TRANSFORMATION OF PAINTING INTO ARCHITECTURE:
Museum for the Works of F. Lembersky
by
Yelena Lembersky
B.F.A., School of Art,
B.S., School of Architecture and Urban Planning
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
August, 1991
SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE
AT THE
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
FEBRUARY 1994
@ Yelena Lembersky 1994. All rights reserved.
The author hereby grants to M.I.T. permission
to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and
electronic copies of the thesis document in whole or in part.
Signature of the author
Yelena Lembersky, Department of Architecture January 14, 1994
Certified by
Fernando Domeyko, Lecturer,
Thesis Supervisor
ARosemary
FEB 2 4 1994
Accepted by
0- nshaV,Chairperson, Departmental
Commitee on Graduate Students
2
TRANSFORMATION OF PAINTING INTO ARCHITECTURE:
Muemr6
M%1rV
stract
ABSTRACT
Art and architecture sharM common goa
n
iil4onaprnils
Their
common goal is to express an abstrac spiritual c
t
and beautiful material form. The shared principles of form generation in art and
architecture are abstraction, dematerialization, organization and construction of
space.
The similarity of purpose and formal principles allow art and architecture to inform
each other. Artists have employed architectural elements as pure abstract form, and
architects have applied art to formulate architectural intentions and resolve formal
architectural problems. As well, artists and architects have collaborated often in the
creation of single artistic or architectural projects.
This thesis introduces a method of transforming painting into architecture. The
formal methods found in selected paintings of the Russian painter Felix Lembersky
(1913-1970) are used to generate the architectural form for the museum of these same
paintings. The intention is to derive a form which is both rooted in architectural
principles and is expressive of the art works to be exhibited within the museum.
Thesis Supervisor: Fernando Domeyko
Title: Lecturer of Architectural Design
But suddenly you touch my heart,you do me good, Iam
happy and Isay: "This is beautiful." That is Architecture.
Art enters in.
-Le Corbusier
4
cknowl
ment
I thank Fernando Domeyko, Edward Levine,
and Richard Tremaglio for their invaluable
contribution to this work I also thank the
faculty and staff of the MIT School of Architecture for their untiring commitment to
students and the discpline of architecture.
6
........... .. .. 1
Title ............................................................................
3
A b stract .....................................................................................................
5
Acknowledgment ...........................................................................
7
Table of Contents ..................................
9
Chapter 1: Spirit ...................................................................................
.... 10
Introduction ..............................................................
11
The Spiritual .........................................................................
12
Beauty ...................................................................................
13
Harmony ..............................................................................
.. 14
Purity .................................................................
16
Epoch and Universal Truth ................................................
17
Conclusion ............................................................................
17
......
Endnotes ......................................................................
18
Illustration credits ..............................................................
19
Chapter 2: Method .......................................................................Dematerialization and Abstraction...................................20
21
Organization .......................................................................
23
Construction of Space .......................................................
25
Conclusion ................................
25
Endnotes .................................
26
Illustration credits ..............................................................
27
....
Chapter 3: Concert .........................................................
33
Endnotes/Illustration credits ..........................................
35
...
Chapter 4: Museum ...................................................................
Phase 1: Analysis & Preliminary Design......................... 36
Pictorial organization: autonomy of elements ......... 41
Dematerialization and abstraction: juxtaposition........41
Pictorial space: transparency and continuity ........... 41
Transformation: painting into architecture ............. 51
51
Massachusetts Avenue ........................................
55
Commercial Avenue .............................................
Phase 2: Museum for the Paintings of F. Lembersky ......... 64
- ...- 87
Conclusion .......................................................................
... 89
.............................................................
Bibliography
Table of Contents
8
:spiri
The Architect, by his arrangementoffonns, realizes
an orderwhich is apure creation of his spirit;by
forms and shapes he affects oursenses to an acute
degree and provokes plasticemotions; by the
relationshipswhich he creates he wakes profound
echoes in us, he gives us the measureof an order
which wefeel to be in accordancewith that of our
world, he determines the various movements of our
heartand of our understanding;it is then that we
experience the sense of beauty.1
-Le Corbusier
Chapter 1: Spirit
Introduction
Fine art and architecture aspire to similar goals and utilize similar methods to achieve
them. Both aspire to express a spiritual content through beauty, harmony, and formal
purity. They aim to articulate the essence of the epoch and culture through the
embodiment of universal truth. Both art and architecture achieve this by similar
means: dematerialization, abstraction, ordering and the construction of space. The
similarity in goals and methods of art and architecture can be evidenced in the
writings of prominent artists and architects of the twentieth century, particularly
Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian avant-garde painter, theoretician and founder of
abstract painting, and Le Corbusier, the most influential architect and painter of the
twentieth century.
b
Wassily Kandinsky asserts that "form is the material expression of abstract content." 2
Le Corbusier states that "Art is this pure creation of the spirit"3 and "architecture is a
thing of art, a phenomenon of the emotions, lying outside questions of construction
and beyond them."4 Similarly, Hans Hollein states that "architecture is a spiritual
aorder, realized through building."5
Both art and architecture utilize visual form to express a spiritual, harmonious,
beautiful and pure essence, which affects the subconscious, evokes emotions, and
alters human understanding of the immediate surrounding, nature, and one's own
existence.
10
Chapter 1: Spirit
The Spiritual
The spiritual is the superior, divine, eternal and infinite essence of all matter.
Art and Architecture aspire to an expression of a universal spiritual content The
spiritual in art and architecture is the non-material essence of the material form.
It exists beyond human consciousness and affects the soul.
Wassily Kandinsky describes the spiritual as an inner content expressed through a
6
form, and "based upon the purposeful touching of the human soul." According to
Kandinsky, the spiritual cannot be seen or understood analytically,
but only experienced by the human soul through "spiritual vibrations."
Similar to Kandinsky's theory of the spiritual in art, Le Corbusier describes
the spiritual experience of architectural form.
Then there arise those multifarious sensations, which evoke all that
a highly cultivated man may have seen, felt and loved; which
release, by means he cannot escape, vibrations he has already
experienced in the drama of life: nature, men, the world. 7
*
d
Both Kandinsky and Le Corbusier emphasize the importance of spiritual content in
the works of art and architecture. The spiritual, which affects the
human subconscious and reflects the non-material universal order,
is the fundamental component of the artistic.
Chapter 1: Spirit
11
Beauty
Beauty is the soul of material objects; it belongs to the spiritual meanings of things.
Art and architecture aspire to the embodiment of formal and spiritual beauty.
Beauty is the means for expressing the spiritual content in art. Kandinsky asserts that
the complexity of beauty lies in an external formal and internal spiritual beauty. He
emphasizes the preeminence of inner beauty, which lies beyond the physical form of
the objects and touches the soul, as it represents the spiritual essence of the universe.
According to Kandinsky, the external formal beauty pleases the eye but fails to touch
the soul as it soothes the eye and keeps the soul from penetrating the external surface
"
-
of the art work.
Similarly in architecture, inner beauty is the vehicle for communicating spiritual
content. Le Corbusier exclaims: "Beauty governs all; she is of purely human creation;
she is the overplus necessary only to men of the highest type."8
Both Kandinsky and Le Corbusier consider beauty to be fundamental inart and
f
12
Chapter 1: Spirit
architecture. Beauty in art and architecture provides the immaterial means for
perception of a spiritual content.
