Architecture Thesis_R Kiran Kumar_Enquiry into the notion of the term Order

02 July, 2010

Thesis Report

Title: An Inquiry into the notion of term ‘Order’ : In the context of De Stijl and New York Five Architects

Guided by: Mr. P.S. Rajan

Kiran Kumar R TD 1008, Semester 4 M.Arch (Theory and Design ) CEPT University.

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Acknowledgement

I would to thank my parents for their constant support and encouragement I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Rajan P S for his guidance, constructive criticism and support constantly during the thesis semester.

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Kulbhushan Jain and Prof. Snehal Shah, Prof. Seema Khanwalkar for their constant support and guidance.

I would also like to thank Ar.Riyaz Tyyabji for fruitful discussions.

I am indebted to my classmates for their support.

And the architecture of the campus, which helped to ‘order’ my thoughts...

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement Abstract Aim and Objectives Method Limitations

Introduction 1. Order – Meaning and Understanding 1.1 1.2 1.3

Pre-Modern Era Modern Era Early Post-Modern

(Pre 1900) (1900-60’s) (1960-70’s)

01 11 23

2. Order – Analysis 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8

Introduction to De Stijl and New York five Architects Structure and Enclosure The relationship of ‘Parts’ to the ‘Whole’ Inside/Outside Topologies Departure from Symmetry The meaning of Horizontal and Vertical Frontalism Diagrams as a tool of abstraction The opposition of the Universal and the Individual

Epilogue Works referenced Appendix List of Illustrations

33 53 63 71 81 87 97 107 117

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“A good question is better than the most brilliant answer.”

Louis Kahn.

Abstract The thesis is an attempt to understand architectural vocabulary and in particular, the term ‘Order’ in architecture. This approach is inspired by Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky’s essay on ‘Transparency’, Adrian Forty’s book ‘Words and Buildings: A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture’. Their search was to understand architectural vocabulary in depth. Rowe’s attempt was to analyse the application of terms in the literature of contemporary architecture and tried to expose the levels of meaning of the concept of ‘transparency’. Adrian Forty enquiry was studying the impact of architectural vocabulary on the language system of the particular practice of ‘modern architecture’ and to ask the task of words within that practice. This thesis is an attempt to understand the notion of ‘Order’ in an architectural process.

The thesis which began an inquiry of the meaning of the term progressed to understand ‘Order’ as a ‘methodology’. It would be developed from studying its perception from antiquity to present day context. A critical understanding emerging from this study would be carried further to discuss the notion of ‘Order’ in the academic territory of projects from De Stijl and New York Five Architects.

The formal relationships adopted as a means to examine/investigate Order in the later part would be the methodology of the research. It is this analysis/investigation /dialogue, which will form the crucial part of the research. The primary research question of the thesis:

“What is the underlying ‘sense of Order’ in an

architectural process and how it can be discussed ? “

Aims and Objectives The architectural projects considered for the investigation are based on possible similarities and parallels in their intention.

The study will attempt to understand the spatiality of the works by using the available information from the secondary sources.

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The research will examine the works of De Stijl Movement and New York Five Architects.

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Attempt to understand the manifestations and positions announced by the group or an individual.

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This academic context of both the groups provides a potential platform to investigate the idea of ‘Order’, as the architectural process of both the systems are clear, which can be traced through lucid texts(Manifestos),pronounced influences and projects.

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An attempt to investigate this relationship, in the overall construct of ideas, can give a perspective into the underlying ‘sense of order’ implicit in both the groups.

Method -

The first part of the research would trace the established notions of order in a general sense, starting from Vitruvius to the present day and also will look into particular theories, carrying a strong sense of order, of Louis Kahn, Christopher Alexander, David Bohm, Robert Venturi and others.

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The formal relationships adopted as a means to investigate Order in the later part would be the methodology of the research. It is this dialogue, which will form the crucial part of the research.

Scope and Limitations -

The study will not attempt to develop an analytical framework; it attempts to discuss a formal construct of relationships in

their own particular domain.

The formal relationships can

metamorphosis based on the domain of discussion of other systems of thinking.

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Understanding the architectural works is limited to secondary resources only, though experiencing the works would add to the understanding of the work.

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Analytical drawings are not attempted, as they could not substantiate the discussion. All the drawings are schematic in nature (Scaled drawings in Appendix). A prior reference to the Appendix (Manifestos, Scaled drawings) could be helpful to understand the context of discussion.

order

• noun 1 the arrangement of people or things according to a particular sequence or method. 2 a state in which everything is in its correct place. 3 a state in which the laws and rules regulating public behaviour are observed. 4 an authoritative command or direction. 5 a request for something to be made, supplied, or served. 6 the prescribed procedure followed in a meeting, law court, or religious service. 7 quality or nature: poetry of the highest order. 8 a social class or system. 9 a rank in the Christian ministry. (orders or holy orders) the rank of an ordained minister of the Church. a society of monks, nuns, or friars (or formerly knights) living under the same rule. an institution founded by a monarch to honour good conduct: the Order of the Garter. Biology a principal taxonomic category that ranks below class and above family. any of the five classical styles of architecture (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite).

• verb 1 give an order. 2 request that (something) be made, supplied, or served. 3 arrange methodically.

— ORIGIN Latin ordo ‘row, series’.

Introduction Written text has been an important tool to both explain and understand architecture. As Colin Rowe remarks, in his article Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal ,we use words like ‘transparency’, ’simultaneity’, ’superimposition’ as synonyms, whose usage we are familiar with, but rarely seek to “seek their application”. He attempts to “expose different levels of meaning” to the concept of ‘transparency’. In the literature of contemporary architecture, he attempts to make a “critical instrument of approximate definitions”.1 Similar attempt has been made by Adrian Forty, in “Words and buildings: A vocabulary of Modern Architecture” specifically to ask “the task of words within the practice of modern architecture” and in general the “task of verbal language performance in architecture”. His attempt is to arrive at a “historical and critical dictionary” that formed the “core vocabulary of modern architectural criticism” (7).

Both the attempts look at the task of words in architectural texts. An attempt to analyse them could perform a critical tool to understand architecture a little better. Both the approaches have a similar aim, but different methods. Colin Rowe examination of the concept of ‘transparency’ leads to expose levels of meaning and thus a strategy which is more ‘spatial’ and ‘structural’ (‘Syntax’).

Whereas Forty addresses the tasks of words which is more of a ‘semantic’ approach. On the similar lines, the concern of this research is to ask the task of one such word and what it means in architecture.

This thesis is an attempt to understand the notion of ‘Order’ in an architectural process/change/thought. It will look into its established meanings. Architects have talked about Order in both explicit and implicit ways. Louis Kahn theoretical discourses confirmed the significance of the notion of ‘Order’ and its presence inherent in primary act of space making. Corbusier states that “To create architecture is to put in order. Put what in order? Functions 1

See ‘Transperency’, Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky

and objects.” But the discussion has always been about what architecture orders. Yet the question “What does the word ‘Order’ mean?” is open to discussion.

Why does man put things around him in order? It is a sort of a primary act of man, which primarily establishes his difference from nature. He wants to settle, achieve a ‘rhythm’. He creates rules. He also breaks them. The carpenter arranges the tool in a certain manner, so it makes his work easier. He can focus on the act of making. What is made is different every time. The tools remain the same. They order of the tools attain a certain ‘rhythm’ in his act of working. In a similar the architecture, tries to give this ‘rhythm’ a physical form which is omnipresent. And this ‘rhythm’ can be created by ‘ordering’ spaces. Architecture is involved in ‘ordering’ spaces.

Forty remarks ‘Order’ forms one of five most critical terms in modern architecture along with space, form, design and structure (22). The primary research question is “What is the underlying ‘sense of Order’ in an architectural process and how it can be discussed?”

The discussion on the notion of Order would not be able to attack the core meaning because of its implicit nature. The discussion would try to make sense of its notion and its presence.

It would engage multiple viewpoints to capture certain subtleties to make the discussion less implicit. To generate a discussion and examine the idea of ‘Order’ a certain domain of architectural history has to be selected. For this reason, the De Stijl movement and the ‘New York Five’ Architects have been chosen. This academic context

provides a potential platform to investigate the idea of

‘Order’, as the architectural process of both the systems are clear, which can be traced through lucid and pronounced texts and influences.

The sources are written manifestos, primary texts,

drawings and undisputed influences. These sources substantiate a strong ‘sense of Order’ present in their ideologies.

The method adopted to carry the thesis:

Chapter 1 would trace, both established and abstract, notion of ‘Order’ though architectural history. It would necessarily focus on the period of 1920’s and 1960’s, because this is the context of the period where the projects discussed in the research are built.

The chapter is divided further into three parts: Pre Modern Era: this part of the thesis will look into the concept of Order before 1900’s.The word Order was introduced by Vitruvius. It will also look into theories, which suggest ‘Order’, as underlying principles which have been crucial in forming a definite language in architecture. The meaning and the usage of the term has been constantly been shifting and gathering new layer of meaning through Renaissance until Ruskin. From Alberti (The idea of proportion as a tool to understand as discussed in

Rudolf

Wittkower’s “Architectural principles in the age of Humanism”)

to

the present there have repeated attempts to find mathematical, or geometrical principles that could supply architecture with a system of ‘Order’ (Forty 240). As Forty2 states there is always an ambiguity between the ‘general’ and ‘particular’ sense (240). These two senses collide consistently and a conflict is always persistent throughout this period. Explain.

Modern Era: The arise of the ‘general’ sense can be seen from 1900’s. It means that the idea of order, above stylistic concern, involved in forming/governing the basic principles of architecture.

‘Modernism’ emerged itself strongly negating history and interrogating the basic conditions of how we live. ‘Within the modernist architectural circles, from the 1920’s to the 1960’s, order was a strong concept – indeed for many practitioners it was the concept that legitimated their activity and gave them right to intervene in the social domain’.(Forty,244-5)

Early Post Modern Era: This period saw a crisis in meaning of western philosophy and how this shift has impacted the notion of ordering spaces with the emergence of Post-modern ideals. It set a 2

Forty explanation of the term ‘Order’ has given the early directions and clues for the first chapter of the research. There would be a repeated reference to Forty’s argument. For more understanding see 240-8.

new direction to the architectural processes. It is in this climate, the New York Five architects took a position to look back into the Corbusier and other modernist ideas. It primarily will look into the argument involving the creating ‘Order’ as a modernist dictum, as discussed by Venturi.

Chapter 2 begins with an overview and a brief introduction of De Stijl movement and New York Five Architects. It essentially focuses on the essential similarities and differences of both the systems of thinking. The introduction brings into discussion the issues which are necessary to the discussion of the present research.

The dialogue of the research is carried further through a vehicle of eight relationships. The formal constructs would form the ‘skeleton’ of the investigation. They might partially be read as individual concepts but there is a kind of ‘construction’ to the group. This ‘construction’ holds the discussion together. These are derived from the text related to the manifestations and architectural discussions related to the systems of thinking. The discussion is primarily based on Manifestos, pronounced influences, primary text and drawings. These eight relationships are arrived by looking closely at the two systems, as a reflection to the primary research question.

It is this analysis/investigation /dialogue, which will form the crucial part of the research.

To elaborate more on the method of the discussion, concepts from linguistics is borrowed here. ‘Syntax’ and ‘Semantics’ – borrowed concepts from linguistics illustrate the ‘method’ of the research. The ‘method’ is not derived from linguistics, but inherent concepts are just used as a tool to clarify the process of analysis.

‘Syntax’ means to “study the internal structure of sentences and relationship among the parts”. In the similar way, analysis of the selected examples would be carried looking at the formal and spatial characters with the considered domain, which is also the similar quality holding the debate together. The analysis does not involve any cultural aspects. I.e. the ‘Semantic’ nature. But the focus of

the research is necessarily and primarily to understand the underlying ‘sense of order’. De Stijl and New York five architects provide a concrete platform to analyse these concepts. So it may partially bring into the discussion only needed ideas from both the theories. It would not completely cover the domain of both the systems.

The ‘texts’ are available, either in the form of ‘manifestos’ or ‘drawings’ would give the necessary directions and clues to the research. These both systems of thinking are selected, as their manifestations; influences are established by written texts which could be traced into their architectural process. The analysis would look into the ‘structure’ of how different ‘elements’ were put together. How the architects have ‘ordered’ the structure of spaces and how it reflects to the pronounced beliefs they had.

Through a academic discourse, if it can be demonstrated through formal relationships, that there is nothing ‘arbitrary’ in the specified systems of architectural thinking, then an underlying ‘sense of Order ’ can be discussed.

[1.1] Pre-Modern Era (Pre-1900)

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Fig 1.1 a. Orders in Ten Books of Architecture.

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[1.1] Pre-Modern Era

This part of the thesis will look into the established meaning of the term ‘Order’ prior to nineteenth century. It is necessary to delineate two ideas related to ‘Order’ before this part of the inquiry. Forty puts forth the idea of the ‘general’ and the ‘particular’.1 It would be essential to expand the meaning of these concepts, as the ambiguity between them would be persistent throughout the thesis.

This assertion is similar to what John Summerson argues about the idea of the ‘classical’ in his critical work The Classical Language of Architecture. He establishes two meanings: One “enables to recognise the ‘uniform’ worn by a certain category of buildings”, but it is only a skin deep description according to him. The second definition “... the aim of classical architecture is has always been able to achieve a demonstrable harmony of parts” (8).

This delineation of the meaning of the ‘classical’ in a subtle way is very similar to the concept of ‘order’ to be investigated in this research. The prior definition suggests the ‘particular’ and the later, ‘general’ sense of Order. In this part, the discussion is an archaeological exercise to look into canonical texts from Vitruvius to Ruskin about concepts which suggest and imply both the concepts of ‘Order’.

Vitruvius introduced the term Order, in the book Ten books of Architecture. He provides a textual form to this underlying principle of space-making in classical architecture. He classifies ‘Order’, under the fundamental principles of architecture along with Arrangement, Eurhythmy, Symmetry, Propriety and Economy2. As he defines it: Order gives due measure to the members of a work considered separately, and symmetrical agreement to the proportions of the whole. It is an adjustment according to quantity. By this I mean the selection of modules from the members of the work itself and, starting from these individual part of members, constructing the whole work to correspond.3

Vitruvius substantiates the concept of ‘Order’ by comparing with the Greek word taxis, term used by Aristotle, in his ‘Metaphysics’.

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The delineation of the concept of ‘Order’ has already been suggested by Adrian Forty in a broader sense. But this discussion is probing into a much more deeper analysis of this approach.

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For more see. Page 13

Vitruvius , De Architectura, Book 1, chapter 2

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Fig 1.1 b. Orders - As perceived by Serlio.

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It is a sub-concept of the word stoicheon4, which implies a primary body or an ‘element’.But the ‘elements’ have no significance of their own, but by manipulating their ‘order’ (taxis) and ‘position’ (thesis) one can construct them into aggregates with different meanings (180). It is this ‘sense’ of construction of the aggregates, which would form the essential concern of the argument of the research.

When one man said that there is Reason (or Mind) in nature, just as in animals, and that this was the cause of all order and arrangement (cosmos, taxis), he seemed like a sane man in contrast with the haphazard state-men is of his predecessors.(Aristotle, Met. 984bl519)

As quoted above, there is always a ‘reason’ to a construction, which is informed by ‘Order’ and ‘Arrangement’ (addressed by Vitruvius also). This idea of ‘Order’ forms the ‘general’ sense of Order. It engagement is primarily in spatial terms. There is also a ‘particular’ sense to it, more visual in perception, formed by the ‘Orders’ of Doric, Corinthian, and Ionic etc [Fig 1.1 a].

In Books 3 and 4, Vitruvius also discusses about the “origin of the three orders” and “the arrangement of the temples and variety of the form” based on the ‘Order’ adopted into them. He states that Orders “exhibit the greatest delicacy of proportion in their symmetrical measurements” (101-2). The distinct difference of the application of the terms must be clarified, as they tend to overlap regularly throughout the classical architecture. This research is concerned with the prior concept of ‘general’ sense of ‘Order’, its expression as concerned with space-making.

Centuries later there were attempts to find mathematical or geometric principles that could supply architecture with a ‘system’ of ‘Order’ (Forty 240). The research will look into some particular ‘systems’ from Renaissance to the nineteenth century, which suggests a ‘sense’ of ‘Order’. Wittkower’s second part of the seminal work Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, discusses about the “proportional organization” of the buildings (vi).

Alberti’s Ten books of Architecture, talks about two concepts: Beauty and Ornament, which declares the “aesthetic appearance of the building”. Alberti defines ‘beauty’ as “the harmony and concord of all parts achieved in a manner that nothing could be added or taken away or altered except for the worse” and “… it is something

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180

See “Greek Philosophical Terms: A Historical Lexicon”, Francis Peters, Pg

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innate and diffused throughout the whole…”(Wittkower 33). It forms the inherent harmony of the building as a result of “objective reasoning”. The concept of ‘reasoning’ was also discussed by Aristotle under concept of stoeichon. Alberti considered the ‘column’ to be one of the crucial elements. He emphasized it stating that “the principal Ornament in all lies in the column”.

