Architecture as a Continuous Text

Author(s): Alan Colquhoun

Source: ANY: Architecture New York, No. 2, A Tribute to James Stirling (September/October
1993), pp. 18-19
Published by: Anyone Corporation
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41845590
Accessed: 30-01-2016 15:06 UTC

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 withina hermeticallysealed languagegame. Nonetheless, wayin
thematter-of-fact
ALAN COUjUHOUN: ARCHITECTURE AS A CONTINUOUS TEXT whichhe alwaysdescribedhis buildings was a bluff
thatconcealedtheextentto
whichtheempiricalfunctions had beensubjectedto a rigorousprocessofformal
JamesStirling occupiesa uniquepositioninthepantheonofpost-World WarII reclassification.Functionthusbecameassimilatedto form.
Britishand American architecture.Whilethemajority ofinfluential
architects ofthis
to or
periodbelonged recognizablegroups tendencies, oftenwith explicitprograms, The chiefsourcesofStirling'searlyworkwereDe Stijland Le Corbusier.A rather
Stirlingalwaysactedalone (orwitha partner actingcohesivelywithhim)and largegroupofresidentialprojectswas used to exploretheimplications ofTheovan
avoidedpolemicalortheoretical engagement.Thispictureofisolationis reinforced Doesburg'selementarism.The HomeinNorth London(1953) inparticular resembles
the
by strongpersonal thread thatrunsthrough all hiswork- byhisabilityto thefirstversionofvan Doesburg'sParisstudio(1928) - thoughitseems unlikely
transform apparentlyordinary operations unexpectedand powerful
into effects.But thatStirlingwouldhaveseen thiswork.Thefragmentation characteristicofStirling
thisqualityis combinedwitha tendency whichat firstsightseems itsveryopposite. and Gowan'shouseprojectsat thistimefollowsbroadlyvan Doesburg'sand van
As wellas, and incontrastto,thearchitect as theauthorofuniqueworks,Stirling Eesteren'sfamousArtist'sHouse(1923) though,likeMies van derRohe's De
also appearsas an eclectic,a bricoleurexperimenting - oftenplayfully or ironically Stijl-influencedhousesofthemid-1920s,theydo notfollowvan Doesburg'sfurther
- withknownvocabularies,following trendsand combining languages. Inthis reduction oftheprismto theplane. Another un-Doesburgian effectis theuse ofthe
work
sense, Stirling's seems theembodiment ofthe idea thatarchitectureis a mono-pitch roofto suggestbothcentrifugalenergyand a vernacular tradition.The
continuous textand thatthearchitectis merelytheagentbymeansofwhich othermainsourceoftheearlyworkis Le Corbusier'sUnitéd'Habitation and Maisons
intertextualmeaningscirculateand recombine. Jaoul. The Sheffield University
competition projectpacksfragmented volumes
representing thedistinctelementsoftheprogramintoa classical framederivedfrom
Itis obviousthatsome timeinthelate-1960stherewas a majorchangeinStirling's theUnité,whileinseveralresidentialprojects(notablytheHamCommonapartments
workand thatthiswas connectedwiththeemergenceofItalianneo-rationalism and - theworkthatfirstdrewpublicattention to theworkofStirlingand Gowan)
thecritiqueofmodernism thatcame withit. Owingtothemisfortune ofhis death, Corbusianparallelbrickstructural witha combinatory
walls are cross-fertilized play
however,we are nowable to see Stirling's workas a whole,and itis itscontinuity ofvolumesrecallingvan Doesburg.
thatis morestriking thanitsdiscontinuity. Ifwe lookat his pre-1969workwitheyes
thathave becomeaccustomedto a gentlerand less moralisticlightthanbefore,it Inthisperiodtheretendsto be an alternation betweentwothemes:
