"I let myself down to the ledge, and found that it was impossible to retain a seat on it unless in one particular position. This fact confirmed my preconceived idea. I proceeded to use the glass. Of course, the 'twenty-one degrees and thirteen minutes' could allude to nothing but elevation above the visible horizon, since the horizontal direction was clearly indicated by the words, 'northeast and by north.' This latter direction I at once established by means of a pocket-compass; then, pointing the glass as nearly at an angle of twenty-one degrees of elevation as I could do it by guess, I moved it cautiously up or down, until my attention was arrested by a circular rift or opening in the foliage of a large tree that overtopped its fellows in the distance. In the centre of this rift I perceived a white spot, but could not, at first, distinguish what it was. Adjusting the focus of the telescope, I again looked, and now made it out to be a human skull." [p. 105.]
Treasure maps, like architectural plans, are typically two-dimensional representations of the horizontal plane. In the short story The Gold-Bug by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49), however, Captain Kidd conceived of his treasure map in three dimensions, nearly causing the mental collapse of the protaganist who sought to locate the treasure. In this stage of the studio, students are asked to project their projects into that third dimension, and represent their walls in elevation.
Just as the loom can serve as a metaphor for the weaving of architectural plans,
scaffolding can serve as a metaphor for the raising of architectural elevations:
"Orthography is the demonstration of how the vertical raising of the building is
done. The ontological demonstration of it is embodied in the structure of the
scaffolding." [Frascari, p. 15].
The term "orthography" here refers to the tradition of architectural
representation traceable to Vitruvius (c. 90-20 BCE), who
mentions three kinds of architectural demonstration (Greek ideae) in his
treatise on architecture:
ichnographia (plan), orthographia (elevation), and
scaenographia (which Frascari also interprets as sciographia, with all its
implications of shadow, profile, projection, and section).
The following is a selection from the entry on "scaffold" in the Oxford English
Dictionary
Although the second definition is now obsolete, it played an important role in
the work of Vitruvius, who might be better called a military engineer than an
architect. His treatise on architeture refers to an illustration of scaffolding, later rendered in
Renaissance treatises on architecture. The following is an illustration of the
sixth definition:
fig. 1: Body on a gibbet;
fig. 2: The seventh "muscle-man" from Vesalius.
This last definition may seem unrelated to architectural concerns, but Joseph
Rykwert has interpreted Vesalius's use of the word "fabrica" in the title of his
treatise on anatomy as comment on the changing role of architecture and "...by a
necessary analogy a change in our valuation of building and of the place of our
bodies within them. And I would hazard a generalization at this point: that the
terms in which we describe world order, buildings and our bodies, form a
constant metaphoric chain, whose shifts and deformations have their effect in
our sociology and our medicine as well as in our architecture." [Rykwert, Body and Mind, p. 159]. This metaphoric
chain can also be traced through a comparison of the history of medical and
architectural illustration. For an eighteenth century Italian example of this
link, see Marco Frascari, "A 'measure' in
architecture."
More literally applicable to architecture is the first definition above,
referring to constructions such as the following:
fig. 3: Wooden scaffolding;
fig. 4: Prefabricated metal scaffolding.
The metaphor of scaffolding which Frascari suggests, however, is not that of
independent scaffolding, but rather of scaffolding which is integral with the
facade: "An understanding of the of the procedure of this demonstration can be
gained by looking to the brick facade of many medieval constructions that are
marked by many holes. The holes are signs that allow us to reconstruct how the
scaffolding interacted with the edifice during its construction, by a mirror
experience, an acute reflection." [Frascari, p. 15].
fig. 5: Integration of scaffold and facade.
The illustration above suggests a comparison with Le Corbusier's use of
"regulating lines" to compose the elevations of his projects:
fig. 6: Garches, elevation;
fig. 7: Garches, elevation.
fig. 8: Villa Stein, Garches.
Colin Rowe interprets Le Corbusier's facades as "the primary demonstrations of
the mathematical discipline;" at Garches, for example, Le Corbusier "carefully
indicates his relationships by an apparatus of regulating lines and figures and
by placing on the drawings of his elevations the ratio of the golden section,
A:B=B:(A+B)." [Rowe, p. 9].
This metaphor of scaffolding can also be "inverted" and applied to the system of
"skeleton" construction originated by the Chicago School in the later half of
the nineteenth century, where the framework of iron columns and beams served as
the primary "scaffolding" of the building.
fig. 9: Fair Store, William Le Baron Jenney (1832-1907).
