Blotting Out Architecture?

A Fable in Seven Parts

Author(s): Hubert Damisch and Julie Rose
Source: Log, No. 1 (Fall 2003), pp. 9-26
Published by: Anyone Corporation
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41764938 .
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HubertDamisch
fromthe
Translated Out Architecture?
FrenchbyJulieRose Blotting

A Fable in Seven Parts

For PhyllisLambert

Wolkenkannmannicht"bauen" Unddarumwirddie
Zukunftniewahr.
"erträumte"
- Vermischte
Wittgenstein, Bemerkungen

1.Weston's Cloud
In thesummerof 192],whentheold tubthatwas slowly
takingTina Modotiand himselfto Mexicomadea stopover
as it traileddownthecoastof Baja California, thephotogra-
pher Edward Weston took a shotof a greatcloud whose
shapehad caughthiseye:"A sunlitcloud,"he writesin his
Daybook, "whichrosefromMazatlánBayto becomea tow-
ering white column."A fewdayslaterhe noticedtherollof
filmwas damagedbuthe wentaboutrepairingthedamage
as soonas he was settledin Mexicoand wenton to produce
severalenlargements of an imagewhich,farfrombeing
reduced, in his own words,to a matter-of-fact shot,some-
Edward TheTowering how fulfilled an intentionthathe seemsto havedeliberately
Weston,
WhiteCloudat Mazatlan, keptvague.1 And how coulditbe otherwise, fromthemoment
Mexico,August Photocour- thecloudbecomesa phenomenon- phenomenon,
1923. notobject-
tesyoftheauthor. thatit eludes all intentionalpurposesalong with anyessen-
tialistposition,havingonlyan accidentaland transitory
presenceand beinga functionof strictly externalcausesand
conditions, leavingus, moreover, completely freeto project
ourfantasies on toit.(WhereWestonsaw a column,we might
be moretemptedtodayto see a hintof theatomicmush-
room,minusthecap.)

1.Edward Weston:"But I made 2. BRUNELLESCHI'S MlRROR

yesterday
the first other
negatives thanmatter-of- With thepassingof theweeks,and as intenseand dramatic
fact - negatives
records with A
intention.
quitemarvelouscloudformtempted me as lifein Mexicoseemedto himto be,Westonneverceased
- a sunlit
cloud whichrosefrom thebay to be as fascinated thewalls bathedin
tobecome a towering
whitecolumn." by sunlightas bythe
From The
DaybooksofEdward Weston,ed. clouds,"themarvelousclouds,"to citeBaudelaire."They
Nancy Newhall (New York:Aperture, alone,"Westonwrites,"are sufficient to workwithformany
1990),2nd 14.
edition,
2.Edward Weston:"Lifehereisintense monthsand nevertire."2Butthefactthatthephotographer
anddramatic,I donotneedtophoto- couldbe interested at thesametimein texturaleffects resul-
graph premeditated andthere
postures,
walls
aresunlit surface tingfromtheplayof lighton walls of stone,brick,or clay,
offascinating
andthere
textures, areclouds!They kindto whichcloudforma-
alone towork
aresufficient with for and effectsof a verydifferent
many months,andnevertire." 21. tionslentthemselves,
Ibid., leavesus to imaginethatwe arewit-
9

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 nessinga playof oppositions betweenthearchitectural, or
constructive, sphere and the atmospheric sphere. Mark Wigley
notes,"Atmosphere seemsto startprecisely wherethecon-
3.Mark Wigley, "The
Architecture
of struction stops,"5 in orderto contrastthisassertionwiththe
Atmosphere," inDaidalos,
68(1998),
18. idea of an "architecture of atmosphere" thatwould be based
4.Ibid.,5.
5.Leon Battista
Alberti:
"Adunquel'orlo on a different notionof atmosphere thana strictly meteoro-
edorso danno suoinomiallesuperficie"
fromDella Pittura Sansoni, logical
(Firenze: one: a "built" atmosphere thatemanates from a build-
1950),I.5.;Eng.trans.
OnPainting
(New ingor fromitsimageor representation, to saynothingof its
Haven/London: Yale Press, ruin.In
University
1970. terms ofgraphicdesign, Le Corbusier couldwellcon-
6.Edmund The
Husserl, OriginofGeo- demnthoseseekingaftereffects notrestricted to a moreor
metry(Stony Brook,NY:N.Hays;Boul-
der:
distributed byGreat
EasternBook lessstenographic line,but he didn't getas far as thecultof
Co.,1978). First in1939
published as: theabstractlinethatgenerates itsown specificatmosphere.4
Fragenach dem der
Ursprung Geometrie
ah
intentional-historisches
Problem. Fromthisperspective, whatsensewould it maketo stopat
theelementof air,an elementas apparently foreignas the
cloudis to anynotionof construction, graphicor otherwise,
as well as to architecture itself,definedin Le Corbusier'sfor-
mulaas "themasterly correct,and magnificent playof mass-
es broughttogether in thelight?"
Westoncomparedthegreatcloudof Mazatlánto a col-
umn.Contrary to anyarchitectural construct, itremainsthat
a cloud cannotbe enclosedor delineated,stilllesscircum-
scribedaccordingto a well-defined outlinewhich,as we read
in Alberti' s Della Pittura, providesthenamesof thesurfaces
and volumesthatcan be generatedfromit: "It is bytheir
'edge'(l'orlo)as muchas bytheir'back'(il dorso),their'skin/
theirexternalenvelope,thatcircles,squares,and triangles
are defined,alongwithspheres,cubes,and pyramids."* In
thissense,and it is certainly whatLeonardomeantin texts
thatarerightly celebrated, thecloudis likea stainor mark-
-
a blur thatescapestheessentially graphicclutchesof Eu-
clideangeometryand, bythesame token,accentuatesby
defaultthebondbetweenartand geometry thatwas formed
in AncientGreecemorethantwothousandyearsago and
thatis fundamental to and characteristic ofWestern culture.
In hisfamousopuscule,TheOriginofGeometry , thephiloso-
pherEdmundHusserlexplainedaccuratelyhow,bornat the
footof thepyramids withthesageThaïes,theinventionof
geometry presupposed as itsprecondition theconstitution of
a base,a ground,of sensoryexperiencewhichitselfwould
havegonethroughtheelaborationand productionof regular
architectural volumes,amongotherthings,beforemoving
on to clearlydefinededges,suchas wereobviouslyinvolved
in thesaid pyramids.6 Paul Valéryhiton thesameidea in
Eupalinos , where Phaedro remindsSocratesof thebuildings
they saw putup, in their day,in Piraeus,and theengines,the
efforts,theflutesthattemperedthemwiththeirmusic,"all
10

