Reactivating Dynamic Architecture

A STRATEGY TO INJECT RELEVANT BODILY IMAGERY BACK INTO ARCHITECTURE

A 120 point thesis submitted to the School of Architecture and Design, Victoria
University of Wellington, in the fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Masters of Architecture (Prof.)

Victoria University of Wellington:

6th December 2010, Claire Gesterkamp

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ii
Abstract The building-body analogy, which used to be crucial in the designing of buildings, to the
exception of a few, is fading. This broken link leaves us with a melancholic yearning; a sense
of loss. Reactivating Dynamic Architecture readdresses the use of the body in architecture
by the application of an intervening design process. The processes we undertake in order
to design architecture are too often assumed, and go unchallenged. In this thesis the design
process is seen as a protagonist for change. Representation, both architectural and artistic,
is a central theme as the thesis guides images of the human body through abstraction.
Both the dynamic body and fragmented body are investigated for their potential to create
a relevant expression for the human condition. Dalibor Vesely’s theory of the positive
fragment is identified as a way forward for bodily fragmentation, and Analytical Cubism,
which resonated with this theory, is explored.
The thesis initially moves through the investigation of historical interpretations of the
body before drawing on contemporary theory. Past depictions of the fragmented and
dynamic body are assessed in order to establish what they can offer us for future analysis. A
representational mode is established, based on Cubism’s methods, from here the transition
from drawings to architecture begins. Rowe and Slutzky’s text Transparency: Literal and
Phenomenal is used to unravel the intricacies of Le Corbusier’s Villa at Garches, and their
reading of this building is used to channel a successful conversion process.
The resulting architecture was created as a trial of the strategy and is posed as an expression,
or speculation, for what can be achieved through this method. Three different scale
interventions are explored within the chosen site of Ava Train Station, Wellington. Carlo
Scarpa’s techniques guide the last transition to architecture, as his processes are recognised
for their ability to fold meaning into design.
The described design process gathers complexity as it gains momentum; there is much
to negotiate through the realms of bodily perception, modern art and architectural
representation. However, the architectural expression carries that density of meaning in
a simple expression.

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Acknowledgements
Firstly I have to express my gratitude to my supervisor Philippe,
who has been very supportive of me throughout this year. He was
always generous with his time and encouragement, and pushed
me further.
Thanks to everyone who helped me with formatting(wrestle with
the computer programmes) in order to create this book.
Thank you to James and all my friends for helping me through this
long thesis period.
Finally thanks to my Mum and Dad and the rest of my family who
have been behind me these past five years.

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Preface
When approaching topics for my thesis I was encouraged to focus upon
something which resounded with me, a theme which would start an ‘itch’.
I looked to my external sources of pleasure for inspiration and immediately
turned to gymnastics.
I became interested in the idea of revitalising bodily imagery in architecture
as I am a gymnastics coach and this leads me to look at the body in an unusual
way. When I am coaching I see the body moving in front of me and I break
it up into shapes and forms, similar to the way a film montage would break
down frames of movement. I recognised this as an opportunity, and I have
subsequently analysed forms like these through a series of explorations and
have culminated this process with an architectural test.
Another passion of mine, art history, wound itself within my project with
little provoking from me! I was delighted after my reading of Dalibor Veselys
text, when my thesis took a turn towards the study of modern art techniques
as I have always found this period of art production intriguing.
I think these two strains of study have come together in a creative way to
create a provocative architectural result.

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Table of Contents
i Abstract 54 Translation
55 Pass On the Movement
v Acknowledgements
56 Shallow vs. Deep Space
vii Preface
59 The Villa at Garches
14 Introduction
64 Mediating Part and Whole
16 Representation
65 Process as Project
18 Structure of Thesis
66 Building the Drawing
23 Reassembling the Body 68 Learning from Scarpa
24 The Changing World of the Corporeal 71 Architectural Fragments
28 The Shifting Face of Architecture 72 Part to Whole
31 Classical Analogy- The Vitruvian Man
76 Negotiating the Architecture
34 Physiological Projection- The Modulor
78 MOVEMENT
38 The Positive Fragment
80 DRAWING
41 Fragments in Motion 82 SPACE MAKING
42 The Problem with Motion
45 Movement in the Still Frame
47 Cubism Meets Motion
51 An Alternative Dimension

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84 PLATFORM NINE AND THREE QUARTERS-AVA STATION
86 ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENTS
88 ARCHITECTURE

97 Conclusion
102 Bibliography
107 Appendix One
135 Appendix Two
149 Appendix Three

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List of Figures
Fig. 12 Etienne-Jules Marey, Figure Fencing Study, 1890. Photograph. From www.
Fig. 1 Gabi Trinkaus, Title Unknown. Magazine Clippings. From loveobsessinspire. gettyimages.co.nz
typepad.com
Fig. 13 Etienne-Jules Marey, Gymnast jumping over a chair, 1883. Photograph.
Fig. 2 Leonardo Da Vinci, The Human Cranium Sectioned, c1489, Windsor Castle,
From Marta Braun, Picturing Time
The Royal Collection. From Martin Kemp, Leonardo Da Vinci
Fig. 14 Etienne-Jules Marey, Figure Hurdling. Photograph. From Marta Braun,
Fig. 3 Vesalius, Muscle-men, De Fabrica. From Justine Clark, Drawing on Architecture
Picturing Time
Fig. 4 Edgar Degas, Ludovic Lepic and Daughters in the Place de la Concorde mid
Fig. 15 Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) 1912. Oil on Can-
1870s. Oil on Canvas. destroyed during World War II. From Linda Nochlin, The
vas, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art. From Ingo Walther, Pablo Picasso
Body in Pieces
Fig. 16 Washington ‘Irving’ Stringham, Fourth Dimension Figure Study, Hypersol-
Fig. 5 Villeneuve, Food for Thought for Crowned Charlatans, 1793. Engraving. Mu-
ids. 1882. From Linda Henderson, The Fourth Dimension and non-Euciledean Geometry in
see Carnavalet, Paris. From Linda Nochlin, The Body in Pieces
Modern Art.
Fig. 6 Lucy Mcrae, Body Architecture, Installation. From www.dazeddigital.com/art-
sandculture
Fig. 18 Esprit Jouffret, Perspective Cavalière, 1903 From Linda Henderson, The Fourth
Dimension and non-Euciledean Geometry in Modern Art.
Fig. 7 Leonardo Da Vinci, The Vitruvian Man, c1490, Venice, Galleria
dell’Accademia. From Martin Kemp, Leonardo Da Vinci Fig. 17 Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Ambroise Vollard, 1910, Oil on Canvas, Pushkin
Museum, Moscow. From Ingo Walther, Pablo Picasso
Fig. 8 Leonardo Da Vinci, Design for a Centalized Temple, c1488, Institut de
France, Paris. From Martin Kemp, Leonardo Da Vinci Fig. 20 Pages from Space, Time and Architecture, by Sigfired Giedion. From Anne-
Catrin Shultz, Carlo Scarpa Layers.
Fig. 9 Le Corbusier, The Modulor, 1955. From Le Corbusier, The Modulor
Fig. 19 Clifford Eitel (Student of Gyorgy Kepes), Study of Transparency.From Anne-
Fig. 10 Le Corbuiser, Unite D’Habitation, Marseilles. Photographer Unknown. Catrin Shultz, Carlo Scarpa Layers.
From www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Fig. 21 Colin Rowe, Robert Slutzky, Transparency Analysis of the Villa Garches,
Fig. 11 Georges Braque, Still Life with Violin and Pitcher, 1910, Oil on Canvas. interior. From Anne-Catrin Shultz, Carlo Scarpa Layers.
Kunstmuseum, Basel. From www.shafe.co.uk/art/braque
Fig. 22 Le Corbusier, Villa at Garches Front Elevation. Photographer Unknown.
From ccat.sas.upenn.edu

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Fig. 23 Perry Kulper, The Central California History Museum Competition Entry, Fig. 37 Architectural Fragment Model, Detail of Planarity Model, Created and Pho-
Mixed Media. From dprbcn.wordpress.com tographed by Author. MDF and Acrylic

Fig. 24 Carlo Scarpa, Working drawing for Castlevecchio, c1955, From Sergio Los, Fig. 38 Architectural Fragment Model, Simultaneity Model, Created and Photo-
Carlo Scarpa graphed by Author. Acrylic and Plaster.

Fig. 25 Richard Murphy, Analysis of Scarpa’s Library Steps: Querini-Stampalia Fig. 39 Carlo Scarpa, Detail of design for the Brion Family Tomb. From Sergio Los,
Foundation, 1993 Carlo Scarpa

Fig. 26 Carlo Scarpa The Vesica Picis at Brion Cemetery. Photographer Unknown. Fig. 40 Detail of design for the platform intervention, Created by Author
From travel.webshots.com
Fig. 41 Seat Design Intervention. Created by Author. Drawn and Digitally En-
Fig. 27 Process Diagram; Method followed by Thesis, Created by Author. hanced.

Fig. 28 Photographic Series of Gymnast on Balance Beam, June 2010, Photos by Fig. 42 Staircase Intervention, Created by Author. Drawn and Digitally Enhanced
Author
Fig. 43 Existing Site Stairs, Ava Train Station, Photograph by Author
Fig. 29 Backwards Walkover Overlaid, June 2010, Created by Author
Fig. 44 Detail of Stairs, Ava Train Station, Photograph by Author
Fig. 30 Detail of Experimental Image 3, Created by Author
Fig. 45 Platform Intervention from West. Created by Author. Drawn and Digitally
Fig. 31 Space Making Exploration 1, Staircase, Created by Author Enhanced

Fig. 32 Detail of Space Making Exploration 2, Seat, Created by Author Fig. 46 Platform Intervention from East. Created by Author. Drawn and Digitally
Enhanced
Fig. 33 Detail of Space Making Exploration 3, Platform, Created by Author
Fig. 47 Perspective Section of Interventions Combined. Created by Author. Drawn
Fig. 34 Ava Train Station, Photgraph by Author and Digitally Enhanced
Fig. 35 Final Motion Drawings, from left to right, Platform Study, Seat Study, Stair
Study. Drawn by Author

Fig. 36 Architectural Fragments, Drawn by Author,, Pen on Paper

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Introduction
‘The history of the bodily analogy in architecture, from Vitruvius to the present, might be described in one sense as the
progressive distancing of the body from the building’.1

The human body’s impact upon architecture (and also architecture upon
the body) has always been profound. The forms, uses and matter of our
structures slowly shift as our perception of the body evolves; the result is
an expression of periods through time etched into our built surrounds.
Indeed the knowledge we have of our physicality affects the way that we
read a building. ‘The experience of force and resistance, orientation and
movement...balance and reciprocation, are first understood through the
body’,2 and then from there we project this comprehension onto our built
environment. We understand buildings as a whole created of parts, or parts
of a whole, and this is reflected from our bodies. The interpretation of
architecture is reliant on this metaphor, and it is an unconscious condition
that humans instinctively resort to.

1 Vidler, Anthony, The Architectural Uncanny: essays in the modern unhomely,

Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. 1992 pg 221
2 Drake, Scott, “Monstrous Bodies: Architecture and the Play of Appearance,”
Architectural Theory Review, Vol. 5, No 1, 2000, pg 118

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The slow shift of technology has recently become a swift slide of change.
As the digital age exerts its presence on our modern culture the mark left
on architecture is inevitable. However, this is not reason enough -as some
may suggest- to abandon the position of the human body’s importance
in architectural creation. Although the direct analogy of the human body
to our buildings has dissolved this does not mean it should be allowed to
become extinct. The use of the body within a building’s production takes
the designer a step closer to creating architectural entities with humanistic
qualities, architecture to better the well-being of its occupants.3 By analysing
the body’s use in an architectural process its potential may be realised.

This is not to suggest that this thesis proposes an anthropomorphic form

of architecture. There are already many instances where these iterations are
being explored, to varying degrees of success. This thesis will explore the
position of the human body in motion, and investigate whether it can be
used as a driving force behind the design process. A fundamental enquiry in
the exploration of this topic will be to determine how the representation of

3 Frascari, Marco, “A Tradition of Architectural Figures: A Search for Vita Beata”.

In Body and Building: essays on the changing relation of body and architecture, edited by
George Dodds and Robert Tavernor, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2002 pg 260

15
 the dynamic body can affect an architectural result.

The human body in motion, or the dynamic body, has been identified as a field
which has been underdeveloped in terms of architectural representation;
this will be the starting point for experimentation. It is intended that a
more relevant form of architecture can be created by engaging with the
representation of the dynamic human body in a manner which encompasses,
but moves forward, from the depictions of old. Running parallel to this
course of enquiry is the analysis of bodily fragmentation. Fragmentation
is often explored in correlation with the body but it is time to consider a
restorative form of fragmentation, which could mediate the rupture between
part and whole.

representation
-noun 1. The action or fact of exhibiting Architecture can develop interesting relationships with the act of
or producing in some visible image or
representation. The use of representation is a primary theme for this text
form.
and therefore its meaning within this thesis deserves definition within this
2. The action of presenting to the mind introduction. The function of an architectural representation depends on
or imagination; an image or idea thus the stage of the project in which it is conceived. The first relationship that a
presented. representation has with architecture is a symbolic relationship between the
building and its design process.4 This is when the representation functions
to act as a form of communication between designer and creator, facilitating
the design process and exerting some control over the outcome.

4 Alturk, Emre, “Architectural representation as medium of critical agencies”,

The Journal of Architecture, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2008 pg 133

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 The second major relationship between architecture and representation
is its representations within media5. These images precede or succeed
the end result of the building they are created to signify. This is when the
representation attempts to depict architecture as an object in space. The
materiality and atmosphere of the building is often portrayed, usually with a
religious accuracy. Often the images may be created in an attempt to seduce
or persuade viewers to the virtues of the building. This may seem necessary,
as the charm of the building often is developed through seductive qualities
of a representation. However, the glossy depictions which promote often
lifeless buildings, have been conjured by ‘deceptively nimble designers’ to
convince and manipulate a viewer, whether or not the building possesses
the virtues that this depiction appears to promise6.

‘‘what I’m interested in is how we The form of representation which is pertinent to this study is the first
might imagine space for these times;
relationship; the working drawing, the conceptual image which facilitates
how we might pursue an alternative
imagination.’ the design process. Representation which is an instrument of generation
-Doreen Massey on the representation ‘not an end product, but an active component at phases of idealisation,
of space. conceptualisation, experimentation and visualisation’.7 This is the stage of
the project where the qualities of the architecture are determined, therefore
if the notion of dynamicism is to be injected it has to be here. The challenge
for this method will be taking a dynamic body (in motion) and converting

5 Alturk, Emre, Architectural representation as medium of critical agencies, The

Journal of Architecture, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2008 pg 133
6 Frascari, Marco, “A Tradition of Architectural Figures: A Search for Vita Beata”.
In Body and Building: essays on the changing relation of body and architecture, edited by
George Dodds and Robert Tavernor, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2002, pg 259
7 Reinhardt, Dragmar, Representation as research: Design Model and Media
Rotation, The Journal of Architecture, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2008, pg 185

17
 it into the stable form of architecture without depleting the essence of its
movement.

Structure of Thesis
The structure of the design process followed is mirrored in the flow of
chapters. The process is clearly defined, the distinct portions of the body of
work are investigated independently, and then merged to form a cohesive
whole.

