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    E. Rowe, C. Transparency Literal and Phenomenal. Part II PDF

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    Nicolás Ventroni

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    AS I WAS SAYING Recollections and Miscellaneous Essays Colin Rowe edited by Alexander Caragonne Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal, Pare II Written with Robere Slutsky, 1956; est published in Paspwis, no. 13-14 asm) An exilaration with the light and the landscape of central Texas may still be as characteristic of perions newly arviving in Austin as it was in the mid-1950s, and Charles Moore once suggested so much to me But forty years ago, when the Provengal dimensions of the Texas bill country could be added to the excitement: of a new architectural curricu- um, it was a bighly volatile condition which ensued. It was a matter of Céxanm landscapes (with traces of Poussin) and an influence which shen became byperstimulated by intimations of Synthetic Cubism and De Sui Just a bit crazy? 1 suppose that it certainly was, However, it twas inthis condition of stimulus—Landscapes and light, pictures and drawings —that Robert Slutzky and myself came to produce an article, “Transparny: Literal and Phenomenal"; and, about it, I can only say shat, though the words mast be mostly mine, the leading ideas must mostly have been Robert's For to my own naive arguments about Theo wan Deesburg and De Suijl as interactive with Le Corbusier's Maison Domino Robert added a very big proviso. As a Fernand Léger and a Piet Mondrian ‘man bre insisted upon the assertive contributions of frontality and spon the supremacy of the picture plane. Or, in otber words, be insisted upon statemenss of flatness as being provocative of arguments about depth; cand, as (se it mow, it was in this way that “Transparency” became «am important private statement for what the Texas experiment was all abou, Ie woas a dangerous and explasine litle esay. It attached the priority of sared cows—most visibly that of Walter Gropius; and, be- ing apparently insufferable, it also became unpublishable, Written in the fall of 1935 and sent t0 the Acchitecvural Review in London, it was ‘ot considered acceptable —by, U can only suppose, Nikolaus Pevsner; cand, for him, it must have been almost total poison. In that peculiar ‘Texas environment we had been encouraged 10 se 0 much and, as a re sult, “Transparency 1" languished in obscurity only to be published nine ‘years ator rough the good offices of Yale University in Perspecta 8 (1964). Nevertheless, in spite of immediate discouragement, Robert and ‘myself sill continued to strive (although Robert did not entirely approve of the reults); but “Transparency I” enjayed no greater success as re ‘gard: any printing. Witten in 1956, it was only published —again by Perspecta—affer a lapse of fifteen years! And, long before this time, of eure we had given up all attempts at the third article which had always been planned. All the same there are themes deriving from “Transparency IL” which recer in certain pages that follow, mast evi- dently in “Giulio Romanos Palazzo Maccarani and the Sixteenth Cen- tury GridlFramelLattce Web” of volume 10, Ina previous article we elaborated, through a discussion of several Cubist and post-Cubist paintings, certain meanings which have attached themselves to the word transparency.‘ With the Bauhaus, arches, and Le Corbusier's project for the Palace of the League of [Nations serving as primary points of architectural reference, wo kinds of eransparency were investigated. They were distinguished as literal and phenomenal, Literal cransparency, it was stipulated, could be experienced in the presence ofa glazed opening or a wire ‘mesh; but no definite conclusions as to the prerequisites of phe- ‘noimenal transparency were presented. However, the examples of Garches and the League of Nations at least suggested circumstances ‘which might be ehe cause ofthis manifestation; and thus ic was im- plied thar phenomenal transparency might be perceived when one plane is seen at no great distance behind another and lying in the same visual direction as the frst. Consequently, it was farther im- plied hae among: the causes (or, if one prefers it, the by-products) of phenomenal transparency there might be found a preference for shal- low space or, where such space was not possible, fora stratification of deep space—so that the phenomenal as opposed to the real space could be experienced as shallow. Buc'some of these suppositions are of so tendentious and so arguable a nature that in this present ar- ticle i is proposed to consign them to temporary oblivion, and co concentrate attention, not upon the three-cimensional or spatial as- pects of phenomenal transparency, but as far as possible upon its ‘owo-dimensional manifestations —upon phenomenal transparency as pattern, Sabscicuting che United Nations Building for the Bau- hhaus and Le Corbusier's Algiers skyscraper project for his villa at Garches, we might arrive ata parallel between the two former oughly axproximate co the parallel which was maintained between the ewo latter. Thus the Secretariat of che United Nations may stand as a monumental example of literal transparency; and the Al- ‘iets skyscraper may represene almost a textbook example ofthat ‘other transparency which Gyorgy Kepes defines as the capacity of figures to interpenetrate without optical destruction of each other.* “The published drawings of the Algiers skyscraper (fig. 13) show a rower whose organization may be apprehended in a variety of ways: “Transpareng Literal and Phenomenal, Part I 15, Projet for an Algiers skyseraper, 1938. Le Corbusier. 1. The eye may be engaged by the three horizontal bands which divide the steucture into four definite areas. 