Harmony
"Harmony is a state of agreement with the norms of our universe." 9
Art and architecture aspire to the attainment of harmony in form and content.
Le Corbusier asserts that "architectural emotion exists when the work rings within us
in tune with a universe whose laws we obey, recognize and respect. When certain
harmonies have been attained, the work captures us." 10 In art, harmony is the peace
and balance of all forces and movements of the artistic form. Kandinsky frequently
recalls harmony in describing formal and spiritual relationships in art. Similarly,
Le Corbusier asserts that "architecture is the art above all others which achieves a
state of platonic grandeur, mathematical order, speculation, the perception of the
harmony which lies in emotional relationships."l As an architect, Le Corbusier
discovers harmony in the relationship of architecture and the technological and social
context. "May our eyes be opened: this harmony already exists, the result of work
governed by economy and conditioned by physical necessities. This harmony has its
causes; it is not in any way the effect of caprice, but is of logical construction... "12
h
*
Both Kandinsky and Le Corbusier assert harmony as a fundamental element of
artistic and architectural form, attained by the utilization of the materials and
methods native to the architectural and artistic disciplines.
Chapter 1: Spirit
13
Purity
The purity of art and architecture is the expression of the inner meaning of objects
which lies beyond utilitarian needs and technological considerations.
In art, purity is the complete freedom of the work from any utilitarian use or reference to utilitarian or material objects. Kandinsky asserts that art is "in the service of
the divine, as a totally pure art." 13 Similarly, Kasimir Malevich, the Russian AvantGarde painter and the founder of Suprematism, states that "art approaches creation
as an end in itself and domination over the forms of nature." 14 Le Corbusier praises
modem art for its divorce from utilitarian application; "Modem painting has left on
one side wall decoration, tapestry and the ornamental urn and has sequestered itself
in a frame-flourishing, full of matter, far removed from a distracting realism; it
lends itself to meditation." 15
As with pure art, architecture is the pure expression of the eternal universal truth
transmitted through the silent presence of built form. It is the inner content beyond
the materiality of construction, and its practical function which distinguishes art from
craft, and architecture from building. Le Corbusier states:
*1
14
Chapter 1: Spirit
Architecture is a thing of art, a phenomenon of the emotions, lying outside
questions of construction and beyond them. The purpose of construction is
to make things hold together; of architecture to move us... Architecture is a
matter of "harmonies," it is "a pure creation of the spirit."1 6
Similarly, Hugo Haring, an architect and secretary of the Berlin architects' association
Der Ring, speaks of the 'new building' which is generated by the pure spiritual
intention, freed from utilitarian function and technological constrains.
There remains an essential difference between the architect and the
engineer. The work of the engineer has as its goal merely the
performance of material work within the limits or in the domain of
economic effects. That the result frequently contains other expressive values as well is a side-effect, a subsidiary phenomenon of his
work. The architect, on the other hand, creates a Gestalt, a total form,
a work of spiritual vitality and fulfillment, an object that belongs to
and serves an idea, a higher culture.
*
This work begins where the engineer, the technologist, leaves off; it
begins when the work is given life. Life is not given to the work by
fashioning the object, the building, according to a viewpoint alien to
it, but by awakening, fostering, and cultivating the essential form
enclosed within it. 17
Artists and architects aspire to the purity of form. Purity of form in art and
architecture is achieved by the prevalence of a spiritual,
immaterial content over utilitarian function.
Chapter 1: Spirit
15
Epoch and Universal Truth
Art and architecture are the silent reflection of the philosophies of an epoch, man's
beliefs and aspirations, and the universal spiritual truth embodied in physical form.
Kandinsky formulates creative inspiration to be composed of three "mystical necessities:"
1. Every artist, as creator, must express what is peculiar to himself (element
of personality).
2. Every artist, as child of his time, must express what is peculiar to his own
time (element of style, in its inner value, compounded of the language of the
time and the language of the race, as long as the race exists as such.)
m
n
16
Chapter 1: Spirit
3. Every artist, as servant of art, must express what is peculiar to art in
general (element of the pure and eternally artistic, which pervades every
individual, every people, every age, and which is to be seen in the works of
every artist, of every nation, and of every period, and which, being the
principal element of art, knows neither time nor space.) 18
Le Corbusier holds that architecture is the expression of man's aspirations and his
understanding of the eternal truth of the universe. He asserts that "architecture is the
first manifestation of man creating his own universe, creating it in the image of
nature, submitting to the laws of nature, the laws which govern our own nature, our
universe." 19
Kandinsky and Le Corbusier emphasize the role of art and architecture as the
expression of the ideas of the epoch and the embodiment of the universal truth. Both
art and architecture aspire to immortalize the spirit of the epoch and the thoughts
and emotions of the artist and the architect. At the same time, art and architecture
serve as the expression of the spiritual eternal truth which lies beyond human
consciousness and material existence.
Conclusion
Influential artists and architects, such as Wassily Kandinsky and Le Corbusier have
stated the aspiration of art and architecture as expressing the spiritual content of the
universe, nature and man's existence. Art and architecture aspire to the same goal of e
embodying the spirit of the epoch and man's thoughts and feelings by capturing the
beauty, harmony and purity in the material form of art and building.
Endnotes
,I
1Le Corbusier,
Towards a New Architecture,trans.
from the thirteenth French edition and with an
Introduction by Frederick Etchells (London: J.
Rodker, 1931; reprint, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1986), 1 (page references are to reprint
edition).
2Wassily Kandinsky, Content and Form,
in
Russian Art of the Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism
1902-1934, ed. and trans. by John E. Bowlt, The
Documents of 20th-century Art (New York: The
Viking Press, 1976), 20.
Chapter 1: Spirit
17
3 Le Corbusier,
Towards a New Architecture, 222-223.
AILe Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, 19.
5 Ulrich Conrads, ed., "Walter Pichler / Hans
Hollein: Absolute Architecture" in Programsand
Manifestoes on 20th-centuryArchitecture,trans. Michael
Bullock, 9th ed. (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1989), 181181.
6 Wassily Kandinsky, On the Spiritual in Art, and
Paintingin Particularin Kandinsky: Complete Writings on
Art (1901-1921), ed. by Kenneth C. Lindsay and Peter
Vergo, vol.1, The Documents of 20th-century Art
(Boston: G.K. Hall &Co., 1982),165.
7Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, 143.
8Ibid., 148.
91bid., 148.
10 Ibid., 19.
11 1bid., 110-111.
12 Ibid.,
102.
13Wassily Kandinsky, On the Spiritual in Art, 173.
14 Malevich, Kasimir Severinovich, "From Cubism
and Futurism to Suprematism: the New Realism in
Painting," in Essays on art 1915-1933, ed. by Troels
Andersen, trans. by Xenia Glowacki-Prus and Arnold
McMillin, 2nd edition, The Documents of Modem Art,
vol.16 (New York: George Wittenbom. Inc, 1971
19.
[c1968]),
15 Le
Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, 19.
16Ibid.
