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Assessment Task 3: Critical Essay The Universal Validity of modern form: Peter Eisenman's theory on Modernism History of Western 20th C. Architecture ARCH1026 Tianchang Huang, s3629040 Tutor: Belinda Grant

17/06/2022

Chosen Architectural Questions: Choose an architectural theorist/ or writer whose writing is relevant to this course and critically discuss an aspect of their writings that addresses relevant architectural questions or problematics that were an issue of debate in the period covered by the course.

Assessment Task 3: Critical Essay

Abstract:

1 Book: The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture Photographed by T Huang 17/06/2022

History of Western 20th C. Architecture ARCH1026 Tianchang Huang, s3629040 Tutor: Belinda Grant Peter Eisenman's publications have covered a wide range of issues, including comparative formal comparative, the emancipation and autonomy of the field, and architectural histories. One of his primary dissertations, "The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture", is divided into two sections.

The first section establishes a theoretical framework based primarily on textual exposition. It is divided into three sections: "Form to Architecture," "Properties of General Architectural Forms," and "Development of Form Systems." The second section formally studies eight instances from four Masters of Modern Architecture by mixing text and graphics. The theoretical writing part (first part) of this essay will focus on the book's first section.

The essay is organized into four divisions. Starting by briefing Eisenman's reflective proposals on modernism architecture by elaborating three mini theories to explain with pure text: 'Modernism is a forward-looking theory of history that rejects idealistic tendencies.'

Secondly, by mainly using diagrams, the content will select examples of Eisenman's works to explore what properties would be considered 'modern': What common properties (style, period, ideology, or other?) make a series of buildings fall into the same category under the name "modern"?

3 Book: Five Architects- House I photos and diagrams

2 Book: Five Architects- House II photos

Photographed by T Huang 17/06/2022

Photographed by T Huang 17/06/2022

Next, through built projects House VI of Eisenman's, the diagramed text discusses the inborn properties of the specific concept of "modern" that make it a paradigm for constructing "general" architectural principles.

Last but not least, the argument will be elevated to discuss conditions that cause questioning about the very concept of "modern" in essence at the end of the essay.

Response: 1. Modernism Theory

Assessment Task 3: Critical Essay

History of Western 20th C. Architecture ARCH1026 Tianchang Huang, s3629040 Tutor: Belinda Grant

The phrase and practice of analysis have a lengthy history, mixing broad tendencies such as art historical and postmodern structural. By discussing the architectural modernism context, Eisenman expressed three main theories to elaborate on his perspective.

The first one is the definition of Modernism; it is a psychological condition that depicts the shift in someone's attitude towards physical surroundings and objects that occurred in the nineteenth century, encompassing aesthetic, cultural, and social aspects. It might be construed as a criticism. 1 Meanwhile, in the art historical context, Modernism has marked a significant transition; objecthood and symbol might be labelled 'modernist' In each instance, this state is defined by the object's inclination to self-refer.

Thus, the move from narrative to non-narrative prose must represent a change in the idea of human and object. 2 Eisenman believes Modernism registers some parts of reality only via conceptual framing as an aesthetic reaction to a particular concept of modernity. As a result, Eisenman's first theory may be interpreted as Modernism is under the category of history.

Consequently, the second theory refers to his journal 'The End of the Classical'; Eisenman describes classical thinking as a continuous form of mind that includes representation, reason, and history; this knowledge era consists of the early twentieth century. 3 He criticized history's teleological presupposition, recognizing the error of the modernist grand narrative, pointing out that the moderns were "ideologically imprisoned in the illusion of eternity of their own time." 4 The classical didn't present itself as a traditional, long-established form; it's the spirit of its generation. Both classicism and Modernism are objective in human society and do not permanently hold 'self-evident values' . Modernism needs an 'open-ended' 5 historical framework to undermine the moderns' self-evident' permanence. Hence it leads to the second theory: Modernism is a forward-looking theory.

Building on categorized and modified accounts, the third theory evolves from debating functionalism under the frame of architecture. Does the form have to follow a function? 6 The conceptual split between those who dispute the legitimacy of "formalist" architecture and those who accept the form as a fundamental part of architectural creation need not correspond to an ideological stalemate.

