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KINGSHUK BISWAS

BIRDIE (Assessment-02A)

Bernard Tschumi the son of famous architect Jean Tschumi is also well known as an architect, writer and educator. But in the field of architecture he is particularly known as an architectural thinker and pioneer of deconstructivism. He executed a range of projects which include mostly theory projects. ‘The Manhattan Transcripts’ is one of them which is actually considered as his finest and evolutionary project in the field of architecture. So during my assessment I chose this project for the part of my research and focused on his process of work to execute my drawing.

Bernard Tschumi

The Manhattan transcripts are neither real projects nor mere fantasies; it is proposed to transcribe an architectural interpretation to reality.The main key function of the transcripts is the plans,sections & diagrams are not only line and measurements but they depict the movement of protagonist. These transcripts are showcasing not only the Pleasure of Architecture but the Violence of Architecture as well.

Programmatic Account

The Transcripts are all about a set of disjunctions among use, forms and social values. It has four episodes like ‘The Park’;based on a murder scene (MT1), ‘The Street’; based on border crossing (MT2), ‘The Tower’; based on a fall (MT3) & ‘The Block’; based on five events (MT4) and each of them follows a bit different rule to be created or particularly to deconstruct.

Reality

It is configured on real places and the actions are real as well. He isolates frame and take elements from city. Then he abstracted movements from any movement diagrams, maps, photos to compose a building which represents the world of moving objects.

Reciprocity & Conflict

The most interesting part of the Transcripts is the stunning relationship between the three levels makes for the architectural experience. These levels are ‘entangled’ with one another that they can be interchangeable at any time. Transcripts never attempt to transcend contradiction between object, man & event in order to bring them to a new synthesis. According to Transcripts the definition of architecture may lie in the intersection of logic & pain, rationality & anguish, concept & pleasure.

Notation

The main purpose of the transcripts is to introduce the order of experience, time, sequences for the reading of the city. It gives a chance to think to go beyond the limits of architecture and explore the world in a different way.

Frames and sequences

The episodes of the transcripts are not a random accumulation of events; it displays a particular organization. In a order of frames and sequences MT1 is linear, MT2 is temporarily linear, MT3 depicts two unrelated moments; whereas MT4 is bit exhaustive and narrative which is based on 5 different architectural place, 5 different events & 5 different moves.

So for my drawing I chose the techniques of MT3, The Tower one and followed his techniques step by step.

The Tower

The Tower is based on a fall of a person. Tschumi first observed the frames and sequences of the event, ‘falling’.

The Fall

After that he tried to trace the movements in some forms and the concept of positive and negative space.

Tracing the movements to create a form

Then he gave some shapes to the positive and negative spaces in a 2D view and creates some different forms.

Create some forms in 2D

Finally he accumulated those 2D forms in a particular organization to make a shape out of the box which depicts a tower.

Final Design ‘The Tower’

Now for my drawing I photographed various movements around UTS and among them I chose the movements of a bird.

Photographs of the movements of the bird

Then I traced the movement in a tracing paper to simplify the movements or tried to trace the movements in a simple way.

Tracing the movements on a tracing paper

Thirdly, I copied the line drawings of the movements on a white paper to highlight the positive & negative space. Here white one represents the positive space & shaded one the negative space.

Highlighting the Positive(White Part) & Negative(Shaded Part) spaces

Then I emerged the positive and negative space in a organisational way to make a structural form like Tschumi did in his tower.

Emerging the positive & negative space in a 2D form

Finally I put some elements to give a view of 3D to my drawing and colored it to make it conceptually strong.

Final Design- BIRDIE

Birdie is somehow similar to the MT3, ‘The Tower’ and is more about the forms out of the box which depicts the deconstructive nature in a mannered way.

Reference list

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Tschumi
  2. https://au.pinterest.com/pin/317433473718099054/
  3. The Manhattan Transcripts, Bernard Tschumi
  4. Lecture by Leisa Tough