17Urich
Conrads, ed., "Hugo Haring: The house as
an organic structure" in Programsand Manifestoes on
20th-centuryArchitecture, trans. Michael Bullock, 9th ed.
(Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1989), 126-127.
18Wassily Kandinsky, On the Spiritualin Art, 173.
19 Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, 73-74.
18
Chapter 1: Spirit
Illustrations
aIndian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India. Architect: L. Kahn. Photo:
John Nicolais. In John Lobell, Between Silence and Light (Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1979),57.
bCastello Vecchio, Verona, Italy. Architect Carlo Scarpa. In Francisco Dal Co and
Giuseppe Mazzari, Carlo Scarpa:The Complete Works, Milano/New York: Electra,
Rizzoli, 1984-1985.
cAcropolis, Athens, Greece. Sketch: Le Corbusier.In Maurice Besset, Le Corbusier,
Editions d'Art, (Geneve: Albert Skira, S.A., 1987), 21.
dHoliday (oil on canvas). Painter: Felix Lembersky. Photo: Y. Lembersky.
eAcropolis, Athens, Greece. Sketch: L. Kahn, 1951. In The Travel Sketches of Louis L
Kahn, an exhibition organized by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art 19781979,43.
fCity Corner(oil on canvas). Painter: Felix Lembersky. Photo: Y.Lembersky.
8Galya (oil on canvas). Painter: Felix Lembersky. Photo: Y. Lembersky.
hSkazki Industrii.Artist: I Chemikov, ca. 1925. In "Russian Constructivism and
Iakov Chernikhov," guest ed. by Catherine Cooke, Architectural Design, vol. 59, (no.
7/8,.1989), 70.
'Untitled (pen and ink). Painter: Felix Lembersky. Photo: Y.Lembersky.
)Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut ARonchamp, 1950-53. Architect Le Corbusier.
In Maurice Besset, Le Corbusier,142.
kParaportiani Church at Mykonos. Photo: Myron Henry Goldfinger. In John
Lobell, Between Silence and Light (Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1979), 29.
1Untitled (watercolor). Painter: Felix Lembersky. Photo: Y Lembersky.
mSkazki Industrii.Artist: I Chemikov, ca. 1925, 72.
nUnit6 d'habitation AMarseille, 1945-1952. Architect Le Corbusier. In Maurice
Besset, Le Corbusier,76.
0
Little Dream in Red. Painter: Wassily Kandinsky. In Pointand Line to Plane:A
Contributionto the Analysis of PictorialElements, (in Kandinsky: Complete Writings on
Art 1922-1943, ed. by Kenneth C. Lindsay and Peter Vergo, vol. 2, the Documents of
20th-century Art, Boston: G.K. Hall &Co, 1982), 699.
:method
Art and architecture utilize similar formal
methods in the expression of the spiritual.
These methods are: dematerialization, abstraction, organization, and construction of space.
They have been formulated and utilized by
artists and architects of the past.
Chapter 2: Method
Dematerialization and Abstraction
Wassily Kandinsky develops a theory of dematerialization and abstraction in painting. He advocates the
abstraction of pictorial forms, the elimination of representational subject matter and the dematerialization of
the picture plane.
Dematerialization, according to Kandinsky is inevitable
in every creative process, "...there are no purely
material forms in art. It is not possible to represent a
material form exactly."I Kandinsky demonstrates the
method of dematerialization in paintings by Cezanne,
who transforms the representational subject matter,
such as human figures and utilitarian objects, into
immaterial forms of mass, color and light.
He [Cezanne] can raise "still-life" to a level
where externally "dead" objects come internally
alive... He expresses them in terms of color,
thus creating an inner, painterly note, and
molds them into a form that can be raised to the
level of abstract-sounding, harmonious, often
2
mathematical formulas.
The dematerialization of the material picture plane,
according to Kandinsky, is attained by creation of a
20
Chapter 2: Method
multi-dimensional, illusory depth of this plane. The
geometry and chromatic properties of painting are
used to create the illusion of movement in and out of
the picture plane.
Abstraction in painting is a method of using nonrepresentational objects to convey a metaphysical
content. 3 Abstract pictorial form directly affects the
subconscious as it activates the visual perception of
purely pictorial qualities, such as depth and movement. Aristotle wrote:
For men delight in seeing likenesses because
in contemplating them it happens that they are
learning and reasoning out what each thing is,
e. g. that this man [in the painting] is that [sort
of man]; for if by fortune one has not previously seen what is imitated, the likeness will
not produce pleasure as an imitation, but
because of its execution, or surface coloring, or
4
some other cause of this sort.
Roman Jakobson, an art historian of early this century,
argues too for abstraction and impeded recognition.
"In the fact that even the most discerning eye is able
only with difficulty to make sense of objects that have
been totally transubstantiated, there is a particular
charm. A picture that gives itself with such reserve
expects precisely that it will be questioned again and
Organization
again."5
Works of art and architecture are generated in part by
an organization or ordering. This ordering is identified
The method of architectural dematerialization and
abstraction is analogous to that in painting. Architecture is dematerialized and abstracted as it accentuates
the spiritual content of the architectural form and deemphasizes the functionality of building. Le Corbusier
states:
as composition in painting, and plan and spacial
organization in architecture.
Architectural abstraction has this about it
which is magnificently peculiar to itself, that
while it is rooted in hard fact it spiritualizes it,
because the naked fact is nothing more than
the materialization of a possible idea. The
naked fact is a medium for ideas only by
reason of the "order" that is applied to it.6
Architectural design calls for the dematerialization of
building elements in order to define an intangible space
between. It proceeds as an abstraction of the site and
recognition of the course of natural processes, such as
the movement of the sun, the turn of day and night,
and weathering processes. Architectural intervention
Pictorial organization is the purposeful arrangement of
such elements as color, point, line, plane and mass by
means of the juxtaposition of parts, variation, internal
tension and movement within the painting. According
to Kandinsky composition is comprised of a subordination of individual elements and structure (construction)
to a concrete pictorial goal.7
The organizational principle of visual tension in
painting is a combination of forces which activates and
enlivens the painting. "The intervention of force
introduces into any given material a living element,
which is expressed in tension... Thus, composition is
nothing other than the logically precise organization of
those living forces encapsulated within elements in the
guise of tensions." 8
transforms context by modifying such components as
the scale, light, shadow, and circulation.
Chapter 2: Method
21
The organizational principle of pictorial movement is
the illusion of shifting weights and dynamism produced by the juxtaposition of color, light and the
position of elements within a picture frame. Malevich
asserts that "... art is the ability to construct not on the
interrelation of form and colour, and not on an aesthetic
basis of beauty in composition, but on the basis of weight,
speed and the direction of movement."9 Kandinsky produces tension and movement in his abstract paintings
by use of color and geometric elements.
Similar to art, architectural organization is the primary
ordering system and the form-making device of the
building. Louis Kahn poetically asserts that
Design is form making in order.
Order is intangible
It is a level of creative consciousness
forever becoming higher in level
The higher the order the more diversity in design
Order supports integration
From what the space wants to be the unfamiliar may be revealed to the architect.
From order he will derive creative force and
power of self-criticism to give form to this
unfamiliar.
