The Split Wall: Domestic Voyeurism Beatriz ColomSexsalty and Space “Touives ro LEAVE TRACES," sites Walter Benjamin, nds: cussing the birth of the interior. “In te interior chese are empha- Sized. An abundance of covers and protectors, liners and cases is Alevsed, on which the traces of object of everyday ute are imprinted. The traces ofthe occupant also leave their impression ‘onthe interior, The detective story that fllows these traces comes ino being... The eriminals ofthe Fst deceive novelsate neither gentlemen nor apache, but private members ofthe bourgeois.” “There is an interior in the detective novel. But can there be a Aetective story ofthe interior itself, ofthe hidden mechanisms by which space is constructed a interioe? Which may be to sy, 3 Aexectve story of detection itself, ofthe contalling look, the look ‘of contrl, che contalled look. But were would the traces of the look be imprinted? What do we have ro go on? Wh cle? There is an unknown passage ofa well-known book, Le Cor- Ibosers Urine (1929), which reads: "Loos told me one day:'A clivated man docs not look out ofthe winds his window isa ‘ground glass is there only to let the light in, not to let the eaze pss through." It points to conspiouous yee conspicuously ‘ignored feature of Loos houses: not only are the windows either ‘opaque or covered with sheer curtains, but the organization ofthe spacrs and the disposition ofthe builcin furniture (dhe émmeubl) seems tohinder access to them, A saison placed atthe footof| 1 Wier Benjamin, "Paris, Capita of te Nizcenth Century in eins, tra Edin Jp (New Yr: Seok Hooks, 186, pesse 2 on mafiemscun jou: "Us bomme civ ne rare pa para fener fnere et en vere pa cle not Igoe pour der de Tamir on pour ister pascr regard” Le Carbs, iin (Pari 13s) p74. When the Book epi in Engh ner the ide ‘The iyo Tere Panay, tens Frederick Echl(New York von) ee wentence ead re ened wo me: No nelige man ‘er bots ou of his widow his window i male of ground lasts aly Fein wo ein ight aa to lookout (op 1-186, In this treat, Lod name at Been placed by a em” Wa Loot “obo” Fr Etchells, ce th jet anater example of he id of miguoderstanding that ed othe tasrasaon of he le ofthe book? Perhaps it as Le Corus timslf wo decided terse Lot me. OF 2 feet order, bu oles symptomatic, the misranlation of Taser pase erga (ete gat steph) at" oak oat of" ft eso the es tha the gae might ake na were eo ow independent of the beholder, This could only happes ia France! 2 Fat for Hans Brarmeel, Pen, 929 edrooc with soe eet the window 3 Maller Howe, Prag, 130 window s0 8 to postion the occupants with their back ti c= ing the room (Suse 2). Thisever happens with the windows that Took into other interior spaces-as in the sting area ofthe ld lounge ofthe Maller house (Prague, 1930) (igure 3). Moreover, ‘upon entering 3 Loos interior one's body is continually earned around 0 face the space one just moved dhrough, eather than the "upcoming space or the space outside, With each turn, each return Took, the body is arrested Looking the photographs, iis easy to imagine oneself in these precise, static positions, usally ini- ‘ated by the unoccupied urnitae, The photographs suggest that itis intended tha these spacis be comprohended by occupation, by using this farniure, by “entering” the photograph, by inhabit- Iprsennizcn hl Sse ba orev ner hiya rang, ptogephs or Srp tosSesualty and Space Inthe Meller house (Vienna, 1928) there i arise siting area ‘off she ving room with a sof act against the window: Although fone cnt sce out the window ts presence is strongly fle. The bookshelves surrounding the sofi and the light coming from behind e sigges a comfortable nook for reading (figure 4). Bat comfort in this space is more than just sensual, for there aso a psychological dimension. A sense of security is produced by the position of the couch, the placement ofits occupants, against the Tight. Anyone who, ascending the stars from the entrance (sea rather dark passage, enters the living room, would take a few moments to recognize a person siting inthe couch. Conversely, any intusion would soon be detected by a person cecupying his aa, just as an actor entering the stage is immediately seen by a spectator ina theater bo (gute , 5) Loos refers to the ide ofthe theater box in noting that “the smallness of a theater box would be unbearable fone cold not Took out into the large space beyond."* While Kull, and later ‘Mina, read this comment in terms ofthe economy of space pro= vided by the Raunplay, they overlook ie prychological dim son. For Loos, the theater box exists 3 he intersection between claustrophobin and agoraphobia.s This. spail-psychologieal device could alo be read in tems of power, regimes of control inside the house. The raised sitting area ofthe Moller house pro- vides the occupant with a vantage poine overlooking the interior ‘Comtfor in this space is related to both intimacy al control This areas the most inmate ofthe sequence of living spaces, yet, paradoxically, rather than being at dhe heart ofthe house tis 16 Lindwig Mand Gast Kath, Der Ack A Las (Viena om Ardea (Lon, 1966.8: "We may clo mind an ‘lerraton by Adal ace unde down cou by Heise Kalla, shat tus bev ings spre boy eace poe wesec ope er ‘he design of smal boss, y inking 3 hgh main 0m with Toe ‘beeen cascrophobi and agoraphobia. This dct already found in Rae" Teysog, “The Discs ofthe Domi,” Asem 6 (98895 4 Moller Howe, Vienna, 1938 The used iting aso the ving rom, ‘Moller Hou.6 Moller Hoos. View on the rst placed at the periphery, pushing a volume out ofthe street fade, Just above the front entrance. Morcover, it coresponds withthe Iangest window on this elevation (almest a horizantal window) (figuee 6) The occupant ofthis space can both detect anyene «rossng-trespassing the dhreshald of de house (while sereencd by the curtain) and monitor any movement in the interior (while screened” bythe backlighting) In this space, the window is only a source of Fight (not a rame fora view), The ee is tened zowards the interioe The only ext rior view that would be possible from this position requires that the gaze travel che whole depth ofthe house, rom the alcove to the living room tthe music room, which opensonte the back garden (Bigure 7). Thus, the exterior view depends upon a view ofthe Beatie Colnsina 17, Moller Hows, Pen and ction tracing she sex ohe bac gd, Te lok folded inward upon itself can be traced in other Loos interiors. Inthe Miller house, Frinstance the sequence of pace, articulated around the tirase, fellows an increasing sense of pric ‘acy frm the drawing room, tothe dining room an study othe lady's room” (Zinmer der Dams) with is raised siting area, which occupies the center, oF “hear,” ofthe house (figs 3, 8} But the window ofthis space looks onto the living space. Here, too, the most intimate room is hike a theater box, placed just over the entrance tothe socal spaces in this house, so that any intrder could casly be scen, Likewise, the view ofthe exterion towards the city, rom this “theater box," is contained within a view ofthe interior Suspended in the middle of the hows, this space assumes both the character ofa “sacred” space and of a point of contol Comfort is paradoxically poduced by two scemingly opposing conditions, intimacy and control. “This is hardly the ides of consfrt which is associated withthe nineteenth-century interior as described by Walter Benjamin in Louis-Philippe, oF the Interior" ln Loos interiors the sense of 6 "Ther kos more dct and mre privat ote othe ising ea fees rising rom the ean ofthe drawing room. 1 "Under Louie Pipe the priate sen enter the tage of history Forth private pra, ving ace Bore, fr the se, antl aco work The formers contd by he nti defiessecurity isnot achiewed by simply turning one's back om the ext Sor and immersing oneself in private universe-"a box in the world theater," to use Benjamin's metaphor. It no longer the house that is theater box theresa theter box inside the house overlooking the internal social spaces, The inhabitants of Loos houses are both actors in and spectators ofthe family scenein- valved in, yer detached from, thee ovn space.