III-2. Impetus towards the representationalness

Anti-abstract geometry

    In the early part of the 1970s, Hans Hollein used grid patterns while simultaneously superimposing the completely antithetical motif of oddly curved patterns. The facade of the “Schullin Jewellery Shop” (1972 – 1974) is one example where a mysteriously shaped cut away extends from the entrance door over the facade above as if dissolved by some kind of medical fluid (Fig. 38). This kind of silhouette line of repeating complex corrugations like the line of a lakefront is not necessarily a copy of any shape, but is like something born purely from the imaginative power of the designer. This exhibits a lusciousness-like slime, and also evokes erotic emotions in the viewer.

    The essential point of design here is the contrast between the clear and correctly ordered grid pattern and the indefinite form as if explosively melted. These completely conflicting patterns express the two impetuses that drive the design. This amorphous (formless to the point of being elusive) and outrageous pattern clearly criticizes modern rationalism. Such criticism has welled up from the most emotional parts of our brains among the various criticisms of the grid patterns that have been raised up to now. Such pattern could be developed to the degree that it should be made as an independent expression of artistic emotion.

    The architectural works of Alvar Aalto from the 1930s, which exhibited a distinctive organicist design, used subtly inclined lines and curved lines to give birth to forms like organisms, literally. Of course, this was the antithesis of the rationalist forms of the 1920s and gave the feeling of a particularly human flavor. Although the amorphous patterns of Hollein may be thought to have a commonality with this organicism of Aalto, the designs of Hollein cannot in any way be called organicism. This is because they cannot be considered as playing any diverse functional role like a single organ within a living organism.

    Speaking of abstract forms there are on the one hand the constructivist design of straight lines, geometrical forms, and primary colors, and on the other hand the expressionist design that used curved lines and vague colors like the paintings of Munch and Nolde. The amorphous patterns of Hollein were similar to this feeling of Expressionism while at the same time evoking unique Viennese traditions, that is, the theory of libido of the psychologist Freud and the spiritual logic of ‘Kunst Wollen’ of the Vienna School of art history. In other words, even if these are summarized in one phrase as amorphous patterns, since they intrinsically have an image that is even denser than forms born purely from free imaginative power, vestiges like automatic writing where the hand has slid freely, or flippant decorations meant to please the human eye. This is like some unnamable, vague, blended, opaque, solemn liquid, or like sediment left behind with the memory of the age of reptiles. One part of the genius of Hollein in particular was his ability to substitute Eros-like emotion with representational forms.

    There are extremely few things that can be expressed by grids which have a small degree of freedom compared to the great diversity of shapes from the microscopic world to the cosmic world. Of course, this could be obvious because of the background of the grid as originating as something to intentionally limit the degrees of freedom. The impetus towards amorphousness in the opposite direction to the grid, although we select amoeba or threatening black clouds floating in the sky as the objective of the analogy, it does not have to be this kind of a faithful copy of the specific shape as long as it is an elusive shape. This kind of patterns of Hollein actually evokes various kind of entity, but it is not possible to identify any specific examples.

    Amorphous forms also make people feel fear in the same way as abstract geometrical forms. If we take the latter to produce fear from the mysterious power or its solemnity, the former is like the fear of unknowable natural phenomenon that absorbs everything and returns to nothing like the molten lava spat out from the depths of the mouth of a volcano. The former can be likened to the explosive force of masculinity while the latter can be likened to feminine power to dissolve.

    When it is rediscovered to be in the middle of magnetic field that, on one hand, there is a continuing trend towards abstract geometry, and on the other hand, there is the trend in the opposite direction, there emerges an antinomy or a binary opposition. A feeling of tension will be born from the theme of how the two parties are entangled on the design board. This cannot necessarily be understood by a regular viewer because it is an abstract question, but it is probably easier for the highly receptive children. Because this arose from somewhere deep and primitive within the art movement, it is difficult to understand in terms of the surface layer of artistic vocabulary that has reached a complex yet diverse vocabulary.

    Incidentally, the thinking of a typical adult is that abstract paintings are difficult, whereas representational paintings are approachable. This is not simply for the reason that they have not received training in appreciating abstract paintings. If we could return to a child’s mind, the abstract painting would be easier to absorb. The parts of the brain that developed at early stage may be already able to understand abstract paintings. It seems that it becomes difficult because we instead attempt to understand using the surface layers of the cerebrum. On the other hand, even if we talk about representational paintings, merely guessing correctly what is drawn is related to nothing more than the superficial communication abilities of the painter. When we consider how the painter delivers subtly each part of the painted subject and how accurately the painter conveys to the viewer the entirety of the thing in his mind, it is also not something that is easy to understand.

