Understanding The Poetics of Architecture

UNDERSTANDING THE POETICS OF ARCHITECTURE
ANUJ KUMAR SONI B.ARCH. ‘IV YR.’
0011731606 USAP
UNDERSTANDING THE POETICS OF ARCHITECTURE
ANUJ KUMAR SONI

0011731606
B. Arch. ‗IV‘ Yr.
Seminar
May 2010
University School of Architecture and Planning

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University
Kashmere gate,
New Delhi
----------------------------------------------------------------------- UNDERSTANDING THE POETICS OF ARCHITECTURE
Introduction
The realm of experience, memory, imagination, and capacity of individual to generate

significant meaning is the world of uncertainty. It inevitably takes a subjective stance, easily
dismissed when there is no absolute rational strategy, structure or system to define and thus clear
the uncertainty. This is a realm where poetry, arts and imagination reside, where every potential
of the element of mystery or unexpected possibility are explored in the purview of a design
agenda. Yet we agree that that it will require some foundation and discourse of its own
comprehension.
The words ―feeling‖ and ―memorable experience‖ ask for the imagination and creative
will. It seeks that inherent capacity of a work of architecture that imparts and generates
memorable experience in certain context through certain characteristics. Individual experience
may well supersede objectives knowledge as it deals with the memory; imagination and
unconscious need and capability see meaning.
Architecture has innate characteristics of space and scale that distinguish it from other art
forms in stimulating human beings. However, these qualities lose meaning and disappear when
burdened with justification through mechanics of functionalism. However, the question remains:
how does we account for experience and feelings? We may surmise that this phenomenon has
two aspects-subjective essence and objective essence of the thing. Since this is an architectural
work and not a psychological experiment, I shall limit myself to the ‗objective essence of the
thing‘.
Poetics of architecture is in realm of aesthetics. Aesthetics is understood as formal

expression and non-aesthetics as pluralist approach, both imbibing meaning and values of
existential culture. Poetics covers the need for essence, origin and primary principles. Techne
includes the skill, and the craft. In Ando‘s architecture, both have underlined common
characteristics of simplicity, modesty and frugality. The expression thus also has common basis
of minimal and effective use of themes.
Methodology
This seminar consciously places itself in the realm of experience and feelings to deal with
the potential expression of architecture.
It is accomplished by reviewing available writings of Tadao Ando, Louis I Kahn and

other literature. It deals with their visions, concepts and philosophies and their translation in to
architectural language by defining parameters in the context of spatial, functional and
environmental considerations.
Following is the explanation of the essence of their architecture and explanations of the
concept of ‗Dualism‘. Dualism is a specific tactic employed by Ando to express his potential
disposition by stimulating human spirit invoking ‗Shintai‘.
Shintai is ‗sentient being‘ in Ando‘s philosophy. It is an innate intuitive structure embedded in

human conscious. The concept is explains in the following statement,
―…Ando‘s intuition about the role of the body in architectural space-his feeling for élan vital,
without which architecture remains unconsummated.‖1
What is poetry?
Poetry definitions are difficult, as is aesthetics generally. What is distinctive and
important tends to evade the qualified language in which we attempt to cover all considerations.
Perhaps we could say that “Poetry was a responsible attempt to understand the world in human
terms through literary composition.‖2
Traditionalists argue that a poem is an expression of a vision that is rendered in a form

intelligible and pleasurable to others and so likely to arouse kindred emotions. For Modernists, a
poem is an autonomous object that may or may not represent the real world but is created in
language made distinctive by its complex web of references. Postmodernists look on poems as
collages of current idioms that are intriguing but self-contained — they employ, challenge and/or
mock preconceptions, but refer to nothing beyond themselves.
Poetry is surely distinguished by moving us deeply. In fact, for all but Postmodernists, it
is an art form, and must therefore do what all art does — represent something of the world,
express or evoke emotion, please us by its form, and stand on its own as something autonomous
and self-defining.
Poetry maintains some depth and substance, Poetry also has its beliefs and patterns of excellence.
Poetics in Architecture and Poetry

