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PETER EISENMAN
IN TOKYO: KOIZUMI LIGHTING THEATER :
The Deconstructivism is not an architectural movement that gained many adherents in Japan. The
image of a building (de)composed of recumbent walls, protruding beams, twisted columns, broken
roofs, as if it had been hit by a cataclysmic event, did not seem to be popular among the Japanese,
whose buildings have been periodically destroyed by earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons. This was
coupled with the financial meltdown that hit the archipelago in the mid 90's, as well as the devastating
effects of the Kobe earthquake. In this context, I was surprised to find this building in Tokyo by Peter
Eisenman, one of the leading theorists and exponents of Deconstructivism.
Deconstructivism
The Deconstructivism is a trend that originated in the early 80's and as part of the Postmodernist
movement (which also included trends such as Historicism and High Tech), opposed to the principles
of Modernism. Interestingly, Deconstructivism also distanced from Historicism, understanding the
relationship with the surroundings in a more abstract and less iconic way.
Housing project, IBA,
Berlin, Peter Eisenman. The neighboring neoclassical building's height is reflected in the subtraction
carried out in the volume's corner. Deconstructing means taking a basic object, de-compose it into its primary parts, subject them to a
series of analytic movements and geometric transformations, product of relationships or influences
from the surroundings, and then re-compose a new product that expresses this transformation process.
It was an exercise similar to Cubism in painting, adding a fourth dimension to the architectural object,
which is the time variable (Le Corbusier included the time variable as the path the user had to walk in
order to perceive his buildings. The deconstructivists included time as the transformation of the
building on itself).
Eisenman. Diagrams for the House III "It's not due to the simple fracture or fragmentation of an object that we reach to deconstruction, since
this would not question its structure but on the contrary, would damage it, and harm, in my opinion,
would not have another purpose than a decorative effect. It is about revealing the internal geometric
tension inside the building itself, something that was always latent, until it was discovered by the
architects; it is not about demolishing or dismantling a work, by contrast, is an architecture of
deviation and reorganization " . Jorge Glusberg
Aronoff Center at the
College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning (DAAP), University of Cincinnati. Peter Eisenman,
1988-1993 The Decosntructivism received important influence from the Russian Constructivism of the 1920's, but
not for its social concept (the Soviet artistic movement had an important socialist base), but basically at
the level of formal conception. Constructivism explored the relationship between volume and surface,
thus taking pure elements and, under the influence of external forces, gave them dynamism and energy,
a concept that Deconstructivism would take for itself 60 years later.
Iakov Chernikhov Studies.
Via Architecture MNP See here a video of the conception of the Tatlin Tower, a symbol of Russian Constructivism.
Deconstuctivism was also influenced by literature, especially the writings of Jacques Derrida, creator
of the literary movement called deconstruction, and who, through his friendship with Eisenman, had an
important conceptual contribution for the architectural movement. In fact, descontructivists such as
Koolhaas and Libeskind have had a journalistic or literary base before venturing themselves into the
architecture. One of the first architects to follow this design process was Bernard Tschumi in his successful project
for the Park de la Villette, and so were Peter Eisenman, Morphosis and Coop Himmelb(l)au. In
conjunction with these "analytical Deconstructivism" came another facet more artistic and subjective,
while not strictly Deconstructivism, get results similar spatial results, and therefore several authors
have included them in this movement. They are, among others, architect and sculptor Frank Gehry,
Enric Miralles and Zaha Hadid. The result was a very dramatic, dynamic and scenographic architecture, sometimes very symbolic,
others much more sensorial. It was not about the user finding beauty in architecture, but he/she would
receive stimuli that would transmit stress, chaos, disruption, overlap, instability, conflict, all reflecting
the society in which they lived. The building was to be understood as part of a set and a set of parts at
the same time.
Berlin Holocaust Memorial.
Peter Eisenman The result was also a denial of the postulate "form follows function" (emblematic of the functionalism
of modern architecture), emancipating itself in a formal freedom above any functional restrictions.
However, it was excessive, often creating useless , inflexible, difficult to maintain, blandly
unproductive spaces for a purely decorative purpose.
Library Wexner Center for
the Visual Arts and Fine Arts. Notice how the column goes off the roof to get close to the floor,
contradicting the classical structural principle of the column and causing a feeling of imbalance. The use of CAD/CAM software was instrumental in developing these ideas, primarily because it
allowed advanced structural calculations that would enable to support and prevent the collapse of steep
walls and columns, which, paradoxically, appeared as be collapsing. Secondly, the computer was
essential to built both the building's structure and coating, often made up of unique and not repetitive
pieces.
