A Critical Review of Ornament in Contemporary Architectural Theory and Practice

Home , Charles Jencks, Den (room), Ornament (art)

ITU A|Z • Vol 13 No 1 • March 2016 • 157-169 A critical review of ornament in contemporary architectural theory and practice

Deniz BALIK1, Açalya ALLMER2 1 [email protected] • Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Dokuz Eylul University, İzmir, Turkey 2 [email protected] • Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Dokuz Eylul University, İzmir, Turkey

Received: March 2015 • Final Acceptance: December 2015

Abstract For over a century, the controversial issue of ornament has oscillated between the two extreme conditions of being condemned and praised. Although current architecture receives ornament enthusiastically due to its design potentials, it still remains as a problematic and critical topic, as it maintains its blurry and slippery character. The aim of this study is to construct the theoretical framework of ornament in the twenty-first century architectural domain. The paper intends to -in vestigate the reemergence of this-yet-ambiguous issue to evaluate its new aspects, and redefine its limits in contemporary architectural theory and practice. Being much more than an intricate architectural element, an in-depth study of ornament overlaps its reemergence with social, cultural, and economical status quo. Through the examination of specific contemporary case studies, this study makes a layered reading of architectural ornament as an instrument of image-driven contemporary culture within spectacle-laden public sphere. In contemporary architecture, the digital, structural, sensual, representational, and symbolic facets stratify ornament metaphorically and literally, making it an intense medium of impression and expression. Ornamental buildings emerge as embodiments of consumption, exhibition, and public attention, by contributing to image-making, commercial success, and marketing strategy, in addition to the performance of ornament as a challenging designerly instrument.

Keywords doi: 10.5505/itujfa.2016.73745 10.5505/itujfa.2016.73745 doi: Ornament, Contemporary Architecture, Façade, Image, Representation. 158

1. Introduction a three-dimensional sculptural con- For over a century, the controversial struction. issue of ornament has oscillated be- The contemporary age is deprived of tween the two extreme conditions of a specific style, yet it is governed by the being condemned and praised. Jacques paradigm of digital technology, which Herzog, the partner of the Swiss archi- enables the design and production of tecture office Herzog & de Meuron, -re intrinsic surface effects and dynamic veals that they do not need to explain ornaments. The advanced technology the necessity of ornament anymore, becomes a distinctive feature of archi- or apologize for a decorative detail in tectural surface, which supports the their works, since ornament becomes idea that the reemergence of ornament one with the form of their building in the twenty-first century is ground- (Chevrier & Herzog, 2006). This state- ed on the highly performative com- ment elaborates the current conception puter-aided design (CAD) and com- of ornament, as architects enthusias- puter-aided manufacturing (CAM) tically appreciate its design potentials. programs. Using technology as a tool, However, ornament still remains as ornament in contemporary architec- a problematic and critical topic, as it ture becomes a justification of experi- maintains its blurry, unclear, and slip- menting with form, structure, and sur- pery character. The aim of this study is face. to construct the theoretical framework of ornament in the twenty-first century 2. Current interest in ornament architectural domain. It is intended to In the last decade, the emergence of a further investigate the re-emergence of vast array of exhibitions, journals, and this-yet-ambiguous issue to evaluate its books indicate the current interest in new aspects, and redefine its limits in contemporary architectural theory and practice. In addition to deciphering ornament, through the examination of specific contemporary case studies, this study makes a layered reading of architectural ornament as an instrument of image-driven contemporary culture within spectacle-laden public sphere. As this study argues, ornament has not emerged in contemporary architectural theory and practice in the historical and traditional sense. The historical conception of ornament was interwoven with the history of style, each of which produced its own ornaments per se with a clear definition and set of rules for its design, production, and application. In contrast to traditional conceptions, ornament in contemporary architecture is laden with new aspects, as it expands through the immaterial realm of virtual reality by means of digital medium. According- ly, the current conception of ornament in terms of scale can vary from an architectural detail to an urban fabric. Moreover, ornament in contemporary Figure 1. Posters of selected exhibitions: architecture can be applied as extrin- Deep Surface: Contemporary Ornament and sically or intrinsically to the building, Pattern, Ornament and Abstraction, Lace of ranging from being a graphic compo- Architecture, The Power of Ornament, Re- sition to a flat image, from a relief to Sampling Ornament.