* The classical dis- tinction berween inside and outside, private and pubic, abject and subject, becomes convoted plement. The private person who gure i count with ay fice dcsds tn the ero be maintained nhs sions, Ts ‘ed isallte mee prs soe has mo itenton of extending is omanerclconssersine no soil nc. shaping hi ete iret he premer bad, rom i oping the lonrmagoria of theuniese. Ith gues remxe pace sd the pst His drawing | isabox in the weed thester” Waker Bejan, “Pars, Capita ofthe Nineteen Conary" fect. p 1s. 4 Thiccalle to mind A Childe Heng Beste” (19) sehen Vice he subject i positioned Bh i he 9 Miller Hows The cheater hoxes in the Moller and Miller hous are marked as “female,” the domestic character of the fumiture con ‘wasting with tha of theadjacent"male” space, the baie (igure 9)- ln dese, the leather sofas, the desks, the chimney he mittors, representa “publie space” within thehouse-theofficeand the club invading the interior Bue isan invasion which is cofined to an enclosed room-a space which belongs to the sequerer of social spaces within the house, yetdoes not engage with them, As Miinz notes, the library sa “reservoir of quistncs," act apt from the houschold traffic." The raised aleove ofthe Moller hasse and the Zimmer der Dame ofthe Milles house, cn the other hatd, not only ‘overlook the social spaces but are exactly pestined he ee of Bargin, “Geometry and Abjcton” A ilo 19 (Sme 19 The mice of Loo intros appears ocomeie with of Feats . Sigmund Fred. “A Chil Is Being Benen A Casein feta Feud’ pper ce ko: ogre Rose, Sealy te isn Codon, 198kSexuality and Space the sequence, on the threshold ofthe private, the secret, the upper rooms where sexuality i hidden away. At the intersection of the visible and the invisible, women are placed as the guardians ofthe tonspeakable.” ‘Bt the theater box is device which both provides protection and draws atention to itself Ths, when Mar describes the fentrance to the socal spaces of the Moller house, he writes “Within, entering from one side, one's gaze travelsin the opposite ieeton il rests in the light, pleasant aleove, raised above the living 0m floor. Now we are really inside the house." Thats, the intruder is “inside,” has penetrated the house, only when his! her gaze strikes this most intimate space, torming the occupant ino silhouette against che light! The “voyeur” in the “theater ‘box has become the object of another's ger; she i caught in the actofseeing, entrappedin the very moment of contol n fram ‘nga view, the theater box also frames the viewer Ie is impossible toabandon the spice, letalone leave the hous, without being seen |by those aver whom contral is Being exerted. Object and subject exchange places, Whether thre is actally a person behind cither gazes irrelevant: 3 nach of Bonjpsin ccot of the urge interiors Mulvey writes "Benjani doesnot motion the fact tha the rate Sphere domes a essa adjunct the Bourges marrige and ths asocted with woman not imply 5 femal, Bue os wie a ote Tis the meter who gutentes the piicy f the hare by ‘untaning t expectain sc ene defence pina ncuron of Carona th enopssing wal of he home fac.” Lar Maley, "Melodrama side an Outs the Home,” Vial and Ore Pls (Condon. 1935) 1p" Miz ad Kant, Ad Lor, p49 {Upon ceding am cave ern of thc mausrip, Jane Weta ont ut tha thisthouct guint he gh can be nrtood a3 rected wottan, 2 ved woman, an herfre he ado obj of ste 1 Tn er response oan cater version ofthis pape, Siva Keb nt out tha the woman the ie siting oe ofthe Mole ote {Sold abo be seen rom bhi droug the window te the tect, nd chat therefore she ako vuleabe a ber rent of contol Beserx Calomina canfst mys under the gate ftom whose ye Eda mtv se aateen discr, Ath isnecetary i forsomething sini ‘omnetha thee may ether here. The window gts i dak anus Ihave reson fo tinking eat heres soneone bend tit "aighiwoy gate From the moment thi gee exist ams sbeady Something the inh felmyselrbecomingan object the gaze ‘foters. Bat in thi postion, which ea eis neces abo ‘ow hat Lam an objet who Eno hse be sc. Architecture snot simply a platform that accommodates the viewing subject. Iisa viewing mechanisin that produces the sub- ect. Ie precedes and frames its oeupant. "The theatricality of Los’ interiors i constructed by many Forms of representation (of which bile space is not necessarily the ‘most important), Many ofthe photographs, for instance, tend {give the impression that someone is just about to cnter the room, thata piece of domestic dramas about be enacted. The charac- ters absent from the stage, feom the scenery and from its props the conspicuously placed pices of furniture (Figure to]-are con jured up." The only published photograph of a Loos interior ‘which includes a human figure isa view ofthe entrance 10 the “drawing room ofthe Rufer house (Vina, 1923) (figure 1). A ‘male igure, barely visible, is about to cross the threshold through a peculiar pening in the wall Bue it ix prisly tes theesh- ‘ol, slightly off tage, thar the actr/intruder is most vulnerable, forasmall window in the reading room Tooks dove ent the back 15 cg Lic, he Sonn oes Lac: Bo 1 Fred aps “Tenge ysy-95h oh pegus- Alin Mil rans Job Former (New York and Looe WW. Novto and Co 988, pasts passage ean erento fea-Pal Sat’ Beng and Naf. 14 Therese natin of uch personfnton of friars cnc of Los ow minbiogr pl rents “htros inthe Rowan (898, wher He Siice “Every pee of fant, evrything, every object da sey to {eesti ry Soko th Wd Caled as 89-1, tans ine Newnan snd an H. Smith (Cambege, Mss, ad Lado MIT Pres, 19) 934 15. This photograph fax only bon pblte rece: Kalk monoeanh (Govern which Loe wished) present xy he sae ve the 810 Adolf Loos tt, Vienna, 1993 Beatrig Colomina ‘of is neck, This house, traditionally considered co be the proto- type ofthe Raumplan, also contains the prototype ofthe chester box. In his writings onthe question ofthe house, Loos describes number of domestic melodramas. ln Das Ander, for example, be Tiy to describe bow bi dent, Shei jing nthe wood lor One ofr ands il hols the smoking reve: On the abl ete, the frwel ter he (One could as well ask why its only the women who die and cry and commit suicide. But leaving aside thie question for the moment, Loos is saying thatthe house musta be conceived oF 2 work of art, that there isa difference between 4 house and 3 ‘series of decorated rooms.” The house is dhe stage For the thence ‘of the family, place where people are born and lve and die Whereas 2 work oft a pinting, presents its to critical at tion a6 an objec, the house is vedas an environment, 38 4 stage To setthe scene, Loos breaks doventhe condition of che house asan object by radially convoluting the ration between inside and outside, One ofthe devices he uses is mirrors whieh, a8 Ken roth Frat ings which ahas pointed out, appear to be openings, ahd op m be mistaken foro ‘ae plorogph, bus without man gue. The st Srl pls he viewer toward the vi tw th ‘nich the phororair so double he ned Const he sae st dos nthe bun coh ofthe re ra of the Mole house, tx window othe Zane’ der Dane over 17 Kent Frmpro,snpublaked eure, Colum Univers FallSeaualty and Space the placement in the dining room of the Steiner house (Viena, 1otd) (figure 12), of miror jose beneath an opaque window.'* Here. again, the windows is only a source of light, The mirror, placed at eye level, returns the gaze to the interior, co the lamp hove the dining table and the objects onthe sideboard, recalling Fread’sstudi in Berggasse 19, whereasmall famed mirrorhang~ ing against che window rests the lamp oa his work table. In Freudian theory the mirror represents the psyche. The reflection in the mirror is aso a sele-portait projected onto the outside ‘world. The placement of Fred mirror onthe boundary between Jntetir and exterior undermines the status of the boundary 25 a fixed limit, Inside and outside cannot simply be separated. Sim- ian, Loos mirrors promote the interplay between reality and ilision, berween the actual and virtual, undermining the status of the boundary between inside apd outside ‘This ambiguity between inside and outside is intensified by the separation of sight fom the ocher senses, Physical and visual connections between the spaces in Loos’ houses are often sepa rated. Inthe Rufer house, wide opening establishes between the ‘asd dining room an the music room a visual connection which flocs not cortespond tothe physical conection, Similarly, in the Moller house there appears to be no way of entevng the dining room fromthe music room, which i 70 centimeters below the only nea of access is by unfolding steps which ae hidden in the timber base ofthe dining room (Sgure 13) This strategy of physical separation and. visuil connection, of “framing,” is Fepeated in many other Loos interiors. Openings are ofien fercened by curtains, enhancing the stagelike effet. should also bbenoted chat tis usally che dining and the music room a the space forthe spectators. What i being, framed is the waditonal scene of everyday domestic life oom which cts asthe tage, {soul so be noted that hi window is mentee window, 2 oppose oth eet window, wbich opens ints tveel pace 1 Tie refetive sce nthe mare the ining oom of te Molex ss (halfvay betcen an opaque window ada itor and the window tthe rear the mise room “ior each tke aot nin thie Ibeon snd tie propor, bar ewe nthe wy the ants disposed iewo ues Allo pre the Monn the potest the reel beeween hese 180 SF 2 viua-inprabltpencebleSexuality and Space ss ‘Burt the breskilown between inside and outside, ad the split between sightand rouch, i not located exclusively in the domestic seene. It aso occurs in Loos project fora house for Josephine Baker (Pars, 1928) (figures 14, 13)~a house tha excludes family lite, However, in this instance the “split” acquires a diferent meaning, The house was designed to contain 2 large top-lt dloable-heighe swimming pool with entry atthe second-floor level. Kurt Ungers, + close collaborator of Loos inthis project, “The sceptlon rooms onthe fi or arene rund the pool lage salon wih an extensive top- vessbuleasmaleunge andthe ire ea- indice thatthe sine ot fr piste be { minis everionen cnt. On he fist or, 1 ptsge ‘ound oo They av iby the wite windows vile onthe oat fide, and rom them, ek, range windows alt ino he sie ‘of thepoo sharia posible to wach swimming sel ving fis eytabclee wats, Hooded with ight fm above: an adr reve 300 speck [tors emphasis) Asin Loos earlier houses, the eyeis directed toward the inte= rior, which turnsits back on the outside word: bathe subject and jobject ofthe gaze have been reversed. The inhabitant, sephine Baker, isnow the primary abject, and the visitor, the guest, isthe ooking subject, The most intimate spice-the swimming pool, paradigm of sensual space-occupies the center ofthe house, and Jwalko the focus ofthe vistors gaze, As Ungers writes, enterain- ‘ment inthis house consists in looking, But between this gaze and its object-the body-ie a screen of gles and water, which te the body inaccesible. The swimming pool sit from above, by skylight, so that inside tthe windows would appear a refctive surfaces, impeding the swimmncr’s view of the visitors standing in the passages. Tis view isthe opposite ofthe panoptic view of a theater box, correrponding instead to that ofthe peepole, where subject and object cannor simply exchange plces.