becomesclearthat,contrary to theviewofcertaincritics,Stirling neverbetrayed the fragmentation/explosion (Leicester)and unification/implosion
(ChurchillCollege). It
modernmovement.His attitudenevercoincidedwiththatofthemoreorthodox is as ifStirlingweretrying to reconcilethetwobasic, contradictorystrandsin
followersofthemovement, and thebrillianceofhis earlymodernist workwas due modernist architecture: analyticalnihilism,andwhatMarinetti, in1920, called
largelyto thefact thatfor him themodernist traditionwas a set of conventions and "constructionism," ortheclassical synthesiscalled forbyL'EspritNouveau. Butthe
rulesrather thana social and moralimperative, rulesthatdemandedan absolutely qualitythatis commonto boththesetendenciesinStirling'sworkis a hallucinatory
rigorousand logicalapplicationand thatpresenteda veryprecisefieldof clarityofforms,a crystalline hardnessthatis reinforced bytheuse ofdense,smooth
investigation.Stirling neverseemed to be interested insocial utopias,orwiththose materials:glass, ceramictile,and engineering brick.Thetwoarchitects whocome
ideas thatlinkedtheavant-garde witha program that,initsextremeform,wantedto to mindinthisconnection are FrankLloydWright and Le Corbusier.Stirling'shabit
reabsorbartand architecture backintolife,though,paradoxically, hisformal ofconceptualizing volumesas iftheycouldbe heldinthehandand physically
radicalismalignedhimmorecloselywiththeseideas thanwiththewatered-down, manipulated recalls therelationshipusuallypostulatedbetweenWright's
Swedish-style social commitment thatcharacterizedthearchitectural scene in compositions and the Froebel system ofkindergarten training.Stirling'suse of
England afterthe war. While theSmithsons reacted to thissituation byturning to an axonometric projection as a method both ofdesignand ofrepresentation connects
anti-Cartesianand pragmatic of
reinterpretation Le Corbusier's laterwork,Stirling himwithvan DoesburgandAlbertoSartoris,butalso, indirectly, withWright as one
tookas hisstarting pointthoseabstract-formal rulesthatlaybehindtheworkofthe oftheprimary sourcesoftheDe Stijlaesthetic.Theformsthemselves,however,
founders ofthemodernmovement and impliedthatarchitecture was a reflexiveand havemoreto do withLe Corbusier'smachinelike prisms.
autonomousdiscipline- an idea thatgoes backto KonradFiedler'stheoryofthe
mental( geistige) basis ofarchitecture, whichwas further promoted byAloisRiegl These observationssuggestthatthereare twoaspectsofStirling'searlyworkthat,
and WilhelmWorringer. thoughtheymay separatedforpurposesofanalysis,are infactinseparable:the
be
formaland thereferential.Informalterms,thereis a dialecticalmovement between
To suggestthatStirling'srootswereformalist inthissense is not,however,to elementarist
dispersionand classical closure. Interms of mention
reference, has
suggestthatfunctiondid not playan essentialrolein histhinking.Functional alreadybeen made ofmono-pitch roofs, butothers can be added,such as the19th-
connections a
provide syntactical glue bindingtogethertheseparatevolumesofhis century architecture
industrial ofnorthern England.Buttheseeminglypurelyformal
and
buildings, thisfactoris in the
important understanding continuity inhiswork.He
neversoughtto separateformfromthepragmatics ofthearchitecturalprogramnor
didhe proposean architecture thatwouldbe nothing buttheplayofdifferences

