578 THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE/THE SCIENCE OF ARCHITECTURE

The Art of Architecture as Mediating Vessel WILL WITTIG University of Detroit Mercy

“The task of making a home in nature is what Wendell Berry has called “the forever unfinished lifework of our species.”1

I. THE ART OF ECOLOGICAL DESIGN It could be argued that the basic task of the archi- tect is simply to make place. Architects are called Ecological design is often characterized as a one- upon to create spatial conditions in response to dimensional form of practice that in its single particular human needs and desires. Through the mindedness excludes a host of complex design is- particularities of circumstance, we seek to create sues in favor of isolated technical strategies. In a real sense of place in the world. Place-making is many ways, the sustainability movement has never as completely free and open ended as the earned this reputation by espousing a simplistic, vellum might imply, but instead is influenced by a quantifiable set of “best practices.” As explained rich palimpsest of historical, cultural, political, geo- by Brian Edwards,”“the Enlightenment in Europe logical, atmospheric, and ecological conditions that promulgated a scientific rationalist view of the articulate an understanding of place. The architect world. It has survived to the present in the mecha- brings to bear a new sense of intention to this dy- nistic perception of sustainability shared by most namic cultural / natural system, but whatever the architects and engineers in the West. This finds intentions may be, they are always qualified by expression in the focus upon energy, fossil fuels, the given condition. Inevitably then the making of 2 indications and definitions.” Subsequently, many place is never an original act, but is always an act have come to view ecological design as a form of of re-interpretation. pragmatism that, when raised to the level of raison d’etre, represses a host of cultural, social, politi- Working from this characterization of place-mak- cal, tectonic, and spatial areas of inquiry. Regard- ing, one might describe the art of ecological de- less of this misconception, ecological design is at sign as a position that requires the designer to its core a theoretical position that essentially ques- question the relationships between humanity, the tions the relationship between cultural and natural place of dwelling, and the given world into which a systems, with architecture occupying a pivot point new project must be woven. In other words, it asks between those two realms. the question: can the architectural act serve as a liminal moment between the realm of culture and More specifically, this position, which influences the realm of nature? If we accept the premise many diverse contemporary architectural explora- that (architectural) design is the act of interpret- tions (irrespective of the designer’s articulation of ing and remaking a given environment, then eco- this influence), attempts to erode the egocentric logical design conceives of this act as a form of world view by calling into question the hierarchical mediation between humanity and our habitat. Al- relationship between humanity and nature. Once though the ecological project is certainly served this interplay becomes destabilized, the relation- by scientific methods, it is not inherently grounded ship between cultural and natural systems becomes by technical concerns, but rather by a persistent open to interrogation. search to renew the articulation of dwelling in the landscape. THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE AS MEDIATING VESSEL 579