He considered the ‘column’ to be a Ornament, which implies that ‘Orders’ like Doric, Ionic fall under Ornament, and the underlying ‘reason’ of Beauty is higher notion suggesting the underlying sense of Order. The necessary concept to be observed during this period is the idea of ‘proportion’ as a system to organize forms and aesthetics.

Wittkower fourth chapter “The Problem of Harmonic Proportion in Architecture” discusses some of the crucial theories during the Renaissance about the idea of proportion. He states …that each part of the building, inside as well as outside, has to be integrated into one and the same system of mathematical ratios, may be called the basic axiom of Renaissance architects ”(101)

His enquiry is that: “… how far the harmonic ratios of the Greek music scale influenced architectural proportion of the Renaissance in theory and practice” (107).The interpretation of spaces was in terms of spatial and musical ratios as a concept of ‘ordering’ spaces. They believed in a certain system, whose objectivity can be justified, with the aid of mathematics and science. According to Wittkower, “Alberti differentiates between three types of plans: small, and large ones. Each type can be three different shapes. To the small plans belong the square (2:2) and shapes of one to one and a half (2:3) and one to one a third (3:4). These ratio comply with the simple musical consonances…” (114-5) Use [Fig]

These simple ratio systems reached a compound level of system guiding the spatial organization of spaces at the level of the plan. Palladio’s Quattro libri, gives an insight into the proportional system of achieving a certain harmony. The ratio of the width to the length of the rooms at Villa Godi at Lonedo [Fig from page 129], as demonstrated by Wittkower, has a ratio of 2:3. The series underlying the plan as a whole is the progression 16,24,36; which we know from Alberti’s analysis of the ratios of 4:9 and 4:6:9 expressed in musical terms as a sequence of two diapente. The ratios of Palladio’s later projects like Villa Malcontenta are somewhat more complicated. The series here is 12,16,24,32 is the keynote to the building (Alberti 128-9)

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Every part of the building is connected to other part of the building with a certain relation which is decided by a determined ratio. This ‘ratio’ suggests a way of arranging space in a balanced manner.

John Ruskin discusses the concept of ‘Obedience’ in the book The Seven Lamps of Architecture. He defines: “Obedience is indeed, founded on a kind of freedom, else it would become mere subjugation, but that freedom is only granted that obedience be may more perfect: and thus, while a measure of license is necessary to exhibit the individual energies of things, the fairness, and pleasantness and perfection of them all consist in their Restraint.”(200)

The above quote talks about a certain domain of laws, where one can exercise a certain act. Ruskin exemplifies Obedience, but denies Liberty.

There is no such thing as Liberty.(Aphorism 32,Ruskin)

It between these two stages of Obedience and Liberty, a ‘sense of Order’ emerges. Ruskin also mentions about Order. He states “… there are some things which we not only want, but cannot do without … and will never able us to do without: and these are Obedience, Unity, Fellowship and Order.” (205).

Obedience, Liberty and Restraint are attributes which form a certain atmosphere of orderliness.

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[1.2] Modern Era (1900-60’s)

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[1.2] Modern Era The arise of the ‘general’ sense can be seen from 1900’s. It means that the idea of order, above stylistic concern, involved in forming/governing the basic principles of architecture. ‘Modernism’ emerged itself strongly negating history and interrogating the basic conditions of how we live. ‘Within the modernist architectural circles, from the 1920’s to the 1960’s, order was a strong concept – indeed for many practitioners it was the concept that legitimated their activity and gave them right to intervene in the social domain’.(Forty,244-5) Louis I Kahn One of the most significant discussion on the notion of Order as a methodology can be found in the theoretical discourses of Louis Kahn. Kahns journey atleast became apparent around in 1955. In a brief statement that came to be called as “Order is”( Appendix 03) pblished that year in Perspecta, he discussed the intangibiltiy of the notion of Order. It is a level of creative consiousness forever becoming higher in level. He remarked: “I tried to find what Order is. I was excited about it, and I wrote many, many words of what Order is. Every time I wrote something, I felt it wasn’t quite enough. If I had covered, say, two thousand pages with just words of what Order is. I would be not satisfied with this statement. And then I stopped by not saying what it is, just saying, “Order is”. And somehow I wasn’t sure it was complete until I asked somebody, and the person I asked said, “You must stop right here. It’s marvellous; just stop there, saying, ‘Order is.’ “ Louis Kahn, Between Silence and Light

It is this abstract ‘sense of Order’, the thesis is attempting to discuss and provide a structure to the discussion. One cannot contemplate Order, but the “expression is measurable in music or architecture by the means of composition or design” and it would be able to find difference in expression between one thing and the other, as Kahn remarks.

“The employment of Order must be distinguished from conception. Order belongs to design; it does not belong to realization.

Realization is a sense of potentiality and desires.

Design is part you do in making it exist, it is the part which makes presence possible. As long as the idea is in the mind, it is still not design.

Design is to bring order into whatever you do. In the order of

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structure, the beam of brick is an arch. When you use the concrete beam with a brick wall you have a composite order of concrete and brick. The same distinction will have to be made in the developing of a cable structure. Each contributing part has its name, just as it has its radiance.” vChristopher Alexander “The activity we call building creates the physical order of the world, constantly, unendingly day after day... But although we are responsible for the creation of order on this enormous scale, we hardly know what the word “order” means.”1

Christopher Alexander states “the activity we call building, creates the physical order of the world “(Preface,4).The central thesis of his book ‘The Nature of Order’ The present understanding of ‘Order’ is shaped almost by the thought process involved in physical sciences. He states that the process of building, the order creating processes is almost universal in experience (Preface, 5). The first three-quarters of the twentieth century perhaps had been the weakest to unfold the notion of act of building as creating Order. He states that among twentieth century ideas of order, there is nothing which is adequate of all of this (4).

His central thesis claims to expose a ‘specific archetypal structure’, an invariant entity and a “presence” which manifests itself in anything which lives. “Each thing which has order has some sort of structure in it” (Preface, 6). It is this implicit ‘presence’, which intrigues the hidden meaning behind any process and he claims order to be the generator of life (4).

The two prime questions persistent throughout his thesis are a. What is the structure of these buildings and objects? b. Can we describe the Order which they have any objective language? (5) The world around us is governed by immense orderliness, coherent in its physical geometry (6). Physics represents things for us as ‘mechanisms’. There is no language to describe the orderliness.

The intellectual picture of order is a ‘mechanistic’ one. This view point might have developed from thought process of Descartes, where one tries to find out how things work, in an isolated manner, as a mechanism. This ‘method’ has been dominating us for last four

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Alexander, Christopher. The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of the Building and the Nature of the Universe. Preface (Pg 01). The ‘Prologue’ to the four books is a substantial theory in questioning the notion of ‘Order’ in twentieth century and how its meaning is understood in the present context.

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hundred years and has changed the way how we look at things and their perception. This led to the understanding the fundamental nature of things: as if everything really was a machine (10).

The most crucial part of the discussion is the understanding of ‘Order’ and ‘Wholeness’, which could give a direction to the present research. His effort is to develop theory in which statements about ‘relative degree of wholeness’ which can either be true or false, without which the concept of ‘order’ would be meaningless.

He mentions three ways in which the idea of relative degrees of wholeness forms an essential part of understanding Order. (18-20) a. The identification of ‘elements’, their functions, relationships and characteristics which makes it unique. It is necessary to recognise order among wholes and in general order is always an

order among wholes. The concept of order is meaningless, without a concept of relative wholeness.

b. To capture what forms an indivisible unity, a ‘one’. The recognition of the single ‘whole’. c. The relationship between the wholeness of this ‘one’ and the relative wholeness of other systems around it – with which its wholeness is interwoven.

So, he concludes that when one speaks of order, one is always speaking of a complex interplay of wholes which produce further wholeness. So Order is a condition in which relatively coherent wholes are built out of other wholes (20).

By developing a new perspective on the notion of Order, within a condition where statements can be either true or false, he wants to establish that the way the world takes on shape and substance – in the form of order – is a different kind of process from the one we have imagined (21).

The understanding of Wholeness is central to Alexander’s argument.

To extend the argument of ‘wholeness’ and the notion of Order, it would be necessary to look into the writings of David Bohm. Even he has presented about the concept of order, but with a scientific approach. Some of the similarities in their approaches and expression of the concept are: - The question “What is Order?” has been the central concern of

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both the thinkers.

- Understanding of the nature of reality in general and of consciousness in particular and as a coherent whole.

(Bohm,1980,pg-X) - The concept of ‘Wholeness’ as one of the apparatus to explicate the concept of Order.

David Bohm “When ideas on order change in a really fundamental way, they tend to produce a radical change in the overall order of the society.” – David Bohm (1987, 104)

Bohm observes in his work ‘Science, Order and Creativity’ the development of the idea of order with the evolution of time. He remarks that by examining the order of the society it is possible to gain meaning into how subtle and sensitive is its operation within society and the human consciousness (1987, 105).

In “Science, Order and Creativity”, Bohm list the development of the concept of order with time, particularly in the Western context. The medieval overview is of a timeless order in which each thing had a proper place and the world was seen as a single organism where motion of bodies can be seen as each body striving to reach its proper place. In middle Ages it found its eternal basis in the order of religion and philosophy. But after the Middle Ages it gave rise to a ‘new secular’ order. The motion had reduced to a mechanical process that had no ultimate goal. The secular order resulted in the rise of the individual to assume a prominent role in the society. At the end of eighteenth century the image was of ‘clockwork’. The 19th and early 20th century saw significant rise in scientific thinking. Science had reached the point at which everything in principle, become subject to ultimate dissolution within the change of time. Einstein’s theories on quantum particles challenged every underlying principle which existed before his time in science, thus changing the overall order of the society radically (105-110).

From 1900 to 1960’s the image of the universe transformed immoderately, along with the scientific and intellectual pursuit, with both the world wars in the background. This era also witnessed shift in architectural ideologies form ‘celebrating’ modernism to ‘speculating’ it. Further this ‘speculation’ led to major shift in the intellectual process leading to emergence of post-modern

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ideologies which will be discussed in the next chapter.

With this overview, it would be necessary to discuss Descartes, as his ideas have been discussed by both Bohm and Alexander in diverse ways. Bohm acknowledges Descartes for his co-ordinate system. As the word “coordinate” indicates, the basic means by which order is described from 1600. (1987,106).The very word ‘coordinates’ implies a function of ordering. The ordering achieved with the aid of the grid(Bohm,1980,144).Within this Cartesian order of perception and thinking that grew up till renaissance, Newton’s laws were also in universal harmony in the order of nature, as described through the use of coordinates(Bohm,1980,144). This gives objects an absolute and definite position with respect to space and time. This ‘absoluteness’ remained consistent until Einstein’s ‘Theory of relativity’ emerged. Alexander brings Descartes in to the discussion to criticise the ‘method’2 imbibed in us as tool explore the unknown. This mode of thought has been the basic form of ‘enquiry’ for the last 400 years. Alexander argues that this ‘method’ has established the idea of Order merely as a ‘mechanism’ resulting in a series of logical steps in which they have to be either ‘true’ or ‘false’. He remarks “Descartes invited us to look at nature, and the various elements of nature, as machines, or mechanisms” (09). Based on these comparisons, Descartes dictums seem to be a point of departure, in the overall apprehension of matter.

To extend the discussion of Bohm’s writings on Order, he emphasises on the process of ‘categorisation’. It involves two actions: ‘selection’ (to gather apart) and ‘collection’ (to gather together), from a general background. These two actions are carried out by identifying ‘similarities’ and ‘differences’. It is this process of identification, we distinguish objects. In this context, he defines ‘intelligence’ as the minds ability to perceive what lies “in between” and to create new categories. It carries the sense of “to gather in between” (111-12). The ‘intellect’ is more explicit, comparing to ‘Order’, as it is limited by the knowledge of scheme of categories, which need not occur with the perception of ‘Order’.

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Descartes introduced the ‘co-ordinate’ geometry. As Bertrand Russel describes him in the ‘History of Western Philosophy’, what was original in him was the use of co-ordinates, i.e. the determination of the position a point in a plane by its distance from two fixed lines. He regarded the bodies of men and animals and as machines, animals he regarded as automata, governed entirely by the laws of physics and devoid of feeling and consciousness. His other necessary contribution was the idea of ‘Cartesian Doubt’.

21

22

1.3

Early Post-Modern

(1960-70’s)

23

24

[1.3] Early Post –Modern Era “If you are talking about the anti-house, the conversation is still about the house.” Peter Cook

During the emergence of Post-Modern ideology in 1960’s, and after it, significance of the meaning of Order has shifted. (Forty, 240).

This period of architectural development is of prime importance in the research, as the projects (Five Architects) studied in the later part of the research fall under this period. The word ‘theoretical anxiety’ used by Rafael Moneo, aptly describes the intellectual condition of the 1960’s. There have been several catalysts to trigger this atmosphere works of Derrida (‘Of Grammatology’, ‘Signs and Systems’), Noam Chomsky (‘Theory of Syntax’), Lefebrve (‘Production of Space’). There has been ‘crisis’ in both the ‘form’ and ‘meaning’. Venturi’s book captures this tension in architectural scene in his seminal work “Complexity and Contradiction on Architecture”.

“These, I think, are two justifications for breaking order: the recognition of variety and confusion inside and outside, in program and environment, indeed at all levels of experience: and the ultimate limitation of all orders composed by man. When circumstances defy order, order should bend or break: anomalies and uncertainties give validity to architecture.” (Venturi, 41)

This part of the research focuses on the sixth chapter of the book, where the discussion is on the ‘accommodation’ and the ‘limitations’ of Order. These are very few instances in architecture, where the discussion of ‘Order’ is explicit. Comparing to antiquity, where the discussion was more on a ‘visual’ and ‘particular’ level, the discussion is more ‘ambiguous’ and ‘abstract’. Mies refers to a need to “create order out of desperation and confusion of our time” but Kahn said “by order I do not mean orderliness.” (Qtd. in Venturi, 41).

The underlying order seems to be interpreted as a ‘system’1, with a potential to be revealed. Tschumi remarks that architecture intead of being conditions of design, it must design conditions that dislocate traditional aspects of a society in a liberating way and these experiences to be organised and strategized through architecture. (259). ‘Strategy’ forms a key component in the architectural process. Venturi states that Order must exist before it can be broken, which implies that Order has always existed. To Venturi it existed in a ‘complex’ manner and the ‘contradictions’

1

The word refers to the statement by Corbusier: without a system”

“There is no work of art

25

Fig 1.3 a. Bernard Tschumi’s Entry to the Parc De La Villete Competition.

26

had to be accepted. He remarks that a valid order accommodates the circumstantial contradictions of a complex reality. In the earlier twentieth century the ‘utopian’ temperament was to create a new order, but now it would be reduce and reveal the complexities of the social and the political order. The meaning of order, disorder and chaos overlapped.

“Chaos, of course, is a given, while Order is a goal. Yet Form henceforth should not be sought beyond Chaos, but within it: it is Order that confers meaning on Chaos and translates it into value, into “freedom.”” – Manfredo Tafuri.2

To understand these aspects, two instances have selected to look into the deeper aspects of period after 1960’s 1. Parc de la Villete project -1982 2. ‘Archigram’ Group – similar in ideological intent as ‘Five

Architects’ and also form a contemporary to them.

Parc de la Villete project/competition. [Fig 1.3 b] This projects forms a ‘benchmark’ in architectural climate and, persistent even today. The design for the Parc de la Villette was selected from over 470 international competitors.3 The objectives of the competition were both to mark the vision of an era and to act upon the future economic and cultural development of a key area in Paris. It would be interesting to look at both the entries of Tschumi and Koolhaas to understand the ‘strategies’ of both of them “Any theoretical work, when “displaced” into the built realm, still retains its role within a general system or open system of thought.

As the theoretical project The Manhattan Transcripts (1981), and the built Parc de la Villete, what is questions is the notion of the unity. As they are conceived, both works have ni beginnings and no ends. They are operations composed of repetitions, superpositions, and so forth. Although they have their own internal logic- they are aimlessly pluralistic – their operations cannot be described purely in terms of internal and sequential transformations. The idea of order is constantly questioned, challenged and pushed to the edge.” ( Tschumi, Architecture and Disjuction, 209 )

The entry by Tschumi was selected from the competition. The three layers form the concept of the design.

1. Grid 2. Follies.

3.

2 3

Tafuri,Manfredo ‘Toward a Critique of Architectural Ideology’. (Hays 33) Quoted from Tschumi’s Website . http://www.tschumi.com/projects/3/

27

Fig 1.3 b. Rem Koolhaas Entry to the Parc De La Villete Competition.

Fig 1.3 c Archigram

28

Norberg-Shulz observes that ‘Deconstruction’ is an expression of nihilism that rejects every sort of order. He compares the ‘free plan’ concept at an urban level. He remarks that Tschumi in his design concept links the ‘plan libre’ to reticular organization, with the objective of opposing two structures, so as to prevent them from interacting, thus abolishing any and all meaning and the result is however a rhythmic polyphony that demonstrates a comprehensive spatial organisation. (Architecture: Presence, Language, Place. 217).

The entry by Koolhaas is more ‘complex’ in nature. The primary concept consists of five layers4. [Fig 1.3 b’] 1.The major programmatic components are distributed in horizontal bands across the site, creating a continuous atmosphere in its length and perpendicular, rapid change in experience.