The design process begins with Movement, and travels into two dimensions
as this bodily movement is explored through Drawing. Space Making
follows this, then Architectural Fragments, finally the process culminates in
an ‘Architectural Expression’, designed to test the method.
The movement stage is assumed within the writing, but the subsequent phases
analysed so the results can be filtered into the design process. The drawing
stage occupies two chapters as the two strains of study, fragmentation and
movement, are developed.

Drawing
The first chapter Reassembling the Body explores the
perception of the human body within contemporary culture. This perception
is constantly one in flux, slowly evolving as our technology changes; art,
science, and philosophy all have their own part to play. Representation of the
body is explored and the impact that this has on the built environment. This
initiates the discussion of Dalibor Vesely’s notion of the positive fragment,
and what this might offer us now in terms of creative design.

Drawing
Fragments in Motion: The parallel stream of study;
bodily motion, is explored. This chapter also delves into the research of

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 manual modes of representation, and uncovers the challenges in depicting
movement. Cubism is established as the primary vehicle for representational
exploration, as it occurs within the theory of positive fragmentation, and
opens up interesting realms of discussion in terms of movement. The results
acquired from this study will be found at the intersections of these lines of
thought.

Space Chapter
Making Three, Translation -although the most concise-
is an integral chapter of the thesis. Here the two threads of discussion
(the dynamic body and the positive fragment) have become thoroughly
intertwined, and the conversion of these qualities into an architectural
expression is explored.
Le Corbusier’s Villa at Garches is the primary exemplar for this portion of
the thesis. The analysis of this building will be driven by Rowe and Slutzsky’s
text, Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal. Their understanding of the
architecture then forms the basis of the next transitional period.

Architectural Fragments
Mediating Part and Whole: This chapter looks at the
functioning of a design process, in particular in an attempt to engage the
concept of ‘dark space’ between phases which is not often discussed. Carlo
Scarpa weaves through this chapter, as his transitions from drawing to
architecture are masterly, and the design stage parallels his process.
The dialectic of part and whole is again explored, this time in terms of the
architectural expression. Lastly ‘Architectural Fragments’ are defined and
there use in aiding translation to architecture is established.

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Architecture
Negotiating Architecture: The last chapter is dedicated to a
description of the design process which ran alongside the theoretical study
of this thesis. Here the ideas are gathered and tested in the physical realm.
Through discussion it is revealed that the process undertaken reflects and
appropriates the concepts discussed in the earlier chapters. The architectural
expression articulated at the end of the chapter is not posed as an end result,
but rather presented as an exemplary engagment of the method.

This thesis initially develops its argument through the marriage of historical
study and contemporary theories. This beginning portion evaluates what
has been achieved in terms of architectural representation and what has yet
to be explored.
The subsequent chapters develop ideas on what may be a relevant
representational expression for today and the future. Throughout these areas
of the thesis an exchange will occur between the study of current theory and
the results of experimental studies. These ideas will transfer and transcend
the boundaries of their communication as they inform one another in their
findings.

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 ‘We live today in the estrangement
between self and other, between the
self and the world, on the margins
even between self and individual.
Our perception is not structuring but
nomadic. The experience of one’s own
body and of what is external to it is made
up of heterogeneous ingredients, of
atoms that do not compose molecules,
of portions that fail to fit together.
This erratic, nomadic perception of
reality is such a feature of our crisis that
architecture manifests it in a multitude
of ways. It is not only fragmentation
that fractures our projects into
particles difficult to recompose. It is
also the unfinished, the partial, and
the cumulative that have become
predominant in a way of working that
presents itself as incapable of proposing
any higher level of integration.’

–Ignasi de Sola- Morales

Fig. 1 Gabi Trinkaus, Title Unknown.

Magazine Clippings.

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Reassembling the Body
‘representation of the body is a necessary means by which architecture is able to act hermeneutically, providing a way in which
bodies and buildings can be interpreted in relation to each other.’8

Humans’ perceived role of their body in space has always been reliant
on the changes of society. Our body image in history is reflected by the
representations in art and architecture, but also by the writings and theories
in science and philosophy.
In Western culture ancient and classical humans conceived that the body
was a gift from God, and therefore it deserved to be revered as it had
divine origins. These beliefs manifested themselves in a physical sense as a
symmetrical and static whole, reflected onto the configuration of classical
churches and buildings. Unity, rational and harmony were privileged ideas
which guided designers through many centuries.
However, over time perceptions change, hence today’s body image is seen as
a distorted and reinterpreted version of those simple beginnings. This could

8 Drake, Scott, “Monstrous Bodies, architecture and the play of appearance”,

Architectural theory review: Journal of the Department of Architecture, Vol. 6 No. 1 (2001)
pg 128

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 also be seen as a shift of priority; where in the earliest examples the whole is
privileged, now emphasis is put upon the parts.
The metaphorical interpretation of the body in architecture is slowly
retreating. The ‘splintering of perspectives’9 which has occurred was
manifested in our architecture as a distorted or mangled body, with a
decidedly un-humanistic quality. This interpretation reflects ‘body-looks
‘[the interior view of the skull] was probably not body-images’ and cannot be allowed to endure, as for our own wellbeing
inspired by the by the architects habit of we need to consider a more holistic approach to design.10 This chapter
representing a building in terms of ground
plan and cross section.’ investigates how we could reinterpret our fragmented existence to something
-Ackerman more accommodating for today, and using this knowledge, revitalise the use
of the body in architectural processes.

The Changing World of the Corporeal

The fragmented body has gruesome origins, stemming from the literal
dismemberment of bodies in science, and through many bloody conflicts.
These factors kick started the changing of our body perception which
continued slowly over many centuries.11
The fine arts have always depicted contemporary theories and topics, hence

9 Agrest Diana, & Allen, Stan, Practice: architecture, technique and representation,
Marston: G+B Arts International, 2000, pg 106. Agrest wrote of the city as a place of
change in our modern world, and in particular about how the ‘atomisation of information’
reflects upon perception of our bodies by seeming to support the notion of fragmentation.
She also wrote about how these ideas seemed to foster the idea of motion or speed.
10 Frascari, Marco, “A Tradition of Architectural Figures: A Search for Vita Beata”.
In Body and Building: essays on the changing relation of body and architecture, edited by
George Dodds and Robert Tavernor, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2002 pg 260
11 Wegenstein, Bernadette, Getting Under the Skin: Body and Media Theory,
Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2006 pg 6 Wegenstein calls this period of change scientific
fragmentation and refers to this era as where the body became ‘objectified and isolated’.

24
Fig. 3 (above)Vesalius, Muscle-men, De Fabrica the perception of the human body is documented through history in this
Fig. 2 (opposite) Leonardo Da Vinci, The Human
mode. This chapter will first seek to demonstrate the changes surrounding
Cranium Sectioned, c1489, Windsor Castle, The bodily representation by looking to the art spectre.
Royal Collection
The concept of the body being viewed as ‘parts of a whole’ coincides with
developments in science, particularly in medicine.12 To accurately represent
these new discoveries artistic techniques were employed in the depictions
of bodies, and therefore the essence of these changes- the ‘body in pieces’-
slowly filtered into art.

12 Between 1550 and 1650 the procedure of autopsy became widespread

throughout Europe, and dissections became common place in universities. Therefore a
flood of new information on the inner workings of our bodies became available. This was
roughly the same period that major changes were occurring in the role of the architect,
and architectural drawing became established. Prior to this period anatomical illustrations
had not typically been drawn from observation but rather, they had been conceived
from the well entrenched scientific teachings of the ancients. Dissection started a new
perception of the fragmented human body which was visually interpreted as scientific
studies of the body, featuring in major anatomical textbooks..

25
Fig. 4 Edgar Degas, Ludovic Lepic and Daughters in the Place de
la Concorde mid 1870s. Oil on Canvas. destroyed during World
War II.

26
 Linda Nochlin, in her text The Body in Pieces argues that the ‘part’ or
‘fragment’ is a metaphor for modernity. She illustrates this statement with
a variety of artworks ranging from mid 1700’s to late 1900’s often showing
the body dissembled. Throughout this time art went from depicting the
body literally in pieces to metaphorically in pieces. Mutilation is a common
theme of the early works, the more grotesque portrayals often stemming
from propaganda surrounding the French Revolution.13

This spirit of these concepts continued through to the 19th century. Even
the Impressionists portrayed the theme, albeit in a more conservative
manner, supported by a traditional framework. They often represented
their subjects in slightly off-balanced compositions and so instilled ‘a sense
of that loss of solidarity, a compensatory dynamism and flow’14 Within the
canvases of Manet and Degas many of their characters are shown in the
uneasy predicament of being ‘cut off ’ by the paintings edge. Degas’ layout of
his famous images of dancers on stage often interrupts their bodies.
The inclusion of these techniques meant that their artworks were infused
with the ideas of the time; movement and fragmentation. However subtly
Fig. 5 Villeneuve, Food for Thought for Crowned Charlatans,
1793. Engraving. Musee Carnavalet, Paris. they co- existed, sealed within the patina of the oil paint.
Although the medium available changes according to the latest technology
available, the theme of the fragmented body continues in art to today.

13 Nochlin, Linda, The Body in Pieces: the fragment as a metaphor of modernity,

New York: Thames and Hudson, 1994, pg 8 In fact Nochlin cites the French Revolution as
the ‘transformative event that ushered in the modern period’.
14 Ibid. pg 25

27
 The Shifting Face of Architecture
Architecture took longer to grasp the changing corporeal image in the
world. But the changes, captured so fluently by artists, did slowly flow
into the built environment. Glen Seator writes about the transformations
which architecture has undergone due to our changing bodily perception.
He describes three major steps, classical analogy as the first, followed by
the Modernists empathetic use of physiological projection. He concludes
that we now incorporate the body into our built work by ‘affect’ ‘that is the
body is admitted only as trace, as hidden in the fragmentary associational
mappings of memory and direct apperception’15. This is indeed the
stance with which many contemporary architectural theorists now align
themselves, a phenomenological perspective. However, as Frascari argues,
this abandonment of physical corporeality in architecture should never be
allowed to endure. Frascari argues for vita beata, a happy and healthy existence,
which could possibly be attained by the ‘sympathetic dance between body
and buildings... gathered from the interaction between corporeal images and
building images’.16
Although the physicality of the body cannot be admitted into architecture
in the manner it once was, it is valid to experiment with other solutions, as
Fig. 6 Lucy Mcrae, Body
this thesis intends to do.
Architecture, Installation.

15 Seator, Glen, & Casabere, James, The Architectural Unconscious, Andover, Mass:
Addison Gallery of American Art, 2000 pg 45
16 Frascari, Marco, “A Tradition of Architectural Figures: A Search for Vita Beata”.
In Body and Building: essays on the changing relation of body and architecture, edited by
George Dodds and Robert Tavernor, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2002 pg 260

28
 The architectural drawing is transitive in nature... but technique is never neutral and the means of representation, the working
methods of the architect, will always condition the results.”17

‘It is the explosion, the fragmented Visual interpretations of these changing ideas have been constructed
unconscious, where the “architectural throughout history. The next pages will examine two archetypal examples of
body” does not reflect the body of the the drawing of the human body within the architectural sphere, Da Vinci’s
subject, as it did in the Renaissance, Vitruvian Man and Le Corbusier’s Modulor. These images have directly
but reflects instead the perception of influenced the creation of buildings through the transferral of their ideas to
the fragmented body...the system has
architectural drawings. The circumstances under which they created these
been broken; architecture cannot be
recognised again as a whole.’ representations conditioned the result so these will also be examined, along
with their stylistic concerns.
- Diana Agrest Architecture
Without, p 190

17 Allen, Stan, Practice: architecture, technique + representation, (second edition)

New York: Routledge, 2009 pg 45

29
 ‘The whole is more than the sum of its parts’
-Aristotle

Fig. 7 Leonardo Da Vinci, The

Vitruvian Man, c1490, Venice, Galleria
dell’Accademia

30
Classical Analogy- The Vitruvian Man
‘[The Vitruvian Man] merges the continuous quantity of the human body with basic geometry that operates at the grandest
scale that could be envisaged.’18

The Viturvian Man has become a cliché in the magnificently direct way it
deals with the image of rational man. The divine man is considered as one of
unity, balance, and wholeness. The centre or -by anthropomorphic slippage-
the navel, is engaged here. Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man is a success because his
mans navel could possess the very centre of the circle which encompasses
him.19

There is a contradiction in Leonardo’s interpretation which is not palpable to

the naive viewer. James Ackerman recognises this incongruity when placing
the depiction in the context of Da Vinci’s other work:
‘Leonardo’s drawing, which adds a circle to the square, effectively represents
the Vitruvian principle but is actually in conflict with his own convictions
about proportions, which vigorously opposed the Roman straitjacket.’20
The Renaissance belief in ‘imitation’ is actually the true creator of this image.
The existence of the depiction illuminates the unshakeable belief of men at
this time; that the word of the ancients outweighed their own understanding

18 Kemp, Martin, Leonardo Da Vinci, Experience, Experiment and Design, London:

V&A Publications, 2006 pg 87
19 Other attempts, such as Francesco di Giorgio’s, within the same period,
had tried to make the circle and square of equal heights and therefore not achieved
this harmonious overlaying of parts. It is also noteworthy to add that other cultures
also use this form of composition, the Hindu Vastu Purusha, as an example of a spatial
organisation device which takes the form of a body.
20 Ackerman, James, Origins, Imitation, Conventions: representation in the visual
arts, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2001 pg 157

31
 of the world.21 This portrayal was the representation of a concept which
Vitruvius, the renowned ancient scholar, had expressed in his treatise ‘De
Architectura’ and the result is conditioned according to this text.

The sharply controlled drawing style of the Vitruvian Man belongs to Da

Vinci’s earlier work and it contrasts against his later sketches which possess
soft edges, light and atmosphere.22 The drawing is composed of pen and ink
with wash over metalpoint. The drawing of the man in his two states, (one
with legs together, arms parallel to the ground and one with legs and arms
further outstretched) was perhaps Leonardo’s concession to himself. If he
could not depict the dynamic human body as he had so readily in the past he
would hint at movement, or at least mans ability to move, in the overlaying
of poses.

‘centralized churches epitomize a universal stability and calmness of spirit typical of classical art.’23

Da Vinci’s square and circle can be seen as similar to working lines setting
out major geometries in an architect’s plan, they are precise, ruled, and
purposeful. They frame the figure and present him as the focus. Further
rendering is found on his face, hair and at the far reaches of his limbs. This
attention to detail brings the figure forward from the page. This further
accentuates him as the object, and the circle and square as his ground.

21 Kemp, Martin, Leonardo Da Vinci, Experience, Experiment and Design, London:

V&A Publications, 2006 Pg 87
22 Ackerman, James, Origins, Imitation, Conventions: representation in the visual
arts, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2001 pg 145
23 Evans Robin, The Projective Cast: architecture and its three geometries,
Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1995 pg 55. Although Evans challenges this view in his
chapter Perturbed Circles he recognizes it as the orthodox view.

32
 Like the neo-classical architecture of the day, the Vitruvian Man is
symmetrical and unified. It represents a rational approach to Renaissance
thinkers. It can be easily juxtaposed with architectural drawings. The circle
and square, their proportions proved as ‘divine’, can be extrapolated from
this setting and onto plans of buildings, in fact the few churches which Da
Vinci, and other architects of this era, did design echo these geometries.