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Table 1. List of exhibitions on ornament since 2005.

Date Name Curator Place City, Country 06.06.- Common Patterns - Centre For Londonderry, 25.07.2015 Contemporary Art Ireland 30.05.- Structure and Jo-Anne Birnie Frye Art Museum Seattle, USA 06.09.2015 Ornament: Leo Saul Danzker Berk 11.05.- Wilderness and - R & Company New York, USA 25.06.2015 Ornament: David Gallery Wiseman 10.04.- Embellish - Open Studio Toronto, Canada 09.05.2015 03.03.- Nature as Ornament in - Sydney Living Sydney, Australia 09.07.2015 Applied Arts Museums 13.02.- Patterns For (Re) Vincent Meessen Kunsthalle Basel Basel, Switzerland 25.05.2015 cognition 04.02.- Ornamenting Crime Irena Jurek Zürcher Gallery New York, USA 27.02.2015 21.01.- Geometries of Murtaza Vali Samuel Dorsky New York, USA 12.04.2015 Difference: New Museum of Art Approaches to Ornament and Abstraction 17.12.2014- Ways to Modernism: Matthias Boeckl Austrian Museum of Vienna, Austria 19.04.2015 Joseph Hoffmann, Adolf and Christian Witt- Applied Arts (MAK) Loos, and Their Impact Dörring 29.11.2014- Dis Order: Patterns - Museum Folkwang Essen, Germany 01.11.2015 and Structures in the Collection 22.- The Grammar of Order - The Tetley Leeds, United 28.09.2014 Kingdom 28.06.- Sign, Pattern, - Gallery Obrist Essen, Germany 23.08.2014 Ornament 05-23.08. Grammar of Ornament Rachel Barron The Briggait Artists’ Glasgow, Scotland 2013 Studios 12-21.04.2013 Famous Ornament - Youkobo Art Space Tokyo, Japan 03-04.04. Pure Ornament - Ann Long Fine Art Charleston, USA 2013 Gallery 08.02.- Ornament and Crime: Joanna Inglot Law Warschaw St. Paul / MN, 10.03.2013 Parastou Forouhar Gallery USA 29.11.2012- The Traces of - Moravian Museum Brno, Czech 24.03.2013 Modernism: Quiet of Applied Arts Republic Revolutions in Ornament 30.06.- Ubiquitous: Aspects of Ioana Gordon-Smith Objectspace Auckland, 01.09.2012 Contemporary Pattern Australia 02.06.2012- Ornament: Perspectives Julia Wallner, Wolfsburg Art Wolfsburg, 06.01.2013 on Modernism Thomas, Döring, Museum Germany Regine Nahrwold 24.03.2012- The Body Adorned: - Horniman Museum London, UK 06.01.2013 Dressing London 19.03.- Brute Ornament Murtaza Vali Green Art Gallery Dubai, United 05.05.2012 Arab Emirates

