Yale University, School of Architecture

The Ghost of Architecture: The Project and Its Codification Author(s): Antoine Picon, Emmanuel J. Petit and Lucia Allais Source: Perspecta, Vol. 35, Building Codes (2004), pp. 8-19 Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of Perspecta. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1567337 . Accessed: 23/01/2014 07:33
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Picon Antoine
Translated Petit andLuciaAllais byEmmanuel J.

TheGhost ofArchitecture

A haunted discipline There is no artwithout rules tocodify itspractice. This truism hasbeenconsistently reaffirmed from to antiquity

for see, subject, example, I On this AlinaPayne, TheArchitectural inthe Treatise Italian Renaissance.: and Architectural Invention, Ornament, Literary Culture (Cambridge: CamPress, University bridge 1999). 2 SeeAntoine French ArchiPicon, tects andEngineers inthe Ageof CamEnlightenment (Cambridge: Press, bridge University 1992). in Studies 3 Kenneth Frampton, Culture: ThePoetics Tectonic ofConstruction inNineteenth andTwentieth Century Architecture (Cambridge, Mass.:MITPress, 1995). S. Kuhn, TheStructure 4 Thomas of Revolutions Scientific (Chicago: ofChicago Press, University 1962).

from tofilm. While itwould be practices, photography

characteristics. significant most liberties arise of Unprecedented during periods

Whether towithstand theconstraints ofphysicality, orto totheneeds ofpatrons, must respond buildings obeyan entire setofprescriptions that areas socialas they are From the Vitruvian orders tothevarious technological. norms that frame architecture contemporary practice, hasnever beenwithout rules. In artistic these rules cannot be dissociated terms, from their setofdeviations that allow transgression--the togive their work a mark ofdistinction. Even designers within thetradition ofVitruvian orders andproportions, room wasalways found for artistic whose license, infidelities aremore orlesspronounced on the depending takesimilar liberties with architect.' Today's designers dominant aesthetic even codes, willfully transgressing directives for thesakeofa desired architectechnological tural quality. Rulesandlicenses have varied over time; considerably this toexamine twomoments oftransiessay proposes tion between an oldanda newsystem ofcodification. Thefirst moment liesatthethreshold between the andnineteenth when theVitruvian centuries, eighteenth that architects had endorsed since the principles Renaissance were into inthe We brought question. live when a digital revolution confronts moment, second architecture as much as other artistic andtechnological difficult toassessthefull ofa phenomenon implications

the anditrings true for architecture. present, particularly

as itisunfolding, wemay todiscern some ofits attempt

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andItsCodification TheProject

much tothedispleasure oftheguardians of transition, In early-I770s instated tradition. a certain France, Blondel served as an ardent defender Jacques-Frangois oftheclassical tradition. Blondel couldnotfind words thework ofClaudeNicolas tofustigate strong enough whose from this tradition Ledoux, departures strayed wellbeyond thelimits ofwhat hadbeenviewed as it is not difficult to discern an echo permissible.2 Today, inKenneth ofBlondel's of critiques position Frampton's inhisreproach that architecture, digital particularly is antithetical tothe of dematerialization "poetics hehasdeemed construction" fundamental to Modern Architecture.3 Yetthefreedom afforded ofarchitectural bya crisis lastforever. Newcodesemerge toreplace codescannot andnewlicenses to soften these those codesalso lost, toappear. coincidental. Suchnewcodesarenever begin orindirectly, theidentification of they shape Directly ofarchitecture that theelements constitute thediscipline ata given moment andina given context. As weshall oftheVitruvian orders andproporsee,thequestioning andthecorresponding ofcomposition tions, emergence French for architecandtype as theguiding principles to a centering ofthediscipline tural practice, correspond ofproject attheturn oftheninearound thequestion in teenth The current of culture century. diffusion digital will architecture a similar shift, undoubtedly produce ofthis shift context that our anditisinthe contempoofthearchitectural must be understanding project rary interrogated. ofarchitecture is directly thecodification Although andcodesdo toitsdisciplinary rules related definition, tobe essential to notsystematically address what appears Oncethefoundational eraoftheRenaisthediscipline.

the Vitruvian sancecametoa close, tradition itself distracted attention tothequestion of granted only Thisquestion wasnota central orders andproportions. theendoftheseventeenth issueuntil when it century, inthedebate resurfaced between ClaudePerrault and which marked thebeginning ofthecrisis that Blondel, would theteachings ofVitruvius of ultimately empty their content. Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand's Similarly, for efforts toarticulate rules architectural composition a transitional constitute ninephaseintheearly only teenth after which French architecture found century, with more itself and preoccupied stylistic questions oftechnological with standardization than the problems In fact, aside continuation ofDurand's efforts. putting at these of efforts architectural codificaperiods rupture, tionoften seem towhat constitutes the core peripheral ofthediscipline.

