<nettime> ae fragments/le corbusier

[brian carroll <human@architexturez.com>]

 ._______________________________________________________________.
/_______________________________________________________________/
| working on 'the architecture of electricity' (ae) thesis to be
| finished near 2000 Common Era. just finished writing this piece
| tonight, which i propose is an archaeo-architectural (mis-)
| reading of the classic architectural text by Le Corbusier,
| Towards an Architecture. the upper-case letters on the website
| will be of a smaller font size than the lowercase letters, and
| these words will be hyperlinked to their definitions, as will
| the numbered footnotes with the bibliographic information. of
| the concepts in this piece, most all have been established in
| the thesis prior to this text (this is at the end of the thesis).
| thus, a concept like the E-INFRASTRUCTURE has a whole section
| detailing how electricity is produced and consumed, and that in
| turn has another section about what ELECTRICITY is, etcetera.
| feedback is welcome. bc
|____________________________________________________________.
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______________________________________________________________________

 L E   C O R B U S I E R
______________________________________________________________________

In 1923 the French ARCHITECT Le Corbusier published the treatise Towards
an Architecture, which some regard as "one of the most influential
architectural books of the century, combining deep wisdom, poetic
observation, rich illustration of ideas, and a confident appeal in favor
of an architectural language in tune with the machine era..." 

In the 1927 English translation, Towards a New Architecture, Le Corbusier
explores the relationship between the ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE and the
theory and practice of ARCHITECTURE. (22n) This correspondence is visibly
demonstrated in the book's first photograph of the TELEPHONE Building in
New York, and the first photograph of the last chapter, "Architecture or
Revolution," showing a 40,000 Kilowatt ELECTRICAL TURBINE. (23n) 

We propose that this ELECTRICAL iconography is not merely a coincidence,
but that Le Corbusier's "Argument" intuitively sought to rationalize
ARCHITECTURE with the unfolding ELECTRICAL ORDER. (24n) 

In the chapter "the Engineer's Aesthetic and Architecture" tools are
examined. The "stock of tools," Le Corbusier writes, "marks out the stages
of civilization, the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age." They are
"the result of successive improvement; [and] the effort of all generations
is embodied in them. The tool is the direct and immediate expression of
progress..." (25) 

Likewise, today our ELECTRICAL tools derive from the emerging ELECTRICAL
AGEs of ELECTRICAL CIVILIZATION. 

It is next stated that most tools are created by ENGINEERs, not by
ARCHITECTs. Le Corbusier then paradoxically pronounces: 

"Architecture can be found in the telephone and in the Parthenon." (26) 

This means that the (TELEPHONE) tool is interrelated with the (TELEPHONE) 
buildings and (TELEPHONE) systems which make it work, harkening back to
the first photograph of the book. 

The diagnosis then becomes clear: ENGINEERs are producing ARCHITECTURE,
and the engineered object has become ARCHITECTURE. (27n) Thus, we can
begin to consider the ELECTRICAL ENGINEER as a kind of ARCHITECT who
designs the ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE as a type of ARCHITECTURE. 

Le Corbusier continues: "Architecture to-day is no longer conscious of its
own beginnings... We have gained a new perspective and a new social life,
but we have not yet adapted" ARCHITECTURE to it. (28n) In retrospect it is
probable that this text refers to the transformative effects of
ELECTRIFICATION brought about by the evolution of the ELECTRICAL ORDER. 

Further evidence for the ARCHITECTURE OF ELECTRICITY appears when Le
Corbusier declares that a great epoch has begun which exists as a new
spirit: "...[I]t is a spirit of construction and of synthesis guided by a
clear conception. Whatever may be thought of it, it animates to-day the
greater part of human activity." (32) Could this new spirit be the
ELECTRICAL FORCE in action? 

For Le Corbusier the answer unfolds as a subconscious aesthetic: 

"Our own epoch is determining, day by day, its own style. Our eyes,
unhappily, are unable yet to discern it." (33) 

And indeed, today our eyes can finally distinguish an ELECTRICAL STYLE
heretofore "invisible" which has emerged from within the ELECTRICAL EPOCH,
guided by the principles of ELECTRICITY. 

It is further declared: "a new epoch is replacing a dying one... An epoch
creates its own architecture, and this is the clear image of a system of
thought... The spirit of architecture can only result from a particular
condition of material things and a particular condition of mind." (35) 

We propose that this new ARCHITECTURE is an ARCHITECTURE OF ELECTRICITY
which has arisen in the form of the ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE. The
"spirit"  of our ELECTRICAL EPOCH is thus made manifest by our
CONSCIOUSNESS of the ELECTRICAL ORDER. 

This ELECTRICAL recognition in turn establishes a necessary harmony
between nature, the BUILT ENVIRONMENT, and humanity, which is in-line with
Le Corbusier's thinking. (37n) This is to say, for example, that a certain
harmony results from an ELECTRICAL AESTHETIC shared between ELECTRICAL
MATTER, HOMO ELECTRUS, and the ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE of POLEs and
TOWERs that we see all around us today. 