2. If these are overlooked or become recessive, the eye may be- ‘ome absorbed with the cellular pattern of the brise-soai, and this pattern will gradually be fele co extend itself be- hind the horizontal bands. 3. As the disruption of che brise-solel pattern to the left of the facade becomes apparent, the observer will construct a far- ther figure which, in mediating the ewo drise-solel grids, appears as a kind of channel cueing open the facade and connecting the pilaris ofthe lower floors with the incidents an the roof. 4, When this new figure is discovered to be interwoven with the chree central floors ofthe building, the eye (or the sind) is compelled to provide further explanation and the observer comes to see the composition as a kind of E-shaped overlay imposed upon the “neutral” background provided by the brise-sleil. “These four variations are presented, not necessarily in the order in which they mighe be experienced, nor as excluding farther interpretations to which they give rise, but simply with the objece of establishing the basic figures whose presence a quite naive indi- vidual mighe detect ‘With the United Nations Building and the Algiers sky- scraper as almost classic exemplars of literal and phenomenal trans- parency, it would surely be possible to sustain a classification of ‘modern architecture according to the absence or presence of these qualities, but to do so would involve unnecessarily tedious analysis “The ewo :nterpeetations which have been laid upon the word trams barency become apparent from the comparison of these two build- ings, and only in order to reinforce this distinction of meaning does i seem necessary co include a further parallel—one between Pietro Belluschi’s Equitable Life Insurance Building in Portland, Oregon, and 1. M, Peis Mile High Center in Denver, Colorado (fig. 14). “Transparensy: Literal and Phenomenal, Patt 14. gute Life Insurance Building, Portland, 1948. Pietro elluschi. Phow by ‘Ears Stoller. Nile High Cancer, Denver. M, Pei and Assocaes, “Transparcncy Literal and Phenomenal, Part “The former is evidently an instance of literal transparency. Direct, matter-oFfact, a kind of lucid academic critique of the Chi- cago architecture of che 1880s, it shows few of chose characteristics which Kepes lists as chose of (phenomenal) cransparency. It barely exhibits either overlapping or ineerpenetrating figures, pechaps lieele contradiction of spatial dimensions; nor does it offer the ob- servers means of “simultaneous perception of different spatial di- mensions":‘ and, except for its surface flatness, it is without ‘equivocal meaning. (On the other hand, the Denver building, which displays « ‘comparable regard for the structural frame and which is equally transparent in the literal sense, exhibits all ofthe foregoing ambigu- ities. Confronced with the Mile High Center, the observer perceives: 1, The vertical and horizontal gridding of a black structural frame. 2. A further system of gridding provided by a blue sub-frame which is constituted by the window mullions and the hori- zontal cransoms or sill members. 3. That each of these frames provides a visual reinforcement of the other, and that cheie overlapping leaves some doube as, 0 where the floor levels of the building actually are co be found. Further discrimination leads to the awareness chat the black seructural frame lies enviely in one vertical plane, and thus to the color black a specific spatial depeh is ateribueed. Concurrently, ‘an attempt is made to attribute a similar specific spatial depth to the color blue—only to reveal that che horizontal members of che blue sub-frame pass behind the black frame, while its vertical mem- bers pess in front. Hence, an equivocal contradiction of spatial di- _mensions results from this interweaving or overlapping of two figures which are simultaneously apprehended; and in order to ex- plain eis situation, first the black frame and ehen the blue will be- ‘come cominane for the observer. At one time he will accept the existence ofthe blue frame in the ewo distinct spatial layers which i occupies, but at another he will seek to interpret its color ac- cording to the logic of color displayed in the black frame. Thus he will come :0 suppress the modeling of the blue frame and attempt see it as entirely fla, but in doing so he will be obliged co see either the horizoneal or vertical members of the black frame as. pressed forward, or pressed back, or warped by the tension which hhas heen intradiiced. This building is presumably an exceptionally succince stacement of a phenomenal transparency, but to certain cypes of mind the elegant post-Miesian achievement which it repre- sents will suggest not only Chicago bue also Italy. Ic is undoubtedly indisceeee co pluck such @ building as the Farnese ville ac Caprarola (Gg. 15) feom oue ofits culcural background and to propose thac ic may be examined face-to-face with this recent office building from Denver. The functions of ehe ewo buildings are not similar; their structural systems could scarcely be more unlike; the social context, the technology, the economy, che content which each implies can scarcely be related. But for the present we are conceened neither ‘with function nor structure (as generally understood), nor with the social context, eechnology, economics, or content; but simply with the manifestations which reveal themselves to the eye. Presenced with one of the ewo identical garden facades of Caprarola, che observer recognizes a building organized in terms of two major stories, and he is quite shortly aware of: 1. The primary articulation of the wall which the orders and their respective entablaeure establish. 