2. Some facilities - kiosks, playgrounds, barbecue spots are distributed mathematically according to different point grids.

3. The addition of a “round forest” as architectural elements.

4. Connections 5. Superimpositions.

Archigram [Fig 1.3 c,c’]

Archigram existed from 1961 until the mid-1970s, which formed one of the seminal and influential groups of the 1960’s. They created some of the most utopian and iconic images of the 20th century. They rethought the relationship of architecture, technology and society in a very revolutionary way. They developed themes like ‘Plug-in city’, ‘Walking city’, ‘Instant city’ which made urban explorations and try to find a new approach how we inhabit cities.

The name Archigram (Architecture+Telegram) was invented to describe a home-made magazine put together in 1961 by the young architects, Peter Cook and David Greene, joining first with Mike Webb. This free-form magazine was designed to explore new projects and new thinking which was overturning the strict modernist dictates of the 1960s. 5 The ‘experimental’ nature of the group pushed the limits of 4 Quoted form “Office for Metropolitan Architecture” website : www.oma.nl/ projects

5 Quoted from ‘The Archigram Archive Project’ http://archigram.westminster. ac.uk/about.php?pg=archi

29

Fig 1.3 c’ Archigram, Walking City

30

architecture and technology. The strategies adopted were deeply rooted to find a system which accommodates the new complexities of the technological and information based society.

For example the ‘Walking City’6 project imagines a city in which the borders and boundaries are abandoned in favour of nomadic lifestyle. They created monstrous technological buildings which could move through both land and sea. The structures are conceived to plug into utilities and information networks at different locations to support the needs and desires of people who work and play, travel and stay put, simultaneously. By means of this nomadic existence, different cultures and information is shared, creating a global information market that anticipates later Archigram projects, such as ‘Instant City’ and ‘Ideas Circus’.

The new systems of thinking showed the ‘theoretical anxiety’ to move away from the strict modernist dictums established.

6

Ibid. http://archigram.westminster.ac.uk/project.php?id=60

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6

[2.0] Introduction to ‘De Stijl’ and New York Five Architects

Modern architecture is no more than the result of the age; The age is creating a style which is not a style because this style is created by the accumulation of objective reactions to external events; And hence, the style is authentic, valid, pure and clean, self-renewing and self perpetuating.

Colin Rowe Introduction to Five Architects, pg 5

33

34

[2.0]Introduction to ‘De Stijl’ and New York Five Architects This chapter would provide a brief introduction and overview to the two systems of thinking. It would inform reasons why these two particular systems have been considered as a platform for the discussion on the ‘sense of order’, which is the primary research question of the research, as the architectural process of both the systems are definite which can be traced through their lucid texts(manifestos), pronounced influences and projects, . This opportunity is created by the ‘similarities’ and ‘differences’ present in them.

Essential similarities: - Search for a ‘universal’ notion.

- Utopian temperament.

- Pronounced manifestations and architectural process (projects) confirming to its beliefs which could be traced back.

- ‘invention’1 of spaces by its configuration (structure and hierarchy) and expression (visual and sensual) - The notion of ‘spatiality’ as a formal concern in the architectural expression.

- ‘Plastic’ quality of the space making.

- Role of technology and its application.

Essential differences: - The differences in the socio-political conditions of the 1920’s and 1960’s are very important.

- As Tomassoni remarks,the period of early twentieth century, “an age with great possibilities for social improvements through technological and scientific progress, to which the only obstacle was the traditional prejudice and the legacy of romanticism “(13).

- Speaking of the world war, Mondrian wrote “Even in the chaotic moment, we can near equilibrium through the realisation of a true vision of reality. Modern life and culture helps us in 1 The word ‘invention’ is deliberately used to exaggerate its misfit in the domain of architectural space making.

35

36

this. Science and techniques are abolishing the oppression of time” (qtd. in Tomassoni 13).

- - ‘certainty vs uncertainty’: As described by Bernard Tschumi, aptly describes the difference in the situation of both the periods. The 1920’s talked about a new order of creating a certain utopian future. But in 1960’s, it was exposing and deciphering the out of the complexity of the situation.

- The 20’s utopian ideals were stronger in bringing change and stabiltiy in the overall system of life, like ‘De Stijl’ ideology emerged not only to bring change in art, but in overall society.

37

38

‘De Stijl’ Movement (1917-1928) William Curtis observes that “...from the beginning , De Stijl proclamations emphasized the emergence of a new order in which ‘materialism’ was to be left behind and replaced by spiritualised, mechanised abstraction.” (Modern 156). It is under this concern and perspective, the De Stijl movement has been studied and put forth as part of this research.

De Stijl movement is one of the revolutionary and major ‘modern movements’ in the earlier twentieth century. It was neither a homogenous “group” nor an ‘ism’ like Cubism, Futurism nor was it an art school like the Bauhaus. It was a collective project or enterprise, organised and promoted by Theo Van Doesburg (1883-1931). Many of the members of the group met rarely. The style necessarily started in Holland and had a major impact on the other ‘modern movement’ ideologies in the later years and spread across Europe and outside. The attempt was to construct a new, modernizing, ‘nationalist’ style in a country isolated by neutrality, caught between powerful neighboring countries in conflict during the First World War. The neutral condition of the Dutch in the war, search for a national identity not in traditional cultural sense but grounded in international style, would have had a mediating role in the European culture.

People associated with De Stijl movement: Painters Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) Vilmos Huszar (1884-1960) Bart van der Leck (1876-1958) Architects J J P Oud (1890-1963) Robert Van’ Hoof (1887-1979) Jan Wils (1891-1972) Georges Vantongerloo (1886-1965) – sculptor and painter Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964) – Furniture Designer and Architect Cornelis van Eesteren (1897-1988) – Architect and Town Planner De Stijl in Dutch means ‘The Style’, not just style, but ‘The Style’. ‘Style’ as conceived by Van Doesburg and his collaborators was not seen as the surface application of ornament or decoration, but an essential ordering of structure which would function as 39

Fig 2.0 a. Pages form the “Wasmuth Portfolio”. A collection of works of Frank Lloyd Wright

40

a sign for the ethical view of the society. The single element, perceived as separate, and the configuration of elements, perceived as a whole, were intended to symbolise the relationship between the individual and the collective. (Or the universal).The separating out and combining of such elements into new and unusual configurations was a crucial part of the vocabulary of De Stijl.

They also tried to construct an ideal ‘model’ for a new world through furniture, sculpture, interior design and architecture, while closely related two dimensional elements were employed in painting and graphic design also. (Overy 8-10) “We insist that contrast to the way of dreaming of the creative of the mankind,

today art is no longer a dream set apart and in realities of the world. Art must stop being just a cosmic secrets. Art is universal and real expression energy , which can be used to organise the progress is a tool of universal progress.” 2

The architects of De Stijl had a common interest in the works Of Frank Lloyd Wright, supporting this statement is the presence of ‘Wasmuth Portfolio’3 [Fig 2.0 a]. They also believed in the social belief of architecture.

De Stijl Magazine4.

The magazine remained to be the platform for the De Stijl members to share and present their ideologies, which primarily channelized the intellectual process of the system and formed the element of continuity throughout the De Stijl movement. It was edited by Theo van Doesburg. [Fig 2.0 b,b’], The very prominent ‘De Stijl Manifestos’ were published in this magazine which formed the very basis for the growth of De Stijl movement and its vocabulary.

‘First Manifesto of De Stijl, 1918’ and ‘Towards a Plastic Architecture, 1924’ are part of the scope of this thesis, which are analysed in the further chapters.5 2

De Stijl,V,4 (1922). Pg. 61-64. Translated by ,Stephen Bann.Quoted in Overy

3 The Wasmuth portfolio (1910) is a two-volume folio of 100 lithographs of the work of the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959). Titled “Ausgeführte Bauten und Entwürfe von Frank Lloyd Wright”, it was published in Germany in 1910 by the Berlin publisher Ernst Wasmuth, with an accompanying monograph by Wright. It contained plans and perspectives (in linework only) of buildings from 1893-1909. It was the first publication of any of Wright’s work to appear anywhere in the world, as Wright had not published any of his work in his twenty previous years of activity in the United States. Source : Wikipedia Online access to this document: http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/browse. php?CISOROOT=/FLWright-jp2 4 Online access to the ‘De Stijl’ magazine : http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/dada/de_stijl/index.htm 5

Refer Appendix 1 and Appendix 2

41

Fig 2.0 b. Front cover of De Stijl Magazine.

Vol.1 no.1, 1917

Fig 2.0 b’. Leaf of the De Stijl magazine. Article by J J Oud on Robie house.

Fig 2.0 c. Mondrian, Piet Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red 1937-42

Fig 2.0 c’. Red-Blue Chair,1919.

Gerrit Rietveld

42

As Curtis remarks, the resulting order of De-Stijl broke the axial schemata of Beaux-Arts Classicism. Instead of simple symmetry, there was dynamic, asymmetrical balance. The tense interactions of form and space were dynamic extensions of coloured planes into surroundings. (Modern Architecture 153) The stylistic and ideological characteristics commonly represented in De Stijl magazine as stated by Overy in his book ‘De Stijl’ (1112) are -

A stripping down of traditional forms into ‘basic’ components or ‘elements’.

-

The composition from these separate ‘elements‘ of formal configurations which are perceived as ‘wholes’, while remaining clearly constructed from individual and primary elements.

-

A studied and sometimes extreme asymmetry of composition or design.

-

An exclusive use of ‘orthogonals’ (horizontal or vertical ‘elements’) and the pigment primary colours (pure red, yellow and blue), plus the neutral colours or tones.(white, grey and black ) [Fig 2.0 c,c’]

And the other deeply engaged ideas were: -

An insistence on the social role or art, design and architecture.

-

A belief in a balance between the universal and the collective and the specific and the individual.

-

A utopian faith in transforming qualities of mechanization of new technology.

-

Convictions that are design have a power to change the future.

(And also the lives and Life-styles of the individuals)

In the late twenties, the orientation was to uncover a ‘style less’ style, in line with the increasing internationalism of the enterprise. The elimination of the style was of course, impossibility. The rise of the International Style was also a contemporary improvement along the establishment of the enterprise of De Stijl.

43

Fig 2.0 d. Villa at Huis ter heide,1919, Van’t Hoff

Fig 2.0 e -De Dubbele Sleutel at Woerden,1918, Jan Wils

Fig 2.0 g - Cinema-dancehall in the Café Aubette. Colour scheme, preliminary version, 1928

Fig 2.0 f -Seaside Housing, Scheveningen,1917.

J.J.P.Oud

Fig 2.0 g’ - Cinema-dancehall in the Café Aubette.

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Architecture Architectural space must be considered a blind, absolute void until colour turns it into something concrete. The spatio-temporal painting of the twentieth century, with its plastic, structural possibilities, allows artist to fulfil the dream: to place man, not before painting, but inside painting itself.6

The first architectural works associated with De Stijl are of Van’t Hoff and J.J.Oud. -

Villa at Huis ter heide [Fig 2.0 d], designed by Van’t Hoff has influences of Wright seen clearly in the overhangs, the extended horizontals and the sliding volumes.

-

Jan Wils designed a house, De Dubbele Sleutel at Woerden [Fig 2.0 e] also falls into this category.

-

Seaside Housing (unbuilt project) at Scheveningen,1917 was an early attempt to create standardized building types. The project has simple cubic volumes and stripped exterior, an early language of the De Stijl architecture. [Fig 2.0 f]

The emergence of the mass housing schemes was an important development in the architectural scene of Holland. The works of Van’t Hoff and Wills were on the principles of De Stijl but not a complete surrender to its ideas. Hoff interpreted the ‘Machine aesthetics’ of Wright, on the other side Wils responded to romantic and lyrical qualities. ’Asymmetry’ was essentially considered to be modern, in contrast with the monumental symmetry classical architecture and Wills believed it embodied the highest cultural achievement of man.

Café Aubette [Fig 2.0 g,g’] and Schroder House are very important examples where they closely associated with the principles of De Stijl. Doesberg described this project as ‘first realisation of a programme which we have cherished for years’. This project in every detail designed by Doesberg falls into the principles of De Stijl.

It forms one of the significant project of the Doesberg and the De Stijl movement [Fig ].

Schroder House. 1924 6 Theo Van Doesberg, “Notices sur l’aubette a Strasbourg,” De Stijl, VIII, 87-88, 1928, pg.8 (p 92). Quoted in Overy.

45

Fig 2.0 h - Schroder House - Upper level plan with partitions.

Fig 2.0 h’ - Schroder House - Upper level plan without partitions slided

Fig 2.0 i - Schroder House

Fig 2.0 j - Schroder House- Upper level interiors

46

As Curtis mentions, Schroder house is ‘probably the first actual building to embody the full range of De Stijl formal, spatial, and iconographic intentions(Modern Architecture,157)’ designed

by Rietveld. It is a family dwelling for a site at the end of a suburban row in Utrecht [Fig h,h’]. Rietveld was already known for his design of the Red/Blue chair in 1917-18 emphasis the subtleties of the De Stijl principles in his architecture also. The built form recalls the ‘elementarism’ of the Rietveld’s chair.

The house is spatially tensely related, simple compelling forms in balanced unities. The belief that building is not a fixed entity but a palimpsest on which could be inscribed a life style and a life view. Doesberg’s declaration “Towards a Plastic Architecture” (Refer Appendix 02) was published at the same time. The built form and the text together form a visible and definite vocabulary of De Stijl movement, which has been further analysed and discussed in the further analysis.

47

Peter Eisenman

Michael Graves

Gwathemy Siegel

John Hejduk

Richard Meier [Fig 2.0 k] Five Architects

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Introduction

to ‘Five Architects’(New York five Architects)

It does not seem particularly controversial to mark the beginning of the contemporary architecture in “the sixties” ( with all the changes in political theories and practice, the history of philosophy, the world economy, and general cultural production that the date connotes), for since then architecture, both built and projected, has notoriously been discussed and debated according to theoretical categories from such blunt oppositions as “white” versus “grey” or “rationalist” versus “historicist” to more sophisticated and articulate –isms (Hays, Introduction, Architectural Theory since 1968)

The intellectual climate of late 1960’s in the west was very intense and in the architectural context, is best described by Michael Hays (as quoted above). The meaning in western philosophy was in open contradiction. In architecture, the whole meaning of Modernism was interrogated. The seminal work by Venturi ‘Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture’ (1966) was published. The theoretical discourse was ‘open’ and had multiple interpretations. The emergence of ‘Post-Modernism’ ideals is an important shift.

The “whites”, as Hays mentions above refers popularly to the “Five Architects” or the “New York Five”.The five architects belonging to this group are: [Fig 2.0 k] Peter Eisenman Michael Graves Charles Gwathemy John Hejduk Richard Meier They were young architects who discussed their work with each other. The ‘group’ acted as a critical platform to exchange ideas and simulate a debate at an intellectual level. “It was a time when it was very difficult to talk about architecture,” Eisenman said of the mid-1960’s, when the architects began their careers.

“It was a wild time politically and socially. People were thinking of Vietnam, of black-voter registration drives. Nobody wanted to talk about form, which is what we thought architecture should be about.”7. It is this condition that led them to the pursuit of the architectural ‘form’ of the modern architecture, especially through the 1920’s and 30’s work of Le Corbusier. The men saw their mission as not to avoid social responsibility but to bring a level of seriousness, of gravity, to a profession that they believed had 7 Quoted from - Goldberger,Paul.”Architecture View; A Little Book That Led Five Men to Fame” New York Times, February 11, 1996.

49

House II,1969

Hanselmann House,1967

Gwathemy Residence and Stufio,1966

Bernstein House,1968

Smith House,1965

[Fig 2.0 k]Projects Studied

Peter Eisenman

Michael Graves

Gwathemy Siegel

John Hejduk

Richard Meier

50

ceased to think in intellectual terms. “We wanted to prove that architecture was not only about image, but about idea,” Gwathmey said.8 The formal properties derive first and foremost from Le Corbusier of the twenties and the thirties – before the master assumed the role of latter day Michelangelo- and Giuseppe Terragni, whose handful marvellous buildings exploited the ambiguity of wall and column relationships his contemporaries tried to get to rid of: and Louis Kahn, whose freewheeling use of the diagonal in plan has renewed a good idea too soon consigned to oblivion by the excesses of Frank Lloyd Wright, who invented it - Arthur Drexler (Five Architects 01)

The architectural dialogue that began with “Five Architects” which continued with the publication of “Five on Five,” a series of essays in Architectural Forum written by architects who took issue with the modernist stance of The Five. One essayist was Robert A. M. Stern, who organized the counter-group, which included Charles Moore, Allan Greenberg, Romaldo Giurgola and Jaquelin T. Robertson where called the ‘greys’.

Philip Johnson recognizes these influences saying “ ... I too feel close because I too have had my non-revolutionary, eclectic, copying moods, of where we are at (Post-Script, Five Architects)”.

As Paul Goldberger remarks, the architectural critic of ‘The New York Times’, they were the standard-bearers of a movement to elevate modernist architectural form into a serious theoretical pursuit. The outcome of this discussion is the book “Five Architects” published in 1975. It formed a monograph of their earlier work. The ideological pursuit of the group is substantiated with supporting texts from Colin Rowe, Kenneth Frampton and Philip Johnson in the book.

