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The Einstein Tower Megan Fritzler | EVDA 621 The Einstein Tower Megan Fritzler | EVDA 621 A | Form Modern, organic, monumental and expressive are all formal descriptions that come to the forefront in the attempt to qualify the form of the Einstein Tower. Interestingly, many of these descriptors seem to be incongruous with respect to one another. The words modern and organic connote polarizing impressions making them difficult to reconcile in a single gesture. In the climate of an uprising social order, Eric Mendelsohn’s Einstein Tower merged such opposing concepts based on a formal strategy of relating mass and motion to embody a functional program inside an organic monument to science. From a social science perspective, the German nation in 1921 was widely recovering German Pride from its World War One defeat and ascending into the age of ‘The Weimar Republic’ and hyperinflation. Albert Einstein, who had proposed his now famous Theory of 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 Relativity in 1919, was becoming a celebrity to a German citizenry searching for a sense of nationalistic pride (James, 1994). Although resources were scarce, a Figure A.1 | The monumental countour celebration of this German achievement was warranted. In 1921, “The call, couched of the Einstein Tower can be corellated in nationalistic terms, pleaded for the money for just one site where German research with the period of German nationalism could be given a chance to hold its own against the numerous experiments being that followed its construction. conducted at the time in England, France, and America…” (James, 1994, p. 400). The call was for an observatory tower to prove and to celebrate Einstein’s Theory This sense of organic formation simultaneously awakens within the building a (Weston, 2004). The function of the Einstein Tower was scientific, however, the spirit progressive energy that makes the building seem as if it could leap forth from its of the times dictated another need: for a monument to ignite the pride of the German static position. The scale and materiality that attribute the iconoclastic quality to nation. With its monolithic central volume and modern vigor, Mendelsohn’s design the tower are balanced by the rhythmic composition of volumes that surround it. met this need. “Nothing could be further from echoing a lingering past, from stylistic The arrangement of the curvilinear masses serves to excite a sense of movement tag-ends and souvenirs. Rather, here young Germany, the after-war generation, spoke within the heavy formations. The lower volumes act as a base for the central domed out clear and strong, and with the assurance of power.’ (Whittick, 1956, p .54). tower balancing the building’s quantities. The smooth and seamless quality of the exterior skin was achieved through the exploration of concrete and stucco on brick horizontal + vertical elements The Tower was also monumental in the new architecture it espoused with its dynamic (Weston, 2004). The materiality adds a plasticity that softens the monumental stability. Designed as an homage to relativity, the formal strategy of the Einstein qualities of the building. Tower was scientifically reducible to Einstein’s theory in which energy is equal to mass scientific multiplied by the speed of light squared (E=MC2). The equation was the foundation While the exterior skin was left up to Mendelsohn’s expressionist discretion, the function for the buildings formal conception; Mendelsohn sought a relationship between mass building’s interior was derived as a product of function. The Einstein Tower was and movement in the form of the Einstein Tower (James, 1999). conceived of in order to prove the Theory of Relativity by means of measuring the shifting spectrum of the sun through a large and powerful telescope (Fara, Mendelsohn realized mass and movement simultaneously through an amalgamation 2005). The interior of the building was determined by a program of rigid scientific of heavy, monumental volumes with curvilinear elements carved from a thick exterior. requirements which dictated the volumes that would be required. In direct contrast In his evocation of magnitude, Mendelsohn asserted that the, “line must die, [it] to Mendelsohn’s concept of movement for the exterior, the inner tower, which was must become the contour of the mass…Architecture is domination of the mass.” to encase the instrumentation, had to be void of movement in order to provide (James, 1994, p. 402). To this end Mendelsohn attributed increased thickness to the human accurate measurements (James, 1999). A 150 foot tower was needed to house diameter of the tower. The use of concrete, a building material which was relatively function the scientific equipment for the building. Such a prescribed and highly engineered curved + angled elements new at the time, enhanced the sense of heaviness. The materiality used to sculpt interior program served as a ‘functional check’ on Mendelsohn’s form (James, 1999). the form suggests an architecture of weight; openings