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 thoseincredibly preciseoperations, thatprogressat onceso
mysterious and so clear,"linkedobviouslyto theprogressof
geometry: "More thananything else,whatconfusionseemed
to go hand in glovewithorder!Whatsolidity, what rigor
sprangup amongall thosethreadsthatyielded thoseper-all
pendiculars, alongall thosefragilestringsstretched out only
7.PaulValéry, ; L'ame
Eupalinos etla to be leveledbythegrowthof bedsof brick."7
danse; del'arbre
Dialogue (Paris:
1944).
Gallimard, In TheOriginofPerspective, thetitleof whichdeliber-
8.HubertDamisch, dela
L'Origineper- atelyparodiesthatof HusserPsopuscule,I triedto showhow,
(Paris:
spective Flammarion, 1987);The
,trans.
ofPerspective
Origin John Good- fromBrunelleschito Desargues,theworkof theperspecti-
man Mass.:
(Cambridge, MITPress, vistshas repeatedthissamescenarioand in turnpreparedthe
1992).
9.Antonio
diTurchioManetti,Vitadi ground,thoughbyothermeans,forthedevelopments of
Filippo ed.D.Robertis
Brunelleschi, &G. modern in itsdescriptiveand projectiveaspects.8
Tanturli IlPolifìlio,
(Milan: 1976).Eng. geometry
The
trans. of
Life Brunelleschi
(UniversityIn this context, we must return yetagain to thefounding
Park:PennState
University Press,
1970). that the first of Brunelleschi's consti-
cf.my Théorie
dunuage.Pour uneHistoiremyth "experiments"
delapeinture Editions
(Paris: duSeuil, tuteson thesubject.I will limitmyselfhereto recallinghow,
157-71.
1972), ifwe are to believewhatmaywell be a merefableor talltale
(albeitone of utmostconsequence),Brunelleschi paintedon
a smallsquarepanela perspective view of theBaptistery of
San Giovanniin Florenceas it appearsfrominsidethecen-
traldoorwayof theCathedralof SantaMaria del Fiore;how
he is said thento havepuncheda conicalholein thetavoletta
corresponding to thebuilding'svanishingpointso that,by
turningthethingoverand clappinghiseyeto thereverse
side,he couldsee theimagein a mirror.Wewill saynothing
hereof thetheoretical implications ofwhateffectively pre-
senteditselfnotso muchas an experiment thanas a demon-
strationin due form:essentially, theprojectivecoincidence
of thepointofview and thevanishingpointwhichis the
-
imageof it in theblueprintof thepainting a proposition
whichwe takeforgrantedtoday,butwhichwas at thetime
a majordiscovery, one thatwouldprovedecisiveformathe-
maticsas well as forphilosophy. Whatmattershere,forming
BaptisteryofSanGiovanni in an integralpartof thisotherfictionwe are dealingwith,is
Florence, east facade. thatoncetheBaptistery and itssurroundswererepresented
in perspective and in thegreatestpossibledetail,it remained
forBrunelleschi notto depicttheskybut,as hisbiographer
strongly putsit,to showit or,literally, to demonstrate it Ça
dimostrarlo ) as it stretched abovethelineof therooftops. He
manages to do this byresorting to the subterfuge thatcon-
sistsof insertinga burnishedsilvermirrorin itsplace,in
whichair and skyare reflected, as muchas thecloudsthat
could be seenin it "drivenbythewindwhenitwas blow-
ing."9(It is impossiblenotto thinkhere,as faras "cloud
traps"go,of theshimmering bluishfacadesofmodernarchi-
tectureand,in a radicallyinverted perspective,of themirrors
11

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 Cloudand
RoyLichtenstein, RobertSmithsonlaid outin remotespotsin theYucatanin
Enamelonsteel.
Sea,1964. orderto capture,mixedwiththeash and mudthatsullied
©EstateofRoyLichtenstein.
them,something of theskiesand cloudsof theMexico
Westonwas so fondof.)10
10.Robert of
"Incidents
Smithson, The timewould sooncomewhencloudswould finda
Mirror-Travel
inthe in
(1969)
Yucatan," withintheframe,as a pic-
TheCollected Flam
,ed.Jack
Writings way to recordthemselves directly
-
of
University
(Berkeley: California
Press, torial species or, in a more properly graphicformas though
117-3?.
1996)
appliquedor leftblank within the tightweftof lines(or dots)
ofwhichtheskyis made,followinga conventionthatRoy
Lichtenstein has so spectacularly mined.Doubtlessa cloudis
notentirely formless, for we are sometimes temptedto see
zoomorphicor anthropomorphic figuresin clouds,notto say
landscapes or fictional architectural shapes,sculptedbythe
wind, as in a Mantegnapainting, where cloudformations
his of
rival piles antique ruins in Butiftherewere
intensity.
formsor figuresin thisparticularcase,theywereexplicitly
markedas transitory, justlikethecloudspassingin Brunel-
leschi'smirror"drivenbythewindwhenitwas blowing."It
is as unpredictable shapes,devoidofanypermanence, in con-
stantmovementand perpetualtransformation, thatclouds
owe thefactof havinghookedtheattention of a numberof
photographers and filmmakers, hoton theheelsof thepain-
ters, in the first half of the 20th century.Butthefactthat
architects havemorerecently cometo use an elementso ap-
parentlyforeign to the reign thebuiltenvironment
of for
theirown ends- thissmacks,yetagain,of a fableor some
kindof fictionthatmaywell be wortha closerlook.