Five Architects [was] meant to be just a memorandum, a memento of the occasion,” said Mr. Meier. “And it became a thing. But there was no intention to put out a polemical manifesto. It just happened.9

The scope of the research is to understand this ‘memorandum’ of the projects (one project per architect) mentioned in the book in the perspective of its established beliefs.The research will look into five projects in detail [Fig 2.0 l]. The research will look into these processes and observe how the formal construct of ‘spatial configuration’ and ‘form’ have been translated/confirmed from their influences/ascendancies (Corbusiers’ early work) into their individual and personal idiom of design.

8

Ibid.

9 Quoted from Calderone, Michael ‘The New York Five’ The New York Observor, December 18, 2005 ,Link: http://www.observer.com/node/38111

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52

[2.1] Structure and Enclosure

The basic aim of free plan is to help man’s orientation in an open world

Christian Norberg-Schulz.

Principles of Modern Architecture , 23

53

Fig 2.1 b - Schroder House - First Level plan.

Fig 2.1 c - Schroder House

54

[2.1] Structure and Enclosure.

Industrialisation and the technical revolution of the earlier th 20 century had opened up new possibilities in structural and material potentialities. This event gave architects more freedom in the act of space making. This tool gave them more scope to express their intention of a new architectural language. ‘Free plan’ can be seen as a distinct outcome of this technological liberation.

In explaining the phenomenology of the free plan, Noberg-Shulz in his book Principles of Modern Architecture observes that in general the ‘free plan’ contains two principles – 1.use of a regular skeleton construction (pilotis) and 2.the transformation of the load bearing wall into a screen, which may be placed wherever needed (Norberg-Schulz 26).

The screen quality of the wall is emphasised in the Schroder house.

It is this aspect of the wall, which allows Rietveld to give a compositional quality present in the Mondrian paintings to emerge in the three dimensional spatial organisation. The composition of the planes emphasises the ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’ quality of the surface. The planes seem to float independent of the space.

If one looks at it closely, the planes are actually load bearing walls. Through subtle details of composition and construction, he gives a floating quality to the planes. As shown in the plan, at the corner, the two walls form a T-junction rather than a typical L-junction, expressing the planarity of the walls [Fig 2.1 b]. This effect is heightened by the colour of the walls. Every element has its own shade of colour but still within the De Stijl palette. The notion of colour as described in the manifesto: The new architecture has done away with painting as a separate and imaginary expression of harmony, secondarily as representation, primarily as coloured surface.The new architecture permits colour organically as a direct means of expressing its relationships within space and time. Without colour these relationships are not real, but invisible. The balance of organic relationships acquires visible reality only by means of colour. The modern painter’s task consists in creating with the aid of colour a harmonious whole in the new four dimensional realm of space- time - not a surface in two dimensions.(“Towards a Plastic Architecture”, Refer Appendix 02)

The floor of the balcony extends beyond the wall. The baluster of the balcony extends to forms an additive plane. The cantilevered balcony is further balanced with free standing coloured I-beams [Fig 2.1 c]. This whole exercise in space making is very similar in intent to achieve the ‘compositional’ quality expressed in 55

Fig 2.1 d Villa Stein De Monzie,Garches, 1928,Floor Plans

Fig 2.1 e Analytical Drawing comparing the Villa Malocenta and Villa Monzie.“The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa�.

Fig 2.1 f Villa Monzie.The notion of the curved wall.

56

the De Stijl paintings. This notion as described in the De Stijl manifesto: The new architecture possesses no single passive factor. It has overcome the opening (in the wall). With its openness the window plays an active role in opposition to the closedness of the wall surface. Nowhere does an opening or a gap occupy the foreground; everything is strictly determined by contrast. Compare the various counter constructions in which the elements that architecture consists of surface, line, and mass are placed without constraint in a three-dimensional relationship. (“First De Stijl Manifesto”, Refer Appendix 01)

“Structural systems suggest architectural systems”(qtd. in Raumplan 145), as stated by Corbusier, this notion is explicitly seen in the built form of Villa Stein de Monzie [Fig 2.1 d].But what is unique to this spatial organisation is the asymmetrical arrangement of spaces within in a strong symmetrical grid. The proportional system achieved in this constitution of structure and spaces is examined in the Colin Rowe’s seminal work “The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa” [Fig 2.1 e]. As Corbusier mentions in Towards a New Architecture, the structural system becomes the ‘regulating lines’ in his process, which is reflected prominently in the facade also.

The spatial enclosure at the horizontal level is composed of linear and non-linear surfaces within a very regular grid of a particular rhythm.The enclosures play a unique game. The rigidity of the plan sort of melts way as one moves toward the upper levels. The vertical experience is an increase in the degree of relaxation through increase in definition of non-linear enclosures. The curved room at the terrace level is a conscious attempt to express this freedom. Out of many cases within the internal arrangement of the plan, it is the only case, in the terrace where the non linear enclosure is expressed externally and boldly [Fig 2.1 f]. The relation between the linear and non linear is deliberate exercise in space making to emphasis the freedom of the ‘free plan’.

The relation between structure and enclosure is more an idea of ‘flexibility’’ in Schroder House [Fig 2.1 a]. A demand from the client Mrs. Schroder was to satisfy the changing functional needs.

She wanted the upper level to be both private, but also able to change to accommodate public activities to have discussions with her artist friends.

The ground-plan. The new architecture has opened the walls and so done away with the separation of inside and outside. The walls 57

Fig 2.1 g - Diagrams used by MeierSmith House

open closed

Fig 2.1 h- Smith House,1965,Floor Plans

58

themselves no longer The result is a new, classical one, since another. (“Towards a

support; they merely provide supporting points. open ground-plan entirely different from the inside and outside now pass over into one plastic Architecture”, Refer Appendix 02)

“Flexibility is a subordinate property of the free plan and was invented relatively late, more precisely in 1924 in Schroder House in Utrecht”(Norberg-Schulz 23).He also states that freedom can only exist relative to a defined ‘frame of reference’. To extend this idea into the present discussion, the facade/external wall is the frame of reference in the case of Villa Monzie. In the case of Schroder, the frame of reference is the external wall (primarily the ‘De Stijl’ belief being that space is ‘universal’) is a momentary instance, and thus it implies the frame of reference also to be transitory.

In the case of Smith House, as explained by Meier himself (Five Architects 111), is different in approach. He states that the dialectic of the ‘open’ and ‘closed’ is extended to the structure and its enclosure of wood and glass, In the private or ‘closed’ zone, as shown in the diagrams[Fig 2.1 g], the structure and enclosure are indifferent and contained in the same plan, but as one moves into the public zone or ‘open’ zone the structure and enclosure (glass) is clearly differentiated and exposed [Fig 2.1 h]. At Villa Monzie, the structural columns are revealed, not expressed as in the case of Smith. This subtle moment of design makes the ‘visual’ domain apparent.

Before on enters the house, there is a deliberate attempt to make the load bearing wall a screen [2.1 i], used as a tool to exaggerate the experience of the other end looking towards the river. This dialectic of spatial notion is used to express the difference between the ‘public’ and ‘private’, ‘open’ and ‘closed’.

Thus the frame of reference is contextualised between the two zones by the wrapping of enclosure. The structure-enclosure relationship is ‘contextually definite’ and one can also choose be in a particular context. In Villa Monzie, Corbusier uses a single frame of reference to signify structure-enclosure relationship which could imply the celebration of the spirit of the individual against the universal in a ‘definite’ manner. In Schroder House, structure-enclosure is dictated by the individual by moving the partition walls, thus forming a dynamic state of arrangement of the ‘universal’ space, which becomes ‘definite for the moment’.

Understanding this structure-enclosure dependency gives an insight 59

Fig 2.1 i - Smith House, Front entry.

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into the process of space making. This expression of the built form gives clues to the underlying principles of how the spaces are ‘ordered’ with the liberation of the structure, and how they emerge out as a reflection and reaction to the positions announced by the architects. The attitude of the enclosure suggest the relationship between the inside and the outside implies the position of man to his surroundings and context.

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[2.2]The relationship of ‘parts’ to the ‘whole’

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Fig 2.2 a - Villa Monzie,Enclosure of the staircase.

Fig 2.2 b - Smith House, Enclosure of the staircase.

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[2.2]The relationship of the ‘parts’ to the ‘whole’ “that perpetual slight alteration of language, words perpetually juxtaposed in new and sudden combinations “ T.S.Eliot ( Qtd. In Venturi, 43) As quoted by T.S.Eliot , slight alteration of words can alter the meaning in a substanstive way. The structure of the new combination can indicate the order of the composition. De Stijl explicitly mentioned about the relationship of the ‘parts’ and ‘whole’ in its manifestations, and this expression of the whole forms the crucial vocabulary both in its paintings and architecture. The vocabulary itself forms the core meaning in the formation of the ideology of De Stijl. As remarked in the De Stijl manifestations: The new architecture is elemental; that is to say, it develops out of the elements of building in the widest sense. These elements such as function, mass, surface, time, space, light, color, material, etc. -are plastic.” (“Towards a Plastic Architecture”, Refer Appendix 02)

Corbusier has been absolute in his expression about the composition and identification of architectural ‘elements’ by mentioning the ‘Five Points of Architecture’ namely Free plan, Pilotis, Free façade, Horizontal Window and Roof Garden.

There has been an effort to dissect the built form into ‘parts’ and assign layers of meaning, defining its independence and configure them into a ‘whole’. As a comprehensive unit of the ‘whole’, it mutates the meaning of the ‘parts’. This phenomenon might not be recent. In classical architecture, prominently the articulation of the parts was limited to ‘elements’ of façade and columns as visual communication. In this part of the analysis, it would be necessary to identify the ‘elements’ and its underlying structure dictating the order of configuration as a ‘whole’ and how it differs between different projects and what it indicates. The concern would to examine the formulation of the ‘whole’ as involved in space-making.

The subtle difference in the articulation and the interpenetration of the ‘whole’ would give certain clues into this part of the analysis. It would also be necessary to understand how the structural configuration implies in the ‘ordering’ of spaces The analysis would investigate these four ‘elements’ a. Staircase

b. Terrace c. Entry

d. Sectional articulation.

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Fig 2.2 b’ - Cobusier’s sketch.

Fig 2.2 c - Hanselmann House, First Level. Entry

Fig 2.2 d - Hanselmann House,Second Level, Terrace.

Fig 2.2 e - Villa Monzie,Terrace

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A. Staircase The ‘staircase’(connecting element) forms a very important element in forming the vocabulary of any built form. The expression of this element is both very formal and necessary. The internal staircase in the case of Villa Monzie is enclosed by a curved wall [Fig 2.2 a].This curved wall suggests movement. In relation to the columns present next to the staircase, the non-linear/curved enclosure happens as an extension of the neighboring space. The interior concave part suggests movement; exterior convex part forms an ‘object’ within the boundary of the house.

There are two staircases in Smith House. One forms core of the circulation. The other external stairs connects to the outside ground [Fig 2.2 b](Similar side entry of Villa Monzie). The enclosure of the

the internal directly to the garden external stairs

is similar to the curved wall at Villa Monzie. Meier’s idiom of the curved wall is very different from that of Corbusier’s notion. This moment it collapses into the ‘visual domain’. This curved enclosure forms an ‘object’ in the landscape more than an ‘object’ in the domain of the boundary of the built form.

B.

Entry.

In Villa Monzie, there are two entries, but they are placed on the opposite sides of the ‘cubical’ volume [Fig 2.2 b’]. The front entry has a subtler approach from the ground level, contrasting to the second elaborate one. It is placed at first level corner terrace connected by a bridge. These two entries together, create a ‘tension’ in the spatial organization between the opposite sides.

It consciously fractures the ‘classical’ entry to the house.

There are two entries to the Hanselmann house, place one above the other, which are ‘axial’ in nature [Fig 2.2 c]. The point of entry is almost at the centre. The upper entry is at the end of a linear bridge, stretching the experience of conscious movement before one actually enters the house. The entries are more ‘functional’ in nature, doesn’t alter the organization of spaces as in the case of Villa Monzie. It doesn’t contain the diametric tension is spaces as in the case of Villa Monzie with respect to its entries.

C.

Terrace.

The roof terrace at the third level [Fig 2.2 d], forms an extension of the private living space. The terrace adjoins the primary 67

Fig 2.2 f - Smith House, Section

Fig 2.2 g - Villa Monzie, Section

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living space of the house. In similar perspective, the terrace at first floor at Villa Monzie is an intermediate space. It extends the hierarchy rather than adjoining the primary living space. The meaning of the terrace as a ‘part’ has mutated to a more significant level in its position in the ‘whole’. As discussed, the terrace in Corbusier’s language become a voyeur. The terrace forms a platform to sit and view the world in which the position of man over nature is emphasized [Fig 2.2 e].

D. Sectional Articulation.

In Smith House, the sectional is articulated primarily by the presence of a double height volume (living room) [Fig 2.2 f].

This volume connects the centre of the house to the surroundings indefinitely. There are two double height volumes in Villa Monzie [Fig 2.2 g]. One forms the interior core of the house and the other connects the house to the outside in a ‘definite’ manner, as it contains the transition. The experience of the user is strained between these two volumes.

To conclude this part of the analysis , Venturi’s understanding can be engaged: Gestalt psychology maintains the context contributes meaning to a part and change in context causes change in meaning. The architect thereby, through the organization of parts, creates meaningful context for them within the whole, if he uses convention unconventionally, if he organizes familiar things in an unfamiliar way, he is changing their contexts, and he even can use the cliché to gain a fresh effect. Familiar things seen in an unfamiliar context become perpetually new as well as old. (Venturi, 43)

As an extension of this remark into the analysis, “organizing familiar things in an unfamiliar way”, it has be noted what separates familiarity from unfamiliarity. It is this organization of the ‘parts’ into the ‘whole’, which informs the implied ordering of the composition. The important inference form this analysis is that the emergence of ‘visual idioms’ under closer reading of the projects. They inform that the elements which replicate visually Corbusier language fall under the visual domain rather than in actual space making. The departure in the pronounced beliefs of the New York Five Architects can be identified from the observations as analysed above. And it is at these departures, the ‘sense of order’ becomes less explicit.

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[2.3]Inside-Outside Topologies

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[2.3] Inside – Outside ‘Topologies’ “Literature is made at the boundary between the self and the world, and during the creative act this borderline softens, turns penetrable and allows the world to flow into the artist and the artist to flow into the world “ - Salman Rushdie1

‘Topology’ is approached here with the meaning of spatial organisation.2 In this discussion, the terms Inside/Outside refers to the territorial aspects of the built domain. ‘Inside’ denotes the space lying ‘within’ the exterior ‘boundary’ of the house form and vice versa. As Norberg-Schulz observes that the adverbial attribute ‘within/without’ informs the Inside/Outside relationships. Venturi remarks “...the contrast between the inside and outside can be a major manifestation of contradiction in architecture” (71). This phenomenon of ‘binary opposites’ has to be addressed in any case; as one of the elemental concerns of architecture is to concentrate on this physical attribute of space.

But the path taken to express this notion would reveal the order of the structure dictating Inside/Outside relationship.

‘Arrival’ and ‘Circulation’ would be the notions to be analysed in the built forms, through which the ‘topological’ shifts may become apparent. The topological order falls into play with the geometric order (suggested by structure). Geometric order represents rhythm of spaces and ‘topology’ talks about the shift in the rhythm.

The method of this analysis: - The relationship of Inside/Outside by identifying the ‘boundary’ (elements). The physical form of the ‘binary opposites’.

- to identify ‘topological’ shifts/changes at ‘thresholds’ - ‘thresholds’ can be categorised into ‘arrival’ and ‘connections/circulation’.

‘Threshold’ at ‘arrival’ is informed by the hierarchy. In the 1 Salman Rusdie , [ Isn’t anything sacred ? ], translated by Juhani Pallasma in his book “The thinking Hand : Existential and Embodied wisdom In Architecture “. Pg 18 2 Christian Norberg-Schulz uses the term ‘topology’ and has attached two meanings to it. One refers to spatial organization in the general sense and the other to non-geometric organizations. The dictionary definition states: topology, branch of mathematics, that studies patterns of geometric figures involving position and relative position without regard to size. Topology is sometimes referred to popularly as “rubber-sheet geometry” because a figure can be changed to that of an equivalent figure by bending, stretching, twisting, and the like, but not by tearing or cutting.

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Fig 2.3 b - Villa Monzie,Entries

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case of ‘connections’ the analysis will look into the continual experience across the ‘path’ emphasising the ‘inside/outside’ domain.

Villa Stein De Monzie, Le Corbusier In the case of Villa Monzie, ‘boundary’ is predetermined which can be traced through the sketch of Corbusier [Fig 2.3 a].The topological shifts are contained ‘within’ this ‘boundary’ and the contour of the boundary is treated with a sense of sacredness expressed in the articulation of the outer edge. There are two arrivals to the built form - front entry from the road side and rear entry from the garden side [Fig 2.3 b]. The front entry is an ‘instant’ change between the two domains and spatially does not respond to the street. The rear entry is ‘hierarchical’, connected by the terrace overlooking the garden. The terrace consciously placed at the first floor reflects the domination of man over the surrounding landscape. [At Robie house, the contrast between inside and outside is created by the sense of enclosure , but not vertical shift in space as in Villa Monzie]. One can sit ‘in’ the terrace and look ‘into’ the landscape, which implies the contrast between ‘man’ and ‘nature’, thus ‘inside’ and ‘outside’. This pronunciation is of crucial nature, which is to be identified and compared in other houses also.