Beauty will evolve. 10
22
Chapter 2: Method
Architectural organization consists of plan, sectional
organization and procession through space. Architectural form is organized in plan, which determines the
arrangement of spaces, programmatic elements,
circulation and location of the building in the broader
context of the site.
Without plan there can be neither grandeur of
aim and expression, nor rhythm, nor mass, nor
coherence. Without plan we have the sensation, so insupportable to man, of shapelessness,
of poverty, of disorder, of willfulness.
A plan calls for the most active imagination. It
calls for the most severe discipline also. The
plan is what determines everything; it is the
decisive moment. A plan is not a pretty thing
to be drawn, like a Madonna face; it is an
austere abstraction; it is nothing more than an
algebraization and a dry-looking thing. The
work of the mathematician remains none the
less one of the highest activities of the human
spirit.11
Construction of Space
Both art and architecture utilize space as an expression
of the spiritual. Space in the work of art and architecture is constructed by means of geometry, layering and
juxtaposition of elements, transparency, color and light.
tric movement and burrows into the painting. The line
possesses various degrees of spacial movement depending on its vertical and horizontal orientation and
location within the picture frame. The plane may be
understood as a product of lines and points, and an
intensification of the picture plane.
In painting, space is the virtual depth which signifies
Pictorial depth, constructed by non-representational
the perfected transcendental reality. Malevich claims
ameans of abstract color, light and elemental geometry,
that "any painted surface, being turned into a promiengages the subconscious through direct visual percepnent painting relief, and turned again into a surface, is a tion. Pictorial depth is the perfected and harmonized
painting." 1 2 Similarly, El Lissitzky, a Russian Avantworld, lying outside the realm of the material world. It
is used in art as the experimental arena for gaining a
Garde artist, photographer, and Suprematist painter
states that "Suprematist space may be formed not only
new understanding of the universe and constructing
13
forward from the plane but also backward in depth."
new models of man's spiritual existence.
Kandinsky develops a systematic theory of color and
geometry in the construction of pictorial depth. He
classifies colors according to their capabilities to move
in and out of the picture plane. For example, elements
of yellow possess maximum movement towards the
Similarly to art, architecture uses space as a means of
creative expression of a perfected reality. Architectural
space is constructed by means of the geometry of
structural elements, by opacity and transparency of
surfaces, and through the layering and juxtaposition of
viewer, whereas the elements of dark blue retreat into
elements in physical space.
the depth of the painting. Kandinsky reduces complex
pictorial geometry to the basic elements of point, line
and plane. He asserts that the point possesses a concenChapter 2: Method
23
Spacial geometry is constructed by the arrangement of
geometric patterns, mass, scale and size of the building
in relationship to the human scale and surrounding
context. Le Corbusier describes the grandeur and
spirituality of architectural space as conceived through
the masterful use of size, scale, and rhythm of Muslim
architecture:
In Broussa in Asia Minor, at the Green Mosque,
you enter by a little doorway of normal human
height; ... you are captured, you have lost the
W
sense of the common scale. You are enthralled
by a sensorial rhythm (light and volume) and
by an able use of scale and measure, into a
world of its own which tells you what it set out
to tell you. What emotion, what faith! There
you have motive and intention.14
Architectural space is built through the use of opaque,
translucent and transparent surfaces, layered and
juxtaposed in the sectional depth of the building, and
modelled through light Transparent surfaces expand
the interior space to the size of the landscape and allow
the changing natural light to transform the architecture.
Opaque surfaces define the smaller spacial sizes of the
building and contribute to the sense of privacy and
human scale.
24
Chapter 2: Method
Architectural space, similar to painting, reveals a depth
greater than the immediate size of one room or one
picture frame. Even though one may not physically
enter the virtual pictorial space, or architectural space
removed by this distance, one's perceptual experience
is heightened by the vision of that mystical unreachable
space. An architectural form succeeds in extending
beyond the triviality of the building's function when it
engages one's perception in the appreciation of a
complex spacial system at varying distances and when
the human, the building, the landscape and the sky
connects the experience of the building with the cosmic
experience of universal laws.
It is ultimately the perception of the spacial dimensions
and the depth of the building that is determinant in the
* grandeur and spirituality of architectural form. Volumetric and spacial perception affects the human
subconscious, redefining one's experience and understanding of architecture, universal laws and one's own
existence.
Conclusion
Artistic and architectural form is generated by the
similar methods of dematerialization, abstraction,
organization, and construction of space. Dematerialization and abstraction allow the form to extend beyond
the material substance and signify the higher spirituality of art and architecture. Organization generates the
clear and succinct form. The construction of space is the
construction of a virtual or physical environment,
1Wassily Kandinsky,
which directly and subconsciously affects spacial
perception and aspires to a higher spiritual order. These
formal methods, operating with the specific tools of art
and architecture, aspire to generate form which is
beautiful, pure, and harmonious-thereby attaining
spiritual content and affecting the human soul.
Endnotes
On the Spiritualin Art, and
Paintingin Particularin Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art
(1901-1921), ed. by Kenneth C. Lindsay and Peter Vergo,
vol. 1, The Documents of 20th-century Art (Boston: G.K.
Hall & Co., 1982),165-166.
2 Ibid., 151.
3 Abstraction is "formation
of an idea, as of the
qualities or properties of a thing, by mental separation
from particular instances or material objects." in Webster's
New World Dictionaryof the American Language, College
Edition (Cleveland: The World Publishing company,
1960).
4Roman Jakobson, "Futurism" in Language in Literature, ed. by Krystyna Pomorska and Stephen Rudy,
(Cambridge, Mass: The Delknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1987), 33.
51bid., 32.
6Le Corbusier, Towards
a New Architecture,trans. from
the thirteenth French edition and with an introduction by
Frederick Etchells (London: J.Rodker, 1931; reprint, New
York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1986), 26 (page references
are to reprint edition).
7Wassily Kandinsky, Pointand Line to Plane: A Contribution to the Analysis of PictorialElements in Kandinsky:
Complete Writings on Art (1922-1943), ed. by Kenneth C.
Lindsay and Peter Vergo, vol.2, The Documents of 20thcentury Art (Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1982),552.
81bid.,
611.
Chapter 2: Method
25
9Kasimir
S.Malevich, From Cubism and Futurism to
Suprematism: the New Realism in Painting,in Essays on art
(1915-1933), ed. by Troels Andersen, trans. by Xenia
Glowacki-Prus and Arnold McMillin, 2nd edition, The
Documents of Modem Art, vol. 16, (New York: George
Wittenbom, Inc., 1971), 24.
10Ulrich Conrads, ed., "Louis I. Kahn: Order is" in
Programsand Manifestoes on 20th-century Architecture,
trans. Michael Bullock, 9th ed. (Cambridge: The MIT
Press, 1989), 169-170.
11Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture,48-49.
12Kasimir S.
Malevich, From Cubism and Futurism to
Suprematism: the New Realism in Painting,36.
13Yve-Alain
Bois, "El Lissitzky: Radical
Reversibility," Art in America, (April 1988), 172.
14Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture,183.