    In the representational art the holographic image floating in the brain-space of the artist, who is the creator, is transformed into a physical form through some creation materials. This again is reproduced as a holographic image inside the brain-space of the viewer. The relative merits of the representational art are related to how subtle it is. Representational art pieces contain diverse and complex information and so many parts of the brain-space must work together. But in the case of abstract art pieces, because the representational language is limited, it can be thought that a holographic image is centered in some particular part of the brain-space. Of course, the abundance or lack of working brain-space does not determine whether representational art or abstract art will excel. Although representationalness and abstractness are opposing concepts, they form the two extreme poles of methods of artistic expression, and it can also be said that there is a whole range of intermediate stages between these like a spectral line.

    The amorphous patterns designed by Hollein can be considered as something that metaphorically represents the existence of this bipolarity in some sense. Although those were still nothing more than something presented as a contrast to the grid patterns, just as the antithesis to the abstract form, it is as if this critical attitude stands on the road that takes in the view a vaguely indistinct holographic projection space, looking over the two extreme poles on either side. This is not the representational form itself, but a shadow image of the representational form. The fact that this pattern was copied by many designers was because his critical eye was easy to understand and produced empathy. However it should not to be overlooked that, with hardly a backward glance on these circumstances, Hollein was continuing development beyond this critical stage.

    Although Hollein again employed the melted square surface in the Mönchengladbach municipal “Abteiberg Museum” (1972-1982), this had developed even further. This is to be referred in the latter part of this book in relation to the theme of picturesque.

Dimension of semi-representationalness

    Giuseppe Terragni who represented the Italian Rationalism movement of the 1930s conceived the “Danteum” project in 1938. This piece became a training model for the rationalists of the 1970s, in particular for Peter Eisenman, and was a true product of abstract geometry with a precise division of planes into rectangles and a hypostyle hall underpinned by a grid (Figs. 39 and 40). However, the point of difference from the constructivist rationalism of the time was not that Terragni aimed to perfect the absolute abstractness, but was on the situation that one accepts such abstract forms and applies them as something self-evident, performing formal operations using allegoric methods.

    As the purpose of “Danteum” was to establish research and culture facilities to commemorate Dante, Terragni took a variety of elements from the “Divine Comedy" that gave meaning to the design of this building. Beginning with the spatial arrangement of three large courtyards corresponding to the three volumes of the “Divine Comedy”, “Inferno”, “Purgatorio”, and “Paradiso”, this building was a cultural structure that gave structure to the “Divine Comedy.” This was rather similar to the design method of religious buildings which determine the plan though using myths and legends as the referring text.

    This method of taking motifs from some kind of text in order to give reason for abstract forms could be said to spoil the pure image of geometry in terms of metaphysics. In fact, even if the plans of Terragni did not take the procedure of giving meaning to form, they can be fully appreciated as abstract design. In other words, the standpoint of Terragni was not to accentuate the absolute meaning of the abstract geometry itself, but to make things meaningful by creating a corresponding relationship with the story of the “Divine Comedy.” The architectural formation then advanced within the magnetic field pulled from the two poles of abstractness and representationalness.

    Among the sketches the Terragni drew for the same proposal, there were some that showed significant conflicts between abstractness and representationalness. In one of these, the wall of the “room of empire” was decorated with a picture of a giant eagle (Fig. 41). In the “Divine Comedy”, eagles are a symbol of empire, and it is supposed that its figure is reduced to the letter M, and this letter M is the first letter in Mussolini*. However, if this was all there were, it would be merely a kind of the common symbol design, whereas Terragni’s sketches had far deep meanings. In other words, the level walls were partitioned with the masonry joints into various sizes of stones but it could be assumed as a grid within a simple parallelepiped space that makes feel a clean orderliness. And an image of an eagle was drawn embedded into this background where an overlap of abstract geometry and representationalness can be found.

    There was no intention for perfect abstractness or perfect representationalness when the walls with a feeling of stonework instead of a monotonic grid and the patterning in the image of eagle were drawn, and instead it is appropriate to interpret it as an overlapping of 70% degree of abstractness and 70% degree of representationalness. This selection of an intermediate stage could also be called a dimension of semi-representationalness (or semi-abstractness), and the discovery of this kind of phase contributes diversity and depth to the design. The walls strip away the apathetic smooth surfaces and become to carry a hot-blooded feeling, while on the other hand the representational sculptures strip away the realism and become more universal symbolic forms.