?.Diller + Scofidio's "Cloud Machine"

on thebanks
In thesummerof 2002,at Yverdon-les-Bains,
12

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Blurhovers
overLake of Lake Neuchatel,in Switzerland,I photographed a strange
cloudshoverover
Neuchatel, thickoblong-shaped cloudthatseemedto floatsomedistance
theSwiss
mountains.
Photo:
Hubert
Damisch. fromtheshoreabovethesurfaceof thewater.It seemedto
floator,to putit moreaccuratelysincethechoiceofwordsis
fairlycrucialhere,itseemedto be in a stateoflévitation above
thelake.AsI examineditmoreclosely, I couldmakeoutfrag-
mentaryglimpses of a metallic structuremomentarily show-
ingthrough the cloud at certainpointsand emerging from it
as thoughfollowingit in itsendlesslychangingshape,seem-
inglyenvelopedbyit in themannerof a celestialbodyen-
dowedwitha moreor lessopaquenebulousatmosphere.
I soughtoutthetwopeopleI call theauthorsof thething
-
("thing" notobjector phenomenon),ElizabethDillerand
RicardoScofldio,at whoseinvitation I arrivedat thesceneto
visitwhat theyfirstcalled a "cloud machine"beforelimit-
ing themselvesto themoresuccinctand programmatic title
of Blur.Initially,
Blurwas conceivedas one of severalattrac-
tionsorganizedaroundsitesretainedforwhatstyleditselfas
"SwissExpo 2002."The directiveobeyedbytheexhibition-
whichwas in thebestpossiblehumor- is notrelevanthere:
whileplayingon an extensivemediagamut,it mademuchof
architecturalobjectswhichwereat theleastincongruous and
whoseiconicrangerivaledtheircriticalfunction, muchas
occurredelsewherewithprojectsdesignedbyJeanNouvel
and Coop Himmel(b)lau.Thereis no need,either,to go into
thefinancialups and downsthatprogressively blurredand
watereddowntheoutlinesoftheoriginalprojectonlytowind
up givingthecloudmachinecompleteautonomy, as thecen-
terpiecepavilion,thoughit had originallybeendesignedas
partofa collaborative attempt at a "medialandscape"- what-
13

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/';-=09 )(8*=-0/']

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 everwe careto makeof sucha term.Two features, however,
demandto be retained.The firstseemsto implyan oblique
wayofeludingthenetworkofstructural determinationsthat
can limitarchitectureon a conceptualas muchas on a con-
structivelevel.The secondwould correspond to a calculated
shiftfromthemediumin whicharchitecture worksto the
formalmediaoperationsand interactions towhicharchitec-
turemaylenditself.

4. The Workof the Concept

The Diller+ Scofidioprojectpresentsa numberof features
or aspectstypicalof a conceptualwork,beginning withthe
-
factthatit gaveriseto thepublicationof a book Blur:The
-
MakingofNothing whichis likethework'sarchive,pro-
viding an otherwise ephemeralembodiment witha kindof
lastingqualityat oncetextualand iconicand comparableto
thatto whicha numberof contemporary productions can
layclaim, whether arising from performance or not: thelast-
ingquality of a fable or,better still,of a work of fiction.
I will returnto theproblemposed bythetermblur, a
termthatmaymean a numberof thingsand mayassume
different formsas noun or verbwitha flexibility thatgoes
to theheartof thematter.But firstI need to removeany
doubt.One can, of course,nottakeDiller and Scofidio's
discourseseriously,and can see theircloud machineas a
meregadget,one no doubtcleveras well as spectacular, but
definitely of a flippantorder,withoutanyreal speculative
or architectural implications.I have chosento taketheop-
positeview, one which leadsto concernforthethinking that
mightsubtendwhatpresentsitselfless as an object than as
a machinationof "nothing"or of absence( TheMakingof
Nothing).This sendsus backto our originalparadox:in
whatway mightarchitecture forma pactwithcloudswith-
out exposingitselfto becomingthevictimof determina-
tionsstrictly foreignto itsown order?
Wittgenstein writes"cloudscannotbe 'built''bauen].
Andthatis whythe'dreamtof' futurenevercomestrue,"12
therebyimplyingthatdreamshaveno moreconsistency than
cloudsand thatwe are incapableof buildinganything essen-
oneiric or fantastical- whichleavesthewholequestion
tially
ofutopiahanging,alongwiththatofnarrative. Yet,in a quite
different context,Wittgenstein also wonderedaboutthemo-
dalitiesaccordingtowhicha conceptmightbe broughtdown
to whatone can see,leaveitsimprintthereand,literally, in-
formit, in the manner in which Jacques Lacan compared the
settingup of theSignifier to thedescentof theHolySpirit:15
15

