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P07: Taboo and Transgression: Architecture & Desire
The Pleasure of Architecture.
For generations, architects who aimed to experience pleasure in architecture were considered decadent. Architecture conservations of politic, moral and social have restricted the way of architecture which challenges our notion of taboo and transgression. Fragments of geometry, mask, bondage, excess and eroticism are all to be considered as pleasure of architecture not only within the reality of ideas but also in the reality of spatial experience.
01: A double pleasure reminder.
The pleasure of space and the pleasure of geometry. It is a form of experience which cannot be put into words - the presence of absence while the latter is the pleasure of concept which being governed by proportion and guided by rule and compass. The two are well complimenting each other in order to achieve the pleasure of architecture.
02: Gardens of pleasure.
A combination of both architectural elements and orders which served as the reminder of reasons. Gardens also often reflect the history of the cities where for example; Renaissance gardens were applied to the squares and colonnades of Renaissance cities. Gardens are the result of experimenting indescribable architecture and order. Gardens merge the sensual pleasure of space with the pleasure of reason.
03: Pleasure and necessity.
From the point of view of utility which close related to the term of necessity, architecture provides shelter to guards man's health, protects their property and works only for safety, repose and good order of civil life. But to doubt the necessity of architecture in this generation or future, the necessity may as well non-necessity because of the financial dependency. For example, if man become richer, the necessity will increase. Soon, non-necessity may as well describe as necessity because of the financial ability.
04: Metaphor of order - bondage.
The game of architecture is an intricate play with rules that one may accept or reject. Bondage which is also constraint in design may as well become an order to a new design. The more constraints, the possibility of reaching pleasure in architecture is greater.
05: Rationality.
The classical vocabulary of architecture is form of bondage. Similar with the previous fragment, the bondage somehow is the order. Treating classical elements as fragmented and decaying symbols, extreme of irrationality may becomes rationality.
06: Eroticism.
Eroticism does not mean simple the pleasure of the senses. Eroticism is not the excess of pleasure but the pleasure of excess. The pleasure of architecture contains and dissolve both mental constructs and sensuality. Not by space or concepts but the junction between both.
07: Metaphor of seduction - the mask.
Illusion creates seduction, seduction creates pleasure. By describing facade as an architectural mask, it creates imagination and illusion. Thus, curiosity about the reality is created. Mask seduce man's wish to read the reality behind.
08: Excess.
The pleasure of architecture lies in the most forbidden parts of the architectural act where limits are perverted and prohibitions are transgressed. I somehow agree with this statement. Architecture is interesting when it masters the art of disturbing illusions.
09: Architecture of pleasure.
The architecture of pleasure lies where concept and experience of space coincide, culture of architecture deconstructed endlessly and rules are transgressed. If the real significance of architecture lies outside utility or purpose and not necessarily aimed at giving pleasure, it is perverse.
10: Advertisement for architecture.
Architecture is a function of both sensual experience and rational concepts. Therefore, it cannot be experienced through paper space. It is through language, giving hints behind the architecture. Architecture cannot be felt through drawings and words. Its hiding and this unveiling is part of the pleasure of architecture that to be experienced.
11: Desire / fragments
Fragments are visible, both real and virtual. They are in between. Desire is never seen, it remained constant.
Desire creates fragments and fragments lies between desire. These two cant be separated in order to create the pleasure of architecture.
* Seriously, I have no idea what I have wrote about @@
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Field Trip: Asthetics, Ruins & Space
Kellie's Castle, A wish that never to be realized...
It is believed that this huge mansion of six stories high was originally built for William Kellie Smith's family and as the hub of the social life for the area's wealthy colonial planters and administrators. Completed with rooftop, wine cellar and elevator which believed to be the first at Malaya at the time, showing that William Smith was rich and was among the wealthy society at that time.Unfortunately, this mansion was never to be completed. On a visit to Lisbon, he succumbed to pneumonia and died. This mansion remained incomplete, a wish that never to be realized...
From the information, it is believed that the idea / concept that William Kellie Smith had for this mansion is to provide a home for his family after the birth of his son. He was trying to give protection besides the comfort at the mansion. From what i have found out during the site visit, there are tunnels and escape exists at every room that linked to outside. The mansion was built just beside the Kellas House where that was the first house of Smith at Malaya.
Besides, it was supposed to served as a hub for the society. As we can see, there is a rooftop courtyard which initially planned to use for parties. Smith was trying to make his mansion a place where wealthy people meets and in further, cooperate in business.