Fig. 8 Leonardo Da Vinci, Design for a

Centalized Temple, c1488, Institut de
France, Paris

33
 Physiological Projection- The Modulor
[the Modulor]’makes the bad difficult and the good easy’ -Einstein

Typical of Le Corbusier, The Modulor his proportioning system, has always

oozed qualities of an almost fanatical passion, and a moral outlook reflected
in him.24 The Modulor was a break in the movement away from the body. The
aim of Le Corbusier’s modulor system was to ‘harmonise and standardise’25,
as these were appropriate goals for a world just beginning to embrace the
ideas of pre-fabricated architecture.

Le Corbusier’s man is very different to Da Vinci’s, the physical qualities of

the figure being the only point of comparison. The navel is acknowledged
here also, with the line that intersects the man at that point, but Le Corbusier
places two more parallel lines in decreasing increments above it, meaning it
no longer signifies the balanced middle. To further accentuate the idea of
asymmetry the man is captured mid gesture, in the act of lifting one arm. Le
Corbusier intended this image to be juxtaposed with Da Vinci’s and hoped
that this pose would establish his example as modern. He describes the
figure as a ‘man walking across space. That is a dynamic man, corresponding
to a dynamic architecture.’26

The arm stretched above the person loosely hovers in an almost casual
manner, bounding the entirety of the frame to the figure. It is this gesture

Fig. 9 Le Corbusier, The Modulor, 1955 24 Blake, Peter, Le Corbusier, Architecture and Form, Harmondsworth : Penguin,
1963 pg 140
25 Le Corbusier, The Modulor, a harmonious measure to the human scale universally
applicable to architecture and mechanics, London: Faber, 1956, pg 107
26 Le Corbusier, The Modulor 2 1955, Cambridge, Mass., M.I.T. Press, 1958 pg
45

34
 that brings forth the idea that this subject is occupying this frame, therefore
applying an architectural physicality to the grid. The most noteworthy
stylistic component of the depiction is the figure itself. Le Corbusier has
constructed its form as a block of colour, a silhouette, which was a symbol
of all men not a man.

Le Corbusier tested his system on the Unite d’Habitation, an apartment

building in Marseilles. The inclusion of the proportioning method was
extremely important to him27 as he strongly believed that it would better the
experience of the occupants within. Although the proportioning system was
relatively successful in the projects which it was included, it was a grasping
attempt of Le Corbusier’s to create an overarching system which would
‘leave the imprint of man on an architecture of the machine age’28. However,
the concept was not taken up by other architects, most probably because it
contrasted against the accepted use of the body within this age, and therefore
the idea did not endure.

Both of these archetypal examples, Da Vinci’s and Le Corbusier’s, reflect

elements of the era from which it was created. Each instance represents a
design system of conversion process, Le Corbusier’s method allowing a
direct projection from drawing to architecture, whereas Da Vinci’s image
was more a reflection of the general methodology of the time.
Fig. 10 Le Corbuiser, Unite D’Habitation, Marseilles Le Corbusier’s example was a little less orthodox, as it did not reference the
Photographer Unknown. fragmentation which was already deeply rooted in body theory by this time.
Both these examples hint towards a dynamicism of the body, but, as shown
in this thesis, the potential that this idea holds has not been realised.

27 Blake, Peter, Le Corbusier, Architecture and Form, Harmondsworth : Penguin,

1963, pg 140
28 Ibid. 143

35
Crisis of Unity
‘The body became more an object of nostalgia than a model of harmony, manifested in art as a series of irreconcilable fragments:
the “parts,” for example, in Mary Shelleys story of Frankenstein, that could never be assembled into anything but a monster.’29

As the perceived fragmentation of the human condition accelerated a

creeping sense of loss accompanied the move away from the whole.30
The term fragmentation can be perceived as being interchangeable with
disintegration and chaos. Both of these terms have decidedly pessimistic
connotations when we apply them physically.
The conditions which determine the negative slant to this term is the
ambiguity, or isolation, which a fragment implies, the ‘shattering of
connections’31, the violent displacement from a larger whole. Linda Nochlin’s
examples of grotesquely mutilated bodies in 18th century art are a classic
example of the negative power of the fragment.

These ideas were viewed as desirable in their dramatic and stirring qualities
to architects of the late 1980’s. This led to the manifestation of the ‘uncanny’,

29 Vidler, Anthony, The Architectural Uncanny: essays in the modern unhomely,

Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1992 pg 77
30 Ibid. pg 76
31 Nochlin, Linda, The Body in Pieces: the fragment as a metaphor of modernity,
New York: Thames and Hudson, 1994 pg 24

36
 or disturbing quality of the fragment in Deconstructivist architecture.
The human condition was projected onto architecture in this unsettling
manner by Coop Himmelblau. The practice was fascinated by our bodily
condition and tried to infuse the body’s language into their work. Coop
Himmelblau wanted their architecture to live and breathe, and so they
superimposed dismembered physicality onto their structures so ‘our eyes
became towers, our foreheads bridges, the faces became landscapes and
our shirts the plans’.32 This fragmentation of the body led to disembodied
‘Comprehending the subtle role played connotations, synonymous with loss. The forms which this architecture
in design by body gestalt images points promoted celebrated ideas such as displacement, distortion and rupture,
the way toward reuniting architectural and undermined any ancient traditions of order and purity.33 In this form of
production and the production of architecture the whole was considered subordinate to its parts.
human well-being- a union that
has been considerably belittled by
The ‘crisis of unity’ coincided with the rise of the digital age and these two
the monstrosities of contemporary
architectural practice.’ rising forces no doubt drew strength from the emergence of one another.
- Frascari However within today’s society the impact of the digital has settled to a place
where its disturbing characteristics diminish with increasing familiarity.
Therefore the dynamic and rousing features of the destructive fragment no
longer wash with audiences of today. The new search is for an architecture,
or process which can activate the positive characteristics of the fragment;
architecture which acknowledges the fragment as a symptom of the time but
refuses to be subservient to it.

32 Vidler, Anthony, The Architectural Uncanny: essays in the modern unhomely,

Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1992, pg 76
33 Mcleod, Mary, “‘Order in the details’, ‘tumult in the whole’?: composition and
fragmentation in Le Corbusier’s architecture”. In Fragments: architecture and the unfinished
: essays presented to Robin Middleton, edited by Barry Bergdoll with Werner Oechslin,
London: Thames and Hudson, 2006 pg 291

37
The Positive Fragment
The Rehabilitation of Fragment is Dalibor Vesely’s chapter where he tries to
identify a solution for dealing with the fragmentation phenomenon today.
Within this text he identifies several places where art has attempted to bring
out qualities of a positive fragment, and uses these examples to explain the
theory.

Paul Cézanne’s irregularly composed artworks were one of the places where
the restorative fragment was recognised. Colour was used as the main
instigator of the phenomenon, Cézanne believed that colour could not be
considered as an isolated element because it ‘belonged to the fundamental
nature of things, to their primordial situatedness and thus to the plenitude of
their thingness.’34 Cezanne was not denying the appearance of the fragmented
strokes of block colour, but he was recognising their role as individual parts,
which together make the image whole.

Vesely identifies Analytical Cubism as a period where the positive role of

the fragment is at its strongest. Analytical Cubism is laden with ambiguity
which has been achieved through the dissolution of the object; it is in this
ambiguous state that the fragment plays its most important role.35 The
techniques Cubist artists used created a new structure for space, where the
objects are not only transformed, but are also continuously described or
referred to by the collection of fragments. This new structure is described by
Vesely as a “latent world” where the space amid objects becomes its own

34 Vesely, Dalibor, Architecture in the Age of Divided Representation: the question of

creativity in the shadow of production, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2004 pg 335
35 Ibid. pg 338

38
 entity. Georges Braque comments on this:
‘It seems to me just as difficult to paint the spaces ‘between’ as the things themselves.
The space ‘between’ seems to me to be as essential an element as what they call
the object. The subject matter consists precisely of the relationship between these
objects and between the object and the intervening spaces. How can I say what the
picture is of when relationships are always things that change? What counts is this
transformation.’36

All functions of positive fragments have one thing in common, they are
continuously mitigating between the part and whole. They exist as parts
but function as, and for, the whole. Architecture holds complexity and
contradiction, and the contradiction between part and whole in the
restorative fragment is recognised and exploited.

In order to capitalise on this phenomenon cues will be taken from art, and
applied to the early stages of the design method. To create a contemporary
expression the positive fragment will be integrated and aligned with the
dynamic body within the process. This body in motion will add another layer
of complexity, as it will now be developed through the lens of a fragmented
entity. The next chapter will investigate the dynamic figure, and then the
assimilation of these two body conditions.

Fig. 11 Georges Braque, Still Life with

Violin and Pitcher, 1910, Oil on Canvas.
Kunstmuseum, Basel 36 Braque, Georges, Quoted in Dalibor Vesely, Architecture in the Age of Divided
Representation: the question of creativity in the shadow of production, Cambridge, Mass: MIT
Press, 2004

39
The configuration of geometrical lines
and fragments in the Synthetic Cubists
paintings offer... a transition to a world
in the process of construction, where
the resulting configuration remains
only a mediating representation. And
this representation offers a means of
participating in the world afresh; it is not
an end in itself. The space of a painting
is not a space that can be understood
through geometry or formal structure,
but as a living structure in which the
metaphorical power of the fragment
plays a decisive role.

- Robin Middleton

40
Fragments in Motion
The modern individual is, above all else, a mobile human being.’37

Mobility is now a conscious theme of the modern condition. This topic

courses through contemporary theories of our bodies and cities.38 The
rapid response of culture to our ever evolving world picks up pace with each
successive generation. Consequently we are no longer satisfied with the
translation of the whole, stationary body into space.
However, apart from anthropomorphic interpretations, the idea of the body
in motion has never successfully transcended into the realm of architecture.
The major hurdle in the conversion of this idea has always been the problem
of the dynamic body’s representation, and the limitations in dealing with
this. It is therefore time to push the boundaries of design in order to explore
what is possible.

37 Sennett, Richard, Flesh and Stone: The Body and City in Western Civilization,
New York: W.W. Norton, 1994 pg 15
38 Cresswell, Tim, On the Move: Mobility in the Modern Western World, Hoboken:
Routledge, 2006 pg 1

41
Fig. 12 Etienne-Jules Marey, Figure Fencing
Study, 1890
This chapter first looks back at art and science’s experimentations with
the human body in motion, in order to see what this can offer us. It then
moves to explore the means to translate the qualities inherent in bodily
movement into a representation truly imbued with the spirit of motion. It
has been established that the positive fragment could be the way forward
to a humanistic, but relevant approach for using the body, and it is from
this angle that the dynamic human body will now be explored. Analytical
Cubism will be investigated, and a reconfigured version of this sought as a
vehicle for activating the positive fragment.

The Problem with Motion

The slippery presence, or ‘non-presence’ of movement, has often been a subject
of debate around discussions of artistic and architectural representation.
The problem is obvious, how do we compress many moments and spaces
into one two dimensional frame? Three dimensional depiction devices can
be employed to try and solve the issue of depth, but the image will still be
frozen in time, just an indication of a wider gesture.

42
In Doreen Massey’s For Space she advocates the provoking of change in
order to further develop our engagement with space. She quotes the theorist,
Ernesto Laclau who suggests one way of representing movement:

‘any representation of a dislocation involves its spatialisation. The way to overcome

the temporal, traumatic and unrepresentable nature of dislocation is to construct
it as movement in permanent structural relation with other movements, in which
case the pure temporality of the ‘event’ is eliminated...39

It is important here to draw attention to the adjective which Laclau

uses to describe the representation of movement: ’traumatic’. This term
infers a wider significance; as if the geneses of such representations are a
distressing event, which involves the ripping or fracturing of the time/space
continuum. Laclau’s evocative description echoes the stirring language of
the Deconstructivists. However, they relished the use of these expressions,
and did not imply the pessimistic slant which Laclau appears to infuse into
his statement.
Fortunately, Laclau offers a possible alternative to this seemingly horrific
occurrence, a way to overcome the fracturing. The response which he
describes is to nestle the image within a larger framework. This structuring
will recognise the original context and therefore the essence of the movement
will be maintained. This answer which Laclau provides seems synonymous
with the positive form of fragmentation, as described by Dalibor Vesely. The
proposal of recognition of context adheres to Vesely’s principals. Also, by
breaking up motion in order to present it in series, this provides “objects”
to interact with each other and their ground, as described by Vesely in
his example of the restorative fragment in Cubist art. By structuring the
representation this way the possibility of opening up that ‘latent world’ is
pursued.

39 Ernesto Laclau In Massey, Doreen, For Space, London: SAGE, 2005, pg 25

43
Massey turns to another well known source of architectural debate, the
theories of Deleuze and Guatarri, in order to further articulate her desire for
change in the representation of space. This concern of space is still relevant
to the study of movement. Space and movement are intrinsically linked,
as movement occurs through space. Therefore the representation of space
needs to be adapted to accommodate the elusive quality of movement.
Deleuze and Guatarri believe that

‘representation is no longer a process of fixing, but an element in a continuous

production... an activity, a practice an embedded engagement of the world of which
it is a part. Not representation but experimentation.’40

The process they describe again seems to be a form of framework or

methodology which needs to be engaged with in order to break from the
stagnant processes which have already been exhausted. They repel the idea
of ‘fixing’ the representation and imply instead that the solution is a fluid
response, ‘experimentation’ which fluctuates and changes responding to its
content.
The resolution of these ideas, which can be carried through to the design
stage of this thesis, appears to be a motion towards experimentation. If
representation is engaged with physically, and recorded and analysed in an
analytical manner, it may yield results which can be processed through the
design.

40 Deleuze and Guattari in Massey, Doreen, For Space, London: SAGE, 2005, pg
28

44
 Movement in the Still Frame
‘... his “decompositions” came to be reread as a means of portraying a different reality, one whose essence was
duration- the unstoppable, unending flow of time.’41

Representation of the dynamic body is key to its understanding. Etienne-

Jules Marey the physiologist, and Eadweard Muybridge the photographer,
were primary contributors to the furthering of knowledge in this area in
the early 20th century. They each underwent photographic studies of the
topic, resulting in curious imagery. The compositions ensuing from these
experiments are a ‘hybrid mixture of medicine, science and art.’42 Marey’s
images abandon the dividing frame of Muybridge’s photographic stills, and
compress his information into one image, recalling the theme of simultaneity
which was a prevalent subject matter of his time. Fortunately Marey’s results
were more than just data, they had an ethereal quality, almost ghostly in
Fig. 13 Etienne-Jules Marey, Gymnast the way they tracked movement across space. The qualities which Marey
jumping over a chair, 1883. Photograph. captured were a reflection of both his techniques and subject.

41 Braun, Marta, Picturing Time: the work of Etienne-Jules Marey (1840-1904),

Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992, pg 277
42 Cresswell, Tim, On the Move: Mobility in the Modern Western World, Hoboken:
Routledge, 2006 pg 64

45
 ‘The understanding of a movement
implies a double knowledge, namely,
that of space as well as that of time.’