* ao Leste fom Kure Unger to Lag Mans, qt in Mane ard Kensie, Ad Los, p95 a Inscaton to te model the popshow an the strate of ‘oveuchn see Vctor Bargin jet Za 14 Project fora hous or Josephine Baer in Pas 15 Josephine Baker Hou, Pn ffi onSexusliey and Space The mize Hein the Josephine Baker house recalls Christan Mec’ description of the mechanism of voyeurism in cnc einen een. that be ctor hood bee as thongh he wee rot scon (nd therefrat houg he dd ot ech wove Bhs he should go aboot his wdinarybasnes and pursue his exten fereen bythe ton ofthe fil, that he sold ery on with i snc in x dosed oom, aking the most ar nat te mie hat ase etn bas ben set on ofthe walls, hat hes ina nt of aqustiam ‘But the architecture of this house is mote complicated. The swimmer mightalso se the reflection, framed by the window, of | her oven slippery body superimposed on the disembodied eyes of | the shadowy figure of the spectatog, whose lower body is cut out by the frame, Thus she sees herself being looked at by another: + narcissistic goae superimposed on 3 voyeuristic gaze. This erotic ‘complex of looks in which hei suspended i insribed in cach oF| the four windows opening ontothe swimming poo. Each, even if there is noone ooking trough it constitutes, fom both sides, 2 size ‘The split between sigh and the other physical senses found in Loos interiors s explicit in his definition of architecture. In “The Principle of Cladding” he writes: “the artist, the archer, Fist senses ee eet author emphasis] that he intends to realize and ss the rooms he wants to crete in his minds eye, He sense the fect that he wishes to exert upon the spectator [author'semphasis] Thomneynes fits] a residence.” For Loos, the interior is pre (Gcsipal space, space before the analytical distancing which lan- guage entails, space a we felt, as clothing; that i, a clothing before the existence of readymade clothes, when one had eo first choose the Fabri (nd this at required, or lscem to emernber as much, adistinc gesture oflooking away fiom the cloth while fel- ing its texture, a5 ifthe sighe of it would be an obstacle to the sensation). 22 Christin Met, "A Noe en Tio Kinds of Voyeur," The Inaginary Sir (Bloongen an Univer Pee 197) 6 22 Adolf Loos, "The Prince of Cladding” 8), Spent se Tha 16 Diagram from the Th de Prins of René Descartes, Loos coms tohave rovers the Cartesian schism beewoen the perceptual and conceptsal (Figure 16). Whereas Descartes, 36 Franco Rella has writen, deprived the body ofits stats 36 "the scat of valid and transmissible knowledge” ("hn sensation, in the experience cha derives from it, harbours ere”). Loos privi= leges the bodily expsricnce oF space over ts moneal constuction the architec ist senses the space, the he visualizes i For Lacs, architecture i a form of covering, bat itis not the walls thatare covered Structure plays scondary roe, adits pri= mary function ist hold the eovering in place: The acheter tak to provide a warm and ele pce (Carpet ae warm a lable, He decides fer his reson to ped oe carpet on the floor an han up fur t for he our wll ‘Baty cannot build hse oo apts. Both he carpet on he floor and th peta the al rite astrcterl amet old them inthe oe ple, To inset hi race the architec 34 anc Rll Mi del moo un: Pratche Er, 9) py ts and ete. Bent Deere, Corp 6 ews ri a: ter typeraniste, Aga 25. Loos “The Pail of Cig," p. 8617 Adolf Loot “The spaces of Loew’ interiors cover the occupants a5 clothes coverthe body (each oceasion has its appropriate "fit", José Quet~ tlashas written; “Would thesame pressure onthe body beaccepe- Sle ina tancoat a8 na gown, in jodhpurs or in pajama pants? {All the architecture of Laos can be explained as the envelope ofa ‘body.” From Lina Loos’ bedroom (this “bag of for and cloth”) (gure 17) Josephine Baker’ swimming pool ("this transparent ‘bowl of water") the interiors always contain 3 “warm bag in which to wrap oneself” I is an “archieecare of pleasure,” an “agchiecrare ofthe womb."2¢ ‘But space in Looe architectures nocjust Fk Tes significant, inthe quotation above, that Loos refers to the inhabitant asa spec- {ator foc his definition ofarchitestors realy a definition oftheat= fiel architecture. The “cloths” have become so removed from the body that they require strctaral support independent of it They become a "stage set.” The inhabitane is both “covered” by the space and “detached” from it. The tension between sensation fof comfort and comfortas cantrol disrupts the role of the house as Jone Quel “Lo Plcoteo," Card ls Cn, no. 91, sei aac on Loos anaay 98) Beatrie Colomina 1 traditional form of representation. More precisely, heteaitional system of representation, within which the building i but one of ‘many overlapping mechaniems, i dislocated Loot critique of traditional notions of architectural representation is bound up withthe phenomenon of an emergent metropolitan culture, The subject of Loo’ architecture isthe metropolitan in ‘vidual, iumersed inthe abetact relationships of the city 3¢ pains to assert the independence and individuality of his existence against the leveling power of society. This bate, according to Georg Simmel, isthe adem equivalent of primitive man'strug- ile with nature, clothing is one ofthe battlefields, and fashion is ‘one oft strategies. °7 He writes: "The commonplaceis good form in society... tis bad taste to make oneseif conspicuous through some inividsl, singular expression... Obedience to the stan dacds ofthe general publi in all externas [is] the conscious and desired means of reserving their personal felings and their taste," In other words, fasion is mask which proccts the inti- acy of the metropolitan being, Loos writes about fashion in precisely such terms: “We have become more refined, moresubil, Primitive men had to differen tiate themselves by various colors, modern man needs his clothes asa mask, His individuality is so strong that can no longer be ‘expressed in terms ofitems of clothing... isown inventions are concentrated on other things." Significantly Loos writesaboutthe exterior ofthe house inthe same txms that he writes about fashion: 27 “Te depot conics of modern man cot ty logerin the ann Fe with matre,bu in the oc th the nil me ight aim the independence a pert of his exinene aginst he mares per af soci in hs restr to Being vel allowed pi be Socalacheicl mechanic.” Goorg Sm, Di Gost uel das ‘Schon 903), Englah trast "Te Metropole and Ment Li In Geo Sint Ov indvitiy and Soil Fone, 8. Donald Levine (Chicago 9h pp ans 28 Georg Simic, “Taio” (yoy 3 dol Loon, "Ornament and Cre” (908) ans. Wied Wang The Arh of Ad Lvs Landon, 15) B03Sexuality and Space he ts ally given the tsk buiing hous ad 10 yal nis exter appearance, a house caren have changed 5 tnuch aa dines cht Nota sherefre. hd Become i= ian simples Had subsitae the glden bons with Back fone. The hou ht Took incospicuoes. > The hone does nt have to ll anything the exterior: stead all ie rihnes tbe anit inthe itevion Loos seems to establish 4 radical difference between interior and extrio, which elects de plc between the intimate andl the Social life of the metropolitan being: outside, the realm of ‘exchange, money, ad masks inside, the realm of the inalienable, the nonexchangeable, and the unspeakable. Morcove, ths split ‘between inside and outside, between senses and sight, is gender- loaded. The exterior ofthe house, Loos writs, should resemble a dinner jacket, a male mask; asthe unified sel, protected by a scams facade, che exterior is masculine. The interior isthe sene ‘of sexuality and ofreprodaction, all the things that would divide thesubject inthe outside worl. However, chs dogmatic division ins Loos writings between inside and outside is undermined by his architecture “The suggestion that the exterior merely a ask which lads some preexisting interior is misleading, forthe interior and exte~ ‘orate constructed simaeancously. When he was designing the [Rufer hows, for example, Loos used a dismounrable model that ‘would allow the internal and external distributions to he worked ‘out simultaneously. The interior i not simply the space which is tnclosed by the facades. A multiplicity af boundaries is estab- lished, and the tension between inside and outside resides in the walls that divide them, its taus disturbed by Loos displacement of traditional forms of representation. To