Dr. D.

Y PATIL COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE

AKURDI , PUNE

REPORT FOR ELECTIVE-4

TOPIC – BERNARD TSCHUMI

"Any relationship between a building and its users is one of

violence, for any use means the intrusion of a human body
into a given space, the intrusion of one order into another."

-Bernard Tschumi

SUBJECT GUIDE : NAME: MADHURI UTTAM RASAL

Ar. GAURI SAKHALKAR 4. Y. b-arch

INTRODUCTION
 Born :25 January 1944 (age 74 years), Lausanne, Switzerland
 Bernard Tschumi is widely recognized as one of today’s foremost architects. First known
as a theorist,
 In the 1970s he taught at the Architectural Association School in London and during this
period he developed the „strategy of disjunctions‟, a theory based on his belief that
contemporary culture and architecture were best expressed by fragmentation as opposed
to the classical ideal of unity.
 Tschumi often references other disciplines in his work, such as literature and film,
proving that architecture must participate in culture’s polemics and question its
foundations

PHILOSOPHY
Bernard commonly associated with deconstructivism.
 In 1970 Tschumi has argued that there is no fixed relationship between architectural
form and the events that take place within it.
 According to him Architecture’s role is not to express an extant social structure, but to
function as a tool for questioning that structure and revise it.
 Architecture by nature is fundamentally useless, setting it apart from building.
 Tschumi combines the urbanistic and naturalistic qualities of the site in his building
designs to create modernist qualities in his designs.
 Another key to defining Tschumi’s design style is that his designs strive to integrate into
the environment they encompass. However, they don’t integrate in a way that they blend
in, the integrate in a way that they work functionally and visually portray Tschumi’s
design intentions.
 Tschumi’s style of design is often an integration of linear and curvature forms in his
architecture.
 The primary basis of Tschumi’s designs is the grid. Whether it be horizontal or vertical,
angled or straight, it is usually a dominant part of his designs.
 The grids incorporated in his designs are usually derived from characteristics of the
building site or the city.
 The linear characteristics of Tschumi’s designs are often accompanied by those of
curved or organic form.
 location :
 Th Parc de la Villette e Parc de la Villette is the one of the largest parks in Paris. Located
at the north eastern edge of the 19th arrondissement.
 Situated on the Right Bank of the River Seine, it is crossed by two canals, the Canal
Saint-Denis and the Canal de l'Ourcq, which meet near the Parc de la Villette.
 International competition design- cultural park with activities that include workshops,
gymnasium and bath facilities, playgrounds, exhibitions, concerts, science experiments,
games etc.
AREA:
It is built on a 125 acre site earlier acting as a slaughter house.
HISTORY- The 19th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements (administrative
districts) of the capital city of France.
During the early 1980s, after President Mitterand took office, Paris was undergoing an
urban redevelopment as part of city beautification, as well as making Paris a more
tourist influenced city. In 1982-3, the Parc de la Villette competition was organized to
redevelop the abandoned land from the meat market and slaughterhouses that dated
back to 1860 La Villette has become known as an unprecedented type of park, one
based on “culture” rather than “nature.”
Unlike other entries in the competition, Tschumi did not design the park in a traditional mindset where
landscape and nature are the predominant forces behind the design. Rather he envisioned Parc de la
Villette as a place of culture where natural and artificial are forced together into a state of constant
reconfiguration and discovery.

CITÉ DES SCIENCES

ET DE L'INDUSTR

ZÉNITH PARIS - LA
VILLETTE

FOILE
GRANDE
HALLE
La Villette could be conceived of as one of the largest buildings ever constructed — a discontinuous
building but a single structure nevertheless, overlapping the site’s existing features and articulating new
activities.

FORM
•He proposed an architecture of
disjunction.
•It is designed as a series of 3 specific
systems- lines, points and surfaces
•The park is designed using a
rectangular grid of 120 metres.
•On top of this grid a series of points,
lines and surfaces were superimposed
to create the form.
•The park is designed using a
rectangular grid of 120 metres. •On
top of this grid a series of points, lines
and surfaces were superimposed to
create the form that exists today
The fragmentation, rearrangement, and
superimposition of lines, points and surfaces create a
disjunction between the form and the viewer’s
experience. By breaking down the structure, Tschumi
creates a physical separation between the form and
the body of the viewer. In this way, any bodily
experience has the tendency to be disjointed and
separate since the forms themselves recreate this
effect.

LINES, POINTS, SURFACE

•The point or 26 follies red in colour are

based upon deconstructed cubes placed 120
meters apart in grid pattern. •Tschumi has
designed the follies using the rules of
transformation without any functional
considerations.
•They act as reference points too.
•They lack any meaning and display of idea of
deconstructivism.
•35 acres are dedicated to green space
(prairies ) which are categorized as surfaces.
•These spaces reflect his concept of bringing
down the vastness of park to human scale.
•Ten thematic gardens decorated with follies
are found.