-Etienne-Jules Marey

Fig. 14 Etienne-Jules Marey, Figure

Hurdling. 1885. Photograph

46
 Chronophotography, the technique devised by Marey and his
contemporaries, had huge bearing on fine art of the following period.43 This
form of representation provided a blueprint for depicting movement, which
artists recognised as having untapped potential. The spirit of the time was one
for embracing change and the positivity of this era is reflected in the endless
reproductions of this theme. The photos provided artists with another tool,
a language to characterise simultaneity, motion and the passing of time. 44

Cubism Meets Motion

‘The wholes established by technology do not make us feel complete or satisfied, they are still experienced as
splintered wholes. Here and there, man recognises and greets a fragment of his former universe, integrated in a
functional but alien anonymous whole, in which he nevertheless must live. There is no other. Against that feeling and
splintering, modern man feels a keen desire for all-inclusiveness, for synthesis. But, alas, any synthesis produced by
technology fails and comes to naught.’45

The void which has been ruptured open by technology is yet to be filled.
Cezanne showed us forms living in Cubism may hold the answer to activating the rehabilitative fragment,
the reality of light, Picasso brings and consequently, combating the sense of loss still settling from body
us a material account of their real in abandonment. Robin Evans recognised Cubism’s ability to gather fragments
the mind- he lays out a free mobile in a unified whole: ‘It is a question of emphasis. If the stress is placed on the
perspective.

-Linda Henderson
43 Braun, Marta, Picturing Time: the work of Etienne-Jules Marey (1840-1904),
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992, pg 281
44 Ibid.
45 Jacques Ellul quoted in Vesely, Deborah, Architecture in the Age of Divided
Representation: the question of creativity in the shadow of production, Cambridge, Mass: MIT
Press, 2004 pg 315.

47
totality of the simultaneously presented image, cubism aims for wholeness’46.
Of course this also suggests that the reading of the image could privilege the
parts rather than the whole if a viewer was so inclined. The real concern here
is how to find equilibrium between part and whole, fragment and totality.

The adaption of the rhythmical parallel forms within Marey’s photographs

can be found in Nude Descending a Staircase,47 the pseudo-cubist artwork.
Provocative artist Marcel Duchamp is responsible for this image, which
straddles the language and theories of many movements. This artwork pulls
together the two strains of the drawing section of this thesis, cubism (the
positive fragment) and bodily motion.

The human form plays across Duchamp’s canvas, slicing the space into facets
of tone. Quick strokes divide the image, and the choppy layering of shapes
denotes the staggered movement down a staircase. Duchamp unashamedly
took traditional cubist techniques but applied them in an unusual manner.
Instead of building up the appearance of an object by interlocking many
different focal points in one image, he took many different moments in time
and overlaid them, developing the manifestation of a single movement. This
image was never accepted as a pure cubist painting because it did not embrace
many of cubism’s fundamentals.48 The key quality missing, arguably, could
be implication of the creator’s movement in space.

46 Evans, Robin, The Projective Cast: architecture and its three geometries,
Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1995, pg 59
47 Braun, Marta, Picturing Time: the work of Etienne-Jules Marey (1840-1904),
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992, pg 265
48 Mink, Janis, Marcel Duchamp: Art as Anti Art, Koln, West Germany : Taschen,
1994, pg 27

48
 The multiple reading of the artwork is a quintessential quality of cubism.
The dilation of the viewer’s eye moving in and out across the canvas,
transitioning between the faceted forms, and travelling through the shallow
depths of the image, is metaphorical of the painter’s process as he moves
around the subject.49 This implied-but invisible-motion is key to the tension
created within Cubist works. This tension was the prime element missing
in Duchamp’s Nude, and we can assume it was one of the reasons for the
unsuccessful reception of the painting. The single plane that the image
works upon, and the simplicity of the reading deny the viewer the challenge
to decipher and, therefore, engage with the motion.

‘We see not with a single, unmoving eye, but with two active eyes set within a head that also shifts’50

Even Duchamp himself believed that the Nude was a flawed representation
as it was too static. Consequently his series of ‘swift nudes’ that followed
emphasised speed and fluidity, in order to try and eliminate the inert quality
of the previous depiction51. In this series the beings in the images became
less and less recognisable as figures, until they were just a shadow of the
entity that they were based on. The renowned art critic and poet Guillaume
Apollinaire wrote extensively about Duchamp during this period and he
described these artworks to contain ‘traces of beings’. The reduction of form,

49 Henderson Linda, The Fourth Dimension and non-Euclidean Geometry in

Modern Art, Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1983, pg 81, For more about
Fig. 15 (Opposite) Marcel Duchamp, Cubism and optics see Anne Coffin Hansen, ‘The Human Eye: A Dimension of Cubism,
Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) 1912. in Art and Ape of Nature: Essays in Honor of H. W. Janson, pg 739-48
Oil on Canvas, Philadelphia, Philadelphia 50 Ibid, pg 81
Museum of Art. 51 Henderson, Linda, Duchamp in Context: Science and Technology in the Large
Glass and related works, Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2005, pg 16

49
 ‘The shadow cast by a four
dimensional figure on our space is
a three dimensional shadow.... by
analogy with the method which
architects depict the plan of each
storey of a house a four dimensional
figure can be represented by three
dimensional sections. These different
sections will be bound together by
the fourth dimension.’

-Duchamp

Fig. 16 Washington ‘Irving’ Stringham,

Fourth Dimension Figure Study, Hypersolids.
1882

50
 and refocusing on pure gesture in Duchamp’s work was successful in distilling
the fundamental essence of the movement it depicts. However it no longer
referenced the fragment as the Cubist language was lost. Duchamp’s series
of images show how difficult it is to balance fragmentation and movement,
in the more legible, faceted depiction the figure loses its spirit of motion,
and the more mobile example was done with a free flowing hand but the
fragmentation is lost. The challenge for the impending design process will
be to mediate between the two and in particular capture the tension crucial
to a viewer’s engagement.

An Alternative Dimension
During the period that Cubist artists were developing their language,
physicists were investigating the possibility of a higher dimension, a fourth
dimension. This idea of a higher spatial order resonated with the creation
of Cubist art, as it was about the possibility of simultaneous existences of
space. These explorations disbanded the absolute belief in the perspectival
understanding of space,52 and instead the artists began to investigate other
possibilities for projection.

At the start of the twentieth century not only was there plenty of literature
on the topic of the fourth dimension, but many mathematicians had begun
to attempt to represent their ideas visually. Most of these early illustrations
were depictions of ‘hypersolids’, traditional three dimensional forms such
as cubes and pyramids which were distorted in attempts to visualise these

52 Weston, Dagmar M, “Le Corbusier and the Restorative fragment at the Swiss
Pavilion”, edited by Mari Hvattum and Christian Hermansen, In Tracing Modernity:
Manifestations of the Modern in Architecture and the City, London: Routledge, 2004, pg 173

51
shapes in a four dimensional existence.
French mathematician, Esprit Jouffret, created one of the more sophisticated
representations of this concept. His image, Perspective Cavalière was often
cited in texts upon the subject. The technique which he employed to describe
the four dimensional quality of these forms, involved the figures shown
frequently turning upon the page. This was an attempt to simultaneously
represent multiple vantage points of the object.53 The fourth dimension
quickly transcended scientific depictions, and became representative of the
concept of binding simultaneity. Cubist artists identified with these ideas,
and comparisons between the scientific illustrations and Cubist art quickly
became inevitable as the two displayed so many of the same characteristics.
Linda Henderson articulated the relationship between two such illustrations
in her book The Fourth Dimension and non-Euclidean geometry in Modern
Art:
‘In both Picasso’s Portrait of Ambroise Vollard of 1910 and Jouffret’s perspective
cavalière there is a striking similarity in the triangular facets, which represent a
variety of planes and angles seen from different points of view. Further the shading
of certain of these facets creates shifting relationships that contribute to a general
shimmering quality of iridescence in the diagram as well as in the Picasso painting.
Finally, both works exhibit a new kind of space not dependent upon traditional
three-dimensional perspective.’54

The importance of the Fourth Dimension in this thesis remains within the
physicality of the scientific expressions. These depictions pushed Cubism
to represent the idea of simultaneity, and provided a language to do so. The
‘shifting relationships’ which Henderson identifies, is a prime example of the

53 Henderson, Linda, The Fourth Dimension and non-Euclidean Geometry in

Modern Art, Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1983 pg 57
54 Ibid. pg 58 Many other art historians, such as Christopher Gray and Winthrop
O. Judkins have used the term ‘iridescence’ to describe the ‘ambiguity of form both two-
dimensional and spatial.’

52
 successful inclusion of tension to drive the experience of the viewer. This
quality is equally important to the parallel strands of study; fragmentation
and the dynamic body, and can be a common ground that each identifies
with.
The work of Marey, Duchamp, Picasso and Jouffret will all be further
examined for their techniques, as the drawing portion of the design process
commences. Representation will become experimentation as the language
of these exemplars is pulled apart and reinterpreted, to not only fragment
the body, in a positive manner, but also depict its movement.

Fig. 18 Esprit Jouffret, Perspective Cavalière,

1903

Fig. 17 (opposite) Pablo Picasso, Portrait

of Ambroise Vollard, 1910, Oil on Canvas,
Pushkin Museum, Moscow

53
Translation
‘ Paradoxically, the fragmentation and temporalisation of space initiated by film montage and modernist collage that opened up
a truly infinite realm of poetic places for the human imagination still await their translation into architecture.’55

The translation of drawing to space is always going to pose challenges. The

techniques and tools used will have an effect on the outcome, to a degree
we can control this effect but much of it will just be inherent within the
process. Drawing as a medium to explore the body was a conscious decision,
resulting from the yearning for physical contact with the construction of the
image. The result of using this technique means that the crafted nature of the
drawings carries through these qualities into the architecture.

The aim of this thesis is to pass bodily movement through a representational

abstraction, into a form which can infiltrate the built environment. Therefore

55 Perez, Gomez, “Questions of Representation”, Edited by Marco Frascari,

Jonathon Hale and Bradley Starkey, In From Models to Drawings: Imagination and
Representation in Architecture, New York: Routledge, 2007, pg 11

54
 the next phase of this research is to investigate the transferral of two
dimensional representations of motion into three dimensional space. This
stage, termed simply ‘space making’ looks at parallels between Cubism and
architecture in history to determine strategies for the successful translation.

Pass On the Movement

Many contemporary architects are interested in the use of the dynamic
body, but few appear to consider the need for an abstraction method when
taking the motion into architecture. Dutch architect, Lars Spuybroek,
is concerned with the movement of the human form, and how this can
influence his making of architecture. For Spuybroek space and movement
‘The real question is how to pass the exist in equilibrium, one balancing the existence of the other, therefore he
movement on, from the machine to the believes that bodily movement must be considered when creating spaces
architecture, from the architecture to
the body, and from the body back to the
for today.56 The ‘machine’ which Spuybroek mentions in the accompanying
machine’. quote is referring to the combination of techniques and processes which
Spuybroek employs in order to create his architecture.
- Spuybroek
Although Spuybroek believes in the use of the body as a generator, he
knows that the repetition of creating anthropomorphic architecture from
bodily movement is not viable. A new form of projection, or new processes
to apply projection, need to be employed in order to translate the ephemeral
quality of motion to architecture.57
Spuybroek looks to digital processes, and has created a computer generated
formula to inform his translation, often resulting in a poetic solution but, it

56 Spuybroek, Lars, The Architecture of Continuity, Rotterdam: V2_Publishing,

2008, pg 53
57 Spuybroek, Lars, The Architecture of Continuity, Rotterdam: V2_Publishing,
2008, pg 56

55
 could be argued that the digital technique has exerted an almost too perfect
control on the result. The use of an analogue means of projection in this
thesis reflects and celebrates the imperfection of the body.

Shallow vs. Deep Space

‘Transparency means a simultaneous perception of different spatial locations. Space not only recedes but fluctuates in
continuous activity.’58

As established in the previous chapter the genesis of cubism, ‘the explosive

reformulation of pictorial space’59, was revolutionary in terms of our
understanding of depth. The explicit spatial upheaval which the Cubists
were working to activate would of course have a profound effect on the space
making of architects. The ‘dissolution of the perspectival understanding of
space’60 had become an artistic endeavour undertaken to try and represent
the ‘true’ or direct experience of an object or space. When transitioning
these qualities into three dimensional realities however, these devices can
lose their potency.
Fortunately few architects did achieve a resemblance. Sigfried Giedion
articulated this transition from canvas to drawing board in his book Space,
Time and Architecture, first written in 1941. He concluded that examples

58 Kepes ,Gyorgy, Quoted in Rowe, Colin, The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and
other essays, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1976, pg 161
59 Evans, Robin, The Projective Cast: architecture and its three geometries,
Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1995, pg 55
60 Weston, Dagmar M, “Le Corbusier and the Restorative fragment at the Swiss
The pages from Giedion’s book in which he compares Picasso’s work with Pavilion”, edited by Mari Hvattum and Christian Hermansen, In Tracing Modernity:
Walter Gropius’ Bauhaus building . Manifestations of the Modern in Architecture and the City, London: Routledge, 2004, pg 173

56
 in Cubist art and architecture appear to share three key characteristics:
Fig. 20 (opposite) Pages from Space, Time planarity, transparency and simultaneity.61 He believed that each discipline
and Architecture, by Sigfired Guidion.
arrived at these results through slightly different drivers. The artists wanted
Fig. 19 Clifford Eitel (Student of Gyorgy to reconquer the plane surface, the architects influence however was a
Kepes), Study of Transparency. consequence of the ‘demand for mortality’.62 Although Giedion had sound
logic behind his juxtaposition, the examples he used to illustrate his point
were chosen selectively. The Bauhaus example is thoroughly unfragmented,
as though Gieidon was trying to suppress this uncouth quality and segregate
it to art.

Colin Rowe, the architectural historian, followed Sigfried Giedion’s

assertions, and in 1955 collaborated with Robert Slutzky to provide his own
commentary on Cubism. He identified with some of Giedion’s terms but felt
he could provide a more coherent argument by dissecting the characteristic
of transparency. Rowe cites Moholy-Nagy in his discussion of the genesis

61 Evans, Robin, The Projective Cast: architecture and its three geometries,
Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1995, pg 57
62 Giedion, Sigfried, Space Time and Architecture: the growth of a new tradition,
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967 pg 433

57
 of cubist art, as he argues that the overlap of form is a central characteristic
of this style. Moholy-Nagy believes this artistic technique has the ability
to ‘overcome space and time fixations. They transpose insignificant
singularities into meaningful complexities... The transparent quality of the
superimposition often suggests transparency of context as well, revealing
unnoticed structural qualities in the object.’63 Space is reassembled, and a
figures relationship to space redefined when overlapping is employed as a
representational device. A depth is implied and the figures ‘endowed with
transparency’64. New entities are created from the superimposition, and
the birth of these forms intensifies relations between the original objects.65
The fragmented depiction which usually results from this treatment builds
a dialogue between the part and whole because both are experienced by the
viewer.

