La rhétorique visuelle du livre architectural spring semester 2013
prof Tim Benton
Event and Movement in Architecture The Manhattan Transcripts: Theoretical Projects
Selena Savic, PhD Candidate, S!LAB
Event and Movement in Architecture The Manhattan Transcripts: Theoretical Projects 1
I would like to begin this text with a statement: I do not understand Manhattan Transcripts. Their systematic structure is intriguing the photographs reproduction !uality gi"es them a mysterious #eel$ while the structural manipulation o# architectural "olumes brings a taste o# play#ulness. The drawings and photographs intertwined here in a %research tool% are an inspiring material #or building an architectural theory$ but they can not be interpreted in any singular way. Manhattan Transcripts are a response to its contemporary architectural establishment discourse. They are not there to be understood in the #irst place.
Conte"t and Procedure
&ernard Tschumi came to 'ew (ork in 1)*+ to teach at the Institute #or ,rchitecture and -rban tudies. &etween 1)** and 1)/1 he de"eloped a series o# %paper spaces% &ernard Tschumi ,rchitects$ 2010 inspired by the Manhattan urban tissue. The results o# this endea"our were exhibited at #our consecuti"e exhibitions$ thus #orming the parts o# The Manhattan Transcripts. The character o# this work #ollows the tradition o# ,rchitectural ,ssociation in ondon$ where Tschumi was 4ust coming #rom. The design o# buildings was long gone #rom the a"ant5guard discourse at this institution$ #ocusing instead on the process o# design and a critical re#lection o# architectural theory and practice. ,ware
and
discontent6resent#ul
by
the
impossibility
o#
designing
per#ect
architecture$ they withdrew themsel"es to the position o# acti"e obser"ers. The rebellious tone o# the 1)+/ e"ents is mirrored here in attempts to de"elop an analogue to the contemporary production in art and literature. The idealistic practice o# %non5building% had #or a conse!uence the blossoming o# research oriented experimental pro4ects. In this context$ Tschumi concei"es his practice around two distincti"e premisses: re#lection on architecture cannot be understood and it cannot lead to buildings. ,rchitecture had to negate what society expects #rom it. &uildings should be built only #or pleasure and #or the same pleasure destroyed Tschumi$ 1)**. 7is strategy 1 The research presented here is done based on the Manhattan Transcripts publication published on the occasion o# the exhibition o# &ernard Tschumi8s Manhattan Transcripts at the Max 9rotetch allery in 'ew (ork$ 1)/1. Tschumi$ 1)/1
is in trying not to design at all$ while arguing against the predominantly #unctionalist discourse o# modernism and the o"erly stylistic concerns discussed by his contemporaries. 7is #ocus on acti"ities that are unnecessary luxury$ wars$ games$ art$ erotics is part o# his attempt to o"ercome the paradox o# architecture identi#ied with the dualism o# the pyramid and the labyrinth 7ollier$ 1)/). The pyramid and the labyrinth represent the two aspects o# space in Tschumi%s dualist "iew o# architecture: the conceived and the perceived space Martin$ 1))0. The paradox is that architecture is at the same time both pyramid and labyrinth. ;urthermore$ it always misses something 5 either reality or concept $ due to oland &arthes8s writings on language$ linguistic analysis and literature. 7e attempts to conduct a reading o# the city #ollowing &arthes8s procedures$ relaying on ?riste"a%s notion o# intertextuality. I# the meaning o# a text is produced by the reader$ in relation to the all other texts in"oked in the reading process$ the reading o# the city is gi"ing the meaning to city blocks$ streets$ e"ents$ and other city elements depending on the complex network o# one%s experiences o# the city. Tschumi%s use o# the concept o# intertextuality is extreme and pro"ocati"e$ sometimes leading to reappropriation o# #ull paragraphs #rom other texts while replacing their topic with architecture. This is ob"ious in titles o# his early texts like
he claimed that space is created by an e"ent taking place within it Tschumi$ 1)/3. 7ow can mo"ement %car"e% spaceB 7ow can space car"e mo"ement$ in turnB
Transcri#in$ the cit%
