The Autonomous “Project”: the shift from the visionary to the conceptual
CHRISTOS C. BOLOS / 15 DECEMBER 2010 /
YALE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE / 3021a: ARCHITECTURAL THEORY I 1750–1968 /
PROFESSORS E. PETIT, M. CALDEIRA /
BOLOS 1
Premise
In 2001, Jeffery Kipnis published a collection of architectural
representations created between 1972 and 1987 by five of today’s most
notable architects. These projects, touted by Kipnis as Perfect Acts of
Architecture, seemingly exemplify Etienne-Louis Boullée’s assertion that
the art of architecture is the pursuit of a “product of the
mind…designing and bringing to perfection any building whatsoever.”1
The transformation seen in hypothetical architecture in the past ±200
years is due to the level of autonomy of a project. Of course, the word
“autonomy” in architecture carries two possible meanings. In the first,
autonomy is synonymous with criticality and the general generative
capacity of architecture as an internal discipline. Not to be confused
with this Project of autonomy, the second implication is the one at
stake in this essay: the autonomy of an architecture’s conceptual
“project” as it manages to establish a complete fissure with and
independence from its forecasted or realized building. In this arena, the
conceptual “project” then can become the entire work.
The
six sets of drawings, created as a means of sustaining architectural
discourse during a period where economic conditions had brought building
to a standstill, bear striking resemblance to other “paper architecture”
preceding the 1960’s and contemporary architectural theory. However,
when viewed in contrast to earlier visionary works, it is clear that
something had changed.
This essay will attempt to track the evolution and growth of the
autonomous project by indexing three different points in time via four
influential architect/theorists. From the late 1700s to early 1800s the
writings and work of Etienne-Louis Boullée and Claude Nicolas Ledoux
will be looked at simultaneously as they constitute a rich and cohesive
body of written, hypothetical, and built work from the same time period.
The midpoint in the investigation will be Le Corbusier as representing a
radically new paradigm and formal language both in built and visionary
work. From the Perfect Acts, the only realized project, House VI by 1 (Rosenau , 1976 , p . 83)
Bernard Tschumi , The Manhattan Transcr ipts
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Peter Eisenman, will be used as the example of total autonomy of
project from building.
The goal will be to describe a shift in seemingly similar architectural
production from the visionary work of Boullée, Ledoux, and Corbusier to
the conceptual realm of Eisenman and his contemporaries (Archigram,
Archizoom, Superstudio, etc). Further, this essay will propose the
theories of phenomenology of the 1960s and 1970s as the source of
agitation reacted against by these latter architects, instigating the
ideological hinge which abruptly drove the hypothetical project toward
autonomy and a conceptual ambition. Thus, the theories of Christian
Norberg-Schulz studied in this course, and specifically Genius Loci:
Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture will serve as a conceptual
backbone for testing the various projects and grounding the
investigation within the scope of the course’s themes. The ideologies
from each of the three time periods will be compared to Norberg-
Schulz’s writing and the theories of phenomenology as a means of
gauging the necessity of the physical object as we progress.
Moving forward, clear definitions of what is visionary versus conceptual
are necessary. What separates the two camps is that when dealing
with visionary projects, something is left to be desired at the
conclusion. These works propose either a change or a new way forward
for the discipline of architecture through inspirational scenography or
radical concepts. They are open-ended ideas, urging practitioners to
adopt them and bring them to fruition for deployment. Conceptual work,
on the other hand, presents the hypothetical project as a self-fulfilling
prophecy. These projects are complete as-is; no further action is
necessary upon their delivery from the designer. They posit no vision or
suggestion for what is to come; they simply resolve themselves within
their individual micro-vacuum or tell the final chapter in a narrative and
slip neatly into the filing cabinet, clearing room for the next
autonomous project. Throughout this essay, these two terms, “visionary”
and “conceptual,” will be used to identify the two diverging means of
representation, with “hypothetical” or “paper architecture” acting as
neutral terms to address both sides at once.
