Education of an Architect by Elizabeth Diller; Diane Lewis; Kim Shkapich; Tadao Ando: The

Yale Studio &Current Works by Tadao Ando; George T. Kunihiro; Peter Eisenman
Review by: Val K. Warke
Journal of Architectural Education (1984-), Vol. 43, No. 4 (Summer, 1990), pp. 45-50
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Association of Collegiate Schools of
Architecture, Inc.
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 45

Education of an Architect
Edited by ElizabethDiller, Diane Lewis,
and KimShkapich
Preface and Afterwordby John Hejduk
Forewards by John Jay Iselin, Bill N.
Lacy, and Alan C. Green
With Essaysand LectureTranscriptsfrom
VariousContributors
Rizzoli, December 1988
352 pp., 829 illus., $50.00 (hard-
cover), $35.00 (paperback)
Tadao Ando: The Yale Studio &
Current Works
Introductionby KennethFrampton
With Essays by Tadao Ando, George T.
Kunihiro,and Peter Eisenman
Rizzoli, May 1989
144 pp., 200 illus., $25.00 (paper-
back)
Schools of architecture often find the
need - for love or for money - to
produce books about themselves. That
any establishment would find its Architectonics:A SuspendedPendulumBalance byCharles
establishmentary self rather than its Reidy: 1984/85
constitutionalother (architecturein this
case) to be the fitting focus of a book The titleof the IrwinS. Chanin School of At firstglance, a similarobservation is
signifies either a tremendouslyself-as- Architectureof the Cooper Union'sbook, made by Diane Lewis and Elizabeth
sured academic body altruisticallymoti- Education of an Architect, rejects any Diller, two of the editors of the current
vated to share its recipes with an eager initial article. It is not "TheEducation," book (who also appear sometimes as
public, or a quietly desperate faculty which is possibly too immodest;nor is it studentsand sometimesas faculty mem-
hoping to extend the search for its dis- "An Education,"which is probably too bers withinthe text's labyrinth).Theysee
cipline beyond its own borders. Archi- diffident. As a phrase, "Educationof an theirbook as a "Portraitwhich "notonly
tectureschools make books about them- Architect"is like "BronxZoo" or "Plaza manifests the change the school has
selves because they desire others to Hotel;" it is an order barked at a cab- undergone, but is evidence also of a
discover what they knowabout architec- driver. It is self-consciously contracted, particularstability".However,in thesame
ture, or because they desire others to painstakingly direct, and peremptorily introduction,they present an intriguing
know how muchis yet to be discovered. dismissive of discussion. These charac- dichotomy: "Clearlythe assuredness of
teristics sometime seep into the book's the ink line [in the earlier book] has
Reading the books they make is very pages. yielded to the complexitiesof the pencil".
muchliketryingto knowsomeone through This depiction of a place where
a reflection in a funhouse mirror: it is Itis also a reused title. Itappeared for its assuredness yields to complexity best
possible to discern a figure, albeit one firstassociation with the Cooper Union clarifies the dismissal of the addendum
subjected to controlled distortions, and in the catalogue was entitled Education "A Point of Views." It is not because it
behind the figure one might be able to of an Architect: A Point of Views. The has evolved into A Matterof Certainty,
make out the surrounding midway. A disappearance of "APointof View"may as Bill Lacywould suggest, but because
careful reconstruction, unfolding the be relatedto what BillN. Lacy,President the singularityof view pointso pervasive
complex geometries of reflectionwould of the Cooper Unionfrom 1980 through in the earlier test diffractedinto a count-
yield the patientreadera "true"image of 1987, describes as the 1988 catalog's less array of lines of investigation. The
a school; further ratiocinations would lackof tentativenessinthe projects:"Now "particularstability"achieved is the type
provide a depiction of architecture(at it is sure of line, sureof direction. Herein of stabilitygained by understandingthat
timeof publication,of course)somewhere lies a fulfillmentof a promiseonly hinted a complex discipline can be predictably
in the background. at in the earlier efforts." provokedintoan infinitelymorecomplex