"In Chicago, seemingly, our own interests were so directly anticipated that if -
as we apparently sometimes conceive it to be - the frame structure is the
essence of modern architecture, then we can only assume a relationship between
ourselves ourselves and Chicago comparable to that of the High Renaissance
architects with Florence ... " [Rowe, "Chicago Frame," p.
90.]
Rowe's mention of the relationship of Renaissance architects with Florence
suggests the example of Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72),
in whose architectural writings and projects facades play a fundamental
role.
Furthermore, in the prologue to his treatise on architecture, de re
aedificatoria (c. 1450), Alberti "argues that architecture comprises two
parts, the lineamenta - deriving from the mind - and the materia -
deriving from nature - mediated by the skilled craftsman: he makes lineamenta
the subject of the first book." [Rykwert, On the Art
of Building in Ten Books, pp. 422-3].
The facade of the Pallazzo Rucellai, Alberti's first independent work, is
composed of pietra forte, a fine grained sandstone that allowed Alberti
to hide the joints within the overall pattern of channels and pilasters.
fig. 10: Pallazzo Rucellai, facade.
fig. 11: Stone-work pattern of the facade;
fig. 12: Diagram of the facade.
Another important aspect of the elevation of this pallazzo is its division
into three levels. This division is marked by the use of different Orders for
each level, the typical sequence being from Doric on the lower level, to Ionic,
to Corinthian on the upper level: the character of the interior space being
signified by the ornamentation of the exterior. A similar, Positivist correlation was
proposed by James Fergusson (1808-86), an historian of architecture who
classified the ornamentaion of elevations in the following horizontal scheme:
fig. 13: Four stages of an elevation.
fig. 14: Positivist interpretation of these stages.
The ornamentation of the elevations of North Indian
temples, though more complex than the examples above, is also arranged as a
projection of the interior space, in this case manifestations of the deity
within the sanctum.
Alberti was commissioned by Giovanni Rucellai to complete the facade of this
existing Gothic church. As figure 13 indicates, the design of the facade is
composed of a complex geometrical pattern based on harmonic proportions.
According to Borsi, "once he had established a basic height for his design,
Alberti could turn to the essential problem of the project: the incompatibility
between the classical proportions to which he was instinctively inclined and
those parts of the earlier church (especially their height) by which he was
conditioned." [Borsi, p. 65.]
fig. 15: Marble facing of the facade;
fig. 16: Regulating lines of the facade.
As representations of the three-dimensional "house" of Buddha, the mandalas of the Tibetan tantric traditon integrate both plan
and elevation in one complex diagram.
fig. 1: "Nineteenth century depiction of the theft of a body
from the gibbet outside Louvain." [O'Malley, plate 11].
fig. 2: "The seventh "muscle-man" from the Fabrica. Vesalius
used this method of supporting the cadaver during the preparation of the
dissection and illustrations of the "muscle-men." [O'Malley, plate 22].
fig. 3: "Heavy-duty independent-pole scaffold, diagonal
bracing not shown." Bureau of Naval Personnel, Basic Construction
Techniques (New York: Dover Publications, 1972), figure 5-27.
fig. 4: "Prefabricated independent scaffolding." Bureau of
Naval Personnel, Basic Construction Techniques (New York: Dover
Publications, 1972), figure 5-29.
fig. 5: "Prospetto casa in costruzione." Lithograph from the
collection of Marco Frascari.
fig. 6: "Garches, elevation." Rowe,
figure 2.
fig. 7: "Garches, elevation." Rowe,
figure 2.
fig. 8: "Villa Stein, Garches. Le Corbusier, 1927." Rowe, plate 5.
fig. 9: "Fair Store, Chicago. William Le Baron Jenney,
1889-90)." Rowe, plate 38.
fig. 10: "Florence, Palazzo Rucellai. Facade." Borsi, plate 36.
fig. 11: "Florence, Palazzo Rucellai. Stone-work pattern of
the facade." Borsi, plate 32.
fig. 12: "Florence, Palazzo Rucellai. Diagram of the
facade." Borsi, plate 33.
fig. 13: "Four stage facade." Fergusson, A History of Architecture, Diagram No. 2.
fig. 14: "Technic, esthetic and phonetic." Fergusson, A History of Architecture, Diagram No. 1.
fig. 15: "Florence, Palazzo Rucellai. Diagram of the
facade." Borsi, plate 33.
fig. 16: "Florence, Palazzo Rucellai. Diagram of the
facade." Borsi, plate 33.
Alberti, Leon Battista. On the Art of Building in Ten Books. Trans. Joseph Rykwert with Neil Leach and Robert Tavernor.