    In the 1930s, when the peak of modern rationalism of the 1920s had passed, the rediscovery of this half-abstract or half- representational dimension tells tone of the stories of the step-wise and logical rolling process of the history. Terragni unveiled this kind of design within the social upheaval of Italian fascism, and yet this tendency towards semi- representationalness can be found deeply even among the German Nazi architecture, and the method of neoclassical sculptures side by side with giant walls is often found in the architectural pieces of Hitler’s closest architect, Albert Speer. Although this was a design method related to the nationalist social movement particular to the 1930s, if interpreted more broadly, it can be understood as a generalization to the problem of the relationship between architectural form and social identity and further to the problem of the relationship between abstract geometry and meaning.

    When recognizing this kind of an universal proposition, the reason why Robert Krier (brother of Leon Krier) added a mysterious semi- representational sculpture to the wall of an apartment block on Ritter Strasse in Berlin can be understood, which appears like a birdman at a glance (Figs. 42 and 43). This certainly has a head and body and was modeled on a human. But the stone arms are like the wings of a bird, and, when viewed overall, it is reminiscent of the sculpture of the “Captive Slave” (ca. 1530 – 1534) left by Michelangelo as if unfinished. This work of Michelangelo that has a strange impact and shows the remains of chipping by chisel has an as yet unknown form with the face yet to be carved and the legs buried in a lump of stone. This piece that came to a halt in a semi- representational dimension shows a unique power of expression in the conveyance of the fundamental artistic emotion of the creator even better than a really complete work. The statue carved out of a large lump of concrete clearly has something in common with the “Captive Slave” that appears out of stone.

    It can be seen particularly significantly in the Baroque age that the boundary line between sculpture and architecture becomes vague, and the sculpture gives stimulus to the space and the building envelops the space. An example of this can be seen in the interior design of the Medici family chapel (Florence) of Michelangelo. Here, the gravestone of Giuliano and Lorenzo the second was decorated with pairs of flowing sculptures of man and woman that gave the narrow space remarkable motion, while Bernini engraved the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa within an aedicule in the Cornora Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria (Rome) and succeeded in raising this to a dynamic spatial design. These are examples that treated sculptures of human images in terms of architectural space design. It is well known that the interiors of the subsequent Baroque buildings achieved atmospheric spaces with complexly changing engraved walls. Of course, the sculpture of Krier is incomplete as sculptural art, compared to this, but it is not necessary to compare and we must rather focus on the fact that it is attempted to deconstruct the boundary between architecture and sculpture by a new method.

    In his book “Urban Space” (Barcelona, Stuttgart, 1975), Robert Krier focused on square and street spaces, drawing mysterious paintings in those three dimensional geometrical spaces, and expressing a spatial quality with a strange atmosphere and power that does not emanate from simple plain geometric space. In the squares, a giant fish is laid about, or pieces of objet d’art that are not affirmed as trees or sculptures are arranged about, conveying a surrealistic impression (Figs. 44, 45, and 46). Objet d’art of human bodies before the face and details are carved out, resembling the “Captive Slave” of Michelangelo, are also often erected there. These are not expressed as typical living organisms. Even if they were expressed more realistically, they are expressed solemnly and with dull movements.

The sculptures of socialist realism that can often be seen in Eastern European countries, for example, for expressions of the strength and unity of the workers, have a characteristic of following a unique motion and tension. When contrasted against the heavy architectural design on the other hand, they create a kind of a rigid tension in the squares and interiors. This is also common to the relationship between fascist sculptures and buildings, whose source could be discovered in the neoclassical forms of the 18th century. The interior design of neoclassical architecture in particular often acquired the creation of silent spaces, where the motion of humans was enveloped in stone, and sculptures and walls were unified in the same massive white stone.

    The neoclassical sensibility of rediscover the intermediate stages between representational sculptures on the one hand and abstract structural forms on the other was revived by the rationalism in the 1970s. However, this was not merely limited to the handful of architects labeled “rationalist”, and should be viewed as a general trend of the 1970s. In other words, this was a major claim of that age. This did not express the form of “rationality” in every sense of the word, but actually hid a unique irrationalist atmosphere, while at a glance continuing to perform the formal design that depended on rationality. This resembled the political and social dynamical ideology expressed by the rationalism in the age of fascism, but it was also something different. It seems to be too large and too universal to push everything into the concept of ideology.