Symbolism, in the architectural sense, is the visual association or meaning of an object to
a thought, idea, or other image. This varies slightly from how it is defined by poetry's standards.
For poetry the definition is a person, object, image, word, or event that evokes a range of
additional meaning beyond and usually more abstract than its literal significance.
As poetry is made up of words, thus a verbal language, architecture has a language itself.
A visual language and each detail of a building speak to people in different ways. Unlike poetry
in which the symbols are represented in words, architecture's symbolic meanings come through
visually. In a building the symbols are defined by how people experience them or people's past
experiences with it. Poetry on the other hand enjoys the ability to be much looser with the
interpretation of its symbolism, because the range in the images words can hold are much greater
than the visual language architecture can have. This is due in part because of the way people
perceive words, not as an image or composition but as the representation of a thought or idea. At
the same time that architecture's visual language is less flexible, it is more powerful, and hence
the phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words".
Religious architecture is full of symbolism, as it is the main point of this kind of

structure, to evoke a sense of something greater and hold the representations of a religious
practice and belief in their forms. As important structure is to architecture, it is ironic that it is
not explicitly defined in this field. Simply, structure in architecture is broken down into the basic
components or members that make up the support or load bearing system. Inversely, poetry is
very well defined as the composition of poetry as elements or their combinations. This means
how the overall shape of the poem looks. This order given to the words and sentences comes in
basically two types of forms: fixed form and free or open form, for this essay the focus will be on
the fixed form. The fixed form deals with the organization that the poet uses to establish stanzas,
lines, meter, and rhythm. The structure of both architecture and poetry play with the rhythm and
vice versa, rhythm can be independent of the structure, but many times the structure develops its
own rhythm as it is laid out. There is also a variety of structural systems that can be chosen and
applied to a poem or building. Poems with fixed form have stanzas, line couplets, and meter.
Similarly, architecture has its own different system like post and beam, truss, and masonry to
name a few. Structure also plays with the visual aspect of the poem or building.
Rhythm as it is defined in architectural standards is a regular or harmonious pattern

created by lines, forms, and colors in a composition or visual art. This is achieved in architecture
through the application of geometric fields or ratios to the design of a building. Both architects
and poets use rhythm to establish order in their creations, and from that the poem or building is
tied together by this sometimes unconscious force.
The rhythm developed by architecture can be seen in many classical theories, along with
Egyptian, Renaissance, and Gothic styles. In the examples below the rhythms are established in
the structure, the Cathedral at Amiens is a perfect example of the structural system being used as
an element to create rhythm, throughout the entire exterior the flying buttresses create a driving,
metered rhythm.
Cathedral at Amiens
Poetic devices in Architecture
The poetic devices such as simile, personification, paradox and rhythm are also the
architectural devices that allow a building to communicate.
Simile is quite common in architecture. Buildings or architectural elements are often

made to resemble things of another kind. For years now skeletons and textbooks visualization of
small scale biology has been popular choices of reference. Some schools of thoughts are
reluctant to accept the figurative devices of architecture.
Personification, endowing buildings with human qualities or appearance is often tenuous

and rarely attempted by architects. Critics see it more readily which would suggest that
personification should perhaps be attempted more often in architecture. The paradox is another
device in difficulty. Direct clarity is often seen as beautiful but clarity suggests a rigidity that is
not poetry.
―Poetry and architecture can be linked in many ways — design inspired by poetry; poetry
inspired by design‖3.
Louis I. Kahn
Louis I. Kahn (1901-1974) was one of the most significant and influential American
architects from the 1950s until his death. His work represents a profound search for the very
meaning of architecture. He was a precocious artist and musician in high school.
His exploratory, questioning attitudes probed in a poetic manner the inner meaning of
architecture. For Kahn, the designing of buildings went well beyond just fulfilling utilitarian
needs. He searched for "beginnings" and wanted to discover what a particular building "wants
to be." In creating a building Kahn first sought to understand its "Form," or inner essence,
which he considered to be "immeasurable." Once the "Form" was conceived, it was then
subjected to the realities of the "measurable" through "Design." In a successful final product,
Kahn believed, the original "Form" can still be strongly felt.
Kahn was a great maker of rooms. He felt that a room worthy of the name should clearly
exhibit its structure and be animated by the presence of natural light. With spare and economical
materials he was able to create a very special, naturally lit inner space for the meeting room of
the First Unitarian Church (1959-1967) in Rochester, New York. His supreme expression of the
importance of natural light within architecture was his museums, particularly the Kimbell Art
Museum (1966-1972) in Fort Worth, Texas, with its skylights running the length of the
building's vaults, and the Yale Center for British Art (1969-1977) in New Haven, Connecticut,
with its sky-lit top floor and the two grand interior courts bringing natural light down into the
building.
The way he animate and play with the light and space makes the space more
experiencing, memorable and mystic. Thus makes his architecture poetic.
National assembly in Dacca Commentary

