Modern Architecture and Spatial Experiences in Film Rizka Fitri Ridayanti Advisor: Diane Wildsmith Architecture International Program Faculty of Engineering University of Indonesia ABSTRACT Architecture and film in this modern era are inseparable concerning the generation of perceptual spaces. Architecture is built in and around spaces, which may provide the setting for a film, whereas film stands as a two-dimensional medium to explore and present architecture as a narrative framework. Architecture is a fundamental component in order that film can deliver its narrative. This paper discusses how architectural representation is conveyed to encase the spatial narrative of a film and the important role they hold in conveying messages, underlying narratives, and the spatial experiences in a film. It discusses the workings of real to reel, borrowing Nezar AlSayyad‟s term in reference to the reality and the cinema, using the modern architecture in Jacques Tati‟s Playtime (1967) as a case in point. Architecture in the real and reel stand as the main focuses of this paper. Finally, it observes the concept of reel to real, how the architecture and film can affect our perspectives in life and be used as parameters for design. Keywords: architecture; architectural representation; film; narrative; space INTRODUCTION Since the late 19th century, film developed as a medium that has allowed increased awareness and appreciation of the 3D representation of architecture as well as urban spaces.1 Film captures motions, sounds, and sequential narratives of a city‟s architecture that allows an experience of 3D architectural spaces through 2D medium. No other medium has had the power to present an exploration of real or virtual 3D architectural spaces as boundlessly as film. The versatile camera positions and the cinematography enables all kinds of angles and perspectives that present a rich visual treat of architecture and enhances the virtual experience. This rich representation of architecture through the medium of film stands as the initial idea of commencing the study of architecture and film. AlSayyad (2006, p. xii) suggests looking at the world of cinema and reality simultaneously, in that, “Both real and reel become mutually constitutive to a point that renders the study of one without the other incomplete or ill-informed.” Real being the reality, and reel the screen. This research uses this statement as the basis in structuring the writing 1 Boake, Terry M. Architecture and Film: Experiential Realities and Dystopic Futures, 2005/2006. http://www.architecture.uwaterloo.ca/faculty_projects/terri/pdf/boake_arch_film_colour.pdf (accessed February 17, 2013) Arsitektur modern..., Rizka Fitri Ridayanti, FT UI, 2013 materials, the reel world opening a window to the real world, revealing the latter being an inspiration for the former. Thus, this paper questions the story behind architecture in the real affecting the reel, and the architectural representation and spatial experiences in a film. The film that inspired this research was director Jacques Tati‟s film Playtime (1967) and is used as a case study, for its rich representation of architecture. Both of Tati‟s films discussed in this writing, Mon Oncle (1958) and Playtime (1967), bring forth strong themes of modernity, 1950‟s-1960‟s modernism, and modern architecture. They portray architecturally significant make-believe worlds based on real life narratives of modern architecture, as can be seen in the artificial set of a city built exclusively for Playtime known as Tativille, or the modern house of Villa Arpel built for Mon Oncle. Since these films represent rich displays of modern architecture, this research selects modern architecture as the focus for discussing architecture in the real and reel. Playtime will have more focus in the paper because Tati applied a larger design scale of modern architecture in this film, in the construction of Tativille. LITERATURE REVIEW Architecture utilizes knowledge on human behavior, perception, and culture to create spaces that support and accommodate the way of life of those who inhabit it (Ching & Eckler, 2012). As architecture is built for people to occupy its spaces, “The priority of architecture is habitation – a design of the way people will occupy and use an environment.” (Ching & Eckler, 2012, p. 5). In determining the relationship inwardly with people, the architect configures the spaces in a building for specific functions that follow people‟s activities to effectively carry out the human functions. In designing these spaces, besides understanding the human behavior and flow, it requires the understanding of proportion, organization, light, and material (Ching & Eckler, 2012). This is why the juxtaposition of architecture and people is important in architectural representation, to understand the position of the human and their sequence in space, the human scale that meets the architecture, and the humans‟ reaction to space. Firstly one needs to identify with the architecture and its spaces. One of the ways to convey and study this