Claude N ico las Ledoux , Théâtre de Besançon
Arch igram, Walk ing C i ty
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The Idealized Neoclassical
Boullée in his Essay on Art advocates a refocused emphasis on the
design of a building rather than a primary focus on its pragmatic or
technical aspects. He does this while never questioning the necessity
or intention of building architecture, but rather ensuring that the “art
of designing” receives its due diligence. Boullée clarifies and inverts the
Vitruvian conception of architecture, the “art of building,” by explaining
that building is the effect of the art of architecture—i.e. a competent
construction does not necessarily produce quality architecture. This
establishes a definitive balance: “Art…and science, these we believe have
their place in architecture.”2 It is also important to note that in
Boullée’s essay, “Architecture” and “Building” are both capitalized,
showing his belief in the importance of their co-dependence. Norberg-
Schultz similarly describes “the practical, ‘functional’, dimension…as part
of a comprehensive system.”3
Let’s look at an object! … The feeling that we first
experience obviously comes from the way in which the object
affects us. I call character the effect that results from this
object, which causes in us some impression.
Further bringing the ideas of Boullée and
the theories of phenomenology closer is Boullée’s elaboration on
Jacques-François Blondel’s idea of architectural “character”:
4
These impressions he describes and claims are shared by the general
public (Boullée gives the example of low forms being saddening, etc.)
correspond to Norberg-Schulz’s conception of “atmosphere” of space:
the character of “the intuitive three-dimensional totality of everyday
experience, which we may call ‘concrete space.’”
5
Moving from the written theory to their architecture, the visionary
projects of both Boullée and Ledoux are meant to act as provocation,
moving architecture toward a direction they deemed favorable. Indeed,
2 (Rosenau , 1976 , p . 83) 3 (Norberg-Schulz , 1979 , p . 5 ) 4 (Et l in , 1996 , p . 15 ) 5 (Norberg-Schulz , 1979 , p . 1 1 )
Et ienne-Lou is Boul lée , Metropo le , Inter ior V iew
BOLOS 4
Boullée uses his projects as a roadmap in his writing to explain his view
of the ideal treatment of various typological situations, each with its
own “character” (these include the library, the basilica, the theater,
etc.). As visionary paper architecture, these works were never intended
to be built as designed, but rather are radical, extreme conceptions
meant to act as archetypes for later projects to follow and aspire to.
Boullée’s use of the exaggerated and over-scaled is essentially a
critique of society and the city, providing images meant to shock his
audience into appreciating, for instance, the power of monumentality. In
terms of funerary monuments and cenotaphs, he cites the need for
simultaneously a poetic architecture and one which can “withstand the
ravages of time.”6
While Boullée uses the architectural drawing as a tool of scenographic
provocation, Claude Nicolas Ledoux’s proposals take this visionary
scenography and both expand it to the urban scale and narrow the
focus to smaller, less monumental buildings. Ledoux’s hypothetical works
embodied notions of how architecture and/or society should be, and
were not intellectual exercises in and of themselves.
It is clear in the nighttime rendition of Boullée’s
Cenotaph for Newton with its mysterious central glowing object and
incredible scale that it was created less as a realistic proposal and
more as a method of provocation to awe. It embodies the spirit of what
monuments should aim to be. It is precisely because of this desire to
inspire others that we see the effect of a starlit interior space
demonstrated in the daytime rendering of the Cenotaph realized in Le
Corbusier’s Firminy church, designed over 180 years later. Boullée
presented the ideal so that in aiming for a visionary perfection, we may
achieve wonderful architecture.
