“transparency”

Explain two different interpretations of the term “transparency” in architecture and illustrate them through a comparison of two different building

 Great architect, the Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne said ‘Ideas concerning transparency are one of the most relevant feature of our time’. Today ‘Transparency’ became the most distinctive characteristic of the contemporary architecture. Modern people are living in the city of skyscrapers with glass facades, hoping to move in to sophisticated house that is like the glass house by Philip Johnson. The term of ‘transparency’ in architecture is a wholly new word that recognized from modernist in the twentieth century. This development of technology changed form, style and structure of building and perspective of architecture. But the significant of ‘transparency’ is not all about property of material as the term has been developed in few different senses. Colin Rowe and Robert Slursky made the first words to distinct two different interpretation, literal transparency and Phenomenal transparency in the essay ‘transparency: literal and phenomenal’ published in 1955. In this essay, I will explain two different interpretations of the term ‘transparency’ in architecture; literal and phenomenal transparency by relation to cubism paintings and show how it apply to buildings including ‘the carre d’Art’ by Norman Foster and ‘ibere camargo’ by Alvaro Siza.

 

By dictionary, ‘transparency’ is defined as the quality or state of being made visible by light shining through from behind. It could also be found in implied meaning of openness, communication and accountability in social context. The definition of transparency in ‘literal’ sense is seen to have strong relationship with general meaning of ‘transparency’. It is defined in architectural sense as a material condition that of being pervious to air and light by use of glass as architectural element in due to the development of construction technology according to Rowe and Slursky’s essay. This development brought wholly new perception toward architecture, perceiving space rather than impression of the façade. In words and buildings, Forty explains aesthetic significance in dissolving the wall as architectural element, and in reversing the traditional relation between exterior and interior. Revealed structure of building by this use of transparent material creates the illusion of extended space to user. Architect does not envelop the building anymore but creating a volume of void that extended and sometimes determined. As space is valued in modern architecture more than a form by the ratio, connotations of the building has been changed in terms of politician. The features such as imperialism, authority and monumentality that imposed on buildings have been shifted away by destruction of rationalism. Vidler asserts that “…transparency ws seen largely as a literal, visual, attribute of the modern, a virtue, equivalent to social democracy, dis-playing the “open-society” from outside to inside”. The building has been appeared to be accessible to anyone and give the feeling of open to public, which is opposite to traditional buildings.

 

 

 

In order to explain difference between literal transparency and phenomenal transparency, Rowe and Slutsky introduce kapes’s article, Language of vision. This article clarifies the distinction between literal and phenomenal transparency by comparison to analytical cubism.The Clarinet Player by Picasso draws limitation to explore infinite spaces in mind by painting with divided spaces such as foreground, middle ground and background. Different to Picasso, The Portuguese by Braque establishes a primarily shallow space by ambiguity of space division and superimposing plans in different angle. As observer gradually investigates the depth of space, they assume the figure by resolving all scattered planes of substance in paintings. In that process, the space will be approached in metaphorical sense that introduces ‘transparency’. ‘Phenomenal transparency’ tends to be found by feeling of confusion in spatial reality that perceived by observer or user than the physical quality of substance. Kepes maintains that the“….Transparency however implies more than a optical characteristic, it implies a broader spatial order.  Transparency means a simultaneous perception of different spatial locations. The position of the transparency figures has equivocal meaning as one see each figure now as the closer, now as the further one”. In architectural sense, transparency created by implied layers of planes and an equivocal depth reading noted by Kepes. In other words, continuous fluctuations of space like different layers of gridding spaces, vertically divides the building’s volume and the cut it, will create an illusion of spatial depth which will give feeling of ‘ phenomenal transparency’. 

