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ANY 23Diagram Work: DataMechanics for a Topological
AgeJune 1998
Contents
Guest Editors:Ben van Berkeland Caroline Bos
Cynthia Davidson, Dear Reader
Christian Hubert, Letter from Athens
Karen Bermann, Letter from Naples
Allen S. Weiss, Book Review, Space Calculated
in Seconds
Paul Henninger, Critic @ Large: The American
Lawn
Wes Jones, The Nelsons
Ben van Berkeland Caroline Bos, DiagramWork
Stan Allen, Diagrams Matter
Ben van Berkeland Caroline Bos, Diagrams:
Interactive Instruments in Operation
R.E. Somol, The Diagrams of Matter
Peter Eisenman, Diagram: An Original Scene of
Writing
Manuel De Landa, Deleuze, Diagrams, and the
Genesis of Form
Christine Buci-Glucksman, Of the Diagram in
Art
Andrew Benjamin, Lines of Work: Notes onDiagrams
Karl Chu, The Cone of Immanenscendence
Brian Massumi, The Diagram as Technique of
Existence
Greg Lynn, Embryological Housing
Mark Rakatansky, Motivations of Animation
Sanford Kwinter, The Geneology of Models:
The Hammer and the Song
SOLD OUT
ANY 23
DIAGRAM WORK: DATA MECHANICS FOR A
TOPOLOGICAL AGE
SOLD OUT
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Etor
Cynthia C. Davdson
Guet Eo
Ben va Berkel
Caone Bos
Assocate ditr Pau Heger
Di/Poucon
Jliete Cezzar itria Q
Bejamin rosky
io BordE
Taao Ao
ennifer Blooer
CBran Bogo I Hery Cob c Cynia C Davso Carles Gwaey
s Re Koohaas Saord Ker uSyvia Lavi Greg yn ] Jo aca
R Somol
c Mark C Taylor
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No. Copgh : yone Corporao < :Rs Reseve. C Q Te oo xressed ere c
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Septembe as everyone imerica but me seemed to pla
the lives ound the teleised
homernreord race between
Mrk MGwire adSamy
Sosa, a sml item appeed
e rV Notes col
about baseb weakig
havoc wh he etworks new
prime me season. AppenyFo had cceed a igy pro
moted"Kng o the l" inorder to a baseb gmetat became uevenf whenMcwe ed to it a home
ru The T quoted Dad
il chirmn of ox
Boadasg, as sayg,
"Network teeion has
become about evet-izngprogrig [acs mne]
n other words the event andthe potentil o the event to
poduce he epeed that
is the everseenefore
atracs iewers to a medium
sig, a way to estabsh
diferene rom other jornals
n lateSeptember, he theo-
rist (nd orm footbll player)
K. Michael ay led a Wed-nesday ght event ced
cece eory o io-
de the book htecre/
Theo/sine 98 at Colbia
Uversit The evenng was a
sprawl o personl res
ceces ptuated h rdom
statemets on teoy, l o
wc sved o hd release
o the 808page ome. Most o
he spekers were represented
he book, hence or the au
ce, the event was a litle ke
seeg history in e mkng.
The evet of the book itse is
s o d o isto one ha
o oy sggess a crical pa
or reag arctece theory
sie 968 bt that also begis
to cve out a story or the
jolaemblage.
Dear Readerthat, with the proleratio o
hoice made possibe y cable
and satellite T is struggling
to keep its tradtonally la rge
audenes
so med tat C"added ho to he [Ey
Awds teleast to mke it
moe of an event his raises
quesos abot js what o-
sttes he idea o event today
ad makes appaen eeision'smipulative aggradizement
o n evt order to attact
ewes th ts seemg
mportne O coseABC
teleson has made a evet
out o"Moday ight
ootbl or yes ih a
berded oy d western
sger bellowing"re you
ready or some footbal!? as i
the battery o games that played
across he set o Sday never
too place. he evet sce
of the Monday ght gme,
whch weeky attas moreteesion ewes th y
oer sports progrmseems o
erase the vue o the ges
that preceded it
Evezing, to be truthfl, is somethig ANY was
prediated o when we began
pubication 1993 athogh
we d't u se that erm AY
was't js ay magazine b a
magazne that podced live
evets in order to be per
ceived as n even itsel, with
snguarly ocused themac
investigations o achitetue
The staged event was a way to
attrac atetion and, i pub
Coiidetly inot iro-y the"ed o aembage the
itil theory jon that Hays
has eited snce its foug in
987, was aso oed
s Not with evt or
y kd of fafare bt
rogh te grapee es
Hays tod me the etors had
ageed o end plicatio th
nber 4 wh occsomeme 200oOckmn ites i Archteture
Cue 19498 he com
paio volme to Aheue/
Teoy, istory is as mh a
matter of arrivals as depar
tures In our ast mong
tre, even a penng depte
wo years hence sigs he
begining o a hsoySce
nearly every aemage editor is
included in the ook, the
ounals vaue as an event is
established eve beore
its demise
s odcton oAtee/TeoyHays asOkm beore is learlyawe o the pae o sh
anthology i histo He wites:hogh I believe that the most
mporn es of ctece
heory are nlded here, havenot ied to reprode he most
used tets, or anologe s
tory as it relly happeed.
Rather I have raonly reon-
scted e istory of itec-
e hey an attempt toprodce he onep of a
storywich is a qte -
ferent mater Regrless of
whether ays produced the
coept or a oncept, wit is
ad Ocs books chitec-
tue theory has its ow history
ow partiua rly i the U.S.
The very at o tis sucess
s causng it to gow increas-
ngy apt om e blg
nAtete tue Oa
nlists Foucaut's hstoril task
of"estiong the doument
o ask, What is a rchitectual
docmet given that the
relationship between written,
grapic ad bl record . . is
partclarly inriate
Ideed, the movemet
of architecture theory
away from the buildig
and toward a practie in
and of itself, for of vae, creasngly over
ooks the buidng tsef;
that is it forgets o see the
obect/ event that is the cl-
mnaon o the wriing, rep-
resentatio ad pratice that
Spio chuhe *Thee, Hays's denon
ory as"n appette or modi-
ing nd expnng reiy a
desire to orge a ew
o resonated i e realve even of what I cod phys-
ically see Breshis tele-
sopig spaes, wich ore
perspecve on the viewig
subject Stdg on the center
ne at he bak of the nave ofS
orenzo I essed mate-maics sod d void pro-
porionl sysems worked out
o achieve perspectival perfec-
io Walking hrough a side
aisle the paired pilasers ad
cols lickering in and outo my periphera sio I
came to the crossng, whereBrunellesc suddely adds a
reangl piee, a kind o
sot o accommodate the
equired ner o chapels
ad support the dome above.
hs seeg anomaly alerted
me to the aut rgor o he
gray stoe o white walls, ad
especially to Brnelleshis
clear desire to orgaize a
new vision
Then weg ogh e
Vespaed seets o orece
d ossng he o oe
omes oSSpito, one o
Breesc's last wor, one
seemgy ot omes
Sll mahemay prese ewite wls re now ed wh
hlround hapels amed y
gay stone pilastes that recede
nto eah space, reatng a per-
speval dep tat fools he
eye s s a rche work
S Lorezo, he eye dncng
ough te eade o ols
ha marhes otinosly
arond he space.As e so
rian Pete Muray wites"The
spleid spal eect ceated
by e great rig o cos
rng
rod e whole chh is per-
haps harly o be appeciated
ecept by atuly wg
tough i, o wich wod
add d by acty seeg it.
Beween 1419 when osu-
tio ofS Lorenzo was egun,
ad 1, when the pls for S.
Spirito were approved,
Brlesi developed s
mathemac proporog
sysem to de a spa com-pexty edent e latr
chch. One eels e ierene
upon eteringSSpirito bt it is
mpot so to ee the dier-
ene.As Mray writes,
Renssne ctecure does
o evoe e awe o e oc
catedrs in Reassce
chhes one has to ow wha
one is looking at Ressce
riectre must be experi
enced as citectre
bload of tots wod
tes hr ewg arci-tee
arcteture is ot
evnt a meia age; it's seeg
a onatello or a Miheango,
ting by theAist o istoricrcitecs d rsts These se
toists e he audce for the
20hcenty stars who
struggle to mnta their
preime rangs agint
eevsions evenzng
uesske Jerry Seeld,
your show eomes a evet
For today, not only arhitectrebut eve media is viewed i a
state of istracto. It reuires
nothig less t evet to
ocs ou aetion, evet o
2
register
the leetig momet between
past ad future. ctecte
has aionly proided a
stage or eve b t media
constly oog to eeze,
rtecure is on he verge o
becoming he event itsl hat
s the spetale
Ts not be what Bernd
Tsch had n nd when he
oe 994, whe
"rciecre s as mch abotte evets hat te plae
spaces as about he spaes them
sves ritetre's espose
to meia evenng has be to
away om heories eTsch's ad towad te spe-
tae s s cect o
t a desre for a new isio
not the tece as htec
tue o he nssnce, but
rctectue made to seize e
momet History jdgee legacy of te bg spectale, b whee or not
rciectue is now pag to
he mediati dn is a pressig
uestio or today
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2.6
As a boy I somemes wondered
whether just loong a n object
coud wear t do Was he
decay of od buings due n part
o he fact hat people ha been
lookng a hem for so ong If
Spermans visio was e exaa -
on of masce olar power
mie was melnchoy.
Before visig e Acropois
for he st ime I wondered:
Has the Acropois ke so manyoter tourst destnaions, been
so utterly tnsformed no a
photo oppotuty tha t can
no possibly ve p to e repro-
dctions of ts image Woud I be
nderwhelmed y the aca
experience of seeing the
Phenon and reue n elabo
rate array of compensations
postcards pictues narrates?
Ding the past year I have
repeaedly stood on the Acropois.
Every me i has seemed enselyre not less ha ea Yet, we-
ever I ren o Athens, seek aresrnce ha he Acropo is
s here What dob do I seek
o cam when I hec o see teParheon is saning unin-
shed since I last saw it, or hehof the Acropois has nalygien way
Ths iey reaon o heAcropols has is on elaborae
lineage In "A isturbance of
Memoy on he Acopolis" writ
te 9 36 Sigmund Freuddescrbed n episoe of "dereal-
iaton" of nmu orestragement hat he experi-enced upon rvng at e h94 at te age of 48 Stndigon ts heghts, Freud felt for a
moment a he had neer y
believed he Acropos rely exist-
ed. e he d ot remember ac-
aly dobng its exsence, so
whe e id is fee g of repua-
tion come from?