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22.02.- Ornamentalism - Bar Lane Studios York, United 02.03.2012 Kingdom 16.02.- Art, Pattern and Margot Osborne RiAus Gallery Adelaide, 16.05.2012 Complexity Australia 24.09.2011- Deep Surface: Denise Gonzales CAM Raleigh Raleigh / NC, 30.01.2012 Contemporary Crisp and S. Yelavich Museum USA Ornament and Pattern 08.07.- Political Patterns – Sabine B. Vogel IFA Galleries Berlin and 03.10.2011 Changing Ornaments Stuttgart, Germany 29.09.- Design Criminals. Or a Sam Jacob Austrian Museum of Vienna, Austria 14.11.2010 New Joy into the World Applied Arts (MAK) 05-07.11. Is Ornament a Crime?: Cindi Strauss Exposition of Chicago, USA 2010 Rethinking the Role Sculpture Objects of Decoration in & Functional Art Contemporary Wood (SOFA) 06.06.- Pattern, Costume, and - Birmingham Birmingham / 12.09.2010 Ornament in African Museum of Art AL, USA and African-American Art 06.10.- Lace of Architecture Odile Werner & S. Maison de l’Arch. et Paris, France 19.12.2009 Trelcat de la Ville (MAV) 05.09.2009 Ornament is Crime? Richard Slee Middlesbrough Inst. Middlesbrough, of Modern Art UK 16.05.- Visual Delight: Diane Minnite Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 20.09.2009 Ornament and Pattern Museum of Art USA in Modern and (PMA) Contemporary Design 21.01- The Power of Ornament Sabine B. Vogel Belvedere Palace & Vienna, Austria 17.05.2009 Art Museum 18.10.2008- Ornament and Pride Nina Folkersma Municipal Museum Ghent, Belgium 15.02.2009 of Contemporary Art (SMAK) 01.08- Re-Sampling Ornament Oliver Domeisen & Swiss Architecture Basel, Switzerland 21.09.2008 Francesca Ferguson Museum (SAM) 17.06.- Brno Echo: Ornament Abbott Miller Moravian Museum Brno, Czech 19.10.2008 and Crime from Adolf of Applied Arts Republic Loos to Now 28.09.- Ornament and - National Museums Berlin, Germany 25.11.2007 Architecture: The Beauty in Utility 17.08- Technology, Ben Pell Urban Center New York, USA 20.09.2005 Performance, Gallery Ornament 05.03- Ornament Melissa Urcan 216 Exhibition Space Chicago and 26.03.2005 and the Edge Gallery Pittsburgh, USA ornament. Globally, the reappearance light: Ornament and Pattern in Modern of ornament became a theme for var- and Contemporary Design in Pennsyl- ious architecture exhibitions; Nature vania (2009), Re-Sampling Ornament as Ornament in Applied Arts in Sydney in Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel (2015), Dis Order: Patterns and Struc- (2008), and Technology, Performance, tures in the Collection in Essen (2014), Ornament in New York (2005), to Deep Surface: Contemporary Ornament name a few (Table 1 and Figure 1). and Pattern in Raleigh (2011), Lace of Journal issues analyze the return of Architecture in Paris (2009), Visual De- ornament in contemporary architec-

ITU A|Z • Vol 13 No 1 • March 2016 • D. Balık, A. Allmer 161 ture, elaborating its historical over- 65), “Ornament / Ornement” issue of view, specifically in the “Ornament” L’architecture d’aujourd’hui (2001, No. issue of Forward (2009, No. 2), “Or- 333). Within Turkish architectural mi- nament: Return of the Repressed” is- lieu, the journal Arredamento Mimarlık sue of Zona (2009, No. 4), “Patterns (2010, No. 241) published the issue of of Architecture” issue of Architectural “Çağdaş Mimarlıkta Bezeme [Orna- Design (2009, No. 6), “Pitch, Type, Pat- ment in Contemporary Architecture]” tern, Script, Algorithm, Ornament” (Balık & Allmer, 2010), (Figure 2). issue of Arch+ (2008, No. 189), Werk, Current literature on ornament, Bauen + Wohnen (2007, No. 11), “Dec- while investigating its sensual, sym- oration” issue of 306090 Books (2006, bolic, and material aspects, embraces No. 10), Eye: The International Review its return in parallel to the digital age. of Graphic Design (2005, No. 58), “Or- Analyzing the ornamental façades of nament: Decorative Traditions in Ar- contemporary buildings, in his edited chitecture” issue of Oase (2004, No. book The Articulate Surface: Ornament and Technology in Contemporary Ar- chitecture, Ben Pell (2010) argues that there is an apparent split between architectural theory and practice, which, on one hand, relates to representation and symbolic expression, and, on the other hand, comprises technique, utility, material, and architectural detailing. Yet the renewed interest in ornament, which emerged due to the advancement of digital design and fabrication, points to the potential of binding theory and practice through the articula- tion of surface. Pell presents his argument by categorizing contemporary buildings in terms of applied, perfo- rated/cut, layered, formed/cast, and stacked/tiled. Similarly, in Ornament Today: Digital, Material, Structural, Jörg H. Gleiter (2012) argues that ornament has returned to architectural milieu due to the expansion of digital technology with a concern on structural and material aspects more than historical discussions of style and taste. Departing from the modern idea of abolition of ornament, six architectural theorists contributed to the book with texts that range from elaborations on architects, primarily Leon Battista Al- berti, Owen Jones, Louis H. Sullivan, and Adolf Loos, to discussions on digital design and manufacturing technology. In the book Ornament: The Politics of Architecture and Subjectivi- ty, Antoine Picon (2013) analyzes the history of ornament and elaborates its Figure 2. Covers of selected journals: contemporary conception. Referring L’architecture d’aujourd’hui (2001, No. 333), Oase (2004, No. 65), 306090 Books to the characteristics of ornament in (2006, No. 10), Arch + (2008, No. 189), architectural history, Picon explores Forward (2009, No. 2), Zona (2009, No. the limits of ornament in contempo- 4), Architectural Design (2009, No. 6), rary architecture. He argues that orna- Arredamento Mimarlık (2010, No. 241). ment has returned in direct relation-