    Even an architect like Hollein, who sought for the ultimate beauty and rambled, reveals this new dimension. The attitude that attempted to rediscover the amorphous forms as demonstrated by the “Schullin Jewellery Shop” became represented by a more representational real form in the “Austrian Transport Bureau Opernringhof branch” (Vienna, 1956 – 1957). In this pavilion with an Islamic style roof, there are lines of palm trees fabricated from artificial materials, two sculptures of birds dance near the ceiling, and a flag that appears solidified while waving creates an abrupt focal point (Fig. 47). Although this can express a new sensibility of realism, a trend towards abstract geometry can also be found in the uniformity of gold colored metal and in another tourist guide facility (“City Am Stephansplatz”, 1980), where 4 x 4 palm trees with attached representational effects are arranged in a grid pattern. This feature of a uniformity of material, coexistence of geometrical forms and representational forms, and flexible transition from one way to another is a means of confirming the semi-representational dimension. Each of the palm trees represents a single archetype, and it is an abstract sculpture and is simultaneously equipped with the minimum representationalness identified easily.

    The mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot proposed a non-integral dimension called the “fractal dimension.”* Speaking geometrically, this was the general idea of something being formed by using primitive elements of form, and gave a geometrical and mathematical understanding of the principle that produced complex shapes in the natural world. He performed simulations incorporating the fractal dimension on random shapes that could not be interpreted by regular geometry, such as the shape of coastlines, water surfaces that combine large and small waves, and trees. He then attempted to render an image of a realistic mountain that appears as if a photo had been taken of an actually existing mountain by using computer graphics – and these were nicknamed “Mandelbrot Mountains” (Fig. 48).

    Such an image of virtually natural scenery from the fractal dimension and a table of random numbers exhibited an ability to be treated as a representational image and to be treated geometrically. And this image completely shatters the fixed idea of general people of separating the two poles of abstract geometry and representational form. Le Corbusier incorporated representationality within a room by using the range of the Alps as scenery through a rectangular window, whereas Mies van der Rohe harmonized the feeling of tension of abstract forms by introducing statues of human body and standing trees as scenery within the interior of constructivist designs of iron skeletons and glass. This method of separating the poles through a thorough abstraction of artificial objects and living representational forms of nature clearly shows the characteristics of modernism. Mandelbrot aimed to conversely move from the two poles towards the middle, and it looks at a glance as if this is the reverse direction of the ideas of the modernists, and simultaneously gives thoroughness to the modernist attempts facings the issue of how to handle the relationship between abstraction and representation.

    Although the fractal geometry was not actually applied to buildings, the theme of temptation towards semi-representation in the world of architectural design as described earlier can be considered as having the same fundamental idea. In other words, the attempts of Robert Krier to fuse a geometrical lump of concrete with semi-representational human statue can be seen as a trace of the design path that gradually moves from an integral dimension to a non-integral dimension. Fro this reason, it can be interpreted via fractal theory. The amorphous shape by Hollein, which represents the coastline of a lake, also exhibited a unique outline resembling an imaginary coastline drawn by using the fractal dimension and random numbers.

    If this kind of fractal geometry is incorporated into design, although it does not reference anything that really exists, it is able to express a space as if it was a real living space. This indicates the possibility of constructing a new design stage, where representational spaces are formed via processing abstract forms, and also opens a new aspect in the eternal theme of the antagonism between abstract and representational.

Revival of ornament

    Since the start of the 20th century, the modernists had rejected excessively ornaments with a puritan-like zeal. While the anti-modernist feeling ascend gradually, a trend appeared in which the detailed ornaments were introduced rebelliously or enlarged excessively, and the so-called “postmodern” style became a boom. Through this backlash, the taboos over historical ornaments melted away, and there was a true revival of detailed ornaments in a variety of forms. Even the need for the theoretical procedure to use decorations with a resistive, ironic attitude such as expressed by Robert Venturi faded away. Decorations had already revived civil rights, and the time came where decorations are treated with the ordinary sense.

    In particular, the design technique to quote or to copy the particular forms that had concrete meaning swept over the architectural design world. The modernists had indeed their own method to refer to, but they stack to introduce the nature as-is, or incorporate artistic pieces respecting their originality. Compared with this, the referencing methods today are clearly different because they are enthusiastic to quote the artificial creations or the vernacular and not original shapes, or to take the arbitrary methods of pseud and imitational references. Although these were at first accepted rather sensationally as manneristic methods, these soon fell to become taken as vulgar methods.

