Brasilia, Brazil, 29 March - 3 April 1999
Cloak and Dagger Theory: Manifestations of the
mundane in the spatial layout of eight Peter Eisenman houses
Mark David Major and Nicholas Sarris
The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies
(Torrington Place Site)
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
England
tel (44) (0)171 504 5914
fax (44) (0)171 813 4363
email mark.major@ucl.ac.uk
www http://www.spacesyntax.com
The architectural writings of Peter Eisenman have tended to rely heavily
on jargon and polemic statements. Even when Eisenman has defined words
for his readers, terminology has been used which in itself requires clarification.
This has frustrated the architectural debate about his work first, because
his words can at the same time mean different things to different readers
and second, his designs become 'moving targets', impervious to critical
appraisal since the debate is conducted on Eisenman's ill-defined terms
rather than on any objective or analytical basis. Evans even suggested
that this was a deliberate ploy on Eisenman's part to avoid critical examination
(Evans, 1992). The paper attempts to shift the focus of this debate away
from his writings to the architectural object itself, avoiding the 'architectural
possibility' of the words to examine the 'architectural actuality' of
the buildings (Hillier, 1992). Space syntax is used to analyse the formal
and spatial characteristics of six Peter Eisenman houses. It is suggested
that the complex differentiations of two-dimensional surfaces and three-dimensional
form underlying the design of these houses leads to a spatial homogeneity,
not spatial differentiation as Eisenman has implied. This results in a
well-defined genotype which incorporates, the rigid separation of public
and private spaces and, the integrating of space through stairs and transition
spaces.
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