Freud's reacton to s expei-
ence ook the form of a spi in
s sense of self beteen one
who elt the esiue of isbeief
a a secon who wondered
where tis feeing came om
Freud's analytic second sefconlded ha hs isbelief was
n expresson of his feegs of
gult ha he the son of a rela
tivey usuccessfu Jewish tader
rrived whee faher couldonly have reamt of eg, a pace
assocated wt te Aya is tori
c memory of Hegeliaism nd
neocassicsm rater han the
more triba forms of his upbring-
ing is way, reud's vsis toe cassica word constted n
oedp agesson both a
repiaon of his origin and anoccasion for seexmnaon
The wo of nquity pro-
vide Fre wih ages of
hought ha he wold synthe
sie o a pilosopcl antro-
poogy ased on a ose idei-
caon beeen the ontogeny of
the indvdual and he phyogeny
of species. e somemes
described cvilaon as "a pecu-
ia process which mknd
ndegoes compable to the
norma matuation of the i
d (Civlizaton d Disconet
9 98. ater yes reud rec-ognized a his dese o st
ome had been sparked by a
ensdescripon of his father as te
but of nSemc bying. he
tip itse was repeatedly post
pone but Rome appeaed
repeaey Freuds reams Ifhe prospect of a trp o Atens
was no e expl cit s bect of
reamske e p to Rome i
si disubed hs psycc equi-
lirium Freud desbed how he
and his brother expereced a
moment of depesson Triestepro to tng he boat toAhens, d res episode o
ereazaion, ke des pra-
prxes, d e experience of e
ucany presene withsmpoms of nconscios pri
mary though processes, hs
providing Fred wih the stu of
s own selanalysis.
rece yes he isse ofmemoryhas become a con-
enous one for psychoalysis
Conoversy over Freus rennci-
aon of te seuctio theory,
wt clams that he sppressed
edence of cien's sexua
epsodes has concided wh bohpubic fascaion wih chid
abuse and ncreased skepismabout the accray of epressed
memores The posodern pre-
occupaon with teg stores
has made it difcut to sepaate
hsoric uth om nraive
u psychoalysis and a
more pragmatic, raher rep-
reseaton, approach o person-
al memory suggess ta whatever
works for yo is yo shouldhope for. The elaborae "work of
myh n ance Greece akes on a
greater fasaon a ea whe
epresentaon nd t have lostsome of heir purchase Whe it is
commonplace o nk of ree
mytoogy a complex pon of the human psyche
Ahens one senses e soc
maginry of myh at w
observes ts hisorical im
sons he Aopols he
at its base, and the kak
conezaons of soci
of e emergece of sto
my hey cuate te
the autochtonous of e
of he eth. B lke he hells a story of te emergehman zation om n
he movement om myh
tory now ooks more lke
way see
If mages of te Parhe
cuate comforably themoden iconograpic eco
epitomed by he New
fee cup, e coectios
he budings and e Aropos resist all derel
of te mage Le he bi
e tsef seems boh bd erodedt resiss faci
ticions ha wold daw
bondaries between nau
and he wor of cule I
relation to the rock of e
Aropolis hat mkes the
Parthenon eec a lk be
earth and sk beween cu
dea ad primordial gen
and wch ks s presen
on o he abyssa me o
Ye even whle eag i
he erh he Acropos g
most power experienc
world of rt Passing tropropyaea, one enters to
of sone, sky stant mo
d waer This is he pow
rctecral experience
merely e eror of a b
or a rban space b a w
andscape monumea
ging coheence to my
memoyEven he posmoment, the Parthenon e
y symboles he ghes
ions o hman cte a
a decsive step s evolThese days he Prthe
a perpeual stae of whItalans cal au a ki
bueaucrac ad tecolobo es scolds
a few yrds of ack attest
gaiose ms of and l
eor at reconsucton,
process whose pace bare
exceeds the entropc eec
me ecay a poltion
whose competion i s n m
a one way tnabl
More han nying e
Aropols expresses e s
to endre me Wha wqicly bi he 5th cehas gloriously endured w
ight ith some ony b
serie of "srong sreadtrogh history Te P
shows he scars of war of
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ment n e name of reigion, of
vndlism n e name of natonal
uure e effets of weath,d, more receny of polution
et someow i sil raates he
boom of pepetul newness
whch lch noed of the
buidings,"mkes em ever to
loo ntouched by me, s
hough he ualtering breath ofa ageless spirt had bee nfused
o hem Ironly he intense
wieness o is mabes oday n effec of agg, ot of neness.
We t s rd o say ta the
Aropos look utouched by
e, t s not reay a un, not a
shadow of a former se he
presene of he Prheon i thepresnt is what is so skng
soa as e Prhenon has
become a ulrl sbo, tispresence may be n idelized one
but its powe today is sngelycaught up n its mantnance of
pesence time
The suggle agist me nd me has lways ben he sub-
ject matte of te site d its
uildigs d in fat es a the
e of ny idea of monment
The eze of e Paeno epre
sets scees of g, or sruggle,
hat even i St cey C were
met to smulate historic mem
oy d to mark e coniy
between m nd he gods asconected by he heroes he at
of uildng its symoied he
ictoy ov he es wile
e coogaphy of he bdg
coected hat srggle to theGreek asertion of hmy e
metopes o e aeno (cs-
eled o, for he most prt in he
erly Crisi ea when e
mple of Athena convertedinto a chuch of Ou dy) devel
oped a nrrave that established
he supremacy of Aenia
democracy ad provded esource of th e anathenaeic
Fesival. t starts wit te batle
of te gods agaist the gints,
connues hough e bates o
the Lapihs and Centars a con-
frontation beeen humn vaues
and e besal power of iolenceout asod ends ih
he bae o f he Aheins againsthe Amazons a story haay
ben story and m
rod oom has deveoped a
eoy of poeic ag to descie
he suggles of poetheroes
aganst h fathrivs orBoom eve modern poe must
cofon he scovery that poety
is boh exerl ad l to
imsel He mst experince he
shme d terrible splendor o
uual hritage Cosuctngs own mahoFreudi mytol-
ogy Bloom desibes how
"song poets resle ih eiprecusors, even to the death,
ae gmpsg the prml
sene of he poe fa's os
wh e mse. or Boom themodern le of resionsm s
baed o creatve o"song reaings, on sprsion, swerve
or i, nd the stog poet is
he oe most sucessl a reang
ms e txts o is ahsm wodr hat these theories
hod a pra fascinaon for
hose who woud set hemselves
up as"g Dades ontempo-
rry chtecure.
Hsoricl gere paings ofe Acropois ways show Athens
as py sorded, ad y n
compaiso to he Pahenon
Today Ahens appeas om e
Aopolis lke a vast eld of bro
ke stoesst rubbe a
eld of debris ts own dr
cpet of brow air. I my
ways, moden Aens is ke Los
Agees automoble
whose public space as ploded
into he spae of he r d the
ulr phoe leavng the
Acroos to he ourists e
ciys vast d sprawng extsion,
fcon s n temeyfom of it, neer pubc no
private, crryng seve passn-
gs at oce aking a txi is some-
what like beng hed osage Eah
ip folows a kd of "dokeys
pah, wch eenty tkes youto your desnaion acoding to
e river's on iosyncrasies
ad e desatios o e oe
passengers e roads re co-
gested w crs whe sooternd motorke a ows
ough a dee dymca
spae ltogeher gidg n d
out of the es of cars e sma
predatos moing rough a herd
of grzing ims I spnt mostof ast ser Ahes, work-ng primry a my job site After
a ew week wth a entl
ied joinig e wowhel pac.
t was exlarang nd f more
aggressive than diing a c A
he ed o he day woud euom he job sie overed h he
oy of polion, eager tosm n he hote poo, ed wiha ursts snse of sasaon
Most of Athns seems to havebee built e 1960s d '70sThe achtecure is for he most
pat a breauac mod sle
dating from e regime of he
colonels he bulgs re gene-
aly a diry wie Perhaps one day
hey be ecupeaed o newrratives d gain hisorical
credibiiy as rba texue ut
or he most pr hey give mod-rn achtecue a bad ame O
cose here are excepons e
aea oud he centrl mrkets
gives a 9hnury avor to
dontow and s remnds one
of he dependence of he on
frng, shg, and e slaugh-
t of aimsThe storist syeof goverment nstituon d
museums assers a to classiclAens, even hough his stle is a
projection of German neoclass-
cism One ca derstand why
posodern Gree rtects re
so te tongueincheek abou
he poitics of cassiism as a-
ionl bulg. On he k of
e Acropois s a mniare
Cylai vage ced Aaoka,built e 9 centuy by heworkers employed in the con
sutio of hose sme s
ol bugs Aaoka is asie of cll nd soc cot:
an eyesore fo ose who woud
monumelize he Aropois
nd a squats' ave a is
now gnig some legitmacy
we the pos of verna
and locl budig is risng oexploe hose polcs woud ead
to e compexities of nationa-
s oicts a ontemporay
society s more mrked by
Tsh uece n most
Greeks would are o amit. A
giant Greek ag ies on he
pow o he Aropos mkg
i as a site of naional idey
My favorte ime o go up on
he Acropolis is rst ig the
morig, whn t is ery deser
ed, but e most eaulmomen is sl te ast hou
before suset, wh the gleam of
e setg su s eeced eAegen The he temples seem
to gve hun measure to herhyms of nare for beau- is ony heghened by e a
mas of surise, sunset moonran, ad shadow To the modern
eye he play been he mono
hrome stone and e changig
ig seems so tega to ebeauty of he temples hat it is
hrd o imagne hem colored
ompee d new
On top o he Acropois somemes th of e seeming
y intermnable cosutio ohe Gety Cter that wnabe
temple in the neoMedie-
nea Peraps a ouse of acelaed agng woud brg e
Gety ito a more symbioic rela-
ion with its naral conext as
teng he ievitable erosio of
e tets to doncePehaps is s the soce of my
ow axeties about theAcropolis he scomfort of
aowedgng e paiacha
suctures of ontemporyarhtetue nd e oedipl
ared embedded he suc-res o"strong mseag. My
own pivate pariarhal oop
coecs the Getty to theAcropos before returnng to
New York a few yers ago I
worked on e Getty for super
ego Richrd Meie, imse a ru-
n so o e Corbusier dagim hrough sterile praise
he yong e Cor busier used ist to he Aopolis to con-m hs own chiecrl mbi
tions In Vye'O of 9 he descibed the beauties ofmonocomy, e precision of a
constuction wtout appren
os and he terible power of
he Partenon as"a macinewch gnds ad dominates e
Cor busier experienced a certantyrny in the athenon, efe
ences to wch he subdued later afts o his avel rrative
He desibed hs isit as a com-
a from whih e emerged insome sense the oser, foced to
coede o he masey o ts
hrsh poetr compensato,e sought to oneve of it ot-
side rety, as the"heoic isonof a ceave d Ad as a pre-
lude to an anouncement of hisow ambiion he addessed
himself to"hose who, we
praccing e art of ctecue
nd themselves a a momet in
the career somewhat empy-
headed, the codece deplet-
ed by doubt before that task of
givig a ng form to iner mat-
ehese kindred souls he
laimed, woud"nderstnd e
mencholy of my soloqesamid ruis d my cg
dioges with silent stones
ike Freud Le Cobusie
experienced a listlessness befoe
hs rst vist e pt off the
cmb util he end of his st
day i Athens making a thou
sand excuses to his iend as to
why e woud no go up just
yet Yeas later e Corbusier
vented is own dsubnce o
memoy on the Acropolis.