inthe Kuhn wherein that Thomas sixties, developed early ofscience is defined shifts thehistory and byparadigm in their associated Theseshifts, condensed revolutions.4 andintensely to Kuhn, time were, polemical, according andcalmer tobe followed which bylonger periods during infavor of research would shun fundamental questions of one or another segmental explorations principle. likeKuhn's tomakesense ofthehistory usea theory of thearchitectural anditssuccession ofcodesdiscipline

itisdifficult not tothink ofhistory Here ofthe vision

Theanalogy istempting. Yetitwould bereductive to

andscientific beitonly because architectural communithecomparison ties so differently. does However, operate inboth theprominent roleoftradition domains. reveal seems tofunction as Muchlikescience, architecture oftraditions that discontinuous a succession become

itbecomes ofcrisis. From this perspective periods during

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Picon-TheGhost ofArchitecture

IO0

andBarry 5 Cf.Terence Riley MiesinBerlin (New Bergdoll (eds.), ofModern York: Museum Art, 2001). Architecture harmon6 Ren6 Ouvrard, dela doctrine des ouapplication ique, a'l'architecdela musique proportions R. J. B. De La Caille, ture (Paris: I679). ofthe drew Logique 7 Theauthors natural contrast between particular andsigns instituted bypeople. signs

ofPerrault and 8 On the debate for onemay Blondel consult, example, TheTheory Herrmann, of Wolfgang A. Claude Perrault (London: Alberto PerezZwemmer, 1973); andthe Crisis Architecture Gomez, of Mass.: Modern Science (Cambridge, MITPress, Antoine 1983); Picon, ouLa Claude Perrault, 1613-1688, d'un Curiosite Picard, (Paris: classique "IntroAlberto Perez-Gomez, 1989); inClaude toClaudePerrault," duction the Five Perrault, Ordonnancefor the Method Kinds of after ofColumns Indra the trans. Ancients, Kagis McEwen Center (SantaMonica: Getty ofArt andthe for Humanthe History ities, 1993), 1-44. onthe Thoughts 9 DenisDiderot, andother Interpretation ofNature, Works (Manchester: Philosophical Clinamen Press, 38. 1999), and Io Cf.Anne Debarre-Blanchard de Architectures Eleb-Vidal, Monique etmentalitis la vieprivie.: Maisons siecles (Brussels: XVIIe-XIXe Archives d'Architecture Moderne, 1989).

futile to search for a timeless definition ofthe discipline ofarchitecture founded onvalues orcodesthat remain Thehistory ofarchitecture, becomes unchanged. then, ofitsvalues, that itscodes, andtheir transformations over transformations attimes so radical that little time, remains ofthearchitectural truths from an eraoncea revolution hasended it.Clearly what wecallarchitecture has little to do with Mansart Frangois what, today say, would have relevant toarchitectural and judged theory practice. Oneshould notbe completely seduced bythe intellectual discontinuist model. Some appealofthis from the continue to projects past speaktous; some couldeven serve as a guide for contemporary practice. andFrancesco Mansart Borromini be remote may buttheir French figures bynow, architectures--of Classicism andRoman have much to Baroque-still teach us.Pastandpresent have an uncanny wayofshortone another. The of out circuiting fragments which architectural ismadecontinue toadhere toone history andthough someoftheseams aredistended, another, so often architects aretempted todonthe every this costume Harlequin's patchwork comprises. we ofpast could attribute the Certainly persistence totheexistence traditions ofa disembodied of spirit an oceanofforgetfulness, architecture that hovers over andcertain works-that outcertain of fishing epochs KarlFriedrich for for thesakeofhis Schinkel, example, MiesvanderRohes--and ties toLudwig back casting to such Evenwithout others. (an subscribing imagery idealist of one,to saytheleast)theastonishing capacity tosurvive their owndeaths isnonetheless formal systems todistinct areattached they noteworthy. Although the codesandrules ofarchitectures historical traditions, theshadows like pasthaunt thepresent that populate
theElysianFields ofGreekmyth, capableon occasionof addressing theliving and conveying to themsomepart their experience. Though we have longsinceabanof donedtheVitruvian creed, we continue to respond to and proportions, to theeurythmy of questionsoforders certain compositions, and evento theartistic licenses thatarchitects likeGiulio Romano granted themselves. Similarly, having longsincerepudiated thenineteenth century's obsessions withstyle, we continue to refer to thenotionofarchitectural style whentheneedarises. confined to thesuccessive Codes and rulesare notsimply architectural traditions thatthey constitute. Beyondtheir deathsthey continue to exert their power, lending our ofthepast a contemporary rereadings flavor. It is only becausearchitecture is hauntedbyshadowsand ghosts, who drift from roomto roommurmuring old stories into