The carre d’Art by Norman Foster at Nimes in southern France is a museum of contemporary art and the city’s library. It is constructed of modern materials such as glass, concrete and steel, beside of the Maison Carree, Roman temple. The structures of building and internal spaces are revealed as it is enveloped with glass walls. The glass wall that of consisted of façade suggests unambiguous surface that gives an unambiguous space. On the other hand, Alvaro Siza’s ibere camargo introduces ‘transparency’ in different sense from the carre d’Art. Both of them are currently occupied as art gallery, but it has totally different design features as well as conveying different interpretations of ‘transparency’. One introduces a quality of literal transparency by its materiality and the other one has organizational transparency, which can say as ‘phenomenal transparency’. The carre d’Art , which employs cantilever roof and intruded glass curtain wall, suggests such spaces like a patio. The roof structure that continuously runs through from interior to exterior contributes the confusion between inside and outside. In other words, users who are inside feel that the space has been expanded to infinity, passengers from outside feel like being secured by awareness of being belonged to determined space. Although it has similar order with the Maison Carree, the features that transparent material creates show different feeling from the Maison Carree. In contrast to the Mison Carree, It seems more appropriated to access in to anyone and open to public with monumentality. Ibere camargo, on the other hand, implies the spatial confusion created by either horizontal or vertical division of spaces in various scales. On the façade, three ramps are extruded out in horizontally and entire building stood in vertical as a whole mess. As you go inside, spaces are divided into different scales by its function of spaces. In the middle of building, a huge vertical void has made the communication between the plaza and side walk way. Overlapped plans for gallery space and circulation spaces are divided horizontally with different volume. As you walk through spaces, scale and volume will be differed to narrower or wider and higher and lower. User will be aware of the phenomenal transparency effected through concerning a concept which “interpenetrate without optical destruction of each other”. The fluctuation of different spatial quality will establish transparency by an equivalent depth relationship.In conclusion, the term ‘transparency’ has become the most relevant feature of modern architecture by rapid development of technology such as invention of new materials and new style of construction. It suggests wholly new perspective toward architecture such as concerning the spatial quality rather than decorating and forming surfaces. However, the term has not been clear to be explained its multiple meanings; literal transparency and phenomenal transparency firstly noted by Rowe and Slursky. The term ‘literal transparency’ has been described in architectural sense as a material condition that of being pervious to air and light by use of glass as architectural element in due to the development of construction technology. This transformation of building style has made change such as dissolving the wall as architectural element, reversing the traditional relation between exterior and interior and political status of the public buildings. On the other hand, ‘Phenomenal transparency’ is defined by user’s impression of a building in sense of spatial reality than characteristic of material that used in building. An equivocal depth reading that made by implied layers of planes will create the quality of ‘transparency’ in sense of phenomenal. In order to explain the term ‘transparency’ in sense of literal and phenomenal on practical buildings, the carre d’Art by Noman Foster and Ibere Camargo by Alvaro Siza have been choose to be examples of projects that applied those terms. Both of building are large-scale projects and used as art galleries. Yet they convey different interpretation of ‘transparency’; the carre d’Art carries literal transparency and Ibere Camargo is featured phenomenal transparency. As the carre d’Art concealed with the curtain glass wall façade as wall dissolved as architectural elements, it expresses spaces that continue to expand and openness to public as well as destruction of emperors that has been concern for traditional public buildings. Ibere camargo maintains ‘phenomenal transparency’ by the spatial confusion created by either horizontal or vertical division of spaces in various scales. These two meanings of ‘transparency’ have been expressed through the buildings by modernists in order to relevant our time. Moreover, the term ‘transparency’ seems to be lost its profound meaning that carried on from early modernism by overused without concerning its multiple interpretations.  Today the term ‘transparency’ applied in architectures has to be carefully selected considering its different interpretations.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

-A, Forty, “Transparency” Words and buildings: a vocabulary of modern architecture” (London, Thames & Hudson, 1948), 165-167

 

-A. Vidler, “Transparency,” The Architectural Uncanny, Essays in the Modern Unhomely (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1992), 217-225.

 

-C. Rowe and R. Slutzky, “Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal,” Perspecta 8:

45-54

 

-E, Blau and N, Troy, “Introduction,” in Architecture and Cubism (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1997), 1-16.

 

-S, Giedion, “Part 6: Space-Time in art, architecture and construction,” in

Space, Time and Architecture (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,

1982)