Le Corbusier firmly believed in this type of aesthetic solution, which
allows us to take a "gigantic a step forward" in our ARCHITECTURAL
understanding. (38) In fact, it is proposed that "[w]hen a problem is
properly stated, in our epoch, it inevitably finds its solution." (39) 

Certainly, if we are to rationalize today's CYBERSPACE as an ARCHITECTURAL
element, we will inevitably need to establish some fundamental and
reasonable relationship between ARCHITECTURE and ELECTRICITY as a
solution.  This we attempt to do by establishing the ELECTRICAL ORDER as
an ARCHITECTURAL ORDER. 

Recontextualized, then, we can examine one of Le Corbusier's fundamental
axioms as an intuitive solution to the problem of understanding our epoch,
mainly that:  "Electricity gives light." (40) 

Indeed, it is this ELECTRICAL ENLIGHTENMENT which illuminates our way to
new ARCHITECTURAL knowledge. 

Le Corbusier continues by stating that the "birth of style" and its
attainment are in no way preconceived, but are the result of recognizing
the perfection of the same universal aesthetic standard "developed by
organizing rational elements, following a line of direction equally
rational." (41) 

Today, it is the ELECTRICAL STYLE which emulates the universal rationale
of the ELECTRICAL ORDER in its design. Restated in this new context: the
standard of the ELECTRICAL ORDER has been fixed. (42) 

As Le Corbusier reiterates, "[a]rchitecture is governed by standards. 
Standards are a matter of logic, analysis and precise study. Standards are
based on a problem which has been well stated." (43) In this thesis we
have sought to provide evidence that this new ARCHITECTURAL standard is
the ELECTRICAL ORDER, which can be "seen", for example, in the universal
ELECTRICAL AESTHETIC of ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEMs all over the EARTH. 

In the chapter "the Lesson of Rome," the focus is upon the spirit of the
ARCHITECTURAL ORDER in ancient Rome, wherein "they invented methods of
construction and with these things did impressive things- "Roman." The
word has a meaning. Unity of operation, a clear aim in view,
classification of the various parts... They were great constructors." (44) 

So too, today we can contemplate the global construction of the ELECTRICAL
ORDER by HOMO ELECTRUS as an ARCHITECTURE OF ELECTRICITY, extending the
TRADITIONAL ORDER of the Romans in the ELECTRICAL PARTI and GRID, in turn
demonstrating "[a] clear aim, the classification of parts... strategy,
legislation. Architecture is susceptible to these aims and repays them
with interest." (45) 

This can be a treacherous comparison and needs careful contemplation, as
Le Corbusier warns in the section entitled "Rome and Ourselves": 

"The lesson of Rome is for wise [wo|men], for those who know and can
appreciate, who can resist and can verify. Rome is the damnation of the
half-educated. To send architectural students to Rome is to cripple them
for life." (46n) 

Surely this paradoxical quote indicates that there are pertinent
ARCHITECTURAL issues needing careful evaluation before simply emulating
the design standards of the ELECTRICAL ORDER and the ELECTRICAL STYLE in
the ARCHITECTURE of the present-day. (46.5n) 

The last chapter in Towards an Architecture is entitled: Architecture or
Revolution. A photograph of an ELECTRICAL TURBINE begins the summarization
of Le Corbusier's argument. Our interpretation of the message of the text
necessitates quoting the following as a summation, relating ARCHITECTURE
and ELECTRICITY: 

"Architecture finds itself confronted with new laws. Industry has created
new tools : the illustrations in this book provide a telling proof of
this.  Such tools are capable of adding to human welfare and of lightening
human toil. If these new conditions are set against the past, you have
Revolution." (47) 

Certainly today our ELECTRICAL tools, and subsequently their interrelated
ELECTRICAL buildings and ELECTRICAL systems, have created an ARCHITECTURAL
revolution we now know as ELECTRIFICATION. 

"If we set ourselves against the past, we can then appreciate the fact
that new formulas have been found which only need exploitation to bring
about (if we are wise enough to break with routine) a genuine liberation
from the constraints we have till now been subjected to. There has been
Revolution in methods of construction." (49 ) 

>From within the chaos of evolution, an ELECTRICAL ORDER has emerged on
EARTH, representing our ELECTRICAL WORLD and EPOCH in the global
ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE of POWER, MEDIA, and TECHNOLOGY. This
ARCHITECTURE OF ELECTRICITY, when juxtaposed with the ARCHITECTURE of
Rome, ultimately enables us to "see" the ELECTRICAL PARTI and GRID as a
transformative ARCHITECTURAL EXTENSION of the TRADITIONAL ORDER. (49.5n) 

Le Corbusier continues: "[c]onstruction has undergone innovations so great
that the old "styles," which still obsess us, can no longer clothe it... 
the "styles" no longer exist, they are outside our ken ; if they still
trouble us, it is as parasites. If we set ourselves against the past, we
are forced to the conclusion that the old architectural code, with its
mass of rules and regulations evolved during four thousand years, is no
longer of any interest ; it no longer concerns us : all the values have
been revised ; there has been revolution in the conception of what
Architecture is." (50) 

In partial disagreement with 'the Crow', the ELECTRICAL ORDER is a priori
an ARCHITECTURAL ORDER, meaning it is a subconscious ARCHITECTURE designed
by ELECTRICAL ENGINEERs, built by ELECTRICIANs, and interpreted by
ARCHITECTs. Thus the ELECTRICAL STYLE is an ARCHITECTURAL style only
insofar as it is a universal design standard, an ELECTRICAL AESTHETIC
realized in the language of ELECTRICAL ARTIFACTs such as DISTRIBUTION
POLEs and TELEVISION ANTENNAE. 

