Architecture and Movement
Sarah Bonnemaison and Christine Macy
Dalhousie University
http://architectureandplanning.dal.ca/architecture/visitors/faculty/bonnemaison.shtml
http://architectureandplanning.dal.ca/architecture/visitors/faculty/macy.shtml
Summary
Let’s face it, the idea of a responsive architecture is simply
fascinating. The façade of Jean Nouvel’s Institut du Monde
Arabe comes immediately to mind, especially the way its lenses respond
to changing light levels; likewise, the Medina umbrellas by Bodo Rasch
which unfold at sunrise to shade the courtyard for morning prayer. But
does our fascination lie in the actual movement of these elements --
the lenses, the umbrellas? Could we not detect a deeper curiosity for
the very idea of movement in architecture? In fact, elements in a building
do not actually need to move in order to speak about motion. We can
think about the way the potential of movement was depicted in the tendrils
of Art Nouveau, or the memory of motion in the grotesque earth-like
pillars of Antonio Gaudi, or the mechanisms of movement in the designs
of the Futurists and the Constructivists. The very idea of movement
in a building is what gives it vitality and liveliness and when elements
actually move, we can see this as an extension of the original idea.
This past summer we recorded dancer’s movements using the magic
wand of motion-capture — tracing them in three-dimensional space.
Looking closely at their paths on the computer, we see how they curl
into small spirals, open up into large arcs, twist into curves and fold
back upon themselves. As we translate these paths into architectural
structures, we materialize movement and reveal the inner workings of
a dancer’s motion into tangible, habitable structures we call
Gestures. The power to portray movement in architecture, is
the subject of reflection for this essay.
Biography
Bonnemaison and Macy’s design partnership Filum, is a research-based
practice focusing on ephemeral architecture and the form-finding and
fabrication of tensile structures. Their recent work explores the role
of motion-capture technologies in architectural design. They are also
architectural historians and critics. Macy and Bonnemaison co-authored
Architecture and Nature: Creating the American Landscape (Routledge,
2003), Bonnemaison is currently working on a book about installations
by architects and Macy is completing a visual history of dams in the
United States (W.W.Norton Press forthcoming). They are both on the architectural
faculty of Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.