Ariving late to the 19 3 3 CAMcoferece Ahens, he dis-red his coeagues us"Oh
dear I forgot al about you I've
een on the Acropolis.
S my vast ignorce of Gree
iation reize hat ese
houghts ae more lie rma-
o o a Rorschach paWhen I was abo elve I was
gve a Rorscach es, nd o he
sible suprise of the schoo psy
coogist I ecoged he New
York Pbi iy h is ak-
g lions n one image afer s-
ug he henhmen of deah
and oe er symmees on
prious pages. What seemed shocking hge of regser
beee prl fers rcive
nd momnt now o onge
seems so sge
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seetighs. We cou't understd te the mouth n opeig ke y oter a blood owerig om he vei WieDomo to e m of e desity of the scoling a tght pon ofrelease col we sem gels d
Cof {S J) eedmensiona weave a ra e In he huch of Gsu Nuovo there is a clouds explosive heaen emergngb 12941323. It length of a seet ad ed its ele- wedbus of each pt hen of a sudden, a moment tatm kof 1426. foot dth, pressing agant the oppos- ed eah gesg eah resg on a gls felt halucnatory is cay I saw he
T de-n he a g wals as fi were buessng te ced reqry box paked t bones gas chmbers d te sos at eeedn n nt ofg e r budgs Or had it simply been aban My guidebook says, "See Naples d te sky by way of he smokesacks.dby St i e oed long ago nd somehow prolfer- die hae my own sense of what tat nt bones sh boes, incese the
oVvis n 163 .h a a aed like nes?Vines grew over and igh men. Someting here exers a chches eupng ike owers or hd ofSJu, around , wappng hemselves od force le hunger and is opposite a sorms ke esh or couds ikeBop of te met structure a blacsh ve smtaneous consico d egorge Vesuius he midle of te ight hetom d Din n 305 . . .nd n The boque: a hluciaio hat me A struggle is tng place I fe as rong ecstac presce of somenge tl hs erupts om te center of te dark As my blood has chged nto some so ae that ies ad pods its wayqof teb soon a you eave he in staon it g tcker d daker a concenrate up rough te groud; te presece ofo h led f begins to conjure tsf p, to splay itsef pusg tough te narrowess of my somehng dead that released omtbut o by out to make is fabulous apperace. ens oog for a way out. gravity ascen wng s way up toS e ofi The por deo std outside te Cigaette buts nd condoms t so te ligh.
pn e of saton is a gold white black eruption neay nto the spaces betee e cob We saw seet sines wth tny
1 n and on S. 1 9 of esh, a moa of body pars emerging blesones as if hey were ways me ceramc gures bg he red e . A io ight at oce subsan d to be there Space s relelessly ed panted clay mes surroundng themtr or a loude. The pes of merngue in a up oblestoes paced with grbage, The ames sho up arond their backs omf t y pasty shop a e brillianty wite see sued wth scaoding d so ha hey looked lke gs comng
B,I py sweet gritty, chaging lary is density pus te body out of the shouldersHor k nat om voluptuous form to vapor. nder pressure Vein ad musles are n S 9800 he ilaed esh, he cloue compression Breat is forced out of e of e meg of e iqid
sugar e a fragments of desie sole lgs. Just before i sagles the see not to of pThs city is carbozed smels of e om a baoque church be eate or erupt gaspng nto the derous space pe e . . . Prof of Cat has passed trough wa A sck black sold a conaband on te street of the piazza e Ui ofNap not long o
powder coats everytng the forests of erhead the clouds themseves prade Mk sad The gbage n Naples {1925) pacaon he scong, the stones ofthe seet he aoss te sky, gierig nd oy ike ha a job o do n Florence the gbage we pon ofdoornobs the sh boes piled up moie strs emerging from imousnes has no ob In Rome the gabage is e p, da id ofatataganst a wal the newspapers ad o opeig ght. They roll ey side, oramentl, that's its ob n Napes the mea sudt, ep im candy appers tat the nd has tey revole. hey too a e sig, gbage s srucural holds tgs up . Te mlg t p mmwrapped aod our legs Or eyes e esapees om the place to wich he t coheres it becomes rigid t expan atpae of 182 (658seamg nide ou mouths, grit The boue aspies to every jot i reorces every ),mmat1517 5!3lackeed faces of te churches are lke A man waled n frightenig mri crack, i exers a force The walls would ), 3 {38 Fh.). tenemen builngs e a e nsde onee fashon up ad do i e f dow tey removed te garbage y i fhe boue is seeng: a lquid geode, Piazza su Nuovo speig repeitive The broque appears lke the great tg im god. rhymc nosese n a loud mech- oupouigs of white ste hat used o tYesterday Naples was mazngly c voice He sng towd people as we me up e ide of e igh wud w oa atpaqiet a beauf but omous absence ey wked by followed them ced o ast 1 1 t Street n New York. It was tr n tob fod chuch o onof seet e as we w ed trough te ater them unti tey were out of rnge he Con Ed plt etg out stem It e lr. e iqo sto lcenter, meta shop grates pued down It was a peformance of oate cool happeed wnter a normous rush e e. M gh e specc snce of Snday a d oate wrogess he we passed g sond a once Id sit up n bed toued e snd d fondquitcty We waed up seets beween er- cose by m I heard a horrd mea- d ough the icy dow see the ld a e T etigous ws at ecosed us o eier i eakig, ike wooden jonts reet pis of wie steam shootig om of e r he mngside High above e seet audry was less ad foro Was i a prosheic he pars of te sak Erupig in e ce ofe of iq-yg on heds of lotesies, imb, perhaps a wooden m? He was grea boiing couds IViea n a high id t releasg a fant stem A metlic gold swngig one m n a diberate way boque church there were anges d om richceto blight fell some places the a as so as if to mke noise ou of it.s ouds eormous wie spheres po an Tno co tick wih dus hat the gh materal- hought ghened me Mark thought ing om the tops of colus A eten by e clized nto rays, you could almos take it that he was mng he noise wh s sion of the idea of the capital an L no yo mouThe streets wee so jaw That frighteed me more It was ot orgc xplosio at the top of he col y 9 qonH Mon densely packed wth scaolding hat i
speech tat errupted om hs mout m a vertal tg seeg te ligh
I
k could have bee igh Night wihout but somehg nvoluty, lke a vapor te ower erupng om the stk the M & 969, 3
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2.0
Bool< Review r
ae aae ee a e a ae
Pr J P Pr $
A Mr rib rmid i bl dmnd tud,Se ute Ses
rbi r rd i 90 Sthi f th r Artv fr th Prt illtPri, whh wd hv n-rtzd wd rfr t itrtn f rttin tt th r rt m, diidd nd iltd t
wd i witi n t rrittr lt th trtn d fr i i rt, di fr hm" vvi Su t l d q, d rtiubqut rt, tbl 1958 Pi li Pli tin, b d wth ttrditi t t wr ft tw h rid f thi r i xd b rd ,ize i Pe
i, 642) d b h rt d fil f th rnt, fe e Vesies 8 ill 668 wi mbid mi, tr, uii, wtrw, nd rwr it d, d idd riid, wl i t w v i r esmkstek, t it mt f i Wn rit fd w fm i th i, whih i t 9 w ildmu mbr t nrd ttill ffri hultit ni f th r Th Phi i Pvi n, vd f958 l Wrld r, w t lii f trdit, b rii n it int t w trni m h Pme iqe L Crbur nmd t wr, w brtinbwn rhitt (L Cbuir nd hi itt, Ini Xnmr (Edrd d X, i nd r, lmmr ( Pt fr r, P A t td n inr (t utr f th Strbd Cm
L Crb d lw b rnd but rlt ti, und, d itiit htt, ttd i rtilr b h titd b iht" 00 ivd d i 95 r f Nd
R, wr wrt rlr w rhitturl id bdl dth u, f t wl, di w tnt , i t mi rl f iffb " T Pe eiqe w ivd w fr f l, i rd L Crr dl d mtd b t Phil m dr lrz t tt lr q-mnt L Crbir id t rud l f th buil di mdl hm mh, nit in rbbl n itRblii l mn rni th w f wh wuld xrin i ltd ivti Yt, ul rdri Kilrdl , wi w d rl, i, bl zmrhi fr nid d ut, L Crbuir' ili w tmbin th ri nd t tri, fr u th r f thrd l Xni w i t h ll i t thnl tln vbl trtr hrt with L Crbr tl T w d , r, tfm f t hrbli rbl id, rhtil l mdrn tri frm, bd th ibiliti f tl d rd nt, ili fr r tur in t tr ur f ui brd F Xi, t rli f thi rbl tmmr d l rttr, , il trii Xi hd tudd i Oliir n fmiti l , d i rt bl ihd i f mi, (9554 w rd f 6 trut, lin diffrrt t i ntbl in t rnt txt tt nt nl did h br t r idvd id, t l rmtr th trutr f itrvl, durti, dmid timbwr dtrmind b th litin f mtrirri, ill th ld tn dd, t rinth lindi i th r rr th rtturl drwi t vil i t d d ltin f h bi ldin wr i rt d t th dirnbtw r rud l d mttil lti, th
mli tblid b Xi btw und d ,i d rhitr, ibilit, bli, d mtmti, w l t
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he l ao ha a very ecc role n moert m c: t cocete an exaeae ue erve a oe of e raee alo nwth mcotonal comoto n onE uroean trumetaton thenc o of oe te ue of eay electroc ntrmen c a theeemn a the Oe Mateo etc to ccmvent te l m a-ton of e temere cale tha a ule everal ceture ofEuroea muc or the l ao t re form a acenor ece o of ubroken tch oble o cetan tru-met uc a tn an the le tromoe cona all feqence rane Oe of Vare' earlet comoto te 192223Hyerrs - he ttle of wch cae h eet te atal-zato of mc wa or a enemle of woow an erconc lu n a re to a wat he refere to a beatfu arabol can yerbolc crve." ore racay he comoe osto n1931, whch cal le for 37 mxe ecuo numet a wore for 13 laye t wa e r Euoean ece comoeaccorn to etermate tch (or wat tat eoc waeeme oe) a te en rouce tnc an k n aTee concer e Vare o ma e a mca tume ewth ara maaton eecay acaton w e ataltraecoe ofo a a mcal tructre a re a te rockcrytal at alway facnate m For ecae e a reamt o,a comoto rere ter acula ue of tmb reexeme l ay of am te an eerm ate tc wha woul ecome electroc cocete a electoacoutc muc LeCorbuer' tence tat e comoe te muc for the Ph l Pavlon ay ave m the materal olte to comoe oly ece t ere te Pome etoiue a teecc