adress che interior iso address the splitting ofthe wall. “Tak, forinstance, the displacement of deawing conventions in Loos four pencil drawings ofthe elevation ofthe Rufer house (fig 30 Adolf Los, “Architect,” bid p97 BM Ads Loon, Heimat Kunst (9) 0 ‘aasbrach, 90 em 58190-1930) i Rafer House. Elson ure 18), Each one showsnot only the outlines ofthe fade butalo, in dotted lines, the horizontal and vertical divisions ofthe interior the postion ofthe rooms, the thickness ofthe lors and the walls ‘The windows are represented as back squares, with no frame, ‘These are drawings of neither the inside nor the outside but the membrane betvcen them: between the representation of abita- tion nd che masks the wall Loos subject inhabits tis wall. This Inhabitation creates a tension om tht limi, campers with i This is noe simply a metaphor. In every Loos house there is 2 point of maximam tension ad i always coincides with athresh= ‘olde boundary nthe Mollerhovse itis the raised alcove protrud= tng from the sos agade, where the occupants ensconced in the security ofthe interior, yet detached from it. The subject of Loos houses is a stranger an intruder in his own space. In Josephine Baker's hous, the wall ofthe swimming poo! ie punctared by ‘windows. Irhas been pulled apart, leaving a narrow passage sut= rounding the pool, and splitting cach ofthe windowsinto an inter- ‘al window and an external window, The visitor lieall inhabits this wall, whieh enables him to look both inside, at che pool and‘Sexuality and Space 6 ‘ouside, athe city, bute is nether inside nor outside the house Inthe dining room ofthe Stciner house, the gaze directed towards the window is folded back by the mirror beneath it, transforming, the interior into an exterior view, a scene. The subject has been dislocated: unable to occupy the inside af the house securely, itcan only occupy the insceure margin between window and mirror >= Like the occupants of his houses, Loos is both inside and out- side the object The illusion of Loos asa mani control of hi on work, an undivided subject, is suspect. Infact, hes constructed, controlled, and fraceured by his own work. Inthe Raumplan, for ‘ample, Loos constructs a space (without having completed the ‘working drawings), then allows himselfto be manipulated by this construction, The object has as much auchoity ver him ashe has lover the object, Hes noe simply an author. 38 “The critic ¢ no exception to this phenomenon. Incapable of detachment feom the object, the extc simultaneously produces 2 new objectand is produced by it. Criticism that presentsitselfasa ‘ew interpretation of an existing abject isin face constructing @ completely new object. On the other hand, readings that claim to bbe purely objective inventories, the standard monographs of ‘Loos-Minz and Kunstler in che 1960s and Gravagnuoto in the 19S0s-ate thrown off-balance by the very object oftheir control [Nowhcr is this alienation more evident tha in their interpeta- tions of the house for Josephine Baker Mine, othcrwise 2 wholly cicumspect writer, begins his appraisal of this house wieh the exclamation: “Africa: that i the image conjured up more or lee firmly by a contemplation ofthe model,” but e then confesses not to know why he invoked this ‘mage. He atempts to analyze the formal characteristics ofthe 52 The bjt inns cly the inabitant ofthe space but ako the viewer ‘fhe otopranh the nic and he areitee. Se in thi expect my trl "nimacy at Spec: The terior of Looe” AA Fle, 00. 20 (tog) 3-14 which develops thi pone ter 433, Loot dat for the arhtecural dain el kim to develop the empl 2 3 meso eonceptalizing space mit ek, but, roving ‘let ro thera defiton ft. Kl ted: he will make many ‘hangs daring contruction, He wil wal rough the pos and ny do totlite the beige hs cling, change it The eso he Raplan Imad dial finsh scheme ele enstrction lowed eh ‘isuzation ofthe pace ea 34 Man and Kasete, Ado Los, p19, Beatriz Colomina projet, but all he can conclude is that “they look strange and note.” Whats moat striking inthis passage isthe uncertainty as co whether Manzi referring to the model of the house ot Jo= sephine Baker herself He seems unable to either detach himself from this projector to enter into it Tike Miing, Gravagnuolo finds himself writing chines with= four knowing why, eeprimands himself, chen ties to regain contra: ise dhe ith crm ofthis gay archtectr. Fs wo just he chromatin ofthe ads butas we abl ce-the spectacle faut of the inter aticltion tat determines st rete a ‘slucive chute Rather han abandon oc othe plas of suggestions, ts cesar tothe ths "toy" topes wth aaa (htatne one wines to wlertz the mechanion of compel ton hor empha He then insti (the archi tecturlinteoversion, ‘che plastic arrangement”) which he uses nowhere ein the hook. And he ceneludes: ‘The water Hoe wit ight, the tefeshing Sim, the voyeuristic lesvereo rcrwaer exploration ae dhe cry alaced Ingress of this gay architect. Bt wha mers ces hat theinvitaon tothe spectacle iggstly the thee ofthe houte fora cabaret suris handed by Loos wit scsion a illo Jeavlso moee otic ze, ilvng the moemoni pst ‘of uottion a aheions tothe Roman spit, than a wun sor render tothe ust of Holywood, autor’ empha] Gravagnuolo ends up crediting Loos with the “detachment” (feom Hollywood, vulgar ast, fersinized culture) in “handling” the projec thatthe crite himself was atempeing to regain in its analysis, The insistence on detachment, en reestablishing the dis- tance beeween critic and object of criticism, architect and build- ing, subject and objec, i of course indicative ofthe obvious fact that Minz and Gravagnolo have filed to separate chemselves from the object. The image af Josephine Baker offers pleasure but 43 Bondetto Grivagnusl, Adar (New Yok Rizo, 982 p19. ”‘Senuality and Space also represents the threat of castration posed by the “other”: the mage of woman in water-liguid, elusive, unable tobe controlled, pinned doen. One way of dealing with this threats fetshizaton “The Josephine Baker house represents shift in the sexual sta- tusof the boty. This shift involves determinations of raceand class ‘more than gender. The theater box ofthe domestic interior places the occupant against the ight. She appears a asilhouette, myste~ tous andl desirable, but the backlighting so draws attention co hherasa physical volume, a bodily presence within the house with its own interior She controle che interior, yetshe strapped within it Inthe Baker hous, the body is producedas spetace, the object fof an erotic gaze, an erotic system of looks. The extetior of this Fhouse cannot be read asa sient mask designed to conceal its nte- rior itis a tattooed surface which does nt refer tothe ier either conceals nor reveals it. This fecishization of the surface is repeated inthe “interior.” In the passages, the vistors consume Bakers body as asurface adhering che windows, Like the body, the house all surface; it does not simply have an inter In he houses of Le Corbusier the reverse condition of Loos inte- iors may be observed. In photographs windows ae never covered ‘with curtains, neither is acess chem hampered by objects. On ‘he contrary, everything in these houses seems tobe disposed in a sway that continuously thrones he sujet cowards the periphery of the house. The look is directed to the exterior in such deliberate manner a5 to suggest the reading ofthese houses as frames for ‘ew. Even when actually in an “exteriog "ina terrace orn “roof tarden,” wallsare constructed to fame the landscape, aida view from thereto the interior, asin 2 eanonic photograph of Villa Savoye (igure tg), passes right through it tothe framed landscape (so that infact ane can speak aboutaseries of overlapping frames) These ames are given temporality through the promenade, Unlike Adolf Loos hase, perception ere occur in motion. Iis hard ro think of oneself in static postions. If the photographs of Loos’ Interiors give the impression thc somebody is about ro enter the room, in Le Corbusier’ the impression is that somebody as just, ther, leaving as traccs a coat anda hat lying on the table by the entrance of Villa Savoye (figure 29) or some Bread ana jug. che kitchen tale (gute 1; note albo that che door here has been left ‘open Further suggesting the idea that we have ust missed some~ Villa Savoye, Pia, 139, Jad ent, Ville Savoye. View of the eeance failbody), ra rw fishin the kitchen of Garces (Figure 23). Andeven nce we have reached the highest point ofthe house, asin the ce- race of Villa Savoye in the sll ofthe window which frames the landscape, the culminating point of the promenade, here find a ha, a pai of sunglass, alte package ( lighter (gure 23), and now, where did the gerleman go? Because of course, you would have noticed already, that the personal object reall male objects (never a handbag, a lipstick, or some Pisce of women’s clothing). But before that, We are following somebody, the traces ofhisenstence presente to usin the form of 2 series of photographs of the interior. The look int these photo traps is forbidden look, The look ofa detective. A voysuristic Took. 3° also we res) anda 46 For eter nerprtcons of thse photographs of Le Carus ils Preston the Ose pte sce Ths Sch allow Space" Areca Re anus 98 Becher, "Chang iin the Architect