II. THE THIRD LANDSCAPE any landscape, then this alternative vision tends to give primacy to the landscape as a generator of Our own habitat is not without examples of the human made form. There are in fact many con- attempt to create what has been referred to as a temporary architectural examples that follow this middle landscape. In fact, the built environment is trajectory by attempting to develop strong rela- dominated by spaces that owe their heritage to tionships between site and structure. (In some this goal, namely in the form of post-war subur- examples, this strategy can be seen operating in bia. Although it is a gross over simplification, it the reverse: human-made form is seen as the gen- could be argued that most of these landscapes grew erator for a constructed landscape.) Many recent out of either Wright’s Broadacre City or Corbu’s projects, which can be represented by Kolatan & Radiant City paradigm. However, in both cases, the MacDonald’s Raybould House, illustrate a fascina- actual territories suffer from an egocentric tion with a spatial condition whereby the end of worldview. Considering the status of the office or the garden and the beginning of the house be- apartment building and the single family home in come indistinguishable (Figure 3). Although these their suburban settings, a primacy is clearly given projects have not adopted the rhetoric of to the human formed object. The environment that sustainability, they do illustrate a very literal in- surrounds these objects is typically an uninhab- terpretation of the larger objective of reconciling ited facsimile of a natural condition, which rarely the spaces of culture and nature. can legitimately claim to be a’‘garden’. These land- scapes are clearly out of balance, and neither cul- However, in these examples the objective of a hy- ture nor nature is able to flourish. brid condition is achieved primarily through for- mal devices of mimicry, overlap, and reciprocity, Turning to landscape painting for a moment as a which tends to limit the connective relationship to way to access visions of a possible hybrid terri- one of symbolic resemblance. Although the build- tory, there are several examples that approximate ings theoretically blend into and become part of a a more balanced condition. In Jasper Cropsey’s hybrid, harmonious landscape, they do not neces- Starracca Viaduct for example, we see a portrayal sarily make real phenomenological connections of a bucolic landscape in the pastoral tradition, in- between the human and natural worlds. (In fact, cluding the requisite shepherd figure in the fore- in some cases the landscape/building blur is pri- ground (Figure 1). It is important to note that the marily a representational sleight of hand that in- subject of the railway was understood as a symbol evitably dissolves when the projects are actually of humanity’s extension into the landscape. Al- constructed.) This same tendency towards formal though at the time the prevailing sentiment was resemblance can also be seen in the design of build- much more suspicious, the painting clearly por- ings themselves. Similar strategies are present in trays an optimism that these two worlds can in works spanning many decades including Gaudi, fact merge to form a third condition, as the Via- Bruce Goff (Figure 4) and Eugene Tsui or the more duct is seamlessly blended into the natural set- recent Museum of Sex proposal by SHoP (Figure ting. Examples that deal directly with architectural 5). The work of these designers creates complex objects can be found in the landscapes of Paul spatial conditions that are inspired by specific natu- Cezanne, many of which are characterized by a ral forms, but again this similarity in formal struc- profound neutrality in the depiction of our dwell- ture does not necessarily result in a significant ing in the landscape (Figure 2). Cezanne is famous connection between inhabitant and the larger for saying very little about his work beyond (some- world. thing to the effect of), “I paint what I see.” What is ‘seen’ in these settings is an equivalence of the Many contemporary examples that one might in- cultural and the natural, which begins to erode the clude in this category of resemblance are in fact centrality of the human position, and anticipates a rooted in morphological principles derived from worldview that attempts to merge the natural and natural systems, rather than simple formal rela- constructed landscapes. tionships. Processes of metamorphosis and dy- namic forces have been translated in remarkable If the egocentric worldview always considers the ways into architectural “organisms” via digital human-made object to be the dominant figure in modeling environments as illustrated by Greg 580 THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE/THE SCIENCE OF ARCHITECTURE