‘Le Corbusier thoroughly laundered cubism in his paintings before successfully creating a comparable, but not identical, sense
of interleaving spaces and planes in his architecture.’66

63 Rowe, Colin, The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and other essays, Cambridge,
Mass: MIT Press, 1976, pg 161
64 Kepes, Gyorgy, quoted in Anne-Catrin, Schultz,Carlo Scarpa: Layers, Edition
Stuttgart: Axel Menges, 2007, pg 14
65 Arnheim,Rudolf, quoted in Anne-Catrin, Schultz,Carlo Scarpa: Layers,
Stuttgart: Edition Axel Menges, 2007, pg 14. Arnheim describes the new relationship as
a “correlation”, or an exchange of energy between entities as the reciprocally modify one
another.
66 Evans, Robin, The Projective Cast: architecture and its three geometries,
Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1995, pg 67

58
 The Villa at Garches
In Rowe and Slutzky’s essay, Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal, they
discuss the differing use of transparency in Cubist art. They believe there are
two distinctly different ways which this quality is employed in Cubist works,
and distinguish between these with the expressions literal and phenomenal
transparency. While literal transparency is somewhat self explanatory,
referring to the ‘trompe l’oeil effect of a translucent object in deep naturalistic
space’67, phenomenal transparency is more complex, particularly when
identifying it in architecture. Phenomenal transparency is created usually
from the overlapping of figures, as described in the section above, but it is
through the experience of this phenomenon that it is strongest. Phenomenal
transparency relies on a shallow understanding of the space viewed, if it is in
architecture it will be a series of shallow spaces overlaid. This occurrence of
a succession of planar experiences is never stronger then at Le Corbusier’s
Villa at Garches. It is through the study of this building that an understanding
of Cubism’s true potential for architecture lies.
Cubism was never a theme which Le Corbusier formally stated as an
influence of his work, yet the legacy of the movement is obvious in the
controlled building of spaces and planes.
Fig. 21 Colin Rowe, Robert Slutzky,
Transparency Analysis of the Villa Garches,
interior
The Villa demonstrates phenomenal
transparency, ‘an inherent quality of
organisation’
-Architecture and Cubism p. 3

67 Rowe, Colin, The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and other essays, Cambridge,
Mass: MIT Press, 1976, pg 166

59
 ‘Each of these planes is incomplete in itself or perhaps even fragmentary; yet it is with these parallel planes as points of reference
that the facade is organized, and the implication of all is of a vertical, layerlike stratification of the interior space of the building,
a succession of laterally extended spaces travelling one behind the other.’68

Within the facade of the villa, tension has been used to characterise the
stiffened surfaces. Le Corbusier exploits the planar qualities of glass and
places his bands of glazing so they appear to ‘hover’ independent from the
facade, within the interior.69 The horizontality of the unrelenting glass strips
implies a secondary slot of space behind the facade. This plane, although it is
not physical, has the same impact as the real planes.70 The facade is just the
first experience you read as approaching the building but the characteristic
of phenomenal transparency travels further within the building, and weaves
its way through the composition of space.

Mary Mcleod’s more recent essay of 2005 re-examines the work of Le

Corbusier from her chronologically more removed perspective. Interestingly
she reaches a very similar conclusion to Rowe. She believes that the layering
of spaces within Le Corbusier’s plans is a radical kind of fragmentation.71
This three-dimensional montage of volumes, rejects chaos, but embraces
Fig. 22 Le Corbusier, Villa at Garches Front
Elevation. Photographer Unknown

68 Rowe, Colin, The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and other essays, Cambridge,
Mass: MIT Press, 1976, pg 167
69 Ibid. pg 166
70 Ibid.
71 Mcleod, Mary, “‘Order in the details’, ‘tumult in the whole’?: composition and
fragmentation in Le Corbusier’s architecture”. In Fragments: architecture and the unfinished
: essays presented to Robin Middleton, edited by Barry Bergdoll with Werner Oechslin,
London: Thames and Hudson, 2006 pg 304

60
complexity and the manipulation of the viewer.72 In Mcleod’s essay she
makes the reader aware of the vital contradictions which are surprisingly
crucial to the success of Le Corbusier’s work. Ultimately composition and
fragmentation, both found within the Villa at Garches, consist of opposing
values, but she argues that the way that Le Corbusier juxtaposes these
paradoxes -with varying degrees of subtlety- elevates his work above all
other attempts to ‘three dimensionalise’ Cubism.

Both Dalibor Vesely and Colin Rowe believe that Le Corbusier was the first
architect to use the fragment in his work in an attempt to realise a ‘positive
vision’73. Vesely recognises Rowe’s term phenomenal transparency as ‘a result
of the overlapping of figures or elements, as a simultaneous perception of
elements in various spatial locations’ and therefore just ‘a different name for
the role of the fragment’74.

72 Mcleod, Mary, “‘Order in the details’, ‘tumult in the whole’?: composition and
fragmentation in Le Corbusier’s architecture”. In Fragments: architecture and the unfinished:
essays presented to Robin Middleton, edited by Barry Bergdoll with Werner Oechslin,
London: Thames and Hudson, 2006 pg 307
73 Vesely, Dalibor, Architecture in the Age of Divided Representation: the question of
creativity in the shadow of production, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2004 pg 344
74 Ibid.

61
The use of a Cubist drawing technique does not come without risk. The
Cubist style is so well established that it is often hard to break away from
its aesthetic and concentrate on its underlying attributes. It is important
to note that this thesis does not attempt to fold the Cubist language into
architecture. That was already achieved in the Maison Cubiste, which was
‘generally derided as a facile attempt to simulate the appearance of cubist
shapes in architectural details.’75 The house was a token response of the
application of an aesthetic style, the building ignored the driving forces
behind the images of the Cubists. By looking at Le Corbusier’s much more
sophisticated response it is hoped that his method, and the accompanying
texts, can aid the translation from Cubist styled images to movement imbued
architecture.

The last part of the design sequence, before commencing with architectural
design, will be to deal with the dialogue which needs to be fostered between
part and whole. The next chapter looks at techniques to negotiate this last
passage of transition in order to ensure that the underlying qualities of
Cubism are captured in the final architectural expression.

75 Evans, Robin, The Projective Cast: architecture and its three geometries,
Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1995, pg 65

62
63
Mediating Part and Whole
‘...well known architects have engaged the dark space ‘between’ dimensions in a work that privileges the process and is confident
of the ability of the architects to ‘discover’, through embodied work, significant tactics for the production of a compassionate
architecture.’76

A design process often evolves by moving in and out of a series of phases,

sometimes lingering within a stage, often revisiting past moments. One
aspect of this process which is often neglected is the transition between the
different periods. The decisions which cultivate the process to move through
the stages are often integral to the end result, but because they occupy these
in between zones, they are rarely documented.
By breaking down the process and focussing on the shifts it is hoped that
decisions will better foster the transitional period, and therefore the ephemeral
qualities captured in early stages will be carried into the architecture. The
last part of the design process, where the architectural result rises to fruition,
can be the most trying portion as it is here that underlying themes are often
lost. A supporting framework will be integral in structuring this transition

76 Perez, Gomez, “Questions of Representation” Edited by Marco Frascari

and Jonathon Hale and Bradley Starkey, From Models to Drawings: Imagination and
Representation in Architecture, London: Routledge, 2007, pg 22

64
 and allowing the desired qualities, such as bodily motion, to transcend the
process.

Carlo Scarpa was masterful in the way he translated his themes from idea
to architectural reality. His process involved a duality of the part and whole
which exists simultaneously on his drawing board. The ‘parts’, which he
used as a key component of his conversion from concept to product, from
vision to actuality, have been termed here as ‘architectural fragments’. Their
role in the design process will be analysed, and their ability to encourage an
enriched architecture will be spotlighted.

Process as Project
‘Architectural conception and constructions consist of multi-layered fragmentary processes of realisation’ 77

The importance that a drawing process can have in advancing architectural

design has not always been expressed within architectural texts, as usually
the pragmatic problems of programme outweigh the integration of thematic
generators into our work. Even when this is discussed it is not often in
reference to the physicality or techniques which form drawings, and how
these methods advance the mode of architectural genesis.
Stan Allen writes about the role of architectural drawing or representation
and its status within a project. He states that ‘the means of representation
are never neutral, never without their own shadows.’78 This statement is

77 El-Bizri, Nadar, “ Imagination and Architecture Representations” Edited by

Marco Frascari and Jonathon Hale and Bradley Starkey, In From Models to Drawings:
Imagination and Representation in Architecture, London: Routledge, 2007, pg 22
78 Allen, Stan. Practice: Architecture, Technique and Representation 2nd edition.
Abingdon: Routledge, 2009, pg 7

65
 even more poignant if the process actually intends to capture the essence
within that ephemeral ‘shadow of representation’ and turn the focus upon
it. In the example of this design thesis the representation is certainly not
neutral; it is the driver, the process and the theme. The usual innocence of
the architecture to its creation techniques79 does not apply.
Building the Drawing

‘Rather than resulting from the gaze aimed at it, the drawing summons insight by allowing the invisible to saturate the visible.’80

Immaterial or intangible qualities in architecture often go unrecognised.

Without physical presence immaterial architecture does not command
notice. However it is often the immaterial, the idea or the subject, which
elevates good architecture from the rest of the built environment.81 Drawing
is crucial to create the relationship between subject and substance. It is
within drawing that intangible characteristics (such as the quality of motion,
as discussed in the second chapter) can first reside, and through a strong
methodology they can flow into the experience of a building.
The exchange between drawing and immaterial subject is developed by
Jonathon Hill in his essay, Building the Drawing. He describes his method
‘Drawing as Analogue’;
‘...the drawing as analogue allows more subtle relations- of technique, material and

79 Agrest Diana, & Allen, Stan, Practice: architecture, technique and representation,
Marston:G+B Arts International, 2000 pg 30
80 Frascari, Marco “A reflection on paper and its virtues within the material
and invisible factures of architecture”, Edited by Marco Frascari and Jonathon Hale and
Bradley Starkey,From Models to Drawings: Imagination and Representation in Architecture,
London: Routledge, 2007, pg 7
81 Hill, Jonathon, “Building the Drawing”, edited by Bob Shiel in Design through
Making, Chichester : Wiley, 2005 pg 14

66
 Fig. 23 Perry Kulper, The Central California History
Museum Competition Entry, Mixed Media

process- to develop between drawing and building. A dialogue can exist between
what is designed and how it is designed, between design intention and working
medium, between thought action and object- building the drawing rather than
drawing the building.’82

A ‘built’ drawing implies the presence of physical construction within the

work;83 a drawing which takes form through a multitude of layers. Perry
Kulper is an American architectural professor, who is attempting to filter
some magic into his work by means of an imaginative drawing process. His
enchanting conceptual drawings not only represent his architectural ideas,
but they also stand alone as artworks upon their completion.
Kulper’s drawings are fragmentary; they recall surrealist artworks as they

82 Hill, Jonathon, “Building the Drawing”, edited by Bob Shiel in Design through
Making, Chichester : Wiley, 2005 pg 17
83 Ibid.

67
‘beside’s bringing out various epochs exhibit floating pieces, ideas, tugged together onto one page. The collages
in the buildings history, Scarpa adds that result are unique; the compositions create relationships between objects
one more sediment of interpretive which have not been envisioned before. It is the latent content which enters
layers in his own stylistic idiom.’ [On
Castelvecchio]
into more interesting and complex interactions,84 and it is from here that
projects are often formed.
- Anne-Catrin Schlutz
The drawing shown here plots the thematic content of a museum, through
the drawing technique the aesthetic, scientific, and cultural elements of
objects can be explored. There are moments within the image that transcend
the next stage of design. These ‘proto-architectural elements’,85 move through
the design process as Kulper converts them from simply being marks on a
page to spatial and material conditions. The projects have not developed
enough into the built stage to assess their success as architecture, however
the whimsical spatiality created in the drawing has the potential to become
evocative architecture.
Learning from Scarpa
‘Scarpa’s drawings are not static images; they are dynamic demonstrations of an act of projection...’86

Carlo Scarpa’s developmental drawing, created for Castelvecchio, exhibits all

too well the layering of ideas, physical and theoretical. The rich ochre’s and
brown’s within the image reflect his chosen mediums, card and butterpaper,
which build up the drawing. The card layer was reserved for more definite
decisions and pre-existing conditions, whereas the more unsubstantial
stratum of the tracing paper records quick thoughts and trials. The drawings

84 Kulper, Perry, “ Swap Meets, Analogs, and Scanning Flower Edges”, Georgia
Institute of Technology, November 2009
85 Ibid.
86 Frascari, Marco, “The Body and Architecture in the Drawings of Carlo Scarpa”,
Res, Autumn, no.14, 1987 pg 125

68
Fig. 24 Carlo Scarpa, Working drawing
for Castlevecchio, c1955

69
 Scarpa produces, as captivating as they might appear, are no more than an
element in Scarpa’s process, a testament to his production method.87
Often Scarpa was commissioned to rework an existing building, it was
here which Scarpa excelled. He intuitively knew where his interventions
would successfully meld with the existing built fabric, and the layering
of his architectural response echoes his drawing technique so completely
it was as though the architecture had leapt from the page. Castelvecchio
was a historically laden project, the building had undergone a series of
transformations before Scarpa overlaid his sediment. Scarpa interpreted the
history of this building as fragmented88 and his drawing explorations echoed
the stratums of time within the building.

The dialogue which Scarpa developed between fragment and whole may be
explained by an exploration of his methods. The adjacent placing of these
conditions in his process meant the influence of one on another was not
only inevitable, it was fostered. However, many of the investigative texts on
Scarpa fail to explain how within this process he managed to fold his themes
and motifs into his work. One theorist who does attempt to delve deeper is
Fig. 25 Richard Murphy, Analysis of Scarpa’s Anne-Catrin Schultz. In her text Carlo Scarpa-Layers she writes:
Library Steps: Querini-Stampalia Foundation, ‘The fitting together of elements begins with abstracting the individual parts; at
1993 the end of the process a system of references is created that is not only limited to
This staircase is a typical detail from Scarpa. material and form, but communicates as an inseparable whole and may include
He has simply applied new layers of materials reminiscences of artistic or architectural themes.’89
over an existing staircase. He has composed
these materials so they allow glimpses of the
original structure, simultaneous referring to
87 Zambonini, Giuseppe “Process and Theme in the Work of Carlo Scarpa,”
the old and the new. Perspecta 1983, no.20, pg 22
88 Schultz, Anne-Catrin, Carlo Scarpa: Layers, Stuttgart: Edition Axel Menges,
2007, pg 78
89 Ibid. pg 16

70
 Schultz views Scarpa’s work as ‘stratified’90. The most important element of
his process and, therefore architecture, she argues is the overlapping of layers
within which the complexity of material, method and theme can happily co-
exist.
Schultz goes as far as to recall the texts of Kepes, and Rowe and Slutzky
in order to explain the magnitude of an overlapping or layering process.
Simultaneity and transparency are undoubtedly observed within Scarpa’s
work,91 as a physical construct and a theoretical condition. Because of the
presence of these factors, Scarpa’s work can be viewed as a continuation of
the ideas that Corbusier, and the Cubists dealt with.
Castelvecchio can be viewed as an ideal case study for the way Scarpa
integrates not only the new and the old, but also the part and the whole.
The architectural design portion of this thesis will look to appropriate some
of his methods to create an architecture which can reflect the themes of the
Cubists through many scales of the design.