of Serra Mien Sa, Sura in he Work of Le Corer" Pope 88) Jos Qa "Viger alrededor diab," Ar 6s 987) i-n 23 VillsSevoye View ofthe oof part,Sexuality and Space Inthe film Lichter dj (1929) deected by Pere (Chenal with Le Corbusier” the later asthe main actor drives his ‘own cat to the entrance of Vila Garces (igure 24), descends, and enters the house in an energctie manner. Hes wearing a dark sit ‘with bow i, hishairisgloed with billantne every hai in plac, has holding cigarette in is mouth. The camera pans through the exterior ofthe house and arrives at the “roof garden,” where there are women siting down and children playing. A lil boy is driving his toy car. At this point Le Corbusier appears again but ‘on the other si of the terrace (he never comes in contact with the ‘women and children). He is puffing his cigarette, He then very athletically climbs tp the spiral staircase which leads tothe high- ‘st point ofthe house, 2 lookout poin. Still wearing his formal attire, the cigarte still sticking out of his mouth, he pauses to ‘eantemplate the view from that point. He looks out. “Thereisaloa figure of wornan going through house in this movie, The house that frames her Villa Savoye. Here there is no ‘ir arriving. The camera shows the house from the distance ‘object sting inthe Landscape, and then pans the outside and the inside ofthe house. And itis tere, halfway through the interior, tha the woman appears in the scroon, She is already inside, alccady contained by the house, bounded. She opens the door that leads tothe eetace and goes up the ramp toward the roof garden, her back to the camera, She is wearing informal clothes and high heels and she holds to dhe handrail as she goes up, her skirt and hair blowing inthe wind. She appears vulnerable. Her body is fag ‘mented, framed not only by the camera but by the house itsel, bind bars (igure a). She appears to be moving from the inside ofthe house tothe eusid, tothe roof garden. But this outside is again constructed as an inside with a wall wrapping the space in ‘which an opening with the proportions of a window frames the landscape. The woman continues walking along the wall. as if 37 Apo his ln held inthe Museum of Modern Art New Yok, ‘bot his movi see | Ward, "Le Cerbsiers Vis Ls Tease nd the Intemational Spl" PhD, dsertton, New York Univesity, 983, and bythe sae anton “Les Tere” Ahi! Rei (Mach 8 6-6. Richard Becher bes compared to Man Rays movie Les Mp ‘8 Chita du De eting by Maeve) in "Canc itn the Archies of Srekst Mse-ewScbe™ Beatrs Colomina Sil om Acted. “Une mason ce est pe‘Seslity and Space protected by ity and as che wall makes a curve to form the Solarium, the woman turns too, picks up a chai, and sits down, She would be facing the interos, the space she has just moved through. But for the camera, which now shows us a general view ofthe terrae, she has disappeared behind the plant. Thats, just tthe moment when she has tucned and could face the eamera (there is nowhere else to go), she vanishes, She never catches our eye: Here we are literally flowing somebody, che point of view is that of a voyeur, ‘We could accumlate more evidence. Few photographs of Le Corbusier's buildings show people in them. Buc in chose fom, ‘women altays lnk away from the camera: most ofthe ime they are shot froin the back and they almost never occupy the same space as men, Take the photographs of Immeuble Clarté in the Genre compte, for example. lx one of them, the woman ad the child are in the interior, they are shot from the back, facing the ‘val: the men aren the balcony, looking out, toward the city (~ {ore 26) Inthe next sot, the woman, again shot Faom the back, is Teaming against the window to che balcony and looking at the man andthe child who arecmthe balcony (figure 27) This spatial struc- ture is repeated very often, not only inthe photographs but also the drawings of Le Corbusier’ projects. Ina drawing ofthe Wan rer projec, far example, dhe woman in the upper floor is easing tginst the veranda, looking down at her hero, the boxer, whois ‘occupying the jordin suspends. He looks 3 his punching bag. And inthe drawing Ferme radense, che woman i thekitchen looks over the counter toward the man siting a the dining room table. Hie is reading the newspaper. Here agin the woman is placed “inside, the man “outside,” the woman locks at the man, the man looks at the "world Bat perhaps examgle s more telling than the photo collage ofthe exhibiofa living room in the Salon dPstonne 1929, includ- ing all dhe “equipment of dwelling," project that Le Corbusier realized in collaboration with Charlotte Percind. In this image ‘which Le Corbusier has published in the Oewre compl, Peviand Iherslfs ying on the chaie-longue, her head tarned away from the camera, Mot significant, n he original photograph employed in this pho collage (a well 3s ih another photograph in the Qcutre tomplte which shoves the chie-lougue inthe horizontal positon), Beatie CSexuality and Space 28. Charlit Persian in the chaizlongue against the wall, 29, Chaise-lngue inthe horizontal position ‘atri Colonie fone can see that the chair has been placed right agains the wall Remarkably, shes Facing the wall, Sheis almost an attachment the wal, She aces nothing (figures 28,25) And of course for Le Corbusier-who writes things suc as “T exist in Ff ly on condition that Uses” (Prisons, 1930) oF This isthe key: tooo .. to look/observelsce/imagine/inven, crete (1963), and in the last weeks of his lite: “I am and T remain an impenitene visual” (Mie a Point)-cveryting i in the visual" But what docs visi mean here? Weshould now return tothe pssagein Urbaiome which opens this paper (“Loos told me one day’ cukivated man doesnot look ‘out ofthe window .") because in that very passage he has pro= Vide ws with luc vo the enigma when he goes on to say "Such sentiment [hat of Loos with regard tothe windows can have an explanation in the congested, disordered city where disorder appears in distressing images; one could even admit the paradox [ofa Loosian windovr] befoea sublime natural spectacle, toosulb- lime." For Le Corbusier the metropolis itself was “too sublime.” The look, in Le Corbusier's architecture, is not that look which ‘would still pretend to contemplate the metropolitan spectacle with the detachment of 2 nineteenth-century observer before a sub- lime, natural landscape Its not the look in Hugh Ferri’ draw. ings of The Metrpoir f Tomorrow; for example. In this sense, the penthouse that Le Corbusier did for Charles de Beistegui on the Champe-Elyséer, Pris (1929-31) becomes, symptomatic (Figures }o, 3). hn this house, originally imtended notto beinhabited bu to serve asa frame for big parties, chee was BB PhecrnAlsin rose, “Eyer Which See,” Calla 342553987) 39" "Uncel satimeatenlique dns vile empesionnée one dsordte ‘paral ca images aBieanes: on admit mek pradon fe ‘Fim spectacle natural subline, rp sublime" Le Corsi, Une, eine {Le Corbusier makes reference to Hugh Ferris in his bok La ile tills (Pas: Vines, eal & Ce, 133), then he wet ation ‘ecompanyng. collage of mages conrating Hogh Fes a th stl [NewYork wits lan Voisin an Note Dae: "The French telson Note Dame andthe ln Vis Chorzomal sherpa vers the Amencan ne (sue, Bring, chaos, fst expose tac of ee Imei, "The Rai City (New York: Orion Pre, 9), 9.133,Sexuality and Space = wir 40. Apartment Charles de Beistegu, Pati, 939-3 at Aperiment Belstegi ‘Vw om the ving roam toward he dining 00m Beatriz Colomina 32 Apartment Beste no clectric lighting, Beistegi wrote: “the candle has recovered all its rights beeause it isthe only one which gives living light. Electricity, moder power, s invisible, it does notilluminate the welling, But activates the doors and moves the walls." Electricity i used inde chis apartment to slide away partition wall operate doors, and allow cinematographic projections on the metal screen (which wld automatially as the chandelier siscs up on pulleys, and ouside, onthe roo terrae, eo slide the banks of hedges to frame the view of Pars: "En pressant un bou= tom dlctrque, I palissade de verdare# arte ct Pais appasae™* 1. Charlee de Heieguiitervied by Roger Hash in Plaid rane (arch i369. Cited by Pate uly “Le Cabra ics appartment Chara de Bestop” Ancien, momene, ett, {9 lo79h 37-7. Abou tie apartment, se alo “Apparent sve 42 “Leéecricé, puisuanee me incriew with Chaves de Bove, Paid Fone (March 930Sexslity and Space (figure 52). Electtcityis sed here not iluminate, to make vs Die, butas technology of rating. Doors, walls, hedges, chats traditional architectoral framing devices, are activated with elee- tie power, as are the builtin cinema camera and ite projection sere, and when these modern fame are it ee living” ight of| the chandelier gives way to another living light, the Rickering light of the movi, the “icks.” “This new “lighting” displaces rational forms of enclosure, as electricity had done beforeit# Thishouseisa commentary on the new condition. The distinctions bercen inside and ouside are thee made problematic. n thi penthouse, once the upper level of| the terace i reached, the high walls of che chambre ouverte allow ‘only fragments of the urban skyline to emerge: the tops ofthe Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Saré Coeur, Invalides, te (figure 