The arrival to the first floor from staircase in the living room is marked by the window looking into the garden through the terrace.

This is the only instance, at the level of vertical ‘connections’, the ‘exterior’ is revealed partially, unlike the in the case of Villa Savoy where elemental shift in topology occurs along the ramp, dominating the spatial experience. In Villa Monzie, shift in the ‘topology’ is highlighted through elements like terrace and sectional articulation. But in Villa Savoy, the vertical connections itself stages the ‘topological shifts’ creating a constant dialogue with the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ [Fig 2.3 c].

In Villa Monzie, the vertical connections (staircase) are more ‘introvert’ in nature, negating the existence of the ‘outside’ compared to the spatial articulation at Villa Savoy.

Hanselmann House In comparison to Villa Monzie, the similarity is in the 75

B

A

C

Fig 2.3 d - Hanselmann House, Staircases.

Fig 2.3 e - Berstein House, Second Level Plan.

Boundary.

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articulation of the rectangular boundary in Hanselmann House. But it differs in its definition due to the presence of elements like stairs and the connecting entry bridge attached to the edge. The ‘boundary’ dilutes to become a ‘margin’.There is a ‘stretched’ linear bridge leading to the entry point at the first floor. It doesn’t traject a ‘hierarchical’ shift; expect a moment of pause created by the terrace (not seen in the final built form). There is a linear shift from the outside to the inside.

The similarities and the differences in the articulation of three staircases indicate the Inside/Outside relationship [Fig 2.3 d]. a. The staircase ‘A’ elevates the horizon of entry unlike the shifting the ‘topology’ as in the garden entry of Villa Monzie. b. The staircase ‘B’ is introvert, falling in the axis of the main entry. So as one descends from the second floor, is visually connected to the bridge and then to the outside. c. The staircase ‘C’ placed at the contour of the ‘boundary’ is an intermediate, suggesting a simultaneous existence, of the inside and the outside.

The crucial point to be noted is not the individual articulation but that the combined experience of the staircases together. They are fragmented units forming a comparatively less comprehensive composition in establishing a layered and continuous experience of the inside and outside, compared to Corbusier’s integrations of ‘vertical connections’ at Villa Monzie.

Bernstein House The ‘boundary’ at the Bernstein House [Fig 2.3 e] is as ‘contained’ as in the case of Villa Monzie. The concentrated experience of transition between the staircase and the inside is ‘instant’, consistent at both horizontal and vertical shifts. It is only at this point of shift between the staircase and the living space, the presence of the ‘outside’ is emphasised and signified. The ‘thresholds’ have been collapsed to a confined displacement between the circulation and the living space. This enhances the perception of the vertical arrangement of spaces. The cubical volume further diminishes the directional attribute of a rectangular form, emphasising the universality of the space.

Thus, as a conclusion to this analysis: the ‘threshold’ can be 77

Fig 2.3 f - Robie House.

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either formed at ‘boundary’ between the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ or within their respective individual margins. The contour which forms the ‘boundary’ is informed by the physical enclosure like the wall or spatial obstructions. The transition at the ‘threshold’ can be an ‘instant’ or a ‘hierarchical’ experience. The Inside/ Outside relationship informs the position of man with respect to his surroundings as in the case of Robie house [Fig 2.3 f], it connotes the contrast between the interior and the exterior in tremendous. The idea of sitting inside the living room and looking into the landscape (very American in nature) is a prominent spatial attribute.

Frampton argues that space is handled as a ‘translucent mass’ by Corbusier in his projects(Five Architects 9). The enclosures which create this ‘translucency’ also imply the attitude, as analysed, towards the man-nature relationship. But what remains unique to the Corbusier’s design is his comprehension of the two different fields (like in the case of Villa Stein de Monzie) simultaneously and the sense of enclosure which characterises it. As quoted by Salman Rushdie at the beginning of the article, architecture seems to be analogical to literature in its ability to manifest a ‘boundary’ between the self and the world. The articulation of the spatial topology as implication of the Inside/Outside domain ascribes a physical form to the ‘boundary’.

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[2.4]Departure from Symmetry

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[2.4] Departure from symmetry Vitruvius remarks symmetry as the fundamental property of architecture along with Arrangement, Eurhythmy, Symmetry, Propriety and Economy.

4. Symmetry is a proper agreement between the members of the work itself, and relation between the different parts and the whole general scheme, in accordance with a certain part selected as standard. Thus in the human body there is a kind of sym¬metrical harmony between forearm, foot, palm, finger, and other small parts; and so it is with perfect buildings. In the case of temples, symmetry may be calculated from the thickness of a column, from a triglyph, or even from a module;...” (“Towards a plastic architecture”)

Symmetry is one of the most important ordering principles in the classical architecture. The notion of monumentality is closely associated with the symmetry. During renaissance symmetry implies

the particular balance which arises from a ‘reflected’ disposition of elements from one side, and the other of an axis, as in mirror.

(Meiss 65) Till the end of nineteenth century, the concept of symmetry has been one of the prominent underlying principles in ordering of spaces.

The departure from the symmetrical ordering of spaces has been approached with different attitudes since the early twentieth century. A comparison of the attitudes in the expression of the asymmetry, will be the concern of the enquiry here.

De Stijl proclaimed in the manifesto “ Towards a Plastic Architecture”: 12.Symmetry and repetition. The new architecture has eliminated both monotonous repetition and the stiff quality of two halves - the mirror image, symmetry. There is no repetition in time, no street front, no standardization.

A block of how is just as much a whole as the individual house.

The laws that apply to the individual house also apply to the block of houses and to the city. In place of symmetry the new architecture offers a balanced relationship of unequal parts; that is to say, of parts that differ from each other by virtue of their functional characteristics as regards position, size, proportion and situation. The equality of these parts rests upon the balance of their dissimilarity, not upon their similarity. Furthermore, the new architecture has rendered front, back, right, left, top, and bottom, factors of equal value.

It deliberately attempted to negate the classical architecture by offering a “balanced relationship of unequal parts”. It talks 83

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about an asymmetrical balance which holds the composition together.

It gave a method to handle proportion in De Stijl. As Theo Van Doesberg commented in ‘Towards a representational architecture’; “Against symmetry the new architecture sets the balanced proportion of unequal parts – that is, of parts which because of their contrasting functional character differ in posture, measure, ratio and position (qtd. in Padovan,55). The ordering of spaces in De Stijl was a deliberate attempt to move away from the classical composition and to propose a new meaning to the ‘balance’ of composition. Asymmetry was essentially considered to be modern.

Corbusier spatial relations were related to ‘symmetry’. There is a asymmetrical articulation of spaces with in a strong symmetrical grid [Fig]. the underlying grid imposes a ‘rhythm’ to the spatial relations, on activities perform functional aspect of architecture.

He remarks “The necessity for free movement inside the house suggests a number of architectural ideas, tending to an effect of orderliness.. . The house is the product of the spirit...”.

Corbusier attributes a variety of day to day activities ascribed on a classical rhythm of spaces underlying in the structural configuration.

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[2.5] The meaning of the Horizontal and the Vertical

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[2.5] The meaning of the Horizontal and the Vertical The method of ‘abstraction’ has been the underlying concern in both the processes of New York Five Architects and De Stijl ideologies.

The established order is built on the elements of abstraction. It creates a domain in which art and architecture can be exercised.

Abstraction has always been concerned with the expression of a pure geometry. Discussing about the concern for pure geometry its relation to Order, Corbusier remarks: When man is free his tendency is towards pure geometry. It is then that he achieves what we call order. Order is indispensible to him; otherwise his actions would be without coherence and could lead nowhere. And to it he brings the idea of perfection. The more this order is an exact one, the more happy he is, the more secure he feels. In his mind he sets up the framework of constructions based on order which is imposed upon him by his body, and so he creates.

All the works that man has achieved are an “ordering” (The City of Tomorrow 28).

Mondrian states in his introduction to his article “Neoplasticism in painting” that, “The life of modern cultured man is gradually turning away from the natural: it is becoming more and more abstract.” The process of ‘abstraction’ urging to identify and propose a ‘method’, in which the ideas can progress, incubate and demonstrate the basic ideology of the system. The ‘method’ of the De Stijl movement can be identified by concerns expressed in the manifestos on Neo-Plasticism. Looking closely into the article “The Plastic Means” (Appendix 04), and trying to decipher these established ideas, it emerges that:

- The search for ‘elements’ which could form the composition of the ‘whole’. The ‘whole’ will always build its meaning on its ‘parts’, which have ‘universal’ meaning and appeal.

- “Empty space acts as non-colour, and volume acts as colour”the difference in the characteristics of the ‘empty space’ and ‘volume’ is ambiguous and always in transition. The ‘empty space’ can become a ‘volume’ by using it.(Similar to the Tschumi’s argument that ‘Architecture is created by events’).

- ‘The straight line as the limit of the plastic means’ signifies the concern of the plasticity. It establishes the difference between the creation of man and nature. A ‘straight line’ epitomises the creation of man uniquely. It is plastic in nature in its core. In a simple and direct manner, the ‘straight line’ symbolises what only man can do but not nature.

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Fig 2.5 a - Mondrian, Piet .

Composition with Large Blue Plane, Red, Black, Yellow, and Gray ,1921, Oil on canvas 60.5 x 50 cm (23 3/4 x 19 5/8 in) Dallas Museum of Art

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The meaning of the ‘straight line’ is strengthened through it expression in Mondrian’s paintings [Fig 2.5 a]. “The new plastics must find its own expression in the abstraction of all form and colour, that is in straight lines and in primary colours distinctly defined” ( Quoted in Tomassomi,12). They assert themselves as either ‘horizontal’ or the ‘vertical’. The designation assigned to them creates a situation of ‘dialectic opposition’. Mary Ann observes that Theo Van Doesburg and Mondrian were greatly influenced by Hegel’s theories of art showing forth spirit and his celebrated oppositional forms arranged in a dialectical join: horizontal and vertical, abstract and concrete forms, spirit and nature (422).

This order creates a platform for ideas to be proclaimed. “The duality of opposition in the plastic means is equally required in the composition” (“The Plastic Means”, Refer Appendix 04).

The designation and the meaning assigned to them evolve into a

‘composition’. A ‘constant equilibrium’ is substantiated through this composition. He strived to achieve plasticity. Mondrian wanted to attribute an attitude of ‘certainty’: the new plastic art ‘is characterised by security, it does not ask questions, it offers a ‘solution’ (Tomassomi 41). The similar viewpoint of straight line as the primary order and abstraction was a shared belief within the De Stijl ideology.

Mondrian’s belief were so rigid and dogmatic that in 1924, that he ceased to contribute to De Stijl magazine when Theo Van Doesburg adopted the oblique line in preference to the vertical and horizontal line in his compositions. (Tomassomi 40).

Tomassoni remarks: “the factor which the aesthetic exponents of De Stijl held in common was the methodology”. This ‘methodology’ forms the very basis of creating structure of any human activity.

De Stijl methodology led to a form that was the very structure of reality and of consciousness and so it had to be based on certain principles and essentials applicable to any type of action: spatiality of right angles and planes forming a new plasticity (12). Mondrian’s aesthetic evolution can be explained by ideas of Neoplasticism.

Bear that in mind... it is just not just a question of displacing the centre but of abolishing it, doing away with it altogether..

If you merely place the centre point outside the campus, it still remains a canvas: your painting then just becomes a part of the

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Fig 2.5 b - Villa Savoy, Elevation

Fig 2.5 c - Robie House

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larger painting, doesn’t it?1

Corbusier has argued about the conviction of straight line and the right angle, that it directly suggests man’s need for ‘Order’.

This apprehension is substantiated by his discourse in the second chapter of The City of To-morrow. He states: The laws of gravity seem to resolve for us the conflict of forces and to maintain the universe in equilibrium: as result of this we have the vertical. The horizon gives us the horizontal, the line of the transcendental plane of immobility. The vertical in conjunction with the horizontal gives us two right angles. There is only one vertical, one horizontal; they are two constants. The right angle is as it were the sum of forces which keep the world in equilibrium.

There is only one right angle; but there is an infinitude of other angles. The right angle, therefore, has superior rights over the other angles; it is unique and it is constant. In order to work, man has need of constants (27).

The state of ‘static equilibrium’ is inherent when the dialectically opposite ‘horizontal’ and the ‘vertical’ meet. This expression is implied in the architectural works also. Corbusier uses the ‘horizontal window’ to emphasis the infinitude at the horizon level. The window details (particularly sliding sashes) deliberately further emphasis the horizontal-ness of its existence [Fig 2.5 b]. Robie House is another important demonstration of the static equilibrium. The form of the building emphasises the horizontality of the prairie landscape whereas the vertical element chimney holds the equilibrium of the opposites [Fig 2.5 c].

The presentation of the straight line and the right angle as the tools to achieve a plastic means to explore the limits of art an architecture is been the concern of this part of the analysis. They together form the basic means of expression and order to exercise art and architecture. This view can be substantiated by these two remarks.

Corbusier: I repeat that man, by reason of his very nature, practises order; that his actions and his thoughts are dictated by the straight line and the right angle, that the straight line is instinctive in him and his mind apprehends it as a lofty objective. (The City of Tomorrow pg. 23)

Mondrian:

31).

1

P.Mondrain’s letter to T.van Doesburg. Quoted in (Padovan, 2002,

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Abstract plasticism represents this primordial relation in a precise manner by means of the two positions which form the right angle.

This positional relation is the most balanced of all, since it expresses in a perfect harmony the relation between two extremes, and contains all other relations. (“Natural Reality and Abstract Reality�, 1919)

The expression and manifestation of the straight line and the right angle, as analysed above, has been the prime significant notion in establishing a system implying Order, in which the act of space making can be exercised.

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[2.6] Frontalism

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Lower Level Plan

South Elevation

Fig 2.6 a - House II, Peter Eisenman, 1969

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[2.6]Frontalism Kenneth Frampton has investigated the conflict in spatial perception between the ‘frontalization’ and ‘rotation’(Five Architects 9).

He primarily demonstrates, in the projects of New York Five, the contrast in how one approaches the building and the volumetric rotation which happens in the interior volume. Accepting the validity of spatial dynamics as explained by Frampton, this analysis will look into ideas prior to the above spatial formation, which might have triggered the concept of negating the classical frontal perception of space and what it means in the context of ‘ordering’ spaces. De Stijl ideology urge to invoke a plastic quality to the architectural space begins with the interrogation of the ‘frontal’. As the quoted in the manifesto ‘Towards a New Plastic Architecture’, ‘frontalism’ is compared to a “rigid static way of life”.

In contrast to frontalism, which had its origin in a rigid, static way of life, the new architecture offers the plastic richness of an all- sided development in space and time. (Appendix 04)

The concept of ‘Frontalism’ could be described as an experience which negates the front elevation of the building. Thereafter, built form was perceived as a three dimensional object. This particular perception confirms and subtlety raises one of the basic questions of Modern architecture. How does the building reflect the ‘space’ and ‘time’ of a period? An analysis of this question would reveal the underlying principle of the conflict of the frontalization and rotation.

Sigfried Giedion, in one of the most critical work on Modern Architecture ‘Space, Time and Architecture’, discusses about three conceptions of ‘space’. (lv-vi)

a: first conception of space was brought into being by the interplay between volumes as encompassed in the architecture of Egypt and Greece. The interior space was disregarded.

b: second space conception began in the midst of Roman empire, where the interior design along with its vaulting problem started to be the highest aim of architecture. This idea persisted from the Roman Pantheon to the end of Eighteenth century.

c: The present space-time conception – the way volumes are placed in space and relate to one another, the way the interior 99

Fig 2.6 b - House II, Shift in the grids.

Fig 2.6 c - Villa Savoy, 1929.

Layered Axonometric.

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space is separated from the exterior space or is perforated by it to bring about an interpretation - is an universal attribute which is at the basis of all contemporary architecture of the twentieth century.

The way the architects of the New York Five have ‘interpreted’ this universal spatial attribute formed the basis for the demonstration of the conflict of the frontalization and rotation of architectural space. Looking into House II [Fig 2.6 a], designed by Peter Eisenman can give certain clues into this concept.

As Frampton argues, the use of the ABABA grid is a key in this aspect. The comprehensibility of the grid is shifted (Five Architects 10). The system is manipulated through overlays. The system consists of two overlays of the same ‘nine square grid’.

This overlay creates a shift and ambiguity of the “center” of the

whole composition. The enclosure in one case is lines (columns) and the other case is the planes (walls). Eisenman involves in “overloading of the object with formal references”. The rotation of the interior is created comprehensively by the diagonal shift of the grid and the mode of enclosure (lines or walls) defining this grid.[Fig 2.6 b] Villa Savoy demonstrates unique spatial dynamics. As Corbusier stated; ”there will be no longer be either a back or a front to the house” (qtd. in Raum plan 147). At the level of the exterior, the similarity of all the facades destroys the notion of the frontal facade. This neutrality of the facade, followed by ‘plastic’ vertical and horizontal circulation, disorients the user when he is in the interior. As compared to House II, what informs the conflict of the interior and the exterior is a through a controlled circulation of the movement between exterior/interior. The ‘ramp’ primarily, controls this whole experience both by visual and spatial resistance to the outside. The neutral envelope informs the ‘boundary’ between both the exterior/interior domain. Corbusier terms it the “acoustic space”, to describe the interconnection between the outer and inner space in Ronchamp. The interpretation of the “acoustic space” – clear dislocation and disorientation of the front( if one existed ), marks the conflict of frontalisation and rotation in the case of Villa Savoy [Fig 2.6 c].