A critical review of ornament in contemporary architectural theory and practice 162 ship with the advancement of digital expand the scope of ornament in rela- technology and expanded its content tion to the new concepts of the digital to include texture, pattern, structure, realm. Furthermore, despite the glob- façade plasticity, digital dynamic ur- al interest in ornament, contemporary ban maps, and neuroscientific scans. research in Turkey is very limited with On the other hand, Picon asserts that no architecture exhibition at all. ornament has lost its political and subjective aspects, while symbolizing 3. The expanded vocabulary of the social rank of the client or bearing ornament in contemporary the personal marks of the architect. In architecture the supplementary catalogue to the The contemporary architectural the- Re-Sampling Ornament exhibition in ory and practice lacks a simple defi- Basel, Oliver Domeisen (2008) argues nition of ornament, which makes it that the theories of Owen Jones, John justifiable on many grounds, such as Ruskin, Gottfried Semper, and Wil- experimenting with digital tools, novel liam Hogarth should be reevaluated materials and tectonics, investigating in contemporary architecture, since different surface effects and sustainable they serve as a basis for constructing elements, producing affects and sensa- the framework of the contemporary tions, representing the building func- application of ornament. Domeisen tion, advertising a brand, and making emphasizes the contemporary emer- contextual references. In this sense, gence of ornament in parallel with the rather than having a precise and clear new construction and manufacturing definition like the ornamental styles technologies, specifically CNC mill- in architectural history, ornament in ing, laser-cutting, three-dimensional contemporary architecture has an ex- printing, and robotic layering. In this panded vocabulary, through which ar- sense, as illustrated in the book, the chitects are able to experiment, design, contemporary reading of ornament and produce from a broad perspective covers a wide range of natural and or- and with a different motive within ar- ganic forms, microscopic patterns and chitectural domain. human bodies, corporate brand logos Ornament in contemporary archi- and iconography, textile and surface tecture emerges as an elaborate medi- effects. Lastly, in the edited book Pat- um of consumption and production tern: Ornament, Structure and Behav- by means of new tools, methods, and ior, Andrea Gleiniger and Georg Vra- techniques. The idea of seamlessness chliotis analyze pattern and ornament and fluency becomes the current par- in the age of digital technology. Along with four other theorists, Gleiniger and Vrachliotis (2009) argue that the new ornament, which emerges by means of digital technology, derives from pattern and pattern formation. Dwelling on the topics of algorithm, behavioral pattern, neuroscientific pattern, and musical pattern, the authors investigate global expansions of ornament in the digital age. Contemporary literature explores ornament from a broad perspective of science, engineering, mathematics, music, and so on, rather than reducing it to architectural scale. The theorists argue that the reemergence of ornament in contemporary architectural theory and practice is grounded on the advanced technology of comput- Figure 3. Façade detail of the Ravensbourne er-based design and manufacturing College, Foreign Office Architects (FOA), programs. Consequently, they tend to London, UK, 2010.