43). Andis only by remaining inside and making use of the periscope camera obscura tha it becomes possible to enjoy the rtropolitan specace (Ggure 34) Tafuri has writen: “The dis- tance interposed between the penthouse and the Parisian pan ‘rama is secured by a technological device, the periscope. An “inocent’ unification between the fragment andthe whole is n0| longer posible; the intervention of artifice ia necessity." ‘ut if tis periscope, this primitive form of prosthesis, chis “aaa imb, "to teturn to Le Corbusier concept in LAW do aif ajo, i necesary in the Brntege apartment (38 aso twas the rest ofthe atice inthis house, the electrically driven Framing devices, the other prostheses) iis only because the apare- 1A Around these hat the Bese apart wa built La Came Pie de btn dri tov» pity book, Llc le ‘von tempting to gin cls, tn this bok, clerics made ile ‘Grou arches. A ser of phtogrpt by Andre ert proee ‘vows fine by enterporay artes, ining A. Pet Chaat, Lead, and M Poe, The mont etraneiary on prbably {loco of hoon” window nan parent by Cha, view of Pars oud sin sting on teil of the wind The image marks the spit beween strata function of the wir venison, ne (Seliced into a powered achive, ad the modern factions of window, te lle rd eee ove {5 Manic Taf," Mahnt mi: The City nthe Work of Le Eine in Le Coby oH. Alen Brooks (Princeton: Prison 22 Apartment Bests Le chambee k M4 Apartment Beste Pesce Beatriz ColominaSexuality and Space ments il locatodi the Champe-Elyss. In “ideal” urban condition becomes the artifice. For Le Corbusier te new urban conditions area consequence ‘of the media, which institutes a relationship beeween artifact and nature tht makes the “defensiveness ofa Loosian window, of a Loosian system, unnecessary. In Urdaiame, in the same passage where he makes reference to "Loos window” Le Corbusier goes fon to write: “The horizontal gaze Fads faraway... From ovr offices we will get the feeling of being look-outs dominating a ‘word in order. The skyscrapers concentrate everything in themselves: machines for abolishing time and space, telephones, ‘ables, radios." The inveard gaze, the gaze tuned upon itself, of| [Loos interiors becomes with Le Corbusier a gaze of domination ‘over the exterior world, But why is cis gaze horizontal? “The debate between Le Corbusier and Perret over the horizon tal window provides key to this question +? Perret maintained thatthe vertical window, l porte fdr, “reproduces an impres- son of complete space” because it permits a view ofthe street, the ‘garden, andthesky, whilethe horizontal window oven ong- tur, diminishes “one perception and comet appreciation of the landscape.” What the horizontal window cuts fom the cone of vision is the strip ofthe sky andthe strip of che foreground that sustains the illusion of perspectival depeh. Perret’ pore fntrecor- responds tothe space of perspective. Le Corbusier’ fine en long- ‘eur to the spice of photography. It isnt by chance that Le Cor~ bsicecontimaes his polemic with Perretin a pastage in Prisons, ‘where he “demonstetessckntfically thatthe horizontal window illuminatesbetter Hedocs so by relying on aphotographer’schart giving times of exposure. He write: ninetcenth-century cityitisa penthouse in thehouse itt "have stated hat the haion window iiaate eter han dhe ‘eric window, Thoseare my observation there, Neverthe 6 Le Cant, Uta, p86 {1_Abouc he debate between Pore and Le Corbusier se: Bram Tec, "The Pro and Con fhe Horizontal Window," Dalles (tg and Beas Calomina, "Le Corbusier and Photography ‘eb 6 98) Beatie Colomina es, Ihave pasonte opponents For example the allowing sem teneebecn trove A window i man nd pik” This fine f what you wane are "word." Ba I have discov recy in phosngraher car ehese explicit graphics th no icing env photographie tht recs alight The eb s3p this. The photographic pein a oom ilminated with 2 oriental window needs to be expose four cs Hsp tan 3 room ilaniated with wo vera windows. Ladies ad peel men. Wehive lef the Vigne sors fhe ast. Wearea seal ws not septate this evening without hart taken ea Beat ings Fit, ance plo cary the weg ofthe house orethe groan inthe te Thi fic ergo heen wi era ato rai ‘The erected man behind Perr’ prt fone has been repheed bby a photographic camera, The view is Fee-Roating, “without ‘connection with the ground,” 6 with the man behind the camera {a photograph’ analytical chart has replaced “personal obsersa- tions). "The view from the house isa categorial cw" Infaming the landscape the house places the landscape into system of eate- sories. The house is @ mechanism for classification. Ie collects ‘views and, in doing s, lasifes them. The house it system for taking pictures. Whae determines the nature of the pitute i the window In another passage from the sime book the window itself isseen ana camera lens ‘When yubuy camera, you se determined ake photographs in ‘he crepancale winter f Ps, ori the rian sans of nosis Inne doy doit foe dpe Yorgi pact yo tal windows tll ead o he dipagied wil You Wi et lpi in whenever you Bk." Ir the window is lens, the house selfs» camera pointed at nature. Detached from nature, itis mobil. Just asthe camera can be taken fiom Pars to the desert, the house ean be taken from G8 LeCovbr, Pion sro ptt de acini {Pais Vinson, Fea & Cl 9308 PR 7-3 8 bil, eens Hy‘Sexuality and Space Beatrir Colonia Poissy to Biarcy to Argentina. Again in Préions, Le Corbusier describes Villa Savoye follows The homes box inthe sepa ll around, without ti, by fs oo. Thebox sith middle of meadow, omsinting the ncn Te simple poss ofthe round doo, ‘dvogh pei soso, itu thelancape with aegulaiy thurs the eet of appreing any sion of Fen” or hack” of the hous, of "ie" of the house. The plan spur, made forthe tos cna of acd isin it igh lice in he rl anes oF Posy Bt in Bari woul be magnet. 13m going © implant very hone in the esl Argentinian county: we ssl have twenty hose ssn othe high grass of an orchard ‘wher cows cosine to rare “The house is being described in terms ofthe way it frames the Iandscape and the effect this framing has on the perception of the house itself by the moving visitor. The house iin the at. Thereis ro front, no back, no sideto eis house.s! The house can bein any place. The houses materia, Thats, the houses not simply con Sructed as a material object from which, then, certain views ‘Deconte possible. Thehowscisno more than a series of views chot- opraphed by the visitor, che way 2 filmmaker effects the montage of ain fo Ihid pp ees St The cme ofthe font, dsp the isistnce of tao rics that Le Carbusers balding boul be understood in errs of tet Tacud, na conte of Le Carbs wrtngs Fr ample, about the roe forthe Poe ofthe Nation in Geneva he woe “Aer Siro nq, Your se cota des ar ato om ene Yo ts Sfirdc ne pos done Tangent seman de or iantngues bimen tat at? Oh, pa dente monte sec ution es pls porte rou chose qu se doublet dele ols dane ean, gu sent passe [Momivsous es icment pina i a io dan ete eid ei” nn. yer). {2 Sic, Le Carbs has epee some fie projets, He Vina ner and Mason Gost, nthe form of ste of shtches rapa together nd representing te erecpin of he hose by ov ey. As has on red, eve dang suggest ln story boards, Tach hs imges il. Lawrence Wight, ere epee {Eondon: Rote a Kegan Pal, 1). pp. 240-24 This isalsoevidentin Le Corbusir’s description ofthe process {allowed in the consruction ofthe petite mason on the shores of | Lake Leman ‘hae that the roghn whre we wanted usd consisted of 01015 ilometrfhile slong ake. A fed point the ake: snohee de mageificnt ve, Foal ater the oath, esl ont ‘Should ae frst have searched Forte site wh nade te pn n sesondane with Thats he atl practic Tnught it was beter to make an exc plan, corerporingde- Aly othe use ane hops rm tan deemed bythe re Ecters ‘hove. Ths done tog 4 withthe lina look or uit estes» “The key o the problem of modern habitation” is, according to Le Corbusier, “to inhabit first,” “placing onsself afterwards.” (CHabiterd'sbord." “Veni se placer ensuite.”) But whats meant Inere by “inhabiting™ and “placement”? The “dee facts” that “determine the plan” of the house~"the lake, che magnificent frontal view, tae south, equally Fromtal”ate precisely the fictors that determine a photograph, "To inhabit” here means to inhabit thatpietre. "Architect made he head," chen drawn. 