yb m ltack work o tae tat clue eleconca ly enerat-e meloe torte ora muc (te ora be ymbolcallyarorate, a t wa a or of reelectroc ou yntezer"ntral oe, hma chan a eve famen of e oese, al emte from a ere o o rote" fom everalnre eake aace to the crve of Xea' hyerbolcaraboo e Raely a the meaor of arcectre afrozen muc" more accuratey ecrbe a b
The val comone ofthe avlo were oro a m, col-ore lhtn efect rojece tence fom a treemeoa form t by ultravoet ht e m woe mae werechoen by Le Corbuer cote o a ere o tll tat be byevok te rore of ma c v lzato a ort of cnematcmeum wthout wall" re y al rax' recent teozaoof te efect of oorac rerocto o a htory a ae-etc eceto; t cotue wt a rereetao of aocalytcthreat to uma ty an c lm nate by ofer the ultmate o to to the worl' roblem, rectaly ollow e Coruer'own teore of ra lan. Thou te lm (wc o loerext) wa not a oae evet cnematc tory t oe ear ar-tcar f obq ue nteret n t elato or ater o relato) oVare' mc Whle te aort ewee muc a acecre av o oe of trctura omo loy, e m totally aycroou w Vae' com oo , exce that they both ave theame uato. hu e ecc eao bewee te vua a teaual h mum ea co ae" wee total y ouou The ol eof cace cotrol e an oewe a bee a crca facor moernt aetetc ever ce Ducham' reaymae an Breto'teory of obectve chace wth e otwar avalalty o ae aelecoc mea new meno w o be ae o te aehetc ofthe oou Tou the role o aycroc creance haal reay een rofoly nveate exermental cema(oaby ha of the et, a auce emae' 9 Le m
est j omme?> the aeaory wa e becom cetra tocotemoay avatae mucal theory Te tem of te ebatewee e by te ncrea m colo cal conct between o Cae' lob a e o cance oeao wt te oal of cooat-n all ou revoy coere noe nto muc ovnte barer betwee art a fe a Perre o lez' moe etct-e ue o e aleatory, rema r mly w te rub c of theE roea muca ao, to a cay trafom era oecaoc mc ch a all te mca arameer of the toetc raton amltue tmbre) are eterme by a moe oconoe cace A moe of chance oeao oe ararely eee e eae wa coceve y Xea: e alcatono mathematca moe l to mcal comoto oaly a meoof comoon ae o the lot of raom evet eal atocatc or roab ltc moe of muc. Xeak terate tevere moalte of maematc, muc an ac tectue to allaect of work; n a ee oe m t cla m that h early mcwa fact foe actectue" or froze matematc." comoon for te Phl Pavlo te Coe H
abrevatn booe yeoiue) wc erve a a ot ofambent muc to mark te verbal trouco to te ece wa anexamle of sie orte T work erve from eectronca yrecotte reco o bn n carcoal creat an aleatoryattern of t oun a n other tocac ytem, uc a eroe oe of crcet or r anro wa a mo rtant como-ton t ow rt
lea me to a m o ctcm of t otherwe exemlaryty. Teb er ly eal Xeak' contrbto to the ojec;nee ere ae many more ae on Xenak tan on e Coerear e Poe eoiue Even ven Tre' accuratetatement of e eaty of arcecral rm wee arte oftetake cre for the wok of atat a fact tat create rea te-o betwee e Corbe a Xeaka crcal y olexte beyo te lmt o achtectural realolk WleXeak' role cometey rectate the boy of the text, wy t that te ubtte o te book oe not bear ame? An, vete ernence of mcal eore a well a te ovou ere for acece wy Core H eranalyze an eet eccay m ca exence? nee e t acketaouce, Th totay aomate bomarment of color voceon, an mae wa broacat wt a ace of ware concretee orcetrate by Le Corbuer a coeaue to a cohe-ve 480econ roam" E emetary arthmetc woul ave eo te um of 6 econ ve te ao o Vae' et-m ute ece an Xenak' wom ne comoto. To teeare eavely mo ot tue a te m c of th c oll aboraton rather tan the actecte (much le the lm), ha a the
eatet reverberato an tu eerve coer cny.Furhermore ve te cocertely mutmea ature of he work,t wol eem tat te rofoun terrelato bewee mathematc m c a arcectre etab e by Xe a wo after toject wa o eary aao arcece n orer to cocentrateo muca comoton mht have bee analyze omewat moerecely f reaer ateo a bee a to Coe H
Te Pome etroe wa a beae esste For atte very moment tat Le Corbuer bea after Worl War II, o becocere wh uc aethec ythe a racall y ew aramwa be eable, by o Cae a other that woul oer anew moel of artc colaboraton: eoalzn uctve ecen-tere un earcca, aleatoy. Oe of the n a al event o tenecy wa e fame 19 2 B lack Monta n Co lle e coceteaco" cooranze y Cae wc arate arttc eveoccrre (mc oetry antn) ometme multaneouly ome-tme uccevey encounter rle by uearcze caceProuce x yea aterwar the Pome etroue wa aaachrom of reater nteret o ome o t a tha for teum of art To te Phl Pavon a esmustemay ave marke te e o a traon everal o t elemen wereoce o urther aetec nvetato: Vae' Pome etroe wc reman a key wok of early eectronc m c conere te clm ato of e comoer' lfelon mcal quet o cre-ate ew ou muc th te flllmet of the muca ae-e rere earler comoto Xeak' ue of mate-matca mo el muc le to becom oe of te maor exementa comoer of e eco alf of e cetry; e aa of telano wa to ave may other nanato notaby MchaelSow extraoay comato o o a mae h96667 m Wveeg a cotuou 4m ute zoom yn-chroe to a otrack cont o a elarly acene wave (a ouack ha mot tereer of e lm, oe
o te votal wo rk o owar avatare cema, haveyet o coner t f mcal mcato);a me of new moel o mxe an ml -mea wok fom hae envonmental at a talato art tovrual reaty, ave exae teoto of te ow ecotructeesmtuste; a aly te h-tory of arctecture telf where teorac an te maematcal ave oten o e omoern comcty ha een ecePerha te et ummato o e ertae ofPome etoi e wa ofere ete arcatcaly or n eexe amrato y oe jour-at comme o the work h art,wee o may vo are reque" (2 Teanwer toay obvou a Treb rlantlyreveal e orc aetetc, an trctralreao wy th o
2
z(
(z==
z=
z(
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Re Adam, xer Ve Empty Woden House Higevele Dever Colao, 1973-977. Gela ler t x95 r e seres Dever le ete anade d'rcterCanadian ete r Aectue, nealCuesy Fraenkel Galery San anis Ret dams
"The American Lawn: S urface of Eveyday Up i hall T Ama Law xibiappa a m ha pu l a mu pak
Lfe was exhbited at the Canadian Centre for aaia Ai T ambla a
Architecture, in Monteal om June 16 to
Novembe 8, 1998. It was cuated by Geoges
Teyssot, Ricardo Scofidio Ei zabeth D er,
Beatriz Coomn a, Alessanda Ponte, Marcea-peie omc ie Andx wo t oc lo haarwimak t If ojewe acraif re w 1nL Sconac ia p ooa o I as he o a ho io oho havee
the s holeee,wh anbodyath nsto shot onotA symbI s a signwiwou l ca wch edr I a ig i f tw n
Sh irceeeccs \t esnlybyvief einded esica"CarlsSde Pie lsial WriJu Buler,(NYk: Ovr Pubions,5, 046 Glle eleuz uar le, tn Br M
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ateiat
eforms mch infomaon which would uckly exhausttsel The assertive veicalty of he classroom ock (empha-sed y a srucural expresson hat has le o do wh heacal sacng of classrooms wthin establishes a srong formalenson to te ayered, cantileveed play decks which are hem-seves a sting and sighty sorieng dslacement of he horionta gound plane Ths
fomal ension is oy partilly sofened y heelaboate sres of circlation elements hewalways sairs, and pafoms tha weaverogh d aroud the buig parts. Thesemltiple outes and unexpected connecionslaced thogh a generic funconal agamhorion decks and verca cassroomsprodce compex performative effects. UnlikeLe Corbser Meyer is indifferent as to he oigi semoc soca or ecica o these
ate-theo
nd the paticlaly 20hcentury lemma of confroning a real-iy that is self inceasingly chacteried by he birary ande icompete, by ase ss, dead ends difeence ndnceanty (As Kitter concludes, "The elemenay navoidableac of EXHAUSTON is an enconte wth the imts of meda.)
A dagram actecue does notpetend to be able to sd out
side of s ety to ofe cique or corecon, no does ithold out for some mossiblenoion of coherence sead itaccets arctecure's pace ths awed eiy not cyicallybt h cautious opimismasmch as these congenagrams of mater can somees be recoged
effecs The displaced ground plane braced back uuso.ea, Arnhm pjct
o he uilding by eegant cable sruts does not call forh associaios w aircraf tecoogy or memores of he gade; nors he interested in tansfoming his maeial nto a new wholeRather, he foce o the abstac macne as deployed hee is toaddress precse pobems th precse solutons whle ma-aining udy among he pas a dsoineess ha eepsthe elements n play d allows fo the constt reconextalzation h changing externa forces
This readng st eaorated in he late 1 98 0s and eary1 9 0s worked agas he grai of the Derrian/ deconsrctis theory domint at ha time which sought o renscribearchecte within n absact ogic of discorse and representaion Ofeg a way o o e ace opposon o he semocto he mateial, Hays dentes a adicl materalism in Meye'sachecure ut the eference o maey hee is no n serviceo e recovery o teconics or onology o maerals as wasypica of oher critques of deconstrcvism Insead, i drawson cerain aspecs of the Derridan pogam to descibe potentiasocia ad poitica eecs resig om the srpon drenewal of perception in Meyer's archtecure: [Meyer's] materi
aism emphasies he heerogeneous properties of igs andeir effects rea space ad rea me ad iduces a pay of sensuous enegies in the viewe a compsive peasue aken in hequiddity of building pas, but so n e conracions e dis-ruptions, he gaps nd slences, of wch explodes hereceived socal meanings of things Hence the adcal foce ofHays's reag les i e act ha the maerialiy he refes o snot a primive or natural materialiy that looks back to checre's origis (as for exmple in the architectre of ousK) is sead a physca reaiy ha s itsef enrey perme-aed by e ariciality nd absracion of 20hcentury uranfe a reaty tha is ready agramatic By coasing the mae-rial d e absrac s way he ocaes arcecure beweehe eal nd he vual capable of intervening boh yet fllycommed to neihe.
