The V O I D Architecture: More than just Emptiness
A dissertation presented to the School of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University in part fulfilment of the regulations for BA (Hons) in Architecture. Statement of Originality This dissertation is an original piece of work which is made available for copying with permission of the Head of the School of Architecture. Signed
Adrian Hong Sheng-Jie
Questioning the state of absence in architectural design.
Adrian Hong Sheng Jie 13090369
Acknowledgement I am sincerely thankful to my supervisor, Christina Godiksen for her time, commitment and support through the entire process of research.
Contents
01
Preface
10-13
02
Questions of Void
14-15
03
Contemplating the Void
16-23
04
The City Around Us
24-31
05
Void & Architecture
32-41
06
Très Grande Bibliothèque
42-55
07
Designing the Absence
56-63
08
Bibliography
64-67
09
Illustrations
68-71
Space (noun): [Mass Noun] 1.0 A continuous area or expense which is free, available or unoccupied. 1.1 [Count Noun] An area of land which is not occupied by buildings. 2.0 The dimensions of height, depth, and width within which all things exist and move. Void (noun): 1.0: A completely empty space: the black void of space 1.1: An unfilled space in a wall, building, or other structure http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/space http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/void 10
01
Preface
Men’s desire for shelter and comfort since the Palaeolithic age has led to the inhabitation of caves as dwellings. It is the beginning of men’s interaction with void and architecture. This tradition has since been refined repeatedly, from simple blocks or geometry to the refined architectural details of today. (Rasmussen, 1964) In fact, voids are essential to architecture, from cities, your home or workplace, in which without, architecture would cease to emerge. Imagine that if required a house, materials are formed and arranged into architectural elements of roofs, walls and window. It is understandable that an architect’s duty is to give the material he works with the form of structure. However, it can be said that the void space within the structure is what he truly intends to create. With which the physical structure is a tool to contain the space. In essence, is it not the void that is architecture? (Rasmussen, 1964) Given that, voids in architecture are seen as a negative element, the absence of the ‘architecture itself. It is not my intention to state what architecture truly is or isn’t. This dissertation is primarily written in questioning the state of the absence in architectural design. By extension, it is the embracement of void in architecture. The dissertation begins with underlining the definition of void. Here, void is presented in the fields of art and literature. Through a psychological perspective, the qualities of the absence are also presented in its abstract and physical manner. This chapter is crucial in qualifying the type of void discussed within the dissertation.
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Further on in the second chapter, void is further described in the context of urban architecture. How can absences in a city be utilized in initiating architecture? Absences in the metropolis are represented in the forms of the Berlin Wall, Rotterdam Central and the London Underground. Absences here are beyond just emptiness. They allow the possibility for things to happen. A medium of architecture. Chapter three is a collective study of architectural pieces: St. Paul’s Square, St. Paul’s Basilica, the Guggenheim Museum and the Barcelona Pavilion. Each of this architecture shows voids at its core, necessary to the architecture. In this chapter, the importance is in the relationship between voids and solids to architecture. The utilization of the absence results in the realization of architecture. Here, two distinct kinds of architecture are introduced: the visual and the abstract. The subsequent chapter revolves around a case study of the Tres Grande Bibliotheque (TGB) by Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and its winning entry by Dominique Perrault Architects. The two proposals are key examples in the integration of void in architectural design. Solids define voids. But in this case, the absence defines the physical. In this comparison of architecture, we see the result of designing with absence. Lastly, the dissertation ends by investigating the process of designing the absence. Architectural drawings are fundamental in architectural design. We draw lines; solids. Do architects then design voids? And if so, how? In designing architecture, one must possess the knowledge of both the solids and the voids.
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13
02
Questions of Void
1.0 What is void? 1.1 Is void just absence? 1.2 What are the qualities of void? 1.3 Does void exist in other forms? 2.0 Is void present in the urban context? 2.1 What are the examples of urban absences? 2.2 What is the role of the absence in urban development? 3.0 What is the relation of void and architecture? 3.1 How are voids enclosed and defined? 3.2 If enclosed, is the void the same entity as the endless void around? 3.3 Does partial enclosure of the absence exist? 3.4 What are the relation of void and mass? 3.5 Less solid, more void? 3.6 How does void define architecture? 4.0 How is architecture designed with void? 4.1 How are the qualities of the absence manifested in the architecture? 4.2 Solids define void. Does void define solids? 4.3 Is void the essence of architecture?
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5.0 Do architects design void? 5.1 If no, do they design solids? 5.2 If yes, how do you design voids? 5.3 How are the qualities of void defined? 5.4 How are voids represented in architectural drawings? 5.5 What is the relationship of architectural drawing and the absence? 5.6 What is the role of the absence in architectural design?
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03
Contemplating the Void
“Architecture is the thoughtful making of space” Louis Khan (Mendelsohn, Matisse and Kahn, et.al, 1957, p.2-3) “The purpose of architecture is to create space” Hendrik Petrus Berlage (Berlage and Whyte, 1996,p. 209) Space is no stranger to us. Architects and architecture students use the word ‘space’ to describe atmospheric qualities of their architecture. Nonetheless, this word is not reserved only to those practiced in the art of building but also to the general public. ‘Let’s go to a bright space’. ‘Let’s go to an open space’. Linguistically, the word ‘space’ often comes after an adjective describing the atmospheric qualities of an area. Strip down the adjectives, the word is often used as such: ‘I don’t have enough space in my room’. The word now refers to a dimensional space in which it is empty. By definition of the word ‘void’ in Oxford Dictionaries, the word means a completely empty space and an unfilled space. Thus, void is a space. However, rarely have architects and architectural theorists made any mention in particular about voids. Not because it is unknown to these intellectuals. Architecturally, space is a more dynamic word. The word consists of a multitude of terms: negative space, positive space, open space, closed space, social space, private space and et cetera. While void space is empty space, such emptiness could not be possible to be experienced without the existence of solid space. Alongside it, void
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spaces are often attached a utility or a function for example, social or private. Hence, it is called to as social and private spaces. ‘Space’ referred to by architects is a collective whole of spaces. In this dissertation, the focus is on a specific space within architecture, the void empty space. It would be worth clarifying should the word space be mentioned in the dissertation, it should refer to the void. While void is emptiness, it also means devoid of or a negation of fullness. It is true that void is non-physical; a negation of matter. Otherwise, it can also be taken quite literally a negation in the abstract. Take for example the negation of thought. Void itself is abstract, making it only perceptible to the mind. Because of this quality that it has often found its way into the field of art and literature. Few writers can escape the awareness in the very nature of their vocation that obliges them to the interaction with the absence. The very blank page that they fill up page after page with their texts is after all, one of the representations of voids. (Ashton, 2007) The writer’s relationship with the absence stretches on further. The very spark of creativity sends the writer towards an encounter with the void in him or herself. It is the essential, the necessity for anything to come into being at all. Whatever the outcome, great or small is bound to be recapitulated in his or her mind, often in conversation with him or herself, that fiat: “Let there be light”. This is the trigger in the dynamics of creativity itself, the way in which all forms of creativity are mimetic of the Genesis myth. (Ashton, 2007) In that sense, I am also somewhat a writer. These texts convey my confrontation with the absence. I am questioning and answering the thoughts inside me. Notice also where each character of my word is carefully placed, filling the page. I write as a writer would, but this space knows no regulations or standards, all but to the will of the writer. I write, I leave gaps b e t w e e n m y w o r d s, allowing the absence to flow through the letters.1
I write across Georges Perec demonstrated the play of text through the pages in a chapter entitled ‘The Page’ in ‘Species of Spaces and Other Pieces’. 1
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I set off blanks, spaces on the page.
