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    atlas of novel tectonics

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    128 views33 pages

    Atlas of Novel Tectonics Part 1

    Uploaded by

    Jelena Mandić
    atlas of novel tectonics

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 33
    Reiser + Umemoto ATLAS OF NOVEL TECTONICS Princeton Architectural Press, New York Nes fod Rew York cost Noparhishok aye usd or padi planners ca pean ne ‘ther cepin teenie ‘omer sepyight es or omssone wile ‘edin sea tins re ein ay eae teen ee Sener pisces ieee es ace seetame deere Seteeemememienet pera bro eng Caoign-Pcon Data Aer oe ister /Rter + Ueto nem ssf a ses ape) x” prin NARs s08| ferike APA 102 O751S ” Acknowledgments ‘The Judo of Cold Combustion ySefordvinter Introduction Geometry Fineness Difference n Kin)Differencein Degree ‘The Unformed Generic: Form Acquiring Content Similarity and Difference Variety (Difference). Variation (Sel simi Part-to-Whole Relationships [Ate Collage Two Conditions ofthe Gener Coherence vs. Incoherence |ANew Understanding of Difference Selection vs. Classification ity) See deren regedit 7 Matter 1 Intensive and Extensive 12, Geomettyand Mater 1a. Folly ofthe Mean 14 Classical Body impersonal Individuation 15, Material Organizations 16, Matter/Force Relationships 1p, roma Static toan Oscillatory Model and Back Again) 18. Operating ina State of Poise +9, Posen an Allie Discipline 20. Refrain 21. Exchanges among Systems 22. Intensive and Extensive I 23, Machinie Phylum. 24. The Diagram 2. Diagram Deployment 26, Fineness and the Macroscale 27 Fineness in Allied Fields 28 Interdisciplinary Exchange 29, New Posibiities for Spatial Structures 3p. Matterand Context a1, Essentilized Systems vs System with Singularities |, Baact/Aneractyet Rigorous | Material Computation 5a. Systems Becoming Other Systems 435 Post-Fordist implementations 16 Operating 36 = 2 ~ a 4 BROS Mount Sinai Program: Architecture Lyrics: Music (Operating undera Surfeitof Information ‘signifying Signs Moving in the Gradient Feld Accidental Animism Migration ofa Pattern Emergent Structures Invention siyle Panglossian Paradigm evolutionary Architecture optimization | Classicism without Models Projecting Force Architecturevs. War “The Nomad is the One Standing Still Common Errors to Avoid 3. st ss sé. s 8 “The Abuse ofthe Accident ‘The Abuse of Data ‘The Abuse of History ‘The Abuse ofthe Diagram ‘The Abuse of Logic ‘The Typoogist’ Error 249 The World 59. AParablefor Our Time 60. Foamy Realities 61, Pop iconography as Myth 62. Migration of Practices 2. Migration of Ethics 64. Desr's Rainbow: Migration of Products 5. Continuity and Discontinuity 6. AMatrilist Argument of Culture ©. Neo-regionalism Research fr this book was supported by grants from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies inthe Fie Arts, the Princeton University Committe on Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and the New York tate Council onthe Arts. We aso thank lise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown, and Susan Grant Lewin fr their con tinaing suppor. ‘The collaboration on projects with engincersYsral Seinuk, Guy Nordenson, Nat Oppenheimer of Robert Silman Associates, and Ceci almond, Charles Walker, Kasten Theim, and Daniel Bosia of the Advanced Geometry Unit of ARUP provided invaluable material for this book, Rernard Tschumi, who made possible the platform from which «rich dialog developed over the course ofthe 1990s among co: leagues at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation created the scene (a feeling, lke the near res ofthe sea, of unlimited possibilty) to which his books deeply indebted. Stan Allen, Greg Lynn, Jeffey Kipnis, Sanford Kwinter, Ben Van Berkel, Manuel DeLanda, Robert Som, Alejandro aera: Polo, and Andrew Benjamin are among those who remain pat of an ongoing dialog of which this work shouldbe considered a pat. ‘Today, discusions that evolved at Columbia have sifted some- ‘what and become more involtional. The School of Architecture at Princeton University hs offered an opportunity fora deeper, more focused interrogation ofthe questions that emerged at Columbia, Mario Gandelsonas, Carle Vallhonrt, and Edward Eigen have made important contributions to these issues. We ae particularly indebt ‘ed to fiend and colleague Stan Allen, whose gracious guidance nd advice on the rawe manuscript is much appreciated tere Kipnis, ‘whos incalculable contributions to the formative material fo this ‘book and whose sharp and insightful guidance helped us find final form fr the Atlas and to Sanford Kwinter, whose encouragement and provocation initiated this book in the first place and whose fan- ‘damental philosophical inclination was embodied: it started as one thing and became another. “This book s dedicated to Aldo Rosi, whose office structure, for beter or worse became the model for the way we structure outs (insuring that thinking and working would not occupy separate ‘spheres; to Daniel Libesknd, fr so many things, but above all for instilling th ethie of non-linearity in our process; to John Hejduk, for commanicatingall thas of fundamental importance bt which ‘cannot be sid in architecture; to Peter Eisenman, into whose orbit ‘we ave never been pled but whose forces influence ws indirectly nevertheless; and