Manifesto
LEARNING TO KNOW ABOUT THE FIRST DIMENSION IN ARCHITECTURE
I have been to a number of places, strange topographies.
I have dwelled in the nowhere of metropolitan wilderness.
But I am a local architect.
I like to draw.
I like to wander in drawings, through drawing.
Through tough drawing, drawing tough things, worlds of resistance.
The physical act of drawing is my mental act of thinking.
The physical act of drawing is my raison d'être.
The physical act of drawing is my substance.
The physical act of drawing is my resistance.
My resistance is aimed at the infinite Cartesian reduction.
My resistance is aimed at the infinite Cartesian thinning of the world.
My resistance is aimed at criminal replacements of the real by realism.
My resistance is aimed at pornographic architecture of mere form in glossy magazines.
My resistance is my Rage Against the Machine 1.
My resistance works through thickness, the antidote against the Cartesian thinning of the world.
My resistance works through substance, substance is the companion of mankind, something to hold.
My resistance works through thickness of substance.
My resistance aims for depth, depth as the condition of darkness.
My resistance aims for darkness, darkness as the residency of what we dream.
My resistance aims for darkness, the residency of shadows, the unknown.
My resistance works through the thickness of substance as entry to the depth of darkness.
My resistance is driven by my fascination of darkness, the immaculate unknown.
Even after the dissappointment.
1 Rage Against the Machine: American rock band from los Angeles (1991-2000, 2007-2011).
Depth is the first dimension in architecture, not the third.
The initial axiom of a space or a stone was
length x width x height
1st x 2nd x 3rd dimension
I learned, so I presumed.
But no.
then I presumed a space or a stone as
length x width x height
I had become a thin Cartesian
But no.
subsequently, a space or a stone for me became
length x width x depth,
almost there I thought…
But not yet.
rather it is
depth x length x width
1st x 2nd x 3rd dimension
The architectural plan is the derivative of the architectural section
and not the other way round.
So, decide on your principles, your priorities and chronologies;
it is time to make your choice now:
the flat Cartesian horizontal plan, or the depth of the vertical section?
Depth is the first dimension in architecture!
Exclamation mark.
I declare.
I want to penetrate in substance, hence substance needs thickness to be penetrated.
I want bas reliefs. Egyptians. Greek triglyphs and metopes. The Dorian Order. Antonio Canova.
I want to reside in substance, remaining in its thickness.
I want to reside in substance, its thickness, in order to explore the depth of darkness.
I want to dwell in the depth of darkness to trace the shadows, unveil the unknown.
I want to become the shadow tracer, the gnomon, the predictor of the passage of light.
I want darkness in architecture as the necessary condition to see the brilliance of light.
My work is the creation of shadows as the consequence of what light does with the thickness of substance.
Hence substance is the companion of mankind.
Depth offers darkness as a result of the excavation in the thickness of substance.
Depth through excavation through carving, casting, molding.
Depth through excavation through carving more than through casting and molding.
Depth through excavation is an act of cutting.
Depth occurs through the meticulous application of the concept of section.
Depth needs a knife in order to be, architecturally.
Depth comes through the architect who cuts the architectural body.
Depth comes through the architect who cuts the architectural detail.
Depth comes through the architect who makes slices, sections.
The section is the main instrument of the architect.
The section prevails over the plan. The plan is the derivative of the section, not the other way round.
The section as scale model is a drawing made with a knife.
The section as drawing is cut with a knife in the disguise of a pencil.
The section provides the architect with the anatomical device necessary to understand.
The section provides the architect with insights into the anatomy of architecture.
The pencil becomes a knife through the performance of making a section.
The pencil cuts into the thickness of the paper.
The pencil mutates into the knife—the cutter—that draws the scale model in substance and space.
The pencil and the knife are twin brothers.
Architecture is an act of cutting.
Architecture is an act of cutting through boundaries and obstructors.
Architecture wants to know more than to make.
Making for knowing more than knowing for making.
Architectural fragment running ahead.
I think I will have to further elaborate on the architectural detail.
I think there is a mereological relationship between the detail, the fragment and the whole.
I think the fragment is the interface between the detail and the whole.
I think the fragment hence occupies the most important place in making and experiencing architecture.
I think the fragment is the essential moment of architectural experience.
I think the fragment is the essential moment of architectural creation.
I think the fragment is the only possible moment.
I think the fragment is the only possible place.
I think the fragment is the way to new knowledge.
I think that cutting a fragment is the indispensable moment and place.
I think an anatomical fragment is the crucial place of architectural investigation.
I think the whole is merely a chain of experienced fragments.
I think the fragment is the only possible entry into the detail and the whole.
I think we can only grasp the whole through grasping pieces as fragments.
I think we can only refine the whole through the detail of which refinement passes through the fragment.
I think the fragment is the only possible moment and the only possible place to understand.
I think the fragment is the only possible moment and the only possible place to remember.
I think architecture is slow.
I think architecture takes time.
I think architecture has to be taken seriously.
Anatomically.