I write beyond the pape
the page.
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This emptiness knows no boundaries apart from the restrictions of the paper. Before, there was nothing, now; there is presence of words. Voids within each of us represented through characters onto the void of paper. So, too, is the emptiness that reveals itself inside the poet or writer when a work completed, finds himself confronting the emptiness within him. But the writer’s acquaintance with the void goes beyond this. (Ashton, 2007) The 20th-century French writer and anthropologist, Michel Leiris once poses a question in his famous essay in autobiography, ‘Manhood’: “To whom does one write save someone absent?” (Leiris, 1992, p.105) He goes on to stress the rhetorical nature of his question: I am imbued with the notion that the Muse is necessarily a dead woman, inaccessible or lost; that the poetic structure – like a canon, which is only a hole surrounded by steel – can be based only on what one does not have; and that ultimately one can write only to fill a void or at least to situate, in relation to the most lucid part of ourselves, the place where the incommensurable abyss yawns within us. (Leiris, 1992, p.105) What is mentioned is true in the nature of literature. Those that write do not convince who is to read. I do not know of who would read this dissertation. Many at times are we to compose words onto paper. Rather than an audience, it is meant to be an expression of our thoughts and ideas; an answer to the absence within ourselves. This culture of questioning and answering the absence is in the nature of literature itself. Literature has been occupied by absence and melancholy of loss and longing. (Ashton, 2007) In a fragment from the Ionian poet, Sappho, dating from the 6th century B.C.E., we begin to notice a repetition of the tradition passed down through times: The moon slides west, It is midnight – The time is gone – I lie alone.
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Figure 01: “Void: A Retrospective” in the Centre Pompidou Figure 02: “Void: A Retrospective” in the Centre Pompidou Figure 03: “Void: A Retrospective” in the Kunsthalle Bern
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There would seem to be no reason why writers should have a privileged relationship with the absence. The evidence of void in other forms is a testimony implicit in the works of modern artists. In 2009, a radical art exhibition called “Void: A Retrospective” was held in the Centre Pompidou in Paris and in the Kunsthalle Bern. This retrospective of “voids” featured works by prominent artists and art historians amongst them, the famous of all, Yves Klein. As in exhibitions, works of art expected to be “exhibited” within the galleries. Instead, the visitors have been startled upon the confrontation of bare empty spaces. The exhibition fills, or fails to fill, almost a dozen rooms in the French National Museum of Modern Art on the fourth floor of the Pompidou. Although, this is the exhibition of the emptiness. In fact, its significance lies in the play of absence and presence. The concrete presence of artistic propositions that have been set by galleries, museums or publications, works of art, which are here evoked. Here, beholders are confronted with the nothingness of the otherwise rich and filled gallery spaces. Admittedly, the very notion of void art may seem to some like a contradiction. After all, we routinely refer to the “fine arts”, “visual arts”. Works of art valued at their aesthetics which are perceived through sight. Against cultural presumptions, these artists have chosen to produce arts underlining the conceptual and abstract possibilities of the absence. American composer John Cage once constructed the famous piece “4”33’”. For four minutes and 33 seconds, the audience are left in a silent auditorium listening to the “performance”. Contrary to nothing being played, the composition purports to consist of the sounds of the environment. In such an occasion it is similar to the exhibition of void. Absences here show not the emptiness but the experience of what is full. Not least in the 21st century, this emptiness is ever more consistently portrayed in works of art and literature. Fields not confined to phenomenology and metaphysics have all been dedicated into the study of the absence. Void is more than just emptiness. It is in no doubt that architecture now too embraces the void.
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Figure 04: 4’33” by John Cage 23
Figure 05: Nolli map of St Peter’s Basilica, Rome 24
04
The City Around Us
Much like everything else, the existence of cities is built on voids. Vast barren landscapes once cover the riverbanks, the desert and the islands. Now, they are populated with concrete, stone, steel, bricks and mortar. Roads, pavements, squares are absences that remain in the physical matter of the city. They become the designated absences within the solid city block we now travel through. Public and private spaces now defined. We are bound by the void we defined. Not so much is the responsibility fallen to the architect as to the urban planners in shaping the city we affiliate with today. In the hands of these individuals, a whole city becomes their paper. Notion of urban planning in medieval times are often decided by architects. In hope that people who dwells with the creation of voids expand their knowledge beyond architectural structures. We are provided a glimpse of that understanding of void through the works of the Italian architect and surveyor, Giambattista Nolli. Nolli is known for his ichnographic maps of 18th century Rome or better known today as the Nolli Maps. These maps represent built forms with blocks, shaded in a dark poché. His work with the absence does not stop here. Apart from the city routes, he also maps enclosed spaces such as the colonnades of St. Peter’s Square as well as the Pantheon. Alluringly, the difference between the Nolli maps and regular maps are its emphasis on the physical and the abstract. What is solid and void is clearly demonstrated. Nolli evidently is aware of the emptiness within the cities and its relationship to built
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form. Today, we design architecture with relationship to the existing context of the site. It may seem as a norm that we do today when we draw architectural plans and urban plans. Without regard to, it is Nolli that laid the practices and the understanding of the void in an urban scale.