In addition as a meeting place, the huge building compound and size is also a signal of Smith trying to express his wealthiness to the society. The Moorish style of architecture which consisted of columns and arches add more into the 'luxury feel' of the mansion.
The mansion was restored to its original state because the authorities are trying to maintain the building as perfect as it was when Smith left. The mansion was left incomplete and therefore, the construction work was never continue because Smith's wife had sold the mansion and estate that Smith once owned to a British company. As for me, the incomplete part of mansion adding a sense of pitiful to the building. Pity in the sense of, this mansion was once Smith's dream house where family members and friends can gather and meet. But luck doesn't always on one's side, after he passed away, the mansion was left incomplete. A wish that never to be realized.. sigh.
In my opinion, it is beautiful.
1. the beauty of materials
The use of exposed bricks in the building gives an effect of combination between man made and nature. I like it :)
2. beauty as a home
The space within the mansion showing how caring Smith was to actually created spaces that linked both son and daughter rooms and how they connected to the master room where Smith and his wife supposed to be.
3. playing with sunlight and openings
In a particular room, there are holes on wall which i think were created for ventilation purposes. To my surprise, i saw sunlight penetrated through the holes to the room. It is interesting to see how light moving from this hole to another according the location of Sun.
4. the building technology
The technology used to build the mansion was brilliant. With limited help from mechanical devices, Smith managed to erect the building up to six stories with just man power.
5. beauty of views
The views from rooftop courtyard that foresee the estate which Smith once owned and the Kellas House. This can be understand that Smith has a vision of expanding his career but not forgetting where he starts from. From the small Kellas House to the Kellie's Castle where he stands.
Sketch
In this corridor, i can imagine if this mansion was completed, Smith and his wife will be standing along the corridor during sunset and enjoy the views around the mansion. Yellow represent warm and with the completion of mansion, warmness of a family can be feel.
In my opinion, the spaces in the mansion create a feeling of 'Wealth'. Huge mansion, columns, arches and long corridors; these are the elements that made the mansion giving a feeling of luxury. Although it is incomplete but from the spaces, luxuriousness can be felt.
As i stand in the castle, i can feel Smith tried to give the best for his family. The best environment for his children, the best home, the best place for them as they were in foreign country, away from home. Warmness of a home can be felt.
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P06: An Architecture of Seven Senses
'The taste of the apple...lies in the contact of the fruit with the palate...not in the fruit itself; in a similar way...poetry lies in the meeting of the poem and reader...not in the lines of symbols printed on the pages of a book.'
- Jorge Luis Borges
*i like this :)
From the article, Architecture is closely related to the seven senses which including; 'Acoustic Intimacy', 'Silence, Time & Solitude', 'Space of Scent', 'The Shape of Touch', 'Images of Muscle & Bones', 'Bodily Identification', and 'Taste of Architecture'.
At the beginning of the article, the author talked about the losing of plasticity on architecture because instead of putting ourselves in the world, we often capture the world using camera lenses as if we are spectators from outside. By doing this, we tend to lose connection with the language and wisdom of the structure and as an result, they become isolated and distance was created between human and architecture. Compared with the materials used today which most of them are glass, metal and plaster, the use of stone, brick and wood allowed us to see the expression of age, history, tale of its birth and human use through senses of hear, see, touch, smell and taste.
Acoustic Intimacy
Hearing creates a sense of connection and solidarity between human and architecture. Every building or space has its own characteristic sound of intimacy or monumentality, rejection or invitation, hospitality and hostility. From the example given; the gaze wanders lonesomely in the dark depths of a cathedral but the sound of the organ makes us realize out affinity with the space, it shows that hearing brings us closer to architecture and space by attaching us either by memory or the feeling it gives. I can still remember how it sounds like when we went to the bird park. The sound of birds chirping make us feel like we are part of them too and we started to imitate their sounds. Even with our eyes closed, we can feel the affinity with the space and the connection between human and nature.
Silence, Time and Solitude
According to the author, the most essential auditory experience created by architecture is tranquillity where architecture presents the drama of construction in silence into matter and space, and the building becomes a space of waiting, waiting patiently in silence. For example, the silence of Pharaohs inside the Pyramids. Architecture; buildings and cities are the museum of time, they enable us to see and understand the passing of history in silence mode. It allows us to experience the slow, firm flow of time and tradition. The time of architecture is a detained time, in the greatest of buildings time stands firmly still.
I agree with the thought of 'experiencing a work of art is a private dialogue between the work and the viewer that excludes other interactions' because i do believe that the art or building itself will be able to speak for itself through how the viewer perceive the art or building. The interaction between human and art is silence but the understanding or dialogue is there, between them.