Cith Manhattan Transcripts$ Tschumi tries out #or the #irst time his philosophy o# e"ent and mo"ement in architecture$ a topic he will de"elop #urther throughout his writings and practice. eeking to re"eal an internal logic underlying buildings and cities$ he conducts play#ul drawing exercises$ while at the same time working on the logic o# a structure to represent and interpret space. The 4uxtaposition o# care#ully selected "isual material is supposed to o##er an interpretation o# architecture and experience o# the city. 9hotographs and drawings #orm a relation that should o##er a particular understanding o# the relationship between architecture and e"ent. I# we take #or example a sample #rom the MT1 ;igure 1$ it is not di##icult to make the connection:
Figure 1: a scene from Manhattan Transcripts 1: The Park
Dn the le#t we ha"e a photograph o# a person%s legs$ the person presumably running. The middle s!uare is a segment o# the park map 5 an ob4ecti"e representation o# architecture in its most con"entional "iew #rom abo"e. To the right$ we #ind a scheme o# mo"ement straight arrow with a solid line and a dashed line describing architecture. This line presumably represents the %experience% o# architecture$ as only a part o# its actual shape is #ound here. Thus it should be a part o# architectural %#act% that determines or a##ects the mo"ement. &ecause MT1 is dedicated to an accident o# murder and the #ollowing attempt o# escape running$ we could argue that what we see on photographs is what the person experiencing this e"ent was seeing while making the mo"ement described by the arrow$ in the space represented in the middle s!uare o# each %take%. &ut this is #ar too simple.
Figure 2: Manhattan Transcripts 2: The Street. Tschumi's draing overlaid on top of the actual map of the !2nd street in Manhattan
The second transcript is a mapping o# the %reading% onto the plan o# the Manhattan island8s 2nd treet ;igure 2. The #act that it matches the proportions o# real space emphasiAes the coexistence o# di##erent le"els o# reality. This superimposition o# the real map with #ragments o# buildings and photographs o##ers a multidimensional reading o# space. The use o# #ilm stills on top o# each block %diagram% suggest a character or possibility o# an e"ent. In the #ourth transcript Tschumi treats the inside o# city blocks with skaters$ dancers$ marching soldiers$ #ootball players. 7e measures the space against these unlikely acti"ities. Chile they operate as an indicator o# potential the space has to satis#y them$ they also ser"e as an enrichment to be %in4ected% into the city tissue ;igure 3.
Figure ": Manhattan Transcript !: Panel 11#1$
The role of the film roll
,rchitects like ?oolhaas and Tschumi are serious about #ashion they consider it their task to set trends. Thus$ as a conse!uence o# the contemporary interest in the possible parallel between the two disciplines 5 the spatiality o# #ilm and the dynamics o# architecture 5 the Transcripts operate as a #ilm se!uence. The relation between Manhattan Transcripts and #ilm is multi5threaded$ at the same time #ormal and ideological. Tschumi insists on a se!uence o# #rames$ rather than a narrati"e. In his introduction to the Manhattan Transcripts publication$ he states that the temporality o# the Transcripts suggests the analogy o# #ilm. It is not only the temporality that is at work here the #ilm analogy is re#lected in the use o# #ramed se!uences$ as well as the organisation o# the material in timelines in the case o# MT2 and MT and %takes% in the case o# MT1. The metaphor is #inally rein#orced in the MT with the stylised per#orated tape drawn around the imagined architectural #rames o# the %ob4ect timeline%. The #ilm metaphor is at the same time an important support #or the theory o# space created by e"ent.
Notation experiments
The work on Manhattan Transcripts was a notation experiment$ with the intention to arri"e at new tools and methods o# representation. 'eeding to go beyond methods usually used by architects plans$ sections$ ele"ations$ etc Tschumi complements his work with photographs$ schemes and collages combining axonometric pro4ections$ drawings$ cut out photographs. 7e de"elops the #ormula ob4ect5 mo"ement5e"ent and uses it consistently throughout MT1$ MT2 and MT ;igure . -sually represented with a photograph$ the e"ent appears in the #irst o# three s!uares in the MT1$ at the top line o# the MT2 and in the bottom %track% o# the MT. The ob4ect is always in the middle between e"ent and mo"ement. Mo"ement is o#ten represented with a dashed line and an arrow. This simple tool is yet another graphical solution to represent a dynamic component o# architecture.