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 to beginwiththeconceptof outline,fromthemomentthat
nothinglikelinesor strokesexistin nature.Buttheissueis
notlimitedto how theconceptfitsintothefieldof theper-
ceptible.The issuebearson thewayin whichtheconceptcan
be putto workand,moreto thepoint,can be putintowork.
Bluris themanifestation of this,ifnotthemanifesto; theper-
if
formance, not, as I to the
hope show, performative.
For an exampleof how a conceptmaybe evolvedalong
linespeculiarto architecture, we mightlookat how theidea
of structure was handledin thisparticularcase,alongwith
thedesignand construction, properlyspeaking,of thema-
chine,as well as the effectsthelatterwas supposedtoproduce
and whichwereneitherexclusively visualnorconstructive.
A briefdescription willshowhow an ovoidmetallicstructure
suspendedfromfourincredibly skinnytubularpilessunkdeep
Construction oftheBlurstruc- intothewaterand lakebed at a pointwhereit is particularly
tureat night. Preceding pages: loose,and in tensionas a tensegrity
Blurfrom acrossthelakeand workingessentially sys-
itsAngelDeck"intheclouds." tem, was coupled with a network ofpipespuncturedat regu-
Photoscourtesy Diller+ lar intervalsbyapertures, out ofwhichmistwas sprayedat
SCOFIDIO. veryhighpressure.The accumulationof themistinjetsat
theperiphery of thestructure produced,on contactwiththe
ambientair,thefogor thickcloudthroughwhichvisitors
wereinvitedto roamafterdonningblueraincoatshandedout
at theentranceto therampedbridgeslungfromshoreto ma-
chine.The wholethinginvolvedconsiderable technology. The
flowof thewaterthroughthenozzlesand itsoutputas atom-
ized mistweredesignedto be regulatedbya computer froma
built-inweatherstation,whichadjustedthestrength of the
to
sprayaccording atmospheric conditions and wind direction.
I would liketo comebackhereto theuse of theconcept
ofstructure andwhetherwe understand thisin a strictlycon-
structive, tectonic sense or whether we take it in itsepiste-
mologica!senseas havingto do withstructuralism. What
implications can theidea of a cloudstructure haveand,fur-
il.Elizabeth
Diller
andRicardo Scofidio,
Blur:
The Making (New
ofNothing York/ ther, what effect can what we are forced to call thefantasy
London: HarryN.Abrams,2002). (or fiction)ofa buildingwhoseprimarycomponents aresteel
12.Ludwig Vermischte
Wittgenstein, Be-
merkungen,
Englishtrans.
Culture and and fog have on theveryconcept of structure? As Diller+ Sco-
,ed.G.H.
Value vonWright(Chicago: fidioputit to thetechnicalteamwithwhomtheydiscussed
ofChicago
University 1984).
Press,
1?.
Jacques LeSéminaire
Lacan, IV, thetermsfortestingwhatclaimedto be a cloudof dots:"We
,livre
LaRelation editions
(Paris:
d'objet du do notintendto makea volumeof spacecoveredwithfog.
Seuil, 48.
1994),
14."We donotintendtomake avolume Weintendto makea buildingoffogwithintegrated media.,,14
ofspacecovered
with Weintend
fog. to Butisn't"building"sayingtoomuch,or a mistransla-
make a building
offogwithintegrated
media.", +Scofidio,
Diller h
op.cit., tion?If we takethistexton itsown terms,whatis involved
hereis merelya matterof "making"(to makea building of
fog)ytheidea of thebuildingbeingdirectlyassociatedwith
consideration of theparadoxicalmaterialthatis fog- a ma-
16

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 terialwhoseproduction has now become,as we learnin Blur,
a veritableindustry, particularly bigin Switzerland,withits
and
engineers,technicians, machinery. Andthis,in oblivi-
ousnessto,or shouldwe saythefogging up or blotting outof
- both for the word blur - thatother
possibleequivalents
materialassociatedin a privileged waywiththenotionof
builtstructure, thatis,steel.Paradoxically, as faras so-called
"primary" materials was
go,priority given,phenomenologi-
callyspeaking,to the"cloud" element,witharchitecture
succeedingwhereperspective failed,at leastas faras Brunel-
leschiconceivedit:I mean,contraryto Wittgenstein's asser-
a
tion,bybuilding cloud, if not bybuilding in cloud' we
as
of in in
speak building wood, brick, stone, in in steel.Or to
putit anotherway,withoutresorting to metaphor, byusing
cloudas a materialwitha structural application. is some-
This
thing that seems to go without sayingforsteel,butoncecloud
is broughtintoplaywe are forcedto rethinktheconceptof
structure and,withoutactuallyrejectingit,to tryto injecta
bitofelasticity intoit,itsshareoffuzziness- something that
is,again, far from obvious. Blur has nothing of the poststruc-
turalistaboutit and stilllessof thepost-structural. Butinso-
faras an honorablerolemustbe givento architecture in the
genealogy of the very notion of structure, we have a rightto
expectthatthesometimes unpredictable evolutionary muta-
tionsin buildingwould be of consequenceforthefutureof
structural thoughtand affectitseconomy.
Don't getme wrong:if one is justifiedin thecircum-
stancesin speakingof a "cloudbuilding,"thisis lessin terms
of construction or functionthanin relationto theplayof
opposition /cloud/elementis caughtup in,playwitha
the
patentlysymbolicdimension(puttingtheword between
slashesI aim to setit up in thepositionof signifier). Wesaw
thiswithWestonand hisinterest in boththewallsand clouds
whichMexico laid on so abundantly. In a similarvein,I
would citethewonderfulbookin whichthebiologistHenri
Atlanattempted to explorethenotionof systemand theorga-
nizationof thelivingbeingin reference to thetwoextreme
MistydetailsofBlur.Photos: poles constituted bycrystal and smoke.15 Byway of anecdote
HubertDamisch. or symptom, I mightadd myown amusingdiscovery, as I was
strolling through the on-line librarycatalogue of the Cana-
dian CenterforArchitecture, of a papertitled"SteelFor
Bridges," deliveredat a meetingoftheAmericanInstitute of
in in 1881bya certainJohn
1$.Henri Entre
Atlan, etlafumée.MiningEngineers Philadelphia
lecristal
Essai
sur du vivant
l'organisation (Paris: W. Cloud.16 That a name like JohnCloud could havebeen
Editions
duSeuil,
1979). worn a man with a marked interest in steelconstruction
16.John
W.Cloud,
Steel
forBridges by
1881).
(Philadelphia: I see as the index of a symbolic determination basedon the
17