Lynn’s Embryological House (Figure 6). However, other they attempt to reconcile technical and natu- many projects operating in this realm continue to ral systems. If our work can be grounded concep- translate these processes of dynamic transforma- tually by qualitative mediations between humanity tion primarily as a means to generate form, rather and nature, and also recognize technical tactics as than as a paradigm for the actual transformational tools that should be employed in service of this capacity of the building as a finished product. There goal, we may be able to achieve both conceptual are examples, such as the City Hall Project in Lon- and instrumental hybrids simultaneously. don by Foster, in which the modeling environment does actually set up interactive conditions between IV. IMPERFECT IMAGES form making and simulated building performance The work of four designers working in com- (Figure 7). When the performance side of the equa- pletely different realms may serve as imperfect il- tion is emphasized, however, there is a danger that lustrations of this ideal. First, the Natatorium at the process will again move into a method of de- Cranbrook Educational Community by Tod Williams sign based directly on measurable climate based and Billie Tsien serves as an excellent example of criteria. Human desire may be all but eliminated building as phenomenological mediator. The posi- by a one-dimensional method that overwhelms tioning of the building in the landscape carefully metaphysical concerns with physical determinism. balances a range of issues. On one level, the build- Certainly, one could argue that the works refer- ing is used to complete a series of courtyard spaces enced and alluded to here are misrepresented by and axial relationships both actual and implied in taking them out of their conceptual framework, but Sarrinen’s plan (Figure 8). In this way the building in the context of this essay these methods under- is used to create another exterior room in a cam- score two major fault lines that often appear in pus that is relatively pastoral, but approaches ur- the logic of what one might call ‘the art of ecol- banity in its treatment of positive and negative ogy’. If the creation of a middle landscape relies space. At the same time, the building is tucked primarily on a formal or diagrammatic means of carefully into a wooded hillside that ultimately pro- connection, then there is a danger that these for- vides an opportunity to create powerful relation- mal connections will supplant any real and mean- ships between its inhabitants and its setting. The ingful hybrid condition. If the middle landscape development of the building form and fenestration becomes a machine that is only understood as a simultaneously addresses both technical and phe- climatic mediator, then the un-measurable nuances nomenological issues. A variety of openings, in- of human circumstance may be ignored. cluding the dramatic oculi, are carefully planned, and in many cases automatically controlled, to re- III. ARCHITECTURE AS MEDIATOR spond to the intense internal conditions of heat and humidity. Each opening provides a unique ex- Re-making place in a way that makes architecture perience, linking swimmer to the external land- the pivot-point between humanity and the natural scape in ways both unexpected and profound world in both a figurative and a literal sense ide- (Figure 9). Overall, the building’“combines the sen- ally requires a balance between two conditions. suous, physical and intellectual to create a space First, one must allow the principles rather than the in which it is possible to be reflective or active; to appearance of natural systems to be instrumental be close to nature and cultivate human society, in the making of architecture, and secondly, the and to develop in mind and spirit as well as in building itself must on some level recognize its role body.”3 as mediator between culture and nature in the making of place. It is primarily in the making of A second example also creates a powerful rela- the building itself rather than in its formal connec- tionship between landscape and inhabitant. A pro- tion to its surroundings that architecture achieves posal for an urban library in Sittingbourne, Kent this state. If the making of place itself is seen as by C.J. Lim demonstrates an unusual reversal of the mediator, rather than the locus of mediation, landscape and building strategies (Figure 10). In then a broad range of strategies that involve the this case, the building is literally turned inside out crafting of architectural conditions can be seen as with the typical civic forecourt being replaced by a ecological in the sense that in some form or an- central courtyard meant to suggest a secret gar- THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE AS MEDIATING VESSEL 581

den, which in this case is enclosed by books. The to the orders of nature and architecture.”4 It would courtyard sits beneath a semi-enclosed glass roof be impossible in this case to claim that the project and includes picnic areas, gravel surfaces with employs a strategy of resemblance. Instead, it deck-chair seating, flowerbeds, and “grassy hill- balances the poetic and the pragmatic by making ocks.” This hybrid zone is shaded by a field of significant connections to its surroundings. In much mechanical petals that open and close in response of Murcutt’s work, “air, water and light are essen- to light conditions in order to shade the court when tial and universal but vary in character from place necessary (Figure 11). In this case, nature is in- to place. He integrates their qualities and ternalized and the repository of the cultural world perenniality into his architecture to inscribe their forms a barrier to the urban landscape. cyclical characteristics on it, to make them pal- pable and comprehensible.”5 In this case, the con- Again working in an urban context, the skyscraper nections are made by carefully integrating light and proposals of Ken Yeang offer a similar merger of shadow, wind and rain simultaneously in every built and natural environments in a vertical orien- detail of the building (Figure 15). The precision tation. For example, the”EDITT Tower in Singapore with which each element reinforces the next ex- proposes the integration of vegetation from sur- presses the idea that dwelling provides both pro- rounding landscapes to create ecological continu- tection and connection to the complexities of the ity (Figure 12). The vegetation which is used natural environment. Ultimately, it is in the grace- throughout the building improves air quality, tem- ful roof form, the primal element of shelter, where perature control, and creates a living machine that this symbiosis is manifested as the “third land- recycles water (which the building also collects) scape” imbedded directly in the vessel of inhabita- and processes sewage. Of course, it also creates a tion (Figure 16). direct explicit connection between its inhabitants and a variety of biological processes in the IV. CODA unlikeliest of sites. In many of Yeang’s proposals, the building envelope itself is thought of as a kind The act of building attempts to make a vessel that of organism that is able to adapt to changes in can potentially become a threshold that both guards internal and external conditions (Figure 13). Un- and connects us to the other. In the words of Wil- like other recent examples of dynamic double skin liams and Tsien, “Our project attempts to integrate building envelopes, which at times seem to be con- and embed itself: to approach the building is to 66 ceived purely as uninhabited machines, Yeang’s pass through and be part of the larger landscape.” work is clearly driven by an attempt to humanize To reach this potential, the vessel must respond to the vertical city. The presence of the “vertical land- all aspects of the human body as well as the col- scaping,” the role of the territory of skin as hydro- lective spirit that is represented by our imagina- logical system, and the attempt to create tion, our desires, and our dreams. One simple programmatic interactions that are lost with the characteristic shared by these representative detachment from the street all speak to a meta- projects (that perhaps together suggest an un- physical influence that places technology in ser- known project concealed between them) is that vice of humanity. they can be seen as thresholds to both worlds. Each proposal makes powerful connections to the Finally, returning to a built example, and address- landscape and demonstrates a lifelike adaptability ing the scale implied by the concept of to changing conditions, yet none is reducible to “articulating“‘dwelling’ in the landscape,” the quantifiable measures. The buildings themselves, houses of Glen Murcutt demonstrate a rich blend- in each case, are vessels of an instrumental as ing of technical and qualitative mediations. well as a figurative middle landscape. The”Magney House, which sits on a bare, treeless BIBLIOGRAPHY seaside hill, avoids any obvious connection to the surrounding landscape (Figure 14). Although some Berry, Wendell. Home Economics: Fourteen Essays. San of Murcutt’s projects are nestled into picturesque Francisco: North Point Press, 1987. landscapes, this project is placed in the landscape Cronon, William, ed. Uncommon Ground: Toward Rein- as a’“counter-point to the forms of nature but in venting Nature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1995. harmony with its constraints“– the embodiment of Edwards, Brian, 2001. “Snakes in Utopia: A Brief History the ideals of continuity and unity that he attributes 582 THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE/THE SCIENCE OF ARCHITECTURE