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adigms of the exuberant use of orna- es and colors, which produce unique ment in the digital age. The integration combinations on the façades around of CAD and CAM introduces the con- doors and windows. Blurring the build- cepts of scripture, algorithm, morphol- ing scale, dazzling tessellations create ogy, deformation, distortion, evolu- a visual play, and produce affects and tion, formation, mutation, generation, sensations, as also proposed by Farshid transformation, and variation. Con- Moussavi and Michael Kubo (2006) in sequently, new terms are added to the The Function of Ornament. Yet the in- vocabulary of ornament, such as pix- tention of representing the novelty of ellization, porosity, fractal, digital, and advanced technology resonates more virtual. Besides, pattern in its broadest to the argument of the architect Rob- sense has been included to the research ert Levit (2008) who stresses that or- area of ornament, as it consists of the nament in contemporary architecture concepts of sequential, dynamic, con- associates more to the symbolic aspect figurative, informative, performative, than the sensual and the functional. morphogenetic, and parametric (Lev- Today, the symbolic aspect of or- it, 2008; Garcia, 2009; Schumacher, nament is widely-used especially in 2009; Gleiniger and Vrachliotis, 2009). terms of representing the function of The expanded vocabulary of ornament the building as an adaptation of the allows contemporary architects to de- postmodern approach. Charles Jencks fine ornament according to their own (2011) argues that an iconic building design approaches. As of now, orna- has to carry plural meanings and mixed ment is elaborated through various at- metaphors in order to continue its dis- tributions, such as “coded ornament”, tinctive presence as a landmark. Mak- “dynamic ornament”, “contemporary ing a critique of the decorated shed in ornament”, “new ornament”, “ornamentalism”, “ornamatics”, and “digital N o u v e a u ”. Contemporary architects use advanced technology with an intention to demonstrate their virtuosity in design- ing and producing surface effects. In the case of the Ravensbourne College in Greenwich, UK, built in 2010 by the Foreign Office Architects (FOA), the intention was to express the novelty of fabrication technology (Figure 3). The monolithic building is covered with 28,000 aluminium tiles in different siz-

Figure 4. Beijing National Aquatics Center, PTW Architects, Figure 5. Outer and inner details of the UK Beijing, China, 2007. Pavilion, Heatherwick, Shanghai, 2010.

A critical review of ornament in contemporary architectural theory and practice 164 terms of signs attached to a flat surface, and then as a functional building, since Jencks (2011) notes that symbolic ar- the aim of expo buildings is to attract chitecture merges multiple meanings attention with their façades. As a case, with functional and aesthetic dimen- the United Kingdom Expo Pavilion in sions, rather than dealing with signs. Shanghai in 2010 by the London-based He coins the term “enigmatic signifier” Heatherwick Studio is worth mention- as a representative of the multilayered ing (Figure 5). Being referred as the meaning manifested through orna- Seed Cathedral, the building was creat- mental façades. With an intention to ed out of 60,000 transparent fiber optic avoid rapid consumption and the terri- rods, each of which displays a differ- tory of superficiality by reducing to an ent seed at the tip. Inside the building, obvious denotation, the enigmatic sig- the assemblage of the displayed seeds nifier reveals connotations through an forms curvilinear patterns all over, in-depth narrative, representation, and whereas on the outside, the tips of the interpretation. Beijing National Aquat- seeds form a hairy texture. The pavil- ics Center, widely known as the Water ion oscillates between provoking tac- Cube, functions as a swimming sports tility by the unique assembly of fiber building, and represents water bubbles optic rods and evoking visual surface on all of its façades (Figure 4). Built by effects by patterns that are perceived the Australian architecture office PTW differently when seen from a distance Architects in collaboration with Arup and up close. in 2007, the rectangular building is an The symbolic associations of or- example of the advanced construction nament lead to representing prestige, technology with the integration of steel social status, title, and affiliation of frame and pneumatic cladding. The enigmatic signifier reveals multiple meanings on the ornamental façades, as it expresses the novelty in construction technology, associates with the Chinese symbolism through the rectangular form, and represents the building function by imitating giant irregu- lar bubbles. Ornament as the representation of culture has long been one of its primary applications. Ubiquitously seen in public buildings, especially in exposition constructions, ornament becomes a tool of public promotion and representation for commercial success. As Umberto Eco (1997) states, in an expo, architecture emerges first as a message,

Figure 7. Façade details of the 5th Avenue Figure 6. Arlanda Hotel, BIG, Stockholm, Louis Vuitton Store, Jun Aoki, New York, Sweden, 2007. USA, 2004.

