אדריכלות ישראלית

Architecture of Israel #

117

May

2019

Architectural Stacking

page

english readers

One can learn about the difference

between stacking that occurs over time

and pseudo stacking that takes place on

an architect’s table, from the Montage

Technique developed at the beginning

of the twentieth century by the Russian

film maker, Lev Kuleshov. The technique,

which has infiltrated many other creative

spheres, was based on the editing of

random events taking place on different

occasions, in order to evoke spectators'

emotional responses.

Designed in 1983 by Bernard Tschumi, the

Montage Technique inspired the gradual

development of Parc de la Villette in Paris

which was built over a period of 15 years

with structures and additions designed by

different creative artists. Here, Tschumi’s

intention was to enable unknown needs

to gradually express the spirit of changing

times, a design that brought him world-

wide fame and convinced him to keep

implementing the technique in different

variations, making the method his

architectural trademark (see AI # 114).

While gradual stacking expresses an

organic growth similar to a coral reef, the

overly precise pseudo stacking prevents

future adaptation, which in fact constitutes

the motivating force of architecture

in general and urban architecture in

particular, most accurately defined as: "A

place where one can find oneself, but yet,

food for thought

ostensible stacking

vs.organically assembled buildings

get oneself lost" (AI # 70).

The argument here is, whereas

sustainable architecture has the capacity

for adapting to changing situations over

time, pseudo stacking is non-sustainable.

Why then do architects tend to design

forms that look like a stack but don’t

behave like one?

The answers, in order of importance, are:

To exploit the era’s freedom of expression

with no limitations; to provide a functional

system with formal expression in order

to be perceived as a Modernist who

implements the cliché "form follows

function"; to integrate their new building

into the organically developed urban

environment; and, primarily, to avoid

being a bore.

However, bearing in mind that before the

designers’ legitimate ambitions, always

stands a user and, in the case of gradual

stacking - many users, who are forced to

wear the "new clothes" of an architect,

who is obligated to the entrepreneur

who believes that what looks "different"

probably costs "different"!.

The mistaken idea whereby authentic,

chaotic-like systems involve spatial

ambiguity was negated by Chaos Theory,

which maintains that chaotic systems are

organized according to environmentally

dependent, predictive and decrypting

textures and, therefore, any anticipated

changes are minimal.

Moreover, based on a dictionary of

variables, the "chained hashing algorithm"

(stacking tables) developed since the

60’s, enable the reduction of long inputs,

making them more compact, very much

like today's popular google url shortening.

The most concrete example is the science

of statistics whereby completely random

events can be predicted, due to the fact

that anything in the universe is based on

Golden Ratio (check me) such as the fixed

ratio between the number of males and

females, even when there is no visible,

circumstantial, mutual dependency.

A more concrete example can be seen in

the perfect order of a round container of

toothpicks, which self-orders in a fractal

fan merely due to the fact that golden ratio

prevails.

One can therefore conclude that the

rules conducting a stacking system are

not characterized by disorder, since they,

too, are dictated by an innate system of

constraints, that is, what appears to be

stacked is not necessarily disorganized,

and what appears to be organized is not

necessarily preferable.

The ostensibly stacked building fashion particularly characteristic of archi-stars, often

expresses a formal cover for planning distress. One reason for this spreading, not

necessarily required phenomenon is that today, when nothing organized can surprise,

architects who feel obliged to meet expectations seek ideas that will give their building

the image of accumulated construction that has developed over time. The problem

is that there is a significant difference between an ongoing stacking, which reflects

a random, gradual assemblage, and artificial stacking, which reflects a response to

a specified need. That is – an almost converse situation: While the latter expresses

unrelated creative intentions, the former relates to a practical and clear design.