Illustrations
aPictorial tension diagram. Artist: Wassily
Kandinsky. In Point and Line to Plane: A Contributionto
the Analysis of PictorialElements, in Kandinsky: Complete
Writings on Art 1922-1943, 727.
bConstruction Floating in Space, ca. 1920, lithograph with graphite annotations. Artist: El Lissitzky. In
Yve-Alain Bois, "El Lissitzky: Radical Reversibility,"
171.
cPlan of the Green Mosque, Broussa. Sketch:
Le Corbusier. In Le Corbusier.Towards a New Architecture, 182.
26
Chapter 2: Method
:concert
Art and architecture inform one another as
they share tools, materials and attitude. Artists
apply three-dimensional architectonic forms,
materials and construction methods to resolve
problems of pure art. Similarly, architects use
the artistic medium to help uncover solutions
for harmonious and beautiful architectural
form.
Chapter 3: Concert
Artists employ architectural forms as an analogue to artistic forms and elements. This
allows for an expansion of their own medium and contributes to the greater expressiveness of their ideas. Malevich transforms the Suprematist painting into threedimensional Suprematist constructions or planits.Vladimir Tatlin, a Russian
Constructivist, criticizes the separation between painting, sculpture and architecture
and proposes a new artistic method founded on "materials, volume and construction."1
Architecture benefits from the use of art in the building design process. Art contains
the beginnings of architecture and allows for the exploration of pure concise form
(often geometric form) freed from the constrains of technology and function.
Kandinsky discusses how such form may be applied and read in architecture.
In sculpture and architecture, the point results from the overlapping of more
than one surface-it is the culmination of a comer of space and, on the other
hand, the germinal unit of these surfaces. The surfaces are directed to it and
developed out of it. In Gothic buildings, points are especially stressed by
angular forms, and often emphasized sculpturally-something achieved just
as clearly in Chinese buildings by a curve leading to a point. Short, sharp
chords resound as a bridge to the dissolution of that spatial form whose
echoes die away in the empty space surrounding the building. It is to
buildings of precisely this kind that one may attribute the conscious use of
the point, since it here occurs in logically distributed masses that strive
compositionally toward the highest point.2
...the Eiffel Tower in Paris was the most significant early attempt to create a
particularly tall building out of lines-line having ousted surface. 3
28
Chapter 3: Concert
The joints and screws are points in these linear constructions. These are linepoint constructions, not on the surface, but in space.4
Parallels between pictorial and architectural geometries are also drawn by the early
twentieth century Russian Avant-Garde architect, Yakov Chemikhov:
To obtain a construction, we have at our disposal either very simple objects,
such as line (graphic or material), plane (graphic or material) surface
(graphic or material), volume, or more complex objects that can be utilized
for the aims of construction.5
Chemikhov used painting and graphic art as inspiration and clarification for his
architectural ideas. His architectural drawings are magnificent works of art which
address issues of space and harmony through the geometric elements of lines and
surfaces modelled with light. These projects are fundamentally architectural. They
are abstractions of architectural form as expressed through light, depth, rhythm and
movement, further humanized by the sensibilities of an artist.
Le Corbusier devoted much of his time to cubist painting. Exploring the methods of
multiple views, and spacial distortions, he discovered unusual solutions to problems
of architectural form, such as the layers of transparent surfaces and multiple views at
the corners of interior space. Painting can also be found in LU Corbusier's architecture
in the vibrant immediacy and plasticity of form, which allows the building to
transcend a banal functionality and bring spiritual meaning into the architectural
M
i
M
experience.
Chapter 3: Concert
29
Creative groups throughout the twentieth century emphasized the collaboration
between the architect and artist. The group 'De Stijl', formed in Leyden under the
leadership of Theo van Doesburg stated in the manifesto of 1918, that their goal was
the organic combination of architecture, sculpture and painting in a lucid, elemental,
unsentimental construction. 6
The group ArbeitsratfurKunst ('Work council for Art') published a programmatic
circular in 1919, whose stated goal was the popularization of arts united in architecture.7
Art and people must form a unity.
Art shall no longer be the enjoyment of the few but the life and happiness of
the masses.
8
The aim is alliance of the arts under the wing of a great architecture.
During World War II and post-war years, artists and architects united to resist the
spiritual suffocation of political dictatorship. In 1947, Frederick Kiesler, a French
Surrealist, undertook a project entitled 'Hall of Superstition' which involved the
collaboration of artists and architects.
Frederick Kiesler, who in 1926 was demanding 'Vital Architecture' and the
'Space City,' collaborated with Max Ernst, Mir6, Matta, Duchamp, and
others to produce in the 'Hall of Superstition' a room in which architecture,
sculpture and painting shared equally as continuum of the arts. The idea of
the collective work, advocated by the De Stijl group, came to life againthough in an entirely different form.9
30
Chapter 3: Concert
Contemporary architects emphasize the importance of an artistic sensibility in
architecture in contrast to the mechanized modernism of the post-war years. In 1960
Reinhard Gieselmann and Oswald Mathias Ungers raised against the soulless
impersonal architecture driven by technology and function.
Form is the expression of spiritual content.
If we pursue the methods of technological, functional 'architecture' the result
will be uniformity. Architecture loses its expression when technological,
functional methods are employed. The result is apartment blocks that look
like schools, schools like administrative buildings and administrative
buildings like factories...
The relationship to the environment is established programmatically and
hence without tension. This lack of vitality gives rise to a spiritual vacuum.1 0
In 1962 Walter Pichler and Hans Hollein emphasize the spirituality of non-utilitarian
architecture, "an idea built into infinite space."1 1 They propose an'Absolute Architecture', which is essentially, a variation of plastic art. Hans Hollein asserts:
Architecture is a spiritual order, realized through building.
Architecture-an idea built into infinite space, manifesting man's spiritual
energy and power, the material form and expression of his destiny, of his
life.
Architecture-the expression of man himself -at once flesh and spirit.
Architecture is elemental, sensual, primitive, brutal, terrible, mighty, dominating.
Chapter 3: Concert
31
But it is also the embodiment of the most subtle emotions, a sensitive record
of the most refined sensations, a materialization of the spiritual...
The shape of a building does not evolve out of the material conditions of a
purpose. A building ought not to display its utilitarian function, is not the
expression of structure and construction, is not a covering or a refuge. A
building is itself.
Architecture is purposeless.
What we build will find its utilization.12
The integration of art and architecture enriches the expressive language of each and
allows to overcome their respective limitations. Architects gain freedom and inspiration through practicing art, as art allows to focus on the pure, expressive elements
and methods of construction of physical form. Similarly, artists employ architectural
and architectonic forms, building materials and construction methods to expand
beyond the artificial conditions of studio, so as directly to engage art and life.
32
Chapter 3: Concert
9Uirich
Conrads, ed., "Frederick Kiesler: Magical
Architecture" in Programsand Manifestoes on 20th-
Endnotes
1Vladimir Tatlin,
The Work Ahead of Us, in Russian
Art of the Avant-Garde:Theory and Criticism 1902-1934,
ed. and trans. by John E.Bowlt, The Documents of 20thcentury Art (New York: The Viking Press, 1976), 206.