Space of Scent
In this part of article, the author talked about a few examples of how odor of a particular place can brings memory that have been forgotten and imagination of the atmosphere or feeling that odor gives. From the example of the author; 'I cannot remember the appearance of the door to my grandfather's farm-house from my early childhood but i do remember the resistance of its weight, the patina of its wood surface scarred by a half century of use and i recall especially the scent of home that hit my face as an invisible wall behind the door.' This shows that how important it is that the scent actually brings back the memory of how his grandfather's house looked like. For my own experience, the scent of traditional Chinese medicine which made from herbs really left a strong impression on my memory especially when we pass by the traditional Chinese shops, the smell of herbs reminds me of how the kitchen of my grandmother's kitchen smells like as she used to make the herbs herself. This leads to my imagination of the bitterness of the herbs.
The Shape of Touch
The skin reads the texture, weight, density and temperature of matter. The sense of touch connect us by seducing the stroking of our hands. Besides hands, eye also touches. Through touches, for example, standing barefoot on a smooth glacial rock by sea at sunset and sensing through one's soles the warmth of the stone heated by the sun gives a feeling connection between human and nature and one can sense the slow breathing of earth. Great architecture offers shapes and surfaces molded for the pleasure touch of the eye. For example, deep shadows and darkness are essential because they dim the sharpness of vision and invite the unconscious peripheral vision and tactile fantasy. Eye is the sense of separation and distance where touch is the sense of nearness, intimacy and affection. This can be further explained that during overpowering emotional states we tend to close our eyes, the distancing sense of vision when caressing our loved ones.
Images of Muscle and Bone
During the older time, builders used to use their own body as a measurement tool to build buildings. Hence, every part of the building are well related to our body. For example, stepping stones set in the grass of a garden are images and imprints of human steps. As we open the door, our body weight meets the weight of the door, our legs measure the steps as we ascend a stair, our hand strokes the handrail and our entire body moves diagonally and dramatically through spaces. Authentic architectural experiences consist of approaching or confronting a building rather than the facade of the act of entering rather than the frame of door itself. This can be support by the statement of we behold, touch, listen and measure the world with our entire bodily existence and the experiential world is organized and articulated around the center of the body. I am the space, where i am - Noel Arnaud.
Bodily Identification
The encounter of any work of art implies a bodily interaction. Meaning, our body is able to interact with the environment and therefore, gives different signals to our mind how does it feels like. Similarly, an architect internalizes a building in his body, movement, balance, distance and scale are felt unconsciously through the body as tension in the muscular system and in the position of skeleton and inner organs. Understanding architectural scale implies the unconscious measuring of an object or a building with one's body and projecting one's bodily scheme on the space. We can feel pleasure and protection when the body discovers its resonance in space; as i have mentioned earlier, body interacts with environment. As we experiencing a structure, we tend to recognize its composition using our body unconsciously.
Taste of Architecture
Vision, touch and smell are closely related to taste as we tend to imagine the taste of certain thing based on the texture, the appearance and the smell. As i have mentioned earlier, the smell of traditional Chinese herbs make me think of the bitterness of it. This shows that we cant really separate between smell and taste as they are actually linked. From the article, the senses of all are interacting with each other in our life, architecturally.
Conclusion, all experience from touch, see, smell, hear and taste are able to imply the act of recollecting, remembering and comparing. An embodied memory has an essential role as the basis of remembering a space or place. We identify ourselves with the space, that moment and those dimensions as they become ingredients of our very existence. Architecture is the art of mediation and reconciliation.
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P05: Monuments, Testimony & Memory
Jewish Museum or Between The Line as preferred by Daniel Libeskind, which he described the project was about two lines of thinking, organization and relationship. One is a straight line but broken into many fragments, the other is a tortuous line but continuing indefinitely. There are three basic ideas that formed the foundation for the museum design. Firstly, the impossibility of understanding the history of Berlin without understanding the enormous intellectual, economic and cultural contribution made by Jewish citizens of Berlin. Secondly, the necessity of integrate physically and spiritually the meaning of the Holocaust into the consciousness and memory of the city of Berlin and lastly, that only through the acknowledgment and incorporation of this erasure and void of Jewish line in Berlin, can the history of Berlin and Europe have a human future.