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Berlin Post-war Berlin, Germany has been destroyed during World War II. First bombed by the Allies, later its territory divided during the Cold War. It is centreless but a collection of centres which some are voids. Huge areas of what was once a bustling early metropolis in Europe is now left in ruins. Its inhabitants are fleeing the city and left in a state of decay. Due to political reasons, Berlin is a region which its boundary is forever defined. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995) Not least politically, perhaps it is defined by its abandoned structures. Its population in decline but for its physical substance, it cannot shrink, as well as expand – a tragedy for a city. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995) In 1976, a design seminar led by O.M. Unger’s proposes a plan for the city of Berlin. “A Green Archipelago” aims to curb the decay within the city by proposing two simultaneous but opposing actions: the reconstruction of important areas and deconstruction of those that isn’t. In this example of urban matter and metropolitan void, the emptiness is replaced with a network composition of urban zones, suburban zones and green spaces. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995) This new system hopes to bring life back into the dying city. Figure 06: Void of the Berlin Wall 27
Rotterdam Like Berlin, Rotterdam has been devastated by the war; it has been voided of its centre. The void provides Rotterdam with a unique quality, the realization of openness in scale of an entire centre. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995) Away from the urban blocks, it is a place where events could take place. It is shame that that openness was threatened with the reconstruction and densification of urban matter. They had failed to realize the endless opportunity and freedom of the void. Only to fill it up once again with poorly thought-out plans by individuals likely less intellectual as Ungers. I suppose the response of architecture is in the nature of humans to fear void and the unknown. Which is why we build buildings, to recoil ourselves into familiarity space. A fear of nothingness. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995)
Figure 07: The destruction of Central Rotterdam after a German aerial bombing. 28
London Home to more than 8.6 million people is the largest metropolitan city in Europe. Lies deep underneath its roads and pavements are the London Underground railway network. In 2014/2015, the railway carried more approximately 1.305 billion people. It is the major transportation for many to commute to work, education and leisure and has very much become an integral part of daily life. Hard it would be to imagine such a city thriving without an intricate transportation system. Evidence you can see in the news during the “London Tube Strike”. The network has become the fabric very much as the bricks and stones of urban matter. The absence represented in the form of the network allows for the development of modern typologies within the city.
Figure 08: A vast Crossrail tunnel near Barnsbury, north London. 29
Void is: Hyde Park / Central Park London Underground Berlin Wall Rotterdam River Canals Red Square, Moscow In considering the cities, they all reveal that the absences in the metropolis are not absence. The importance of voids lies in its relationship to the solid. Solids define the voids and likewise voids also define the solids. As it may be, voids represent public potential. The potential for things to happen.
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Figure 09: Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pace, Rome. Figure 10: Porta Santo Spirit, Rome 32
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Void & Architecture
Since the Renaissance in Italy, the notion of void has been manifested in architecture. Architectural elements such as niches, columns, vaulted archways can be seen from the Porta di Santo Spirito to Porta Pia, the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, and the Santa Maria della Pace. Huge empty voids are cut away from the stone structure to form vaulted archways. Columns are constructed which seem to be breaking away from the mass and protruding towards the openness. Holes are relieved of material forming windows. During the day, the niches form light and deep shadows, emphasizing the cylindrical emptiness. Columns cast shadows onto stone, and the archway, a long and deep shadow into itself. This unique composition of elements is an amazing combination of qualities – the light against the dark absences. Protruding and recessed forms form positive and negative, convex and concave spaces. It in itself is also void and solid. The architecture forms a visual experience intending to emphasize to the observer a dramatic architecture with its many contrasting qualities. (Rasmussen, 1962) In modern times, voids are also often central to the architecture. Rather than just a physical presence of absence, it is often utilized on its abstract qualities. Absences are programmed and made crucial to the architecture. Planetariums aim to create the illusion of the void of space. Darkness fills up the space only to be broken occasionally by rays of light through the walls. (Ahmed and Jameson, 2011) It is toneless, and at its core, the representation of the void of space.
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Also is the architecture of galleries and museums. While art is the creation from void, in architecture, we design empty buildings to house those works. Blank white walls and vast empty spaces are designed to be neutral to the works displayed. In fact, they resonate with the void within the art. Visiting a museum is in fact going from void to void. (Smithson and Flam, 1996) The qualities of architecture are largely dependent on the design of solids. Could it be possible to achieve different kinds of architecture through the absence? In appreciating voids, you need to appreciate the solids.
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St. Peter’s Square Located directly in front of the Basilica is a large public plaza, St. Peter’s Square. With fore mentioned in Chapter 3, the Square and the Cathedral is essentially a void within the city. (Fig. 05) However, the area was not as what we see today. It is worth investigating the influence the emptiness had on the architecture. 30 years after the construction of the Basilica, Gian Lorenzo Bernini began construction of St. Peter’s Square. The requirement of area is designed “so that the greatest number of people could see the Pope give his blessing, either from the middle of the façade of the church or from a window in the Vatican Palace” (Norwich, 1975, p.175). The function directly calls for the design of a vast open (empty) space. Bernini subsequently gave order to the space. Two rows of colonnade, supported by rows of four colossal columns deep are proposed. At the centre is an Egyptian obelisk and at its two sides are fountains.
Figure 11: St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City 35
It may seem at first rhetorical to design emptiness since it in itself is an empty space. Despite that, what Bernini is attempting is the definition of the space through solids. By doing so, he evokes a visual spectacle through his implementation of perspective. The design achieves through two means. The curved colonnades serve as the “container”, giving the space some sort of definition. By narrowing it towards the end of the church, it acts as guides for the visitor towards the Cathedral. Since the purpose of the plaza is for the accommodation of huge amount of people, it justifies its need for fewer obstructions of solids. With a few solids, it creates an illusion of the vast open space. It is as such that architecture is formed.