4 Only then docs one look forthe site, But the sit only where the and= scape is “taken,” framed by a mobile lens. This photo- ‘opportunity ia the neersction of the system of communication that establishes that motility, the eailway, and the landscape. * But even the landscape is here understood asa 10 to 1s kilometer trip, 53. Le Corben, Pi, p37 Sk thal, 230 $3. "The geostpil sation confirmed out choi for atthe lazy von twenty mince vay tb stp wich kp Min, Zach, ‘Rnotedam, Pans Londen, Geneva Maries” Le Corbi, Ue Pte masoe Zurich: Edison PArciectare, 9$4 p8 The network of thera is uersood here asap. The “etre or arngerent face" goer aserdng tn the Oxford Dictionary) en ‘ete by th commana sytney within thier {hatte base none "523 12 I Dore he Fabian expres seer tines or he Orit Express Pars Aaa) In my pocket was he plan of These, A pln withows ste? The lan of hous search of plo frond Ye Le Corbin Une Pte minSexuality and Space Beatrie Colomina 35 On déonvr eter (Une Peterman, 956 rather than 3 pla inthe traditional sense, The camera canbeset up anywhere slong tha strip “The house i ras ith a peture already in mind. The house isdrawn asa frame for that picture. The frame establishes the df= ference between "seeing" and merely looking. Ieproduces the pice ture by domesticating the “overpowering” landscape: Tho abet fhe wall sen hereto black the view tthe meh deat pany tothe out, another fer the erp nd ‘verwendet effec tbe long ave yatta enh odio age Tole signtiene othe senery on isto rate ad get propor the view must beached by wl which aren pred at entan streets and there peri an unindered views" It is this domestication of the view that makes the house a house rather than the provision of'sdomesti space, 3 plan the traditional sense. Two deawings published in Une Petite mation speak about what Le Corbusier means by “placing one" In one ‘afthem, Ona détenvert leer (figure 3), small man figure appears standing and next toi a big eye, astonomeous From the figure, orionted towards the lake. Te plan ofthe houses between 6 tba pp 2223. 36, Le Plo et inti them, The house is represented as that berween the eye and the Take, between the eye and che view. The small figure is almost accessory, The other drawing, Le Plan et insalle (gure 36), does not show as the tile would indicate, the encounter ofthe plan with the site, 48 we traditionally understand it. (The sce snot in the Grawing, Even the curve ofthe shote ofthe ake inthe ater dean= ing has been erased.) The drawing shows the plan ofthe house, strip of ike, anda stip of mowntains. Thats, it shows the plan ani above it the view. The “ste” 3 vertical plane, that of vse, ‘OF course, there is no “original” in the new architecture, because it is not dependent onthe specific place. Throughout his ‘writings, Le Corbusier insists on the elaive autonomy of archi- tecture and sites” And in the face ofthe traditional site be com= structs an “artificial site" This does noc man that this architec- 157” Forexamgl, in Lc Coase and Fanci de Piet, La Maid imme Pars: Pon 13), be weer: Abjoord bu conti da {Necle mien serps ue qucon dase de ones mma pr. teisipcant tha thi ther key psages of ths bok were ‘ried nth Engh aml, The Hone io (Loon: Acheter Tro, 94) 38 About hs poet fr Rio de eo, he wees: Here ouhawe he le bre yu be aif, cots ne res an 8 oe teats Govan kot hoon severed” Le Cbs, The RadiaSexuality and Space ht Povtereeteer ett | ee a 37. RiodeJancic. The vw feconsrated tthe se eas the Bouse, La Main des atric Calomina tue it independont from place. Ii the concept “place” that as changed, Weare not aking here about site bu about a sight. A sight can be accommodated in several sites. “Property” has moved from che horizontal to che vertical plane. (Even Beistegu’ primary location ftom a traditional point of view, he aiss~Champs-Elysées-i completely subordinated by the view.) The window i a problem of urbanism. That is why itbecomesa central point in every urban proposal by Le Cor busier. In Rio de Jancio, for example, he developed a series of drawings in vignette that represent che elation between domestic space and spectacle “Thisrock t Rode nit it cert ‘round range te angel mounts, bathed by these Palms, banana tes opi splendae sates he te Cae ce al ror Crack! the four obliges oF perspective: Your room i stl ef the ate, The whol serndicape enters our rom." (igre 39) First a famous sight, 2 posteard, a pice. (And i is ot by chance that Le Corbusier has not only deawn dis landscape from 2 postcard but has published i alongside the drawings in La Ville ‘adie Then, one inhabits the space in front of that picture, installs anatmchait, But this viet this picture, sony constructed ak the same time asthe house. © “Crack! a frame all around i Crack! the four oligues of perspective.” The house is installed fre the ste, not nthe site. The house i a frame fora view. The ‘window is 3 gigantic sereen, But then the view enters the house, it isitcrlly “inseribed” in the leave 19 Drs be writes “La eu es indépennce del maison. La ee ‘St indpemtane de la mate ¥ ech” p 8, Batt ste mt that ‘eis mecha dependent fom the house ns ot the the ay {Abou the sociation ofthe main of etc 0 tat of ding, Se Huber Dain "Lorex dela vie moderne,” in Le Cn ne leapt (hare CeneeGeerges Pron, 187. fp 253-259 See ako rao Rein, “spice an" Cael 31-30 (987) 52-6 {6 Le Corba ad Perea, The Hone of Man 7 (6 Le Corbuses Te atin City pp 33-33 ee enSexuality and Space 38 Rio de Janice. “he highway eva oo meter, “anche” fo hilo ill, ove the iy Lt File aie, 985 “The yt with mare hasbeen ele! By mean abe 2 owe, sunning tisposbleoenernstue inthe lease, Ri de Janes Cekiated ite But Algiers, Masi, Orn, Niceand alte Ce (¢Ar, Bacon rd many sarin and inn owns can boas of Mnnable ldap Again, svoral sites can accommodate this project: diferent location, diffrent pictures lke the world of tourism). But also differen pictures ofthe same location. The repetition of units ‘with windows a slighty different anges, different framings, as happens when this cel becomes 2 unit in the urban project foe Rio de fancizo, a project which consists on a sixkilometer strip of| housing units under a highway on plots, suggests 2gain the ea ‘of the movie strip (Figure 38), This sense of the movie stip is fet both inthe inside aed the outside: “Architecure? Nanute? Liners center and see the new and horizontal it makes the site still more subline Just tink ofthis broad ibn oft at night." The strip of housing isa movie strip, on both sides. For Le Corbusier, “to inhabit” means to inhabit the camera. Butte cameras notatraditonal place, itis system of dasifica- tion, 2 kind of filing cabinet. “To inhabit" means to employ that system, Only after this da we have “placing,” which st pace the view inthe house, to take 2 piture, to place che view inthe filing cabinet, to dassify the landscape, 6." Le Carrier and Perfo, The Hoe Min, pr © Uc Ombesien Tle Rahn Cir pare Beatrit Colomina “Tis critical aneformation of traditional architectural think ing abou lace can abo be seen in La Villeradiowe where asktch represents the house asa cell with a view (Bgue 30. Here an prime, hgh up inthe aig i presented terminal of tele ‘hone, gis, lets, and water The apartments ao provided ‘with “exact i” (heating and vention) Inside the artnet there isasnall man igure and athe window, huge ey look dng ouside They donee coincide The apartment sls ere the atic between the occupant and the exterior word, camera (Gnd. breathing machine The exterior word alo Becomes t= fie ike the ai, thas boon conditioned, landecapedit homer Inndscape. ‘The apartment defines modern subjectivity with own eye. The tuitinal subject can ely be the rst and 36 such, temporary part ofthe viewing mechani, The humanist, subjecthas been displaced “The etymology ofthe word win reveals tht it combines wind an eye” (ventilation and ight in Le Corbusier’ terms). As Georges Teyssot hs noted, the word combines “an element ofthe course ard an aspect of inetess. The separation om dwelingisbasedisthe possibly fora being inal himsek. "> Borin Le Corbusier thi nstallatonspit dhe subject lf eather than simply the outside fom the inside, Instalatoninvlves a convsited geometry which entanges the division between int Hor nd exterior, between the subject and isle Tes precisely in terms ofthe visio that Le Corbusier as wri tenabout the occupant. Forcxampl,sbout Vill Savoye he writes in Prion» {Wheres Looe window bd pt sigh fom ight, Le Carbs pts “neath om thse Form of gh. wine sto give gh, mt to ‘otis! Tove we ke ches iis mechani, py” Le Corbis, Pins po. (7 E Rin, A Compl Exo Diconary ofthe Bg Langage (Amsterdam, Loedon, New York, 1966), Ce by Ellen Eve Frank Leary Asie (Beek: Univers of Califor Press, 1979 363, sd by Georges Tesi in "Water an Gs onal lors," Lams 4 (84 @ wi LeCorbusis ma esommenddthat Madame Savoy eve book fost to sgn bythe entrance se would elect many sinatra La Reached Ba a Roche was so alr Here the hoe if became ‘Kvaljoulet ieocaglaien, aot neetppantanickeSexuality and Space 49_ Sketch in La Vile adieas, 93. Beatrs Colomina he visitors, ill wow, tue oun nd ou in eit, ting hemeles whit i happening, nerstnding with ifiaie he exons or wha they ean el they 60 not fa any what felled "howe" They fs themes in something ently ew And. do ot his they are bored™ The occupant of Le Corbusier house is displaced, first because he's disoriented, He doesnot know how to place himselF jn elation to this house. It does not look like a “house.” Then because the occupant sa “visitor.” Unlike the cecupant of Loos Inouses, hochactar and spectator, both invalvedand detached from the stage, Le Corbusier’ subject is detached from dhe house with the distance ofa visitor. viewer, a photographer, a cours. Ina photograph of the interior of Villa Chures (figure 40) 2 sully placed hat and two open books onthe able announce that somebody has ust heen there. A window with the taditional pro- portions ofa paintings famed ina way chit makes tread ako as Seren, Inthe corner ofthe room a camera set on tripod appears, kis the reflection othe mirror ofthe cama taking the photo raph. As viewer ofthis photograph we ae inthe position of the photographer, that is, inthe postion ofthe camera, because the photographer, 2s the visitor, hasalrady abandoned theroom. The subject (the stor of the house, the photographer, bu also the viewer ofthis photograph) has already lt, The subjectin Le Cor- busier houses estranged and displaced from “his” own home. ‘The objects left as “traces” in the phocographs of Le Cor busier’ houses tend ro be those ofa (male) “visitor” (ht, coat, «tc,) Never do we find there any trace of "domesticity," a radi= tionally understood.” These objects also could be understood 3s standing for the architect. The hat, coat. glasses ate definitely his town. They play the same role that Le Crbusc playsas an stor in the movie Architecture dujourd hu where he pases through the house rather than inabite it. The architect ie etnged fromm his work with the distance of a visitor or a movie actor “The stage Yo. Leoni, Pisin, p38. 