Abstract
This contribution stresses the gap between the design of urban spaces and their use. It argues that the interactivity between writer and reader in literature, in the sense that the reader co-produces the text, also counts for the designer and the user (or perceiver) of architectural space. I propose the notion Transcription as an approach connecting this interactivity to the role of activities, movements, and events in the experience and the making of urban space. Literary concepts such as perspective, character, and narrative are brought into the realm of urban and architectural design. First, the paper brings to the fore the work of a number of theorists who have addressed the social dimension of space, for instance, Henri Lefebvre, stating that space is socially produced, and Michel de Certeau, who connects the spatial practices of everyday life to the idea of narrative. Second, the paper discusses how architects such as Daniel Libeskind and Peter Eisenman have attempted to transcribe such insights to their theoretical and architectural projects.
This text is an excerpt from the chapters “Transcription” and “Telling Places” of my book Urban Literacy, Reading and Writing Architecture (Rotterdam: Nai010 publishers 2014), reprinted here with permission of the publisher.
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Notes
- 1.
Georges Perec, Species of Spaces and Other Pieces (London: Penguin Classics, 2008), 91.
- 2.
Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, ed. Eric Partridge (New York: Greenwich House, 1983 [1958]), 598, entry 22. transcribere.
- 3.
Marilyn R. Chandler, Dwelling in the Text: Houses in American Fiction (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), 6.
- 4.
The Penguin Pocket English Dictionary (London: Penguin Group, 1990 [1985]), 904, entry transcribe.
- 5.
Ronald Bogue has in detail discussed Deleuze’s use of literature throughout his philosophical works. Borgue frequently refers to Deleuze’s metaphor of health: literary writers as symptomatologists of sickness in society, and as the ones capable of offering new possibilities. Ronald Bogue, Deleuze on Literature (New York/London: Routledge, 2003). See for symptomatology especially chapter one, “Sickness, Signs, and Sense,” 9–30.
- 6.
Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space (London: Blackwell Publishing, 1991), 42.
- 7.
Lefebvre, Production of Space, 33–34.
- 8.
Lefebvre, Production of Space, 94.
- 9.
Henri Lefebvre, The Urban Revolution, (Minneapolis/London: University of Minnesota Press, 2003).
- 10.
Lefebvre, Urban Revolution, 5.
- 11.
Lefebvre, Urban Revolution, 19.
- 12.
Henri Lefebvre, “Right to the City,” in Henri Lefebvre, Writings on Cities (London: Blackwell Publishing, 2006 [1996]), 63–184.
- 13.
Jane Jacobs, The Economy of Cities (London: Penguin, 1972 [1969]), 97.
- 14.
Edward Soja, Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999 [1996]).
- 15.
Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988 [1984]), xi.
- 16.
De Certeau, Practice of Everyday Life, 30.
- 17.
De Certeau, Practice of Everyday Life, 93.
- 18.
De Certeau, Practice of Everyday Life, 96.
- 19.
De Certeau, Practice of Everyday Life, 78.
- 20.
De Certeau, Practice of Everyday Life, 78, original italics.
- 21.
De Certeau, Practice of Everyday Life, 123–125.
- 22.
De Certeau, Practice of Everyday Life, 126.
- 23.
De Certeau, Practice of Everyday Life, 129.
- 24.
De Certau, Practice of Everyday Life, 155.
- 25.
Lefebvre, Production of Space, 95.
- 26.
Lefebvre, Production of Space, 42.
- 27.
Lefebvre, Production of Space, 83.
- 28.
Tom Avermaete, Klaske Havik and Hans Teerds, eds., Architectural Positions: Architecture, Modernity and the Public Sphere (Amsterdam: SUN Publishers, 2009), 38–39. For a closer discussion of this paradigm shift in architectural thinking, see also Max Risselada and Dirk van den Heuvel, Team10, 1953–1981: In Search of a Utopia of the Present (Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2005).
- 29.
Christopher Alexander et al., A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (New York: Oxford University Press 1977). See also: Avermaete, Havik and Teerds, Architectural Positions, 114.
- 30.
For a Dutch perspective on social urban planning concepts, see: Martien de Vletter, The Critical Seventies, Architecture and Urban Planning in The Netherlands in 1968–1982 (Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2004).
- 31.
John Habraken, Supports: An Alternate to Mass Housing (Gateshead: The Urban International Press, 2000 [1972]).
- 32.
Lars Lerup, Building the Unfinished: Architecture and Human Actions (Beverly Hills and London: Sage, 1977), 19.
- 33.
See for instance: Tom Avermaete and Klaske Havik, “Accommodating the Public Sphere. Bernard Tschumi’s Dynamic Definition of Architecture,” in OASE#77 Into the Open, eds. Tom Avermaete, Klaske Havik and Hans Teerds (Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2008), 43–57.
- 34.
J.H. Croon and A.R.A. van Aken, De antieke beschaving in hoofdlijnen (Amsterdam: Meulenhof Educatief, 1981), 115.
- 35.
Daniel Libeskind, “Three Lessons in Architecture,” in Architectural Monographs No. 16, Daniel Libeskind. Countersign (London: Academy Editions, 1991) 37–61. The project “Three lessons in Architecture” was exhibited in Modena, Italy in 1986.