On the similar lines what informs the conflict in the case of Schroder House is the concept of ‘anti-cubic’. This term was introduced by Theo Van Doesberg in his Manifesto as mentioned 101

Lower level plan

Upper level plan

Fig 2.6 d - Schroder House,Gerrit Rietveld 1924-5. Floor plans

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below: The new architecture is anti-cubic; that is to say, it does not attempt to fit all the functional space cells together into a closed cube, but projects functional space- cells (as well as overhanging surfaces, balconies, etc.) centrifugally from the centre of the cube outwards. Thus height, breadth, and depth plus time gain an entirely new plastic expression. In this way architecture achieves a more or less floating aspect (in so far as this is possible from the constructional standpoint - this is a problem for the engineer!) which operates, as it were, in opposition to natural gravity. (“Towards a New Plastic Architecture”, Refer Appendix 02)

As Eisenman observes, in the text accompanying House II, that “the co-ordinates of the cubic space are described by its edge or its centre; the edge is composed of lines or planes, the centre by a line or volume (Five Architects 25)” In a similar notion, the Schroder House seems to confirm to “cubic” spatial quality. In the case of Villa Savoy and House II the ‘centre’ is contained within

the boundary but shifted. But in Schroder House the ‘centre’ is resisted, but present. The “centrifugal” composition of the spaces composed against the ‘centre’ of the plan gives the built form a unique dimension. The exterior informs this resistance and “opposition to the gravity” by the floating nature of the planes.

The perception of the centre, from the viewpoint of interior, keeps shifting because of the flexibility of the upper level plan [Fig 2.6 d].

As a conclusion to this analysis:

- The whole idea of the conflict can be traced back to the theories of “Cubism”. As Giedion observes, The cubists did not seek to reproduce the appearance of objects from one vantage point; they went around them, try to lay hold of their internal constitution. (436)

- The ‘representation of the perforation’ of the inner/outer space, informs the concern of the conflict of frontalisation and rotation as proposed by Kenneth Frampton.

- The ‘translucent mass’1 of Corbusier architecture is missing in the works of New York Five. The spatial transition is more complex in articulation than compared to the Five architects.

- The opacity of the mass, in context to ‘translucency’

1

The term is borrowed from Kenneth Frampton. He concludes in his article Frontality vs. Rotation, criticising the New York Five, that none of the spatial manipulation resembles to the aura of Corbusier’ architecture. He also remarks that Corbusier has handled space like “translucent mass” in Maison Cook.

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of Corbusier’s spaces, in Schroder House is dictated not by physicality but by usage. It is more dynamic in nature. This quote below partially substantiates this point.

In architecture, empty space acts as non-colour, and volume acts as colour (The Plastic Means – Appendix 04)

This whole architectural exercise of inner-outer, frontal-rotation is primarily a beginning of spatial expression seen in the emergence of Modern architecture which has some influences form art.

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[2.7] Diagrams as a tool of abstraction

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Fig (a) (b) (c) (d)

2.7 a - “Three House Projects�, Theo Van Doesberg, 1923.

Complete composition Horizontal planes Vertical planes Cubical volumes.

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[2.7] Diagrams as a tool of abstraction The diagram understood as a stratum of superposed traces offers the possibility of opening up the visible to the articulable, to what is within the visible. In this context, architecture becomes more than that which is seen or which is present: it is no longer entirely a representation or an illustration of presence. Rather, architecture can be a re-presentation of this intervening apparatus called the diagram. (Eisenman, Written 89)

The analysis would begin from the understanding of the idea of ‘diagram’ based on the writings of Eisenman and extend the discussion into the present context of the research. He notes, as quoted above, ‘diagram’ is necessarily a “stratum of superposed traces” in which each layer of the stratum is reminiscent of a process of design. Generically, ‘diagram’ is graphic shorthand which attempts to uncover ‘latent structures’ of organization. He also remarks that though it is an ideogram, it is not necessarily an abstraction. It is neither a structure nor the abstraction of

the structure. What it explains relationships in an architectural object, it is not isomorphic with it. It is a representation of something in that it is not the thing itself (88-9).

It is this ‘representation’ and the difference in attitude, which this analysis will be looking into the works.

[Fig 2.7 a] This diagram by Theo Van Does berg, are ‘counter- constructions’ based on a private house project. These diagrams suggest the floating nature of the colored planes, which manifest the ‘anticubic’ nature of the spatial composition (discussed in 2.6Frontalism ). It necessarily elevates the idea of abstraction of Mondrian’s paintings to a more concrete comprehensible strategy for an architectural project. It provides an opportunity to explore and visualize one architectonic ‘element’ at single instant within in a domain of similar elements. This would be not possible in otherwise a conventional drawing. Fig (b) and (c) are ‘positive’ and (d) is ‘negative’ within the domain of ‘counter-constructions’.

The ‘counteraction’ give a unique opportunity to visualize the ‘container’ and the ‘contained’ simultaneously. This property of ‘simultaniety’ is again an expression of Cubism.

In the spatial exercises of De Stijl ideologies, ‘diagrams’ form a inclusive method of the abstraction of the primary elements to be engaged into an architectural space.

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Fig 2.7 b - Evolution of House II, Peter Eisenman, 1967.

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[Fig 2.7 b] Eisenman observes ‘diagrams’ can be of two types: analytical or explanatory and it forms a generative device. “But unlike traditional forms of representation, the diagram as a generator as a mediation between a palpable object, a real building, what can be called architecture’s interiority (88)”.The diagrams were not explanatory, but they became generators. The diagram suggested an alternate relationship between the subject/author and the work (Diagram Diaries, 168-9). Diagram as a tool, became a very important strategy in the architectural process. As Eisenman remarks: The diagram is a tactic within a critical strategy – it attempts to situate a theoretical object within the physical object. It is the relationship between interiority and the theoretical object that is the critical content of the work replacing functional, iconic, physical object of architecture( Eisenman, Diagram Diaries, 205)

The formal mechanism of the diagram, as Eisenman approaches it was also questioned. As Jeffrey Kipnis observes, in his article “Phenomenal Transparency”1. Being critical to this architectural process, referring to Colin Rowe’s methodology and Eisenman, he states: The technique was simple but effective sophistry: twist the fact that great architecture often has intricate formal properties into an argument that intricate formal properties constitute great architecture.

The role of the diagram as a ‘methodology’ emerged from the academis texts of Wittkower, Rowe and Eisenman.

[Fig 2.7 c] As Timothy Love discusses in his article, ”Kit-of-Parts Conceptualism”2 the role of diagrams in the academics of American Architecture, he argues that in addition to spatial elaboration, the nine-square grid problem also established the plan diagram as the conceptual underpinning of an architectural work.

Both Wittkower and Rowe had introduced a method of formal analysis the aim of which was the reduction of a work of architecture to a geometric schema typically represented in plan. With the nine-square grid, Hejduk had developed a design methodology in which the diagram could be a starting point for the kinds of spatial elaborations that Rowe and Slutzky championed.

1

Peter Eisenamn 1990-97,pg. 37. El Croquois.

2 Love, Timothy. “Kit-of-Parts Conceptualism: Abstracting Architecture in the American Academy “. Harvard Design Magazine, Fall 2003/Winter 2004, Number 19.

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Fig 2.7 d - Smith House, 1967, Diagrams

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To continue this pedagogical process of the nine square grid problem, he designed a series of houses which explored the variety of spatial relations within the constraints of the nine-square grid. Timothy also remarks Hejduk design of the “Texas Houses” is presented as variations of a single idealized diagram; as such, they bear a strong resemblance to Wittkower diagrams of Palladian Villas. In this particular diagram of House 8- Diamond Series, as explained by Michael Hays3:

Yet if the diamond is understood perceptually, as the plan diagram of an architectural space rather as a two dimensional graphic shape, than the most fundamental percept of the space of the diamond is another square now locked into a vertical plane. In other words, the diamond returns to the square in the event of its perception.

The nine-square grid forms a very important tool to exercise architectural space in Hejduks’ pedagogical exercises.

[Fig 2.7 d] Richard Meier uses ‘diagrams’ more as an illustration. The two dimensional drawings emphasis on how an individual functional element sits in context with other elements. They explain the basic concerns of the spatial relation. This clarity in the diagrams is evident in the legibility of the spatial organization in the architectural expression also.

[Fig 2.8 e] Corbusier drawings emphasis on the primary forms of architecture.

They talk about the solid-void relationship. It ‘explains the relationships in architecture’ in its most primary form. It neither informs the structure nor the abstraction of the structure, as Eisenman had remarked. But it implies the essence of the architectural form in the most absolute way.

This diagram expresses the concern of the architectural form. The three dimensional part of the sketch is articulated extrusion of the hatched two dimensional plan with the concern of the massvoid relationships. It is comprehensive in representation, as it contains two and three dimensional drawings accompanied with ‘text’. This diagrammatic trace gives a clear and comparative insight into the architectural process.

Thus diagrams form a very important tool to ‘order’ spatial 3 “The Wall as a event”. Published in Architecture and Urbanism.09:12,417, Feature 1: John Hejduk. Pg. 6

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Fig 2.7 e

Fig (1) (2) (3) (4)

- Sketch by Le Corbusier.

2.7 e’ - “Four Compositions”, 1929, Le Corbusier.

Villa La Roche, 1923 Villa Stein de Monzie, 1928 Villa Baizeau, 1927 Villa Savoye, 1929

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relations. The physicality of the tool provides the architectural process a methodology both to the author and investigator of the project. To the author, it controls and inclusive direction to the process of space making. It makes the author himself recognize a method or an image to contain both the physical and metaphysical concerns of the project and form a very important tool in the architectural process.

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[2.8] The opposition between the Universal and the Individual

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[2.8] The opposition between the Universal and the Individual This formal investigation will inquire the relation between the ‘Universal’ and the ‘Individual’. This phenomenon holds a similar objective in both the ideologies of De Stijl and New York Five Architects. The utopian temperament along with the notion of plasticism in both the ideologies urged them to develop a ‘universal’ system. This concept forms the primary concern of the First De Stijl Manifesto, 1918. The Manifesto begins with: There exists an old and new consciousness of the age.

The old is directed towards the individual.

The new is directed towards the universal.

The Struggle of the individual against the universal shows itself in the world war as well as in today’s art1

It is this period where the ideology of the cubism had also begin to emerge. Giedion remarks that what was decisive in the emergence of ideologies like ‘cubism’ is the invention of new approach, of a new spatial representation (437). The very notion of space-making had reached a new approach which is comprehensive of the spatial perception in arts (especially painitng). There was a struggle towards ‘universality’. The ‘First De Stijl Manifesto’ proclaimed this concern in a resolute manner.

This discussion of the opposition begins with Richard’s Padovan central argument of the thesis in the book: Towards Universality: Le Corbusier, Mies and De Stijl. His hypothesis: The universality aimed at by De Stijl artists like Van Doesberg and Mondrian resembled that of the universe itself: it was boundless.

Their paintings continued, in theory, beyond the limits of the canvas; their architecture sought to establish the wall as the boundary between the interior and exterior space. But each of Le Corbusier’s buildings was itself a self contained universe, held within the clear frame.

His hypothesis investigates the opposition among the universal and the individual, further intersected by a second opposition of the open and the closed. Padovan also remarks: “the striving for the universal and the general, as opposed to the individual and the particular” as the central theme of his book. Extending the validity of the statement, here the inquiry is to identify the difference in the attitude of the ‘universal aspirations’ of both the ideologies.

1

First

De Stijl

Manifesto , 1918

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So the enquiry would focus on methods/theories which inspired the universal/individual relationship to attain a vocabulary, i.e 1.

2.

De Stijl and Neo-Plasticism Purism and Le Corbusier.

1. De Stijl and Neo-Plasticism As Gideon defines: “Neo-Plasticism signifies the three dimensional volume reduced to the new element of plasticity, the ‘plane’.

Mondiran sacrifices every contact with illusionistic reproduction, going back to the fundamental elements of pure colour, of planes, their equipoise and interrelations (442)”. The ‘plane’ as the new element of plasticity, dictated and became a radical ‘method’ to exercise the formulation of spatial relation. Mondrian states in “Neo-Plasticism in Painting”; the most significant text in its domain of the style:

The truly modern artist consciously perceives the abstractness of the emotion of beauty: He consciously recognizes aesthetic emotion as cosmic, universal- This conscious recognition results in an abstract creation, directs him toward the purely universal.

That is why the new art cannot he manifested as (naturalistic) concrete representation, which—even where universal vision is present—always points more or less to the particular, or in any case conceals the universal within it.

The above quote links the notion of abstraction to the notion of the universal. The formation of this universal idiom creates a system in which the spatial relations can be exercised. Mondrian argues that that painting is the only medium of art, where ‘planarity’ can be expressed in its purest form and the plastic quality of the ‘plane’ has the least resistance to demonstrate ‘an exact plastic pure relationship’. In this respect he mentions architecture and sculpture to be the sister arts.

The next question would be how to identify this notion of ‘plane’ is handled in the architecture (i.e. in this case Schroder House).

As perceived in the paintings of Mondrian, the frame of the painting just forms the edge of the canvas, but not of the painting itself which establishes the ‘universal’ sense (Padovan i).

The similar concern is clearly visible in Schroder house also [Fig 2.8 a]. The plan signifies this relationship. The lower level plan confirms to the regular suburban villa as its surroundings,

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Fig 2.8 a - Schroder House - Upper level plan with partitions.

Fig 2.8 b - L’espirit Nouveau. The magazine which provided platform the writings of ‘Purism’.

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but the plan of the upper level is of unique dimension. The ‘wall’(expression of ‘planarity’ in this project) expresses two important notions, one static which separates the ‘street’ and the ‘house’ (external walls) and the other ‘movable’ divides the ‘house’ itself (internal walls). The ever changing configuration of the internal walls and thus the relation of the user to its external surface describe the struggle of the ‘individual’ against the ‘universal’.

The universal space is sensed through the inside and the outside by liberating the corner. The corner window is a very deliberate attempt to make the corner ‘disappear’. Rietveld shifted the I-beam by a foot from the corner. The ‘corner window’ implies the physical expression of the 4th point of the first manifesto.

The new consciousness is prepared to realise the internal life as well as external life.

2. Purism2 and Le Corbusier [Fig 2.8 b,b’,b’’] Le Corbusier and Amedee Ozenfant, writing of the degeneration of Cubism into fantasy, declared to return to a simplified,abstracted, functional art, which would have the clarity and the precision of machinery. The proponents of De Stijl and Constructivism were associated with this group.”Man is a geometric animal, animated by a geometric spirit” say Purism. The manifesto of Purism, 1920, proclaims on the work of art as: The work of art is an artificial object which permits the creator to place the spectator in the state he wishes; later we will study the means the creator has at his disposal to attain this result.

With regard to man, esthetic sensations are not all of the same degree of intensity or quality; we might say that there is a hierarchy.

The hierarchy denotes primary and secondary sensations in the perception of any art form.

The primary sensation is constant for every individual, it is universal, it can be differentiated by quantity, but it is constant in quality: there are some people who have thick skins. This is a capital point, a fixed point.

The secondary sensation is produced by the grafting of primary sensations. It is this primary sensation which informs the universal perception of things in the ideology of Purism. As quoted 2 The study and the quotes related to ‘Purism’ are based on the writings of Mary Ann Caws, ”Manifestos:a century of isms”. Chapter 16.

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Fig 2.8 b’ - Guitar and Bottles by Amédée Ozenfant,1920

Fig 2.8 b’’ - Painting by Le Corbusier, Nature morte à la pile d’assiettes et au livre, 1920

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in the manifesto the ‘universality’ in perception: Primary sensations constitute the bases of the plastic language; these are the fixed words of the plastic language; it is a fixed, formal, explicit, universal language determining subjective reactions of an individual order which permit the erection on these raw foundations of a sensitive work, rich in emotion-It does not seem necessary to expatiate at length on this elementary truth that anything of universal value is worth more than anything of merely individual value. It is the condemnation of “individualistic” art to the benefit of “universal” art.

It then becomes clear that to realize this proposed goal it is necessary right now to make an inventory of the plastic vocabulary and to purify it in order to create a transmittable language.

Corbusier search was for a ‘universal’ language and he also put forth the concept of ‘machine’ attribute to the house form.

He stated that house as a ‘machine’ to live in which has its references to the goals of Purism.

Architectural abstraction has this about it which is magnificently peculiar to itself, that while it is rooted in hard fact, it spiritualizes it. The naked fact is a medium for an idea only by reason of the order that is applied to it” Corbusier (Towards a New Architecture, 47).