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II

that itssuccessive theearsoftheir traditions occupants, of the unity. project appearance disciplinary Ifoneaccepts this the hypothesis, question splits:

wasmore radical even than proportions-which in But his debates with of Blondel the Vignola's. process

itafter will remain ofarchitecture as weknow the What

a secondary became as itwasby issue, design eclipsed

will Which ofthis revolution revolution? aspects digital In this theissueof tohavea decisive effect? respect, prove than doesthe lesspressing questions presents materiality to hold. that the come status has privileged project Thecrisis Vitruvian tradition andthe ofthe attempts the tocodify project ofthelate is notan invention ofproject Thenotion theRenaissance It emerged during eighteenth century. thebuilder modern distinction between the alongside with andthearchitect preoccupied bya trade occupied andtheFrench dessein an idea.BoththeItalian disegno that ofa creative totheexistence refer conception that execution-a simultaneously conception precedes and connotations encompasses carries humanist technological knowledge. that itisnot This endofthe could bethe story, except ofthe fifteenth andsixteenth clearthat thearchitecture around the defined itself centuries projective primarily In their Renaissance ofdesign. reinterpretation, process architectural orders addressed theVitruvian objects of the the manifest to intheir regularity cosmos ability In other oftheir creation. than inthevarious rather steps whereas critical wasgiven thebuilt words, weight, object Thisemphasis hidden. remained ofitsdesign theprocess is thedesign over on thebuilding manipulations the where of in the case France, apparent particularly treatises accorded numerous that status privileged for toa desire testified ofproportions system Vignola's

oftaste what Perrault andconvention. Indeed, questions inhiscaustic the FiveKinds Ordonnancefor of sought Method in the Ancients, after published ofthe Columns oftaste, orrather its wasthe normalization 1683, in the term institution borrowed the sense of institution, oftheLogique dePort-Royal.7 from theauthors Blondel, inturn, would on Ouvrard toreject this conception rely inhiseffort to ofa socialized architectural beauty, a naturalist with and reinvest orders andproportions It that this confrontacosmic authority.hasbeennoted ofa weakening tion oneoftheearliest constitutes signs the intheVitruvian theoretical Still, project framework.8 addressed were codification anditspossible only ofthe half It wasnotuntil thesecond peripherally.

within that itbecame a central issue century eighteenth

debate. architectural ofthe this Themotives emergence surrounding On a basic todwell aretoocomplex uponhere. project ofthe have todo with thegrowing level, importance they for the as wellas a desire ofutility, preimperative much of that characterize andcontrol dictability sets "The idea of'usefulness' culture. Enlightenment ofusefulness is Thecriterion on everything. boundaries centuries & ina few on geometry, abouttoplacelimits same for from itwill dothe science,"' now, experimental onthe inhisThoughts Diderot wrote of Interpretation sense intherather Understood Nature of1754. general

waspart elites the that it, utility gave eighteenth-century

to It is important for ofa desire andparcel predictability. that modern itwaswithin this that context remember wasborn. science economic of ofview, a whole series From an architectural point

itwastothis inthe Indeed, design process. simplification

inturn, for ambition simplicity that Perrault would,

bring hisown supplementary touches. The theoretical counterpart to thesuccessof Vignola'ssystem came in theform ofa repeated affirmationoftheanalogybetween architectural and musical proportions. Havingbeenfrequently rehearsed sinceits Pythagorean origins, thistheme was givena new paroxystic expression in themiddleoftheseventeenth century in Ren6Ouvrard's Architecture of harmonique proportions werenotinstruments for 1679.6Ouvrard's projecting; rather, they weremeasures bywhich to sanction thoseexemplary buildings whosedimensions conform to rulesofharmony. Such rulesofmeasure had nothing to do withtheeffective procedures involved in conceiving buildings. Aroundthesame timePerrault arguedforan almost combinatory simplicity in defense ofhis ownsystem of

external phenomena foreshadowed theprioritization of utility and itseffects. The first stems from a growing interest in questions relating to program and distribuhad cast tion.In factJacques-Francois Blondel1ohimself distribution as one oftheprincipal branches ofarchitecture. Programming spaces,questioning their interrelationships, and organizing them intofunctionally satisfactory sequencesprovided a wayto addressboth theadministrative needsofinstitutions and the aspirations ofa ruling class whowas discovering the virtues ofdomestic privacy. beganto be Publicbuildings specialized and organized according to specific needs, whiletheresidences ofenlightened nobility came to be comprised ofroomswithclearly defined uses,whose interrelation was materialized bytheconnective space of thecorridor.