Kahn‘s iconic Sang shad Bhaban (Parliament House) at Bangladesh with huge openings
of geometric shapes on the exterior is surrounded by a lake on three sides to reflect Bangladesh‘s
landscape of numerous rivers.
The creator‘s words:
―In the assembly I have introduced a light-giving element to the interior of the plan. If you see
a series of columns you can say that the choice of columns is a choice of light. The columns as
solids frame the spaces of light. Now think of it just in reverse and think that the columns are
hollow and much bigger and that their walls can themselves give light, then the voids are
rooms, and the column is the maker of light ad can take on complex shapes and be the
supporter of spaces and give light to spaces.
I am working to develop the element to such an extent that it becomes a poetic entity which
has its own beauty outside of its place in the composition.
In this way it becomes analogues to the solid column I mentioned above as a giver of light.‖4
―It was not belief, not design, not pattern, but the essence from which an institution could
emerge…‖5
One of the Bangladeshi practicing architects ‗Aslam‘ gave his presentation on poetry in
architecture. Much like Mazharul Islam‘s (renowned Bangladeshi architect) organic designs,
and Louis I Kahn‘s references to Bangladesh‘s natural landscape, Aslam‘s designs allow for the
winter sun, changing seasons, the breeze and the whole cosmos to transform the building. In one
three-story home, Aslam created a water pool in the middle of the building. ―The water pool
refracts and reflects floating clouds, birds and the celestial sky,‖ 6 he said. ―Architecture is a
presentation of poetry,‖7 he added.
His presentation was strewn with watercolor paintings and he recited rhythmic poetry, when
discussing some of his works.
As we see the works of Kahn, he is being more mystical; form oriented, and plays with
the light. He incorporates the fluidity in complex forms and develops the elements to such an
extent that it becomes poetic entity and evolves the natural beauty of space with nature.
Tadao Ando
Tadao Ando is an internationally renowned architect. He practices in Osaka, Japan. He