The ‘Five Points of Architecture’ abstracts and proclaims the plastic vocabulary in architecture. In the context of technological revolution and modern science, Corbusier proposed these five principles to construct the ‘house of the machine age’. The ‘free plan’ and ‘free facade’ emerge from the technological revolution.

These elements have extended into the vocabulary of modern architecture, emerging as a universal image. Questioning to the spirit of his time, he responds “State schools (a new departure) have demolished local individuality. The universal fact is revealed to all, is within the reach of all (Raum plan, 149)”.

The ‘inventory’ of the plastic vocabulary has been a very primary concern of both the groups.

The plastic means must be the plane or the rectangular prism in primary colour (red, blue, yellow) and non-colour (white, black, grey). In architecture, empty space acts as non-colour, and volume acts as colour.

De Stijl, a group, established a ‘plastic vocabulary’, which could be exercised and composed based on the interpretation of the author/creator. The domain of the vocabulary had more freedom for expression which can be sensed in the design of spatial relations of the Schroder House. The author has a scope to express his interpretation across various arts like architecture, paintings, 125

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furniture design.

Whereas in the case of Corbusier’s vocabulary, the meaning of the elements seems to be stagnant, but each principle individually has gained higher level of interpretation in the progress of architecture.( like ‘free plan’ transferred into complex relation in the Tschumi’s Parc de la Villete project).

Thus the difference in the attitude towards the opposition to the universal and the individual can be detected by the notion of the plastic vocabulary formed by De Stijl as group and Corbusier as an individual.

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Epilogue An inquisition into the notion of term ‘Order’ in this research has provided an opportunity to unravel certain different insight, which is at core abstract in nature. The notion of Order is apprehended by the underlying thought system and structure of the human psyche.

It is an intellectual phase between the idea in the mind and the realization of the same.

It is this abstract ‘sense of Order’, the thesis is attempting to discuss and provide a structure to the discussion. One cannot contemplate Order, but the “expression is measurable in music or architecture by the means of composition or design” and it would be able to find difference in expression between one thing and the other, as Kahn remarks.

And knowledge is nothing until it comes to a kind of sense of order, a sense of the harmony of the systems. And this harmony of systems can, to the scientist, give a sense of law. And it puts the artist in an enthusiastic state of wanting to express.

Louis Kahn,”Law and rule in Architecture”

The built form or any creation is an interpretation of Order. The theoretic base of the thesis is an attempt to find ‘traces of Order’ by identifying the ‘similarities’ and ‘differences’1 between systems of thoughts. The thesis which began as an inquiry into the meaning of the term, metamorphosised into an inquiry as a ‘methodology’.

From Vitruvius to the present day, as discussed, the meaning of the term has been mutating consistently. But this mutation has an underlying structure to it. Order primarily suggests the overall harmony in the system. The method implied in the making of the system is based on the belief system of the principles. Kahn discusses about the notion of Form in relation to Design. He States that: “Form encompasses a harmony of systems, a sense of Order and that which characterizes one existence from one another. Form has no shape or dimension”.

Wittkower argument was to identify relation between architecture and humanism during renaissance. The architects of that period believed in a certain system, whose ‘objectivity’ can be justified, with the aid of mathematics and science. It is this ‘objective’ reasoning to the system which kept mutating from the ‘particular’ sense of the classical to the ‘general’ sense of the present. The 1

David Bohm’s concept of the ‘intellect’

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attitude of this ‘objectivity’ is what creates the differences in the sense of Order of a system. In this process of mutation ‘traces’ can be identified on which the ideologies are formed.

The ‘traces of order’ are further elaborated as ‘formal constructs’ which forms the method of the thesis. These formal constructs are intended as a ring of marker posts, hidden somewhere between them is the implicit notion of ‘Order’.

The primary aim of Modern Architecture demanded new forms of understanding as the closed and the secure (known) environments of the past had disintegrated (Norberg-Schulz, Modern 9). Sant’Elia offered a key to the discussion of the newness of the modern world, saying that it characterized “everything that was not there before”. Science had reached the point at which everything in principle, become subject to ultimate dissolution within the change of time. Einstein’s theories challenged every underlying principle which existed before his time in science, thus changing the overall order of the society radically (Bohm).

The idealistic principle of Order, however, with its over-emphasis on the ideal and the formal, satisfies neither our interest in truth and simplicity nor our practical sense.

So we shall emphasize the organic principle of order that makes the parts meaningful and measurable while determining their relationship to the whole.

And on this we shall have to make a decision.

The long path from material through purpose to creative work has only single goal: to create order out of the godforsaken confusion of our time.

But we want an order that give to each thing its proper place, and we want to give each thing what is suitable to nature.

Mies van der Rohe2

This quote from Mies, gives a form to the central argument of the thesis. What is the underlying ‘sense of Order’ in an architectural process and how it can be discussed?

In the academic context of De Stijl and New York Five architects, through their manifestations ,pronounced beliefs and architectural projects a certain domain is available in which the structure of Order can be investigated and ‘traces of Order’ can be identified.

2

Inaugural address on his appointment to the Armour Institute(later Illinois

Institute of Technology) in 1938. (As qtd. in Forty 245)

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The formal relationships adopted as a means to investigate the notion of Order is the method of the research. It is this dialogue which forms the crucial part of the research. But during the discussion, there are instances where the ‘sense of Order’ becomes explicit, especially in the case of New York Five. For example: The expression of the staircase emerges as a ‘object’ in the landscape in Smith Hose more than an ‘object’ in the domain of the boundary like in Villa Monzie.

The implicit nature of the notion of ‘Order’ explicates at these instances and these observations imply the lack of order in spacemaking in the context of intellectual atmosphere the art of architecture was exercised. The visual idioms of the New York Five Architects trying to replicate Corbusier has been analysed to find difference in space making and visual elements. In the case of De Stijl, the notion of Order is higher than the physical form. It is a totality of different domains including painting, furniture design, interior design and other fields/domains.

The ‘traces of Order’ which are cohesive in the research which inform the structure of ‘sense of Order’ are discussed below: - The plastic nature of space-making, where the movement of the user is determined by the author of the project. This factor is an increased dimensionality of Modern Architecture. The topology of the spaces is more complex in nature due to this attribute compared to classical architecture.

- The ‘planarity’ of the enclosure redefined the articulation of spatial relations. The wall was abstracts to a place, which altered the basics of space-making.

- The notion of colour in both the systems of thinking.

The meaning of the whiteness in the white walls in the architecture of Corbusier and New York Five and the color-ness of the primary colors in the spatial relations of De Stijl signifies the primary concerns of abstraction in architecture and the notion of ‘remeberabiltiy’ associated with the planes.

The irreproducibility of De Stijl and imitation of Corbusier’s architecture in to visual idioms explicate the underlying order in space-making.

This concluding notes would like to engage two question asked by

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Aldo Van Eyck3, which the argument of the thesis has partially addressed to: What is a zeitigist4; and, if this is a critical fiction, may the architect act contrawise to its alleged dictates?

How permissible is to make the use of the precedent; and therefore how legitimate is the argument that the repletion of form is a destruction of authenticity?

The thesis was an attempt to investigate the relationship, in the overall construct of ideas, giving a perspective into the underlying ‘sense of order’ implicit in both the systems of thinking. The investigation through the formal constructs gives an insight into the architectural processes, concerning to reveal certain ‘explicit’ aspects of the notion of ‘Order’ and thus trying to analyze the application of terms in architecture and try to understand different levels of meaning of the term ‘Order’ and as a methodology also.

3

“Five Architects: Introduction, Colin Rowe. Pg 7

4 Zeitigist - is the german term for the ‘spirit of the times’, and is a word widely used in philosophy, literary and art criticism to describe the assemblage of social, political, aesthetic and cultural concerns that characterize a certain artistic period. (pg. 51, Peter Eisenman, El Croquois)

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Works Cited / Referenced.

Alexander, Christopher. The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of the Building and The Nature of the Universe. Berkeley California: The Center for Environmental Structure, 2002.

Bohm, David. Wholeness and the Implicate order. London: Routledge, 1980 Bohm, David, and Peat,F.David . Science, Order and Creativity. 2nd ed.

London: Routledge, 2000 Botton, Alain de. The Architecture of Happiness. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2006 Corbusier, Le. Trans, by Etchells,Frederick. The City of Tomorrow and its Planning. Architectural Press: London,1971.ed. First Published: 1924 Corbusier, Le. Towards a New Architecture. Architectural Press: London, 1981.

Ching, D.K. Architecture: Form, Space and Order. New Jersey: John Wiley, 2007 Colquohon, Alan. Modern Architecture. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002 Conrads, ulrich Corbusier, Le. Towards a New Architecutre. Trans by: Freidreick Etchells.

Oxford: Architectural Press, 1989. First published: Vers une Architecture

by Editions Cres 1923.

Eisenman, Peter. Written in to the Void: 1990-2004. New Haven: Yale University : 2007.

Eisenman, Peter. Diagram Diaries.

---, Peter Eisenman:1990-1997. El Croquis(83): 1997 Evers, Bernd and Christof Thoenes . comp. Architectural Theory : From the Renaissance to the Present. Koln: Taschen, 2003 Five Architects: Eisenman,Graves,Gwathmey,Hejduk,Meier. New York: Oxford UP, 1975 Frampton, Kenneth. Modern Architecture: A Critical History. 4th ed. London: Thames and Hudson, 2007 Frampton, Kenneth. Le Corbusier. London: Thames and Hudson, 2001.

Forty, Adrian. Words and Buildings: A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture.

United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson, 2000.

Hays, Michael.K ed. Architecture Theory since 1968.

Press, 1998.

London : The MIT

Gombrich, E.H. The Sense of Order: A Study in the Psychology of Decorative Art. Oxford: Phadion, 1979 Giedion, Sigfried. Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition. HHavard University, Cambridge: 1967. Fifth Ed. First Published: 1940.

Kahn, Louis. The Essential Texts. Ed. Robert Twombly. New York: W.W.Norton, 2003 Lobell, John. Between Silence and Light : Spirit in the Architecture of Loui I. Kahn. Boston: Shambala, 1979. 2008 edition.

Mary Ann Caws,ed. Manifeatos: a century of isms. Lincoln: University of Nebraska.

Norberg-Schulz, Christian. Architecture: Presence, Language, Place. Milan: Skira, 2000 Norberg-Schulz, Christian. Principles of Modern Architecture. United Kingdom: Andreas Papadakis, 2000 Overy, Paul. De Stijl. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991 Padovan, Richard .Towards Universality: Le Corbusier, Mies and De Stijl.

New York: Routledge, 2002 Padovan, Richard .Proportion: Science, Philosophy and Architecture. London: Spon Press, 1999 Risselada, Max. Ed. Raumplan versus Plan Libre: Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier, 1919-1930. New York: Rizzoli, 1988 Rowe, Colin. The Mathematics of Ideal Villa and Other Essays. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1976 Ruskin, John. The Seven Lamps of Architecture. New York: Dover, 1989.

Original publication, 1880.

Summerson, John. The Classical Language of Architecture. London: Thames and Hudson,1980. First published: 1963 Tomassoni, Italo. Mondrian. (Twentieth Century Masters). London: Hamlyn House, 1970.

Tschumi, Bernard. Architecture and Disjunction. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1994 Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture. Trans. Morris Hick Morgan. New York: Dover, 1960

Venturi, Robert. Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1966 Wittkower, Rudolph. Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism.

London: Alec Tiranti, 1962. First published: 1949

UNPUBLISHED THESIS Prakash, Vikramadithya. “The East-West Opposition in Chandigarh’s Corbusier: Architecture as cultural text”. Graduate school of Cornell University, 1989.

Shah, Madir. “From Literal to Virtual: A Study of the Work of Ando, Mies and Kahn “. School of Architecture, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, 1993 Shetty, Rajmohan. “Inquiry into the aspect of rationale in architecture, substantiated with an analysis of the works of Alvar-Aalto”.School of Architecture, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, 1980

ARTICLES Shah,Snehal. Unpublished article on “Five Orders”, written as a submission to the Architectural Association,London.

Appendix 01 First De Stijl Manifesto, 1918 1. There exists an old and new consciousness of the age.

The old is directed towards the individual.

The new is directed towards the universal.

The Struggle of the individual against the universal shows itself in the world war as well as in today’s art 2. The war is destroying the old world with its contents: individual domination in every state.

3. The new war has brought forward what the new consciousness of time contains: a balance between the universal and the individual.

4. The new consciousness is prepared to realise the internal life as well as the external life.

5. Tradition, dogmas and the domination of the individual are opposed to this realisation.

6. The founders of the new plastic art therefore call upon all, who believe in the reformation of art and culture, to annihilate these obstacles of development, as they have annihilated in the new plastic art ( by abolishing natural form ), which expresses the clear expression of art, the utmost consequence of all art notions.

7. The artists of today have been driven the whole world over by the same consciousness and therefore taken part from an intellectual point of view in this war against the domination of the individual despotism.

They therefore sympathise with all who work for the formation of an international unity in Life, Art, Culture, either intellectually or materially.

8. The monthly editions of the “The Style”, founded for that purpose, try to attain the new wisdom of life in an exact manner.

9. Co operation is possible by: I. Sending the entire approval, name, address and profession to the editor of the “The Style” II. Sending critical, philosophical, architectural, scientific , literary , musical articles reproductions III. Translating articles in different languages or distributing thoughts published in “The Style” Signatures of present collaborators: THEO VAN DOESBURG, Painter.

ROBT. VAN’T HOFF, Architect.

VILMOS HUSZAR, Painter.

ANTONY KOK, Poet.

PIET MONDRIAN, Painter. G. VONTONGERLOO, Sculptor. JAN WILS, Architect.

Appendix 02 Towards a Plastic architecture, 1924. ( Theo van Doesburg ) Originally published in De Stijl, XII, 6/7, Rotterdam 1924.

1. Form. Elimination of all concept of form in the sense of a fixed type is essential to the healthy development of architecture and art as a whole.

Instead of using earlier styles as models and imitating them, the problem of architecture must be posed entirely afresh.

2. The new architecture is elemental; that is to say, it develops out of the elements of building in the widest sense. These elements - such as function, mass, surface, time, space, light, colour, material, etc. are plastic.

3. The new architecture is economic; that is to say, it employs its elemental means as effectively and thriftily as possible and squanders neither these means nor the material. these means nor the material.

4. The new architecture is functional; that is to say, it develops out of the exact determination of the practical demands, which it contains within clear outlines.

5. The new architecture is formless and yet exactly defined; that is to (such as confectioners use) in which it produces the functional surfaces arising out of practical, living demands.

In contradistinction to all earlier styles the new architectural methods know The functional space is strictly divided into rectangular surfaces having no individuality of their own. Although each one is fixed on the basis of the others, they may be visualized as extending infinitely. Thus they form a coordinated system in which all points correspond to the same number of points in the universe. It follows from this that the surfaces have a direct connexion to infinite space.

6. The new architecture has rendered the concept monumental independent of large and small (since the word ' monumental ' has become hackneyed it is replaced by the word 'plastic'). It has shown that everything exists on the basis of interrelationships.

7. The new architecture possesses no single passive factor. It has overcome the opening (in the wall). With its openness the window plays an active role in opposition to the closedness of the wall surface. Nowhere does an opening or a gap occupy the foreground; everything is strictly determined by contrast. Compare the various counter constructions in which the elements that architecture consists of surface, line, and mass are placed without constraint in a three-dimensional relationship.

8. The ground-plan. The new architecture has opened the walls and so done away with the separation of inside and outside. The walls themselves no longer support; they merely provide supporting points. The result is a new, open ground-plan entirely different from the classical one, since inside and outside now pass over into one another.

9. The new architecture is open. The whole structure consists of a space that is divided in accordance with the various functional demands. This division is carried out by means of dividing surfaces (in the interior) or protective surfaces (externally). The former, which separate the various functional spaces, may be movable; that is to say, the dividing surfaces (formerly the interior walls) may be replaced by movable intermediate surfaces or panels (the same method may be employed for doors). In architecture's next phase of development the ground-plan must disappear completely. The two-dimensional spatial composition fixed in a ground-plan will be replaced by an exact constructional calculation - a calculation by means of which the supporting capacity is restricted to the simplest but strongest supporting points. For this purpose Euclidean mathematics will be of no further use - but with the aid of calculation that is non-Euclidean and takes into account the four dimensions everything will be very easy.

10. Space and time. The new architecture takes account not only of space but also of the magnitude time. Through the unity of space and time the architectural exterior will acquire a new and completely plastic aspect.

(Four dimensional space-time aspects.)

11. The new architecture is anti-cubic; that is to say, it does not attempt to fit all the functional space cells together into a closed cube, but projects functional space- cells (as well as overhanging surfaces, balconies, etc.) centrifugally from the centre of the cube outwards. Thus height, breadth, and depth plus time gain an entirely new plastic expression. In this way architecture achieves a more or less floating aspect (in so far as this is possible from the constructional standpoint this is a problem for the engineer!) which operates, as it were, in opposition to natural gravity.

12. Symmetry and repetition. The new architecture has eliminated both monotonous repetition and the stiff quality of two halves - the mirror image, symmetry. There is no repetition in time, no street front, no standardization.