Taking Ledoux’s project for the ideal city of Chaux as an example, we
see a visionary project loaded with an even greater focus and
expediency toward being realized than Boullée’s work. The springboard
for the conception of Chaux was his commission at the Royal Saltworks
at Arc-et-Senans, around which Ledoux designed his idyllic city. One
6 (Rosenau , 1976 , p . 105 )
Et ienne-Lou is Boul lée , Cenotaph for Newton , N ight
Le Corbus ier , Sa int-Pierre , F i rm iny , Inter ior F irm iny , France
Et ienne-Lou is Boul lée , Cenotaph for Newton , Day
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phase of the larger master plan was built, including the entrance
building and the house for the director, but both the realized and
unbuilt work remains visionary. The plan for the town itself is in the
form of a perfect circle, with the entrance building at a quadrant point
and the director’s house at the center. The designs for the Saltworks
buildings, each using a basic Platonic form, capture geometric ideals and
concepts of rationality and metaphor:
Thus, the agricultural guards are housed in a spherical
building, symbolic of the earth. The guards of the river Loue
are given a house whose central form is a cylinder, a double
abstraction of conduits for water and of the overturned urns
… In his civic buildings, Ledoux uses the cube as the basic
compositional element to convey moral stability, rectitude,
wisdom, and virtue. 7
Visionary in their radical conception, it is important to remember that all
of Ledoux’s designs for the various buildings of Chaux were very much
designed to be constructed. So even though buildings such as the
perfectly spherical House of the Gardener are reminiscent of the
fantastical drawings of Boullée, these utopian designs are in direct
dialog with an anticipated product and their smaller scale made them a
more realistic feat.
To-morrow’s Visionary
When reading the theoretical writings of Le Corbusier, there is never a
question as to whether his visionary descriptions and images are meant
to be built. During his career, he realized nearly all of his ideas
concerning the modern aesthetic and the contemporary city. Further, the
language Le Corbusier chooses to use stresses the present moment.
Beyond his repeated proclamation of a new epoch and spirit, the tone of
his propositions advocate an immediate utopia.
7 (Et l in , 1996 , pp . 1 10 , 1 13 )
Claude-N ico las Ledoux , House of the Gardener in Chaux
Claude-N ico las Ledoux , House of the Guards of the River
Pav i l ion based on des igns for House of the Coopers by Claude-N ico las Ledoux Jura Nat ional Park , France
BOLOS 6
In Towards An Architecture we can see parallels with previous themes
and the phenomenological. Corbusier writes that, “Architecture is a thing
of art, a phenomenon of the emotions … The purpose of…architecture
[is] to move us.”8 This can be seen in dialogue with Boullée’s lamentation
at, “What little attention has been paid in the past to the poetry of
architecture, which is a sure means of adding to man’s enjoyment,” and
Norberg-Schultz’s assertion that, “Poetry in fact is able to concretize
those totalities which elude science, and may therefore suggest how we
might proceed to obtain the needed understanding.”9
Two issues make Le Corbusier an important stopping point on the
journey towards the autonomous project. The first is a continuation
from Boullée and Ledoux of the relationship between the project and
built form. Corbusier gives us both the image of the Maison Domino
diagram and visionary ideas for a new way of living in his drawings for
Mass-Production Houses in Towards An Architecture. Clearly both act
merely as starting points. The Maison Domino was meant to be a
prototype for accelerated building post-war and was manifested
repeatedly by Le Corbusier, most clearly in his numerous villas.
Furthermore, we can see the ideas of the mass-production house and
standardization, with all of Corbusier’s admiration for what reinforced
concrete could provide, in the contemporary suburb and city.
10
The second important point to make with Le Corbusier is in fact a
departure from the theories analyzed so far. Boullée considered the
properties of materials an important part of how the typological
readings he discusses could be articulated.