of Sustainability.” Architectural Design. v.71, no.4: 9- sions: Landscape and Culture in the Twentieth Century. 19. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1991. Fromonot, Francoise. Glen Murcutt: Buildings and Yeang, Ken. The Green Skyscraper. Munich: Prestel Projects. New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1995. Verlag, 1999. Hunt, John Dixon, ed. The Pastoral Landscape. Washing- Yeang, Ken. Reinventing the Skyscraper. West Sussex: ton: Trustees of the National Gallery of Art, 1992. Wiley-Academy, 2002. Gissen, David, ed. Big & Green: Toward Sustainable Ar- chitecture in the 21st Century. New York: Princeton Ar- NOTES chitectural Press, 2002. 1 William Cronon, “The Trouble with Wilderness: or, Get- Kolarevic, Branko, ed. Architecture in the Digital Age: ting back to the Wrong Nature,” Uncommon Ground (New Design and Manufacturing. New York: Spoon Press, 2003. York: W.W. Norton, 1995.), p. 89. The Berry quote is LeCuyer, Annette, 2001. “Cranbrook Complexities.””The from Home Economics. Architectural Review. v.209, no.1251: 46-52. 2 Brian Edwards, “Snakes in Utopia: A Brief History of Lim, C.J. & Ed Liu, ed. How Green is Your Garden? West Sustainability” Architectural Design (July 2001) v.71, Sussex: Wiley-Academy, 2003. no.4, p.10. Marx, Leo. The Machine in the Garden. London: Oxford 3 Annette LeCuyer, “Cranbrook Complexities,” The Archi- University Press, 1964. tectural Review (May 2001) v. 209, no.1251, p.52. Senosiain, Javier. Bio-Architecture. Amsterdam: Archi- 4 Francoise Fromonot, Glen Murcutt: Buildings and tectural Press, 2003. Projects, (New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1995.), Waters, John K. Blobitecture: Wavefront Architecture and p. 96. Digital Design. Gloucester: Rockport Publishers Inc., 2003. 5 Ibid, p. 44. Williams, Tod & Billie Tsien, 2001. “Cranbrook Natato- 6 Tod Williams & Billie Tsien, “Cranbrook Natatorium,” rium.” Architecture and Urbanism no.374: 18-23. Architecture and Urbanism (Nov. 2001) no. 374, p. 20. Wrede, Stuart and Adams, Howard, ed. Denatured Vi-