My movaion o examig n some deph s oe examplefom a poenial geneogy of a diag achtece s no somch to legmate he presen y mens of refeence o he pasas i s o sugges at e wogs of e dagm beong properly to achiecue's hsoy and its own ndesanng of isefas a discpe t wold no be difcu to oulne a more complete geneaogy of he dagram i arcitecue Tha havg eensad the radcal foce of the dagram belongs o its recent past,
Kitler, Fol
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2.20
soca-discusive pactce
ARCHTECTU RE A CA-CU RVE RACTCE
Looing into diagraatc procedres s oe way to paalyopen that door and to dislocate the protectve d costrcvebarrers that archtecture has rased to hde ts verable center.As one of many technques used by archects o advance their
deas wthn he deveopment ofa desg, a dagatic tech
qe presents an opporuniyto xame he soia-discusveaspect of architecal practcefrom wthin Discourse analysss a relatvely new approachbeing sed n he humates Asa method it combes sghtsfrom text anayss agumentation nalyss, ad storcesech scrsve practceshave been deed as persstenpaterns of dscorse management Their functon is o regulate producton consumpionand dsibution of exts wth
a pcular ed of interest Discursive practices cannot verywell be seen as separate fomthe soca framework whchthey tae pace, whch s whywe efer to them as socal-scrsve practces The dependentposton of achectre wthinhe ecoomic sysem geneallyputs a dsproportionate emphasis on argments of pesuason,which ae oy a sma externyoriented part of the socalscursve prace of rchtectreThe challenge fo the nex gen
eraton of achtects s toacowledge d anyze hetenal dscorse, whch foma social-dscsive vewpont isfar moe comprehensive than
the methodoogca pocess hatis the basis of curet design practce and to d a theory of thereal in that
Dismatling the scodg of raonty nd objecty s syThe process ght appe to mpy a recaton of cls tony measrable ntable worh If we reject the prectableaol terpretatons of "g schees as compettve ctos, what stndds do we hen apply to judge ctece wedon't wt to end up a le, yg goes concson?Theswer mst le somewhee the vst ed between e poes ofobjectty and subjectvty, bewe reatty and rgdit Themethod by wch arcecte maes use of the ntense fsion ofnformaion withi a diagram is located somewhere betweenthese poles wod seem hat it s not even ed in one specicpace, as the meanng of the dagam itsef s not uneqivocalThee ae dfferet terpreatons of he diagam, whch occupyfferet positons o the sldng scae between sbectviy andobjectty Some of the terpretatos explored most thorougyn rece tmes have bee the phlosophcal plcatons of the
eductve mac
diagram its magey, and the ways in which it stumeconcepts of organzaton
TE MEAI F HE ARAM
he specc meanng of the dagram n relato to atre has been coored by o owledge of Bauhas methlets foget about ths; he modenist dagam has nothi
wth o subect, as a qic gance at the dagmatc pofGropus, Mes van de Rohe and the stdets maes csee archtecure as a bilt ne dagam s practicaly the reour positon More to the pont s the genera nderstanthe diagram as a stastcal o schematc image n ts moand hstorical denion, the agam s understood as tool designed to convey as much iformation in ve wod requie whole days to mpt on the memoygrams are best knon and derstood as reductive mache compresso of nfomaon When the informed eadsumes a specst dagam, the effec s ke that of a self-lfe jacet: a smal pacag gows to fll sze n he time texhale a breath of ar Bt diagras c also be used as prog maches This is how archtectre today terpets ththus ansforming the diagams covetonal signicance
ead chtectraly the diagram whch s often a blandblndng image is neve fuy derstood, or rathe meanng is not alowed to brea hrough diagrmattce purses a proferatng, geratg, and open insration in archiectre
Architecure focuses moe on he readng and consumdiagrams h on her laborensive prodcion The coon of owledge that s ncorporated nto a dagram extracted om it regardless of he signcce th whchgra tself was orginally invested he spec nformataned in the agra s dscarded at s not what archteafter For architecure the agr conveys an unspoen disconneced from n de or deology tha is randomve, sbective not bod to a le logc, tat can be psuctra spatial or teccl n s regd archtecture h
encouraged by the ritngs of Glles eeuze, who descrvitua organation of the dagra as an absact macne
DEEE ABTRAC MACHE
Deeuze helps s uderstand deas by givng examplesands of them, so that or mnds contnuously swing bforth between the abstrac and the real Architecure sioscates between the wod of deas and the physical worhs writings seem to hold a hghy specic meanng f atre We ma exensive use of some of Deeues Vtths text but we are not ot and ot Deleians or respecicaly archtectura Delee offes at least tree verte diagram: via Michel Foucalt ia Francis Bacon and cel Proust We do not mae a distincion between he thgrams in order to demonsrate some dspaity beween ththere is none nstead of recogniing three "versons of gram we shod nstead spea of moods or tonates fostres us s that thee deeply signicant aspecs of the dae conveyed ee vey dfferent modes n each case, gram has a dfferent meang nd coresponds to a dfferen the process of nderstandng selectng applyng ad ing Deeues abstact machne
The st stage of the diagr is associated Frogh whom we learn to nderstand how the gure of
Weare indebedo aap Bosfor rawig our atetin t tescialiscreaproach i hisdotra hsisAtozeoldtrecht,97) wh ea th urivehtf Frel phlgS alug Diourse Socia Chge
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Paopco
gam not represntaona; the ip r tllecal rgment the second tage, hough Baco we e trogh a rscsggle as we metlly tae up he paitbrush we smteoslyengage i n earthy d ightheed pll debate about thesecton d appcaion o he ag. In te hrd tage o tediagam trough Prout the neraction o te nd matter inrodced wthot wch thee cn be no rsformaio Herehe aguent take a litery and music ur; reras micerature d pychology e ten to create a lengthy ad iicate arrao culmiaing n he ivention o acalty
For Foucaut Jeremy enhm's 1 7 9 pl or the Popticois "the agram o a mechaim opower edced to de orm a ge o politcal techoog4 t coneys the pat organizatio o specc om of statepower nd icipline Thearrgemet o the Pnopticon he expreson o a umber oculura d poltical coditiosthat cnate a tctiemneaton o veance ticorporaes seer eves osgnicce nd cnnot be re
duced to a ing reang; ea diagrams the Paopico s amaiold Typicay whe a agam breed new meagsthese e sl directly reated oit substce s tagbe maiestaion Crica reangs opreiou interpretatos e notagrammaic P the impe posbe term a dagrams a iagam becase isstronger thn it interpreta-
oo s aga s ypoog es
has to be a mediaor The owardlookig tdency o diagr-matic practce s an inspesabe ingredient or ndertg itsucton t s abot the real hat is yet to come
TOOLS AGAINST TYPOLOGE S
Deee ha contrbuted to the nsght that he reetes intrion o sgn nd sgncatios cn be delayed by the agramwhch theeby allows chiece to aiculae an alteaie to arepreentatoal deg tecque Preiosly the coceps orepresion or iberation or example were oduced to chtecture a comple ormal expresio o th concept uld beredced to a ig one cle meg which would sube-quey be tranlaed back ino a project
os Although Foucau intro- vanBrkel & os Achictur brau, m pj. Lig a l twnf nduced the notion o the diagram as a assemblage o itations This reduce approach excludes many posbte in checechqes acc d ncionng made oid he pt he re Wle coceps ae ormlated loud d cle actectue
emphai more on the trategie that orm he dagram than on itacual omat He solaed the explc progam o the Panopticon n the contex o s cocept o the epree hypothes; heconcept o repreion wa his rea protagost elee eereshe ageda and zoom in on the congurato and wog o hedagram ite
Deleue recommd ha Focat be read ot a a torabut as a ew kind o mapmaker For him the agram s nterestngnot a a padgmatic exmple o a cipiny echnology but aan absact machne ha [make o] ditiction ielbetwee a plne o expessio nd a plane o cotent 5 Diagrare dtngished rom ndexes cons nd ymbo Ther meaings ae not ed he iagrmmatic or abact macie does otcton to repeet ee someg rea bt aher conc area that is yet to come6 Wihout this crc tereno Fou
cauts iagram icly deates nder presse The explct program selected by Foucalt were eer diecty or completey realized a istuios becaue he agram is ot a blueprt t is nothe wokig drawig o an actal contrucion recognable in allit detas d with a proper cale No conon will let tse beecty ansated to a ttig o completely corresponing conceptualiao o that conon here alway be a gapbetween the wo For t ame reason concep such as repesonnd lberation can neer be directly appled to chitecue There
4 ic c Disipine P: Birh ofe 5
t wats pasiey a t were n s ponced po by a cocept repeentato tecque mpes that we overge o eaty om a cocepual posion ad i ta way e relaospbeween idea nd orm between contet d structure Whe ormnd conet e superimposed in t way a e emerges is tepoblem wth an actee that s based o a repretationlconcept; caot escape exsg pologes.
n ntrmentang ece uch a he agram deays typoogical ato n expermental or nstrumetl tecque doeno poceed as erlly om sgn aspects uch as roung tmend organiation are corporated nto he scte ung itmenalizig techne coceps exter to chtece eoduced into t rater h superimposed stces o speicitepeao zaon pecepo consucon d so ounfold nd prolerate application on ros leel o absaction
beatng the deig rom a tendecy towrd ed typologesHow hi s done is a ril qetion or may ecqes bt atl one o what we cl a n imentzig tecque The roeo the agrm i to deay ology nd adce a desgn by brigg n externl cocepts a specic hape: as gue not a iageor ig How do we select it d itepre agram? Ti where Deleues second iagram comes he agram o thepnter that a oet chaos n rlaio to gatie givens but sa germ o rhytm rlaton to te ew oder o te pag
2
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23.22
p 0 z" ' z [ ;:
[ ., 3 3 p
.