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St. Peter’s Basilica Designed primarily by Michelangelo, the cathedral too incorporates architectural elements of the Italian Renaissance: niches, archways, arches and columns. The façade of the church is further designed with architectural details. Statues lined the top of the basilica. On the inside, the niches are filled with statues. The columns and walls are decorated with carvings. Behind the façade are huge porticos or narthex. Portals with long naves and high barrel-vaults lead into the chancel of the church. Marble, stone, gold and artistic treasures decorate the interior of the church. Inside the chancel is a huge void with an altar in the middle. At times, repuscular rays frequently flood through the windows in the dome into the chancel below. Everything seems to be unnecessarily up scaled in its size. In its own defence, this weighty architecture is aimed to reflect the power and richness of Catholicism and of Christ. Undoubtedly it is to inspire awe in all who visits. In current matters, architecture now represents itself not through the void space but its solid entity. Solids are designed. On the other hand, the void acts as a mean to an end. The value of void lies in its medium for the realization of a visual architecture. Figure 12: Main facade of Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome. 37
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum In the Guggenheim, Frank Lloyd Wright designs it by arranging the solids around a central void. Conceived with the purpose of exhibiting works of art, it was initially deemed unsuitable. The spiral ramps are not suitable for works on linear canvases. But Wright has proved himself against the contrary. Works of art has now been designed specifically for the Guggenheim. In 2005, Daniel Buren designed an installation specifically for the rotunda of the museum during his solo exhibition “In the Eye of the Storm”. In the middle of the void space, he placed an installation comprised of huge panes of wedged mirrors. These mirrors reflect onto it the facing void and the spiral ramps. Buren attempts for the interaction with the void of the architecture by emphasizing it. It is also not the last time artists have attempted to do so. The critics that once disregarded the museum failed to realise the potential of the absence. The Guggenheim is designed with a unified spatial experience which celebrates the openness of space. In such a case, the museum is designed with void as its programme. The absence becomes the catalyst where interventions with the works of art are achieved. Figure 13: The Eye of the Storm: Works in situ by Daniel Buren 38
‘Less solid is more void’ Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Figure 14: Exterior of the Barcelona Pavilion Figure 15: Interior of the Barcelona Pavilion 39
Barcelona Pavilion Like many modernist architecture, the pavilion of 1929 is conceived with an open plan. This allows for the construction of a continuous space. Long horizontal roof slabs are supported by slender cruciform shafts. Occasionally, the roof slab projects out onto a pool of water and into the open sky again. Almost as if you are standing outside while still under the roof of the pavilion. The glass panes partially frame the space along the outside of the pavilion and thin onyx walls on the inside. Bear in mind that the pavilion is designed to be bare. In it there are no exhibits save a sculptures and few furniture but it is meant to serve no function. However, no function does not equate as to no reason why Mies chose to do so. One first-hand experience of the pavilion helps distinguish the difference between physical presence and its mental simulation. As Nicholas Maria Rubio I Tuduri puts it: It encloses only space. It has no practical purpose, no material function. They say, “It doesn’t serve anything.” (Rubió i Tudurí, 1929, p.410) This purpose is much an abstract one as to its practical purpose. The absences within the architecture are not of visual perception but of mental stimulation to the beholder. Mies made famous the phrase by the English poet, Robert Browning: “Less is more.” (Browning, 1855) But he himself never clarified the meaning of it in relation to his architecture. It is often credited in reference to his lack or ornamentation and his “skin and bone” architecture. Both in which are presented to use through the pavilion due to its negation of ornamentation and in its minimalistic use of material. Mies’ early education was in a Catholic school. While in Aachen, his encounter with philosophy brought about his understanding pf the metaphysics. He begins to look at things beneath what they are. Perhaps “less is more” (Browning, 1855) could be interpreted as “less solid, more void”.
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The pavilion encloses almost nothing within it but space. There are no doors and each room is imperfectly enclosed on three sides by three walls, more often walls made of glass panes. In some of these glass walls, they are tinted a sombre, neutral colour. The reflection of the space in which you see from and the space you see towards are blended together on its surface. When wandering the space, you are led into an open room which are courtyards. In it, space is limited only by three walls and by a horizontal calm pool of water. (Rubió i Tudurí, 1929) The division of space has normally been done so by solid, opaque walls, unforgivingly obstructing any relationship with the opposite side. Whilst in the pavilion, the glass pane walls act as boundaries which define the space within. That enclosed space now is independent of the void outside. Whilst in the Barcelona Pavilion, the use of glass pane walls not only defines the space but as well as reveal the openness outside. Subsequently, it allows the outside space to flow through the pavilion. From entering the pavilion, inside, and leaving it, the space is experienced as a uniformed, single entity, indifferent to the space outside. Mies has achieved in blurring the distinction between the inside and outside space.
The inheritance of manifesting void in architecture can be seen today. Architecture of various qualities has been designed since antiquity. The void in St. Peter’s Cathedral is manifested through the drama of light and shadows cast by the solids. Meanwhile, the Barcelona Pavilion and the Guggenheim is not designed with such intent. The absences are represented in its unification of space. The utilization of the nature of void results in the architecture of the physical, and the abstract.
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Figure 16: Early models of the Très Grande Bibliothèque Figure 17 & 18: Excavated model of the Très Grande Bibliothèque 42
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Très Grande Bibliothèque
In the summer of 1989, east of Paris near the Peripherique facing the Siene, is the site of the now Bibliotheque nationale de France. Then French president, Francois Mitterrand organized an international competition to design a colossal library of 250,000m2. The brief calls for a library building which combines five national collections. It is to house all productions of words, images and sounds in France since 1945. Do note that the brief did not call for a single library. The issue of distinction and fragmentation was raised at the very beginning of the venture. It will be a super-library. Housing five national collections, it will be a composition of five specific libraries, each with their specific programme. Of the five libraries is a cinematheque, a library for recent acquisitions such as books, magazines and videos, a reference library, a catalogue library, and a library for scientific research. These five specific programmes are conceived of equal importance; the Bibliotheque is as much a cinema as a library. We cannot imagine the world we know of today without knowledge. We crowd ourselves with vast amounts of information every day, every minute and every second; we learn. With the beginning of the 20th century, is the beginning of the electronics revolution.