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 samekindof structural oppositionbetweensteeland cloud
thatDiller+ Scofidiowantedto playaroundwith.
For myself, I can clearlyseewhatfixeddeterminations
theinterest I feltfromtheoutsetin theDiller+ Scofidiopro-
ject compliedwith- to thepointwhereI acceptedwriting
aboutitevenbeforeI sawit,walkedthrough it,and"breathed"
it.I mean,beyondthebeautyof thething,whichI would
qualifyas "pneumatic."This thing("thing,"I repeat,rather
thanobject)is in factlocatedat theintersection of two of
theprincipleaxes ofwhatI see as mywork:on theone hand,
thecomparative approachof thefate,whichI see as paradig-
matic,of thesignor /cloud/elementin westernartand the
artof theFar East; and,on theotherhand,thereflection on
thespecifically architectural determinations and resonances
of structuralist thoughtas it was firstsystematically ex-
pressedby Yiollet-le-Duc. If thearchitectural fictioncon-
ceivedbyDiller+ Scofidiospeaksto me,itis becauseitplays
preciselyon thearticulation betweenthesetwoapparently
opposed,ifnotincompatible, axes of reflection.

$.Pavilions
As surprising as itwas, theDiller+ Scofidioprojectwas not
withoutechoesor precedents - fromMiesvan derRohe,
who wantedtopunchthrough thecloudsandwhosefacadesac-
tually have nothing of theshimmering aboutthem,to Coop
Himmel(b)lau,foundedin 1968withthedesireto make"an
architecture as floatingand changingas theclouds,"17 and,
aboveall,to thePepsi-ColaPavilionfortheInternational Fair
Fujiko Nakaya,Pepsi-Cola at in
Osaka 1970.Thiswas a geodesicdomecoveredin an arti-
Pavilion, Expo'7o,Osaka.Images ficial created
COURTESY OFTHEAUTHOR. fog byFujikoNakaya,who treatedit as a sculp-
ture,as we would expect.If we look at Diller + Scofidio's
gambitmoreclosely, thedealremainsno lessdrastic:notonly,
as theauthorsofBlurinsist,arewe notdealingherewitha
builtfog,strictly speaking,theway theCoop Himmelb(T)au
structures, out
hung like"skies,"couldbe saidto be built.But,
moreimportantly, as sparkling as itwas,thePepsi-ColaPavil-
ion stilladheredto thenormof a shelterfirmly anchoredto
thegroundand withtheaim to serveas a theaterfora whole
seriesofperformances and representations.18
Eventhoughithasitsplacein thetradition ofexhibition
17.cf.WolfPrix&HelmutSwiczinsky,pavilions,theBlurdoesnotfitintothetradition ofprovisional
Coop Austria:
Himmel(b)lau From
Cloud
to
Cloud(VeniceBiennale: andCon- structures
1996) intendedto serveas showcasesformercantile pro-
struire
leciel Centre
(Paris, Pompidou: duction,fromthe
1990- CrystalPalacetoMelnikov'spavilionforthe
18.cf.Experiments
inArtandTechnologyParisExhibitionofDecorativeArtsof1925.Nor doesitfitinto
(E.A.T.), ed.Billy
Pavilion, Klüver,
Julie thetradition ofpavilionsdesignedas so manyadvertising
Martin &BarbaraRose(New York:
Ex- pa-
perimentsinArtandTechnology,
1978). nelsforone typeor anotherof housing.Blurwas certainly
18

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 notinhabitablein thesensein whichthevilla-apartment
blockcellpresentedbyLe Corbusierat theEspritNouveau
pavilionin 1925was. Yettheremostcertainly was a proposi-
tionherethathad something to do withtheidea ofan inhab-
itableplace,a placewhereitwould be good to breathe,and
to breathedifferently, byinhalinga different air,one charged
withthepurestofwaters- in vaporizedform.Andifthere
was nothingreallyto exhibitor showhere,a personcould
stillfrontup to thebarupstairsto takethewatersoncemore,
thistimeas mineralwater,stillor sparkling, everything play-
ing on the juncture of thetwo elements of water and airwith
nothingearthymuddying the waters.
The onlyotherprecedentfortheprojectthatI can come
up with is theGermanPaviliondesignedbyMiesvan de Rohe
fortheInternational Exhibitionin Barcelonain 1929.With-
out beingin anyway nebulous,thispavilionbrokeitsties
withthearchetype of thehouseconceivedas a cubeand in-
Thomas Enclosure steadimposedtheidea of an enclosuredevoidof anylineari-
Florschuetz,
Illy2001
(Barcelona). of thereconstructed
ty,as shownin theseriesofphotographs
BarcelonaPavilionpresented in 2001byThomasFlorschuetz
precisely under thetitle"Enclosures." Justas importantly,
apart from a statue,Evening , byGeorgKolbe,theGerman
Pavilionexhibitednothingotherthanitself,withthetwo
Barcelonachairsthatservedforthereceptionof theroyal
coupleduringtheopeningceremony just sittingthere,
empty, like an emblem of absence or of someendlesslyde-
ferredexpectation.
A new and rareexampleof an exhibition pavilionwitha
strictly not to
self-referential, sayreflexive, purpose,Blur
wentone stepfurther to theextentthatself-exhibition was
coupledwithself-regulation in meteorological terms.Aside
fromthefactthatstricteconomicconsiderations meant
abandoning electronic media attractions such as underwater
projections, themachineultimately mettheinitialcriteriaof
integrating theinteractive conceptof "media-architecture"
underthetitle"cloud."The operationthataptlycallsitself
Bluris in effecttheequivalentof a fableor fictionthatone
mightdescribeas media-based.