A block of how is just as much a whole as the individual house. The laws that apply to the individual house also apply to the block of houses and to the city. In place of symmetry the new architecture offers a balanced relationship of unequal parts; that is to say, of parts that differ from each other by virtue of their functional characteristics as regards position, size, proportion and situation. The equality of these parts rests upon the balance of their dissimilarity, not upon their similarity.

Furthermore, the new architecture has rendered front, back, right, left, top, and bottom, factors of equal value.

13. In contrast to frontalism, which had its origin in a rigid, static way of life, the new architecture offers the plastic richness of an all- sided development in space and time.

14. Colour . The new architecture has done away with painting as a separate and imaginary expression of harmony, secondarily as representation, primarily as coloured surface.

The new architecture permits colour organically as a direct means of expressing its relationships within space and time. Without colour these relationships are not real, but invisible. The balance of organic relationships acquires visible reality only by means of colour. The modern painter's task consists in creating with the aid of colour a harmonious whole in the new four dimensional realm of space- time - not a surface in two dimensions. In a further phase of development colour may also be replaced by a denaturalized material possessing its own specific colour (a problem for the chemist - but only if practical needs demand this material.

15. The new architecture is anti-decorative. Colour (and this is something the colour-shy must try to grasp) is not a decorative part of architecture, but its organic medium of expression.

16. Architecture as a synthesis of Neo- Plasticism. Building is a part of the new architecture which, by combining together all the arts in their elemental manifestation, discloses their true nature.

A prerequisite is the ability to think in four dimensions - that is to say: the architects of Plasticism, among whom I also number the painters, must construct within the new realm of space and time.

Since the new architecture permits no images (such as paintings or sculptures as separate elements) its purpose of creating a harmonious whole with all essential means is evident from the outset. In this way, every architectural element contributes to the attainment on a practical and logical basis of a maximum of plastic expression, without any disregard of the practical demands.

Appendix 03 Order is.

Design is from-making in order.

Form emerges out of a system of construction.

Growth is a construction.

In order is creative force.

In design is the means – where with what when with how much The nature of space reflects what it wants to be Is the auditorium a Stradivarius or an ear Is the auditorium a creative instrument keyed to Bach or Bartok played by the conductor or is it a convention hall In the nature of space is the spirit and the will to exist a certain way Design must closely follow that will therefore a stripe-painted horse is not a zebra before a railroad station is a building it wants to be a street it grows out of the needs of street out of order of movement A meeting of contours englazed Through the nature – why Through the order – what Through design – how A form emerges from the structural elements inherent in the form.

A dome is not conceived when questions arise how to build it.

Nervi grows an arch Fuller grows a dome Mozart’s compositions are designs They are exercises of order – intuitive Design encourages more designs Design derive their imagery from order Imagery is the memory – the form Style is an adopted order The same order created the elephant and created man They are different designs Begun from different aspirations Shaped from different circumstances

Order does not imply beauty The same order created the dwarf and Adonis.

Design is not making beauty Beauty emerges from selection

affinities integration love Art is a form-making life in order – psychic Order is intangible It a level of creative consciousness Forever becoming in higher level The higher the order the more diversity in design Order supports integration From what the space wants to be the unfamiliar may be related to the architect.

From Order he will derive the creative force and power of self criticism to give form to the unfamiliar.

Beauty will evolve.

Appendix 04 The Plastic Means PlET MONDRIAN 1927 1.

The plastic means must be the plane or the rectangular prism in primary colour (red, blue, yellow) and non-colour (white, black, grey). In architecture, empty space acts as non-colour, and volume acts as colour.

2. The equivalence of the plastic means is necessary. Although differing in dimension and colour, they must nevertheless have the same value.

Equilibrium generally requires a large area of non colour and a smaller area of colour or volume.

3.

The duality of opposition in the plastic means is equally required in the composition.

4. Constant equilibrium is achieved through the relationship of position and is expressed by the straight line (the limit of the plastic means) in its principal opposition.

5.

Equilibrium neutralizes and annihilates the plastic means and is achieved through the relationships of proportion in which they are placed and which creates the living rhythm.

Hence are five neo plastic laws which determine the pure plastic means and their use.

Appendix 05 Towards a New World Plasticism HANS RICHTER 1927 A new world plasticism has now begun.

The capitalists are deceivers, but the socialists are equally deceivers. The former want to possess, so also do the latter. The former want to swallow up much money, many people and much rump steak, but the latter wish to swallow up the former. Which is worse? Will they be successful?

We are completely unconcerned.

We know only this one thing: only the bearers of the (new) spirit are upright, they want only to give. Disinterestedly. They are emerging from among all people, in every land. They are free of deceitful phrases: they do not address each other as "brother," "master" or "Comrade." A spiritual language is again being spoken and in this language they understand one another.

The bearers of the new spirit of the age do not form a sect, church or school.

In the old world spiritual concentration (Christ) and material concentration (capitalism) were the possession, the axis around which the whole nation developed. Now the spirit has been dispersed. In spite of that, the bearers of the spirit are joined together. Internally.

There is no longer any help for Europe. Concentration and possession, spiritual and material individualism were the foundations of the old Europe. It imprisoned itself in them. It can no longer escape from them. It is going to ruin. We look on calmly. Even if we were able to do so, we should not wish to help. We do not wish to prolong this old prostitute's life.

Already a new Europe has begun in us. The ludicrous socialist -1-2-3 Internationals were only external; they consisted only of words. The international of the spirit is internal, unexpressed. It does not consist of words, but of creative deeds and internal force. Spiritual force. With this, a new world order is being formed.

We do not call to the nations "Unite" or "Join with us." We do not proclaim anything to the nations. We know that those who join as belong from the beginning to the new spirit. With them alone does the spiritual body of the new world permit itself to be formed. Work!

Appendix 06 Neo Plasticism in Painting PlET MONDRIAN 1917-1918 1 INTRODUCTION The Life of modern cultured man is gradually turning away from the natural: it is becoming more and more abstract. As the natural (the external) becomes more and more "automatic," we see life's interest centering more and more around the inward. The life of truly modern man is directed neither toward the material for its own sake, nor toward the predominantly emotional: it is rather the autonomous life of the human spirit becoming conscious. Modem man—although a unity of body, soul and mind—shows a changed consciousness: all expressions of life assume a different appearance a more determinately abstract appearance.

Art too, as the product of a new duality in man, is now expressed as the product of cultivated outwardness and of a deeper, more conscious inwardness. As pure creation of the human mind, art is expressed as pure aesthetic creation, manifested in abstract form.

The truly modern artist consciously perceives the abstractness of the emotion of beauty: HE consciously recognizes aesthetic emotion as cosmic, universal- This conscious recognition results in an abstract creation, directs him toward the purely universal.

That is why the new art cannot he manifested as (naturalistic) concrete representation, which—even where universal vision is present—always points more or less to the particular, or in any case conceals the universal within it.

The new plastic cannot be cloaked by what is characteristic of the particular, natural form and colour, but must be expressed by the abstraction of form and colour—by means of the straight Line and determinate primary colour.

These universal plastic means were discovered in modern painting by the process of consistent abstraction of form and colour: once these were discovered there emerged, almost of its own accord an exact plastic of pure relationship, the essential of all emotion of plastic beauty.

Thus the new art is the determinate plastic expression of aesthetic relationships.

The contemporary artist constructs the new plastic expression in painting as a consequence of all previous creation — in painting, precisely because it is least restricted. The growing profundity of the whole of modern life can be purely reflected in painting. In painting—in pictorial not decorative painting —naturalistic expression and naturalistic means became more inward, are intensified into the abstract.

Decorative art did no more than to generalize natural form and colour. Thus the feeling for the aesthetic expression of relationship was brought TO clarity in and by pictorial painting. In painting—which incorporates existing decorative art, or rather, becomes "true" decorative art – the free construction of pure relationships can nevertheless remain somewhat what limited: for although the essence of all art is one- and the feeling for aesthetic relationships increasingly seeks more determinate

expression in all the arts— not every art can express determinate relationships with equal consistency.

Although the content of all art is one, the possibilities of plastic expression are different for each art. These possibilities must be discovered by each and remain limited by its bounds.

Therefore the possibilities of one art cannot be viewed from those of another, but must be considered independently, and only in relation to the art concerned. Every art has its own emphasis, its particular expression: this another, but must be considered independently, and only in relation to the art concerned. Every art has its own emphasis, its particular expression: this justifies the existence of the various arts. We can now define the emphasis of the art of painting as the most consistent expression of pure relationships. For it is painting's unique privilege to express relationships freely in other words, its means of expression (when consistently intensified) allow extreme opposites to be expressed as the pure relationships of position— without resulting in forms, or even in the appearance of closed forms (as in architecture).

In painting, the duality of relationships can be shown in juxtaposition (on one plane X which is impossible in architecture or sculpture. Thus painting is the most purely “plastic." The free plastic expression of position is unique to painting. The sister arts, sculpture and architecture, are less free in this respect The other arts are even less free in transforming their plastic means; music is always tied to sound, however much sound may be tensed into "tone"; dramatic art employs natural form as well as sound, and necessarily the word; literary art is expressed through the word, which strongly stresses the particular.

Painting is capable of consistent intensification and interiorization of its plastic means without overstepping their limits. Neoplastic painting remains pure painting: the plastic means remain form and colour— interiorized to the extreme; straight line and plane colour remain the pure pictorial means.

With the advancing culture of the spirit, all the arts, despite their different expressions, become more and more the plastic creation of equilibrated, determinate relationship: for equilibrated relationship most purely expresses the universality, the harmony, the inherent unity of the spirit.

Through equilibrated relationship, unity, harmony, universality are plastically expressed amid separateness, multiplicity, individuality—the natural. In the natural, however, unity is manifested only in a veiled way.

Although inexactly expressed in the natural, all appearance can nevertheless be reduced to this manifestation [of unity]. Therefore the exact plastic expression of unity can be created, must be created, because it is not directly apparent in visible reality.

Whereas in nature equilibrated relationship is expressed by position, dimension and value of natural form and colour, in the "abstract" it is expressed through position, dimension and value of the straight line and rectangular (colour) plane.

In nature, we perceive that all relationship is governed by one relationship above all others: that of extreme opposites.

The abstract plastic of relationship expresses this basic relationship dedeterminately—by duality of posit ion, the perpendicular This relationship of position is the most equilibrated because it expresses the relationship

of extreme opposition in complete harmony and includes all other relationships. If we see these two extremes as manifestations of the inward and the outward, we find that in Neoplastic the bond between spirit and life is unbroken—we see Neoplastic not as denying the full life, but as the reconciliation of the matter-mind duality.

If through contemplation we recognize that the existence of all things is aesthetically determined for us by equilibrated relationships, then the idea of this manifestation of unity already had its seed in our consciousness: unity.

When man's consciousness grows from vagueness to determination his understanding of unity will become more and more determinate- The advanced consciousness of an age that has become determinate (the consciousness to which the time has arrived—the spirit of the age) must necessarily express itself determinate^. Thus art must necessarily express itself determinately, If unity is seen "determinately," if attention is focused purely on the universal, then particularity, individuality will disappear from the expression as pain ting as shown. Only when the individual no longer stands in the way can universality be purely manifested. Only then can universal consciousness (intuition)—wellspring of all the arts—express itself directly; a purer art arises. However, it does not arise before its time.

The consciousness of an age determines the art expression: the art expression reflects the age's awareness. Only that art is truly alive which gives expression to the contemporary—the future—consciousness.

If we see man's consciousness—in time- growing towards determination, if we see it—in lime—developing from individual to universal, then logically the new art can never return to form—or 10 natural colour. Then, logically, the consistent growth and development of abstract plastic must progress to its culmination.

While one-sided development, lack of aesthetic culture, or tradition may oppose it temporarily—an abstract, a truly new plastic is necessary for the new man.

Only when the new consciousness becomes more general will the new plastic become a universal need; only then will all factors be present for its culmination.

Page no 429 not available – Missing Text Modern man—although a unity of body, mind, and soul—exhibits a changed consciousness: every expression of his life has today a different aspect, that is, an aspect more positively abstract.

It is the same with art. Art will become the product of another duality in man: the product of a cultivated externality and of inwardness deepened and more conscious. As a pure representation of the human mind, art will express itself in an aesthetically purified, that is to say, abstract form.

The truly modern artist is aware of abstraction in an emotion of beauty; he is conscious of the fact that the emotion of beauty is cosmic, universal. This conscious recognition has for its corollary an abstract plasticism, for man adheres only to what is universal.

The new plastic idea cannot, therefore, take the form of a natural or concrete representation, although the latter does always indicate the

universal to a degree, or at least conceals it within. This new plastic idea will ignore the particulars of appearance, that is to say, natural form and color. On the contrary, it should find its expression in the abstraction of form and color, that is to say, in the straight line and the clearly defined primary color.

These universal means of expression were discovered in modem painting by a logical and gradual progress toward ever more abstract form and color.

Once the solution was discovered, there followed the exact representation of relations alone, that is to say, of the essential and fundamental element in any plastic emotion of the beautiful.

The new plastic idea thus correctly represents actual aesthetic relationships. To the modem artist, it is a natural consequence of all the plastic ideas of the past. This is particularly true of painting, which is the art least bound to contingencies. The picture can be a pure reflection of life in its deepest essence.

However, new plasticism is pure painting: the means of expression still are form and color, though these are completely Interiorized; the straight line and flat color remain purely pictorial means of expression.

Although each art uses its own means of expression, all of them as a result of the progressive cultivation of the mind, tend to represent balanced relations with ever greater exactness. The balanced relation is the purest representation of universality, of the harmony and unity which are inherent characteristics of the mind.

If, then, we focus our attention on the balanced relation, we shall be able to see unity in natural things. However, there it appears under a veil. But even though we never find unity expressed exactly, we can unify every representation, in other words, the exact representation of unity can be expressed; it must be expressed, for it is not visible in concrete reality.

Appendix 07

Plans and Images of the following houses: Smith House Bernstein house Hanselmann House House II Villa Stein de Monzie Schroder House

Smith House Built in : 1965 Architect: Richard Meier

Level 01

Level 02 Level 02

Section

Level 03

Level 03 Level 03 Section

Bernstein House Built in : 1968 Architect: John Hejduk

Level 02

Level 03

projection d

Level 04

Hanselmann House Built in : 1967 Architect: Michael Graves

Level 01

Level 02

Section Level 03

South Elevation N

Section

House II Built in :1969 Architect: Peter Eisenmen

Level 01

Section

Level 02

East Elevation

West Elevation

Level 03 N

Villa Stein De Monzie Built in : 1928 Architect: Le Corbusier

Level 01

Level 03

Section

N

Level 02

Level 04

Section

Schroder House Built in : 1924-5 Architect: Gerrit Rietveld

Level 01

Level 02

N

List of Illustrations

Chapter 1: 1.1 a

- Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture. Trans. Morris Hick

Morgan. New York: Dover, 1960

1.1

b - Serlio ( Ten Books of Architecture ) Taken from: Wittkower, Rudolph. Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism. London: Alec Tiranti, 1962. First published: 1949

1.3 a - http://www.tschumi.com/ 1.3 b – http://www.oma.eu/ 1.3 c,d - http://archigram.westminster.ac.uk/

Chapter 2: 2.0 a http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/FLWrightjp2&CISOPTR=134&REC=4 2.0 b http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/dada/de_stijl/001/001/pages/000cover.htm 2.0 b’http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/dada/de_stijl/001/004/pages/039.htm 2.0 c -http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/mondrian/ryb.jpg.html 2.0 c’-http://rulesofattraction.net/the-rietveld-chair-a-study-incolor.html 2.0 d,e,f,h,h’,i, 2.1 b - Overy, Paul. De Stijl. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991

2.0 g- http://www.e-c-o-le.com/site_media/reference_images/vandoesburg/vandoesburg1253971828.jpg 2.0 g’ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Cin%C3%A9dancing_Strasbourg_-_Theo_van_Doesburg060611_006.jpg 2.1 d - http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/ 2.1 e - Rowe, Colin. The Mathematics of Ideal Villa and Other Essays.

Cambridge: MIT Press, 1976 2.1 f,b’ – Le Corbusier’s Archive (http://www.fondationlecorbusier.fr/)

2.1 i - www.richardmeier.com 2.5 a http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/mondrian/mondrian_blue_plane.jpg. html 2.5 b http://contemporarypractice.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/villasavoye.jpg 2.5 c - http://www.santamonicapropertyblog.com/wpcontent/uploads/2008/10/robie-house-chicago-by-frank-lloyd-wright19091.jpg 2.6 c http://buildlivegreen.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/savoyeplan.jpg 2.7 a - Padovan, Richard .Towards Universality: Le Corbusier, Mies and De Stijl. New York: Routledge, 2002

2.7 e,e’ - Frampton, Kenneth. Le Corbusier. London: Thames and Hudson, 2001.

2.8 b http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/sr/0/02/0810967278.01.LZZZZZZZ .jpg 2.8 b’ - http://www.guitarrabrava.com/gallery/imgs/pic0108.jpg 2.8 b’’http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FZMXm2N7uG8/SSgt0qWuZXI/AAAAAAAABF8/4GHVgS 4bSKo/s400/Corbu-purist+painting.jpg

Note : Unless otherwise mentioned all the drawings and images are taken from (including Appendix 07) : Five Architects: Eisenman,Graves,Gwathmey,Hejduk,Meier. New York: Oxford UP, 1975