Architectural Fragments
The term ‘architectural fragment’ is often supposed to mean a relic of
architecture, a piece of a building that has been broken or left over from its
whole. The definition of anything as fragmented denotes something broken,
and ‘as soon as we identify something as broken, we become detectives of

90 Schultz, Anne-Catrin, Carlo Scarpa: Layers, Stuttgart:Edition Axel Menges,

2007, pg 15
91 Goffi- Hamilton, Federica “Scarpa and Eternal Canvas of Silence” Arq:
architectural research quarterly 2006, v.10, n.3-4, pg 294

71
 its history’.92 The fragment can be perceived as a memento of melancholy
and nostalgia, a reminder of the past, but it can also have a double meaning,
simultaneously it presents a possibility of the future, of a utopian whole.93
The first meaning of the fragment is in this thesis assumed, but the second
is recognised for its potential and integrated into the fabric of the method.
An architectural fragment is a portion of a whole, - in which the whole
effortlessly exists- not just a physical construct but a phenomenal entity.
The architectural fragment becomes a tool for translation, a way to negotiate
the ‘dark spaces’94 within the process. It is the mediating body which glides
between concept and creation, and infiltrates the project in a variety of
scales.

Part to Whole
Carlo Scarpa’s use of the vesica picis, is an example of an architectural
fragment. The symbol has dualistic meanings, some of them fundamental
polarities, such as woman/man, water/earth but other more specific to his
understanding of the encompassing theory of a project, such as universal/
empirical, unchanging/changing.95
These two interpenetrating circles exist in Scarpa’s work physically at many

92 Evans Robin, The Projective Cast: Architecture and its Three Geometries,
Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, pg56
93 Vidler, Anthony. Warped space : art, architecture, and anxiety in modern culture.
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000. pg 151
94 Perez, Gomez, Frascari, Marco eds. From Models to Drawings, Routledge,
London, 2007,pg 22 As referred to in the first quote at the beginning of the chapter.
95 Frampton, Kenneth, “Notes on the Fragmentary Architecture of Carlo Scarpa”
Bergdoll, Barry & Oechslin, Werner, Fragments: architecture and the unfinished : essays
presented to Robin Middleton, London: Thames and Hudson, 2006 pg 368

72
 scales, the most famous example as a door sized penetration within a wall.
However the underlying symbolism also permeates his projects, and the
icon becomes a ‘shibboleth’ within Scarpa’s schemes.96

‘He would reverse the process, attacking with ferocious inventiveness and extraordinary tension over each and every detail...
iin the certainty that from their dialogue and interlacement it would spontaneously spring the message of the whole.’97

Scarpa’s architectural responses always bring together a collection of

fragments. A lazy criticism of Scarpa is that his fragments are too abundant,
and dazzle the viewer, not allowing the comprehension of the whole
scheme.
In some of Scarpa’s early work this criticism may have been somewhat
justified, but his more mature schemes cleverly interweave these moments,
to build a palimpsest of information in an ‘unfolding progression’98
Fortunately Scarpa used Corbusiers architecture for guidance and this
stimulus was fundamental to the success of his later work. Corbusier’s
Fig. 26 Carlo Scarpa The Vesica Picis at Brion influence ‘contributed to developing Scarpa’s attention to the external
Cemetery. Photographer Unknown. volume of a building as a whole, counteracting a tendancy to fragmentation,
a trait integral to his poetic feeling.’99

96 Ibid. pg 368
97 Zevi in Zambonini, Giuseppe “Process and Theme in the Work of Carlo
Scarpa,” Perspecta 1983, no.20, pg 26
98 Frampton, Kenneth, “Notes on the Fragmentary Architecture of Carlo Scarpa”
Bergdoll, Barry & Oechslin, Werner, Fragments: architecture and the unfinished : essays
presented to Robin Middleton, London: Thames and Hudson, 2006 pg 383
99 Crippa, M.A. Carlo Scarpa- Theory, Design, Projects, MIT Press, Cambridge,
Mass. 1986 pg 32

73
This thesis will look at using a process similar to the one which Scarpa set
out, in order to allow the underlying principles of Cubism to permeate the
project. The qualities identified in the last chapter as being integral to both
Cubist images and architecture are planarity, phenomenal transparency
and simultaneity. Like Scarpa’s vesica picis they will be integrated into the
architecture as both phenomenal and physical conditions.

As a project moves through an architectural process it gains complexity. The

‘architectural fragment’ proposed here is a conceptual driver which will help
negotiate the design process. This idea needs to be defined from the ‘bodily
fragments’ which will be generated through the fragmentation of dynamic
bodily representation.
Like a Cubist artwork the resulting architecture will require a tension which
is generated from the dialogue between the parts and the whole. If this is
achieved it is hoped that the buildings language will reflect that feeling of
flux, or movement, from which it has been created.

74
75
Negotiating the Architecture
This thesis was conceived of as a series of stages, a method for the conversion
of the dynamic body into architecture. It was imperative that the process
moved through the realms of representation, and a procedure of abstraction
occur, this was recognised as necessary in avoiding an anthropomorphic
result. However this was a loose criteria, which needed further honing to
create a coherent result. The outcome needed to be contemporary and
relevant, and the study of the positive fragment and the dynamic body came
as a reaction to this desire.

As established in Chapter One the human body has been used as an early
part of architectural processes before, and successfully translated into
architecture. Usually the conversion from the drawing of the body to
architectural drawings is done through logical means, by applying the forms
of the body, or proportions of our stature to the makeup of a building. The
focus of this method is to attempt to translate the body in a more “illogical”
manner, where the invisible or unquantifiable aspects of the body in motion
are released. Although these immaterial attributes are not typically

76
Fig. 27 Process Diagram; Method followed by
Thesis, Created by Author.

77
 recognised as being as influential within the drawing process100 their
importance cannot be understated here.

MOVEMENT
The preliminary subject of this study was the gymnast. This subject was
chosen as it is an example of the human body in performance. The gymnast
searches for aesthetic perfection as they move through a series of motions
which are designed to test the capabilities of our bodies in terms of flexibility,
strength and grace.
Following on from the methods devised by Etienne-Jules Marey, the
motion of these athletes was recorded digitally, and stills were taken from
the recording. The bodily motion captured in these stills was overlaid, so
it occupied the single space in which it was first recorded. These images
were created so they resembled a simplistic counterpart of Marey’s ghostly
depictions. The images were stripped of their surrounds so the space
became neutral, the body and its interaction was now the only relationship
of importance.

100 Hill, Jonathon, ‘Building the Drawing’ In Design through Making, Vol. 75, No. 4
Chichester : Wiley (2005) pg 14

78
Fig. 28 (Above) Photographic Series of
Gymnast on Balance Beam, June 2010,
Photos by Author
Fig. 29 (Left) Backwards Walkover Overlaid,
June 2010, Created by Author

79
 DRAWING
‘Drawings are among the ephemeral products of the visual arts... their reduced materiality possesses a force which drives the
imagination’101

The design process undertaken lingered within this drawing stage. This
phase was critical -and the approach to it was rigorous- as the results from
these drawings passed on through the rest of the process. As earlier suggested
by Massey’s reading of Deleuze and Guatarri, representation became
experimentation. The movement images were converted, via acetone rub
onto heavy boards, and here the distilling of the ‘motion essence’ began. Pencil
drawings were built up, overlaying the translucent base of the transferred
image. Each of the bodily interpretations was recorded as an experiment and
‘I want to see, therefore I draw. I can
only see an image if I draw it.’ – Scarpa
judged on its success. (refer Appendix 1) The images created throughout this
study are lively expressions, frolicking across the boards which they occupy,
carving out space which was then captured and translated.

The earliest images created show Marey’s continued influence over the
method. Marey’s goal was to observe the human body as an ‘animate
machine’, and therefore he had to remove the presence of flesh and volume,
leaving behind the impression of a moving skeleton. To achieve this he
‘clothed his subjects in black, marked their joints with shiny buttons, and
connected the buttons with metal bands’.102
The initial drawing technique was appropriated from these photographs.

101 Bredekamp, Horst, ‘Frank Gehry and the Art of Drawing’ In Gehry Draws,
edited by Mark Rappolt and Robert Violette, Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press in association
with Violette Editions, 2004 pg 24
Fig. 30 Detail of Experimental Image 3,
102 Braun, Marta, Picturing Time: the work of Etienne-Jules Marey (1840-1904),
Created by Author. Pencil and Acetone Rub
Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 1992, pg 81

80
 The procedure is to map the positions of joints upon the body, and then
trace lines from point to point creating a web of movement reminiscent of
Marey’s. These depictions were beautiful studies, but needed the next layer
of information; fragmentation, to contemporize, and truly imbue a sense of
movement not only across the page but into the page.

‘We have seen that the portrayal of an object in its totality requires the destruction of its pictures unity; conversely, the
destruction of a picture’s unity may, by inference, magic, or shared intuition, create the sense of a probable totality beyond the
picture, and this is what the cubists believed they could achieve with their kaleidoscopic compositions.’103

In order to truly represent the movement of the body in its entirety the
photographic stills of the motion had to be broken down. Cubism was, of
course, chosen as the vehicle of translation. The expressions which were
‘Architectural drawing is... wholly based created in this next phase responded to critiques of Duchamp’s Nude
on an awareness of givenness and Descending a Staircase. Cubist commentators believed that in this image the
on a materialisation of fluid invisible
thoughts... Drawing is thus a ‘shower movement stopped at the canvas edge, and therefore it did not invite the
of gifts’ and this complex showering is viewer to participate. To counteract this occurring in these attempts the
the reality of architecture, understood ‘fourth dimension’ or simultaneity was engaged. Espirit Jouffret’s physical
graphically. expression of the concept, the perspective cavalière was used as a framework.
-Frascari As the drawing process was being explored attention was given not only
to the form of the compositions, but also to the rendering techniques
which constructed the images. The use of the pencil and the tonal qualities
achieved through this medium slowly evolved during this phase. The
catalyst for the changes made here was the statement of Linda Henderson’s,
where she describes one of Picasso’s paintings as possessing an ‘iridescent’
quality. Although the term iridescent technically refers to a colour changing
phenomenon the spirit of the expression was sought, and blocks of tone

103 Evans Robin, The Projective Cast: Architecture and its Three Geometries,
Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, pg 63

81
SPACE MAKING
built up to resemble the shimmering quality of the phenomena.
The space making stage was one of the most complex portions of the method.
This was the transition zone which needed to ‘pass the movement on’104
into a form which could develop into architecture. This obviously involved
the transferral of two dimensional information into the three dimensional
reality of architectural expression. In order to convert the flat planes of the
drawings created into space I first began to explore model making as a device,
however, although these attempts created interesting results the models did
not readily lend themselves for further transition. (refer to Appendix 2)

104 Spuybroek, Lars, The Architecture of Continuity, Rotterdam: V2_Publishing,

2008, pg 57

82
 The most successful results were achieved when the depth within the
drawings were engaged. This time the modelling was done digitally, and
the results were far easily applied. The spaces were born from the process
of extruding the movement drawings. The constituents of each drawing
were pulled from its setting; the distance pulled was calculated according
to its depth of tone. This meant that the final extrusion truly mimicked the
qualities of the drawing, including the intensity built up within moments of
the image.
The extruded fragments were the framework over which structure and
material properties were applied until these arbitrary pieces became an
expression of built reality.

Fig. 31 (Opposite) Space Making Exploration

1, Staircase, Created by Author

Fig. 32 (Top) Detail of Space Making

Exploration 2, Seat, Created by Author

Fig. 33 (Bottom) Detail of Space Making

Exploration 3, Platform, Created by Author

83
 PLATFORM NINE AND THREE QUARTERS-AVA STATION

In order to engage with the architectural fragment and architecture stages,

and then move towards an architectural application, a programme was
needed to test the process which had developed. This test had to again start
at the beginning of the process and move through each of the phases. As
a test of the process a small programme was desired in order to be able to
interact with it at a detailed stage.

The site needed to accommodate flux and flow of movement, it was crucial
that many different people moved through the space, and it was of public
use. Also interesting movement patterns were desired, particularly ones
which displaced a user diagonally, as these would generate more interesting
results. Ava train station, in Petone, fulfilled these criteria, as it is part of the
public transport thoroughfare into the city of Wellington.

Pertinent motions of the site were chosen and recorded as the data to
analyse for the test of the process. The three major gestures within the
location were identified as a person moving through the staircase which
formed the main access way to the platform, a person sitting on a seat to
wait, and a person climbing on to a passing train. These motions were
recorded as the most successful gymnast studies were, and then their
depictions moved through the representational abstraction which had
been set through the method.
Fig. 34 Ava Train Station, Photgraph by
Author

84
Fig. 35 Final Motion Drawings, from left to
right, Platform Study, Seat Study, Stair Study.
Drawn by Author

85
 ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENTS
This stage was about mediation, mediation between theory and actuality,
and mediation between part and whole. Characteristics were chosen to
invigorate and channel the architecture, these qualities derived from the
readings about the transition between Cubist art and architecture. Sigfried
Giedion had identified the major similarities between the two modes in
1941 as planarity, simultaneity and transparency. Transparency became
phenomenal transparency as this was determined by Rowe and Slutzky as
a more appropriate definition. Rowe and Slutzky’s text became exceedingly
important as it described these characteristics in detail, and refined their
meaning through the application of them in Corbusier’s villa.
The material qualities of the conditions identified were very similar, with
just subtle differences to differentiate them. It was decided that each of the
attributes would be applied to just one of the three interventions at the train
station. Although they would be divided they would exist in such close
proximity that they would create a dialogue of totality.

The resulting architecture expression is a direct result of adding extrusion

(from the spacemaking stage) and architectural fragment. The extrusion was
scaled and extrapolated according to the function it had to accommodate
and the qualities of the architectural fragment it was mimicking. Because
of this, the movement essence manifested itself differently in every
architectural portion. The movement drawings each correspond to an
To further articulate the physical architectural intervention, which were established according to the location
virtues this image was created of each motion. The three interventions work on a variety of scales, the first
describing each characteristic in being a seat, the second a staircase and the last the entire platform.
physical terms.

86
Fig. 36 (Opposite Page) Architectural Fragments, Drawn by
Author, Pen on Paper

Fig. 37 (Above) Architectural Fragment Model, Detail of

Planarity Model, Created and Photographed by Author,
MDF and Acrylic
Fig. 38 (Right) Architectural Fragment Model, Simultaneity
Model, Created and Photographed by Author. Acrylic and
Plaster.

87
 ARCHITECTURE
The process that I underwent to convert the extrusion to architecture
distantly resembles Scarpa’s, but the information was instead scattered
between the drawing board and the computer screen. First a process of
quick sketching was undertaken, working between a micro and macro scale
for each intervention. Snippets of architecture were constantly produced
and critiqued in correlation with the architectural fragment attribute, and
the function of the intervention. The grainy quality within the multitude of
drawings was built up from the techniques used to create them. The exchange
between drawing board, scanner and computer left a hazy film of tiny marks
Fig. 39 Carlo Scarpa, Detail of design for
the Brion Family Tomb. 1968. which was, ironically, reminiscent of Marey’s century-year-old photographic
studies. The blue filter upon the images was also a consequence of their
modes of creation. The cold ethereality of the images is amusingly disparate
from the warm tones in Scarpa’s process images, which were also a reflection
of their mediums of creation.