seem too peer out, carved Mendelsohn was commissioned to from the helm of a thick volume. Mendelsohn created a structure of such mass that provide a ‘shell’ for the functional it appeared to emerge geologically, like a rock formation organically rising from the workings of the interior (Fara, 2005). earth (Weston, 2004). Exterior Figure A.3| The scale of functions Figure A.2| Sections through the which take place in the Einstein Einstein Tower show the form Tower encompasses a large range Figure A.4| The interior and fragmented into two categories, in height. exterior of the Einstein Tower exhibit various states of rigidity Interior and plasticity. modernist infrared The arrangement and manner in which form would enclose the interior occupations became a representation of and monument to the sciences of mass and motion. bodily The monumental tower was functionally required, but its dynamic expression also limitation served to celebrate the newly discovered technology and efficiency. By making the outter ‘shell’ of the building resemble a machinelike organism, Mendelsohn explored a dynamic functionalism. The dome atop the telescopic projection provides the only suggestion as to the buildings function. The dome is the most notable conformity to the conventional B | Body observatory typology; the Einstein Tower counters its typology in all other ways. The mechanization of its scientific function is replaced by an organic nature. Although its ultraviolet Although physics is a science that pervades daily life, its workings are unfamiliar to sleek volumes and lack of décor are modern, the mechanization and efficiency of the the average human. The Einstein Tower acts as an extension through which such interior are masked by fluidity. The telltale dome is diminished in the face of other complex and transcendental information is sampled and studied by the human mind. curvilinear forms which accompany it within the overall naturalized form. In such a way, the Einstein Tower is an extension of the body in which mankind’s physical and mental barriers are overcome. The building translates science to the The organic nature of the Einstein tower serves to set it apart from other contemporary spectrum spectrum mind by extending the sensory capabilities of the body. The Einstein Tower, is a case observatories. The combination of the natural with the modern, motion with mass, visible with visible with of, “amplification rather than a simple replication of bodily experience.” (Vidler, 1990, telescope and function with expression unite in order to create this monument to science and eye P.4). The Einstein Tower relates to humankind in the simultaneous and reciprocal act the spirit of the times. of heightening the abilities of the body and transmuting itself to relate to the mind producing a vessel which the body can unite with in order to reach and disseminate new planes of understanding. cornea lens Building as Extension An amplification of sensory experience is achieved through the function of the Einstein Tower as a solar observatory. Mankind is limited to viewing a finite spectrum of light. Figure A.5| The Einstein Tower retina makes use of two artistic The Einstein Tower empowers the human body with new sensory experiences by movements characteristic of enabling humans to view the infrared end of the light spectrum. In allowing for the the time. Figure B.1 | Light Spectrum visibility: discernment of otherwise indiscernible data, the building acts as a machine which expressionist Telescope vs. Eye humans use to overcome the obstacles that limit the capabilities of the human body. In order to engage with the buildings capabilities, the body which to elevate the body away from the limitations of the earthbound mind. Visually and inhabits the system must be in possession of scientific knowledge. spatially, the Tower expands the eye of the user and in so doing promotes the mind The Einstein Tower allows a higher level of perception, but a higher to a new level of understanding. level of understanding is only attainable with a prescribed set of previous experience. The buildings exterior and interior are sculpted of concrete composed so as to create an analogy to the human body (James, 1997). The overall skin of the building is When building and body are engaged in an interaction, the hybrid mimetic of human texture and curvature. Surfaces protrude and retreat suggesting system of man and building becomes more ablebodied. The body the building as both vessel and vehicle. The smooth hollows carved out of the gains visual perception unreachable outside of the walls. In an buildings skin impersonate the female role of the vessel carrying the body. The educated member of the scientific community the building gains concave openings extending from the buildings base curve and stretch to receive and an operator and interpreter. Conversely, both building and body envelope the body. Such instances demonstrate the the Einstein Tower is “epitomizing viewpoint are lessened in the absence of one another.
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