- 36.
Daniel Libeskind, “Three Lessons in Architecture,” 43.
- 37.
Ronald Bogue, Deleuze on Literature (New York/London: Routledge, 2003), 187–192.
- 38.
Daniel Libeskind, “Three Lessons in Architecture.”
- 39.
Peter Eisenman, “En Terror Firma: In Trails of Grotextess” in Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architecture Theory 1965–1995, ed. Kate Nessbitt (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996), 564–570 (569).
- 40.
Peter Eisenman, “Architecture as a second language: The Texts of Between,” in Eisenman Inside Out: Selected Writings 1963–1988, ed. Peter Eisenman(New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2004), 227.
- 41.
Peter Eisenman has frequently exchanged thoughts with Jacques Derrida about language, textuality and architecture in the light of Derrida’s theory of deconstruction. Choral Work was a joint project of the philosopher and the architect. Some of the correspondence between Eisenman and Derrida has been published in Re: Working Eisenman, (1993).
- 42.
Peter Eisenman, “Architecture as a Second Language: The Texts of Between,” in Eisenman Inside Out: Selected Writings 1963–1988, ed. Peter Eisenman (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2004), 229.
- 43.
Eisenman, “Architecture as a Second Language,” 233.
- 44.
Peter Eisenman, “Misreading Peter Eisenman,” in Eisenman Inside Out: Selected Writings 1963–1988, ed. Peter Eisenman (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2004), 224.
- 45.
Peter Eisenman, “Time Warps: The Monument,” in Anytime, ed. Cynthia C. Davidson (Cambridge, MA: MIT press, 1999), 250–257; republished in Architectural Positions: Architecture, Modernity and the Public Sphere, eds. Tom Avermaete, Klaske Havik and Hans Teerds (Amsterdam: SUN Publishers, 2009), 242–247.
- 46.
See also: Avermaete, Havik and Teerds, Architectural Positions, 223–225.
- 47.
Peter Eisenman, “Time Warps: The Monument,” 245.
References
Alexander, Christopher et al. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Avermaete, Tom, Klaske Havik and Hans Teerds, eds., Architectural Positions: Architecture, Modernity and the Public Sphere. Amsterdam: SUN Publishers, 2009.
Avermaete, Tom and Klaske Havik. “Accommodating the Public Sphere: Bernard Tschumi’s Dynamic Definition of Architecture.” In OASE#77 into the Open, edited by Tom Avermaete, Klaske Havik, and Hans Teerds. Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2008. 43–57.
Bogue, Ronald. Deleuze on Literature. New York and London: Routledge, 2003.
Chandler, Marilyn R. Dwelling in the Text: Houses in American Fiction. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
Croon, J.H. and A.R.A. Van Aken. De antieke beschaving in hoofdlijnen. Amsterdam: Meulenhof Educatief, 1981.
De Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988 [1984].
De Vletter, Martien. The Critical Seventies, Architecture and Urban Planning in the Netherlands in 1968–1982. Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2004.
Eisenman, Peter. “En Terror Firma: In Trails of Grotextes.” In Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965–1995, edited by Kate Nesbitt. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996. 564–570.
———. Inside Out: Selected Writings 1963–1988. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004.
———. Re: Working Eisenman. London and Berlin: Academy Editions London/Ernst & Sohn, 1993.
———. “Time Warps: The Monument.” In Anytime, edited by Cynthia C. Davidson. Cambridge, MA: MIT press, 1999. 250–257.
Habraken, John. Supports: An Alternate to Mass Housing. Gateshead: The Urban International Press, 2000 [1972].
Havik, Klaske. Urban Literacy, Reading and Writing Architecture. Rotterdam: Nai010 publishers, 2014.
Jacobs, Jane. The Economy of Cities. London: Penguin, 1972 [1969].
Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. London: Blackwell, 1991.
———. The Urban Revolution. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 2003 [La Révolution urbaine. Paris: Editions Gallimard, 1970].
———. Writings on Cities. London: Blackwell, 2006 [1996].
Lerup, Lars. Building the Unfinished: Architecture and Human Action. Beverly Hills and London: Sage, 1977.
Libeskind, Daniel. “Three Lessons in Architecture.” In Daniel Libeskind. Countersign. Architectural Monographs No. 16. London: Academy Editions, 1991. 37–61.
Partridge, Eric, ed. Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English. New York: Greenwich House, 1983 [1958].
Perec, Georges. Species of Spaces and Other Pieces. London: Penguin Classics, 2008.
Risselada, Max and Dirk Van den Heuvel. Team10, 1953–1981: In Search of a Utopia of the Present. Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2005.
Soja, Edward. Thirdspace, Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999 [1996].
The Penguin Pocket English Dictionary. London: Penguin Group, 1990 [1985].
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Havik, K.M. (2020). Transcription: Addressing the Interactivity Between Urban and Architectural Spaces and Their Use. In: Kindermann, M., Rohleder, R. (eds) Exploring the Spatiality of the City across Cultural Texts. Geocriticism and Spatial Literary Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55269-5_7
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