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At the moment when the electronics revolution seems about to melt all that is solid – to eliminate all necessity for concentration and physical embodiment – it seems absurd to imagine the ultimate library. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995, p.606) With the invention of radios, television, and the Internet, the way in which we interact with information changes. No longer is information only mediated through books. The library is imagined as a dream, a utopia. Films, books, music, computers are integrated in a single information system, in no favour of one over the other. They are all placed on the same pedestal. This does not mean the end of books, but an age where all forms of knowledge are seen as equals. It is perhaps a sense of euphoria in France that the idealization of the scheme is commendable. The Office for Metropolitan Architecture, led by Rem Koolhaas entered the competition. Koolhaas questioned the possibilities of the project. A project where winning is not much of concern, but a scenario for the proposal of a new kind of architecture. To him, architecture is seen as a visual commodity of forms. For it is restricted by its implication to the eye and also to the technological constrains. Thus, the ambition of the project is to relieve architecture of its obligations, where architecture’s purest form could be manifested. It is in this thought that results in the realization of symbolic spaces. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995) The Very Big Library is interpreted as a solid block of information, a repository of all forms of memory – books, laser disks, microfiche, computers, databases. In this block, the major public spaces are defined as absences of building, voids carved out of the information solid. Floating in memory, they are multiple embryos, each with its own technological placenta. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995, p.616)
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The TGB is a cube, 100m on its height, “a solid block of information”. The majority of the library would be filled with the physicality of information. The focus here is the creation of the absences where reading, dining and public activities will take place. In the majority of architecture, the invariable component rests on the solid. The walls and columns are fixed, it cannot be moved. What are variable here are the public spaces because spaces have to adapt to the ever changing needs of its users. Since they are voids carved out of the solid, the creation of these spaces would be free of architectural implications of its external envelope. Each space could be designed to suit its needs. As long as the external boundaries are defined, each individual library could be arranged without restriction, even disregarding gravity itself. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995, p.620) If the space requires natural lighting, it could be located close to the external façade. Holes could be carved into it in relation to the amount of natural lighting needed. If the space requires rooflight, it could be located at the top of the block. The catalogue room appears on the exterior as a cavity in the façade. Essentially a catalogue itself, providing panoramic views outwards towards the city. The cinematheque is proposed on the ground floor as it was speculated to be the most popular space. Thus, making it more accessible to the public. At the same time, the reference library is designed as a continuous spiral. The library will span five floors of partly accessible storage, each with different themes and subjects. In the building, two void spaces intersect one another which will form the recent acquisition library. The reading rooms are laid horizontal while the television and audio spaces slopes down across towards the river. In the scientific research library, you find a loop, in which the wall becomes the floor, becomes the ceiling and becomes the wall again, forming a loop-the-loop.2 (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995) Since each of the libraries are autonomous institutions of their own, how then are they accessible? Nine elevator shafts form part of the grid structure for the building. As long as each shaft pierces the void spaces, the libraries are accessible. As much as it is influenced by the solids, these public spaces in turn now influence the solids. 2 I have to admit that I have doubts on the conceivability of this space, but the idea here is the flexibility of spatial creation.
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Here is one of the early models of the TGB still in development. It shows the design process where spaces are formed simply by cutting out the materials. In the real sense, they just have to be not constructed. Interesting it would be to note if one would actually come to the same conclusion of design if it were to be designed in the conventional way. The idea proved to be a complicated one even for Koolhaas which led him to question it in his diary: Only anxiety, amid early symptoms of exhilaration: it’s an idea, we know, but it is absolutely unclear at this point whether it’s a good or a bad one. Model, intended to clarify, prolongs uncertainty… We suspend judgement, it needs time. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995, p.636) The design for the TGB has reached its final stages and an intermediate critique is held to a group of intellectuals. In this session, a reverse model of the TGB is presented. The model does not “solidify” the solids but the void spaces. The solids are left unconstructed and the voids made solid, skewered by the shafts, floating in absence. What were the comments? – Perplexed silence. Were the jury awestruck by the proposition? Or were they left speechless in disgust as to a madman’s idea? Little is known about the commentary of the session, but it is clear enough to conceive that it is a radical idea. Firstly, the proposal seems structurally impossible. The building at 25 storeys would mean that the elevator shafts at the bottom would have to be massive to structurally support the spaces above. Instead of an open space, it restricts the flow of space on the ground. Second, visuals; imagine the nine “towers” peaking above the Parisian skyline supporting oddly shaped structures. Third, function; to where will the vast number of collections is stored?
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Figure 19 & 20: Void model of the Très Grande Bibliothèque 47
Of course the proposal is not that of the void. In the majority of architecture have spaces represented by four facades. They merely represent four out of an infinite quantity of possible cuts. Most of them immensely more important for the building and its contribution to the collective architecture. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995) The public are blinded by the pretence of the architecture where voids are hidden behind façades. Besides that, it would mean stripping the freedom of the “settlement” of space and fall into the notion of “function follows form”. Once again, architecture would be poised by the problem of aesthetics, of construction and the mere repetition of structural blocks. The building is a composition of spaces: 75% storage, 25% public spaces. The dark zones however are not solid spaces but storage which are inaccessible to the inhabitants of the building. These spaces are rendered useless in the public eye. The remaining absences are public spaces where interaction with the building occurs. Despite the primary function of the library is to store information, it is irrational to focus storage over public spaces. We construct solids. In such a model, we are attempting in constructing the absence. However, by excavating voids, the solids are reversibly being defined. In addition, I myself have pondered on the question of the cube. Given that the external boundaries of the architecture do not correspond to the space within, it would seem rather tempting to push the design of the container to the extreme. There are buildings which are fluid, formless, deconstructed, even hairy ones too. You must agree that the cube is not much an interesting form, rather conservative. You could design a blob in the middle of Paris, for as long as the spatial dimensions of the libraries are met. Therefore it only seems logical to think that the objective for Koolhaas does not lie within its physical geometry. Although as fore mentioned, in the creation of meaningful spaces.
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A cube. All the ‘deductions’ have been performed: the building as residue of process of elimination. We are dealing not with aesthetics here, but with quantities. We only add and subtract. (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995, p.636)
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Left to Right: Figure 21: Level 04, Sound and Moving Image Library Figure 22: Level 05, Recent Acquisitions Library Figure 23: Level 11, Reference Lirbary Figure 24: Level 14, Storage Figure 25: Level 20, Research Library: Cafe, Lounge, Storage Figure 26: Sectional Cut
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As it is obvious today, the OMA did not win the competition. However, they received an honorary mention for the scheme. The jury selected two schemes as joint winners in the competition, those by Future Systems and of Dominique Perrault but was eventually won by Perrault. Perrault had in his mind an idea: “Une place pour Paris, une bibliotheque pour la France” (a square for Paris, a library for France). (Perrault and Jacques, 1995, p.46) He composes the project as two overlapping parts: somewhat an upper city and a lower one. In the upper part, four towers are designed in the impression of half-opened books. The towers corner the site, as if delimiting the project area. The towers of glass and metal are to be the repository of recent acquisitions for items published since 1945. In the lower part, the library is organized around a central courtyard. At the core, an empty space devoid of its solid counterparts. The space does not bear the realistic function of storing knowledge. Hence, the empty space is seen architecturally as a large and inaccessible area. The void space is designed as a tree-planted court with a wooddecked plinth, sort of like an open-air reading room. Given the permission of the weather, one could then take a book and read outside in the courtyard. With the courtyard as its core, the cinemas, restaurants and conference centre would occupy the floor surrounding it as the most accessible space of the building. Beneath it lays the majority of the library, limited to scholars and researchers where the preservations of books since 1470 are kept. The architecture revolves very much on the requirements of the preservation of books and the interaction between the public and the private. Perrault set out to introduce Eastern Paris to a new public space, determined by the possibilities of the void.