emerged as a distinguished architect, internationally, when Azuma house was built in 1975. This
house exemplified his radical thinking emanating from sound philosophical base. His ideas
expressed a strong attitude towards dwelling and life. His clear and simple concepts
acknowledge the essence of architecture as precise, imaginative and poetic statement of these
ideas. His desire is expressed in the following statement.
―To think architecturally is not merely deal with external conditions or to solve functional
problems. We must create architectural spaces in which man can experience - as he does with
poetry and music – surprise, discovery, intellectual stimulation, peace and joy of life.‖8
One of the major protagonists of a new sense of poetry in the architecture of our time.
"It is necessary to return to the point where the interplay of light and dark reveals forms, and
in this way to bring richness back into architectural space.
Yet, the richness and depth of darkness has disappeared from our consciousness, and the
subtle nuances that light and darkness engender, their spatial resonance - these are almost
forgotten. Today, when all is cast in homogeneous light, I am committed to pursuing the
interrelationship of light and darkness. Light, whose beauty within darkness is as of jewels
that one might cup in one‘s hands; light that, hollowing out darkness and piercing our bodies,
blows life into ‗place‘."9 ---Tadao Ando (1990, 1993)
10
"Only space has the power to intensify our emotions," Ando writes. Meditating on the
peculiarly narrow space that defines traditional life of the Japanese, Ando finds "the richness
that results lies in its ability to achieve a ‗potential depth,‘ ... a space that consists of layers of
images, a depth that forms a dialogue with our minds. Spatial sequence, after all, is a world of
the imagination."11
Entering this "world of the imagination," Pare (1997) found a way to describe an
unexpected, involving, and complex spatial experience. His extraordinary sensitivity to the play
of light reveals the ways in which illumination and color, by their presence or absence, articulate
form. "There is a dramatic display of brilliant sun and incisive shadow falling across a subtly
articulated space,"12 Pare notes of Ando‘s buildings. "The coloration of light seems, at each
moment, to be shifting and modifying the surrounding mass. It is this sense of dissolving mass
through the constant modification of light that is a distinguishing characteristic of the
architecture of Ando. His architecture becomes a succession of spaces in which light dissolves
the mass of the building and creates a heightened sense of the enclosed space."13
Ando becomes poetics in his thoughts and concepts he applies to his designs. He makes
the space more magical and experiencing. The way he plays with the light and forms is
memorable. This way of approaching architecture in his own way with the help of nature,
geometry and shintai he makes the place experiencing and poetic.
Conception of architecture
Identifying the general and obvious principles in Ando‘s architecture it can be stated that
he works from a general essence to a particular essence. Ando‘s belief in nature elicits a precise
design approach that uses order and balance in the tension created by oppositional forces as a
simultaneous recursive concept to realize the work of art. It does not proceed by following the
predefined notion of form and content in art. His main protagonists are not the user, the function,
or the form but are the connection to nature through shadow, even better modulation of light.
This is the ideal and locus of his conception of architecture. The following statement reveals his
attitude:
―Living architecture is needed for enriching the human spirit, and second, only nature can
transform architecture into a living being.‖14
―Square versus circle, light versus shadow, materiality versus immateriality, concrete against
glass.‖15
The main principles remain common. Absolute use of material, references to abstract
nature, response to surrounding and stripped of superfluous accessories. The refined expression
remains invariable to the aesthetic value in this humble architecture which is peaceful, pure,
quite and simple. Life, feeling and dwelling are the products of his philosophy and he explored
the meaning of life and human ideal. This seminar is focuses on his philosophical bases and art
of creation through the use of nature, geometry, shintai and materials. And he takes the feeling
and expressions to the poetical world.
Nature, Geometry and Shintai
Aesthetics understood as formal expression and non-aesthetics as pluralistic, existential

culture of sacred meaning and perceptual cognition. In Ando‘s expression, their combination is
rendered abstract. It is also in the realm of poetics and Techne. Which covers the origins, essence
and minimal primary principles and Techne includes skills, crafts and attitude to detailing.
Nature, Shintai and Geometry (form, material, texture and space) have remained consistent all
through his work and are in quest for the essence of architecture as an eternal being in the
‗moment of timeless architecture‘. Body and spirit perceives these themes intuitively and
intellectually.
He says, ―Architecture is an intimate relationship between body and spirit and spirit and
architecture.‖16
Nature
Nature has two aspects: abstract nature and representational nature. Abstract nature or intangible
nature is an assimilation of archaic nature: light, air, wind, rain and snow. Tangible nature
imbues meaning such as symbols. The dialogue with nature is represented by the relationship of
nature—space--form, nature--material—texture and shintai—nature.
Ando‘s approach belongs to neither of the two categories. He simultaneously uses nature
as an invisible component, abstract nature if the building is urban chaos or he uses symbolic or
borrowed nature if the string is un-spoilt. He says, ―I want to recover the highest value, or
primordial value, to nature, as the eternity and source of life‘s incentive power, rather than to
express physical traits, even they are infinitely rich, beautiful, and magical.‖ 17 This expression
of nature can be summarized in his one phrase, ―impart the spirit of nature to the human spirit
through the architectural medium,‖ 18
Or as Tadao Ando, he says:
―I believe that my perception of nature is different from nature-as-is. For me,