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Picon-TheGhost ofArchitecture

12

with this attention toprogram Along heightened anddistribution, onemust alsoaccount for thedesire to control the costandquality ofconstruction more Thedebates that surrounded theerection of effectively. Soufflot's now the Sainte-Genevieve, Pantheon, Abbey areparticularly of the that revealing questions arose around theestablishment ofrules toensure thesolidity ofbuildings." a famous itisby no Though example, In Parisandtheprovinces means an exception. less alike, notorious around of construction polemics questions the second half oftheeighteenth throughout multiplied 12 Thisevolution toward a more control century. rigorous inother ofthebuilding alsounfolded domains; process for for construction and example, techniques quantifying the of to surpass began estimating expenditureresources Pierre thelevel ofprecision afforded Bullet, previously by whose1691Architecture hadserved as the practique Toward theendof on thesubject. authoritative manual derived from useandconventhecentury, measurement in founded tion would be replaced bymeasurement in of much more reliable techniques resulting geometry, estimation. these newstakes, theinadequacies Measured against framework inherited ofthetheoretical andregulatory evident. soonbecame Newfoundations from Vitruvius ifarchitecture wastobe more than were needed merely Architecture would alsohave to useful andprovident. To preserve andsenses."3 itsstatus as tothemind "speak" with thefundamental values an artistic practice aligned
Petzet, Soufflots II SeeMichael und Sainte-Genevieve derfranz6sische desI8.Jahrhunderts Kirchenbau andLe W deGruyter, (Berlin: 1961); desrevolutions Pantheon, symbole desMonu(Paris: CaisseNationale and etdesSites ments Historiques Picard, 1989). 12 See,inthe G. caseofNantes, "L'Affaire dela plate-bande Bienvenu, escalier dupalaisdela dugrand desComptes deBretagne: Chambre a dechantier etpratique Expertise Nantes au XVIIIe (D.E.A. si~cle" IUniversit6 deParis dissertation, Sorbonne, 1996). TheWriting Vidler, of 13 Cf.Anthony Architectural inthe theWalls.Theory LateEnlightenment (Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, I987). Essai 14 E.-L.Boullee, Architecture. the isfrom translation surI'art; present Treatise edition, English Boullie's ed.Helen Rosenau onArchitecture, A. Tiranti, (London: 1953), 46. Werner context 15 Readinthis lerecueil "Notes sur Szambien, deBoull~e d'architecture privee desBeauxinGazette (1792-I1796)," Arts (March198I),I I-24. de 16 Cf.Jean-Marie Perouse Boullee, Montclos, Etienne-Louis De I'architecture classique 1728-1799." rivolutionnaire a l'architecture (Paris: Arts etMetiers Graphiques, 1969). andDaniel Mosser 17 SeeMonique et "L'Academie Rabreau, Royale del'architecture au l'enseignement inArchives siecle," d'ArchitecXVIIIame ture Moderne, 25(I983):47-67;and Les Jean-Marie deMontclos, Perouse deIAcadimie PrixdeRome.Concours d'Architecture au XVIIIesidcle Royale andEcole (Paris: Berger-Levrault desBeaux-Arts, Nationale Superieure 1984). Architecture and Tafuri, I8 Manfredo andCapitalist DevelopDesign Utopia.La Penta trans. Barbara ment, Luigia Mass.:MIT Press, 1976 (Cambridge, 19731). [Bari,

onemust alsoadd To these hadtobe moral. challenges and thegrowing between architecture rivalry engineerthe threat that architecture and might ing, corresponding oftheconquering new as merely a branch be subsumed artoftheengineer.
As a cultural production, architecture followed the general movement ofa century thatspannedfrom Locke and Condillacto Kant and GermanIdealism,which is to say,from a diversification ofexperiences to their re-concentration into a transcendental subject progressive meaning. So itis thatFrench who,alone,givesthem architectural thought between theyears1770and 1790 determinant imporwouldcome to lendan increasingly tanceto whathappensin themindofthearchitect, and to theprimarily intellectual nature oftheoperations thathe practices. Before Durand'sPricis,Boullde's Essai surl'artwas perhapstheclearest expression ofthisshift. It is in this perspective thathisfamousintroductory statement shouldbe read: Whatis architecture? Shall I join Vitruvius in

beonly italso ofsociety, its could not utility physical;

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13 Aw Alah Lomif. AA
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Fig. I Plans and sectionofthevarious forthedome versions proposedbySoufflot is The engraving ofSainte-Genevieve. evidence graphic supposedto provide ofthedome finally thestability against Pierre Soufflot. Patte, proposedby de la coupole surla construction MWmoire de la nouvelle pourcourroner projetee &glise a Paris, 1770 Sainte-Genevieve