11 Material importance is even
more evident in his renderings, particularly in his conical Cenotaph
project. For Ledoux, materiality was most prominent in rustication, a
means for him to establish a dialogue with and evoke nature.12
8 (Corbus ier , Towards a New Arch itecture, 2008 , p . 19 )
Of course
in the theories of phenomenology, material carries an even greater
9 (Rosenau , 1976 , p . 82), (Norberg-Schulz , 1979 , p . 8 ) 10 (Corbus ier , Towards a New Arch itecture, 2008 , pp . 229-265) 11 (Rosenau , 1976 , p . 90) 12 (Et l in , 1996 , p . 109 )
Le Corbus ier , Ma ison Cook
Et ienne-Lou is Boul lée , Cenotaph , Deta i l
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conceptual weight—the interaction between human and physical object
through the five senses is paramount. From Genius Loci:
What, then, do we mean with the word “place”? … We mean a
totality made up of concrete things having material substance,
shape, texture and colour. … The character [of a place] is
determined by the material and formal constitution of the
place. 13
It is from this value of materiality that the early and visionary projects
of Le Corbusier begin to move away. Corbusier’s Project of a new
aesthetic symbolizing the post World War I zeitgeist and a removal of
meaning from form led to the International Style, which in effect
created an abstracted material. This new formal language of glass and
immaterial white planes, which bore no clues as to tectonic or assembly,
reflected Le Corbusier’s initial belief that Architecture exists “outside
questions of construction and beyond them. The purpose of construction
is to make things hold together…”
14
To use an example from Le Corbusier’s visionary work, his plan for the
redevelopment of the Parisian center aimed to better society by
improving living conditions and establishing an apparent order and
permanence.
Corbusier still considered building
a necessity, but he regarded what has been called to this point the
“art” of construction as a means to an end. Whether or not this view
changed during his later work, the establishment of the International
formal language allowed for the idea of an abstracted building, which
set up a needed component for post-1960’s paper architecture.
15 “But it is the city’s business to make itself permanent,”
writes Corbusier in The City of To-morrow and its Planning, bringing
his ideals in relation to Boullée’s notions of rationality and
monumentality.16
13 (Norberg-Schulz , 1979 , pp . 6 , 14 )
The fact that Le Corbusier built to some extent most
of his projects or ideas is irrelevant in this discussion—the critical
14 (Corbus ier , Towards a New Arch itecture, 2008 , p . 19 ) 15 (Corbus ier , The C ity of To-morrow and its Plann ing , 1987 , pp . 15-25 , 44-53) 16 (Corbus ier , The C ity of To-morrow and its Plann ing , 1987 , p . 53)
Le Corbus ier , Plan Vo isi n , Par is
Le Corbus ier , Mass-Product ion Workmen 's Houses
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distinction is that he designed an anticipated spatial product which
keeps his work in the realm of visionary hypothetical projects. As
purely paper architecture, the project is not complete because the
terms of its objective cannot be tested autonomously. Furthermore, the
Plan Voisin is so striking because although not built in Paris,
Corbusier’s ideas for the utopian city had a major impact on the modern
American city, ideas which are now known to largely function
unsuccessfully.
The Phenomenological Schism
The formal language resultant of Modern abstraction together with the
catalyst of phenomenology created the arena and tools necessary for
the new type of hypothetical architectural project, the “conceptual,” to
emerge. It is not difficult to understand the resistance to an emerging
set of theories which regarded so highly the final product, the building
as object, and its subjective effects that the academic conception of
architecture was seemingly abandoned. Moreover, the built products of
corporate modernism during the emergence of conceptual paper
architecture held lackluster qualities of “place” or “character” the
phenomenologists pursued. And so, the avant-garde retreated to paper
to foster their ideas. Ostensibly frivolous concepts like nature, poetry,
and sense of place were replaced with objectivity, criticality, and
studious rigor.
In the previous two sections, the writings of Norberg-Schulz were cited
in order to show similarities between his theories and the viewpoints of
the architects of those time periods. At this point, however, there is an
abrupt break and shift in ideology, and we see a completely opposite
view of the building as a physical object and spatial product emerge. In
response to this analytic, “critical” method, Norberg-Schulz writes:
When we treat architecture analytically, we miss the concrete
environmental character, that is, the very quality which is the
Off ice for Metropol itan Arch itecture, The C i ty of the Capt ive Globe
Peter E isenman, House VI
BOLOS 9
object of man’s identification, and which may give him a sense
of existential foothold. 17
The two points of view were dichotomously opposed, and the new
version of paper architecture was instigated. Since real buildings had
been abstracted through Modernism, it was now not a far stretch to
abstract the abstraction using the same language. The “project” of a
building or urban scheme became detached from any expectation or
intention of an anticipated reality. Each narrative, series of geometric
operations, or aestheticized architectural representation became
resolved and complete on paper. This completeness allows the “project”
to exist autonomously even from the built building, if existent, thus
establishing a conceptual branch of architecture.