Aronoff Center at the
College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning (DAAP), University of Cincinnati. Peter Eisenman,
1988-1993. Photo courtesy of Fusion of horizons However, not surprisingly, these factors unnecessarily increased costs many times to satisfy the whims
of architects, who were so focused on their philosophy and conceptual theories that they forgot the
needs and feelings of the users. "One time, I realized that in a project, a door was only 40 cm wide. When the client came to me
complaining, I just told her, 'Ma'am, this is not a common door, is a door for you to enter on your side
'. The client left very satisfied . " Peter Eisenman
Peter Eisenman
Peter Eisenman began his career in the late 60s, very close to modern architecture. Along with Richard
Meier , Michael Graves, Charles Gwathmey and John Hejduk, formed the group known as the "New
York Five", for their work in search of the roots of Modernism, particularly the work of Le Corbusier,
or simply "The 5 White "for their predilection int the use of that color in their works.
At first, Eisenman worked their projects based on transformations of architectural elements, dividing
volumes in planes, planes in grids, grids were rotated to reach a transformed product.
House IV. Peter Eisenman, 1972 Later, in the stage to which the project reviewed in this post belongs, the proposals show the trace of
the transformation sequence, so you can appreciate not only the product but the design process.
NUNOTANI HQ Building.
The company was bankrupt in 2000 and the building was abandoned. In this regard, the noted architect Rafael Moneo, Eisenman's personal friend, made a sharp criticism of
this design method:
"... In fact, the process breaks out, begins with a diagonal movement giving rise to multiple readings
and the deployment of a syntax that can be rigorous, but the first movement, the original impulse is
something unexpected, arbitrary, something that is entirely in the hands of the architect. (...) Thus,
despite the fact that Eisenman is trying to provide a rigorous manipulation of the architectural
language, he is forced to admit that the first impulse is gratuitous, without any connection to the
outside world in which the architecture will be built. "
Indeed, Eisenman's work in recent years denotes greater subjectivity in the process and a result which
does not necessarily express the transformation process.
Eiseman Project for the
Jubilee Church in Tor Tre Teste, Rome, contest finally won his cousin Richard Meier. I wonder what
kind of rite could be held there, because celebrating a mass would be extremely difficult.
Memorial to the Murdered
Jews of Europe, Berlin. Peter Eisenman, 2005. Designed to cause distress effect on the visitor. KOIZUMI LIGHTING THEATER, 1988-90
Koizumi Sangyo is a manufacturer of lamps and lighting equipment. For this project, the company
headquarters in Tokyo, Eisenman worked along with Kojiro Kitayama, who is the half brother of
Tadao Ando (yes, the world is a handkerchief). In fact, in the late 80's early 90s, there was a good
relationship between Eiseman and Ando, and the latter introduced him to his brother.
See location on Google Maps
Koizumi Lighting Theater is 8-storey complex. In the first 5 floors, is the exhibition of products, while
in the last 3, are the offices.
Elevation and section. Kitayama designed a concrete box, a typical Japanese office block. Eisenman used this structure as
context and "attacked" it with a series of small cubes rotated in various directions in space. Features of
this clash of geometries are evident both inside and outside the building.
"Instead of a single author, there are two authors who do not cooperate together, but work separately,
to deny the notion of a uniform composition. Working separately, they blurred the signature of the
author, the author's hand."
For both proposals to meet, it was necessary to have a unitary structure to house the different parts and
form a single project.
"A structure houses the external elements that are stapled to it. They have no purpose in themselves,
nor in terms of place nor in terms of functional program nor with the relationship established with the
host structure. They are the result of an arbitrary decision. "
Plants and exterior view. Therefore, despite the dynamic appearance of the fractured surface, it is possible to perceive a
geometric order when walk around the building. Or, said in the opposite way, despite being a clear and
rational grid as a basis, this never becomes repetitive and is different on each floor due to those
elements that pollute it.
A large atrium of monumental proportions gets us into the building. Some bridges cross diagonally
space, not only to give some this 5-story space a human scale, but also as a prelude to the looming
spatial distorsion.
"Just as the introduction of a grain of sand inside an oyster produces a pearl, then the introduction of
abnormal elements can occur causing the transformation of internal and external spaces of a structure.
A graft can also change the nature of a traditional office building . "
This grain of sand is referred to a series of three-dimensional Ls which, in order to make more apparent
to this overlap, use pastel pink and green colors, chosen along with the painter and theorist Robert
Slutzky and typical architecture of Eisenman's projects at the end the 80s (although, truth be told, this
color combination is not so popular today).
"The cubes in L embedded in the structure leave a mark, the scar of a wound."
Conceptual diagrams. Here, Eisenman makes a reference to the literature of deconstruction.
"No floor is completed, there is always a textual opening elsewhere, above or below. Each space is
part of a misunderstood text, in which there is the possibility of multiple reading. And at every level of
evolution the signs create the conditions that determine the texts and make them readable. "
This project received an Honor Award American Institute of Architects AIA in 1991. SOURCE:
Eisenman 1960/1990. Conceptual architecture for Textual Architecture. Fabio Ghersi.