Deconstructivism

DECONSTRUCTIVISM

    Deconstructivism is a philosophical movement dividing paradigmas into pieces in order to analyse relationships between these pieces. This philosophical movement influences 20. century architecture significantly. It expresses own characteristics by distorting and sliding the surfaces of the buildings. These buildings are perceived as consisting of chaotic elements and the chaos created by using radical forms is a controlled chaos.

 

Parc de la Villette designed by Bernard Tschumi

 Deconstructivism experiences important occasions such as the 1982 Parc de la Villette architectural design competition,the Museum of Modern Art’s 1988 Deconstructivist Architecture exhibition in New York, organized by Philip Johnson and Mark Wigley, and the 1989 opening of the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, designed by Peter Eisenman. Avant-garde architects of deconstructivism such as Peter Eisenman, Philip Johnson and Mark Wigley,Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Coop Himmelb(l)au, and Bernard Tschumi are generally impressed by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida's deconstruction in his 1967 book Of Grammatology.

                                     The Wexner Center for Arts designed by Peter Eisenman


     It is also a revolt against architecture's history, an opposition to modernism and also post-modernism because deconstructivism comes out through the conflict of these two terms. It counters the rationality of modernist architecture and also post modernist architecture's idea of ornament as an before-thought or decoration.

A defining point for deconstructivism is against the purity, clarity and simplicity of modernism.

Villa Savoye (1931) Arcitects:  Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret

 

Ginger & Fred (1996) Architect: Frank Gehry

Computer Added Design

Definition:
The letters CAD stand for computer-aided design. Architects, drafters, engineers, and artists use CAD software to create plans and construction drawings.
Before the age of computers, drawings and blueprints were drafted by hand. CAD is more efficient because the software records lines as vectors based on mathematical equations. Portions of a drawing can be twisted, stretched, or moved. The picture as a whole will automatically adjust.

CAD Software will let the designer:

* Switch between two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) views.
* Zoom in and out for close-up and distant views.
* Rotate images to view them from different perspectives.
* Change the scale of images: When one value changes, related values are automatically adjusted.
* Manipulate the shape of images: Changing one portion of an image automatically changes the entire picture. 

“It is possible to view the aesthetic qualities emerging in the new genre of ‘digital craft’ - such as the use of triangulation and the quality of line produced by generic pre-set machine parameters - as a temporary phase in the digital craft timeline. As more makers adopt digital technologies, we may discover that these visual aesthetic qualities are more attributable to the technology than the maker rather than being understood as unique. The author believes it is therefore important for makers wishing to further their practice in this field to seek ways in which they can gain greater control over the processes and tools they are using. “

  Masterton, D.H. Deconstructing The Digital, University College Falmouth, Penryn, UK. from:           http://www.autonomatic.org.uk/team/dm/Deconstructing%20the%20Digital.pdf

Also Known As:
CAD is also known as CADD, which stands for Computer-Aided Design & Drafting
Examples:

-Popular CAD programs used by architects and engineers include:
* AutoCAD
* TurboCAD
* Vectorworks 

Simplified versions of CAD tools can be found in home design software tailored for non-professionals.

Relation between Computer Aided Design and Deconstructivism

Recent developments in computer hardware and in particular software have already had quite staggering impacts on working practices of some architects. Within the last few years, designers of software have come to realize that whilst it is within human nature to respond to a limited amount of constraints, no one likes to have their actions entirely dictated by another. The ideals of communism have much to be admired, but their implementation failed where dictation was seen to be the solution. Computer programs are beginning to allow adaptation, and one of the earliest examples of this are the macro languages to be found in one or two CAD packages. These allow the relatively simple 'mini' programs to be written, to allow the computer to automate a wide variety of functions. One example was written to automatically calculate invert levels of drains, with the minimum input from the user. It is not difficult to see that these simple macro languages working within the confines of the CAD package can be utilized to great effect. Where the architect is allowed to make his or her own rules, the possibilities of this method of designing become infinite. In the same way that automated draughting processes have improved the speed and efficiency of junior architects, so this method can be used to increase the efficiency of the senior partners' time spent designing. With the architect making the rules and providing a number of variables, the computer can be used to visualize the vast array of possibilities. The computer's ability to monotonously repeat instructions more fully utilizes the computer's capabilities than automating draughting processes. Although the rules of composition for Classical architecture are well documented, making it an ideal example for this sort of exercise, the possible results are somewhat predictable. Much less defined and well known is once fashionable Deconstructivism, a style that owes its definition to the 1988 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and whose life span it barely seemed to outlast. Often criticized for being elitist, and much misunderstood, the brief duration of its existence as a coherent movement has past, but the main practitioners continue along their individual paths, each concerned with differing but similar aspects of architectural theory. The term Deconstructivism in truth captures the time at which their trains of thought roughly coincided, enough at least to form convincing arguments for the exhibition.

