Spatial Volumes a.k.a what I wanted to say in the “kitchen” publication but didn’t.

For the past year and a half, I was involved in an ambitious and expansive project proposed by Japan Foundation called “media/art kitchen”. Tight deadlines and compacted production schedule limited my ability to contemplate the subject I found myself forced to deal with the nitty-gritty task of execution. I had to confront the subject of media art in order to learn from it. In conjunction of the 40 years of friendship between Japan and ASEAN countries, this project came about we were tasked to bridge these seven countries. Geographically, South East Asia is located at one domain on the world map with its shared past, and I felt the true challenge was connecting Japan to this dynamic melting pot.

Japan’s unique identity is a result of its past they have evolved in isolation. Even with its open doors policy and eventual embrace to the Western precepts of modernization, an underlying culture built on centuries of Zen-Buddhist philosophy exist.

One thing is certain, media art is unmistakably a modern expression, with its Western ideals a direct consequence of the 19^th century European industrialization. In his book “Modern Architecture”, esteemed architecture theorist, Kenneth Frampton states,

“In its well-intentioned but sometimes misguided concern to assimilate the technical and processal realities of the 20^th century has adopted a language in which expression resides almost entirely in the processal, secondary components.”

The search for of a new aesthetics, inspired by the factory machines offered modern architects an alternative. Instead of upgrading past styles, they now had the chance to break free from traditional dogma that did not resonate with modern times. They believed that this regurgitation of past cultures stifled true innovation and beckoned others to sever the past.

Le Corbusier’s dictum “a house is a machine” signaled a new epoch in architecture. The machine aesthetics emphasized on functionality, spatial arrangement, and components. It celebrated structures and admired the machine constructions, like pre-fabrication and modular systems. Villa Savoye was the built form that showcased this modern aesthetics.

The journey into the house begins with the person alighting from his/her car. Next, walking on a reinforced concrete ramp, it brings the person to all the connected all the spaces of the house. Finally, the ramp delivers the dweller to the roof garden. Entering Villa Savoye is a processional experience.

Stitching of Spaces: The ramps of Villa Savoye

Image source: http://3335222arch1201.blogspot.com/2011/03/villa-savoye-plans.html

Here, I would like to extract two important factors that make up villa Savoye; the experiential aspect and how placement of components or structures contribute to the quality of the dweller’s experience of the internal volumes. I could even go as far as to say, how the architect “manipulates” the space for desired effect on the dweller, exerting a subtle behavioural control on the part of the architect.

Relating this with the artworks in the media/art kitchen, I noticed that it paralleled Corbusier’s machine aesthetics especially in three of the works. These were “Nightless” by Yuichiro ‘Jose’ Tamura, “Interpolation” by Kanta Horio and Umeda Tetsuya’s performance at Escolta, Manila, all of which I will explain with better clarity the coming posts. But in my general opinion, these displayed an inate sensitivity towards the audience’s experience as he/she encounters the works or calculated placement of components to iniate a desired response. Very much like how an architect works with architecture.