2Wassily Kandinsky, Point and Line to Plane:A
Contributionto the Analysis of PictorialElements in
Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art (1922-1943), ed. by
Kenneth C. Lindsay and Peter Vergo, vol. 2, The
Documents of 20th-century Art (Boston: G.K. Hall &
Co., 1982), 556.
3Ibid., 621.
4Ibid., 625.
5Yakov Chemikhov,
The Constructionof Architecturaland Machine Forms [Extracts],in Russian Art of the
Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism 1902-1934, ed. and
trans. by John E.Bowlt, The Documents of 20thCentury Art (New York: The Viking Press, 1976), 257.
6Ulrich Conrads, ed., "'De Stijl': Manifesto I"in
Programsand Manfestoes on 20th-centuryArchitecture,
trans. Michael Bullock, 9th ed. (Cambridge: The MIT
Press, 1989), 39.
7Ulrich Conrads, ed., "Work
Council for Art':
Under the Wing of a Great Architecture" in Programs
and Manfestoes on 20th-centuryArchitecture, trans.
Michael Bullock, 9th ed. (Cambridge: The MIT Press,
century Architecture, trans. Michael Bullock, 9th ed.
(Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1989), 150.
10 Ulrich Conrads, ed., "Reinhard Gieselmann/
Oswald Mathias Ungers: Toward a New Architecture"
in Programsand Manfestoes on 20th-century Architecture,
trans. Michael Bullock, 9th ed. (Cambridge: The MIT
Press, 1989),165.
1 1UlrichConrads,ed., "WalterPichler
/Hans
Hollein: Absolute Architecture" in Programsand
*Manifestoeson 20th-century Architecture, trans.
Michael Bullock, 9th ed. (Cambridge: The MIT
Press,
1989), 181.
12
1bid., 181-182.
Illustrations
aThe Monument to the Third International,
1919-1920. Artist Vladimir Tatlin. In Maurice
Besset, Le Corbusier (original edition: Qui etait
Le Corbusier, 1968; Editions d'Art Albert Skira,
S.A., Geneve: Skira, 1987),56.
bFantasy: Composition of Compact Cylindrical
Volumes with planes. Artist: Iakov Chernikov. In
"Russian Constructivism and Iakov Chemikhov," guest
ed. by Catherine Cooke, ArchitecturalDesign, vol. 59,
(no. 7/8,1989), 1.
1989), 44.
"Ibid.
Chapter 3: Concert
33
34
Chapter 3: Concert
:museum
As shown in previous chapters, the boundaries between an autonomous art and architecture are dissolved as the two disciplines
aspire to a common goal and utilize similar
formal principles. Art and architecture aspire
to express the spiritual by means of harmonious, pure and beautiful form. The countless
forms of art and architecture are produced by
a few essential principles: dematerialization of
matter, abstraction, organization and construction of space.
Chapter 4: Museum
This study explores a method of integration for art and architecture. Painting is used
to formulate a spiritual content and to suggest the organizational and spacial possibilities for expressing this content. The painting is formally analyzed and transformed
into architecture by scrupulously inventing an architectural analogue for the pictorial
devices, and situating these into the context of site and program. As a test for the
success of this method, the paintings generating the architectural form are to be
exhibited in the resulting building.
The proposed study consists of the two phases. The first phase is comprised of a
formal analysis of a set of paintings and the transformation of its pictorial principles
into architectural form. The second phase is comprised of the design of an art museum as generated by the principles discovered in the first phase. The ultimate goal of
the project is to derive the museum's form such that it is expressive of the spiritual
content of the art collection.
Phase 1: Analysis & Preliminary Design
A collection of oil paintings by the Russian painter Felix Lembersky (1913-1970) is
used as a basis for the analysis and transformation. The five late oil paintings are
chosen for the formal analysis due to their clarity of pictorial expression, abstraction
of subject matter, and organizational complexity. These paintings are: Ficus (oil on
canvas, 1963), Woman Reclined (oil on canvas, 1960), Holiday on the River Volkhov (oil on
canvas, 1963), Seamstress (oil on cardboard, 1964), and Refugees (oil on canvas, 1964).
Felix Lembersky. Ficus (oil on canvas), ca. 1963
36
Chapter 4: Museum
Felix Lembersky, Woman Reclined (oil on canvas), ca. 1960
Chapter 4: Museum
37
Felix Lembersky, Holidayon the River Volkhov (oil on canvas), ca. 1963
38
Chapter 4: Museum
Felix Lembersky, Seamstress (oil on cardboard),ca. 1%4
Chapter 4: Museum
39
Felix Lembersky, Refugees (oil on canvas), ca. 1964
40
Chapter 4: Museum
The paintings are analyzed according to the principles
of dematerialization, abstraction, pictorial organization,
and construction of space.
into lines and planes contributes to its dematerialization
and abstraction.
Pictorialspace: transparencyand continuity
Pictorialorganization:autonomy of elements
The paintings are organized by the juxtaposition of
lines and planes and the virtual depth of an undulating
space. The lines and planes appear in fragmented
arrangements freely placed into the pictorial space at
varying depths. These compose pictorial themes
independent of the overall composition of each of the
paintings. In contrast, the underlying space appears to
be continuous and infinite and is seen transparently at
all points of each painting.
The pictorial space is constructed by the use of light,
color and movement in the painting's background. The
background appears to be a deep space undulating in
and out of the picture plane. The background space is
constant to the entire painting, and seen through
dusters of elements. It is a miniature universe to the
fragmented and superimposed elements. The space is
carefully modelled by subtle changes in color, light
gradation, and direction of the brush strokes. It is
partitioned by the lines and compressed by the opaque,
non-penetrable planes. The space is brought into focus
Dematerializationand abstraction:juxtaposition at the places of greatest pictorial interest, and is faded
The representational subject matter of each of the
out at the places of least intensity.
paintings is dematerialized and abstracted by the direct
The selected paintings are constructed by the fragmenuse of color, geometry and space. There is a constant
tation and layering of compositional elements which
flip between the recognizability of the subject matter
define the representational subject matter, and the
and the abstracted pictorial forms which partake in
defining this subject .Taken in its entirety, the composi- transparency and continuity of infinite space. These
principles define a harmonious and beautiful pictorial
tional arrangement reinforces the recognizability of the
form and express a pure and eternal spiritual content.
subject, whereas the fragmentation of the composition
Chapter 4: Museum
41
Diagramof lines. Independent and
fragmented lines generate
directionality,tension and
movement: intensified to the right
and released to the left. Lines build
the overall form in fractalmanner
Felix Lembersky. Ficus (oil on canvas), ca. 1963
42
Chapter 4: Museum
Diagramof space. Space modelled
by the gradationof colorand light.