Figure !: otation e(periment: % comparative arrangement of Manhattan Transcript elements
Manhattan Transcripts: Theoretical Projects %rchitectural Manifestos & were #irst de"eloped #or an exhibition at ,rtists pace in
'ew (ork in 1)*/. The exhibition #eatured three rooms o# di##erent material concept expressions Tschumi de"eloped o"er the years. ;irst room: pace o# Mani#estos. , waiting room with poster ad"ertisements #or architecture. The #irst two Manhattan Transcripts were presented in one o# three rooms$ as drawings on walls. They were exhibited in ,rchitectural ,ssociation the #ollowing year at the %rchitectural Manifestos && show. The #irst transcript$
park$ a murder. 9hotographs #rom the news show #ragments o# a story Tschumi included at the beginning. 9ark "iews$ the accident o# murder$ an attempt to escape$
and the arrest. 'ext to the photographs we ha"e architectural plans and schemes$ presumably linked to the images. The park$ a space supposedly #ree #rom architecture is a metaphor #or its murder$ as suggested in the press release #or this show. MT1 is organised in %takes%$ each take showing a scene #rom the e"ent ;igure 1. It starts with a rather ob4ecti"e 4uxtaposition o# the e"ent$ ob4ect and mo"ement$ re#erencing real space like the street names ;igure =. ,s the scenes progress$ we notice that the ob4ecti"eness o# the middle s!uare changes$ as it starts exchanging elements with the s!uare to the right. Musical scores$ posters$ map labels appear$ then the two rightmost images begin to o"erlap$ with elements o# one appearing on the other$ ;igure +$ ending up with a white s!uare. ;igure 3
Figure $: Manhattan Transcript 1: The Park. First 'take'. Movement map overlaid on top of the actual map.
Figure ): Manhattan Transcript 1: The Park. The gradual deconstruction of 'o*+ect' and 'movement'
Figure ,: Manhattan Transcript 1: The Park. The last 'take'. Stylised pattern of the facade and ground plan. Movement frame is *lank.
MT2 is a proo# o# concept. The most consistent se!uencing o# the city as an e"ent is applied here$ under the title i"er to the respectable edges o# the -' building complex is characterised by mo"ie stills he uses$ showing the prison$ dark alley$ touching$ making lo"e$ and #ull darkness #rames$ #inishing with stills o# mysterious women and a curtain. The di"ersity here is a metaphor #or real border crossing$ the walk o##ering enough di"ersity to contain the city. In his transcription process this time$ Tschumi takes a sample o# each block and shows its e"ent$ its section and its plan. Chile the plan includes a path with demarcated mo"ement dashed line$ the most interesting part is the middle drawing. It is a combination o# the actual building section with imaginary elements o"erlapping and dissol"ing$ exploding the "iew. , central "ertical axes starts to shape here ;igure /$ an element which will reappear in the MT3 in a more stylised #orm ;igure ). Chether accidental or not$ this appearance con#irms the play#ul character o# the work$ parts o# it being a kind o# a "olumetric exercise. I# we interpret the "ertical line moti"e in MT2 as intentional$ then we can think o# the MT3 as a transcription o# reality into an imaginary architectural world Tschumi creates #or his own pleasure. MT3 titled
Figure -: Manhattan Transcript 2: The Street /order 0rossing. ertical line motive in the 'heart' of city *locks
Figure 3: Manhattan Transcript ": The Toer. ertical line connecting frames and *uildings.
Figure 14: Manhattan Transcript ": The Toer.
Figure 11: Manhattan Transcript !: The /lock. The film metaphor. Frames resem*le a film roll5 and at the same time look like arches of *uildings.
The #ourth and the last transcript titled %The &lock% demonstrates Tschumi%s experimental language in its most de"eloped #orm. The architecture5#ilm analogy is the strongest here too. Dn the 8ob4ect timeline8$ Tschumi draws a #rame around each s!uare. This #rame resembles a #ilm roll$ while at the same time representing an arched building complex$ with doors at the bottom and windows all around ;igure 11. 7e rein#orces the analogy with the mo"ement timeline appearing as animation #rames. The #ocus on unnecessary acti"ities is at its peak here: tightrope walking$ ice5skating$ dancing$ marching and playing #ootball are all rather unlikely acti"ities to take place within an urban Manhattan block. Tschumi howe"er chooses them to play the deconstructi"e role in the dissection o# the architectural structure. ,rchitecture itsel# is on the mo"e here$ with play#ul "olumes cur"ing and intersecting$ car"ing out the mo"ement.