the nature that a sacred space must relate to is a man-made nature, or rather
an architecturalized nature. I believe that when greenery, water, light or wind
is abstracted from nature-as-is according to man‘s will, it approaches the
sacred.‖ 19
Geometry
Geometry is not a mathematical logic and order here. The element as an instrument in
hand Ando creates limitless spaces by two means: first by complexity and labyrinthine space.
And second by, infusion of light. The elements that allow this to happen are the partition walls,
screen windows, the entrance—all which results in the dialogue with nature balancing the
tension between this dualistic confrontation of complex spatiality and simplicity of figurative
geometry.
Abstract geometry includes the duality, disruptive form, unfinished composition, spatial
sequences and labyrinths. The representational aspect of geometry in Ando‘s philosophical
architecture relates to texture, material, and structure and so on.
Simple forms, monotone colors, and homogenous materials are the means to produce as
austerity, asceticism and tranquility amidst severity of articulated nature.
Shintai
Literally, shintai means ‗body‘. However, Ando introduces it in his theoretical writings as
‗union of spirit and flesh‘. The spirit is awakened through the dynamic relation with the world.
Shintai therefore is understood as the interrelationship of humans and the world, which is the key
for design.
Ando said that, ―Architecture is an art of articulating the world through geometry.‖20
He said that however, ―world is not articulated as abstractly homogeneous. The space of the
world is governed by different forces, and is connected to different relations of history, culture,
climate, topography or urbanity.‖ In designing the church on the water, Ando said, ―On a typical
cold, snowy day on the plains of Hokkaido, one will notice a cross lit by the setting sun in a
field of pure white snow. To experience God in this natural setting is to experience and
encounter one‘s own spirit.‖ 21 The Shintai here is caused not only through nature as a giver, or
context, but is born from a contact between human being and the object in a static moment of
time. This can be explained with the eastern view of nature, which recognizes God as the natural
force or law of the universe that exists in all things. The uniqueness lays on the eternity (God) in
the moment. This static moment is found as beauty and, by being memorable, as immortality.
Summary of Nature, Geometry and Shintai
Human body becomes the mediator of sensations and experience. Through the senses, the
external world becomes intimate to human. Shintai is the structure of knowledge that is
fundamental in human memory and is in the realm of experience and intuition. Spiritual search
lies in such structures and Ando‘s architecture assumes this power or capacity to invoke this
spiritual and contemplative sense thorough the very subtle and consistent logic of opposition.
Ando wrote, ―The body is articulated by the world and at the same time the world is
articulated by the body. When I perceive the concrete to be something cold and hard, I
recognize the body as warm and soft.‖22 Ando explains that human body is the point of
departure to experience the world, where human being articulates the world not as dualistic being
but symbiotically. The essential character of the object in contrast to the human heightens the
perception of both characteristics in the experience of the human beings.
Case studies
Following case studies attempts to demonstrate the manner in which Ando‘s beliefs,
poetic senses and ideals manifest themselves in the building as a product. The objective is to
highlight the certain underlying aspects of his work, seeking to discover the theme of work and
to externalize those intuitive processes, which gives the final form to their existence. Case
studies illustrate the precise design approach that is underlined in his work as a design
methodology seeking to invoke shintai using tension between the absolutes—dualism. It may be
noted that the process is a back and forth process and not a linear, unidirectional path towards the
product and his poetic senses.
Azuma house
Two opposite themes are evident in Azuma

house, which is regarded as the paradigm of his
work. The example of enclosed nature is
paramount in this house. This house became a
prototype for his houses to come like Maison
Domino. It forms the philosophical principle
fundamental to Ando‘s work in maybe in an
intense and radical way but convincingly.
House intentionally created as an island in the city to prevent urban placelessness with in
a very limited size. The house completely closes itself from the street to create a microcosm
within. A mere indentation in the façade is the only clue of the existence inside. Light through
the skylight illuminates the entrance. The entrance and the skylight are the only mediator in the
relationship between inward looking house and outside. House intends to clearly define its
territory by the rigid enclosure of the wall-rejecting the immense presence of surrounding. On
the interior it strives to encapsulate ‗an emotionally fundamental space‘ (Ando‘s words), which
is in the form of courtyard. From the existential point of view, the house many be described of
essential elements from which it is made: walls, courtyard, and rooms. The focal and pivotal
point in the building is an enclosed courtyard, which captures nature through a tensed void, void
that is envisioned as an empty space. Primary concern is the central space and not architectural
elements as floor, ceiling or walls.
A deliberate reduction of corporeal materiality of elements, where walls rise defiantly