e
N V 0 0
n
g g V
stru meta z g
Where ctecre seeks to resist bug typology png confronts he prpeua ght aganst "cchs cchs! as Deeexclms seemingy as despate as ay of us at he ludirousetabili of triteess Not oy has here been a mipicaonof images of every d, od us d o eads but eve thereacons aganst chs e ceang ccs'8 Deeuze describeshow, to escape ts, Bacon wors dom smeas into his pings
bnd marks tat insert ito te work aother word a zoe of theSahara n a mouh, somewhere ese the texte of roceos sinfod n a photograp
The selecton and appcation of a agam has a certan dect-ness It ivolves the seon of elemen at contais wihdese formao someg at we ca latch onto hat disactsus from spirng nto clch someng tat is suggesve.
arcitecture, nstead of a sme o pnt we use ecica mauals,photocopies of pgs or rdom images at we collect to suggest a possible vra organzato These dagrams ae essentiy
nasuctal hey can aways be read as maps of movements, especve of the origns he agrm is ot seected on e basis ofspecc representaon nformaon It is essetiay used as a proleator n a process of unfoldg
NSTRUM NTALIZN TH DARAM
It s signict tat aco d ot appy hs agrams to hspainngs in n nmeated way, as the coage, but raer nsrumentazed or eectuated em i he medim o pant At hspoint he hd meng of the diagram, wch conms and ctates e previous wo, emerges te ggerig of te abstractmachie The absract machne must be set in motio or te nsformative process to begn but where does this motio originate?How is the machie triggered What exacty is the prciple ateecates the changes d nsformations hat we d rel lfe
ad in real time? uthermore how can we isolate his priciplead rede it to the dmensios at make it possibe to grasp andse at wl? Deeue oers an ndicaon by pong at the ovesceaet o e hough Pousts nove r, for istance longes of musicay passion picay ad ohr ave nes hatcol aond black holes w he story: The black hoes are a terry consructio hat enables chage If ere were no black holesfor he protagonist to fl into he ldscape of the arraive woldbe n unreasticay smooth and imeess plae whic would make
49.
I e b
it possible for he hero whose chacter and advenormed by his landscape to evolve The adscape of he sback holes d the chacter become one either comsubecive no objective in order for he story to move Te nraive is consucted nd read e a face, its intesion d expessiveness sed to nssoble compTogeth the blac oes and the andscape orm e
macne of facli
FACIALTY: TH OP RATIONAL DIAR AM
he quesion is, how coud ths novelistic deice togs ito motion be meaningful n archteca pracachitecte lso use the cocept of black hole/ sface to appas for rggerng the effect of ransions in of o crent projects is srucured as a agrm o facmast plan or the station area o Arnhem consists of bus udergrond car parking, oce buildigs, and a tion paceed out to differen oers Preos ubfo te locaion have proved te mpossibty of acco of the progratc eeds in a cumuative areseach theefore focuses on ding he oles at is thlappg areas of shed terests where one aye of he la
falls nto aother one n the Anhem project, pedestrianment, wch is the oe eemet shaed by every pty, omholes Movement stes form a cornerstoe o the propoysis of the types of movemet incudes the recovious ajectories the pronece reao to oheof sportaion on he ste their datio the s to programs d heir ntercoecons
From hese moon ses the station ea graduay bemerge as a ladscape of terrelated movements Te holelandscape eate a system of shortcuts beween pogrs aof a cened system and exhaustive pattern of coecos. A yea ito the proect the topoogy of reationdemnds he ioducion of a diagam that ecapsulates tncl/spatil orgazaon A agram is never a totay sous d; as part of our search fo a new way of understan
staon ea, we had begun to sdy mahematica ots idea at a dscape wih holes could also be peceived as aplnes The agramac outcome of his is a Klen bottlecoects he dierent levels of the stato ea i a hermeThe e botle s as deepy bigos as it s comprehestays conuous houghout he spat ansformaomkes to go om beng a sface to a hole ad back aganuate outcome of shaed moonbased reaions the Ke is asuctua elemet n wo respects pragmacagmacally: As a cocept the Kei botle has come abreslt o ses of shaed, iteractive, local conditios Agram e Kein bottle becomes an actor in e nteractive pit begins to evoke ew, moe spec meanings at for sucl nd spaal leves.
ocusg the desig on shared concerns meas hat r
form te pameters of e project nstead of the optmznvdua data Ts geerates ew possibies that o sgvdua terest coud have engedered. The project is praghe sense hat t deas emphacaly w real soal ecoopubc coions but cruciay ts is an nteracve pragUtarn eeds are ot met n a reacve way but ae awer and nsformed which inevtably leads to the renegoe relaons beween e paties This approach mpcily ea certn policy by ceterig o collective iterests Te p
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\\te ea"
no an prcipled oppons esponse o wha is beg asked,
wch n any case is possble a lage-scle ulcen projec
of cosdeale compexiy. Nehe oweve s ee a pecon
ceved dea o bis hat precedes he specictes o locaon,
prog o users Isead he proec eges ineacvely
The absac achie n oio is a dscsive isre; i is
boh a prodc ad a geeaor o dogicl acios which serve o
bing oh new aed neracve eags Discose
eory oduces e oo ha eangs ae no serred
o oe age to aother b are costted the iractio
bewee he wo agents Lkewise he achiec proec is rea
ed his ersbjecive eld agas rich in eag ll o
poeia ovee and loaded h scre urn o o be
locaed a specic pace aer Udersood as acvaors hahelp igg consrcions ha ae eiher obecive nor subecive
neiher beoe-heoy o erheory eiher concepal or
oppos e locaon of he agra is n e nesbjecve
daiona and opraional eld whee eangs ae foed nd
ransored neracively
HE AGRAMS OF MATTER l
The daga . never con n orr o represe pritng wld bu poduce new n of realy, ne moe oft
- Gile Deeuze ou {
action to a prsumd proccpation wit issus o rprsntation ad imag ovr th last orty yars, prossionalorgaiatios and publicatons witin achitctur aong withvarious ducatioal institutions and acadmics hav rcntlyco to call or rturn to "th al variously dd as arturn to martab oc ski l s, to ssntia l typolo gs toul sca abcatio to b il d g tctoncs, to t "vyday,or to a prsumably stab rnt sch as th commuty orth vionmnt n this contxt, vn obrt Vnturi arguably th rst "inormaton architct o t postwar pri-od has com to protst that h and hi s partnrs hav bnmisundrstood "W did not promot a thory o architcturthat substtuts itsl or achitctur rplacing architcturwith aconcptu ad buidngs wth dagrams and words
Nvrthlss, it is prcisly "diagrams and words that havbn cntra to Vtri Scott Browns production and that isconsttutiv o th noavantgard projct i gral
Exi stig mor as a sris o documnts than mon umnts aimag bank o lat2tcntury achtctur woud invitablyrval tis sct histoy a stang assmblag o ormulas
cartoons, and dagrams: machins both abstact and concrtcs o ths coction somtims simply ar "ound adotr tims "assistd o ma ipul atd a partia ist o thisivisib canon cluds th ninsquar and th panoptconth domino and th skyscrapr, th ac/vas and ducksdt paranodcri tical d iagram and th old danc notation andcinmatic storyboads matal bodis ad bachlormacns. trajctory o th A mrca noavantgad and thir attmpt sinc th 96s to rnovat t modrnist
neo-avant-gade
proct has bn gud d by a spcc attitud towad t diagram his unolding o a diagrammatic approach consttutst oavatgards cotribution to t thory and practco an altrnatv mod o rptition o oundd not onrsmbanc and a rtur to origi s bt on mods o bcomigand th mrgnc o dirnc. For ths contmporarypractics t diagram as achivd t status that sc thnaissanc had bn rsvd or th drawing as t dningtrait o th arctctural dscipli. Without th burds ovirtosity o rationalty, th dagram is t product itr ocratart (th sing hand nor o industrialid mchanizationcorporat production t is a uncton o t virtal I thsway, it srvs as a tchniqu to ovrcom th classcal ibraand mod nist antinomis o postwar ormalism not th lasto which is that btwn "th raland "th rprsntatio n.