Functional aims only replaced the traditional compositional criteria as the preliminary step for architectural design, as Eisenman critiques functionalism based on scientific and technological idealism. 7 The assumed "self-evident" values of idealistic functionalism and teleological historicism act similarly; both are still tied to humanist idealism, which shows itself as "ethically constituted

Peter Eisenman, “Aspects of Modernism: Maison Dom-Ino and the Self-Referential Sign.” Log, no. 30 (2014): 139–51. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43631742.

2 Ibid., 140.

3 Peter Eisenman, “The End of the Classical: The End of the Beginning, the End of the End,” Perspecta 21 (1984): 155.

4 Ibid., 163.

5 Peter Eisenman, The Formal Basis Of Modern Architecture, 1st ed. (repr., Baden: Müller, 2006), 57-59.

6 Louis H Sullivan, The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered (repr., Minneapolis: Lippincott's Magazine, 1922), 403–409.

7 Peter Eisenman, “The End of the Classical”, 157.

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Assessment Task 3: Critical Essay

History of Western 20th C. Architecture ARCH1026 Tianchang Huang, s3629040 Tutor: Belinda Grant form-giving." 8 He also pointed out Modernism has interpreted this as a culturally-based form and function that breaks away from tradition and "cannot be tied to functionalism." 9 Therefore, the theory can be translated into Modernism rejects idealistic tendencies.

Therefore, Eisenman's perspective can be projected as Modernism is a forward-looking theory of history that rejects idealistic tendencies.

Volume is more exact and vivid contrast to the vague concept of space. The key distinction between the concepts is that volume would work dynamically.

5 Concept of Volume A Drawn by T Huang

4 Concept of Volume B and Imaginations Drawn by T Huang

2. Modern Properties in Architecture To look further into architectural Modernism, Peter Eisenman sought to develop an alternate understanding of architectural form in his book "The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture." 10 He described architecture as imparting shape to purpose, function, structure, and technology. He stated that the notion of architectural form had been widely employed in the profession without explicit efforts to define its specific conceptual meaning. As a result, he suggested a formal language in which four fundamental properties could describe general architectural form: "volume (Fig4&5), mass, surface, and

movement." 11 As a volume, for instance, the two examples (No.7&8) in Fig.4 both have the proportion of space in between the columns/walls. However, the temple is vacant, with rectangular volumes defined by a wrapping articulated by columns and space with proportionate geometry. 12 On the contrary, La Muralla Roja (The red wall) is described as a maze with a solid geometric base of the arrangement, which corresponds to a precise geometric plan, and is also an approximation of constructivist ideas.

6 La Muralla Roja Date Accessed: 17/06/2022

7 The Temple of Apollo Epicurius Date Accessed: 17/06/2022

Peter Eisenman, “Post Functionalism,” in K.M Hays, ed. Architecture Theory Since 1968, 236-239 Ibid., 238 10 Peter Eisenman, The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture, 57-59.

11 Ibid., 57.

12 K. Michael Hays, "Lecture 1.1 Aesthetic Perception, The Architectural Imagination", (Presentation, repr., HarvardX GSD1x, 2022).

8 9

Assessment Task 3: Critical Essay

History of Western 20th C. Architecture ARCH1026 Tianchang Huang, s3629040 Tutor: Belinda Grant

8 House 1: Deformation of Volume Drawn by T Huang

Four years after Eisenman drafted The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture, in 1967, he designed the "cardboard" 13 project House I, which questions the definition of the physical architecture model; cardboard shifts the attention from form's aesthetic and practical context to its marking or notational system. This shows that these shapes are a signal and communication.

One aspect of the initial marking process involved the structural elements: beams and columns, which appear to be ordinary structural objects. (Fig. 9) All of the apparent structural devices (Fig.10) are nonstructural; hence it is impossible to understand how the structure functions from the columns and beams. Under these circumstances, their usage must be reevaluated. 14

9 House I: Identify the objects (Beam and Columns) in the volume

structure is done right. In concert

In conclusion, one of the main modernism properties shown in House I was its primary concern with physical form and structure before defining volumes. As Eisenman wrote in House I, architecture is about using the physical form to make people think of a place differently than what they are seeing. When deep structure meets apparent reality, more information may be revealed if the

Cutting the columns short would be counterproductive.