purely to register the play of immateriality of light. Space made of invisible and non-existent
things. Courtyard signifies the nature in everyday life, which Ando deliberately chooses to
present in the middle. The interaction between the nature and man is confined to the courtyard as
the periphery is absolutely screened from outside world. It is a creation of alternate reality-
escapist in nature, which is dominant in this house.
The walls are cautiously opened to the interiors of the house through transparent screens.
It is experienced as tactile phenomena from concrete to slate, slate to wood from steel to glass in
the presence of another fundamental presence of midst, rain, sun and wind. On symbolic level,
he selectively chooses dry elements in his courtyard, which are reminiscent of Zen gardens
where the dry elements such as rocks and sand that symbolize island and ocean respectively. Its
presence heightens the experience from the darkest corner of the house, the entrance and the
bedrooms where the incidental lighting from the skylight, reflected and deflected light of the
courtyard brings life to the inner darkness.
The idea of nature here does not arise from the ideal of landscape or picturesque. For man
to be an integral part of this nature, walls include and appropriate the presence of this nature. The
cutting out a piece of nature is a ceremonial act that symbolizes new disclosure of being (severity
in life-ideal life) against the definitive, reticent and still enclosure. In a simple, static and lucid
composition, tactile contact with nature is interwoven with the complexity of the movement
device-stairs to instigate ones conscious of active participation within it. Being at the center, the
stairs and the bridge, completely unprotected from the nature, are the only negotiator between
rooms so one is always conscious of the movement of within the stable courtyard. Space—
Nature—Shintai.
This certainty has a take on function. Once the function assumes its place, it is taken to
other extreme to witness nature‘s reality. The distance is where architecture is realized. As Ando
says,
―The significance of architecture is found in the distance between it and function… spiritual
narrative beyond function.‖ 23
The sudden and the fragile touches of nature generates the invisible poetics of life,
severity in life style yet concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen
and arranged to create by the innate emptiness and nothingness (bare concrete walls and
flooring) in tension with the playfulness of the abstract nature—light, wind, rain and the noise of
movement path. Experiential richness created by virtually nothing – oppositional dialogue. He
introduces a similar dialogue between the absolutes of the notion that exists out there and notion
that exist in our mind – dry concrete walls and flooring with the invisible elements – light,
wind and sound arresting it in pure cuboids.
Church of light
Church of light is perhaps the most emblematic of works of Tadao Ando, located in the
quite suburb of Osaka is an apt of example of abstraction. The main structure is axially oriented
to the rising sun and the freestanding wall has taken its alignment from another church nearby.
The natural element which is predominant in this project is light. Hermetically closed building
reveals a holy cross which is sharply inscribed on the façade.
The chapel exemplifies a highly ordered, extremely focused space. An elementary along
rectangular box which appears to be simply a box from outside is sliced by a freestanding wall,
dynamics of which completely subverts the seemingly dull shoebox in to a dramatic volume.
The experience begins where the worshiper enters the site and the recurrent theme of
complexity is introduced. One has to take a ‗U‘ turn to a constricted triangular forecourt where
one enters to a space that is dominated by the cosmic symbol of divine. The dialogue with the
outside is limited to the stark beam of light that enter through this cross and is so prominent that
it leaves no scope for any doubt.
Treatment of light observed here is rather different. It‘s not subdued. The place is sacred
and the meticulous introduction of beam of light as against darkness is what makes this rather
small volume, stimulative. It gives a feeling of awe that is not dependent on grandeur but humble
and unpretentious light. Light has been modulated through ages as a symbol of divine but in
church of light the relationship of light and divine is juxtaposed and is in equilibrium with the
obscuring darkness creating a focus. As the light varies in intensity with the shifting of time and
changing of season: the space is transformed and this transformation is focused on the powerful
crest shaped sharp beam captured by the crucifix, which hangs on a seemingly delicate wall yet
has a substantial presence.
The inside is unadorned and muted light enters through the slit in between the walls on
the monotone concrete walls so the concentration is not mitigated. Transcending matter, he
subtly reveals the dynamism in the static.
Reiterating the humble essence of spatial characteristics, formwork for the concrete is
reutilized to make floor and benches. The simple and finished appearance of furniture and floor
resonate the natural qualities of material in the presence of stark light of cross, moving across the
interior, diffusing as it reached the other end.
The geometrical and abstract form of cold