6. Architecture in Absentia
I havesaid how theidea of thecloud(cloud machine)was
graduallysubstitutedin Diller+ Scofidio'sdiscoursebythe
wordblur' whichcan be readequallyas eithera nounor a
verb.The noundenotestheeffect producedbythestrictcon-
junctionof thesteelstructureand thefogthatemanatesfrom

19

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 it,blottingoutitscontours,each linearelementbeingcou-
pled,so to speak,withitsnegationin actuality.(That itwas
necessaryto doubleup theapparatusinsteadofgettingthe
structure itselfto producethecloud could be seenas a flaw
on theconceptuallevel,withoutthishavingmuchresonance
on thephenomenallevel.) The verbtakeson theprestigeof a
performative: whatBluraccomplished was merelythesame
as whatit said or described.
In themannerin whichthestormcloudsthatinvaded
vaultsand cupolasin thebaroqueera foggedup thearchitec-
tonic,theblurringof linesand of anyoverlyprecisevolume-
tryresultsfirstly ifnotin thedissolutionthen,at thevery
least,in thelooseningof thetiesthatarchitecture might
maintainwithgeometry - and
perhapsin theirtransforma-
tionwithintheperspective of new geometries able to give
thefuzzyitsdue alongsidevariouseffects of surfaceand tex-
Blurred bythemist. ture,as alreadyhappenswithshimmering.19 Does thismean
going as faras claiming it as a manifestation of a utopia,not
of theabsenceof architecture, buta different kindof radical
utopia,involvingarchitecture inabsentia , an "absent"archi-
tectureor one on thevergeof absentingitself:an architec-
turein suspense,literallyand figuratively, and all themore
sophisticated in its operation and effectbecause all other
formsof architecture werevyingwitheach othertowipeit
out?Curiously, thesameWalterGropiuswho madehimself,
at leastin hiswritings, theapostleof a fluidand transparent
architecture, yielded,in whatwe mightdescribeas a criti-
cal momentin history, to thefantasyof an architecture that
wouldworktowarddisguising itself,camouflaging itself,by
drowningnotin cloudsbutin thegreenery. Holedup in Lon-
don afterhavingfledNazi Germany, Gropiusarguedthat,
"Withthedevelopment of aviation,thearchitect will needto
pay as much attention to the bird's-eye view of his housesas
to theirerection.The use of flatroofsoffers us thepossibility
of reintroducing natureamongthestonydesertsof our big
19.1amreferring
here
totheworkcon- for the sitesfromwhichit has beenchasedbybuild-
ductedbyPierre
Rosenthal
atthe
Centre cities,
demathématiques
sociales
oftheEcole ingscan be givenbackto it in height.Seenfromthesky,the
desHautes
Etudes, under
Paris, thetitle
of"taxiplanie." leafyroofsof thecitiesof thefuturewill looklikeendless
20.Walter The
Gropius, New Architecture
chainsof hanginggardens."20
and the
Bauhaus Mass.:
(Cambridge, MIT
1965).
Press, Thesewordshavea peculiarresonancetoday,appealing
to an experienceof architecture seekingto escapetheearth-
boundlimitsof thepromenade architecturale, as well as those
ofgravity, and openingitselfup to thesky.Certainly, there
was no needtowaitfortheconquestoftheair and thedevel-
opmentof aerialnavigationfortheidea of a bird's-eyeview
of architectural formsto makeitselffelt:fromthree-dimen-
20

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Forbidden
City, (detail),
Beijing sionalmodelsto axonometrical plotting,a certaindistance
MingDynasty. had alreadybeentakenregarding frontal thehori-
perception,
zontal.Whatremainedto be seenwas to whatextentsucha
viewcouldbe affected, notto sayradicallyaltered,ifnotfore-
closed,in whatwas itsveryobjectbytheattackon theWorld
TradeCenter.For fromnow on, architecture would haveto
be consideredas a potentialtarget,exposedin itsstructure, if
notitsverybeing,in whatit mightcontainof theprovoca-
tive,to themostdevastating assaults.That,at least,is what
somecriticswould liketo persuadeus of,notmissingan op-
portunity flaunttheirhatredof density,
to shamelessly the
and
skyscraper, building tall, which they hold partlyrespon-
siblefortheeventat a symboliclevel.It amountsto a singu-
larlyperverseformof rhetoricalterror, one condemning
thought,thatshouldbe categorically denounced.

7.A Chinese Fable?

No morethanGropiuscouldimagine,whilehe was writing
TheNewArchitecture andtheBauhaus,thatbombswouldsoon
raindownand flattenthestonydesertsof thegreatcitiesof
Europe,couldDiller+ ScofidiohaveconceivedBlurand the
thickcloudthatemanatesfromitin termsof targetand cam-
ouflage.Puttingasidetheeffect of context,we needto look
elsewhereentirely,withina comparative -
perspective one
thatis accordingly which
radicallynonterrorist, is enoughto
conferuponit,hereand now,a strategic impact. The way in
whicharchitecture seemsin thisparticularcase to wipeitself
out and cutitstieswiththegroundto enterintolévitationis
notin factunrelatedto theway Chinesepaintersof theMing
dynastyinitiallylikedto representpalatialarchitecture as
21

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 FatherMatteoRipa,
Viewofthe
Chinese
imperial
palaceandgar-
densatJeholinManchuria,
i7ij,
etchingwithburin
work.
CollectionCentreCanadien
d'Architecture/Canadian
CenterforArchitecture,
Montreal.