71 ess nota cally plas cup of tes that we find, but a art reagent fob of everyday Ba the cos of Savoye and Garces, Me may speak hee abo “tle mor tan sou dome. BySexuality and Space Vile dave, aga actor identifies himself with the character of is roe. The fle actor very often is denied this opporanity. His creation i by no means all of 3 pies; it is composed of many separate perfor~ smanees."® Theater knows necesarily zbout emplacement, inthe traditional sens. Ie is always about presence, Both the actor and the spectator are fixed ina continsous space and time, those ofthe performance. Inthe shooting of movie there eno sch canint= ity, Theactors workis split into 2 series of discontinuous, mount= able episodes. Thenatur of theilusion forthe spectator isa result ofthe montage The subject of Loos architectures the stage actor. But while the center ofthe house is left empty forthe performance, we find the subject occupying the threshold ofthis space. Undermining ts boundaries. The subjectis split beeween actor and spectator ofits ‘own play. The completeness of the subject dissolves as abo docs the wall tha s/he is occupying. 72 Wale Benin, “The Work of Arn the Age of Mechanica Reproduction imi, rans Harry Zs (New York Schocken Books 1969p 290 Beats Colomina The subject of Le Corbusier’ work is the movie actor, “estranged not only fom the srene but from his ven person"? ‘This moment of estrangement clearly marked in the deawing of Le Vile adieu where the traditional humanist figure, the inabi- tant ofthe house, is made incidental tothe camera eye: it comes and goes, iis merely a visioe ‘The spli berween the traditional humanist subject (the oceu= pan or the architect) and the ey isthe split between fooking and ecing, between outside and nie, between landicape and ste, ln the drawings, the inhabitant or the person in search ofa site te repre= rented at diminutive figures, Saddenly tha figue sees. A picture istaken large eye, autonomous from the figure, represents that ‘moment. Tisis precisely the moment of inkabiaton. Thisinhab- itation is independent from plae (understood in traditional sens); it ens the ouside int an inside perceive thatthe wok we it tenet eine nor kat: tht he sitar it contin oter sfc ether rounds oer cele ings, hatthcharmey tht has suddenly stopped me before the ock of Bean, eis, ca xn, everywhere ee, aways The werk roca nly of tet ouside exists The ude shuts iss ‘vb which ie» oon. “Le dehors ett toujours un dedane” (he outside is always an inside) means thatthe “outside” isa picture. And that “to inhabit” means ose. In La Mation des hommes there ia drawing of figure standing and (gain), side by side, an independent ee: forget that our eyes s feet 6 inches above the ground: our eye his entry door of our architectural pereeptions.””5 Theeyeisa "dooe” Letus not 173. Pirandcle ecribs she erangereat he ctor experiences before the chan ofthe cinnatograph camer: "Thelin sree afin ‘le-el not only fom te age but ah om Nensle Wah» vague ‘Sse of dsconfort he fc inexplicable emptiness: is ody loses. pores it evaporate, is deprive frei, fe, voice and ee oie, ‘ued by ts ov sb, node ob changed nes mate image ickring aniston onthe stom, he vasishing i ene" Leigh Panel, 81 Gia, quoted by Wale Bnjmin in "The Work of Artin che ‘Age of Medical Reproduction," p. 29. 34) Le Corba Prior 7Sexuality and Space ro architectre, and the “door” in, of course, an architectural dle- ren, the frst form of a “window. Later in the book, “the door” is replaced by media equipment, “the eye ie the tool of recording.” “The eye tol of epstraion i aed 5 Fe inches above dhe round "Waking crates diversity inthe petc befor ey ‘Bue hv the round nan airplane and acquited the cys oa ed Wesee, actly, hat which hitherto wa nly sean by the ii. ‘The window is, for Le Corbusier, frst of all communication, He repeatedly superimpose the idea ofthe “modern” window, lookout winow,ahorizonal window, withthe reality ofthe new media: "elephore, cable, radios, .. machines for abolishing time and space." Conttol is now in these media. Power has become “invisible.” The look that from Le Corbusier's skyscrapers will “dominate « world in otdee” is neither the look From behind the periscope of Bestegui or the defensive view (gamed towards ‘tel of Loos interiors, Iris alook thot "register the new reality "recording" eye Le Corbusier’ architecture is produced by an engagement ‘withthe mass media bat, a with Loos, the key to bis position, inthe end, tobe found in his statements about fshion, Where for [Loos the English suit we the mask necessary to sustain the inli- Vidual in metropolian conditions of existence, for Le Corbusier thiesuit is cumbersome and inefficient. And where Loos contrasts the dignity of male British fshion with the maserade of women's, Le Corbusier praises women’s fashion over men’s because it has undergone cane, che change of modern time ‘Womans proces, Sh a cat ut he fre her des She found heat ded ent fllow fio ad the, se oP the advantages of oder echniques, of modern if, To give wp 76 Pal Veo, “The hid Windows An eerie ith Pal Vio," in ‘Gita Tae. Cynthia Scher and Brit Wallis (New York el {Combidge Mass: Wedge Pree and MIT Pree, 988 pa 11 LeCorousir sd Perce, Th Howe of Ma, p35 Deatri Colomina spor ans more material problem, tab mabe oak on thos that nave made woman 2 ete pat of ectesporsry progaction ancl enableder tar oe ie, Toil fishin: secu not Alves ashe cou neath abey, othe, rat glckly in hr ofice a her shop. To ary ov he daily omic of roe" aid, shoe, Brtening her det, she would at ve had tne co sep. Se, wnn cu er hur ad er skin ad er Shei She go ot barheadd, bavearmed, with her es fe ‘Anda dren fie mina. Ardsheal scent wah the char af er races of which the designers have admit taking advantage. The courage th Bienes the pit of invention wah which woman hat rlutonged her des ate + mae oF rade ies. Thank you! [And what about ut men? A diana ate of ai! a our drs lth, we look ike genera fhe “Gran Armée” and we eat starched coll! We ae uncool. While Loos spoke. you will remember, of the exterior ofthe bhousein terms of male fshion, Le Corbusier's comments a fish= jon are made inthe context ofa discussion of the interior. The ft= ritare in style (Louis XIV) should be replaced with equipment (Standard furniture, in great pat derived from office farmture) and this change is assimilated eo the change that women have lundertaken in their dress. He concedes, however, that there are certain advantages to male dressing: ‘The Engh eit we wer had never suede in something Important daniel es fil shows neal spr sneeinthe city: Thedominaninsnolengerontichfethrsa the ha inte gaze Tha enough” Except fr this lst comment, “The dominant sign. in the gaze,” Le Corbusier’ statement is purely Loosian. Butatthesame time, itis preczely chat gaze of which Le Corbusier speaks thit smatks ther differences. For Le Corbusier the snterice no longer reeds to be defined as system of defense from the exteroe (the system of gizes in Loos interiors, fer example). To say that “the JO Uc Contes Pais, ps 106-107 1 lod. p 07 otSexualcy and Space ns cxterioeis always an interioe” means, among othe things, thatthe Interior i not simply the bounded territory defined by is opposie tion tothe exterior. The exterior is “insribed” inthe dwelling, “The window inthe age of mass communication provides us with ‘one more At image. The window sasereen. From there issues the insistence on eliminating every protuding clement, “de- ‘vignolizing” the window, suppressing the sill: M. Vignole ne occupe pas des fendtes, mais bien des (nere-fenétes) (piastres fou colonnes). Je dévignolie pat: Parcitecure, cst des plawchers ‘ais. (Of course, this seren undermines the wall. Bat here itis not, asin Looe houses, a physic! undermining, an ecupation of the ‘wall, but a domatrilizrion following fom the emerging media “The organizing geometry of architecture sips from the perspec- tival cone of vison, from the humanist ee, tothe camera angle. ‘But this sippage i, of course, not neuteal in gender terms, ‘Male fashion is uncomfortable but provides the bearer with “the {gize,” “the dominant sign,” womans fashion i practical an turns her into the object of another’ gaze: "Modem woman has ‘citer hair. Our gazes have known (enjoy) the shape ofhe legs.” A picture. She sees nothing. She isan attachment co a wall tht is na longer simply there. Enclosed by a space whose limits are Aefined by a gaze fe thd. 9