concrete that contrasts the soft, warm wooden furniture
and the light, creating a vibrant space in tension and
intensity as well as a space of purity and tranquility. It is
through the senses and an essence of spirituality that the
architectural space affects us.
Power of elusive nature captured by the simple

crucifix within man made absolute, methodic regularity,
contrast of natural and man-made materials, intensity of
light varying with the intention of focus in space, limited
sources of light in encompassing darkness accentuating its
brilliance, seemingly symmetrical form from outside and
an asymmetrical void from outside.
Church on the water
Church on the water is again simply the overlapping of two concrete cubes of different
sizes. The small one is the entrance and the large cube is the chapel. The ‗L‘ shaped wall gain
runs along the site to delineate the church from the nearby building, making a territory that its
own response to the nature and meditation.
The open face of the chapel frames entire view, the chapel has only three concrete walls.
A glass wall, which can be completely removed (slided), introducing yet another crucifix in
midst of nature. Cross-placed in the middle of the water, so that nothing is between the
worshiper, the crucifix and the nature. The chapel itself seems to slides towards the water and the
crucifix, as the chapel is on steps heightening the intensities of variables silences that are laid in
front of our vision which are free from the superimposition‘s and is left for the realization of
shintai—what are feel.
The apparent conflict of the two cubes, one open to the sky and another to the water, the
path that deliberately generates the a drama in movement—the feeling of restlessness and
suddenly balancing it with the repose with the serene presence of nature which encapsulates the
religious zeal, contained environmental of three concrete walls negotiating the expanse of the
water, the immobility of absolute concrete void in tension with the moving floor of the chapel
that merges with the water with itself deepens as our view goes further. This demonstrates
artistic disposition of paradox – possesses a contradiction on which the variable intensity of
experience is balanced that invokes shintai.
Conclusion
Architecture is an art form, the soul purpose of which is not expression. Again,
architecture is not just fulfillment of purpose. It is a socio-cultural phenomenon but it is also a
very personal experience. Ando deeply concerned with exploring personal experience, which he
believes is the essence of timeless architecture. Exploring the notion of timeless constant, he
deals with the issue of separating form of architecture from its function.
Poetics relies on memory, the imagination and unconscious capacity of mind to generate
significant meaning. It does not depend on the external system but depends on the individual‘s
experience. This personal way of perception is very much direct and has some sense of its own,
and can provide a way in exploring architecture.
Tadao Ando attempts to create memorable experience by awakening and engaging the
senses of an individual through his spaces. Memorable experience is in its sequential articulation
of spaces. Ando attempted a definite approach to express his poetic expression. In his design
process of sequencing, he starts articulating his spaces from one perspective and he radically
changes the perspective as the space reaches its crowning moment. The main characters of this
departure from one viewpoint to another are interaction of polar concepts, enclosure of mystery,
disclosure of mystery created, and thus changing the perspective of experience as the space
reveals itself. Space—nature—shintai relations.
Another aspect of dualism is in the light and darkness. The dull spaces are injected with
the mystery of darkness and purity or light. It is absolutely necessary that to witness any kind of
light, darkness insists its presence. A space is present in its own absence as a void or a cave
suddenly registers a presence of either a new horizon of space beyond (as observed in church on
the water), or just a suggestion of space beyond, which is nothing more than the end (as observed
in church of light). It balances the conflicting emotions of peace and charged through concealing
and revealing of light and dark. Space—nature—shintai.
Sudden reversals and mystery is his tactic. He approaches the shintai through generating
critical visions and thus emotions. It establishes a dialogue with the human perception and
experiences through a precise and consistent approach of balancing the dualism among
interacting elements as a principal concept thus creating ‗memorable experience‘ and invoking
shintai. This is his poetics.
REFERENCE:
BOOKS:
1. TADAO ANDO: COMPLETE WORKS, FRANCESCO DAL CO (FDC)
2. COLORS OF LIGHT, RICHARD PARE
3. MODERN ARCHITECTURE: A CRITICAL HISTORY, KENNETH FRAMPTON
4. THE JAPAN ARCHITECT
5. TIMELESS WAY OF BUILDING, CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER
1
Kenneth Frampton, in Tadao Ando and the cult of Shintai, FDC.
2
Article: What is poetry?, http://www.poetrymagic.co.uk
3
Symbiosis: Poetry, Architecture by Ian Volner, October 14 th, 2008.
4
Louis I. Kahn. From Heinz Ronner, with Sharad Jhaveri and Alessandro Vasella
Louis I. Kahn: Complete Works 1935-74. p236, 238.