Space is constant throughoutthe
linearand planarstructures
Diagram of planes. Solid planes
dispersed throughout the virtual
depth of the painting. These
intensify space and anchor the
composition
'a-A
A,,
<
and plane structure
Lne
Yellow is composed as an
independentfragmented
composition
Isolated background space. Subject
matter is diminished
Backgroundspace and two red
planes. Multiple readingsfor
compositiongiven in color,planar
and linearassemblies at varying
depths in picture plane
Chapter 4: Museum
43
Linear and planer structures
contrasted to spacial background
FelixLembersky, Holiday on the River Volkhov (oil on canvas), ca. 1963
Linearstructure
Across these two pages, the principles of fragmentation
and independence of elements can be seen to accentuate the exalted mood of the holiday. Lines and planes,
set in rotational movement, appear to engage in a ritual
dance around the center of the painting. The movement
is generated by the shifting weights (planes) and linear
direction of the painting (lines). The subject is fragmented and de-emphasized
Assembly of dark planes
I
I'-
Planeanchoringbottom of painting
Linearand planerstructures
juxtaposed in overall composition
44
Chapter 4: Museum
Diagramof linear structure.Lines organize both the overallform
and the structureat smaller sizes. Lines determine the spacial depth,
movement and zones of intensity of the painting
Plane anchoringright side of the
painting.Anchor for movement
Light planes contrastedto the
darkened background. Push-pull
through pictureplane
Diagramof the planes,
independentandfragmented, set
in rotationalmovement around the
painting
Chapter 4: Museum
45
Diagramof linear structure.Lines focus and intensify the central part by
constructionof secondary pictureframe within existing pictureframe.
Lines partially introduce the subject matter
Felix Lembersky, Seamstress (oil on cardboard), ca. 1964
Diagramof planes. Planes composed into a fragmented and independent
form,firther accentuatethe central part of the painting.Planes begin to
giveform to subject matter
Diagramof space. Space infinite and constant is modeled by grades of
color and light. Space negates the subject introduced by lines and planes
46
Chapter 4: Museum
Movement and tension diagrams
Lines and planes
Planes againstbackground
Chapter t Museum
47
Felix Lembersky, Refugees (oil on canvas), ca. 1%4
48
Chapter 4: Museum
Planarstructure.Planesare dematerializedand
transformed into space by means oflight and color
gradations
Space diagram. The backgroundis
constructed by deep colors and subtle
gradationsof light. The background
contributesboth to constructionof depth,
and modelling of the background
Linearstructure
1*
swa
Chapter 4: Museum
49
Space diagram
Felix Lembersky, Woman Reclined (oil on canvas), ca. 1960
Line diagram
This painting is an example of three elements, lines,
planes and space structuring the painting and
defining the subject matter. The planes of the
painting are dematerialized into space and vice
versa through the gradation of light
Planediagram
Anchoringelements
50
Chapter 4: Museum
Transformation:paintinginto architecture
The principles derived from the analysis of the selected
paintings are now used to generate architectural form.
The principle of the independence and fragmentation of
elements and compositional themes is translated into:
the use of independent organizing grids, shifts in
section, the utilization of multiple structural systems,
the independence of structure and enclosure, and the
use of a fragmented and organic edge of the building.
The principle of layering and juxtaposition of independent themes is translated into a layering of surfaces in
space and juxtaposition of organizing grids and
structural systems. The principle of transparency and
continuity of the space is articulated as the continuity of
space, light and views, achieved through the use of
glazing, sectional splits, atriums and skylights.
As an exercise leading to the museum's design, two
architectural proposals are derived by the methods of
translation described above. The buildings are proposed for two sites which differ from one another in
size, scale, pattern of public circulation, and orientation
to the sun. These sites are located on Massachusetts
Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and on Commercial Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
MassachusettsAvenue
The Massachusetts Avenue site is located at the intersection of an important transportation and commercial
artery and is bordered by two and three storey residential buildings at the back. There is a large six storey
candy factory located across Landsdowne Street. The
surrounding buildings are of brick and light-frame
construction. These buildings suffer from a formal
monotony and the isolation of the interior spaces from
the outdoors.
The proposed office building for the site utilizes the
pictorial principles of fragmentation, complexity and
transparency in order to complement the urban context.
An open, non-forbidding architectural form integrates
the exterior with interior whilst serving as a public
landmark.
The principle of transparency is translated into the
openness and lightness of the building, produced by its
shallow depth, vertical staggering of spaces, glazed
curtain walls, splits in the section and plan to admit
natural light, and the use of outdoor spaces dispersed
throughout the height of the building.
Chapter 4: Museum
51
The principle of independence and fragmentation is
translated into the independence of the ordering grids:
the independence of structure and enclosure, the use of
multiple structural systems and a fragmentation of the
architectural form. The overall form is loosely divided
into a vertical public zone and horizontal private
quarters, and is further fragmented into smaller sizes,
which creates the organic dynamism of the building.
The principle of formal complexity is achieved by the
layering and juxtaposition of independent architectural
themes: structural systems, the enclosure, dynamic
movement, and multiple uses of the building.
The dynamic, light, transparent and complex architectural form generated by the translation of the pictorial
image establishes an exchange between the outdoor
and interior spaces, utilizes natural light, demarcates
the public community place, and introduces variety to
the isolated, non-penetrable forms of the surrounding
buildings.
52
Chapter 4: Museum
Map of Cambridge/Bostonarea showing location of MassachusettsAvenue and Commercial Avenue sites
Sketch models employing the principlesoffragmentation,
juxtapositionand spatial continuitythat were found in paintings
Site planfor Commercial Street building
Chapter 4: Museum
53
...... ......
Sketch models employing the principlesoffragmentation,
juxtaposition and spatialcontinuity that werefound in paintings
54
Chapter 4: Museum
Commercial Avenue
The site at Commercial Avenue is a large square site
framed by the Avenue, an important transportation
artery of Cambridge, the Charles River waterfront, and
a multi-storey hotel and apartment buildings. The site
receives southern light and a beautiful view of the
Boston skyline across the river. The proposed building
complex for this site consists of a housing block, an
elevated public outdoor platform and an observation
The directional movement of the river and Commercial
Avenue define the orientation and circulation pattern of
the site. The verticality of Boston's sky-rises is reflected
in the form and position of the observation tower. The
broad river plane is transformed into the horizontal
surface of the outdoor platform. The wall surfaces of
the surrounding buildings appear in the shear walls,
which anchor the housing units throughout the section
of the building.
tower.
The intention of this proposal is to derive a form which
is both rooted in the context of the site, and expressive
of the spiritual content of the paintings. The context of
the site is abstracted to its basic geometric components,
such as the horizontal undulating movement of the
river's surface, the linear directionality of Commercial
Avenue, the verticality of Boston sky-rises, and the
continuous non-penetrable wall surfaces of the surrounding buildings. These elements, used as the basic
language of the proposed architecture, are subjected to
a formal transformation according to the pictorial
principles of fragmentation, complexity, transparency
The pictorial principle of independence is translated
into the independence and fragmentation of main
elements: the housing, the observation tower outdoor
platform, structural system and free enclosure. The
principle of fragmentation is articulated in the form of
the housing, which is composed of a series of individual housing modules freely plugged into the
ordered structural system.
The principle of juxtaposition and complexity of
independent themes is expressed in the juxtaposition of
independent elements, ordered structure and free
organic arrangement of the housing module.
and continuity of space.
Chapter 4: Museum
55
The principle of continuity of space is constructed by
the openness and transparency of the building: glazed
curtain walls, fragmentation of the solid shear walls,
shifts in section, plan, and connections between the
structure and the building mass.
