From Representation to Presentation and Back : La Defense, Un Studio, Son-O-House, NOX architects

• How do we as users describe and evaluate the emotional, imaginary and symbolic impact that architecture has on us? Do I feel at home or at bay in this building? Does this space have a therapeutic effect or does its magic challenge me? Does it feel like a prison or is it pure hypnosis? Do I feel part of a community or am I moved by personal desires? These and other feelings are aroused by the way the architect designs and organizes a building. It is not the objective space of the building (the number of square metres, the corridors, the rooms, the construction, etc.) that count in this regard, but the political, cultural and poetic implications of a space. The way a space is clad can give rise to specific narratives and atmospheres between the building and its context. Most architects do not comment on the political, cultural or poetic qualities communicated by the cladding, the organization and the form of their buildings, preferring to confine themselves to the facts and figures of the objective space. Yet all the while they are creating a theatre of effects and atmospheres, even when the structure is covered with nothing but a thin layer of paint.Architects who deliberately concern themselves with the effects of the cladding and the symbolism of the shape of a building fall into two groups. On the one hand there are architects who focus on representation. Venturi, Scott Brown and Izenour, but also Dutch architect Sjoerd Soeters, attempt to appeal to public sentiment by means of the ironic manipulation of popular symbols. The iconography of their work is all about identity, meaning and language. On the other hand there are architects who concentrate on presentation, on the performative of architecture. NOX and UN Studio, for example, resist representations which reveal only a small part of reality, are full of clichés and habits and show above all the familiar. Representations organize reality in order to facilitate purposeful consumption. The blue and yellow of the Ikea boxes, the McDonald’s logo along the motorway, a church typology or even the layout of a Renaissance garden tell you what you can expect. It is an ‘architecture for Dummies’ says Venturi. ‘Viva realism over Idealism? Dumb can be good!’2 Presentations try in the first instance to escape the cliché by creating the new. Their second goal is the active involvement of user or viewer in interpreting what happens. Unlike signs and symbols, presentations are not about eliciting ready-made answers or endorsing habitual responses. An architecture geared to presentation is not concerned with symbols but with the organization of affect; with discovering how to use physical experiences in a space to stimulate the senses and move them towards the unknown. Projects that concentrate on presentation are not concerned with functions but with effects beyond the symbolic order. In relation to La Defense, Ben van Berkel remarked that ‘...it gives the people an atmosphere to function, so how can we stretch the utilities in the building’.3

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Konst -- Arkitektur (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Arts -- Architecture (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Architecture in the Netherlands

Representation

Presence

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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