In order inthis definition. error is a flagrant there Our toconceive. itisfirst toexecute, necessary when built their huts ancestors earliest they only It is this intheir minds. ofthem hada picture that ofcreation this ofthemind, process product architecture.14 constitutes Boullee also these While lines, introductory writing become ofwhat would on theprinciples reflected student Durand." inthework ofhisformer composition to ofsimple bodiesandtheir From hisstudy analogy Durand's on to his reflection sensations, composition, of sketch outa definitive anddrawings theory writings ofbecoming short this theproject, theory stops though normative. found a most fertile this In the1780s, theory budding intheschooloftheAcad6mie Royale ground d'Archithe most be counted could where tecture, among Boull6e histutelage, which Under influential professors.'6 as those envias ambitious involved programs typically thestudent inL'Essaisurl'art, sioned developed projects defined arealso clearly attheacademy bytheir exploofcompositional ration techniques.17 inthe definition theshift that Onecoulddemonstrate between thetension ofthearchitectural discipline-from andthecanonof andproportion oforder therules anda practice a theory toward notable equally buildings, the well on theproject-extends centered beyond borders Thework ofPiranesi cultural oftheFrench territory. as do ofdisplacement, samekind ofthis bearsthemark whohad toPalladio, references andAmerican English treatises ofsixteenth-century authors beenoneofthefew onthe to formulate design hypotheses explicit actually Manfredo Tafuri hisvillaprojects. byserializing process, Piranesi thelinefrom traced hadalready through Jeffersonian Paladianism inArchitecture andUtopia.
EchoingTafuri's argument, we mustunderscore the appearanceofa fundamental contradiction between an architectural discipline fully contained, so to speak,in thehead ofthearchitect, and one withpretensions of purposeand utility fora growing number ofcitizens.'s Thoughthenotionof"genius"--that faculty to be profoundly oneself all thewhilefollowing a universal serveas theideological justification inspiration--would forthisstrange pretension, thebalancebetween the project oftheArchitect and theproject as a political and social"Utopia,"again to borrow Tafuri's terms, nevertheless remained fragile at best. Could itbe to overcome thisfragility thatJeanNicolas-LouisDurand soughtto strip of Boull~e'slegacy anything thatmight, in anyway, recalltheinspired

for itas the art ofbuilding? Indeed, no, defining

Fig. z Etienne-Louis Boull6e,designfor in theEgyptian a cenotaph manner, 1784

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ofArchitecture Picon-TheGhost

14

seeWerner Szambien, 19 On Durand, Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand, 1760.6la norme De I'imitation (Paris: 1834.: Picard, J N L. I984);S. Villari, - 1834):Art andScience Durand (1I760 Eli Gottlieb trans. ofArchitecture, (NewYork: Rizzoli, I99o[Rome, "From andAntoine Picon, 1987]); TheTheory ofArt' toMethod: 'Poetry ofJean-Nicolas-Louis Durand," introduction toJean-Nicolas-Louis Lectures on Precis Durand, ofthe trans. DavidBritt Architecture, (Los Research Angeles: Getty Institute,
2000), I-68.

desnotions ture: Contenant gkndrales et dela construction sur lesprincipes deIFart Cariliansur (Paris: l'histoire andVictor Dalmont, 1850-8). Goeury and the ofReynaud About teachings de Dartein, readFernand histreaty, etses Sa vie M. LionceRevnaud: oeuvres (Paris: par 'undesesl~lves andVincent Dunod,1885); Guigueno rationalandAntoine Picon, "Entre eteclectisme: isme L'Enseignement in de Leonce d'architecture Reynaud," dela desAmis Bulletin dela Socidtd de1'Ecole Bibliotheque Polytechnique, 1996), I6 (December I2-19.

2o Leonce Reynaud, d'architecTrairt

In hisPrecis ofthearchitect? Lessons ofthe genius of at the EcolePolytechnique Architecture delivered from tocodify the is re-ordered 1802-I1805,everything basedon thedistincarchitectural intoa practice project andtheprocess a building's tion between ofits elements with thearchiTheelements, beginning composition.19 even more arestandardized tectural orders, radically than hadbeenproposed ComposibyClaudePerrault. codification. In this toa similarly extreme tion is subject thedifferent Durandbegins scheme, byanalyzing A system of ofthebuilding tobe designed. functions tobe organized allows functions for these inturn, axes, inrelation tooneanother. Thestandardized vocabulary leadstheproject elements then stage by ofarchitectural Thiscodification ofthe itsfinal form. toward stage have allowed ofthedesign may stages process various to the science toachieve architecture comparable rigor ofart"so dearto butthe "poetry oftheengineers, Durand's from hadalso thereby beenbanished Boull6e In hisintroduction tothe ofarchitecture. conception that as to state aesthetic Durand so far even went Precis, ofthearchitect's nottobe part objectives. pleasure ought