The &isual 'ront
!uare is the %big brother% o# the right angle$ containing #our o# them at e!ual distances. Its% use in architecture is unsurprisingly essential. !uare almost stands #or an e!ual o# normality . Tschumi decided to gi"e it another role. 7e acknowledges the s!uare as healthy$ con#ormist and predictable$ regular and com#orting$ correct. 7e then uses the s!uare as a unit o# e"ent$ a #rame o# experience$ sub"erting this highly architectural symbol #or the purpose o# his theory. !uare is the building block o# all MT phrases$ whether coming in successi"e #ormations o# three MT1 or as part o# a timeline MT2 and MT. F"en in the #ully deconstructed pages that end MT$ the underlying s!uare matrix is indicated with little crosses. It is only the #irst part o# MT3 that escapes this normaliAing tool. In contrast to the healthy s!uare are dark$ black and white photographs used to describe the e"ent in architecture. Eonsistently abstract details o# %unnecessary% acti"ities as discussed abo"e$ Tschumi emphasiAes the sub4ecti"ity o# experience through these #ragments that are not necessarily experienced by e"eryone$ they ser"e as a layer o# reality$ o# li"ed space in this "isual experiment. Their poor !uality is partly a result o# the source !uality and the techni!ue used #or their manipulation gelatin sil"er photographs. 7owe"er it is also an agent o# pluralism$ opening the territory #or multiple interpretations o# the work. The "isual language Tschumi de"eloped here is rich in linear drawings$ showing plans and ele"ations o# architectural spaces and schemes o# mo"ement. @rawings are #or Tshumi both a key means and a limitation o# architectural in!uiries.
Fager to represent the dynamic component o# architecture$ he uses notations o# mo"ement with dashed lines and arrows indicating a direction ;igure 12 he also uses dotted line to represent the underlying structures ;igure 13.
Figure 12: Manhattan Transcript 2: The Street /order 0rossing. 7otted line clearly indicates a path of movement through the city *locks.
Figure 1": Manhattan Transcript ": The Toer. S6uare matri( indicated ith the dotted line. %part from this appearance5 s6uare is not featured of the first $ panels of MT".
MT1 and MT2 consist mostly o# plans and ele"ations drawings$ which are replaced by axonometric pro4ections in MT3 and MT. The use o# axonometrics in his drawings is an attempt to o##er a multidimensional "iew o# space. The play o# intersecting "olumes is at the same time dynamic and in#ormati"e. The title o# Tschumi%s recently published a book H>ed is 'ot a EolorH Tschumi$ 2012 suggests another topic on his aesthetic choices. I# red is not a colour than what is itB In an inter"iew gi"en to amuel Medina #or the ,rchitiAer blog$ he
explains his use o# colour to emphasiAe connections$ to mark out buildings or concepts that belong to each other Medina$ 2012. ;irst a pplied with the colour red in the competition entry #or 9arc de la illette 1)/2$ this approach is not #ocusing on a particular colour choice although Tschumi likes to appear wearing a red scar#$ but on demonstrating the relation between elements o# an architectural drawing. The colour thus has a diagrammatic #unction$ it demarcates a thread o# architectural thought. The colour red materialised in his #irst architectural experiment with folies that were indeed painted red$ as well as the ;resnoy ,rt Eentre$ whose diagrammatic colour is blue. In Manhattan Transcripts red has the same diagrammatic role$ connecting pieces o# "olumes or contrasting black shapes. F"en though it is popular today to distance onesel# #rom the contested concept o# HdeconstructionismH$ deconstruction in architectural discourse and practice o# the late *0s and /0s was a #orm o# acti"ism$ a way to protest by !uestioning and recomposing the elements o# architectural establishment. In his writings prior to Manhattan Transcripts$ Tschumi talked about putting architecture into crisis. 7e did this by applying a semantic analysis to the city elements and urban experience. In his work on MTs$ he took city elements apart and o"erlaid them$ arri"ing at a collage o# the real and the imaginary. This method becomes the most ob"ious in the #ourth transcript$ where the initial multi5track structure a re#erence to #ilm editing technology gradually trans#orms in a collage manner and #inally explodes in bits and pieces o# architecture and people.
