Final Report Summary - INVISA (The Interactive Vision between Architecture and Photography)
In schools of architecture students often rely on images; rarely, they have hands-on experience with the actual building. We may say that our first idea of an architectural work comes from looking at a picture, normally a photograph. As trivial as this remark may sound, it helps us understanding that our ideas of buildings are imposed upon us, as it were, by the photographer's vision and cultural background. Yet, photography invariably involves a mode of beholding which preconditions not only our perception of an object but also our conception of it and our idea of our relationship to it and with it.
The research studied architecture and photography during the historically decisive period of the Modern Movement, the epoch that has so influenced and inspired contemporary architectural design. The research project has been divided in intermediate objectives:
- Research of the images published in the main European architectural journals. It is with the professional journals that we have the major development of the architectural thought.
- Cross-referencing the published material in major European architectural journal with the photographs preserved in the archives, several European public and private institutions that hold documents and knowledge fundamental for this research: the Royal Institute of British Architects (United Kingdom (UK)), the Lucien Herve Collection and the Fondation Le Corbusier (Paris, France), the Alvar Aalto Academy (Finland), the Mies van der Rohe Archive (MoMA, New York).
- A prototype to generate different knowledge and meaning in architecture based on the previous described research and the logic of the sequential images, always connecting the photographs of the building with its plan, opposite to the single shot. This approach surmounts the gap between the three-dimensional work of architecture and its two-dimensional representation (the real object and its simulacrum) and is a tool to generate not only new knowledge but to stimulate creativity for design.
Photography is often presumed to serve as a substitute for personal familiarity, yet the choice of composition, lighting and framing of the view create an alternative reality that can be at least as influential as a direct visit. Photography not only helped the diffusion of new ideas in the early 20th century, but also encouraged architects to devise spaces that were flattered by the camera. The project went beyond the original aim, especially in the creation of awareness of the photographic role in shaping public and professional perception of architectural space.
It is important to highlight that a great effort has been done to the organisation of two important scholarly events integral part of the research project, so to generate discussion at the highest level: an international conference, 'Still architecture' and an exhibition in collaboration between the Department of Architecture at Cambridge University and the Royal Institute of British Architects, at the same time space of discussion and occasion to present the outputs to a wider audience.
In conclusion, in the years that I have been working at the Department of Architecture (2010 - 2012), I have started the process of constructing an agenda for a new education to vision. I realised that to surpass the problem of the superficial approach to architecture - the real question that we have to face in the screen age - it is important to bridge the gap between history and teory and design, clearly and uncompromising: all the actions of the project were intended in this direction.
Main results achieved so far:
1) Research in architectural journals to understand the forgotten potentialities of the layout in the interwar period, the heyday of the Modern Movement.
2) Research in European archives:
- Paris - Fondation Le Corbusier: a detailed research of all the archival images related to Villa Savoye;
- Paris, Lucien Herve Archive: detailed research to understand well the relationship between the architect and the photographer;
- Finland - Helsinki, Alvar Aalto Academy: detailed research of all the archival images related to Villa Mairea;
- UK - London, Royal Institute of British Architects: research related to the images published in Architectural Review;
- UK, Cambridge, Middleton Library, Department of Architecture: research in the architectural journals;
- US, MoMA, research in the Mies van der Rohe photographic files;
- UK, Cambridge, Department of Architecture, Slides Library: original lantern slides from early 20th century.
3) The first prototype for the relationship between the photographs and the plan of the building to generate meaning - the interactive vision - was realised through the archival materials and re-interpreted knowledge as sequential images. The idea has been already exposed to the judgment of other scholars at the Architectural Association (London, May 2011) and later presented in May 2012 in the 'Still architecture' conference. Will be published in the proceedings.
4) Lecturing and participation to symposia: Besides the lectures at Cambridge University, the research activities in the archives often opened up new scholarly opportunities; for example, the work in the Fondation Le Corbusier prompted the invitation to the prestigious XVIIe Rencontre de la Fondation Le Corbusier (November 2011) and the research at the Aalto Archives to the first research meeting (March 2012). Furthermore, at the end of the project the fellow was invited as keynote speaker at FAUP (Porto) for the conference 'On the surface' (June 2012).
5) Invited visiting teacher at the Architectural Association, London (2011).
6) UK correspondent for 'Il Giornale dell'Architettura' since 2011 (Turin, London, New York): 12 articles published since 2011 - print run: 15 000 copies.
7) Organisation, with Professor Francois Penz, of the International Conference 'Still architecture: photography, vision, cultural transmission', part of the Department of Architecture centenary (1912 - 2012).
8) Curator of the exhibition 'Cambridge in concrete. Images from the RIBA British Architectural Library collection' (Cambridge, 3 - 25 May 2012), part of the Department of Architecture Centenary (1912 - 2012).
9) Editor, with Professor Francois Penz of the exhibition catalogue 'Cambridge in concrete' (ISBN 978- 88-97083).
10) Awarded a Paul Mellon Centre for British Art and Architecture grant for the educational programme 'The wrong architecture?' (post-WWII architectural evaluation, September 2012)
11) Invited peer reviewer, for scientific merit, from the Italian National Agency of Research Evaluation (ANVUR); invited referee.
12) Supervisor and responsible for the Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, for the Bocconi Campus International Competition (invited, January - June 2012).
Training activities:
The IEF gave the fellow the unique opportunity to pursue the research project while gaining teaching experience in an excellent environment, working in close collaboration with senior scholars to deliver and develop other proposals; he has also benefited of a language programme for academic purposes of the University of Cambridge.
E-mail: mci25@cam.ac.uk
Personal page: http://www.arct.cam.ac.uk/people/mci25@cam.ac.uk(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
Project page: http://www.arct.cam.ac.uk/research/researchgroups/digitalstudio/invisa/invisa(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
'Still architecture' conference: http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/1707/(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
'Cambridge in concrete' exhibition: http://www.arct.cam.ac.uk/events/cambridge-in-concrete-images-from-the-riba-british-architectural-library-photographs-collection(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)