22

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 viewedin aerialperspective on a background of denseclouds,
abovewhichmountainsseemedto float.TheJesuitfather,
MatteoRipa,fromwhomtheemperorcommandeda suiteof
engravings featuring one of his summerpalaces- theartof
engraving being then unknownin China- soonsaw how he
couldturnthisto hisadvantage:21theemptyarea,leftblank,
21.Matteo Ripa,Vuesdepalais
etdes
jar- towhichthewhitecloudcoveris reducedas it stretches from
dinsimpériauxchinoisaJehol
enMand- one sideof the to the other over a view of a few
chourie.
English trans.Views The
ofJehol, paper pleas-
seat
ofthe summer palaceofthe of urepavilions,corresponds,
emperors in itsfunctionas sheerspacing,
China,
(Jehol, China:s.n, There
1715?]. are
eightknown copiesofthisalbum,oneof to one of themostconstantfeaturesof Chineselandscape
which isinthe collection
ofthe
Canadian - in of thenew genreof architectural
Centre forArchitectureinMontreal. painting anticipation
22.LamLaiSing, "Originsand view, invaded by a stream of thickcloudsthatdrownout or
Development oftheTraditional
Chinese dissolvecontoursand fromwhichemergethehigh
Roof,"inMellen Studies ,5 partly
inArchitecture
(Lewiston,N.Y.: E.Mellen 2001).
Press, curved roofscharacteristic of Chinesearchitecture as though
Oswald
V>. Siren, "Histoire
desarts at the surface of the clouds or above themas
anciensdelaChine," floating
inL'Architecture, flying
vol.4(Paris/ Bruxelles:G.vanOest, mountains used to do in the Songdynasty. These same roofs
1929),24. havebeenseenbysomeas theimageof thetotemicbirdof
24.Lam, op.at.,51.
theShangdynasty(c. 1600 - 1046B.C.E),22itselfpartly
mythical;as Oswald Siren,one of thefirstgreatWestern
connoisseurs of Chinesepainting,as well as Chinesearchi-
tecture,putit,theyseem"to soaroverthecolonnades."2*
If we takea closerlookat one suchviewof theForbid-
den Cityin PekingduringtheMingera,we notethat,apart
fromthegoldencloudsin whicharchitecture is absentor dis-
solves,thegap betweentherimof theroofsand thebeams
thatserveas architravesis itselffilledbywhat lookslike
packingor cottonofa different color,herebluish,resembling
curling clouds and the
justifying comparison betweenthetwo
of
types structures, as well as between the effects theyeach
lendthemselves to. If buildingin wood as it has beenprac-
ticedin Chinaforover3,000yearswas basedon thecombi-
nationof columnsand beams,it did notproceedbystacking
-
alongthelinesof theGreektemple,butbytheuse of stress
thesameas thesteelstructure thatformedthefoundation for
Blur.As Sirenfurther notes,thebeamsdid notreston the
columnsbutwentstraight throughthem,or werefixedto
thembynotchesand pegs,withouttheuse of anynails -
thesebeingreservedforotherusesconsideredpermanent,
TheForbidden City, in
Beijing, suchas sealingcaskets24 - while theexternalappear-
THECLOUDS. MlNG DYNASTY. offering
Courtesy oftheauthor. ance of an architrave connecting thewhole colonnade,itself
reduced,conceptually speaking, to the subordinate function
of simplesupport.In bigbuildingsthearchitrave sometimes
seemedto reston brackets( lianzhudou) attachedto the
columns.Butwhatcomprisedtheactualsystemof brackets
- one of themainarticulations of Chinesearchitecture - sat
abovethearchitrave to supportthelowerpurlinsof theroof-
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 ing,whileintroducing extradistancebetweenthearchitrave
and themainbeams.Later,thesebracketsweremultiplied
withgayabandon,notonlydirectlyabovethepostsbutall
alongthearchitrave. Theyweresometimes packedso closely
that
together they themselves came to look likecornices.Siren
concludes,"They[thebrackets]lose theirfunction and be-
comepureornament, a sortof beardbeneaththeroof."
Whatis important, withina comparative perspective, is
thatnotonlythebrackets, reducedforthemostpartto a sup-
posedlydecorativefunction, buttheblocks( tuofeng ) them-
selves,placed at the end of one beam to support next
the
beam, came to look like clouds or lotus flowers in theMing
and Qin dynasties.Sirenfeelscompelledto remarkthat,
"Partsare used thatno longerhaveanymaterialreasonfor
beingand thatdisguisethetruebuildingprocesses. The forms
are thesameas beforebutno longermakemuchsense."So
muchso forSirenthathe findsthat,whereasthewood ar-
chitecture ofAncientChinahad theprincipalmeritof being
eminently logicaland appropriate to itsends,as itwas guided
bythelawsof thematerialused,it thenlostwhatamounted
to itsimmemorial soulwhentheoriginalbuildingprinciples
began to be eclipsedbywhathe calls"decorativetendencies."
The onlyproblemis,ifthereweredecorative tendencies, these
accordedin everywaywiththetenetsthatwere,on Siren's
own admission,thoseof Chinesearchitecture of thegolden
age: "Atthe peak ofits the
evolution, roofing seems freedfrom
elaboratesystems
Various of itssupport,forthemoreitjutsout from the building,the
BRACKETS THEROOFS
SUPPORT OF deeperthepatchesof shadethatsetit apart."Far frombeing
Chinese
pavilions, the
including
TUOFENG deprivedof meaningor beingreducedto a simple,inconse-
(BOTTOMDRAWING). the"cloud" as decorativemotifwould
Images
courtesyoftheauthor. quentialornament,
thusratherhaveoverdoneitsactiveobliteration of all artic-
ulationbetweenwalls and roof,thesebeingseparatedfrom
each otherbysimplespacing- whichis whattheconstruc-
tionitselftendedtowardfromtheoutset.
The readingSirenproposesof theevolutionof building
in wood is a goodexampleof thefunctionalist ideologythen
reigning even within the fieldof archaeology. said else-
Pve
wherehow muchthisideology, whichfounditsmostcom-
pleteexpressionat thetimein Viollet-le-Duc'sLectureson
Architecture, seemsto me besidethepointwhencomparedto
thestrictly structuralist inspiration oftheDictionnaire raisonné
del'architecture française: with the result that,on the concep-
tualplane,a markedoppositionis setup betweenstructure
and decor,thelatterroutinely seenas a maskor veilthrown
overconstructive reality. Hence theimportanceof Diller+
Scofidio'sdiscourse:here,it is no longera matterof dis-
24