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Figure 27: Très Grande Bibliothèque Concept Sketch, Dominique Perrault Architecture 53
Within the duration of the project, Perrault had often been criticised on focusing of the design of a place rather than the library building itself. It is in contradiction to what was proposed in the other entries with the exception of OMA’s. It is injustice to assume that the architecture is a poorly thought of one. In this case, the design of the absence is different to Koolhaas’ approach. The courtyard in Perrault’s architecture is the core of the project, allowing the intimate interaction of architecture with people. While in Koolhaas’ TGB, the core is centred on the various public spaces within the building. The use of absences within the architecture is different in both cases. One in which the absences are involved in the architectural design of the building (Koolhaas) and the other in using architecture as the definition of the absence (Perrault). In an interview between Perrault and Odile Fillion, he (Perrault) mentioned that the project raised the question on form and aesthetics. (Perrault and Jacques, 1995) He refers as obsolete notions of architecture the attention façades, the interior of a building, its exterior, upper parts, lower parts, entry porch, and the perimeter wall. In that the expression of forms and cohesion of spaces is inadequate to echo the times of today. Sound familiar? Keep in mind that Koolhaas emphasized on the creation of meaningful spaces as opposed to form. Meaningful spaces as regards to void spaces. We have seen both uses of the absence within the architecture. Put aside the architectural differences, that same approach is carried out by Perrault’s wanting to create a symbolic space through architecture. Neither Perrault nor Koolhaas have chosen to design architecture purely in the visual realm. Instead, they have chosen to utilize the qualities of the void. The implication of void in architectural design is in its flexibility. Spaces could be arranged in countless possibilities in reference to the programme. Because voids are fundamental to things happening, it should seem justified to prioritise the absence. In this design process, the void shapes the solids.
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Figure 28 & 29: Très Grande Bibliothèque, Dominique Perrault Architecture 55
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Designing the Absence
Architecture is constructed either through the addition or subtraction of materials. The added being the physical nature of architecture itself. Meanwhile, the latter relates more to the art of sculpting. Materials are added only to be removed later on to achieve form. A case like such is the Al-Khazneh, in Petra, Jordan. The AlKhazneh is an elaborate temple carved into the sandstone rocks. Like the TGB by Koolhaas, the interior spaces are extracted through solid. He or she works with the understanding of what needs to be removed and not. The designer must understand both solid and void. That being said, rarely have architects ever design the void or through void. This relates back to the act of adding lines on paper. It is then questionable if that void is by design or a product of the design itself? Designs always begin as drawings from a simple free-hand sketch, to an architectural rendering or measured drawings. Architects conceive ideas from nothingness and only through drawings can ideas be expressed. No examples are needed as the practice of architecture orbits around it. Architects submit measured drawings for proposals. Students are taught from the first day to draw plans, sections and elevations. Drawings are the most pragmatic tool which allows architects to explore the various ideas within them – adding, subtracting, partitioning spaces, applying materials onto paper before architecture itself. (Schaller, 1997)
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Figure 30: The Al-Khazneh, Petra, Jordan. Figure 31: Architectural Details of the Al-Khazneh. 57
Thus, it is important to examine the relationship between architectural drawings and the realisation of the designs. Remember, when observing an architectural drawing, it is not so much a drawing of a building, but a representation of a building. (Schaller, 1997) The drawings convey the architect’s intent of the building: the relationship to its site, the architectural elements, and the creation of positive and negative spaces. For example, a house, we see it as an object existing in the void of space. However, our impression of a house does not consist only of what is seen but also what is not seen. Through the windows and doors, we are aware of the existence of the space inside. That it is the fundamental volume of the object that makes it a house. (Schaller, 1997) An architecture drawing featuring the exterior of a house does not conceive what a house is. More often, it is used to depict the spatial relationship of the house as an object to its surrounding context. That is why you never only see a drawing only of its exterior. It is the interior drawings that illustrate the void space.
Figure 32: Edited Version of Rubin’s Vase 3 In light of relative perception, texts becomes solids; becomes void. 58
Before further explanation, here is a drawing. (Fig. 32) The drawing shows an image of a vase and/or two heads. You may have realized that both of them are right and no one answer is wrong. Nonetheless, you will never see both the vase and the heads at the same time. In the image is proof of relative perception, where perception of space only occurs in the presence of perceivable things. Solids and voids define each other yet their definition is arguable. Although the idea here is of human perception, surely, it would absurd to perceive that the vast emptiness of space around us to be solid. We presume lines in drawings to be solid and let us allow such perception for a moment.3 For the architect, he who designs architecture must have an understanding of space as something beyond just emptiness. Given that architect’s use of spatial terms such as “the making of space”, we can conclude that he or she does have an understanding of it. As discussed in Chapter One, drawings are also created upon the addition of lines onto paper. Lines are drawn; a representation of form and what is not drawn; void space. Thicker lines represent more form, less space. Curvy lines, free form, flowing space. Straight lines; simple form, pure space. Overlapping lines; complex form, layered space. (Till, 2009) Clearly, there is a correlation between the solid and the void space. Here, spaces are defined through lines we design. We shape the void. Could it not be the architect’s intention, consciously or not, of creating space? We do not perceive architecture merely as objects, but also quantifying the non-object, being and non-being. There are times where line drawings are most communicative. Architectural plans and sections allow the person to understand the specifics of a building. Despite that, these drawings lack the ability to mimic human visual perception. Architecture consistently has to encompass qualities of space such as light and shadow. (Schaller, 1997) In this case, tonal drawings prove to be a more communicative medium. To the people constructing the structure, tonal drawings are not required as to what needs to be build. Hence, a line drawing is more often aimed as being an instructional medium. It represents the solid; the foreground for absence to exist. Line drawings attempt to represent space by defining its boundaries. At the