to Rem Koolhaas, whase fundamental insights on what an architectural project could be opened the way for thie work, hile staying clear of ite specifics. Wie owe our thanks tothe design expertise of Reto Gcserand Donald Makof Research and Development, who took on the arduous tak of elegantly mating meaning and matter and tothe editorial sugges tions of Salomon Frassto “The significance ofthe contributions of jason Payne, Yara Karim, David Ruy, Nona Yehia, Todd Rouhe, Matthias Blas, Wolfgang Gollwitzr, Astrid Pber, Rett Ruseo, Eva Pree DeVega Stee, Jason ‘Scroggin, Keisuke Kitagawa, Hisa Matsunaga, John MacCallum, ‘Akai Takebayashi, KutanAyata, Michel Young Taji Miyasaka, Marcel Gove John Kelleher, Sean Daly and the many others who {gave countless hours tothe design work in our office cannot be ‘overstated ‘Thanks also goes to our publisher, Kevin Lippert, for his immediate and sustained support ofthis project and 1 Nancy Eklund Later, ‘ur editor. Her incisive reading of our manuscript was a constant through the storm and strife of eration, Jonathan Solomon, through sustained and indefatigable work on the manuscript and structure ofthis book over many years, acted asa daly sounding board forthe arguments presented inthe Ades. Finally we thank Debora Rese and Kike Hirota, into whose spatial taiverses we were born and whose Boundaries we sought to push ‘ather than escape, and Zeke, our son, an ever present inspiration and refreshingly candid critic of our work ‘The Judo of Cold Combustion Sanford Kwinter ‘The story of guncotton has for years payed the roe of founding myth for Reiser + Umemot. Central to the history of propulsion that led not only to modern ballistics but to rocketry and ero nautics,guneotton was the product ofa famous accident. After failing in his attempt to dissolvea wad of cotton ina mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids, German chemist named Christian Friedrich Schonbein placed the sodden lamp of threads to dry on his hot stoveand went home for supper. With no further need of ‘encouragement, the reat mysteries of chemistry and matter set shout todo their work: Poor Schonben never sw bis laboratory again, but the world had guncotton. ‘We might say tht guncotton was the type of invention that moth ‘red its own necessity inaugurating the world of vertical propulsion, space travel, remote warfare, and soon. But in keeping with the Reser + Umemoto position itis best not to bury novelty too deeply inthe murky mysticism of “invention” but to raise i affirmatively asa product of spontancous-—or deliberate migration. The ‘migration tam referring te heres the migration of what current philosophical parlance ell the diagram, But what exactly after ll, fsa diagram? The diagram isan invisible mati, a ret of instruc: tions, that underlies—and most importantly, organizes—the expression of features in any material constrict. The diagram is the reservoir of potential that ies at onc active and stored within an ‘object oran environment (rin every aggregate or section of these) determines which features (or affects) are expressed and which are saved. Its in shor, the motor of matter, the modulus that controls what it does i Reiser » Umemoto operates less like architects and much more ike chemical enginers. ts profound identification with the invention of {zuncottonisalsoan affirmation ofthe glory and violence of novel ‘y.athing tha ean only be prepared for and which scrupulously reserves the mode and patern of its appearance for itself. Inthe absence of cotton, the acids form solvents, not detonators or propel: lants. The cotton effectively slows them down, opens them up, and, by forming complex nitrates with ts cellulose, strctures the pat tem oftheir interactions and subjects them tothe discipline of space an time. Guncotton, n word, is geometry in action, I represents the migration ofa diagram from one ensemble (the textile mil to “nother, and the production (selection) of new propetis, potentials, and effects. This she design ethos of Reiser» Umemoto. ‘Whena te is configured to function asa wood column or beam it isone set of propertis of cellulose that i selected for expression oF more properly its the geometry of vascular bundling that selects ‘the properties of cellulose and conveys thei elicitous rigidities and flexibilities tothe macroscopic sale ofthe building itself On ‘theather hand, when trees configured int log for burning, itis the fire itself that exist already inside ofthe wood, only dormant ‘or infinitely slowed—thati selected for expression or release, These ‘wo forms of expression, chemical and tectonic, at of exaety the same order of physical ality. Itisa testimony tothe diagram's action that such diverse properties can be called up and released ‘And tino small revolution in design to have apprehended this simple but critical fraternity. ‘With guncotton came the infinite, and infinitely suggestive, potential of cold combustion Cold combustion suggests the sleing down af the unfolding of geometry that previously was cither held in exquisite or fozen suspense o was subject tothe instantancous and uncon: trolled unfolding that we know as explosion. Anyone who discovers amide ground, a rhythm of unfolding that delivers the geometries ‘of matter to the senses in the form of properties, qualities, or affects inreal