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15

tothe architecture tomake Thiseffort subject solely a reveals ofsocialandpolitical utility imperatives an echooftherevolutioninDurand's work, utopianism on Durandhave most commentaries that arydream overlooked. thenineteenth tional developed throughout techniques attheEcoledesBeaux-Arts, attempt Durand's century once It is as if, an isolated endeavor. wasinmany respects around re-centered had been thearchitectural discipline lostall actualcodification this theproject, project's be preoccuwould Thenineteenth century importance. laidoutbyDurand thetrajectory extending piedlesswith andthe their with historical than styles, definition, to tobe adapted allownewtechniques that would norms d'architecture climate. The Traite thearchitectural by of whosucceeded Durandas thechair LeonceReynaud, in is revealing attheEcolePolytechnique, architecture with Itspagesarefilled this illuminating respect.20 andtheLombard architecture on Gothic elaborations with thelatest with dimensioning updated systems style, on with reflections resistance material studies, heating

the itwith that unites the composikinship Despite

ofvalue little but with andventilation, concerning very itself. ofthe andnorms the rules project would this torealize that Itistroubling practice of inthe definition a central tooccupy continue position of the advent even architectural the discipline, through the tosubject effort without Modem the Movement, any ofambitious kind tothe ofthis codes investigapractice device a panoptic Like tive deployed scrutiny byDurand. controls its nevertheless center whose ever-empty Modem Movement the pursued passionately periphery, ever ofallsorts without standards really codifying ofits own the Bycontrast, preoccupations. very kernel did not corretradition of the Vitruvian the collapse values ofthe toa transformation founding solely spond inthe Itwasalsoevidenced ofarchitecture. discipline's wasradically that ofaninternal economy adoption were before. While there than different attempts multiple to architects and fifteenthcodify sixteenth-century by successors distant their andproportions, orders the about the silent toremain unsettlingly only managed methods. To be its and sure, questions concerning project inthe lost much oftheir the orders importance

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ofArchitecture Picon-TheGhost

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their codes andBaroque Mannerist Still, periods. atthe reaffirmed andwere remained ritually prominent that Thesituation oftreatises. subsequently beginning andcodes as therules this undermined clarity, prevailed a at were ofarchitecture only respectable deployed itscenter. what couldbe saidtoconstitute from distance as a countervoicedidnotsuffice isolated Durand's hechose all that oneconsiders when measure, especially ofthe the to himself indevoting to abandon investigation itsabundance With ofarchitectural rules composition. andcritical of andessays, ofmanifestos compl&tes oeuvres andtwentieth ofthenineteenth thearchitecture reviews, consistalker-who is liketheproverbial centuries big abouthimself. ofsubstance toreveal fails anything tently orSuper-modernity? PostMarcAug6 aboutthepresent, In thinking anthropologist arewe an essential formulated wellhave question: may ina paroxysorrather inpost-modernity, living actually orSuper-modernity? ofmodernity?2 malform Posttothis on theanswer A goodmany question. hinge things the than nature different of a culture Is digital truly hasreached that ofa modernity culture industrial a newworld, us into usher Does thecomputer maturity? of communicathe extended orhasitsimply processes atleast atwork tion's already intensification, processes to Theanswer theendofthenineteenth since century?22 the obvious. from is far Indeed, latter this question

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of thedensity Fig. 5 Worldmaps showing routers Internet (above) and theactual population(below)

documentation ofextensive by developed technologies tomanage, andlarge corporations governments clientele. andtheir socialpolicies their respectively, of a kind with confronted be to seem we Fornow, seems ofcommunication. Supermodernity super-regime to for wewait while changes tobe ourfate, quantitative Notall leapinquality. waytoa comparable give

IntroducNon-Lieux: MarcAug6, 21zI d une dela surtion anthropologie Le Seuil,1992). modernite See, (Paris: une Pour sameauthor, also,bythe desmondes contempoanthropologie rains Aubier, 1994). (Paris: 22 See,for Armand example, dela communiL'Invention Mattelart, La D6couverte, cation 1994). (Paris: Les Motsetles Foucault, 23 Michel dessciences Une choses: archtologie humaines Gallimard, 1966); (Paris: du Michel Foucault, L'Archdologie savoir Gallimard, 1969). (Paris:

Lynn, Greg example, 24 See,for Princeton Form Animate (NewYork: Architectural Press, 1998). de Picon (ed.),L'Art 25 Cf.Antoine Constructeur, entrepreneur, I'inginieur: duCentre Editions inventeur (Paris: andLe Moniteur, Pompidou Georges I997).

thekindsofepistemotrigger immediately revolutions byMichelFoucaultin The described logicalshifts ofKnowledge.23 Archaeology The and Things Order of whilewe waitfortheadvent to realizethat, It is striking tends bysome,theInternet oftheglobalvillagepromised thanabsorb,thedevelopmental rather to accentuate, and countries. regions, cities, between disparities one could,bythesame ofarchitecture, In terms positionoccupiedbythe supposethatthecentral token, willnotbe discipline of the in thedefinition project The use ofthe future. in theimmediate questioned status theprivileged to reinforce seemsrather computer is the to change, Whatis likely instead, oftheproject. of practice thisconstitutive blurthatsurrounds a pointtoward factors Indeed,several architecture.