Besides the three ideas, there are also three aspects that Daniel Libeskind implemented in his design of Jewish museum. Firstly, the invisible and irrationally connected star which shines with absent light of individual address. Secondly, the cutoff of Act 2 of Moses and Aaron which culminates with the not musical fulfillment of the word. Thirdly, the everpresent dimension of the deported and missing Berliners and lastly, Walter Benjamin's urban apocalypse along the One Way Street. These can be further explain as; firstly, Daniel Libeskind felt that in the actual visible site, there was an invisible matrix of connections, a connections of relationship between Germans and Jews, crossing of German culture and Jewish tradition. Secondly, the music of Schonberg which he got interested with in particular period in Berlin. Due to the logic of libretto, his greatest work, 'Moses and Aaron' could not be completed. At the end, Moses speaks 'Oh word, thou word' which addressing the absence of word where he couldn't sing. Third aspect was his interest of the names of those who deported from Berlin during the Holocaust. And lastly, Walter Benjamin's 'One Way Street' that incorporate into continuous sequence of 60 sections along the zigzag, each represent the 'Stations of the Star'.
The positioning of windows in the museum was based on the precise matrix where Daniel Libeskind plotted the addresses of prominent Jewish and German citizens on a map of pre-war Berlin and joined the points to form an 'irrational and invisible matrix'. From that matrix, resulting the positioning of windows are primarily narrow slits, barely enable apparent to the observer from outside or inside of the building. Besides, the whole building is coated with zinc which has a long tradition in Berlin's architectural history.
The intersections of the first line which winding with several kinks and second line which cut through the whole building created 'voids'. Voids, where the action of cutting through the form of museum represent the central structural elements of the connections between new and old buildings. Israeli artist, Menashe Kadishman's steel sculpture, 'Shalechet' which means fallen leaves covers the entire floor of one of the the five voids. The intention of putting Shalechet on the entire floor can be explain through: "Shalechet" (Fallen Leaves) is constituted by a very large number of heavy, circular-shaped, iron disks forged into the semblance of a frantic screaming face. The disks are scattered over almost the whole surface of the gallery floor and the visitor is asked to tread them. This difficult walking exercise provokes a profound feeling of uneasiness since not only is it hard to keep one's balance, one is also unconsciously reluctant to trample a work of art which, in addition, represents such painful feelings. Whether knowingly or not - by his desire to make us experience an uneasiness which is a metaphor for the emotional turmoil that seizes a concerned person when reminded of the tragedy of the Shoah (Holocaust). In fact his seemingly boundless bed of "shalechet" [the Hebrew one-word term for 'fallen' or `dead leaves') cannot fail to dramatically evoke the powerless victims of this appalling calamity. Hence, what we are actually asked to do is not merely to walk on a carpet of metallic human leaves, but to walk out of the question "where were we when all this happened?" The association of the leaves to the persons occurs all the more naturally since it is an age-old identification. The leaf, as is the case for vegetation in general, stands in fact for a cyclic transformation and for the seasonal character of time and life. Like mythical land biblical) mankind, the leaf originates from mother earth and hence has often been assimilated to man, as in the poignant, four-verse poem 4 written in the trenches of World War l - entitled "Soldiers," where Giuseppe Ungaretti made his striking association; "We are like leaves on the trees in autumn."
(source: http://www.kadishman.com/works/shalechet/Articles/Arturo_Schwartz/)
This is my favorite part of Jewish museum. The action of stepping on the shalechet makes me feel like there is actually people who got stepped but not the metal sheets. With the facial kind of shape on the shalechet, it tends to make me imagine people stepping on people and how they feel when got stepped. That is why in my sketching, there are different facial expression representing the shalechet. When people walking on top of the metal sheet, they feel unstable. It makes me wondering, is that how it feels like during that time, people who stepping on others feeling unstable, insecure too? Or are they too cruel and emotionless to feel the pain and suffers of others? The architect is trying to bring back the memory of Jews to the people and i think, he make it a successful one.
Underground passage way linked between old building and new building where the museum has no official entrance. Visitors are required to pass through the passage way which starts from the old building in order to go to the museum. There are three axes where each represents different pathway to different space. The first and longest axe is the 'Axis of Continuity' which connects old building with the main staircase which leads to the exhibition levels. Daniel Libeskind describes this axe as the continuation of Berlin's history, the connecting path from which the other axes branch off. The second axe is the 'Axis of Emigration' which leads outside to daylight and the 'Garden of Exile' where the garden represents a shipwreck of history that attempts to completely disorientate the visitor. In the garden, 49 concrete columns rise out of the square plot and Russian olive grows on top on the columns symbolizing hopes. The 'Axis of Holocaust' is a dead end where it becomes ever narrower and darker and ends at the Holocaust Tower. The glass cases on the way display documents and personal possessions testifying to the demise.