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Figure 33: Line Drawing; Barcelona Pavilion. Figure 34: Tonal Drawing: Repository of Ancient Literature. 4 60
same time, tonal drawings are introduced to represent spatial qualities. These drawings are an attempt to simulate how one might feel inside a building. (Schaller, 1997) “Solid drawings” and “void drawings” shows the need to understand the physical and the absence. When architects draw a line onto paper, he is indirectly shaping the space in which he aims to create. Lines we see become the container. In essence, the contained is the architecture. The public cannot be blamed upon this misconception because the majority of architecture is experienced by the eyes. Sight is the first and foremost sensory human trait in experiencing architecture. A passer-by would observe a building from its exterior long before stepping into it. That is not to say that architecture should not be aesthetically pleasing. Beyond aesthetics, facades, windows, materials are all designed as the boundaries of architecture. It is important to remember that the architect’s decision traces back to his aim of designing void. A window is to allow light into the space. Facades are to create spatial enclosures and materials, can imbue psychological effects. Architectural physique becomes the tool of play for the architect. Like the line drawings, there is a correlation between form and space. In academics, students training to be an architect understand the concept through architectural drawings. Apart from producing line drawings, they also produce atmospheric renders depicting spatial qualities. Here, a kind of hybrid drawing has emerged; sections and plans no longer consist only of structure. They also evaluate the invisible. An absence in the wall would show its effect of light and shadow within the space it contains. The drawings provide undisputable evidence the correlation of drawings and architecture; that architects do indeed design void. We separate, limit and bring into a human scale part of unlimited space Gerrit Rietveld, 1975 (Greenhalgh, 1993, p.227)
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The purpose of architectural elements is to divide the space into separate entities. The void of space is contained and enclosed within walls. In which its characteristics are imposed onto by its enclosure. That space is no longer part of the larger void but an individual void space. Nonetheless as seen in the case of Barcelona Pavilion, containment needs not be opaque or perfect for such a space to be defined. Void is intangible to the architect. What are tangible are the materials. In designing solids, we design voids. In return, voids and solids define architecture. Architects need to possess the ability to consider both voids and solids simultaneously in their designs. The void is fundamental to architectural design. We define absence through designing solids hence, we shape the void. Evidently, architects have an understanding of solids although not consciously on voids. It may be the case as to why the absence is rarely given priority in architectural design. This dissertation hopes to question and enlighten architects and students on the matter of void. No longer is architecture only defined by solids alone. With that comes an architecture of equal appreciation – of visuals and the abstract.
4 An architecture student’s drawing depicting depth of shadows. Solids influence shadows. It influences space.
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Bibliography
Books Ahmed, M. and Jameson, M. (2011). The Void. 1st ed. [ebook] London, United Kingdom: Architectural Association School of Architecture. Available at: https://www.aaschool.ac.uk/downloads/briefs2011/int13_Brief2011-12.pdf [Accessed 10 Dec. 2015]. Ahmed, M. and Jameson, M. (2012). The Void Hypothesis. 1st ed. [ebook] London, United Kingdom: Architectural Association School of Architecture. Available at: https://www.aaschool.ac.uk/downloads/briefs2012/INTER_13_ EXTENDED_BRIEF_2012-13.pdf [Accessed 9 Dec. 2015]. Berlage, H. and Whyte, I. (1996). Hendrik Petrus Berlage: Thoughts on Style 1886-1909 (Texts & documents). Santa Monica, CA: Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, p.209. Browning, R. (1855). Men and Women. London: Chapman and Hall, 193, Picccadilly. Chevrier, J., Hendricks, J. and Lippard, L. (2009). Voids: A Retrospective. Zurich: JRP Ringier. Greenhalgh, P. (1993). Quotations and sources on design and the decorative arts. Manchester [England]: Manchester University Press, p.227. Koolhaas, R. and Mau, B. (1995). Small, medium, large, extra-large. New York, N.Y.: Monacelli Press, pp.606, 616, 620, 636. Mendelsohn, E., Matisse, H. and Kahn, L. (1957). Perspecta 4. The Yale Architectural Journal, (4), pp.2-3.
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Mies van der Rohe, L. and Schulze, F. (1989). Critical essays. New York: The Museum of Modern Art. Norwich, J. (1975). Great architecture of the world. New York: Random House, p.175. Perrault, D. and Jacques, M. (1995). Bibliothèque nationale de France 19891995. Basel: Birkhäuser, p.46. Quetglas, J. (2001). Fear of glass. Basel: Birkhäuser-Publishers for Architecture. Rasmussen, S. (1964). Experiencing architecture. Cambridge [Mass.]: M.I.T. Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Rubió i Tudurí, N. (1929). Le Pavilion de l'Allemagne àl'Exposition de Barcelone. p.410. Schaller, T. (1997). The art of architectural drawing. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Till, J. (2009). Architecture depends. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Tschumi, B. (1990). Questions of space. London: AA Publications. Articles Davies, L. (2009). Paris hosts new exhibition of nothing. the Guardian. [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/mar/02/ pompidou-centre-vides-exhibition [Accessed 24 Jan. 2016]. Rehberg, V. (2009). Voids, A Retrospective. Frieze, [online] (123). Available at: http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/voids_a_retrospective/ [Accessed 4 Jan. 2016]. Dictionary Entries Space. (n.d.). In: Oxford Dictionaries, 1st ed. [online] Oxford University Press. Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/space [Accessed 22 Oct. 2015].
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Void. (n.d.). In: Oxford Dictionaries, 1st ed. [online] Oxford University Press. Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/void [Accessed 15 Oct. 2015]. Videos AlICe: Computer Laboratory for Image and Conception in Architecture,. Rem Koolhaas - La Très Grande Bibliothèque Hana Nemeckova. 2010. Web. 15 Dec. 2015. Koolhaas, R. (n.d.). Presentation of Très Grande Bibliothèque. [video] Available at: http://oma.eu/lectures/presentation-tres-grande-bibliotheque [Accessed 12 Dec. 2015]. Websites OMA, (n.d.). Très Grande Bibliothèque. [online] Available at: http://oma.eu/ projects/tres-grande-bibliotheque [Accessed 12 Dec. 2015]. Web.guggenheim.org, (n.d.). Contemplating the Void. [online] Available at: http://web.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/void/#/home [Accessed 17 Dec. 2015].