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17

innovative ofGregLynn's liesnotso aspect writings inthephilosophic much from Leibniz to references, that he in ofhisargument, mobilizes support Deleuze, inthelight butrather onwhat that hesheds themanipulation offluid means, geometries concretely.24 Thequestion ofadmissible licenses is also at stake in thecontext ofthis offormal multiplication propositions that areso disarming tothecritic. What to sayaboutthe thespaghettis andtheother that "blobs," mille-feuilles architecture so tirelessly It may wellbe digital produces? of it becomes essential to able to be in that a such context, for thecriteria are practice architecture, judgment a certain number ofconstraints tothe machine displaced, from an evaluation oftheform toward an prescribe andtothesoftware. Theformulation ofsuchinstructions assessment ofthemotivations that underlie the of process a greater aboutthestrategies andthe itsbirth. Hasn'tengineering an example of requires clarity longoffered stakes oftheproject than before. inreference a discipline where forms aremeaningful only more fundamental thecomputer tothedecisions ofwhich bear the mark?25 Sucha On a perhaps level, they allows for thelimitless offluid transformation an increased theoretically generation againimplies transparency Since canbe continually intheprocess ofdesign. geometries. parameters To these somewhat factors areaddedthe internal the decision to at such and the adjusted, stop process sucha stage ofgeometric transformation becomes interaction with other problems posedbyarchitecture's essential. When becomes so andother Onewould absolutely manipulation disciplines practices. expect itcancycle that even without the that thedigitization ofprojects should allowfor easy indefinitely, direction ofthedesigner since machines can"run" all by interaction thearchitect between andthe improved thedecisions madebythis structural the architect and between the themselves, actually designer designer, reinforced. Hereagain, this reinforce- mechanical andeven between thearchitect and emerge thoroughly engineer, infavor ofa codification oftheprocedures of the materials ithasbecome since to plays fabricator, ment possible more advanced than It is ever before. that with the ofthe design striking specify increasing accuracy properties willbe used.It is difficult materials that to seehowthese most ofthose whotry totheorize architecture digital ever talkaboutthose andthewaythey interfaces smooth couldfacilitate interaction only procedures multiple areaffected Themost iftheproject were toremain accessible to a "black box," bytheuseofthecomputer.

oftheprocesses ifnottotheir ofdesign, structuring codification. Thefirst ofthese factors liesinthefundamentally character ofthecomputer. Thecomputer procedural rules ontoitsuser. Thestructure ofa particular imposes software In constitutes an additional constraint. design contrast with thetraditional toolsofthearchitect, totheuser certain graphic programs implicitly suggest ofgeometric In order solutions. toavoid types being locked tothe up ina setofcodesandrules foreign

Fig. 6 Kolatan/MacDonaldStudio, Mode), 1999. "The (Vertical Resi/Rise is notso mucha building as a Resi/Rise matrix of'lots' taking theshapeofso many independent pods. Takingup thewhole volumeoffered byNew York's'zoning of thetower form the the laws,' incorporates site'slocal restrictions. The organization of carries on the thepods amongthemselves urbananalogy. Individual choiceand in a complex 'collective' performance merge and flexible thepartsand system linking thewholetogether."

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Picon-TheGhost ofArchitecture

18

non-architects after thearchitect hasfixed its only principal parameters. Without itsprotective canthe retain opacity, project

Mori Toshiko 26 See,among others, (ed.),Immaterial/l Ultramaterial:. andMaterials Architecture, Design, Mass.:Harvard Design (Cambridge, inassociation with School George Braziller, 2002). vanRijsand Maas,Jacob 27 Cf.Winy ExcurKoek(eds.), Richard Farmax.: onDensity sions (Rotterdam: o0o andBenvanBerkel Publishers, 1994); andCaroline Bos,Move (Amsterdam: UNStudio andGoosePress, 1999). "Radical Archi28 Cf.D. Rouillard, architecture in Une tettura," Tschumi." Editions duCentre enprojet (Paris: andLe Fresnoy, Pompidou Georges (ed.),Toyo 29 SeeRonWitte Ito.Sendai Prestel, Mediatheque (Munich:
2002).