Cambridge: MIT Press, 1988.
Alexander, Christopher. "Perception and Modular
Coordination." Royal Institute of British Architects Journal, vol. 66,
no. 12 (October 1959), pp. 425-9.
Borsi, Franco. Leon Battista Alberti: The Complete
Works. New York : Rizzoli; Milano : Electa, 1989, c1986.
Le Corbusier. "Regulating Lines." Towards a New
Architecture. Translated from the French by Frederick Etchells. 1923; rpt.,
New York, Praeger [1970], pp. 64-79.
Fergusson, James. A History of Architecture: in All
Countries from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. New Edition, R. Phene
Spiers, ed., w/notes & add's by George Kriehn (Leland Stanford U.) 2 vols. New
York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1907.
Frascari, Marco. "A New angel/angle in architectural
research: the ideas of demonstration." Journal of Architectural
Education, vol. 44, no. 1 (Nov. 1990), pp. 11-19.
Frascari, Marco. "A 'measure' in architecture: A
medical-architectural theory by Simone Stratico, Architetto Veneto."
RES, vol. 9 (Spring 1985), pp. 79-90.
Harcourt, Glenn. "Andreas Vesalius and the Anatomy of
Antique Sculpture." Representations, vol. 17 (Winter 1987).
O'Malley, Charles Donald. Andreas Vesalius of
Brussels, 1514-1564. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964.
Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Gold-Bug," The Gold-Bug and Other
Tales. 1843; rpt. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1991, pp. 79-107.
Rowe, Colin. "The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa: Palladio
and Le Corbusier compared," The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other
Essays. First Published in Architectural Review, 1947. Cambridge:
MIT Press, 1976, pp. 59-87.
Rowe, Colin. "Chicago Frame," The Mathematics of the
Ideal Villa and Other Essays. First Published in Architectural
Review, 1947. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1976, pp. 89-117.
Rykwert, Joseph. "Body and Mind," in Storia delle Idee: Problemi e
Prospettive. Seminario Internazionale, Roma, 29-31 ottobre 1987. A
cura di Massimo L. Bianchi. Lessico Intelletuale Europeo XLIX. Roma: Edizioni
dell'Ateneo, 1989, pp. 157-68.
Patrick A. George
[telnet gateway.library.upenn.edu]:
Signification: a few examples.
1. A temporary platform usually supported on poles or (sometimes)trestles, but
occasionally suspended, and designed to hold the workmen and materials employed
in the erection, repairing, or decoration of a building. Also pl., but now
usually sing., an assemblage of such platforms with their supporting poles, =
scaffolding.
2. A military engine for assailing a wall. Obs.
6. An elevated platform on which a criminal is executed. Phr.
Derivation:
L. *catafalcum, of uncertain formation: according to some scholars, f. Gr.
prefix kata- (see under catafalque) + -falicum, f. fala, phala wooden tower or
gallery. For other related forms see catafalque, and cf. med.Lat. scadafale
(12th c.), scadafaltum (13th c.), scafaldus, scalfaudus, etc. (15th c.). The
Romanic word has been adopted by continental Teut. langs.: (M)Dutch schavot, G.
schavot(t, Da. skafot. With the
Quotation:
* 1889 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 107 But man-we, scaffold of score brittle
bones.
In the example of Le Corbusier, these regulating lines serve as scaffolding. For
further analysis of the use of geometrical and arithmetical systems to provide
internal order in buildings, see Christopher Alexander,
"Perception and Modular Coordination."
Lineamenta et Structura
"The fundamental distinction that Alberti draws between lineamenta and structura
in book I (I.I.7 [4]) - of design and construction - may be compared to that
which Vitruvius draws between ratiocinatio and opus, in I.I.15. ... For Alberti
and the art of building, design necessarily precedes construction, yet
lineamenta and structura are independent." [Rykwert,
On the Art of Building in Ten Books, p. 422].
Pallazzo Rucellai, Florence (1446-51)
Santa Maria Novella, Florence (1456-70)
Postscript
List of Illustrations
"In short, the process of dissection perforce undercuts the teleological notion
that literally animates the figures. The body itself becomes progressively
unable to convey the illusion of action, even within the fictive world of its
representation. It is in a sense reobjectified [fig. 2], trussed up as a "real"
corpse, no longer able to sustain itself in the face of its own violation:
'Furthermore, to prevent the right scapula from falling downwards like a broken
wing, we so suspended it by a rope that the whole of its hollow surface was
brought into view [Caption to Fabrica 1.7]'." Harcourt, p. 48.
Bibliography
http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~georgep/PAG.html