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specific figures on building façades. In From outside, the façades perform as this case, the ornamental façades of the a veil by means of the overlapped pat- Arlanda Hotel, a 2007-project-design terned glasses. Creating a moiré effect, by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in Stock- façades draw the attention of passersby, holm, represent the symbolic narrative allowing them to have a glimpse of in- of power by depicting giant portraits terior at some points. Playing with the of the royal figures of Sweden (Figure opacity of vision, the façades represent 6). Signifying the status of the Swedish the building function by imitating the authority, the façades reveal the signif- moiré effect of Louis Vuitton, as much icant role of ornament as urban por- as they turn the brand identity and the traits, as well as the embodiment and need for advertisement into ornament. extension of power (Balık & Allmer, In contrast to the representational 2015). use of ornament as in the examples of One of the essential applications of the Beijing National Aquatics Center ornament today relates to the aesthet- and the 5th Avenue Louis Vuitton Store, ics of consumption. The Louis Vuitton Alejandro Zaero-Polo criticizes the Store in the 5th Avenue of New York, representation of the building function built by the Japanese architect Jun Aoki through surface ornaments (Van Raaij, in 2004, can be attributed as one of 2014). For him, ornament should con- the contemporary conceptions of the form to the building context, its envi- decorated shed (Figure 7). The 1930 ronment or local culture. For example, building by Cross & Cross, in which the 40 Bond apartment building, built the store is located, is clad with glass- by Herzog & de Meuron in New York es that were ornamented with the fa- in 2007, is covered with an ornamental mous checkered pattern of the brand. surface in the ground floor level (Fig- ure 8). The ornamental element, which was made of cast aluminium with a relief-like structure, functions as a kind of fence for private accesses to ground floor terraces, as much as it sends the curious looks of passersby away from the ground floor windows. Being an interpretation of the urban graffiti culture, the ornamental fence composes a graphic pattern that extends through the aluminium and wooden surfaces of the outer cladding and the interior decoration. In accordance with the media theorist Jean Baudrillard’s (1993a) critique of graffiti as the invader of the white city, the graffiti stylizations Figure 8. Façade detail of the 40 Bond apartments, Herzog & de of the 40 Bond building superimpose Meuron, New York, USA, 2007. many architectural layers, as they use the surfaces as blank canvases without a beginning and an end. Contemporary architecture has long been an experimental ground for in- tegrating ornamental elements as a part of load-bearing elements with an intention to construct structural ornament. As Jencks (2011) further elaborates, ornament becomes necessary when it is integral to architecture as in the sense of structural ornament. Beijing National Stadium, built by the Swiss architecture office Herzog & de Figure 9. Beijing National Stadium, Herzog & de Meuron, Meuron in 2008, is one of the most Beijing, China, 2008. sophisticated examples in this sense

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(Figure 9). Widely known as the Bird’s Copenhagen at night (Figure 10). The Nest, the Beijing National Stadium de- brick building, designed by Erik Møller rives from the idea of creating a struc- in 1979, was comprehensively renovat- ture like a nest that unites space and ed in 2013 by Transform Architects, as surface, which are essentially two dif- they demolished the ceramic façades ferent entities. In this sense, the Dutch and replaced it with glass façades with architect Winy Maas, the partner of the steel structures. The neon lights plant- architecture office MVRDV, refers to ed on the glass façades wrap the whole the building as the culmination of new construction, and continuously flow ornamentation (Van Raaij, 2014). As while changing colors. The digital or- Jacques Herzog explains, if a contem- nament adds a layer of ever changing porary building lacks the unity of space grid patterns to the static glass façade, and surface, ornament becomes addi- but also repeats the patterns ad infini- tional much like a wallpaper (Chevri- tum. er & Herzog, 2006). Similarly, Greg Ornament usually associates with Lynn (2004), who experiments with the façades or the plasticity of build- structural ornament to explore the ings; yet it also establishes relation- potentials of materials, remarks that ships with the building and the urban structural ornament frees ornament fabric. In accordance with the increas- from being an applied decoration. In ing popularity of satellite imagery in the Bird’s Nest, load-bearing elements the post-information age, satellite view merge with non-load-bearing ones, as a new ornamental scale becomes and work seamlessly as a single and of interest. To develop critical assess- intrinsic element. Blurring the strict ments, this issue is explored in recent borders of structure and ornament, the architectural texts. Van Raaij (2014) contemporary application of structural points to the current global trend of ornament emerges as a hybrid element. artificial island designs that have or- Current applications of ornament namental forms, whereas Picon (2013) extend to media façades, or digital notes that contemporary buildings of ornaments, which are activated as screens, and attract viewers’ attention by rendering the buildings visible at night. Produced and presented in the digital medium, media façades merge electronics, different materials, and building façades. In this sense, technology helps the production of noncon- ventional ornamental elements, which cannot be produced by conventional tools and methods. Media façade per- forms as a mediated layer, and blurs the distinction between static façade and flowing lights. With an emphasis on temporality, it creates dichotomies of materiality and immateriality, per- manence and temporality. Rather than presenting a constant and fixed surface, the digital façade develops into a medium of continuous interactivity (Lavin, 2011). The new media theorist Lev Manovich (2006) argues that the media façade spreads digital information over a physical surface, and thus expands beyond the Venturian conception of two-dimensional electronic screen as a moving ornament. In the case of the House of Industry, neon lights turn the Figure 10. House of Industry, Transform Architects, Copenhagen, building into spectacle at the center of Denmark, 2013.