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Illustrations
Figures Figure 01: Meguerditchian, G. (2009). Voids, a retrospective at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. [image] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/ artanddesign/2009/mar/02/pompidou-centre-vides-exhibition [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 02: Meguerditchian, G. (2009). Voids. A Retrospective. [image] Available at: http://interventionsjournal.net/2012/05/21/the-void/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 03: Kunsthalle Bern, (2009). Voids Eine Retrospektive 12 September – 11 October 2009. [image] Available at: http://www.kunsthalle-bern.ch/eng/ eine_retrospektive [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 04: Henmar Press Inc., (2014). 4’33”. [image] Available at: http://www. smartmusic.com/blog/piece-of-the-week-433-by-john-cage/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 05: Nolli map of St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. (2015). [image] Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Giovanni_Battista_ Nolli-Nuova_Pianta_di_Roma_(1748)_01-12_cropped.jpg [Accessed 20 Oct. 2015]. Figure 06: Torisson, F. (2010). The voids of the Berlin Wall. [image] Available at: https://waua.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/book-excerpt-ii-the-voids-of-theberlin-wall/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016].
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Figure 07: United States National Archives, (1940). The German ultimatum ordering the Dutch commander of Rotterdam to cease fire was delivered to him at 10:30h on 14 May 1940. At 13:22h, German bombers set the whole inner city of Rotterdam ablaze, killing 814 of its inhabitants.. [image] Available at: http://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww2/photos/images/ww2-184. jpg [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 08: Storr, W. (2014). A vast Crossrail tunnel near Barnsbury, north London. [image] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/ photography/11036968/The-secrets-of-underground-London.html [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 09: Gasparetti, F. (2006). Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pace, a Roma, nel rione Ponte.. [image] Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Ponte-_Chiesa_di_S.Maria_della_Pace.jpg [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 10: Porta Santo Spirito. (2013). [image] Available at: https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roma,_Porta_Santo_Spirito.JPG [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 11: Iliff, D. (2007). St Peter's Square, Vatican City. [image] Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Peter%27s_Square,_Vatican_ City_-_April_2007.jpg [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 12: Gaspar, J. (2015). Main facade of Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome. [image] Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Basilica_di_ San_Pietro_in_Vaticano_September_2015-1a.jpg [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 13: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, (2005). The Eye of the Storm: Works in situ by Daniel Buren. [image] Available at: http:// www.guggenheim.org/new-york/about/image-licensing/exhibitions/the-eyeof-the-storm-works-in-situ-by-daniel-buren/item/184-installation-view-theeye-of-the-storm-works-in-situ-by-daniel-buren [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 14: Hotz, A. (2015). Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Barcelona Pavilion Pool. [image] Available at: http://www.gardenista.com/posts/20-best-architectural-swimming-pools-minimalist-new-modernism [Accessed 21 Oct. 2015]. Figure 15: Barcelona Pavilion. (2008). [image] Available at: https:// www.flickr.com/photos/sylvie/2598856422/in/gallery-44515900@N0672157622873073426/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016].
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Figure 16: Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), (n.d.). Sketch Model of the Très Grande Bibliothèque. [image] Available at: http://images.oma. eu/20150820164328-1341-vovp/700.jpg [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 17: Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), (n.d.). Sketch Model of the Très Grande Bibliothèque. [image] Available at: http://images.oma. eu/20150820164350-1492-9rdo/700.jpg [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 18: Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), (n.d.). Sketch Model of the Très Grande Bibliothèque. [image] Available at: http://images.oma. eu/20150820164359-1496-nbyr/700.jpg [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 19: Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), (n.d.). Void Model of the Très Grande Bibliothèque. [image] Available at: http://images.oma. eu/20150813111323-1502-9utv/700.jpg [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 20: Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), (n.d.). Void Model of the Très Grande Bibliothèque. [image] Available at: http://images.oma. eu/20150820163526-1510-xoak/700.jpg [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Figure 21: Office for Metropolitan Architecture, (n.d.). Level 04: Sound and Moving Image Library. [image] Available at: http://images.oma. eu/20150820165421-861-c47p/700.jpg [Accessed 25 Jan. 2016]. Figure 22: Office for Metropolitan Architecture, (n.d.). Level 05: Recent Acquisitions Library. [image] Available at: http://images.oma.eu/20150820165459861-bapt/700.jpg [Accessed 25 Jan. 2016]. Figure 23: Office for Metropolitan Architecture, (n.d.). Level 11: Reference Library. [image] Available at: http://images.oma.eu/20150820165516-866hruy/700.jpg [Accessed 25 Jan. 2016]. Figure 24: Office for Metropolitan Architecture, (n.d.). Level 14: Storage. [image] Available at: http://images.oma.eu/20150820165440-859-ash/700.jpg [Accessed 25 Jan. 2016]. Figure 25: Office for Metropolitan Architecture, (n.d.). Level 20: Research Library: Cafe, Lounge, Storage. [image] Available at: http://images.oma. eu/20150820165551-859-sbg6/700.jpg [Accessed 25 Jan. 2016].
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Figure 26: Office for Metropolitan Architecture, (n.d.). Section A-A. [image] Available at: http://images.oma.eu/20150820165905-877-53mj/700.jpg [Accessed 25 Jan. 2016]. Figure 27: Dominique Perrault Architecture, (n.d.). National Library of France Concept Sketch. [image] Available at: http://www.perraultarchitecture.com/ data/projet/fiche/2264/large_bnf_cq_dp_003_retouche_web_8ae15.jpg [Accessed 24 Jan. 2016]. Figure 28: Dominique Perrault Architecture, (n.d.). National Library of France. [image] Available at: http://www.perraultarchitecture.com/data/projet/fiche/1465/large_bnf_1995-ext_gf_129_web_33864.jpg [Accessed 24 Jan. 2016]. Figure 29: Dominique Perrault Architecture, (n.d.). National Library of France. [image] Available at: http://www.perraultarchitecture.com/data/projet/ fiche/2264/large_bnf_0000-ext_gf_02_web_787d9.jpg [Accessed 24 Jan. 2016]. Figure 30: Sture, F. (2014). Al-Khazneh, Petra, Jordan. [image] Available at: http://francis1ari.deviantart.com/art/Al-khazneh-Petra-Jordan-446623562 [Accessed 24 Jan. 2016]. Figure 31: Architectural Details of the Al-Khazneh. (n.d.). [image] Available at: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2049/1887577279_fa8ddc01e7.jpg [Accessed 24 Jan. 2016]. Figure 32: Smithson, J. (2006). Edited version of Rubin's Vase. [image] Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Rubin2.jpg [Accessed 24 Jan. 2016]. Figure 33: Fundació Mies Van Der Rohe, (2000). Drawings of the Barcelona Pavilion. [image] Available at: http://miesbcn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/planol-planta.pdf [Accessed 24 Jan. 2016]. Figure 34: [Author’s own image]
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