The Production of SpaceAnn Marie TranMonique Betancourt

Perfect Acts of Architecture• Kipnis emphasizes that the architectural drawing

in history is art in itself, rather than just a representation of art

• Drawings have altered the course of architecture• Innovations in geometry and technique have

solved problems of representation• Architectural drawing as end work functions in

three ways▫ Innovative design tool▫Articulation of a new direction▫Creation of consummate artistic merit

• A perfect act of architecture achieves all three at once

•The cultural climate of the era caused skepticism and distrust towards any type and program in the world of architecture

•This skepticism turned optimistic with the thought of a new radical, uninhibited world approaching

•With a struggling economy in the 1970s architects turned to teaching, where they could further their research

•A culmination of studies made for the sudden emergence of “paper architecture” with more brilliance and depth

•Architects such as Koolhaas and Tschumi used architecture as a way to reinvent social and political events

•Kipnis talks about the importance of and the need to revisit architectural drawings

Le Corbusier, Domino Sketch, 1914

Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith, Housing Estate, Park Hill, London, 1961

From the Production of Space, Henri Lefebvre

• Mastering global space: bringing forms, functions, and structures together with a unitary conception This idea was influenced by Marx and the

notion that industry has the power to bring forth man’s creative capacities

Bauhaus

•Social space: the opening up/moving around/manipulating of space to be made available to the inhabitants and their desires and perceptions

•Abstract space: political, a product of violence and war, and is institutional – abstract space of capitalism, goal of homogeneity

•Natural space: climate, topography, and light

• There is a interdependent relationship between objects and space

• 3 points must be considered simultaneously:1. New consciousness of space:

reducing space through simplifying a building in a drawing and only outlining it or giving it a plan flat surface

Breaking up and rotating plans to change the dept and perception of space

2. Facade disappearance: A new emphasis on function over form

3. Global space: The opening up of public space which was later

enforced and utilized through capitalism (filled with commercial images, signs, and objects)

•Space should be read as directions, instructions, and order first and foremost

•A space is built for people to live in, not to be read and grasped

•The reading of space is secondary and irrelevant

•Form must express function

Siegfried Giedion

•Siegried Giedion was the first to put space at the center of history

•Kipnis’ critique: Giedion did not make the distinction between the geometric space and the spiritual space

Bruno Zevi

•Geometrical space is animated by the gestures and actions of the inhabitant

•Architectural space is defined by the inside-outside relationship

• Without the individual a space is essentially useless

Constant Niewenhuys, Project: Ladder Labyrinth, for New Babylon, 1967-1969

Curitiba, Brazil•Project was commissioned by Mayor Ivo

Arzua in 1964 & was adopted in 1968

•Purpose: ▫minimize urban sprawl▫reduce downtown

traffic ▫preserve historic

districts▫provide accessible and

affordable public transit

•Goal was to create a city where space could be accessible for the people▫Brazil’s first pedestrian-only street▫Trinary road design▫Developed an extensive bus system that

operates for less than 1/10 of what a subway costs to operate

▫Created an industrial zone on the outskirts of the city

Critiques•Disagree with Jeffrey Kipnis

▫Function over form▫Architecture is for the people/inhabitants

rather than a means used to convey a message

•Agree with Henri Lefebvre▫Taking space into consideration is essential

to architecture▫Ex: Curitiba and its current successes

Successes

•Bus system has decreased traffic by 30% while population continues to increase

•Many parks have been built to control the floods rather than building concrete canals

•Population in 1964 was about 430,000•Population now is more than 1.8 million •Average income per person has grown 66%

greater than the Brazilian average•Curitiba is where 99% of inhabitants of

Brazil want to live