ITU A|Z • Vol 13 No 1 • March 2016 • D. Balık, A. Allmer 167 starchitects resemble ornaments at the dominates the everyday life through scale of the city. The architectural critic consumption and mass production in Jonathan Glancey elaborates the idea his 1967 treatise, Society of the Specta- of viewing cities as “gigantic carpets cle. Barthes (1991) makes a critique of or textiles rolled across vast tracks of the spectacle and the authentic expe- intensely used lands” (Glancey, 2012, rience in his 1957 text “The World of p. 38). Buildings can be viewed from Wrestling”, as he suggests the concept different scales and distances, as well of the society of the spectacle a decade as from various points of view, which before Debord. Baudrillard (1993b) make them reveal different ornamental argues that the industry of semiotics dimensions. goes further than the materialist rules The contemporary application of or- of commodity, as it transforms every- nament proposes novel aspects, such thing into advertisement, media, or as structural ornament and digital or- image. The dominating paradigm of nament, as much as it reinterprets the visuality turns bodily presence into traditional applications of representing spectacle, media, and image, and links culture, function, brand, power, and the spectacle to the social demand of context. In the light of the case studies, astonishment and amazement. it can be argued one of the primary mo- Following the twentieth-century tives of applying ornament in contem- views, the influence of visuality in- porary architecture is to attract public creases in contemporary age. The crit- attention and to present spectacle. In icism of spectacle in current architec- this sense, the advancement of digital tural domain consists of immaterial technology becomes a tool, rather than aspects of image, including flow, den- a motive and a primary ground of jus- sity, frequency, pixel, resolution, color, tification. channel, bit, and frame (Wigley, 2008). Today, image is reproduced infinitely 4. Ornaments of the spectacle in the spectacle-laden public sphere, Today in the age of visual commu- so that the people are subjected to ab- nication, a flood of images dominates sorb a profusion of images every day. the realm of architecture. Beginning Correspondingly, in an image-driv- with the twentieth-century widespread en culture, much emphasis is given to use of photography, advertising, and visuality, surface, and surface effects publishing technology, mass media without the intention of contemplation expanded worldwide by transforming but only consumption. objects into images. Contemporary In parallel, ornament in contem- culture is represented by the accumu- porary architecture contributes to lation of spectacles, which mediates the image-making, commercial success, social relation among people. In this and marketing strategy, as much as it sense, spectacle refers to consuming becomes a designerly instrument of products for their sign values, such as achieving astonishment. As seen from appearance, fame, and public attention, the case studies that sample ornament rather than their use values. as the representation of function, cul- To a great extent, this issue was pre- ture, power, brand, urban context, and viously addressed by Charles Baude- digital virtuosity, ornamental buildings laire in the nineteenth-century togeth- become embodiments of consumption, er with Walter Benjamin, and theorized exhibition, and public attention. by the twentieth-century theorists, Guy Debord, Marshall McLuhan, Neil 5. Conclusion Postman, Roland Barthes, Michel Fou- Literature of the last decade con- cault, and Jean Baudrillard. Benjamin tinuously highlights that ornament in (1968) deciphers the modern metrop- contemporary architecture has a new olis as an endless spectacle, a visual definition and aspect. As this study show of spectacular images, diora- demonstrates, ornament has a variety mas, tempting dreams, and a realm of of layers. Being much more than an phantasmagoria in his 1939 text, “Paris intricate architectural element, an in- – Capital of the Nineteenth Century”. depth study of ornament overlaps its Debord (2002) emphasizes that media reemergence with social, cultural, and