time, endows the world with novelty. Reiser « Umemotois, in this sense, a research project that aims to discover architecture as 8 "hythmie patter that is embedded everywhere in matter but that can bbeharvested only by subjecting matter tothe action of structuring diagram. The diagram serves here retroactively, as a'reading device” rasa cumbustng engine that extracts information and energy fom the environment by making it low at an intermediate rate. Wood igatonce an infinitely arested bt stil smoldering fre that can be speeded up and. set of organized stata in whose pattern of contours And lines the atmospheric, meteorological, and geological history of a tegion can be read. And thse who work with wood 3tthis level do ‘nothing but ansmit this flow of information and ime to the sensa tons by submitting itt diagrammatic modulstion and contol, The eran which welive canbe characterized as onein which knowledge isincreasingly derived from the structure of low (contours and rates of change in data, pattems of material ation et). But low itself has, ovr the past years and especialy indesign milieus, too often been allowed to serveas a mere aesthetic marker 2 simple conno tator of dynamical knowledge alleged to exist but rarely actualy ‘engaged—and nota truly epistemological one. The ethos of combus tion, with ts habit of subjecting matter toa slowed or accelerated pattern and then deploying or harvesting whats physically and aesthetically released, is critical othe new materialism tat is emerging everywhere today. "THE JUDOOF COLDcoMMUSTION 5 ‘What follows isthe irs design manual that reflects the foundational shift that tok place seventy yeas again physics, when life was frst understood to represent zputtemintime that could no longer be = amenable to explanation in purely phyrical and chemical terms Here, tectonisis similarly placed atthe heart of matter asthe liberator af the knowledge embeded within it, but only as aform ofaction (gone forever, the myth of statics! that itis architecture's duty to deliver to hhuman sensation. ‘The new materialism may well bea new expressionism, INTRODUCTION Introduction study of he most homogenous mili ofthe Te may sem a strange contradiction ina ook devoted to concepts to put forward a ell forthe specifi, but ll the concepts all the models presented here, are meaningless to the architec ifthe specific reality af the project is absent. For unlike planning, the succes or failure of| architecture rests finally on its specificity, and no stances will ever account forthe work a sch, unt of eieum: Ina time so obsessed with establishing the value of works a the products of contests and conditions, the architect may tke solace inthe fact thatthe corosverelativiem that plagues the historian will nt plague the architect who curiously traffics in products that, ifot permanently fixed, and however formed around the lux of matter, nevertheless rest on the side of persistence. They ae never reducible to the Neetng interpretations or, or that matter, pra tices projected onto them, Thus, architecture is the substrate for the accidents of history rather than its embodiment This persistence gives us pleasure precisely because ofthe other developments that go with it TT ‘The historian, andthe critic, bear an imperative to contextualize and cstablish meaning, which stands them in opposition to the practice of architectural design. History, merely a form of consciousness, {snot sufficient to give rise to the architectural project. This snot to deny the importance of histories, texts, and conditions but to point outa property of the architectural artifact. The history, conditions, And time of formation of any projet ae distinc rom the eects ‘ofthe project itself which has its owm particular way ofnfluene ing histories asit mobilize effects. Indeed, a ricrich Nietzsche points out in his 87 essay “On the Uses ad Disadvantages of ory for Life,” theres always an clement ofthe unhistorcal in any act of creation. This isnot only a vital precondition to creating anything new but also adberes tothe object of architecture itself, which afterall, will always exceed the words that order architectural programs, just as Jorge Luis Borges suggests that an author creates his own precursors, new architeeture fundamentally rearganizes the canon, Architecture makes a new history; history doesnt make a ‘The primary and necesary conceit of thie works that beneficial novelty isthe preferred condition to stability and the diving agenda ‘behind architectural practice. This inno way requires us to reject traditional practices or the pragmatics of architecture. Infact, we ‘consider it doubly incumbent upon thse pursuing the novel to embrace these fields. ‘The naturalist polymath D/Arcy Thompson modestly states in his 1917 On Growth and Form, “This book of mine has little need of preface foritisinded all preface from beginning to end.™Like Thompson's work, oursisprefatory. Our treatment dealin a qualitative fashion with ssues that ultimately require quantitative treatment the province of our collaborators, engineers Like Anthelme Brillat-Sovarin's 1825 Physiology of Taste, this snot a hook af recipes, but init specificity it suggests away of operating ‘within the discipline. Each argument develops around 3 speifccon~

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