The architecture created through the use of this process straddles the
disciplines of art, sculpture and architecture. Perhaps this is unsurprising
considering the heavy influence which modern art had on the method.
Movement is distilled within the forms resulting in an emotive architecture,
seemingly poised on the edge of motion.
Fig. 40 Detail of design for the platform
intervention, Created by Author

88
 The seat design is probably the most subtle of the three
interventions. The fragment quality which this matches
to is phenomenal transparency; this involves a shallow
understanding of space which hints at a greater depth.
To generate this experience an almost opaque plastic is
used, with the movement extrusion embedded within the
many planes that make up the seat. The placement of the
extrusion fragments distort the planes which they inhabit,
implying rather than revealing their existence. These
plastic pieces have been placed upon a wire frame so they
hang above the ground plane, emphasising the irregular
patterning within the planes.

Fig. 41 Seat Design Intervention. Created

by Author. Drawn and Digitally Enhanced.

89
Fig. 42 Staircase Intervention, Created by
Author. Drawn and Digitally Enhanced

90
 Fig. 43 Existing Site Stairs, Ava Train Station,
Photograph by Author
Fig. 44 Detail of Stairs, Ava Train Station,
Photograph by Author

The staircase is a crucial element within the existing site, and its form is
already provocative although the quality of the built structure is low. The
solution which was devised for this space encompasses the existing position
of the stairs, and the pylons which hold up the existing staircase are reused in
the architectural intervention. This layering of new and old recalls Scarpa’s
treatment of restoration in Castelvecchio.

Scale was a crucial element here. The initial attempts to redesign were
centred around the extrusion being proportionate to the size of the body it
was taken from. However the results from this trial were not lively enough,
the extrapolation not surrounding the user. Therefore the user would not
feel as though they were inhabiting the movement. Consequently the scheme
was scaled up so the planes surround the thoroughfare within.
The extruded plastic fragments which make up this intervention were hung
in planes, reflective of the planarity characteristic that inspired the form, and
representative of the tension required of this characteristic.

91
 The most obscure architectural translation is the largest of the three
interventions; the platform. The movement pieces which play across the
platform space are seemingly without function, although they could provide
shelter to its inhabitants. This time the pieces were extruded from the drawing
perpendicular to the direction that the other fragments occur. This way the
fragments hover above the existing platform, creating a dialogue between
the old and the new. The concurrent existence of both makes the user aware
of their simultaneity, which was, of course, the desired quality.
Fig. 45 Platform Intervention from West.
Created by Author. Drawn and Digitally
Enhanced
Fig. 46 Platform Intervention from East.
Created by Author. Drawn and Digitally
Enhanced

92
93
Fig. 47 Perspective Section of Interventions
Combined. Created by Author. Drawn and
Digitally Enhanced The architectural interventions are very successful individually, if a little
overwhelming together. The architecture engages the user so anyone
experiencing the space will be able to project the movement back onto
their bodies. The architecture does not deny its fragmentation, and yet the
configuration of the fragments is constantly referring to its context and
totality, if viewed from certain vantages glimpses of the original composition
will be revealed.

The final architectural expression is a test or a possibility for the application

of this process. In the larger scale example of the platform the result can be
overwhelming in its presence. The busy expression which was the outcome
of the method sits comfortably in its setting but does not lend itself to easily
interact with other objects of intensity, such as the stairs. A truly successful,

94
but comprehensive application of this method may have to treat this
intervention in a more subtle way. Another solution could be to apply the
method to the entire train line, creating architectural interventions along it
that’s totality can only be conceived by experiencing the journey past them.

Although multiple applications of this scheme could be explored this
solution is successful in its simplicity. The interventions are statements
which call attention to themselves, and lead the viewer to question their
genesis. The material palette confines itself to metals and plastics, further
establishing these architectural entities as a contemporary continuation of
historical trends and enquiries. This application of bodily imagery creates a
lively scheme to be enjoyed by its occupants.

95
96
Conclusion This thesis revitalises the use of body imagery in architecture through a
positive application of bodily perception. The aim of this was to better the
well-being of the occupants within spaces designed. Current architectural
entities created often deny humanistic qualities, and are left devoid of feeling,
like lifeless corpses. The process within this thesis undertaken awakens
architecture, breathing new life through the use of relevant bodily imagery.

The design stages which were used in this architectural process act as
filters, sifting information into a form which was carried through to the
architecture. The series of phases created were broken down into clearly
delineated portions, enabling a smooth transition from part to part. This
method of abstraction allowed a hierarchy to be established, where only the
most pertinent information from the initial data was passed through.
The design benefited from the exchange between theory and practice.
Exploration of written text and historic imagery was carried out as
experimentation began, these studies were used to define the method for the
early processes. Important supporting characteristics, such as iridescence
and the fourth dimension, were able to be explored through the investigation
of both written text and physical construction of images. Ideas were clarified
by the consideration of both these mediums.

97
When embarking on a contemporary evaluation of the use of the body,
fragmentation cannot be ignored. Hence this study utilized a new use
of fragmentation; positive fragmentation. This was an interesting re-
invigoration of the time-tested theme. Once the spatial oddities of Analytical
Cubism were employed, the reinterpretation of this artistic endeavour
proved successful in drawing out the qualities of the positive fragment, and
applying them to bodily depictions.

The second line of enquiry central to this thesis, the representation of

the dynamic body, was next explored. Traditionally Cubist artists did not
depict many scenes of motion, so the techniques of the movement were
developed for tangential purposes. However, by re-examining and applying
the processes of these artists in a new way it was shown that the Cubist art
could be used for this purpose. The understanding of representation as
an experimental process, and the rigorous application of this concept was
imperative to the success of the project.

The resulting analysis of these two factors was a continuation of the

explorations commenced by early 20th century artists and photographers.
The fragmentation and temporisation of space which was engaged by artists
and filmmakers of that time had not been considered by architects. This
thesis responded as it was established that contemporary applications of the
body were lacking, therefore it was a case of looking back to go forward, and
their techniques were harnessed by accepting the part but also re-embracing
the whole.

98
Looking at historical interpretations of body images led the thesis to
explore imagery through manual techniques. The use of a manual form
of experimentation is a deliberate choice, the computer is not, however,
viewed as redundant in this thesis. The move from hand drawn architectural
practices to computer aided creations is inevitable. In fact the later stages of
the design method utilised digital means as a part of the architectural design
process.
The mode of enquiry used was similar to Carlo Scarpa’s process but
moved on from his methods. The combination of techniques offered a
fresh exploration of the topic and grounded the architectural response as a
contemporary interpretation.

The drawings created through the analysis of the positive fragment and
body in motion were found to be successful. However, the transition to
architecture from here was experienced as more strenuous. It was important
that the configuration of the parts within the architecture revealed their
context, and from there entered into a dialogue with the whole. All three
architectural interventions all do this, some more explicitly than others. The
resulting architecture is unashamedly fragmented but also ‘confident about
the whole’ and successful in its effortlessness.
Most importantly the architecture forces its users to consider the genesis
of its form. Once the user inhabits the space they will project their own
physicality and locomotion onto the architecture and, through these
reflected qualities, bring it alive.

99
The aim of this thesis was to explore the position of the human body in
motion, and investigate its use as a driving force behind the design process.
The process designed has provided a tool to ‘pass on’ the movement of
today’s fragmented body. The stages described allow the negotiation to a
final product which embodies the desired immaterial attributes. The design
solution depicted has an unfinished atmosphere which was deliberately
embedded within the representations. This illustrates the sense of the further
application and possibilities for this design process.

Similar to a figure poised at the top of a staircase, the architectural expressions

hold kinetic potential. There is a holistic persona carried within the
collections of fragments which feel as though they may at any moment burst
into motion. The success of the project remains in the fact that we can be
assured that in this instance the fragments would not move independently,
but together as one architectural body.

100
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105
106
Appendix One

This appendix documents the second stage of the design process;

drawing.
Throughout this exploration the depictions created were assessed
against criteria set from the desired characteristics, positive
fragmentation, spirit of motion and Cubist techniques.The resulting
images are a reconfigured version of the Cubist language.
These experiments determined the manner in which the movements
within the site would be recorded, this meant that this stage
was crucial in determining the success of the project. The most
successful drawing techniques, as discovered through this process,
were applied to the selected movements within the site. These
drawings were then passed through to the Architecture stage.

107
108
Experiment One
BOARD # ONE

Description: buttons with metal bands’.1 The test also begins to recall the theme
of fragmentation. The body’s movement
The image created was an acetoned The drawing exhibits an appropriation has been sliced into moments but
depiction of a gymnast executing a of Marey’s technique, the points mapped presented simultaneously, creating
backwards walkover on a beam. The two start with the head and then move down the possibility that the viewers gaze
dimensional movement which is shown to the shoulder, hip, knee followed by will start to focus in and out, between
occurs virtually all on one plane. the ankle. This technique helps to show the parts and the whole. However this
clearly the direction of motion and also image is reading at a very holistic level
Movement lines have been traced in the space which is occupied while the at the moment which suggests further
pencil over the image following the movement occurs. emphasis on the fragmentation of the
movements of the body.
form is needed.
Relative Success:
Techniques/Influences:
This image was an interesting starting
A technique which has been developed point as the acetoned figure has a certain
from the influence of Etienne Jules amount of transparency and ambiguity
Marey, the nineteenth century photo- while retaining its general form. Also
grapher is used here. The procedure the technique shows density where a
is to map the positions of points upon flurry of movement occurs, but remains
the body and then draw lines joining light enough to draw over.
each of these points. Marey’s goal
was to observe the human body as an The experiment however does not
‘animate machine’, and therefore he had really interact with the space around
to remove the presence of flesh, leaving the figure and therefore the intention of
behind the impression of a moving referencing the context of the figure has
skeleton. To achieve this he ‘clothed his not really been reached. This aspect has
subjects in black, marked their joints still got to be further explored.
with shiny buttons, and connected the
1 Braun, Marta, Picturing Time: the
work of Etienne-Jules Marey (1840-1904), Chi-
cago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992, pg
81

109
110
Experiment Two
BOARD # ONE

Description: cavalière) was used. This was deemed that these characteristics were ‘planarity,
appropriate as this model was used as transparency and simultaneity.’2 The
This experiment shows a black and a source of inspiration to the Cubists as planarity is clear in the image as the
white image of a gymnast performing a they developed their faceted forms.1 milky quality of the paper expresses the
flic-flac, printed onto translucent detail surface and allows them to be built up
paper. Jouffrets model has been distorted in and overlaid. However the medium
this experiment as the fluidity of the used, the printing, lacks some of the
Techniques/Influences: movement is maintained. The points subtlety of the earlier attempt. This
of Joufretts model have been extruded experiment has an opaque quality to
Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase across the page so they now represent
was heavily criticised when it was first the human forms, which denies the
a reference plane upon which many characteristic of transparency, therefore
shown because it did not exhibit many points may sit. These reference planes
qualities which artists considered the next experiment will not be created
support the corners of each of the in using this mode.
quintessential to the Cubism Style. distorted rectangles which have been
One of the aspects of Cubism was the pulled from Jouffret’s diagram. The
implication of the creator’s movement in points were extruded 30mm across so
space. The single plane that Duchamp’s the planes occur regularly.
Nude worked upon and the simplicity
of the reading denied the viewer the Relative Success:
challenge to decipher and, therefore,
engage with the motion. In 1941 Sigfried Giedion articulated
what he believed to be the three key
This experiment was therefore created components of Cubist art. He stated
as a reaction to this criticism, in order
to address some of the aspects which
1 Henderson, Linda, The Fourth Di-
were identified as missing in Duchamp’s mension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern
painting. The first step was to provide Art, Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press,
multiple planes on which the frames 1983 pg 58 It is believed that Maurice Princet
of the movement would sit. To supply introduced Picasso to Jouffret’s Perspective
these planes Esprit Jouffret’s Four Cavalière and the shapes within this image 2 Evans, Robin, The Projective Cast:
Dimensional model (the perspective Picasso directly appropriated into his Portrait of architecture and its three geometries, Cambridge,
Ambroise Vollard. Mass.: MIT Press, 1995 pg 57

111
112
Experiment Three
BOARD # ONE

Description: that the figure occupies. This means

that the direction of motion has been
The image created here is a slightly larger emphasised and prioritised and they
version of the previous experiment. starts to interact with, and include, the
The depiction was enlarged in order to space around the figure.
more accurately experiment on, and the
figures within the image were acetoned Relative Success:
onto the board. The acetoned bodies
have once again been drawn over, so the The technique of placing the movement
thin tracking lines form a fine web which on different planes is pushing the
is draped upon the figure’s motion. notion of traditional two dimensional
representation of motion, and testing
Techniques/Influences: forms in a similar way to Cubism’s
explorations. However the procedure
Jouffret’s model was again used to of extruding the points 60mm from
establish the planes on which the frames one another has accentuated the
of motion would occur. This time inaccuracies in this technique, as the
-because the planes have been scaled movement has been stretched, and is
up- the points from which the plane’s now no longer precise. To counter this
position are derived are pushed twice as the next exploration will reassess the
far (60mm) from one another. distribution of the planes.
Now that the figure has been acetoned, The technique of extending the
and a certain amount of transparency is movement lines to the edge of the
still evident, the bodies can be drawn planes has yielded interesting results.
upon. Etienne’s technique of mapping The direction of movement is much
joints is also employed, but instead clearer, and the space around the figure
of simply linking from joint to joint is now also becoming fragmented so the
across planes, these lines are extended boundaries between object and ground
until they hit the edge of each plane are more blurred.

113
114
Experiment Four
BOARD # ONE

Description: overlaid images meant the movement

lines overtop were not as evident. This
This image was generated from the loss of movement lines has taken some
depiction of a gymnast performing a of the complexity and fragmentation in
front somersault off a beam. This picture the previous images and renders this
was chosen to retest the techniques as it expression as too simplistic.
involves the displacement of the figure
from a high plane to a low plane. The new technique of mapping the
planes according to the original centre
Techniques/Influences: of mass is successful. It retains the idea
of simultaneity while presenting the
The same drivers created this image, true movement. The further overlapping
Jouffret’s four dimensional image and of the body conjures the sense of flux
Cubist principals. However to counter between the frames of motion and the
some of the problems from the previous whole, therefore this technique will be
experiment the arbitrary distance that used again.
the planes were extruded on has been
removed, and instead the planes are
placed according to the subjects centre
of masses. The positions of their centre
of masses are earlier mapped from the
original image of the movement and
then the planes are overlaid to intersect
these positions.

Relative Success:

This experiment has significant depth

within it which has been created
through the overlapping of the motion.
Unfortunately the deep colouring of the

115
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Experiment Five
BOARD # ONE

Description: Relative Success:

The image depicted is of a gymnast This image was created to explore ways
performing a flic flac. It has been acetone which the figure and the space around
transferred onto the board, and has a it could be blurred in a manner which
slight blue tinge to the ink. recalled the Cubists and the context of
the image. However the context which
Techniques/Influences: has been taken, the hatching from the
Jouffret image is arbitrary to the figure
The gymnast has again been placed and therefore the result is incoherent.
upon planes derived from Jouffret’s four Although the end result is more faceted
dimensional model. This time the planes then previous attempts and therefore
have remnants of the Jouffret perspective more closely resembles the visual
cavaliere image upon them, therefore language of the cubists the image does
referring to the context which they have not exhibit positive fragmentation as
been taken from. The ability to refer to was hoped.
the individual part, but also the whole
form which it is derived,is a primary
characteristic of the positive fragment.1

The figure is enveloped within hatching

and lines from this image, and the focus
of the experiment has become blurred
as the outline of the person is no longer
so distinct.