identification process is through 2D architectural representations. The discovery of the perspective technique in the Renaissance in the 15th century was crucial in conveying information about depth, distance, proportion, and flow, in discovering the 'meaning'. Perez-Gomez & Pelletier cite El Lissitzky's observation in that, “the temporality of embodied experience was crucial, that for architecture the meaning could appear only „in action‟, for the issues were „time‟ and „space‟.” (1997, p. 322) As Arsitektur modern..., Rizka Fitri Ridayanti, FT UI, 2013 Perez-Gomez & Pelletier also write, architecture allows meaning to present itself. This meaning can be discovered through architectural representations, but primarily, architectural experiences through temporal dimensions. The early twentieth century has provided us with a 2D medium that has enabled both this representation of the real and also the chance to experience, virtually, these dimensions in the reel. Filmmaking introduces us into a dimension where we are able to identify the meanings of our spaces, between the world with its representation, and between the human and the world. David Bordwell (1985) explains the narrative film containing a syuhzhet (plot) and fabula (story), in which these are related by three types of principles: narrative „logic‟, time, and space. These are aspects that are connected with the factors of building, representing, and experiencing architecture, which can be used as the basis for understanding the correlation between architecture and film. In summary of these aspects, this paper presents space, narrative, and temporality as the basic elements that reside in architecture and film and connect them. Architecture and film both deal with the most crucial element in their production: space. Ching (2008) writes that space consistently surrounds our presence, and through the volume of space, we are able to see, identify form, respond to sound, and feel our material, physical surroundings. Ching explains that generating form in a space begins with a dot, where the elongation forms a line, in which the extension forms a plane, and finally this plane‟s extension forms a volume. Humans exist in this volume of space, where architecture is capable of being realized, known also as the three-dimensional space. Architectural representation happens through 2D medium, with the series of frames in a film shot that creates the illusion of people moving within a space. Although film projects space in a 2D medium, while architecture in reality is a direct 3D space, film provides an opportunity to experience places and spaces virtually, without actual physical presence or being limited by gravity or physics. Meanwhile, architecture realizes the potential of narrative as “the structure of human life, a poetic vision realized in space-time.” (Perez-Gomez & Pelletier, 1997, p. 392) Built to encapsulate the spaces that we occupy, architecture defines form and spatial sequences. The narratives of our daily lives contribute to the forming of the sequence of architectural space. Narratives in film are also built based on observations of human lives. In film, the issue is to determine which architectural spatial setting fits which narrative. Herein lies a parallel with reality, in that architecture is derived from spatial sequences in daily life. This is where design comes in. We can compare and relate the process to designing in real time and space for real Arsitektur modern..., Rizka Fitri Ridayanti, FT UI, 2013 life with real people. When designing the set for a film, filmmakers need to consider the appropriate scenes, the types of characters, the choice of dwelling types for the characters, basically fitting the whole theme to complete the film‟s physical frame, with real life as their reference, in which they may choose to parody it, exaggerate it, or portray it as realistically as they can. Therefore, the narrative connects architecture and film. To experience narratives, occurring in both real and virtual 3D spaces, the required medium is temporality. In order to actually experience the spaces that result in a sequence of mental frames, or in the case of film, film shots, temporality suggests the activity of moving within these spaces. In these sequences our movement within the space is measured by time. In speaking of mental frames we recall the picture plane, the plane which is located between the “eye point” or the Oculus as the station point and the object being viewed, upon which plane or image of the object is then transferred to a 2D medium.2 We can create a parallel between architecture, art, and film, in that the picture plane is a frame of reference in architecture, art, and film to position a person in space. The picture plane we hold in our occupied positions in experiencing sequential architecture is similar with the experience of going through a series of film shots projecting a film space. These picture planes in a sense become our film shots in real life. Through sequence temporality meets with narrative and architectural spaces.