In xtndig ad dvatg th pro-ct o t historcal avantgard, contmporay practics hav dispayd adagrammatic concption o th possi
sors his, too, is how osalnd lrauss has
com to ram and actuali th modnistpoct: tat s, xacty via t dagram,by rwritg t da programs o modrist opticlity and tsmatrial discontnts through an "ovr-wrting o th structuralist l diagramand Lacans L schma, rspctivly "Itstruck m on day, Krauss rcals "that itwas mor itsting to t k o modnsm as agap o tabl tan as a story tat tr wassomthg to b gaind rom xploring its logic as a topography rathr than ollowng th thrads o it as a arrativ. 3
l
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23.24
diagammac pacce
architecture is namental ly ene y a tria o sim il arterms or Frampton typoloy (spatial orer) topora-phy site or contet) a tectonics cotruction); orLeatherarow patia enclosre ste an materias
Fo
eatearow these topcs (topoi) are l
ecale places that orer oth achitectural prouction an classica retoric with
the alue ei that tey are permanent memoae a promote othstality an ientty tey en them-seles precisely to li near aumentatioa commna aeemet Frampto
mane tectonics as a alace orsyntesi o a rhetorica repreentatio
the phenomenal o postmo-eism) an literal construction e. the
authenticity o moerism) with the ormer casta a now imite epresion o the latter an epressio
o the l iewor where aatie s i te etasThis classicalEnlihtenment reconstructon o mo-erni m oe where repesetationa eces ha een con-ne withn proper limits to epress the upriht an
athetic coul hay e urher rom the repetition omoersm proie y the neoaantare whose projecthae consstently suspene any possi i l ity o te unmeiatean presence o an iterate ect stale place properenclosure (e insieoutsie relations) or enuine materials A an alteratie to tectonics w ich attempt to susumea projecte oppoiton etwee rhetoric a costructon aarammatcs may e unestoo as the proieatio o eoaantare initiaties a hyr o the eay inestiation osnyin remes with te ater puruit o new institutionaarranements As oppose to the tectonic sion o arcitec-ture as the leile sin o cotruction which is intee toresist it potental status as ether commoity or cultral spec-ulation a iarammatc practice (own aroun ostaclesyet resst otin) multiplies syin pocesses techno-
loical as wel a inuistc) within a penum o matt reco-niin sins as compli cit in the constructio o pecic socialmachines Te role o the architect in this moe isipateas he o she ecomes an oranier an channeer o inormation in ce rather than e l imte to the eciely ertcal the contro an restance o raty the calculaton o staticsa loa orces emee as hoi ontal a nospecc(ecoomic poical cultural oca an oal) It s ymeans o te aam that tese new mattes an actiitiealon wth their ierse ecooies a multpcities can emae isie an elate
Ultimately te machinic o the aam precees themachine o the tectonc. As e leue write:
[] ace ae cia ere ei tecical I] rer r o e ee ile e l r aerial ace ae o ece all y a ara a ake p y aelaera ae e ee coe y t reree ecalle pl ie aie ae par e pala aelae teirrp i elece y e ara ealis e rriick e e a te p t r a lear ei eer epeciely cl lecie ace i c ary t eey te pai a te ie e al l ecl-y i erere cial ere i i tecica
ie-squae pob
Wth the trajectoy o postwar orma lism thocan equally aw rom te leacy o unctionalism tnoenon can e osere o i ntance i n te case o tsquare polem he aram Cor concrete machie)inesqare was ecessary eore the essetal emoerni m as the inepenent articulatio o space antre was coceiae ee thoh thi wa techni call y
y the mi 9th centry or that the eometrc orani the n nesquare was itsel at least or hunre years ninequare iaam poie a iscipline or postwatecture a icip ne oth iscursie an oniscurical an isua enali the istttioaiatio o aprorams an a 30year history o architectural proecVetus st scheme or hi moters hose 1959) the eay houe serie o oth ohn Hejuk an Petema as well as the a Vilette olies o erar Tschte ultimate collapse a inersion o the iaam wRem loolhaass entry or the National Lirary oFrance 989) Whe te pouctio o te eo-aantare operate within the ninesquarearam in ore to uno its asic ale anprinciples (as oppose to the postmoern hs-
toricists whose work only conrme theramewor there were critics o this peaoical anpractical paaim who more irectly aa-one this iaram (a all others) entirely apartial critique o the mechanism that ltimatelyiite the retun to the real proram
he initial power an eauty o the ninesquareprolem was its mmater iali ty its eistece withoutuncto ste clent oy an to some etent scale Thas a way oth to speciy an ie siy es in iterests atiaton into the astract anuae or eometry o oncreasily replace since the mi970s y its hialternates: i.e an emphasis on materials or tectoncs) aratie (o proam) As impemente in the esin tu
patia critques eploye new technique (e rom peromance ieo etc) approprate ew iscoursepostcustaesthetcs to alternate phlosopica poitcscientc moels) celerate oth ae an htech m(meta wa on ojects an reaymaes teleson an VTs) an een chalene the place an oraarchtectre eiew itse ie aaint te etraitypinp pace wal proect woul mirate outoor anltimately into the irtua space o the screen) Toe wrecently calle or a etur to the real ut who are less committe to esin hae een ale to asor mthese strateies o patial citique as they ha alwamotiate y a einestment i the suppose real susarchtecte namely materals a proam
Despite these proessional socal an technootiqe it is possile to acceleate the postwa omal throuh an alternatie loic mpicit yet unartcuatecore o the niesquare prolem itsel oe which mcale diagrmmac. From tis perspectie om loner e maine simpy as a static oject or naielystoo as part o a ary oppositio whee its ote tere ariously posite as unction matter content or erea T eins to pot towar a new proram or worm what miht e reerre to as formen-abyme a
4 For rmptone e \Reios e Autoy fhtec: Crqe oftemr Prdto" Ot Ste: S c e. lGro
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oren-abyme
mal prot prap and on tat rli o t nitial pop oft diaram T proviiona pro bin itn or urntmpa i inlud t impoibiit of rturnin to tanon modit mod of t ninquar and mpo-bi of an ntuiati mba o partial ritiqu aran i for a prrpntational onummaon it an
unmdiatd "rai it pu a potrpnational poli-ti of d and duation Fo xampl aai t al l forttoni nri t and autniit t i d iarama pratipont to vrua i on ajman db a "aalit of do not t po t onpt. In orord ra to dat t mot riorou forali avquird t tmati imaton of vrtin onidrd"ot (truur poam i matrial t. t quon of fom oda ma on b broad b t imuanouad promiuou oliitation ad afliation of to onrn
Ti prot odn ad ann a of for andol ltiv om of i ma vn b (from t pont
of vi of urrn patial polit ipobilitIt atmpt ontnuall o rtat and ubvt
domat oppoiional tm ad o ut tplatiit of oralmaria inan to -ir tat tin an bom otr tan prtl appar to b
m ise en abyme
i i t main and umbrlla an mt o api and p oitd fft
or Drrda ad folloin im mr mse e aye(or "plain into ab i a ur of difrn of in-nit rr a nd i forma ll aoatd it mn iaturizaionand rpition prap o ould vn a "fraal iaion
I n look i for a a to ruprat (at at n a min or i diom dipinar orn providd at on poin b t nin-quar o t look o rpki arp a matmat-al xri lk t Idal Vlla tat i ontutd brmov ntr nint o a ninquar n movn tald ntr of a of t rainin it ad niumT tdmnional vrion of t xri in voidin tMnr pon produ a olid looin lati t ufaaa of i approa init a it volum appoazro Bond bin a man to ativat t ap or void idaram an rv a a otmporar diipliar rpon to modrn ivnto of pa i a rid n t ninqar pobm an oraaion tat i all ura a tratr ta ace a rcue Unlik dal Paladiannquar t i no onr a tpolo problm but on ofopoo a pition a dff ratr an rpiton aidnit Ti pariular iato o t Mr pon i notman to prvil t appropriaion of t outrn
Ti up o otrn or poib i for quar a n univra ad xluiv problm atr tvnt a bn tra lmnt o t i itndd to u tat oranizin tm of dindin pro for t noavantard A r
or mr ut in i a for a pdao appropria to t tnqu ad form of
kold nabd b troni mdia poibil-it involv a rti of invntio rat tan a
rnuti of intptatio A popar intan ormblm of uri mom an b n in t movBusy, in Warrn Bat aftr randoml toppin tar in a t of an andr into t drt and a anpipan b ritrin a divr a of for prl tnd of "promd matr ad ativiti tat ou d b ol-
td i t d iaam i ta form no t ta(ad vrtial rption of a propr oriin mod (ik t in-quar but a orionta rptitio a povional momnt in odnaon of a tronou lin T diaram -r n fo ad infatutur il makin vidnt ati virual in a urrntl appar to b ol a barndrt Tu l oppod to t domtiatd ad laiizdall for "manim or rdutiv od of "ommuni- t purit of formabm not nm of toial but imp opn arnatv a to oii ooialfor and o lv arranmn
To rimain intutional and diipl inar modl i i bo a pobl ad dab pot fro a porprn-tational or diarammati poiton qr a altrnativa to tink rptiton a vi ta oniv rpiton a
bomin otr a a rv at tan a tat pro-dution of a propr oriina A l not Ekaru from a rpition btn quotidian and diparxpi"7 Ti i obvoul ru i n o nfamou "uratori Nton ud t app tr Arimd in batub vn Jaqu rrida oppin for a potard Inti a dnin (i an arittal projt tx otudio rt a nablin t poib lit of an adn; t i pdin of t daram i aran t nario
6o Rjma Phisoa Evens: ssaysf the 80
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23.26
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m ma sm
f th rjt sttia art i th lat 160s As.
undrsd by an ay riti minimalism, ihalrid, th w that h rrd t as "litalist
had ttl t d with an asthti rn rrgular idal gmtris nstad, minimal-ism's srusnss is vuh d r by th a that
it is in ratin bth t mdrnist
antig and mdrns sututhat itra st art dns r lats th s
in it ss t uy Sally, litrast atnivs itsl as ith n th thr t
asirs t stali sh its as an idnd t at ating with ithr
What bms vidnt rm d's dstn, rhasunwittingly, s that th btwn sitin minimaism stasut rats xay as an instan th bth and nihrAgainst th mdrnist taxnmy ating vrsus sultur,mnimal sm's btwn an initialy b amd as ming ut thr trajty, thby undrmining bth and ssnding ay mdnist sitin Advang a rrmativ r th-atrial atttd tward sa, n whr rm s udrstd asth ntingnt alut a r r ratn mbind with
tain matrial ssbiitis (and xliity nt abt xrssing timlss ssntials ithr nstrutin r asthtis>,minima ist ratis a diag rammati n svral snss, and r-vid an arly insta wrng withi and aganst a atgralsystm inimalism's riin mdrnism's atgrs ishnta in that t annt b said t nm th mds ithr aining r sultur, t tw da whs mdnistdniti and arity ar always mant t it ba, vria-ly, an dal rigin "Art I trast t high mdrnsm's"nly that whih is ali drs, mnimalsm ativats th"nly dirns ar a, and nsunty its hzntal("n thing atr anthr) hybrid an ny b dismissd as asimuara! las it thatr r bjthd by mdnistitis li rid
Th rssng th disi linay wth th vyday n
ast th "imrr rtitin omabym ruirs duatrs and dsigns t mbi i th "ura sris and th vnt. n t nd, this all r a w disil-ay md rmts arhittur as th ramin g and sing blms athr than as th dntn sutns h argumnt r a diagrammati rjt s it as aximat thatvry dsign rjt nds t ta u anw th ssu whatnstituts ahttur bth as a dsiinary and a sialustin, t susnd and rarang ruling sitins andhahis urnty in atn, t mt dsgn rjsand rsss that annt simly b inrrd rm ntxt rasing but that rtrstivly transrm tr vry n-txts, sial ad int al . Tward this nd, n migt bgint undrstand th nntin aadmia and th ssin( ritism and dsign a s a nd atastrh v, whih
is t sam diagram that mr has brrwd t xlain thvnt laughtr. Thus, rathr than trying t s r bridgth rsumd hasm btwn suh atrativ ralitis, widning th ga may b th way t instigat th mst rdtivmmnts llas.
