, religious beliefs, and economic supports. Wealthier societies can build the more stunning buildings that become iconic in their culture and even represent power, whereas less wealthy ones built only for necessity, making no impact in a world and global culture. From Greek columns, to steel frames and parametric designs. And from medieval to modern and ecological cities. Nevertheless what seems to be important to me is the common denominator of it, the use of space and they way pattern helps to build this space.

The work basically describes the way in which all sort of patterns in the three dimensions can grow and grow, sometimes even imagining that there’s no end for it.

Sometimes it encloses space, others it opens it. Space defined as ‘an empty area left between one, two or three dimensional points or objetcs’ (Oxford, 2010). This space is a created product of the geometric shapes that stand, creating modules and therefore pattern. Space that can even be inhabitable. Wong said that: ‘We live in fact, in the three dimensional world. What we see in front of us is not a flat picture with length and breadth only, but an expanse with physical depth, the third dimension. The ground underneath our feet stretches all the way to the distant horizon. We can look straight ahead, look back, look to the

left, look to the right, look up and look down. What we see is the space in which we are enveloped’ (1977, p. 5).

Another important element in the work is the use of glass as a primary material. Glass is an important material used in architecture, and is mainly used for transmitting light and for making a connection between the outside and the inside.

Architect Bruno Taut said, “If we want our culture to rise to a higher level, we are obligated for better or for worse, to change our architecture. And this only becomes possible if we take away the closed character from the rooms in which we live. We can only do that by introducing glass architecture” (Richards, 2006, p.16). Richards states that this architect is considered very much the precursor of an active revolution to initiate a new architectural culture considering glass as an important construction material (2006, p.16). Glass explores the relationship between spaces, and how important is light in architecture, merging spaces, allowing social relationships and interactions (Figure 8). All this in contrast with the test pieces made out of foamboard, which seem to be less expressive, not allowing this communications (Figure 9).

Figure 8. Continuum of space in progress (2010) (Float glass, waterjet, UV Bonding) Marian Brenes

Figure 9. Model for the piece Continuum of space (2010) (Foamboard) Marian Brenes

The work started with an exploration of creating self-standing pieces (Figure 10). There was a question about how to produce three-dimensional objects out of twodimensional shapes that could create an aesthetically beautiful composition? Barratt described beautiful as ‘eminently satisfying to the senses and the mind. It seems to be applicable whenever a series of disparate elements are brought together to form a memorable pattern, a cohesive whole, a physical or conceptual unity’ (1980, p 4). He writes that ‘the whole’ is important in composition, arguing that elements in design should become a unity in order to produce an aesthetic object. But in this search for ‘the whole’ the work itself was reduced to its necessary elements, exploring composition in means of ways in which each of the elements could be organised in very particular manners, displaying them as simple modules.

Figure 10. Self supportive modules (2010) (Bullseye glass, screenprinting, waterjet & UV Bonding) Marian Brenes

Suddenly this self-supportive structures evolved, and started to work in a narrower perspective. Squares became the essential working element, which in repetition started to create a pattern (Figure 11 & 12). Hampshire says that the square is a tool of abstraction, employed by Braque and Picasso during the Cubist period to emphasize the form and volume of their subjects. From Mackintosh to Mondrian the Modernists rejected the romanticism and ornament of the 19th century in favour of “the form follows function” logic of the square, the grid and the cube (2007, p. 6).

The square is useful. We rely on squares and grids as instruments to measure areas and order information, to generate structure and organize disparate constituents. The square is technical, uniform, a symbol of methodical thought. During this exploration I found myself playing with all this modules, which actually made the process very

interesting, because with one shape, there could be created multiple modules, and so on to patterns.

Figure 11. Communicating with pattern (2010) ) (Bullseye glass, waterjet & UV Bonding) Marian Brenes

Figure 12. About modules (2010) (Float glass, waterjet, sandblasted & UV Bonding) Marian Brenes

The artwork Continuum of space evolved from these pieces, working with the same modules but in a bigger scale (Figure 13). The concepts and theories through this spatial pattern include order, hierarchy, organization, system, scale, proportion, symmetry, balance, complexity, beauty, unity, function, decorum, representation, symbol, joint, nature, expression, imagination and creativity. The work is meant to communicate to the public how the use of patterns is used in another way different from ornament (which is the most common), and as well how architecture is part of our lives, sometimes without even noticing. How the creation of space allows human interaction. The work is asking itself questions such as: Is space infinite? Where are the limits? Who sets them?  

Figure 13. Computer Rendering Continuum of space (2010), Marian Brenes

3. Final conclusions The first significant theoretical reference to spatial patterns in the western tradition was in Plato’s Timaeus, in which he described the world as filled with patterns of closely packed atom-like solids and geometric forms (Garcia, 2009, p.9).

Pattern has always been the DNA, or diagram, of style. Pattern is style, detail, ornament, decoration, adornment, embellishment and structure.

The histories, theories and multidisciplinary research in this field indicates that spatial patterns design research needs to further combine visual, tangible, ornamental, decorative, structural, material and formal patterns with those that are simultaneously patterned in multicritical, consilient, research-based, interactive, ephemeral, informed, multidisciplinary and technologically innovative ways. This will then yield more valuable and significant multidimensional, performative and meaningful kinds of spatial patterns. For Garcia, the most compelling reason for an urgent reappraisal of contemporary and future spatial design patterns is that new technologies are accelerating and expanding the kinds of special pattern that can be designed. It is timely, then, to consider the possibilities for rethinking in relation to the impacts of the technological shifts in the design of the spatial patterns (2009, p.8).

References Alexander, C (1977) A Pattern Language. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ball, P (2009) Shapes. Oxford University Press Inc, New York.

Barratt, K (1980) Logic and design in art, science & mathematics. The Herbert Press, Great Britain.

Bunce and Phillips (1993) Repeat patterns, a manual for designers, artists and architects. Thames and Hudson, London.

Foster, N (2001) Foster Catalogue 2001. London: Prestel.

Garcia, M (2009) ‘Prologue for a history, theory and future of patterns of architecture and spatial design’, Architectural Design. November - December 2009, Volume 79, Issue 6.

Hampshire & Stephenson (2007) Squares, checks and grids. RotoVision, Switzerland.

Oxford American dictionaries for mac (2010) Proctor, M (1967) The principles of pattern. Van Nostrand Reinhold company, New York.

Richards, B (2006) New Glass Architecture. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd. Schmidt, Tietenberg Wollheim (2007) Patterns in Design, Art and Architecture.

Birkhauser, Switzerland.

Schumacher, P (2009) ‘Parametric Patterns’ Architectural Design. November December 2009, Volume 79, Issue 6.

Wade, D (1982) Geometric patterns and borders. Wildwood House, London.

Website 1. Article on Ornament and Crime (1908), Adolf Loos, dated June, 2010. http://combergrex.com/school_site/hu254/course%20site/downloads/ornament.crime. pdf Website 2. Article on Mondrian, unknown author, dated June, 2010. http://pietmondrian.org/piet-mondrian.php Wong, W (1977) Principles of three dimensional design. Van Nostrand Reinhold company, New York.