Conclusions
The importance o# Manhattan Transcripts lies on bridging the gap between architectural practice building and representing buildings and thinking about architecture$ its meaning to the person experiencing it and its role in the society. They are a particular kind o# gallery architecture$ one that calls #or attention o# not only architectural$ yet "ery particular audience. The cultural milieu o# the ,rtists pace in 'ew (ork where the #irst ,rchitectural Mani#estos were exhibited allowed the architectural discourse to 4oin a broader cultural polemics. The work is partly dedicated to process$ this process ha"ing no other result #or a goal$ but the process itsel#. The ob4ecti"e here is not to arri"e at a building. It is rather a stylistic exercise. Tschumi is searching #or an ideal architectural process$ a process o# design that is determined purely by design decisions. ,ny attempt at building would compromise his architecture.
Thus the way the transcripts are is closest to an aesthetic exercise$ a play with shapes and "olumes$ recombining and changing meaning through the o"erlap o# elements. Fspecially in the last two transcripts$ "olumes are the main protagonists o# the city5saga. They are examined through the prism o# other "olumes$ recombined and recomposed. Chat Tschumi is doing here is a kind o# 8architectural push5ups8. Tschumi takes on a no"el approach to architectural design$ one that would recogniAe the dynamic acti"ity architecture is supposed to become. 7e is looking #or a dynamic de#inition o# architecture and experience o# urban space. ;or him$ the Manhattan Transcripts are a de"ice #or analysing the city. The Transcripts are a means o# putting this experience on paper. Tschumi calls this process 8transcription8. 7e transcribes episodes o# city experience using photographs and architectural drawings plans$ diagrams$ axonometric pro4ections. The Manhattan Transcripts are a book o# architecture and not about it. They are a !uest #or ideas underlying the built habitat with its own existence and logic. Tschumi is a man o# mystery$ or at least that%s what he would like to be. The #antastic abstraction aims at per#ection in its experimental practice$ emphasiAing the impossibility o# building per#ect buildings. 7e is intentionally unclear in his "isual suggestions$ allowing #or multiple readings o# his material. This text is one attempt at it.
(eferences
&ernard Tschumi ,rchitects$ 2010. /ernard Tschumi %rchitects 8 Pro+ects 8 %dvertisements for %rchitecture . JonlineK ,"ailable at: Lhttp:66www.tschumi.com6pro4ects61)6 J,ccessed 20 Nun. 2013K. 7ollier$ @.$ 1)/). %gainst architecture: the ritings of 9eorges /ataille . Eambridge$ Mass: MIT 9ress. Martin$ &.$ 1))0. Transpositions: Dn the I ntellectual Drigins o# TschumiOs ,rchitectural Theory. %ssem*lage$ JonlineK 11. ,"ailable at: Lhttp:66www.4stor.org6stable631*1133. Medina$ .$ 2012. %rchitier /log < &ntervie: /ernard Tschumi Paints The Ton =ed. JonlineK ,"ailable at: Lhttp:66www.architiAer.com6enPus6blog6dyn6+=/36inter"iew5bernard5tschumi5paints5 the5town5red6 J,ccessed 22 Nun. 2013K. Tschumi$ &.$ 1)*=. Questions o# pace: The 9yramid and the abyrinth or the ,rchitectural 9aradox. Studio &nternational $ 1)0)**$ pp.13*R12. Tschumi$ &.$ 1)**. The 9leasure o# ,rchitecture. %rchitectural 7esign. Mar.
Tschumi$ &.$ 1)/1. The Manhattan transcripts . ondon : 'ew (ork$ '.(: ,cademy Fditions t. MartinOs 9ress. Tschumi$ &.$ 1)/3. The 7iscourse of >vents . ,rchitectural ,ssociation. Tschumi$ &.$ 2012. %rchitecture 0oncepts: =ed is not a 0olor . 'ew (ork Fn#ield: >iAAoli 9ublishers roup -? JdistributorK.
