from picture to picture and back*
steps towards a responsive architecture
TAMÁS VÖRÖS
DLA-DISSERTATION / THESIS ABSTRACT
DOCTORAL WORK: DAY CARE NURSERY WITH 3 GROUPS / BUDAPEST VIII., LAJOS TOLNAI UTCA SUPERVISOR: SÁNDOR PÁLFY DLA
BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS DOCTORAL SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
2015
Read the whole thesis in Hungarian here.
Read the abstracts in Hungarian here.
THESES
The position of pictures is changing in our days perceivably. Several articles describe a pictorial turn appearing both in philosophy and in art theory, and it has apparent traces in architecture as well. Traditional visual forms still continue to exist, however, new types of pictures also appear. Our basic premise is that vision and language together form our concepts about the world. Sequentially we can conceive it by stepping back from the world of life through abstraction and by observing it we form images of its selective components in the shape of two-dimensional elements and surfaces. We could call these magical pictures. When stepping back from the pictures we take some of their elements out of context we can create new concepts – we can code those perceived into linear one-dimensional lines – and generate descriptions. This is how texts are composed. Finally the abstract of these are technical images that are quantic which means zero-dimensional.
In fact, these are representations referring to texts and pictures, binding together symbols and creating new contexts. The creation of essential relations will be the aim of artworks besides their aesthetic function. In other words: newly created works of art bring new information besides miming, they represent and bear a meaning in the same time.
Thesis No. 1.
Picture is not just an individual information-bearing entity identified by our perceptions but through language it is also the object of new types of artworks. Technical images behave completely differently compared to traditional pictures. On the surface they are the same two-dimensional elements, however their creation assumes contradictory directions. It is the same for both the pictures created by photography and architecture. Technical images are done with programmed apparatuses, operated by functionaries. Such programs are not the result of experienceor the knowledge of the trade, but the product of scientific texts and they code symbols. According to the assumption of Vilém Flusser the functionary upon creating the technical images uses an equipment like a blackbox without actually understanding how the program operates, however the functionary scans the boundaries as he perceives through the program. He controls the input and output ends, but cannot access the internal operation, which means that the functionary and the equipment define each other mutually. The equipment does what the functionary wants and the functionary does what the equipment is capable of. The duality of the equipment-functionary of technical image theory can be expanded to the areas of literature or linguistics but also to the dichotomy of architecture and space.
Thesis No. 2.
According to the interpretation of technical images the architect can be regarded as the functionary of “space” apparatus, he plays with the symbols of space-program and combines them. By exploiting the algorithm, he enriches the space universe and architecture. Scanning with the equipment is a sort of a search, which does not assume a linear advancement like reading, but is a series of movements like picking and can be compared to computing, calculation. Therefore the new context can mostly be regarded as the playful combination of symbols, in which the elements connect in previously unknown ways, thus creating information. When taking pictures the photographer wishes to capture his own perceptions from life and the world and show and share these. That is the same with architecture and space. The architect inspects the input – space and weight – and the output – function – ends of the blackbox. He searches for specific concepts through the blackbox – within that: construction, scale, form, (use of) materials all being items in the program. He works this apparatus through the process of designing and creates information.
Thesis No. 3.
Buildings are unique pictorial narratives and at the same time lingual visualisations. Upon their creation the architect forms space and material, binds the repeatable technical image elements together, i.e. synthesises symbols. Technical images land sooner or later in a huge memory, to the universe of technical images where they can be downloaded from any time and they can be repeated. It can be seen that in this process the architect or the photographer that is the functionary performs activities similar to the shaping of the material formed by machines. He is working shapes the material that intentionally withstands such process. On the whole a continuously repeated process is generated, meaning that the pieces of information continuously disintegrate and through renewed decoding they reassemble, they are stored and forwarded. Flusser called this process the “spirit” and its consequence is culture that is improbably formed and informed objects. The same thing happens in the case of buildings, spaces and the pictures containing their projections. The architect searches among the cultural objects as well, his pictures whether from life or from the universe of technical images, return to the same place after grabbing and synthesising symbols through projections – building or appearing.
Thesis No. 4.
The architect draws his pictures from the universe of technical images – whether they are real or virtual – and places them back there. In contextual terms a building is a subjective environmental and cultural sample.
Precisely this regressive process brings one of the most important questions: how can reproductions and empty copies be differentiated from one another. As the apparatus does not do it automatically, itis the job of the functionary to pick from the opportunities presenting themselves. Since the program includes all possible combinations we can assume that it inspires the functionary to fulfil it. There appear to be two kinds of barriers. On the one hand no new information can be created by constantly copying one given symbol. On the other hand the exclusive presence of novelty nowadays, has dulled our abilities to read pictures and has persuaded us that the pictures are not to be deciphered. Supposedly the real goal is more the search of such reproductions that cannot be replaced and thus are unique among the combinations offered. From this derives the greatest challenge of the functionary.
Thesis No. 5.
In the field of responsive architecture the opportunities of the space program are extensive the synthetic combinations are incomputable. Thus the possible exercise of the architect is not the exhaustion of the available variations but rather the finding of unlikely repetitions. Finally we can examine the last phase of artwork where the creator or functionary appears as an individual beside the work of art. Naturally it is not a presentation of context but rather the method i.e. style of choices and representations. This is where the concept that suspects an intent behind repetitive elements and situations sees new opportunities that present themselves. By assuming an element inventory that is not a limitation but a thesaurus of variations, a natural sample, and the followingof which can be expressed, modified and applied from several perspectives. Besides it is by design experimental, thus effecting not only the object but the creator as well.
Thesis No. 6.
Besides the creation of technical images identity in architecture is more of an assumed concept than an aptitude. The decisive difference is the style of representation among repetitions.
As a summary – responsive architecture works consciously through technical images. Within that the architect uses a space apparatus the blackbox and operates and controls its space-weight input and functional output. In the box construction, scale, form and material(use) operates concealed and with the combination of these program elements he searches among the objects of culture and environment, he uproots symbols from there, thus informing space and weight. He creates synthetic pictures i.e. reproductions picked out from the category of clichés and cannot be replaced by anything else, meaning they are real pieces of information. Identity is at the same time its undertaken concept and its unique strategy. His choice between reproductions he created and the repetitive elements are the easily identifiable determinants of his style.
THE DOCTORAL WORK (link)