The proposed building complex combines the
language of the physical context of the site with
\
abstract methods of formal construction to
generate an architecture both rooted in context and
elevated by the spiritual content
56
Chapter 4: Museum
Commercial Avenue site
Investigationof planarbehaviour
in the definition of space
Chapter 4: Museum
57
Context analysis and
form generation for the
housing complex at
Commercial Avenue. The
Boston sky-rises are
reflected in the vertical
structure and tower. The
horizontality of the river
is reflected in the elevated
passages, platforms and
the direction of the
housing rows.
58
Chapter 4: Museum
Thehousing units are staggered vertically to
maximize views and admit natural light into the
core of the building.
Chapter 4: Museum
59
The vertical split in section allows narrowshafts of naturallight into the
core of circulationcorridor
Principles of fragmentation, juxtaposition of elements, and continuity of space and view are used to
generate a dynamic movement, formal tension and
complexity of experience
60
Chapter 4: Museum
Chapter 4: Museum
Computer models. Juxtaposition ofordered structureand independent
fragmented shear walls andfloor plates
62
Chapter 4: Museum
Chapter 4: Museum
63
Phase 2: Museum for the paintings
of F.Lembersky
The site for the proposed museum is on State Street in
Boston, Massachusetts. State Street is a vibrant business
street, which connects the historic downtown with the
Boston Aquarium, Boston transportation artery, and the
ocean front The site is also bordered by Quincy Market,
a commercial historical landmark of Boston, and the
Old Custom House. The average building height
ranges between seven and twelve storeys, with the
exception of Quincy Market which is four storeys high.
The typical form of the surrounding context is that of
tall building blocks, with public zones at the ground
floor and private quarters from the first floor up. The
interior spaces of the buildings are strongly separated
from the exterior by the continuous surfaces of the
exterior walls. The site receives the morning and
evening sun and is cast in shadow by the surrounding
buildings during the day.
The proposed museum is to house the collection of
eighty oil paintings and two hundred graphic works by
64
Chapter 4: Museum
Felix Lembersky. The museum includes exhibition
spaces, storage spaces, restoration and maintenance
workshop, offices, public spaces, and the auditorium
and the library. The exhibition spaces consist of large
public rooms and smaller, more intimate rooms. The
large exhibit rooms, located on the south side of the
building are designed to hold the visiting and rotating
exhibitions, and encourage public interaction. The small
private rooms, located in the northern side of the
building, are designed such that each room holds one
art work; these spaces are to contain a small number of
precious paintings and are to encourage a meditative
observation of works displayed.
The formal principles of fragmentation, independence
of elements, complexity of juxtaposed themes, and
continuity of space are used in the generation of the
form of the museum. Similar to the proposals for
Massachusetts Avenue and Commercial Avenue, the
museum project utilizes the principles of independence
of the constructional elements, multiple structural
systems and shear walls, independence of structure and
enclosure, and fragmentation of the overall form to
produce dynamism and organic movement.
The overall form of the building is divided in plan into
the two zones-public zone for large exhibit spaces
which is externalized and open to the street, and the
private zone with the small exhibit spaces, which is
internalized and disconnected from the surroundings.
The building is further fragmented into a lower floor
zone, which identifies itself with the ground and the
street life, and the upper floor zone, which is associated
with the sky.
The principle of complexity is achieved by the juxtaposition of the independent compositional themes. The
shear walls are layered in the depth of the building and
are juxtaposed against the post and beam structure and
other non-structural elements of the building.
The museum form finds source in the formal principles
of the analyzed paintings. The organic and dynamic
movement of fragmented form contrasts with the
typical block form of the surrounding context and
establishes the unique character of the building. The
transparency and continuity of space further emphasizes the public nature of the museum and offers a
silent invitation to the museum. The complexity and
juxtaposition of structure and enclosure, shifts in
section and fragmentation of plan create a dynamic
context, which is reminiscent of the artist's studio and
urban structures, and contrasts with the sterility of the
traditional museum.
The pictorial principle of continuity and transparency
of space is transformed into the reversal of interior and
exterior spaces. The wall surfaces found in typical
Boston buildings are placed in the interior of the
building, whereas the actual enclosure is built by
glazed curtain walls. This device builds zones of
exchange between the exterior and interior, thereby
expanding the interior sizes with their embrace of the
outdoors.
Chapter 4: Museum
65
ii
[
F-.
i
7
Site plan for the museum at State Street, Boston, Massachusetts
66
Chapter 4: Museum
View of State Street
Views of the sitefrom the Custom House
Chapter 4: Museum
View of State Street toward the Boston artery and Bay
68
Chapter 4: Museum
View of street toward Quincy Market
View of the site
Cn
Chatham Street and Quincy Market
Chapter 4: Museum
69
i4
-
0;
-A
4
Structure of the artery
70
Chapter 4: Museum
Sketch modelfor the museum.
Transformationof the solid
wall, typical of Boston
downtown buildings. Use of
the principlesof transparency,
layering andjuxtaposition of
independent elements to
generateopen, light public
spaces throughout the height of
the building
Chapter 4: Museum
71
Sketch model for the museum.
Transformationof the solid
wall, typical of Boston
downtown buildings. Use of
the principles of transparency,
layeringand juxtapositionof
independent elements to
generate open, light public
spaces throughoutthe height of
the building
72
Chapter 4: Museum
Preliminary proposal for the museum. Use of curve
to demarcate the corner and organize the interior
and exterior circulation. Division of plan into public
and private zones. Public zone serves large open
gatherings and interactive activities. Private zone
exhibits one to two paintings at a time to encourage
meditation. Use of multiple structural systems, shear
walls, post and beams, and tensile structures. Use of
thick walls with carved out sections ornamented
with light. Use of ramp circulation at the edge of
building to activate the experience of the building.
Preliminaryproposalfor the museum.
Groundfloor
Chapter 4: Museum
73
Preliminaryproposalfor the museum.
Fifthfloor
AAA74
Chapter 4: Museum
Preliminaryproposalfor the museum.
Roof plan
Chapter 4: Museum
75
Shifts in section and use of glazed
curtain walls to accentuatethe
transparencyof space and light
76
Chapter 4: Museum
Investigation ofenclosure. Use of
computer renderings and
conventional modelling techniques
Chapter 4: Museum
77
Studies of interiorlight as generatorofforn
78
Chapter 4: Museum
Studies of interiorlight and space toward solution of enclosure
Chapter 4: Museum
79
Public exhibition space. Study of
sectional variations,structure,
constructionand light
80
Chapter 4: Museum
Chapter 4: Museum
81
Study of exhibit space in
relationshipto actual size of the
painting
82
Chapter 4: Museum
...........
I
jF7-
Final proposal
Ground floor
84
Chapter 4: Museum
Li:
Fifthfloor
86
Chapter 4: Museum
Sixthfloor
Seventh floor
Conclusion
Art, particularly painting, contributes to architectural design as it provides an arena for the experimental exploration of pure creative motifs. Further,
it suggests architectural possibilities in the most
pure, direct and succinct form. Art allows the
creative imagination to go beyond the concrete
technological and functional requirements of
building, and thereby address the spiritual content,
the harmony, the purity, and the internal beauty of
form-those elements which ultimately determine
the success or failure of architecture.
Seventhfloor
Chapter 4: Museum
88
Chapter 4: Museum
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