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Architecture of Israel #
118
|
August
2019
|
Architectural Tattooing
page
english readers
Utilizing the body as a medium for
conveying messages invites a comparison
between tattooing and architecture, and
not only in order to provoke, but mainly to
draw didactic conclusions.
Like architecture and, in fact, any useful
art, tattoo also has functional targets
besides its visual aspects. And, like
architecture, it reflects a constant tension
between the rational and the emotional.
The most important facet of this is the
process of adolescence where the most
prominent dimension is lack of restraint.
In this respect, the irreversible action
is reminiscent of architecture, whereby
professional constraints involve defense
mechanisms, whose main role is to
balance unlimited emotional urges by
means of rational thought.
One distinguishes between "primary" and
"advanced" defense mechanisms. While
the former is based on innate concepts
such as the infant’s existential ability to
find his mother’s nipple, the latter is, like
anything else, based on learning and life-
experience.
Although there is no real evidence of the
source of the well-known sentence "there
is no wise man like the experienced man".
However, life is full of evidence whereby
whoever gets burned by hot water, avoids
even warm water.
One doesn’t need to be that experienced
to understand why an adult avoids
urinating in a busy street at midday, while
a child does so quite happily, and a baby
doesn’t even bother taking off his diaper.
Characterized by avoidance, the process
food for adults
mature yearning for attention
architectural tattoo
is based on knowing the consequences,
which almost automatically connects with
terms such as shame, regret, fear of "what
they’ll say", etc. This finds expression in
the bible where restraint is often compared
with heroism, as in the verse "It is the hero
who conquers his urge". The last time I
saw this was in Proverbs, 16:32.
From this we may conclude with relative
ease that restraint is just an acquired
ability of the intellect to overcome feelings,
stated in the biblical sentence which,
for some reason, quotes only the first
part: "Many waters cannot quench love",
without noticing the no less important
ending, saying "a man who gives all
the substance of his house for love,
would utterly be condemned" (Song of
Songs, 8:7). And only someone who has
experienced this would understand.
And this reminds me - once, when the
highly respected Swiss architect, Mario
Bota, presented his Chimbalista Building
at Tel Aviv University, as a "functional
building" although the structure consists
of two identical "sour milk" jars, while
serving two opposite functions - on one
side a synagogue and on the other a
secular center. As someone who learned
about the correlation between form and
content, I expressed my surprise, and he
answered apologetically that the clearest
sign of falling in love is the loss of a sense
of criticism, and "I, quite simply, am in love
with my building".
The question is: Whether architects,
particularly at the beginning of their
career, don’t tend to fall exaggeratedly in
love with their buildings, thus losing their
sense of criticism?
In order to answer this, I suggest we
explore the difference between an
emotional tattoo and a functional one,
which (in architecture as in cooking) is
based on balanced quantity.
We might say that architectural design
(like the tattoo) serves as decoration in
order to enhance or consolidate – while
the useful aspect uses decoration in order
to conceal, eliminate, or blur the difference
between a must and the superfluous - as
in the case of washing lines, or a storage
space for a vacuum cleaner.
In this context, perhaps, exaggerated
spoiling of the natural body is usually
an expression of emotional distress.
And in architecture, like with tattoos,
the irreversible reality forces the user to
confront the consequences in changing
situations such as aging, when the need
to provoke is no longer relevant.
And again, as in architecture, turning
necessities into an advantage constitutes
a starting-point for good design in general,
and industrial design in particular, now
forming an important branch in the building
industry, when prefabricated details are
becoming an integral part of any structure:
screen walls, acoustic ceilings, railings,
light fixtures, shading devices and colors.
One way or another, all these confront
‘need’ and ‘decor’.
Such combination is an existential law in
architecture in general, and sustainable
architecture in particular, where the skill of
balancing between them requires maturity
- a key word in architecture as well as
in tattoo or anything requiring mature
restraint.
Improve, decorate, embellish, attract attention, broadcast distress, commemorate and,
primarily, be different, even and especially if it involves going against the current – are
the immediate superlatives attributed to tattoos. It is no coincidence that this list connects
organically to the period of adolescence, when a girl or boy have to cope with physio-
mental changes requiring a problematic adaptation to new situations.
However, closer scrutiny of the subject reveals that it is not the only issue. A tattoo, like any
other means of conveying messages, also has a functional role in that it conceals flaws,
distracts attention from them, blurring the boundaries of what, rightly or wrongly, is viewed
as a problem and, in many cases, even turning it into a benefit.
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