Olivetti
JamesStirling, Headquarters,
MiltonKeynes,1971.
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
is also arrivedat via thereferential. formalresearchis a reworking
Stirling's of sense eitheroftheclash ofcentrifugal forcesorofclassical containment, whichare
themesalreadyestablishedbythe1920s avant-garde: abstraction,themetaphor of generally hallmarksof Stirling'sarchitecture, other late projectsconvert the
themachine,etc. Moreover, itis seen intermsoftheworkofparticular architects. fragmentation oftheearlyDe Stijl-likeworkintoa newlyricism.These projectsare
Stirling is concernedwiththeconsolidation ofthesebasic ideas ofmodernism and relaxedand playful,buttheycompensatefora certainlooseningoftensionwitha
withtheiradaptationto new,local conditions.Theformsofmodernarchitecture that newpoeticdimension.I am referring inparticular to threeprojects:thePerforming
he exploresinthisprocessare alreadyloadedwithmeanings,and his operationson ArtsCenterat CornellUniversity, theBerlinScience Center,and theCompton Verney
themmaytherefore be thought - inthedoublesense thatthey
ofas linguistic OperaHouse. Inall theseschemesfragments ofa remembered figuraiarchitecture
involvebotha syntactics and a semanticswithin whichthissyntacticsoperates. are collagedina waythatis apparently freebutthatinfactis tightly controlled.In
thelasttwothepointofhistoricalreference appears to be the VillaAdriana,possibly
AnanalysisofStirling'sworkinthesetermsdisclosesan essentialcontinuity bywayofLouisKahn. Inall theseschemes,specificsite conditions givemeaningto
betweentheearlyand latework.Thereferences thatintheearlyworkare restricted a chaoticarrangement ofdifferent elements,thoughsome oftheseelementsappear
to themodernist canonand to thevernacularelementshistorically considered morethanonce (e.g., a stoalikepiece and an octagonalbuilding).IntheBerlin
compatible withit(ruralarchitecture,engineering works,etc.) become,inhis later project,thecrucialsitecondition is a large,preexisting neo-baroquemansion,which
work,broader,and beginto includeelementsthathavebeen historically excluded is simultaneouslydefusedand recontextualized by the new additions.AtCompton
fromthemodernist canon(theclassical and neoclassicaltraditions).Fromthe Verney,a similarlyfreeand nonrectangular strategy is used (thoughherethe
formalpointofview,however,thedifference is less clear. Elementaristdispersion separatepartsare infactgeometrically relatedto each otherbymeansofa
and classical closureare stillthedominantthemes. Itis truethata kindof triangularcentralhall), butthistimeinorderto createpicturesquerelationships ina
neoclassicalmonumentality becomesfora timemorefrequent, forinstanceinthe Virgilianlandscape(thetrianglemayinfactreferto Elizabethanexamplesortothe
problematic SiemensAGMunichprojectortheGovernment Centerat Doha, inQatar. StoweHouse).
Buteventheseprojectsachievetheireffectsbythekindofrepetition ofelementary
volumeslinkedbylinearsystemsofmovement, whichwas also a featureofStirling's Itis perhapstheseprojectsthatexhibitmoreclearlythecontinuities and
earlywork.Attheotherextreme,strongly unifying projectssuchas theRegional discontinuitiesinStirling's
work.Theyshowthesame playofcontrast between
Centerat Florencerevert to themonasticmodelestablishedbyChurchill College. fragmentation and closurethatwas alwaysone ofitsmostimportant features,but
thisdialecticalplaytakeson a newform.Ineach projectthestoalikeelementacts
Innearlyall Stirling's
work,whether tendingto thefragmentary ortheunified,there notonlyas a fragment amongfragments butalso as a frameorgroundagainstwhich
is a strategy
based on an analysiswhichdividestheprogramintoa certainnumber theotherpartsare to be read. AtBerlinthestoa faces inward,embracing the
ofdistinctfiguraielements.These elementsbecomemoremultivalent and heterogeneous elements intowhich the program has been dismemberedand
increasinglyreferto rathergeneralizedhistoricalprecedents,combiningthese anchoring themto one edge ofthesite. AtCornelland Compton each stoa
Verney,
contents withtheabstract-formal proceduresofmodernism.Thetwoprojectsthat acts as a frontispiece
and an entrance,gathering intheforcesofthelandscapethatit
represent thisfusionmostsuccessfully are theartgalleriesforDusseldorfand faces.
Stuttgart(theformer unbuilt).In boththeseprojectsnewthemesare introduced -
in particular
theidea ofa negativefiguraielementintheformofa circularcourtyard Itmightseem absurdto claim- as thisessay does - thatthecontinuity of
whichconstitutes partofa promenadearchitecturale linkingthebuildingsto the Stirling'swork lies in itseclecticism. How can eclecticismand consistencybe
surrounding urbanfabricand creatinga complicatedintertwining ofprivateand equated? Butitis thetermsofthiseclecticismthatare at issue ratherthan
publicspace. eclecticismas such. Oncediscovered,thetypological elementsinStirling'swork
becomereadymadeswhich,due totheelementarist compositional techniquesbeing
Insome ofthelastworksa certainlooseness intheorganization ofthemainvolumes employed,can be reusedindifferent combinations, accordingto different
and theirinterstitial
spaces becomesapparent.IntheprojectsfortheParisLibrary, programmatic and site conditions.Stirling'seclecticismis highly controlledand is
theTokyoInternational Forum,andtheWaltDisneyConcertHall inLos Angeles, assimilatedto his personallanguage. Thoughanybroaderintentional hypothesis
hugecubicor cylindricalvolumesfloatvaguelyin interstitial
circulation
spaces mustbe riskyforan architect so frugalinhis expressionofdeepercultural
whichseem to haveno conceptualbindingpower. IntheseprojectsStirling was preoccupations, itmightbe suggestedthatwhatStirling was searchingforin his use
seekinga solutionina newbuildingtype:theculture/leisure
center,whichis the ofhistoricalfragments within a basically modernist strategywerethelineamentsofa
culturalequivalentoftheshoppingmall. Butifsuchprojectsfailto providea clear Zeitgeistinwhich the of a
Hegelianconcept teleologica!,yetunconscioushistorical
process is no longer tenable. Stirling'sfigurai fragments makeno pretenseat
the
reconstructing organic conditions of their originalappearance. His architecture
appears as a passionate and logical assertion ofourloss ofculturalinnocence.

Alan Colquhoun is a professoremeritusin theSchool ofArchitectureat

Princeton University.

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