2. Afurcher articulation of the wall which is effecced by means of a sore of lattice of flat scone scrips. ‘This stone latcice-work, which forms a visual insulation be- tween the pilasters and the plastic activity of the windows, func- tions in two primary manners—as a subsidiary pilascer which serves the ‘real’ pilasters and confirms the vertical punctuation of the fa~ cade and asa frame which serves the bay, indicacing a system of ‘Transparency Literal and Phenomena Pa 6 paneling and providing the facade with a number of horizontal emphases of an importance almost equal to chat of the lower encablacure Thus the imposition of pilescers upon lattice leads (as ae Denver) toan uncertainty as to the floor level and to an ambiguity 1s co the basic unic of the facade. By implication of the pilasters there are ewo major horizontal divisions; by implication of the proj- ecting window heads below and window sills above. both of which may be read as lattice, a tripartite division of the facede is deduced. ‘The overlapping and incerlacing of these two systems and the fluctuations of significance to which each gives rise can pass with- cout comment, for at Ceprarola, as ae Denver, ic is apparene that the observer finds himself in the presence of an archieceural rapes- try whose warp and woof are immediately apparent to the eye bur whose invisible threads his organizing instinct mentally reconstructs. [Now if Caprarola as well as Denver shows phenomenal transparency, we are obliged to conclude thet, after all ie is neither ‘anew nor even a post-Cubist manifestation; and perhaps if we were to trace back che evolution of literal cransparency down the long, route leading from the United Nations Building via such conspicu- ‘ous monuments as the Bauhaus and the Crystal Palace to the great ‘glass and stone cages of che later Middle Ages, we might also dis- cover in these buildings some evidence of phenomenal transparency. In the nave of St. Denis (fg. 16), for instance, where the triforium rather thar appearing as an independent unit will seem to be an in- cersection of che clerestory and the nave arcade, sometimes being. subsumed within the frst and on other occasions presenting iself as 1 projection of che second. Thus almose any medieval or quattrocento Venetian palace ‘will reveal similar atcribuces to a greater or a lesser degree, and the organizatien, although not the asymmetry, of the Ca’ d'Oro (Bg. 17) may be considered representative of che type. In the Ca’ d'Oro a bax sically bipartite facade is presented, where one center is determined by ehe loggias to the let, and che other by the cucting of three “Transparency Literal and Phenomenal, Patt I 17. Ca d'Or, Venice. Phoco by Osvaldo Bohm. “Transparency Literal and Phenomena, Part I 6 square windows through the plane of the wall surface eo the right. Each ofthese ewo centers is invested with the control of sharply con- trasted, clearly defined, and apparently symmetrical areas, which are isolated from each other by a chin, almose embroidered pilaster pro- ‘viding visual suppore for an heraldic trophy displayed on the second floor. But almost immediately after one recognizes ehis trophy, one proceeds to question ic. Ie coordinates the space sround itself and, compels @ symmetrical interpretation of the two windows becween which ic is placed, so chat these windows are read cogether, and hence ty means ofthis reading, the pilaster becomes, noe the frontier between two opposed units, but the spine of an element straddling these units and demanding a revision of one's initial es- sumption as to the nature of each, Once perceived, the uncertain valency of ths pilaster quite undermines the primary response to the Ca’ d'Oro facade; and, as the element which ic has now produced receives further attention, this becomes even more problematical. Since itis symmetrical on the second floor, one is predisposed to believe this element co be symmesrical on the first; and when discovered not to be the case, ‘when the ewo windows flanking the pilasters on this floor are discov- ered cobe unequal, then further figural variations are aucomatically sponsoced. Now, an attribution of symmetry £0 any one unit of che facade is discovered to be unwarranted, and each of the two major units acquires the ability to enlarge itself by absocbing this third; so that while the right-hand and left-hand sections of the facade are constantly augmented and diminished, infinitely more subtle rela- tionships are now constructed, and, activating these, one might no- tice the schema provided by the ehyehm of the projecting balconies and also the elaborate filling of the cornice which, as a kind of ar- peggio to the facade, provides a system of notation serving to ineen- sify che polyvalent activity of he wall below. By ehese and other ‘means, horizontal and vertical, L~ and T-shaped configurations are finally precipitated within the intricate formal meshwork, so chat first one element and then another comes to furiction as a kind of _geas, Uae apprelieusion of whieh sets in mocion whole systems of reversible mechanics. ‘The permucations inherent in a structure ofthis kind are identical with those which issue from less eccentric Venetian fa- cades, and of chese che sixteenth-century Palazzo Mocenigo (ig. 18) ‘might be considered reasonably characteristic. Here, in a facade ver- tically divided into three, each division in itself is symmetrical, and the symmetry of each is reinforced in che center by triply repeated arches an¢ in the sides by the elaborately mounced heraldic displays ‘which are compressed between the windows of the piano nobile” However, under sustained observation these apparently clear divi- sions of tke facade begin to change. First, itis noticed that the cen- tral division enjoys che capacity to extend itself at che expense of the other

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