A critical review of ornament in contemporary architectural theory and practice 168 economical status quo. ‘big’ yes to superficiality: Arlanda Ho- The need for commercial success tel by Bjarke Ingels Group. METU JFA, and a profitable image of the building 32(1), 185-202. unfolds the connection of ornament Barthes, R. (1991). The world of and capitalism. Architecture relates to wrestling. In Mythologies (25th ed.) the power of the client; thus the orna- (13-23). (A. Lavers, Trans.). New York: mental façades emerge as a result of The Noonday Press. compromise and commercialization Baudrillard, J. (1993a). The order of between client and architect. Today, simulacra. In Symbolic exchange and the budget of the client and mutual set- death (50-86) (I. H. Grant, Trans.). tlements with the architect determine London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: the limits for creating spectacular and Sage Publications. astonishing façades. The ornamental Baudrillard, J. (1993b). Transaes- dimension is developed as an exten- thetics. In The transparency of evil: Es- sion of constructing a brand image says on extreme phenomena (14-19). (J. and sign exchange value. Accordingly, Benedict, Trans.). London, New York: contemporary application of ornament Verso Books. does not discriminate between a public Benjamin, W. (1968). Paris – Capital building and a housing complex. Or- of the nineteenth century. New Left Re- nament becomes a symbol of prestige view, 48, 77-88. and an instrument of power, in addi- Chevrier, J.-F., & Herzog, J. (2006). tion to being a representation of build- Ornament, structure, space: A conver- ing function or program. sation with Jacques Herzog. El Croquis, In contemporary architecture, the 129-130, 22-40. digital, structural, sensual, represen- Debord, G. (2002). Society of the tational, and symbolic facets stratify spectacle. (K. Knabb, Trans.). Canber- ornament metaphorically and literally. ra: Treason Press. Ornament contributes to the contem- Domeisen, O. (2008). Ornament neu poraneity of the city and the diversity aufgelegt = Re-Sampling ornament, ex- of culture much like an advertisement hibition catalogue, 1 June – 21 Septem- board, a graffiti, or a tattoo, not pri- ber 2008, Swiss Architecture Museum, marily as an element of utility but as an Basel. intense medium of impression, expres- Eco, U. (1997). How an exposition sion, and representation. The profusion exposes itself. In N. Leach, (Ed.). Re- of ornamental buildings and architec- thinking architecture: A reader in culture exhibitions that continue their tural theory (8th ed.) (202-204). Oxon, worldwide expansion demonstrates New York: Routledge. that neither architects nor investors Garcia, M. (2009). Prologue for a have done with revealing the potentials history, theory and future of patterns of ornament. In the future years, it is of architecture and spatial design. Ar- very possible that ornament will con- chitectural Design, 79(6), 6-17. tinue to be a critical discursive field for Glancey, J. (2012). Farshid Moussavi, theorists, a playground of spectacle for unchained architect = Farshid Moussa- public, and a challenging designerly in- vi, architecte affranchie.L’Architecture strument for architects more than ever. d’aujourd’hui, 388, 16-41. Gleiniger, A., & Vrachliotis, G. (Eds.). Acknowledgements (2009). Pattern: Ornament, structure This research has been supported by and behavior. (L. Bruce, Trans.). Basel, Dokuz Eylül University, Scientific Re- Boston, Berlin: Birkhauser. search and Development Support Pro- Gleiter, J. H. (Ed.). (2012). Orna- gram, No. 2010. KB.FEN.020. ment today: Digital, material, structural. Bozen: Bolzano University Press. References Jencks, C. (2011). The story of Balık, D., & Allmer, A. (2010). post-modernism: Five decades of the Çağdaş mimarlıkta bezeme: Kısa bir ironic, iconic and critical in architecture. tarihçe ve bibliyografya. Arredamento West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. Mimarlık, 241, 69-74. Lavin, S. (2011). Kissing architecture. Balık, D., & Allmer, A. (2015). A New Jersey, Oxfordshire: Princeton

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A critical review of ornament in contemporary architectural theory and practice