10 House I: beams and columns in volumetric formal context

Peter Eisenman, Michael Graves and Charles Gwathmey, Five Architects, 2nd ed. (repr., New York: Oxford University Press, 1975), 15.

14 Peter Eisenman, "House I 1968 — EISENMAN ARCHITECTS", (Eisenmanarchitects.Com, 1967), 16.

13

Assessment Task 3: Critical Essay

History of Western 20th C. Architecture ARCH1026 Tianchang Huang, s3629040 Tutor: Belinda Grant Proceeding to House II is focused on the methodical development of two methods for conceptualizing and deriving information from the interplay of formal connections. 15 It has a similar system that marks the column position to rotate the plane referring to it. (Fig. 11)

11 House II: process of deforming specific forms to conceptualize the volume. In House II precedent it has formed a cycle Intersection of Panels>Column>Column Marks> Next panel group deformation on the marks>Intersection of Panels.

Drawn by T Huang

Figure 13 depicts the generation of an abstracted collection, which is formal propositions as a potential condition of a fundamental structure and their first transformation into a designated environment. 16 Different shapes of cube & cylinder were chosen to express the processes used in House II to conceptualize and create formal information, each of which included overloaded objects using formal reference. Hence, instead of concealing structural characteristics, using the aesthetic expression of the structure is another architectural property of Modernism.

Fig 12 is a comparison between two houses; it identify the relationship between volume (shown as blue) and structural mass/object (red) in each place. Some of the fundamental properties of Modernism beyond 'form follows function' represent here; for instance, it is clear that in both houses, columns and beams define both formal structures; they are neither placed in a regular pattern, such as a columnar grid, neither are they the remnant of such a grid, but are put in a seemingly random manner. Therefore, another modernism properties is the objects and form situate in the volume usually oriented at 90 degrees to one another, with a focus on horizontal and vertical lines. The room is envisioned as a series of layered and cross-layering planes at 90 degrees.

The difference can be addressed as House I utilised columns and walls to delineate a set of formal connections.

Meanwhile, the columns on the ground level in House II are stretched to create suggested planes that parallel the ground level space to the above volumes. This column extension aims to describe movement perpendicular to the higher-level books by forming suggested planes on the 13 House II: cube, ground level. Another property is shown: One individual planes and form is always theoretically detachable from its current column grids location and orientation in order to modify itself and link with other forms.

Drawn by T 3. Inborn Properties of House VI That Makes It Paradigm for Huang Making Architecture Principle.

15 16

Peter Eisenman, Five Architects, 25.

Ibid., 26.

12 Volume and mass comparison of House I and House II Drawn by T Huang

Assessment Task 3: Critical Essay

14 Frank Residence (House VI) Date Accessed:17/06/2022

History of Western 20th C. Architecture ARCH1026 Tianchang Huang, s3629040 Tutor: Belinda Grant

House VI provided a sensuous and dynamic setting for photography with changing light, shadows, colour, and textures. The house would be a production house landscape for still life and people photography. The house and its inhabitants became 'living portraits'. 17 However, from a conceptual modernism point of view, the final design is the result of a form that was created with a significant number of intricate diagrams, even though House VI was drafted after nine years of 'The Formal Basis' and it's built, the majority of arguments by this precedent is still self-referential.

15 House VI: Chess game– Inborn property of Modernism Architecture principle: Each move of deformation is a reaction to the previous one Drawn by T Huang

The House VI design was constructed as a sequence of objective forms like Figure 16, which also creates its own conceptual rules; each of them started to damage the core nature of the original rule system of functionalist Modernism. In the book 'Diagram Diaries', Eisenman explains the basic structure of House VI as follows: The generative rule system produces a sequence of moves, similar to a chess game (as shown in Figure 15), where each action is a reaction to the previous one. The system generates various options with each step and then reconfigures itself. The final output could not be foreseen ahead of time. 18 He also highlights the importance of diagrams in architecture that act as an analytical tool for comprehending architectural systems and then as a generating tool. 19 The House design is a type of examination of many conceptions inside the domesticity of Modernism, however what unites all parts is the concept generation methodology, or the generative diagram that underlies them. The diagram set for generating House VI serves a conceptual purpose by contradicting the assumption of a predetermined ending. Every deformation is referenceable and connectable in the development diagram, and each volume is created via a set of formal methods that eventually shape its form of architecture.

