Place-Making as Poetic World Re-Creation: An Experiential Tale ofRogelio Salmona's Places of Obliqueness and Desire Carlos I. Rueda Plata School of Architecture McGill University, Montreal August 2008 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Carlos Rueda 2008 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-53312-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-53312-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada Place-Making as Poetic World Re-Creation: An Experiential Tale o/Rogelio Salmona's Places of Obliqueness and Desire .<*/* ^t*.-..£-^. Carlos I. Rueda Plata School of Architecture McGill University, Montreal August 2008 Abstract This dissertation explores the work of Colombian architect Rogelio Salmona (1927-2007) from an interpretive angle that privileges the ideas of place and poetic experience, seen as two essential aspects of the architect's metier. The dissertation looks at the experience and making—or generative processes—of Rogelio Salmona's places through the lenses of the poetics of imagination. To this purpose the thesis builds a framework in the parallel activity of poetry writing and reviews the concept of place from a phenomenological perspective. The case study is a mature urban public work by Rogelio Salmona, the "Humanities Building" on the UNAL campus in Bogota Colombia (1995-2000). The building is the subject of an experiential narrative that alternates with critical comments and metaphoric connections to the history and traditions of world architecture: particularly those of the 20th Century modern movements. The thesis makes evident too, that Salmona's architecture—that I characterize as modernism 'without prejudices'—transcends the normative restrictions of his predecessor masters. Salmona's 'subversive modernism' shows ethic and poetic intentionality. The theoretical journey to the building (theoria) is followed by a dialogue with the architect on his central exploratory concerns which the Humanities Building reflects. The study concludes that the work of Salmona brings awareness about the possibilities of experiential re-creation as a poetic strategy for architectural invention. Rogelio Salmona poetically interpreted the historicity of site for the purpose of Place- Making and proposed places that 'speak' of a more than desirable, necessary, man-and- world reciprocity. To Maria and Juan with love, and, in reciprocity To Rogelio Resume Cette dissertation explore l'ceuvre de l'architecte colombien Rogelio Salmona (1927- i 2007) d'un regard interpretatif qui privilege les idees d'experience poetique et de lieu, considered comme deux aspects essentiels du metier d'architecte. La dissertation explore le faconnement et l'experience des lieux de Salmona sous Tangle de la poetique de l'imaginaire, etablissant ainsi des liens entre l'histoire de 1'architecture et ses traditions. Dans ce dessein, la these construit un cadre theorique a travers Pactivite parallele a 1'architecture qu'est Pecriture poetique et revisite le concept de lieu sous une perspective phenomenologique. L'etude de cas porte sur une oeuvre mature de Rogelio Salmona, un batiment public et urbain, le pavilion des sciences humaines d'UNAL, a Bogota, capitale de la Colombie (1995-2000). L'experience du batiment guide un narratif a travers lequel se tissent des commentaires critiques conjecturant sur l'histoire et les traditions de Parchitecture, tout particulierement les « mouvements modernes » du XX siecle. La these met par ailleurs en evidence que P architecture de Salmona—que je qualifie de modernisme « sans prejudice »—transcende les restrictions normatives des maitres qui Pont precede. Le « modernisme subversif» de Salmona se caracterise par ses intentions poetiques et ethiques. Le voyage theorique (theoria) est suivi d'un dialogue avec Rogelio Salmona portant sur ses preoccupations d'exploration desquelles le batiment des sciences humaines « parle ». Cette discussion conclut P etude : Salmona nous fait prendre conscience des possibilites de re-creation de l'experience, celles-ci servant de strategic d'invention architecturale. A la maniere d'un poete, Rogelio Salmona interprete Phistoricite immanente d'un site pour la creation architecturale et cree des lieux qui adressent la necessite d'une reciprocite entre Phumanite et le monde. Table of Contents Place-Making as Poetic World Re-Creation 1 Introduction Poetry and Architecture 5 Poetic World Re-creation and Place-Making 7 A World on Place and Experience 12 The Humanities Building: an Overview 14 Method and Structure of the Study 17 Synthesis of the Dissertation Structure 19 Appendixes 20 Part One. Conceptual Framework: Poetry and Place Re- Creation 21 Chapter Placing Parallels in Poetry 22 I. Poetry, Place-World 24 The Two meanings of Poetry: Poetic Experience and Transsubjectivity. 26 Imagination 27 "Material imagination" 28 Reverberation: the Resonance of Poetic Images 30 The Image and its Meaning in Poetic Language 32 The Language of Poetry: Originality and Translation 34 Poetry is Language in its Origins 35 Language comes from the Reality of an Experienced World 37 The Poet-Translator 39 Translation as Re-Creation 40 Poetic Transports 41 Immanence of the Imaginary in the Real 42 Postscript 44 Chapter Place, from Experience to Making: Revisiting the II. Casa de Huespedes Ilustres in Cartagena de Indias. 47 Erlebniskunst: Art of Experience 47 Place and the Idea of Aesthetic Experience 50 Beyond Space: Place as 'World' 51 Boundaries: Dwelling in the "Place-World" 54 The Folded Nature of Place 55 Dwelling Ways 56 Orientation: Subjective, 'Objective' and "Allocentric" Space 57 Place and World 58 Dynamic Pre-positions in Place 59 Place-Making as Poetic Re-Creation: the Casa de Huespedes Ilustres 62 "Lesson" in History: or a Sense of It? 67 Part Two The Humanities Building, a "theoria": Reporting on 11 the Places of Obliqueness and Desire Chapter The Regional Dimension: Aircraft Approach to an 78 III. Architectural Object Site Plan from a "Bird's-eye-View: Hovering Over an Architectural"Object" 83 The Humanities Building: Site Plan 84 Pace Experience: Highway Horizon 89 Threshold and Platea: Entering the White City 92 Limen 98 Chapter An Inner World, Places of Obliqueness and Desire 104 IV. In the Antechamber 104 An Inner World 105 The Moon-Mirror Court: "La Luna del Espejo" 115 The Reading Room: Re-Creating "The Tradition of the New" 117 Spatiotemporal Sequence 117 Rogelio Salmona and "The Tradition of the New" 119 Briefs on Architectural Tradition 122 Re-Creation and Imagination: Transformation and Image Blending 124 Reorientation; Towards a Meaningful Exterior 128 Spiraling up Around a Cubic'void' 136 Chapter Astounded by the Hills 138 V. Funnel to a Fragmentary Landscape 144 Panoptical: an Interlude for Reflection 146 Stepping Down Alongside the Court on the Rampa Caballera 147 "Fish's-Eye" Room 150 Back to the Antechamber; an In-Between 150 The Grid and the Inclined Plane: Eurhythmic Re­ orientation 151 Epilogue: from Perception to Consciousness; a Recollection 153 Part Three Dialogues with the Architect 159 Preamble 160 Chapter Rogelio Salmona, Problems Posed and Poetic 162 VI. Strategies Materiality: The Poetics of the Ruin 162 On Material Reciprocity 163 Materials: Site and Place 165 Poetic Blending and Cultural Synthesis: the Poetics of Historicity 167 History, Memory and Tradition 171 Architectural Composition 175 A Handful of Readings: "The Intelligentsia of Pleasure" 176 Each New Project is Always the Same and Always Different 182 Architecture as a Revelation of Latencies 185 The Word Entorno and its Related Meanings: Translations from Spanish to French 187 The Cerros de Bogota: Transiting from a Natural to a Technological Environment