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 guisingor camouflaging thestructurebutof somehowget-
tingit to levitate.In thecase of Blur,theattemptwas helped
bythefactthattheauthorsstuckobstinately to thenotion
of a struc-tureseton thewaterand apparentlycut loose
fromall anchorage.
It is notgoingtoo farto saythatnothingcouldbe more
opposedto themoralwe mightdrawfromthesomewhat
Chinesefabledreamedup byDiller+ Scofidiothansticking
to thecategoriesinheritedfromarthistoryand considering
thecloudthatemanatedfromthestructure and blurredits
contoursas a superfluous detail, a bit of decor or ornament.
If therewas an addedelement,it formedan integralpartof
thestructure in thesensealreadydescribed- in whichthe
structure onlymadesensebyproducingtheaddition(the
"supplement," in Derrida'sterms)in orderto,in turn,dis-
appearintoit.Whichfitsin perfectly withtheremarksof
RobertSmithson, whosecatoptric excursionsintotheYucat-
an I tookcareto evokeearlier:"Contraryto theaffirmations
thatare thedoingof Nature,artinclinesto falsepretences
and masks.. . . Appearancesaloneare fertile;theygiveaccess
to theprimordial. Thereis no artistthatdoesnotowe hisexis-
tenceto suchmirages.The heavyillusionsof solidity,the
non-existenceof things,theseare what theartisttakesas
'materials/ It is theabsenceof matterthatweighsso heavily
upon him,incitinghim to invokegravity."Further,to fi-
nallydisposeof theproblematicof themediaÇbutnotwith
thatof themedium): "Artists are notmotivatedbysome
need to communicate.To travelovertheunfathomable is
thesole condition."25
The reference to Chinesearchitecture is intendedto
highlight thequalityof a centuries-old architecture which
had no realpermanenceand whichwouldwipeitselfout
withoutleavinganyruins.Thisjusthappensto correspond
to one of thepurestand leastcontestable seamsof themod-
ernistheritage.Sirenremarkedfurther thattheonlylasting
architecture Chinaeverproducedwas theGreatWall,the
sharpness thecontourthatgaveitsshape,itsfigure,to the
of
Empiredu milieuhavingin no way beencorrodedbyhistory.
Totravelovertheunfathomable : beingdismountable and hav-
ing shed all terrestrial foundations, the cloud machine was
no lessa thingofgreatbeauty:a beautyconnectedin some
intheBlur.
Breathing
strangeway,in itsradiance,to theimagegivento theconcept
- - of 1593.
byanotherRipa Cesare,thistime in hisIconologia
For Ripa,beautywas a womanundressed,withherhead lost
in a thickcloudof ovoidshape.He writes,"Thereis nothing
25.Smithson, 1}2.
op.cit., as hardto talkaboutin a mortallanguage;it cannotbe looked
25

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 at withoutour beingdazzled."26Nor,I would add,without
26.Cesare
Ripa, Descri- our beingaffected
overo
Iconologia, in our corporeal,physiologicalbeing.I
delle
tione imagine 1590-
(Rome: Eng. have in
still relationto Blur,abouta kindof "pneu-
trans. (New
Iconology York:
Garland spoken,
1979).
Pub., matic"beauty(fromtheGreekf neuma,meaning"breath"):
thepleasure,bothphysicaland spiritual,we feltin passing
throughthisfogthatseemedto have no density,onlyto
emergehereand thereintotheopenair,couldonlybe com-
paredto thefeelingof thefirstaviatorsnavigating among
theclouds,outin theopensky.A pleasurethatwasn'tonly
opticalin naturebut,indeed,was pneumatic, proceeding
fromwhatused to be calledtherevolutionsof the"breath"
in Chineseaesthetics:revolutionsthatwerenotreducedto
nebulousorvaporouseffects butwhichcouldmanifest them-
selvesjustas well,as thescholarpaintersinsisted,in a brush-
strokeand itsevanescence, ifnotitseffacement,
itsblurring,
in
seenas constructive termsof structure, justas in thefable
deliveredin Blur,all themoreineffaceable in thatit was
entirelyfictional.

Firstpresented
as a lecture
at theCanadianCenter
for
, Montreal, May 8,200£
Architecture on

Hubert Damischisa philosopher

ANDART HISTORIANAND DIRECTOR
OFSTUDIESATL'ECOLE DESHAUTES
ETUDES ENSCIENCESSOCIALESIN
Paris.Hismanybooksinclude
TheOrigin ofPerspective. This
PAST
SPRING HEWAS AMELLON
SeniorFellowinResidence at
theCCAStudy Centerin
Montreal.
26

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