Frank Gehry

Using unorthodox materials like corrugated metal and chain link, Gehry creates unexpected, twisted forms that break conventions of building design. His work has been called radical, playful, organic, and sensual. Early in his career, Frank Gehry designed houses inspired by modern architects such as Richard Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright. As Gehry's career expanded, he became known for massive, iconoclastic projects that attracted attention and controversy. Many buildings by Frank Gehry have become tourist attractions, drawing visitors from around the world. Gehry had success in the 1970s with his line of Easy Edges chairs made from bent laminated cardboard. By 1991, Gehry was using bent laminated maple to produce the Power Play Armchair. These designs are part of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) collection in NYC. Because architecture takes so long to become realized, Gehry often turns to the "quick fix" of designing smaller products, including jewelry, trophies, and even liquor bottles. In 2003 Gehry established a partnership with Tiffany & Co. to create an exclusive jewelry collection that launched in 2006. In 2004 the Canadian side of Gehry designed an ice hockey trophy for the international World Cup of Hockey tournament. Also in 2004, the Polish side of Gehry designed a twisty vodka bottle for Wyborowa Exquisite. 

Much of Gehry's work falls within the style of Deconstructivism, which is often referred to as post-structuralist in nature for its ability to go beyond current modalities of structural definition. In architecture, its application tends to depart from modernism in its inherent criticism of culturally inherited givens such as societal goals and functional necessity. Because of this, unlike early modernist structures, Deconstructivist structures are not required to reflect specific social or universal ideas, such as speed or universality of form, and they do not reflect a belief that form follows function. Gehry's own Santa Monica residence is a commonly cited example of deconstructivist architecture, as it was so drastically divorced from its original context, and in such a manner as to subvert its original spatial intention.

In the summer of 1988, architect Philip Johnson was instrumental in organizing a Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) exhibit called  

"Deconstructivist Architecture." Johnson gathered works from seven architects, including Frank O. Gehry, who "intentionally violate the cubes and right angles of modernism." Gehry's Santa Monica house was exhibited as an example of deconstructivisim.
"The hallmark of deconstructivist architecture is its apparent instability. Though structurally sound, the projects seem to be in states of explosion or collapse....Deconstructivist architecture, however, is not an architecture of decay or demolition. On the contrary, it gains all of its force by challenging the very values of harmony, untiy, and stability, proposing instead that flaws are intrinsic to the structure."

Famous Buildings by Frank Gehry:

• 1978 and 1987: Gehry House (Gehry's private home), Santa Monica CA
• 1993: Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
• 1997: Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
• 1999: Maggies Centre, Dundee, Scotland
• 2001: Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
• 2004: MIT Stata Complex, Cambridge MA
• 1989-2004: Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles CA
• 2004: Jay Pritzker Music Pavillion, Chicago, Illinois
• 2005: 'MARTa' Museum, Herford, Germany
• 2007: IAC Building, New York City
• 2010: Dr Chau Chak Wing Building Design, the "Treehouse,", University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.

Awards:

• 1977: Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture, American Academy of Arts and Letters
• 1989: Pritzker Architecture Prize
• 1992: Wolf Prize in Art, the Wolf Foundation
• 1992: Praemium Imperiale Award, Japan Art Association
• 1994: Dorothy and Lillian Gish Award for lifetime contribution to the arts
• 1998: National Medal of Arts
• 1998: Friedrich Kiesler Prize
• 1999: Lotos Medal of Merit, Lotos Club
• 1999: Gold Medal, American Institute of Architects
• 2000: Lifetime Achievement Award, Americans for the Arts
• More than 100 awards from the American Institute of Architects
• Numerous honorary doctorates and honorary titles

Gehry House

GEHRY HOUSE

Architect: Frank Gehry 
Location: Santa Monica, California
Date: 1978
Building Type: Architect’s House
Climate: Mild Temperature
Context: Suburban
Style: Deconstructivist Post-Modern