1 Veseley, Daibor, Architecture in the

Age of Divided Representation, : the question
of creativity in the shadow of production, Cam-
bridge, Mass.:MIT Press, 2004 pg 335

117
118
Experiment Six
BOARD # ONE

Description: where many sections of the bodily with it positive fragmentation.

movement overlapped the light was
The image was again generated from the treated as obstructed. The major achivement of this image is
image of a gymnast somersaulting off a that it is still showing the essence of the
high plane to a lower plane. Relative Success: movement which was first recorded.
The spidery lines which track the
Movement lines were mapped across This interplay of light and dark shading bodies movement are still apparent and
the depiction and then it was rendered compounded into an image which has the semi circular tracks which they cut
according to the position of two shafts thoroughly taken on the language of through the space helps our eye move
of light which cut through the image. the Cubists. The image is reminiscent through the image.
of many of Braque and Picasso’s still
Techniques/Influences: life’s and holds similar traits. One of the
characteristics of Analytical Cubism-
This image has been created using
the style that this image so closely
the same method as the previous
resembles- is the suppression of depth,2
experiment; however the lines which
therefore the idea of creating space was
have been projected between points have
limited by the shallow distance that
again been extended (as in experiment
seems to be portrayed. This limitation
three) to meet the edges of the planes.
could be overcome in the next stage of
To start creating spaces with depth and the process.
weight from the wire form outlines the
The other attributes that characterise
Cubist ideal of adding multiple light
cubist and four dimensional, portrayals
focus points was used.1 Shafts of light
as listed before are simultaneity,
were driven through the images, and
transparency and planarity. Each of
the sketches were rendered accordingly.
these qualities can be detected within
The manner in which the light hits the
this image and therefore it is carrying
bodies was of particular interest, and
through the qualities of Cubism, and
1 Rowe, Colin, The Mathematics of the 2 Rowe, Colin, The Mathematics of the
Ideal Villa and other essays, Cambridge, Mass.: Ideal Villa and other essays, Cambridge, Mass.:
MIT Press, 1976, pg 172 MIT Press, 1976, pg 172

119
120
Experiment Seven
BOARD # ONE

Description: Relative Success:

This experiment has gone back to using This image is a culmination point for
the gymnast moving across one plane, board one as it- and the last experiment-
where she is performing a flic flac. have successfully captured the essence
of the movement while exploring Cubist
As in the last experiment movement techniques. The method employed
lines were mapped across the depiction, has created an experiment which is
then it was rendered according to light representative of the movement it
shafts piercing the space. This time depicts, but also carries its own tension
three light shafts are driven through the which engages the viewer.
image.

Techniques/Influences:

The same technique was used as the last

experiment in order to render the image.
However, this time more emphasis
was given to the body of the figure in
movement. Depth was built up over top
of the bodies using a soft pencil before
shading with the harder leads. The
tonal differences were also emphasised
further so there was more contrast
within the artwork, and the light shafts
can be more easily differentiated from
the rest of the space around the viewer.
The overall effect is a more coherent
image but one that has lost some of the
allure of the previous experiment.

121
122
Experiment Eight
BOARD # TWO

Description: as well as in the Picasso painting.’1 This Relative Success:

statement was immediately of interest
This experiment depicts a gymnast as it seems to reference the tension This image is a departure from the
jumping from a beam to the ground which can be found in a successful explorations on the previous board.
while performing a front somersault. A Cubist image. The experiments on this These experiments upon Board 2 will be
distortion of Jouffret’s fourth dimension board will seek to capture this tension, focused upon representing the invisible
diagram has been patch-worked over as it will therefore give substance to the qualities which the early Cubist images
top of the image. movement which is being depicted. evoke, but not so much using the
language of their images. More emphasis
Techniques/Influences: The forms which track overtop of the is also to be placed on the movement
figures have been appropriated directly captured within the representation,
This image was created as a further from the Jouffret’s diagram, but are not just the figures movement, but the
exploration of Jouffret’s perspective pushed and pulled according to the implied movement that results from the
cavaliere diagram and its influence over movements of the figure. In this way a ‘shifting relationships’ between planes.
the Cubist style. sense of proprioception is achieved,
the shards of the diagram have become The image depicted has some success in
Within art historian Linda Henderson’s achieving these aims but is relying too
text The Fourth Dimension and Non- external limbs moving and responding
to the centring of the figures fragmented heavily on the forms within Jouffrets
Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art she diagram. The next image will attempt to
writes about the similarities between movement.
develop this and give more emphasis to
Jouffret’s diagram and Picasso’s Portrait the bodily movement within the work.
of Ambroise Vollard. She culminates
the comparison by commenting on
‘the shading of certain of these facets
[which] creates shifting relationships
1 Henderson, Linda, The Fourth
that contribute to a general shimmering Dimension and non-Euclidean Geometry in
quality of “iridescence” in the diagram Modern Art, Princeton, N.J: Princeton Univer-
sity Press, 1983 pg 58. Many other art historians,
such as Christopher Gray and Winthrop O. Jud-
kins have used the term ‘iridescence’ to describe
the ‘ambiguity of form both two-dimensional
and spatial.’

123
124
Experiment Nine
BOARD # TWO

Description: Gyorgy Kepes investigated this sense significant depth or space. The planes
of overlapping and the spatial effect of colour seem to recede into the board
This image depicts the same movement that it creates. He believed that with here. It is an interesting effect as it has
as the last image, where the gymnast overlapping forms the figures are been created with flat planes rather than
is somersaulting from one height to ‘endowed with transparency; that is, shaded forms which a trompe l’oeil
another. Again forms from Jouffret’s they are able to interpenetrate without effect usually relies upon.
diagram have been appropriated but an optical destruction of one another.’1
they have been filled with block shades The perceptual psychologist Rudolf The major problem with this experiment
of grey. The different shapes overlap and Arnheim furthered this exploration is it is still relying too heavily on
create a sense of depth. with his own observations and says the Jouffret diagram to supply the
that he believes an overlap ‘intensifies composition for the image, rather than
Techniques/Influences: the relationships between forms, deriving it from the gymnasts movement.
simultaneously comprising the complete Again the planes have become arbitrary,
Different qualities of the term the areas of these triangular forms are
iridescence were explored in order to form and the fusion.’2
Therefore by enagaging with the overlap still quite large and therefore not able to
create this latest image. Iridescence is reflect the subtleties of the motion.
an optical phenomenon in which the of the fragmented forms the tension
hue of a surface varies according to between the planes is heightened and
the changing angles which a viewer the relationship between part and whole
perceives the surface from. strengthened.

For this exploration colour hues are not Relative Success:

experimented with but rather the shifting
grey tones of lead are investigated. The There is one moment in the image
medium of the pencil was pushed, and which is interesting because it implies
block forms of overlapping shades were
1 Kepes, Gyorgy in Carlo Scarpa
used in order to try and create the sense
Layers, China: Everbest Printing Company Ltd.
of iridescence. 2007, pg 13

This sense of overlapping is important 2 Schultz, A-C, Carlo Scarpa Layers,

to the Cubist ideal of simultainety. China: Everbest Printing Company Ltd. 2007,
pg 13

125
126
Experiment Ten
BOARD # TWO

Description: Relative Success:

For this experiment the image of the The figures movement is certainly clearer
gymnast doing the flic flac was used. than the previous responses. However
the technique of shading from light in
Techniques/Influences: the centre to dark surrounds is limiting.
The image is now very contained within
One of the problems from the last the space and therefore it cannot interact
experiment was that the movement with the area around it.
of the figure was being lost within the
image. To try and counter this the Also the influence of the diagram and
movement lines derived from Etienne its shifting planes have become lost in
Jules Marey’s technique has again been this image as it reverts back to many of
overlaid on top of the image. Using this the simplistic techniques used in the last
technique means that smaller sections board.
of the image have been broken down
into shards of colour tone.

The image has then been rendered with

a strong influence from Picasso’s Portrait
of Ambroise Vollard. Light tones have
been used across the figures body where
more overlap of movement occur the
lightest shade is used. The tones then
gradually fade to dark where there is less
movement. This not only describes the
movement but also gives the image a
shimmering appeal.

127
128
Experiment Eleven
BOARD # TWO

Description: were this time better integrated they still

appear as a somewhat arbitrary response
Again the gymnast executing the flic flac to the condition.
has been used to try and create a more
straight forward comparison between
images.
Relative Success:

The movement of the figure is once

Techniques/Influences: again beginning to be privileged in this
experiment. The rendering technique
This image was created to explore used is highlighting the tension within
the middle-ground between the two the image, reflecting Cubist values.
previous depictions. The rendering
technique used in the last experiment has The triangular forms within the image
been reversed so where the movement is are confusing as they detract from the
strongest the heaviest tone is used. This movement but it has become apparent
change appears to be the logical choices that these facets are not necessary to
as it allows more spatial interaction with carry through the ideas of tension and
the ground between and around the iridescence captured within Jouffret’s
figure. The lighter shades around the diagram.
movement can be smoothed into the
board surrounding the image.

In the last depiction the sense of the

overlap appeared to have been lost
and the tension of the image faded as
a result. As an attempt to remedy this
the triangular facets, appropriated from
Jouffret’s diagram were once again
engaged. However they although they

129
130
Experiment Twelve
BOARD # TWO

Description: of figures creates moments of intensity.

However the fragmentation could be
The same image was used again but this taken further in order to create the
time applied within the planes derived tension sought.
from Jouffret’s model.

Techniques/Influences:

The planes from the perspective cavaliere

image were once again used after
analysis of the previous experiement.
The last depiction was not challenging
the space, or the movement which
is shown, therefore the planes were
employed to create the more interesting
lines throughout.

The faceted forms within the last image-

although integration was attempted-
were still found to be arbitrary spatial
devices these were therefore removed.
However the sense of the shifting
planes, which these forms imbue, was
still a desired quality and therefore the
image was rendered in order to try and
capture this quality.

Relative Success:

There are some beautiful moments

within this image, where the overlap

131
132
Experiment Thirteen
BOARD # TWO

Description: within the image. The translation of this

drawing into three dimensions would
This last experiment used the same be create an architecture still possessing
subject matter as the previous three the virtues of bodily movement.
images but this was the culmination
point of those explorations.

Techniques/Influences:

The same compositional techniques

were applied to create this image but
the fragmentation was taken further.
The fragments of tone were arranged so
it appeared that the space receded into
the depth of the page.

Again the drawing was rendered using

block of colour but this time the space
around the figure was engaged with.
Dotted lines -taken from Jouffret’s image-
represent the primary movements of
the body and lines which were added in
order to form depth.

Relative Success:

This image has used Cubist techniques

but distorted them until they appear
as a reconfigured interpretation. The
motion of the figure is still visible
but also movement has been evoked

133
134
Appendix Two
This appendix documents the models made while carrying out this
project.
The first two models shown were created in the spacemaking stage,
before the final form of translation was settled upon.
The second set of models were made for the architectural fragment stage.
These models represent the qualities searched for in this later stage of
the project. They were created in a effort to describe and explore the
physical manifestation of these qualities, and the potential that they
hold when they are converted to three dimensions.

135
MODELLING EXPLORATION one

Pablo Picasso, Violin, 1915, Construction of painted

metal and wire, Musee Picasso, Paris.
From Ingo F. Walther, Picasso: Genius of the Century

136
The first modelling trial within A second colour of paper was
this spacemaking stage was to used sparingly to accentuate the
convert the drawings into a model in places and provide more
three dimensional form using depth.
a method which mirrored
Picasso’s development into three This method was not continued as
dimensions. In 1915/16 Picasso it did not offer further possibilities
did a series of sculptural studies for design. The characteristics
based upon musical instruments. that the drawings possessed, in
These were very similar to his particular the tension within
investigations with collage but the depths of the image, was lost
the materials began to fold out through the solid appearance
from the surface. These relief of the materality within this
sculptures were created as logical experiment.
consequence to the explorations
he had been forming in his
drawings.1

The strategy used to create

the sculpture shown here was
to generate the forms as if the
drawing which it is based upon
had simply erupted from the
page. The most dramatic gestures
within the drawing were pulled
to the forefront and layered upon
the more gentle moments.
1 Walther, Ingo F. Picasso, Genius of
the Century, Koln: Taschen, 2000, pg 46
137
MODELLING EXPLORATION one

138
139
This second trial took a different within wire outlines, which
approach. These models were recalled Jouffret’s four dimensional
again created as a bridge between diagram, as it was used to arrange
the drawing and architecture the drawings.
stages. This attempt instead Finally black thread was sewn
looked at Rowe and Slutzky’s text within the forms of the models.
for inspiration in the conversion This added a secondary layer of
to architecture. The prominent information derived from the
characteristics that the authors multitude of lines which make up
described within the Villa at the drawing.
Garches were sought.
Although this modelling
The quality of phenomenal technique began to describe a
transparency was first engaged form which the final architecture
here. The drawing which generated could take, the make up of this
the study was initially dissected model was fairly constricting
and again the most dramatic in terms of translation. The
gestures within it was recorded. physicality of the sculpture would
These moments were selected as have restricted the architectural
they seemed to best describe the response. This form of modelling
movement that they were created was not continued and instead
from. the process turned to the digital
extrusion process.
Depth was engaged when these
different moments were placed
upon different planes and new
relationships appeared within the
superimposition.
The final model was composed
140
MODELLING EXPLORATION two

Colin Rowe, Robert Slutzky,

Transparency Analysis of the Villa
Garches, interior
From Anne-Catrin Schultz, Carlo Scarpa:
Layers

141
142
FINAL MODELS

In these studies the three qualities

recognised in both Cubism
and architecture; Planarity,
Simultaneity, and Phenomenal
Transparency, are explored.
Each of the attributes are very
similar, usually dealing with
the superimposition of entities,
however they take subtly different
forms when converted to three
dimensions.
The image created to the left was
the first attempt to physically
define these elements from one
another. To further clarify these
ideas models were created. The
influence of Le Corbusier’s Villa
is evident in their material palette
and composition. The next pages
will document the results of this
study.

143
This study is based on my
understanding of Phenomenal
Transparency. This model applies
directly to the seat intervention, which
was designed for the train station.
It shows the virtually opaque plastic
planes which have been distorted
according to the forms placed within
them. The metal forms are not easily
viewed within the seat but tension
has been captured through the
implication of these moments.

144
This model shows the material
characteristics of Planarity. The
blue plane which hovers in between
the white ones is reminiscent of Le
Corbusier’s glazing bands within his
Villa. The connection between these
elements is tensile and pulls at the
plane, reinforcing the notion of its
planarity.

145
This model shows the interaction of
many different planes and materials.
It represents Simultaneity and
shows how the overlapping of two
different entities can strengthen
the appearance of the contributing
elements. The 3 embedded within
the plaster plane recalls the concrete
platform with its numbers cast along
one edge.

146
147
148
Appendix Three
This final document simply records some of the overflow of images
created in carrying out this process. Many of them are no more then a
page of sketches drawn while planning the conversion to architecture,
others are design schemes which were not followed to completion.
Many of the images were followed through to a semi complete level, built
up through the various mediums from which they were constructed.
These images describe the many different stages of the design process
and show the parallels between this method and Scarpa’s strategies.

149
STAIRCASE EXPLORATIONS

150
SHELTER

151
152
153
DRAWING PROCESSES
154
155
156
PLATFORM DESIGN

157
EXTRUSION STUDY

158
159