In Perfect Acts of Architecture, Terence Riley explains that
perspectival renderings of banal 1970s and 80s architecture had become
a means of distracting the general public.18
The distinction or ideological break of the conceptual is perhaps most
evident when we view these projects in terms of their subject
relationships. Phenomenology deals with a collective subject, and in that
regard inherited a metaphysic from Modernism which remained unchanged.
It is because of this collective subject that we maintain visionary work
through Modernism. However, when we arrive at conceptual paper
architecture (and to use Peter Eisenman’s work as an example), “the
subject is the evolution of the concept itself.”
The same could be said of
the conceptual camp of architecture, where representations are used
again to distract the audience, causing them to interpret something
architectural as indeed Architecture.
19
17 (Norberg-Schulz , 1979 , p . 5 )
We see the emergence
of a new metaphysic, perhaps the early post-human, the argument being
that both the subject and what it meant to build had changed. In terms
18 (K ipn is , 2001 , p . 9 ) 19 (K ipn is , 2001 , p . 9 )
Peter E isenman, House VI
Peter E isenman, House VI
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of Eisenman, Jeff Kipnis explains that, “’Building’ became a matter of
enlarging and rendering certain drawings.”20
As House VI is the only project from Perfect Acts to be realized, it is
a convenient example for analyzing the conceptual architectural project.
The drawings produced for House VI by Eisenman track step-by-step
the transformations which take it from an origin of simple planes to a
completed, complex volumetric composition. However at the last diagram,
even while still on paper, the problem which the project of House VI
poses is both solved and exhausted. Due to the fact that the project is
encapsulated and can operate independently of either an existing or
projected building, it has achieved an autonomy from the “building”
itself. The fact that House VI was built becomes irrelevant; its
construction adds nothing to the “project.” Similarly, the other “House”
projects of Eisenman suffer no loss because of their never having been
realized; each compositional disposition is fulfilled and there exists no
residue of visionary apprehension.
Foreword
It seems appropriate to conclude an essay concerning visionary
architecture with a “foreword" addressing where this duality between
the visionary and conceptual leaves us today. As conceptual
architecture was a product of the circumstances in the 1970s and 80s, it
seems that we have exited that phase of hypothetical architectural
projects. If we have a reasonable parallel in today’s architectural
climate, it is perhaps the unbuilt work of individuals such as Greg Lynn,
Tom Wiscombe, and Hernan Diaz Alonso—work which has the ambition of
being realized but lacks the current economic feasibility.
In this regard, such contemporary work could be seen as the return to
a visionary practice, projecting future possibilities for the discipline. The
difference in today’s work is the lack of a utopian vision or ideal and
more of a discussion of what is the contemporary and how that is
20 (K ipn is , 2001 , p . 34 )
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articulated. Perhaps as we move forward, a radical contemporary will
emerge again as it did in any of the three previous moments discussed,
“[making] their way into the world again anew, for a new audience, a
new generation.”21
21 (K ipn is , 2001 , p . 13 )
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Works Cited
Le Corbus ier . ( 1987) . The C i ty of To-morrow and i ts Plann ing . New York : Dover Publ icat ions .
Le Corbus ier . (2008) . Towards a New Arch i tecture . Un ited States : BN Publ ish ing .
Et l in , R . A . ( 1996) . Symbol i c Space: French En l i ghtenment Arch i tecture and I ts Legacy . Ch icago : Un ivers ity of Ch icago Press .
K ipn is , J . (2001 ) . Perfect Acts of Arch i tecture . New York , Columbus : Museum of Modern Art , Wexner Center for the Arts .
Norberg-Schulz , C . ( 1979) . Genius loc i : Towards a Phenomeno logy of Arch i tecture . New York : R izzol i .
Rosenau , H . ( 1976) . Boul lée & Vis ionary Arch i tecture. London : Academy Ed it ions .
Top i c deve loped in part thanks to conversat ions w ith Karl Schmeck , Ya le M .Arch ’ 12 .