The Story of the House

     Before Frank Gehry acquired international prestige as the architect of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, he designed his own house in Santa Monica (1977 - 78). The story starts when his wife, Berta, bought a small pink bungalow in a bourgeois neighborhood. Gehry decided to redesign what he considered "a dumb little house with charm", to build around it and try "to make it more important". The result was so emotive among their neighbors that the new house was even shot at one night!
Gehry House Commentary

"Adhering to the spirit of ad-hocism... Frank Gehry's own house in Los Angeles is rather a collision of parts, built to stay but with a deliberately unfinished, ordinary builder like sensibility of parts. An existing and very pedestrian two-story gambrel-roofed clapboard residence had much of its interior removed and walls stripped back to their original two-by- four stud frame, beams, and rafters. It was then expanded by wrapping the old house with a metal slipcover creating a new set of spaces around its perimeter. The antirefinement type enclosure is built of the most mundane materials, corrugated aluminum metal siding, plywood, glass and chain-link fencing, and deliberately has randomly slanted lines and angled protrusions. Although the house retains a certain minimalist sense, the effort here is cluttered expressionistic and the sensibility is freely intended as artistically intuitive, of accident not resolved. The palette is anti-high-tech in preference for a visual presence that is off-the-shelf and ordinary 'cheap tech.' Gehry considers buildings as sculpture with the freedom from restraint that this might imply, hence it is not surprising that his work has an affinity to the collages of Robert Rauschenberg, especially in the artist's ripped cardboard assemblage period of the 1970s. (Gehry himself designed a line of corrugated cardboard furniture.)

     Mr. Gehry's house draws meaning from its context. But the landscape it occupies is the built-up continent of postwar urbanization. Instead of commanding an infinite expanse of fields, forests, desert or prairie, Mr. Gehry's house sits on a small lot, just a few blocks from the endless commercial strip of Wilshire Boulevard. Its vista is a land filled with millions of dream houses, a decentralized urban America where the desire to escape the city has produced a raucous congestion of its own.
Even Mr. Gehry's own suburban lot was already occupied. A two-story, pink-shingled "dumb little house with charm," as Mr. Gehry famously called it, poked its cute Dutch gambrel roof into the green suburban skyline. Instead of tearing it down, Mr. Gehry turned the old dwelling into the foundation for his own dream. He sliced through walls, extracted ceilings, pared away part of the roof and wove the partly dismembered remains into a new architectural framework: an industrial shell made of plywood, wire glass, galvanized metal and chain-link fence.
Though Mr. Gehry denied that he was trying to make a Big Statement, the house was soon widely recognized as a potent expression of contemporary American urbanism. It was as if the old house had begun to break apart under the pressure of proximity to the neighbors, and then began to exert its own pressure outward: pushing back against staid decorum, exposing suburbia's conflicting ideals of community and independence.
from Paul Heyer. American Architecture: Ideas and Ideologies in the Late Twentieth Century. p228-230.
from ERBERT MUSCHAMP The Gehry House: A Brash Landmark Grows Up
Published: October 07, 1993

The Stages of the House

     The Gehry House is a renovation, in three stages, of an existing suburban building. The original house is known embedded in several interlocking additions of conflicting structures. It has been severely distorted by those additions. But the force of the house comes from the sense that the additions were not imported to the site but emerged from the inside of the house. It is as if the house had always harbored these twisted shapes within it. 
In the first stage, forms twist their way out from the inside. A tilted cube, for example, made up of the timber framing of the original house, bursts through the structure, peeling back the layers of the house. As these forms push their way out, they lift off the skin of the building, exposing the structure; they create a second skin which wraps around the front and site of the new volume, but which peels right off the rear wall of the house to stand free, like stage scenery. Having broken through the structure, the forms strain against this second skin but in the end it stoops them from escaping. Consequently, the first stage operates in the gap between the original wall and its displaced skin. This gap is a zone of conflict in which stable distinctions, between inside and out, original and addition, structure and facade, are questioned. The original house become a strange artifact, trapped and distorted by forms that have emerged from within it.

The Sketches fot the Gehry House

                                                     

      In the second stage, the structure of the rear wall, which is unprotected by the skin, bursts and planks tumble out. The structure almost literally breaks down. N the third stage, the backyards fill up with forms that appear to have escape from the house through the breach in the rear wall, which then closes. These forms are then put under tension by being twisted relative to each other and to the house. The Gehry House becomes an extended essay o the convoluted relationship between the conflict within forms and the conflict between forms.

From Johnson P., Deconstructivist Architecture, 1988