16 House VI: Color by Axis and formal system exploded

Peter Eisenman, "Eisenman Architects - House VI.Pdf", Google Docs, 2018, Illustrated by T Huang https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AIE_ffVJKzQuE8mA_eLZstJaJP6ohwaY/view?usp=sharing.

18 Peter Eisenman, Diagram Diaries, (New York: Universe Publishing, 1999), 173–174.

19 Ibid., 27.

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Assessment Task 3: Critical Essay

History of Western 20th C. Architecture ARCH1026 Tianchang Huang, s3629040 Tutor: Belinda Grant

17 House VI: Typical manipulation of Intrinsic properties in formal modernism Drawn by T Huang

4. Conclusion

As discovery proceeds in the research for this essay, it was discovered Eisenman proposed a range of diagrammatic approaches to remove architectural geometry's hidden values; He showed that in addition to functional concerns, architecture has a formal internal 18 Grid Systems Comparison foundation that is independent of external events. He considered practical, aesthetic, Drawn by T Huang and social factors "pallid justifications for expressionism." 20 Eisenman offered a reasonable, interior-focused approach. This meant a technique to detach architectural forms from usefulness, aesthetics, and meaning without dismissing their existence. This distinction has helped him write "The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture."

What circumstances bring into doubt the very definition of "modern"? Modernism has shown persistence in at least one conventional mentality, as architecture is still seen as an independent entity. When the initial examination of the unique form shows, the order was created of the particular circumstance, even though the precise ordering was first derived from external conditions or historical pressure.

Bibliography

1. Eisenman, Peter. "Aspects of Modernism: Maison Dom-Ino and the Self-Referential Sign."

Log, no. 30 (2014): 139–51. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43631742.

2. Eisenman, Peter. The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture. 1st ed. Reprint, Baden: Müller, 2006.

3. Eisenman, Peter. "The End of the Classical: The End of the Beginning, the End of the End." Perspecta 21 (1984): 155–73. https://doi.org/10.2307/1567087.

4. Sullivan, Louis H. The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered. Reprint, Minneapolis: Lippincott's Magazine, 1922.

5. Eisenman, Peter. "Post Functionalism," in K.M Hays, ed. Architecture Theory Since 1968, https://monoskop.org/images/9/90/Eisenman_Peter_1976_1998_Post-Functionalism.pdf

20

Peter Eisenman, Diagram Diaries, (New York: Universe Publishing, 1999), 48.

Assessment Task 3: Critical Essay

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

History of Western 20th C. Architecture ARCH1026 Tianchang Huang, s3629040 Tutor: Belinda Grant Eisenman, Peter, Michael Graves, and Charles Gwathmey. Five Architects. 2nd ed. Reprint, New York: Oxford University Press, 1975.

Hays, K. Michael. "Lecture 1.1 Aesthetic Perception, The Architectural Imagination".

Presentation, HarvardX GSD1x, 2022.

Eisenman, Peter. "House I 1968 — EISENMAN ARCHITECTS". Eisenmanarchitects.Com, 1967. https://eisenmanarchitects.com/House-I-1968.

Eisenman, Peter. "Eisenman Architects - House VI.Pdf". Google Docs, 2018. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AIE_ffVJKzQuE8mA_eLZstJaJP6ohwaY/view?usp=sharing.

Eisenman, Peter. Diagram Diaries. Reprint, New York, NY: Universe, 1999.

References of Figures

1. Figure7: The Ministry of Culture and Sports. "Temple Of Apollo Epicurius At Bassae". Greek News Agenda, 2021. https://www.greeknewsagenda.gr/topics/culture-society/7557-bassae.

2. Figure8: Naja, Ramzi. "AD Classics: La Muralla Roja / Ricardo Bofill". Archdaily, 2013. https://www.archdaily.com/332438/ad-classics-la-muralla-roja-ricardobofill?ad_medium=gallery.

3. Figure13: Galofaro, Luca. "Frank Residence (House VI)". Ofhouses, 2014. https://ofhouses.com/post/116008425485/peter-eisenman-frank-residence-house-vi.