revolution-the oftheepisteme, theentry into change well be theoutcome ofthis post-modernity-could ofclarification whose areonly process premises beginto reveal themselves. ning Thesepremises stem from theroleincreasingly played ofarchitecture considered bycertain aspects previously suchas the ofsurfaces, andquessecondary: working Whereas theModern tions oftexture andlight generally. hademphasized thethree-dimensionality of Movement most seem to itsprojects, contemporary approaches oftwo-dimensionality. Theimportance on a kind operate andthemes like andinterface tonotions platform given inthesamedirection. Architecture as a socle, point these attitudes architecture as threshold oras screen: inproject theeffects of after todeploy project, appear of that is more reminiscent toa logic walls, according that ofvolumes than ofthesculptural plasticity writing itis hasaccustomed usto.Inthis modernism context, inthe tounderstand therenewed interest notdifficult which a allowed tectonic ofGottfried Semper, theory andof ofarchitecture simultaneous understanding ofthe andthewall.The ornamental writing, project in inTectonic ofFrampton's Studies success Culture, couldwell holdsa significant which place, Semper even as thebookendeavors tothis contribute evolution, It would notbe the first time itsdangers. todenounce the worked andhistory that a treatise oftheory against ofitsauthor. intentions andwalls Farfrom as abstractions, writings acting initscorporeal dimension. humanity seektoengage A newsense ofmateriality seems tohave beencalled
newpossibilities forinterfacing upon to articulate between man and machine, and newelaborations of materials through computer-assisted fabrication.26 This often goes handin handwithan newmateriality to conform to thelawsoftheeconomy, rather eagerness thanrejecting themas themodernist avant-gardes had done.Is thisnottheclaimoftheprincipals ofuN Studio and themembers ofMVRDV alike?27 the former's Both acceptanceofthefashion system, and thelatter's Koolhaasian apologyofdensity, pointin thesame

the absolute that wegrant ittoday? Thereal sovereignty

1993),89-II2.

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19

.-?

6 It 5 f i

2 3

, LZ -~L-.S~

5 T
~17L-s3r~ r" P~TiC~

ii
": ,, i i

~:

iliT \ ;ii\ :X' \ ;V

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Jungmann (withUtopie), Fig. 7 Jean-Paul residential Dyodan (pneumatic cells),1967. A flexible cellularsystem to allow intended foran extensive ofconfigurations variety and additions.

Left: I. mainhouse; 2. children; 3. playroom; 4. guest-room; 5. conservatory; 6. winter-garden; 7. swimming-pool

Right: I. rest-room; 2. library; 3. topbedroom; 6. terrace; 4. bathroom; 5. studio; room 7. living

kind ofcultural for these information otherworldliness, flows tothebroader domain ofmerchandise, belong inthesamewayas most cultural from thebookto goods, this it is to observe the theDVD.Therealdoubling ofthesubject ismore respect symptomatic pervasive likely architects of if as one a reflection of the between the ambitions, rejection by andpurchasing utopian split body hadtoforget an unresolved thesakeofa more than that ofthefamous linebetween therealand pastfor power realist Nordoesthis like thevirtual Rem that is so often whether incelebrapresent. prevent designers invoked, KoolhaasorBernard Tschumi from Theusers ofSendai arecertainly notan recycling techniques tionorlament. drawn from the "radical" oftheearly totherule, their bodies andtheir projects seventies.28 exception physical Oncemarked these are courted of byutopian thinking, techniques purchasing powers being equally byproviders nowmadetowork intheservice oftangible in all sorts of services. The and social that goals, political utopia accordance with thelogicofglobalization. theemergence ofthe modern condition for accompanied towhat isoften itisnot the risk of theproject seem absent from themanipulaclaimed, Contrary desperately dematerialization that loomsover tions that arise from culture contemporary digital today. butrather thelossofallpolitical andsocial Should onebe alarmed absence? Architecarchitecture, bytheir in a world where devotion to as we much is like a haunted and ture, bearings, said, house, programmatic andeconomic isking. In sucha world, theghosts ofmodernity have notyet hadtheir final efficiency architecture no longer seems toengage word. Evenas their seems abouttovanish equipped power more than thephysical individual andthe with thedevelopment ofcomputer-aided anything design, they consumer: thebodyandthecredit intheearsofwhoever card.In discussing his will to oldstories listen of whisper SendaiMediatheque, Ito that be inseparably Toyo willingly acknowledges aesthetic, projects might political, and social. thedoubling ofthesubject intoa physical and identity

direction: an acceptance oftheexisting order ofthings, andtensions included. It is as ifthepolitical inequalities andsocialidealsthat theemergence ofthe accompanied modern whose Manfredo ambiguity condition--ideals Tafuri denounced-had beendefinitively infavor rejected ofa search for economic andprogrammatic In efficiency.

a virtual with materials butalsowith the one,incontact flows ofinformation that structure theworld.29 This

should bequestioned, as itiswith a duality imprinted

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