    James Stirling invented a variety of methods for referencing historical architectural forms, and he designed the “Neue Staatsgalerie” (1977–1984) in Stuttgart by overlaying these (Figs. 49, 50, and 51). This referenced such detail motifs as the arch-shaped windows and stonework walls of the Romanesque churches in the local area, a motif of the entrance with Doric columns as used by a local architect of the neoclassical period, and lampshades for indirect illumination in the shape of a cornice. The overall plan was based on a museum of the early 19th century museum by K F Schinkel and transformed largely. And other various motifs were introduced and mixture there. Even so, the idea or concept as building for a museum of architecture was completely modern and was not something that merely imitate historical forms. Although this was a mixture of various detailed motifs and manneristic devices, it did not become chaotic but instead preserved the wholeness of a new sensibility.

Of course, the referencing of detailed motifs by Stirling can also be viewed as one revelation of the popularly argued historicism and regionalism. Certainly, the utilization of several motifs from within the state of Baden Wurttemberg in West Germany of those days, of which Stuttgart is the capital, is the regionalism, while the use of a variety of historical forms from classical architecture to modern architecture is the historicism. However, if we view the main thrust of the conception of Stirling as lying elsewhere, it is clear that regionalism and historicism played nothing more than secondary roles.

    Stirling himself explained this method of referencing using the word “representation”. This word can be understood in a meaning to express the content of something by replacing with a substitute. In other words, the various motifs that were clearly created in the detailed sections convey regional, historical, and various other meanings to the people who visit. This can also be viewed as a representational symbol, or a code for conveying information. In any case, when viewed as a building, the overall form gives the impression of a spectacular dispersion of representational motifs.

    The contemporary phenomenon that the so-called Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders developed in ancient Greece came to be used abundantly, shows an aspect of the trend towards the representational detail. In other words, each order cannot be represented without detailed working by manual labor, and the act of attempting to represent decorations of intricately interwoven fine curves in particular exhibits a clear aspiration towards expression by the creator. Today, the formation methods that employ orders of columns do not simply fit within the range of classicism or historicism. This kind of concept can be treated at a surface level, but it actually has an aspiration towards representation at a relatively deep, universal horizon, and is a representation of something. Adolfo Natalini considered a variety of forms as variations of columns and used one of them in the corner of a building pursuing symbolic expression, which was transformed at last to the the form of a single tree with branches (second proposal of house in the Saalgasse 4 in Frankfurt am Main, 1980–1984, Fig. 52). This becomes patterned (typed) and resembled the ideas of palm trees of Hollein, taking the form of a geometrical cylinder with representational branches mounted on top.

    There was not much difference between the order of columns, which faithfully followed the historical forms, and circular columns taking natural trees as a motif, and such objet d’art of a cylinder shape was incorporated into a building to accentuate the city corner or as an urban landmark. In his first proposal, Natalini drew a proposal in which a grid was engraved over the facade wall of an urban building and sculptures of tree were planted at each crossing point, evoking association to the plam copse of Hollein – even though here they were laid out horizontally –, and thus, the surface of the building was dispersed with representational forms. Here, we should focus on the point where a design method was employed of creating a gradual phase of change from the geometrical pattern that formed the groundwork to more representational forms towards the leading edge. Here, the building was thought of as a conveyer to inform something – in this case nature within a city – to the people walking around the city, on which representational detail on the surface was developed against a background of an abstract body, and the columns can be thought of as exactly the same kind of medium. In other words, order that simply mechanically traces purely formal details is nothing more than vulgar restorational taste, whereas the design of the capital as representational form may be changed according to time and place.

    The so-called “Nike of Linz” (1979, Fig. 53), where Haus-Rucker-Co rendered an image of the statue of the Nike of Samothrace split over two boards and mounted it high in the air as if fit were leaping through the air on top of the 19th century style building of the Linz Academy of Art, can express the same pursuit of representational form. In this case, this is nothing more than introducing an extremely simplified method that attempted to create a performance through a single installation just like a performance in the urban space. The representational form does not necessarily have to be a perfectly imitative form by authenticity or truth. It is sufficient to be an simple imitation piece that is merely able to convey meaning. The overly solemn ornaments observed often in classicism and historicism can also be viewed as excessively represented.

    The OMA members Zoe Zenghelis and Elia Zenghelis drew the high-rise hotel building called the “Hotel Sphinx” (1975–1976), which fit into the overall shape of the ancient Egyptian sphinx. This can also be thought of as expressing the same idea of embedding representational forms within a city (Fig. 54). This cannot be said as an architectural detail, but a detail in the realm of urban design, and is one kind of the expressionist design that incorporates a building within a representational form. In particular, the fact of using the sphinx here as the representational form, which forms a pair with the abstract geometrical pyramid, suggests a deep meaning. The antagonism between abstract form and representational form had already begun in ancient civilization, and this revealed the fundamental formal mind of humankind.