5
Louis I. Kahn. From Heinz Ronner, with Sharad Jhaveri and Alessandro Vasella
Louis I. Kahn: Complete Works 1935-74. p236, 238.

6
Poetry in Architecture by Shivangi Ambani Gandhi, http://www.baa-arch.org/
7
Poetry in Architecture by Shivangi Ambani Gandhi, http://www.baa-arch.org/
8
Tadao Ando, in Nature and Architecture, 1990, FDC.
9
Richard Pare - Tadao Ando: The Colours of Light, Montréal, March 1997.
10
11
12
13
14
Tadao Ando, http://www.pritzkerprize.com
15
Kenneth Frampton, in ‗Tadao Ando‘s Critical Modernism‘, FDC.
16
Tadao Ando, http://www.isdesignet.com
17
Tadao Ando, as quoted in http://www.katrienvandijk.com
18
19
20
Tadao Ando, in ‗Shintai and Space‘, FDC.
21
Tadao Ando, http://www.radessays.com
22
Tadao Ando, in ‗Shintai and Space‘, FDC.
23
Tadao Ando, as quoted in ‗Three Houses by Tadao Ando‘.
WEBSITES:
1. http://www.pritzkerprize.com
2. http://www.katrienvandijk.com
3. http://www.isdesignet.com
4. http://www.radessays.com
5. http://www.baa-arch.org/BAA/Bangladeshi%20Architecture%20IL.pdf
6. http://www.poetrymagic.co.uk
7. http://www.google.com

Understanding The Poetics of Architecture

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UNDERSTANDING THE POETICS OF ARCHITECTURE

ANUJ KUMAR SONI B.ARCH. ‘IV YR.’

ANUJ KUMAR SONI

University School of Architecture and Planning

The realm of experience, memory, imagination, and capacity of individual to generate

Poetics of architecture is in realm of aesthetics. Aesthetics is understood as formal

It is accomplished by reviewing available writings of Tadao Ando, Louis I Kahn and

Shintai is ‗sentient being‘ in Ando‘s philosophy. It is an innate intuitive structure embedded in

Traditionalists argue that a poem is an expression of a vision that is rendered in a form

Poetics in Architecture and Poetry

Religious architecture is full of symbolism, as it is the main point of this kind of

Rhythm as it is defined in architectural standards is a regular or harmonious pattern

Poetic devices in Architecture

Simile is quite common in architecture. Buildings or architectural elements are often

Personification, endowing buildings with human qualities or appearance is often tenuous

National assembly in Dacca Commentary

The creator‘s words:

Tadao Ando is an internationally renowned architect. He practices in Osaka, Japan. He

Nature, Geometry and Shintai

Aesthetics understood as formal expression and non-aesthetics as pluralistic, existential

Or as Tadao Ando, he says:

―I believe that my perception of nature is different from nature-as-is. For me,

Summary of Nature, Geometry and Shintai

Two opposite themes are evident in Azuma

A deliberate reduction of corporeal materiality of elements, where walls rise defiantly

The geometrical and abstract form of cold

Power of elusive nature captured by the simple

Church on the water

1. TADAO ANDO: COMPLETE WORKS, FRANCESCO DAL CO (FDC)

2. COLORS OF LIGHT, RICHARD PARE

3. MODERN ARCHITECTURE: A CRITICAL HISTORY, KENNETH FRAMPTON

4. THE JAPAN ARCHITECT

5. TIMELESS WAY OF BUILDING, CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER

Louis I. Kahn: Complete Works 1935-74. p236, 238.

Louis I. Kahn: Complete Works 1935-74. p236, 238.

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