Kenosis Creativity Architecture by Randall Scott Lindstrom B.S.A.S., M.Arch. (University of Illinois) School of Architecture and Design Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Tasmania August, 2015 Declaration of Originality This thesis contains no material that has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information duly acknowledged in the thesis, and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, no material previously published or written by another person, except where due acknowledgement is made in the text of the thesis; nor does this thesis contain any material that infringes copyright. Randall Scott Lindstrom 3 August, 2015 Date i Authority of Access This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying and communication in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Randall Scott Lindstrom 3 August, 2015 Date iii Table of Contents Illustrations ........................................................................................................... ix Abstract ................................................................................................................ xi Acknowledgements ............................................................................................. xiii Part One – Foundations 1 Introduction: Awaiting Kenosis ..................................................................... 1 GENESIS .............................................................................................................. 2 THESIS ................................................................................................................. 5 ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................ 7 Thinking About Kenosis .................................................................................... 7 Thinking About Kenosis Through Architecture ................................................ 10 Thinking About Architecture Through Kenosis ................................................ 14 2 Kenosis: A Synoptic View ............................................................................ 15 LOCUS CLASSICUS ........................................................................................... 15 Preceding the Kenosis .................................................................................... 17 The Kenosis.................................................................................................... 18 Succeeding the Kenosis ................................................................................. 22 An Empty Passage ......................................................................................... 23 ANTECEDENTS ................................................................................................. 24 In Philosophy .................................................................................................. 24 In Judaism ...................................................................................................... 30 MEDIEVAL THINKING ........................................................................................ 34 Thomas Aquinas and the “Five Ways” ............................................................ 35 Meister Eckhart and Gelassenheit .................................................................. 39 Rabbi Luria and Kabbalistic Creation .............................................................. 41 MODERN DEVELOPMENT AND REVIVAL ........................................................ 43 Early Modernity ............................................................................................... 44 Late Modernity ................................................................................................ 46 Gelassenheit Redux ....................................................................................... 51 ANALOGOUS CONCEPTS ................................................................................. 53 Buddhism and Taoism .................................................................................... 55 Hinduism ........................................................................................................ 60 Islam ............................................................................................................... 62 POSTMODERN RADICALISATION .................................................................... 64 Secularisation ................................................................................................. 64 Transformation ............................................................................................... 68 v Part Two – Manifestations 3 Architecture and Essence: Modernism ...................................................... 71 MODERNISM’S RELIGIOSITY (AND KAHN’S) ................................................... 71 KAHN AT THE SALK INSTITUTE ....................................................................... 78 Idea ................................................................................................................ 80 Shadow .......................................................................................................... 83 Reality ............................................................................................................ 93 KAHN ASCRIBED ............................................................................................... 98 Mystic ............................................................................................................. 99 Romantic Idealist .......................................................................................... 101 Essentialist ................................................................................................... 102 Social and Political Activist ........................................................................... 104 Each, All, and None ...................................................................................... 107 KAHN EXTENDED ............................................................................................ 108 4 Architecture and Empathy: Postmodern Historicism, Environmentalism, and Regionalism ........ 111 GRAVES AT CASTALIA.................................................................................... 112 FOSTER AT THE COMMERZBANK ................................................................. 118 PEI AT THE MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART ......................................................... 126 Container and Contained .............................................................................. 126 Cultural Translation ....................................................................................... 130 Situational Response .................................................................................... 139 Materialisation .............................................................................................. 145 Dervish-ness as Kingly-ness ......................................................................... 162 5 Architecture and Nothingness: Neo-Modernism ................................... 165 ANDO AT THE CHURCH OF THE LIGHT ........................................................ 165 Criticising Perfection ..................................................................................... 165 Potentiality .................................................................................................... 167 Receptivity .................................................................................................... 173 Creativity ...................................................................................................... 192 Valorising Imperfection ................................................................................. 199 6 Architecture and Memory: Critical- and Non-Modernism .................... 203 LIBESKIND AT THE JEWISH MUSEUM BERLIN ............................................. 206 Uncanniness ................................................................................................. 208 Hope ............................................................................................................. 225 Laughter ....................................................................................................... 240 Spectacularity and Exemplarity ..................................................................... 244 EISENMAN AT THE MEMORIAL TO THE MURDERED JEWS OF EUROPE .. 246 Transformability ............................................................................................ 249 Pointlessness and Arbitrariness .................................................................... 251 Valuelessness .............................................................................................. 254 FOSTER AT THE REICHSTAG ........................................................................ 257 Mutuality ....................................................................................................... 257 Governance and Architecture ....................................................................... 260 COLLECTIVE KENOSIS ................................................................................... 266 vi Part Three – Amplifications 7 Beyond ‘-ists’ and ‘-isms’: The End of Architecture ............................. 271 FILLED WITH FULLNESS 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