All three of the underground axes intersect, symbolizing the connection between the three realities of Jewish life in Germany.
As for local examples of commemorate the dead, the National Monument (Tugu Negara) portraying the sculpture that commemorates those who died in the Malaysia's struggle for freedom against Japanese occupation during World War I and Malayan Emergency. There are seven figures which each symbolizing; leadership, suffering, unity, vigilance, strength, courage and sacrifice. Besides the monument, the compound also fitted with fountains, pavilion, war memorial and garden.
Second example is the Heroes' Mausoleum (Makam Pahlawan) which housed the bodies of Malaysia's leaders and politicians. It is located near the National Mosque and is a 7-pointed star concrete roofed structure.
National Museum (Muzium Negara) which located at Jalan Damansara is the third example of how Malaysian commemorate the dead. National museum is a palatial structure built in the style of Rumah Gadang, an aspect of Minangkabau architecture. Its facade comprises elements of traditional Malay and modern features. It serves as a repository of Malaysia’s rich cultural and historical heritage. Displays and exhibits in the museum focus on local history, culture and traditions, arts and crafts, economic activities, local flora and fauna, weapons and currency. The museum houses various galleries, each with its own theme. The ground floor showcases the geographic and natural history of the Malay peninsula starting with the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The proto-Malay states of Gangga Negara and Majapahit are referenced, as well as the later Muslim Sultanate of Malacca and the various states of Malaysia. The second floor is dedicated to the colonial history leading all the way to Independence. Exhibited are copies of the royal headgear of Malay rulers. Other galleries include the National Sports Gallery and the Natural History Gallery. In the vicinity of the museum building, there are a number of outdoor displays of transportation in Malaysia, past and present. An interesting exhibit is the Melaka Bullock Cart which closely resembles the early American horse-drawn wagon. Of unparalleled interest are the Steam Locomotive made by Kitson & Co, England, which was put into service in 1921 until it ceased operation in 1969. It covered 1.5 million rail miles; a Tin Dredge which resembles a floating factory, on a natural or artificial lake. A major achievement of Malaysia is the manufacture of the first national car – the Proton Saga 1.3 litre, on April 18, 1985. Muzium Negara also holds regular thematic exhibitions featuring specific aspects of life and world culture. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_%28Malaysia%29)
Comparing the Jewish Museum and National Monument, Heroes' Mausoleum or National Museum in Malaysia, there are obvious differences that we can recognize easily, first of all, Jewish Museum is honoring the victims of Holocaust instead of the warriors as what we can see from local example where leaders or warriors are commemorated using figures or specially built burial place. Besides, the interpretation of buildings in terms of design plays an important role in commemorate the dead by understanding the relationship between architecture and history. As from what we can see through local examples, building forms are mostly derived from the historical architectural style which resembles the background of the architectural history but not the background of how the country first obtain its independence from Japan or freedom from Malayan Emergency. Most importantly, the feeling of visitors within that building. Can they feel the same as what those leaders that sacrificed their lives felt during that period? Or can they know the historical elements or history by just observing the building forms but not through documents and artifacts that speak the truth easily?
These can be further explain that, i think Malaysia's National Museum, National Monuments or Heroes' Mausoleum did not interpret the meaning of 'commemorate the dead' well through architecture. This is because, mostly we get to know the history by reading the documents or explanation provided along the exhibition area but not from the form of building or the space within it as what Daniel Libeskind did on Jewish Museum where the building speaks for itself. It there is no explanation, we barely know what is the building form trying to send us the message from the past. Unlike Jewish Museum, every single part of it was created just to let the visitors to feel the emotions or feelings during that periods where we can actually imagine the real situation by just walking within the created space. A very good example is the used of Salechet to shows the faces of the Holocaust's victims. I do believe that Jewish Museum managed to commemorate the dead by just the building forms where Daniel Libeskind incorporated the history and architecture.
In my opinion, heroes of Malaysia can be best commemorated by incorporating history and architecture as what Jewish Museum did. It is best where visitors can actually feel and imagine the situation during that period from what they see, touch and listen physically and emotionally. Let the building speaks for itself. In addition, heroes of Malaysia can also be commemorate where we can actually experience what they have gone through during that period. It can be a 'time machine' where visitors were brought back to that particular period where everything surrounding are no longer familiar to them and back to the pass. This can eventually boost the imagination of visitors and they will think they are actually experiencing the incident with our heroes.
In conclusion, i think history and architecture can't be separated. By preserving the history and cultural through architecture, we get to know the situation of that period and hence, we appreciate what our heroes did and will be to commemorate them the best by not repeating the mistakes.