"The problem is one of adaptation, in which the realities of our life are
in question... Society is filled with a violent desire for something which
it may obtain or not. Everything lies in that : everything depends on the
effort made and the attention paid to these alarming symptoms.
Architecture or Revolution. Revolution can be avoided." (52) 

ARCHITECTURE cannot. We need to rationally understand our rapidly evolving
BUILT ENVIRONMENT. To do so requires understanding the evolution of
ELECTRICITY, and the revolution of ELECTRIFICATION in order to build and
interpret our ELECTRICAL CIVILIZATION in humane terms. 

The last image in Towards an Architecture is of a briar pipe, and is
entitled "A Briar Pipe." Although the book was published in 1923, we still
consider it a symbolic icon related to René Magritte's 1929 paradoxical
painting of a briar pipe, entitled The Treachery of Images, which has the
words "This Is Not A Pipe" written as a subcaption in French. (52.5) 

Ultimately this paradoxical image is analogous to Le Corbusier's aesthetic
equation of the engineered object with the ARCHITECTURAL object. Likewise,
it is with ARCHITECTURE and ELECTRICITY. 

It is TRADITIONAL to say 'the ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE is not
ARCHITECTURE', but herein is the paradox: how are we are to harmoniously
build within our new ELECTRONIC SPACE and TIME without rationalizing the
ELECTRICAL FORCE and its relationship with ARCHITECTURE? 

Following Le Corbusier's lead, we can examine the ELECTRICAL ORDER as a
new ARCHITECTURAL ORDER in the form of the ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE,
representing our ELECTRICAL EPOCH, WORLD, and CIVILIZATION in built form
via its own STYLE. 

Le Corbusier's argument postulates a rational solution to this
ARCHITECTURAL paradox, and it is a key to understanding how the ELECTRICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE has indeed become ARCHITECTURE. We now need to focus our
attention on designing an ARCHITECTURE OF ELECTRICITY which is both
evolutionary and revolutionary. 

______________________________________________________________________
Modern Architecture since 1900, Second Edition, William J R Curtis,
Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632, (22n) p.108, the
author states that the 13th edition of the original 1923 French version of
"Vers Une Architecture" was mistranslated in the 1927 English language
edition as "Towards a New Architecture" 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Towards a New Architecture by Le Corbusier, translated from the French by
Frederick Etchells, Holt, Rinehard and Winston, Books that Matter
(paperback), First published in the USA in 1960 by Praeger Publishers,
Inc., NY; First published in England in 1927 by Architectural Press,
London, (23n) p.249, pp.260-261, among other photographs of a 40,000
kilowatt turbine disc and an electric ventilator with hourly output of
57,000 cubic meters. (25) pp.17-18, (26) p.19, (27n) p.19, The paradoxical
statement is explained as follows: "The diagnosis is clear. Our engineers
produce architecture, for they employ a mathematical calculation which
derives from natural law, and their works give us a feeling of harmony. 
(28n) p.21, the problem is clearly stated in terms of the "house" yet it
can be generalized so as to include all architectural objects. (29) p.19,
(32) p.83, (33) p.82, (35) p.84, Eyes Which Do Not See, (37n) p.96, "May
our eyes be opened : this harmony already exists, the result of work
governed by economy and conditioned by physical necessities. This harmony
has its causes; it is not in any way the effect of caprice, but is of a
logical construction and congruous with the world around it." (38) p.97,
(39) p.102, (40) p.111, (41) p.128, (42) p.128, (43) p.138, (44) p.146,
(45) p.146, (46n) p.161, the word "men" has been substituted with a
gender-neutral "wo|men" in this quote. (46.5n) for more information see
the Ĉ thesis subsection: A & E - Architectural Issues (47) pp.263-264,
(48)  p.266, (49) p.266, (49.5n) thus, "seeing" cyberspace becomes a
question of seeing electrical distribution poles as an architectural
manifestation of this new electrical order. (50) pp.267-268, (52)
pp.268-269, (52.5) p.269
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(24n) This idea of Le Corbusier trying to rationalize architecture and
electricity is evidenced in some of his sketch books of early work which
show "the telegraph and telephone poles" at the edges of his drawings,
with icons of eyes and ears relating to the new spatio-temporal
relationships of the electrical media. From these drawings it can be
inferred that Le Corbusier, at the perimeter of his work, struggled with
rationalizing the relationship between architecture and the electrical
infrastructure, although probably subconsciously. (These drawings were
observed in a paperback edition of Le Corbusier's early sketchbooks at a
bookstore, but i do not have the book, or any reference. bc) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------




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