As n ntribtin t this ssibl array w instittn-a rms, varis gratins ang th navangard havndavrd vr th last ur dads t dismantl and rn-gur n th mst intratabl mdnist sitins,
\\pure c
namly that btwn dsign and riti ism, r and wmrgn th hybid "arhitriti a gur,rssna l, dvsd t invv th brdrs thand th artiabl has bn amand by a dvr dagrams, mvi ng m th "vrtial diagams tsuar and th antin i, "ahittur as wamr rt hrzta r sua dagrams Algsid
ratis, hwv, thr hav maind a sris "s wh, nt sursingy, hav bn m sta abavantgard's vrsin rtitin and rl rssistan, in th al ags svral wrs writtn last 35 yars, th tr mst imrtant ritis th d th ibal rmalist lin Rw, th atinal gist Ryn anham, and th rital axst aTauri al l suggst th nar unvrsal dismis sa tavantgad wih rst t th histral avantgardhir d irs rativ t th ustin "Ahittuntrstng t atagu Rw dsrat t sav t, stati t abandn it, and auri anxius t ulg izthr xhibit a uusly simiar abiguity r hstilirgard t th navantgard rjt Rgardlss wthir all gans ar t thnlgy (anham), th si
a (ai r hysal m ( Rw, ah ass ngard rdtin, ultimatly, a alur t ngag and a t intimat nntn t dsurs, t wimags It may b mr mial, wv, t suggth ntmay rd haswitnssd nt th isis ahittur but, at ast inar, th rsis rtiism nth wds, th avant-gard has rdud a matri-al rsns t ths ritisthat rsids xatly in thirluidain diagrammatirdur at wds msnt a mitd nsttin th ral but th diagram hdiagram animats nt nlyth unsius Rw'smathmatis but als ththngial and ltial-sial unnsius Whiltaditina mds rt-sm, in thr dstntly analytial rintatns, ry n"hs, "diats, and"sitns, t diagrams th navantgard r-at t l las ths dual i-ts hy sitivy xhastth triad rma, thn-
al, and litial itiusthrug th matrial si-tatin and rjtin thifrm by mans thws and nstabi itis thmahn, and va h lastirlains th virtua thmulil dvis and ts,that is, th diagammati
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parti
DIAGRAM: AN ORIGAL SCEE OF WRNG
Peter ise
As in al periods o supposed chge, new icons are tust for-
wad as beacons of mation o it is with the idea of theagram Wile it c be ged that the agram is as old as rch-tecure itself mny see its iti emergence RudolfWittkowe'sse of the esqare gid in he late 1 940 s to describe Panvass pegree conued the esqure poblem as prac-iced the Americ ctecu academy of the late 1 9 5Os dely 60s a pracce seen h a idote to he bbble dagrmg o Bauhas consm rpt at Hvd theate 1 0s d the p of he French academy that was s ivoge at severa East Coast schools well to the late 1 6 0s As aclassica rctect diagr the p was emboded wth a setof preexisent values sch as setry, teche, nd pc wchconstitted e bases of ts organizg strategy The bubble agramattempted to ease vestiges of an emboied academicsm hep so dog, t lso erased the abstract geomeic conent ofthe esquare
Genericlly, a agrm is a grapc shorthd Though it s anideogram, it is not necessy abstaction t is a representationof somethig i that it s not he g itsel is sense, it cothelp bt be emboed It c eve be ve or meigeeeve whe t attepts to express relaosps o formatio dthei processes At the same me a agrm s eiher a scurenor absacto of strcte. Whie it plas reatoshps architectual object it is not isomorpc with it
chitecre e dagr s storically derstood toways: as explatory or nlytcl device d as a generativedevce. Alough it s often gued at he agrm is a posepresentaon form staces of expaon d nalyss the a-gram s a form of representaon I n lycal role the agrmrepresens in a erent way tha a setch or a plan of a bgor exmple a dagrm attempts to uncover atet suces of
orgzaon ke the iesqure even though it s not a conven-on sucte itsel As a generave devce a process of desigthe agrm is lso a fom of representation But e aonaorms of represtaon as a generator a iagrm s a medaonbetwee a plpable object a re bug, d what c be cedchitectures teriorit Cey s gave role is eretom the dagrm n oe dscoses, such as the prsig of astnce or a maemacl o scenc eaton, where e da-gram may reveal latent suctures but does not expl how hosesucures geerate other senteces or euaons quall actect context we must as what te derence is between aagram d a geomeic scheme n ohe wods, whe do inesaes become a agram nd ths more han mere geometry?
Wttower's esqare rawigs ofPaadios projects e dia-gams in that they help to expl Padis work, but tey do not
show how Pallao worked. Plao d Sero had geomeicschema n mid, somees xpct d sometimes implctwhch they drew er proects. The otaons of desos onthe Plla pls do ot correspond to the actul proect bt tothe iagrm hat s ver a. A diagm pct the wor isoten never made explicit. For example, as Kurt Forster has noted, the earliest prhment awgs i arcitecture a diagramaticschema is ofte daw or etched into he srface with a syluswithout beig iked The ater ig of the actal project over ts
interiority
then becomes a superposion of a diagramac ace my oftese dawngs om late othc rchitece to the Renssce the ovelay does not actlly tke ll o the dagracprt oy ptil aces of it The qulity of the on the pagechges when it rs over the diagram from wh it is acullyprt of e pln o the bug hus, there is a story of c
tece of aces of sible lnes and dagrs hat oy becomesible ogh various means. These ines are e ace of n intermedy condon that is the agr beeen what cn beced he teriorit nd he iteriority of arcitecture, te summaton of its story as we as the projects tat cod est asideed the aces d the actu bulg
eacg agst derstg o the agrm as what washoght to be apparey esseast too a ew geeraoeed by new compter tecqes d a des to escape theperceived oedipal xetes the generaon of he mentors istoday proposg a new theory of he diagrm based ptly onGes Delees interpretation of Focats recasting of the dia-gra as "a series of macc forces nd parly on their owncybernec hllcaons. their polemc te dagrm hasbecome a key word e tpretaon of the new They chalengeboth he ation geomeic bases of the dagram and the sedi-mented story of ctectue, d in so doing question ny rela-on of the diagrm to architecure teriority or interiorit
E Somol follows eleuze in situatg tese deas of he a-grm rcitectue For Somol dagrams re ay kid of expla
-T
23
tory abstracon ctoons formlas diagrams machies both Diagrams forthe Sten Islnd Inttutf n Scec tt. FryTnal, NYokabsract ad cocrete Somemes they are simply fod d
other mes they ae mplated A parta list o what Somolabes as prevos dagrams cudes the esqe, he Popticon the Domo the yscraper the dc d he decoratedshed, he fold, d bachelor maces. Somo says that he issecg for aternatve way of dealing wth ctectesstory, one not foded on resemblance and retrn to originsbut on modes of becog an emergence of fference. heproblem with this idea of the diagram as matter as ows andforces is that t s indifferent to the relatioship of the diagramto architectres interority nd n paticua to tree contionsunque to architecture ( 1 ) architecture's compliance wh themetaphysics of presence; (2 the aready motivated condition of
the sig in archtectre and 3 the ecessary relationsp ofrchitecture to a desirig subject
Somos argumet or a diagrammatc project tes asxiomatic that every design proect, whether i practce or the versity, eeds to tae p aew the sse of what costitutes the discipine or, other words, that ctecture both as adiscpline nd a socal proect eeds to suspend and rearrageruing oppositions and herarches crrently in operation Thiswold sggest that design projects and pocesses caot simply
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2328
epession
e derived rom their contets, ut rathe must tnsorm their
very social and intellectu contets. In ts sense Somls dia
grammatic pocess as a machinic enonment, is already gien
as a socia poject That is, t is not astract o atonomous t
rahe pesumes that architectre aeady contns in its eg
(i e its inteioity) the condtion o the socal
I n the inteioity of architecte there is a potentially
atonomous condition that is ot eady socialized or wch isnot eady istoicied one whch e stled rom a histoicized and sociaized interiority then all diagrams do no
necessarily take up new disciplnary and socia isses Rathe,
dagrams ca e used o open p sch aoomy o de
stad its nature I this atonomy can e deed as singla
ecase o the relationship in architecture o sign and signied,
and i singlarity is aso a epetiton o dierence then there
ms e some eisting codition o chitecre order or it
to e epeated dierently. This eisting condition can e caled
architectures interioiy. When thee is no inteiority that is
there s o relaoshp o terorty to he diagrm there s no
singulaty wch denes achitecte
archtectue's inteioity cn e said to exst as a singua as
opposed to a dalectica manestation o a sign that contais its
ow sged the motiaon o the sig is aready iternaliedand ths atonomous. Yet i the diagam is aleady soci as
Somol sggests, this dention iediately histoicizes aon
omy The notion o the diagam eing poposed hee attempts to
oercome the historicization o the autonomy o architecture
that is the aleady motiated natre o architectues sgn
n hs cotet the relaton o the dagram to chitectres
interority is crucial. Foucault's understanding o an archie as
the hisorc ecord o a cutre and o an archaeology as the
scentc sdy o archiv materal c e rasated as chi
tectues anteioity d teiorit By their ey nare these
cnot e constituted meely y uomed matter as Somol
sggests t in act aeady contain pesence motiated signs
d a psychcal desre or deineao y the suject o oth
ground and gure A diagram o instaility, o matter and owsmust nd a way to accommodate these concerns specic to
arcectre ths cotet anoher dea o he iagram ca e
proposed which egins rom Jacques Derridas idea o witing
as an opening o pre presence
Fo errida iting is itlly a conditio o repressed mem
ory The represso o itg s also he epresso o hat which
theatens presence d since architecte is the se q o themetaphysics o pesence nythg that theatens pesence wod
e pesumed o e repressed i checure's ior In ts
sense archtectures teriority d tiority c e seen as a
sum o repressions. While iscouses Derida woud agecontain repressions that in tr cota a alternate interior rep-
pemanen
resentao ctecture must e seen as a specil case
its prlegig o presence Derrida is coect theegien in the iteioiy o architecte a fom o epr
perhaps as the ecoming oiated o he chtecThs repressed orm o represetao is not oly teio
tecte ut teior to i t is tis epresentaon
that cod lso be caed a writg How his witing ente
agram ecomes a ic isse or rchtectureOne way that memoy oecomes orgetg i
nemonc deices Written sts e a orm o em
u one hat is gaphic and teal; they do not represen
a ace ctecue terl notaos c poduce a plhae notg to do wth the iagam ecause a pl
mneoc dece A plan s a ite coniton o taces o wring suggest mny dierent pas. is the
race hat is portat or y concept o the iagm
e a plan traces e neihe y stcural pes
motiated signs. Rathe aces sggest potential rela
wich may oh gnerate d emerge om preosly
or artclated ges. But aces in themseles re n
ie rsormaie, o een cical A diagramatic meneeded at ow o oh preseraton d erasthe sme tme cn ope up epression to he possiility ing alternatie archtectu gues whch conta these
erida says "We need a sge appaaus that cont
e systm a perpeualy aaale ocece d
resere o traces A dagam in achitecte c lso edoule system hat operates as a wiig oh rom he
d he nteriority o rchitece as we as om the eq
o a specic poect The iagram acts le a surace tha
iscpons rom the memory o that whch does no
that s o he poei checr oect podection, enclose menng d site rom the spec
tons These traces interact with traces rom the interiori
teioriy to orm a superpositio o aces Ths sp
prodes a mes or oog at a specc project that
condemed o the itera hstory o the anterioriy o ar
nor imited y acts the relity o