Summer1990 JAE43/4

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46
disciplinebysubjectingitto increasingly
moreelaborateconundrums. The"stabil-
ity"is acknowledgment thatnotall can
be known. In a later essay/problem
statement,Prof.Dillernotesthe conven-
tionof associatingstabilitywithsanity.
Perhapstheschooi's"particular stability"
is itsabilityto cope withan architecture
oncethought to be directandself-evident,
with beauty defined by architecture's
capacity to converge on a Juan Gris
paintingforexample,butnow knownto
expan intoa virtualfractalnetworkof
ungraspablecomplications.
When 1971 's Education of an Architect
appeared, it becamea sourcebookfor
schools and students.Many teachers
believedthattheycouldsimplyissuethe
problemsas statedandequallyexquisite
projectswould pourforthfromthe bar-
rels of Graphos pens. Studentssaw
themselvesas the title'sapocryphalar-
chitect,and mimickedline weightsand
lungshapes. Itwas all harmlessfununtil
the problemsbecame problems.Most
educatorsback then,even those at the
CooperUnion,knewor suspectedwhat
the drawingson the walls shouldlook
like. "Whatis threetimesthree?"and
"Whatis ten minusone?"are bothvery
good problems when"nine" is theanswer
sought.
Inthe recentbook, containingprojects
spanningfrom1972 until1985, some
of the old war-horsesreappear.In the
firstyear, the ever-popular
Nine-Square
Gridproblem,developedbyJohnHejduk
in Texas in the early 1960's, is still
present, althoughreduced to an em-
blematicpresence:a photographof a
gridded model, now centered over a
seriesof dictionarydefinitionsof beam,
column,wall, and so on.
Theintroductionof languageas a force
forexpandinginvestigationis clearlya
goal here.Thefifteenprinteddefinitions
of beam, forexample,invitean implicit
syntacticdialogism between the pre-
sumed normative(and assumedto be
conceptionof
prejudiced)architectural
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beamanda rayof lightora ship'scross-
member.Fromthe beginning of the new
architect'seducation, the knownis to be
displaced by a constellation of others.
The paradoxically arbitraryfinitude of
only fifteendefinitionsis not confronted.
A more compelling method of probing
the known is provided by Elizabeth
Diller's first year "Architectonics"exer-
cises. Froexample:
Probe/problem 10 of 10: the Balance,
a study in equilibrium.
Consider one pound.
Constructa 'balance' to measure one
pound of any substance in fractional
increments.Develop an equation, using
a counterweight principle, to pose a
"known"against an "unknown"and to
be modified by a fulcrum. Study the
reciprocitybetween visual and physical
forces.
Ratherthan displacing or compounding
the traditionallyunderstood meaning of
"balance" as it relates to architectural
structuresand compositions by returning
simply to its multiplicityas a linguistic
signifier, Prof. Diller's problem defamil-
iarizes conventionallanguage. As a pro-
gram, it is a genuinelytranscendentpiece
of provocation: justreading it evokes a
novel understandingof a concept laden
with preconceived formalassociations;
itsuggests notonly the general actions to
be taken, but it posits a potentialcritical
method which can permeate the design
process; and a series of such exercises
suggests the initiation of a process of
laying bare the structureof the problem
- ceptable substitutionfor propria,par-
developing mechanisms to be re-
called throughoutmostarchitecturalcur-
ricula and even some actual design
situations.
Also, one should cite the UtilitarianOb-
jects problem, introduced by Tod Wil-
liams. It asks students to produce an
actual, usable object. Gaspare Malek's
off-centerumbrellais one result.Despite
the obvious tectonic virtuesof such con-
ception-to-realizationproblems, the fun-
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damentaldirectnessof thisprogramsug-
gests the latentintangibilityof even the
most presentcommodity.The problem
demonstrates howduringtheeducational
process itself, the productionof every
objectis deemedautomatically to be the
productionof a simulation,even in the
face of one-to-onescales and literalma-
teriality.The problemshows that self-
consciousutilitarianismtendsto reduce
the sanctityof Function,renderingit or-
dinaryandsometimesjusta bitsilly.The
problemsucceeds beautifully as a form
of enlightenment.
Elsewhere, one finds that the texts
throughoutEducationof an Architect
frequentlysummontwo catchwords:
"absent"and "metaphor." The"absent"
is used to referto somethingintangible
whichhas been spacio-temporarily dis-
placed (or at least displaceddue to a
shift of focus). It has left in its stead
something"present" which is tangible
anddescribable."Emptiness" and"void"
are oftenused in conjunctionwith"ab-
sent"and generally refer to the gap
betweenthepresentandtheabsent.This
gap is dimensionallyindecipherable.
One suspectsthatthe absentis what is
commonlyunderstoodto be architec-
ture,orat leastarchitecture as it "should
be."Whatis fabricated-what is made
present- is ostensiblya substitutefor
architecture.Butis ita suggestive,antici-
patorysubstitute?Or does its internal
completenessoccludethe possibilityof
an architecture?
Here,the second termcomes intoplay,
for metaphoricais a traditionallyac-
ticularlywhen the thing itself mustbe
coaxed intoelucidation.However,there
is an oppositeuse of metaphoralso at
workhere, suggestedby the use of the
moreromanticandominousterm"empti-
ness:" metaphoras the suppressionof
the unspeakable.
Interestingly,the projectsillustrateddo
verylittleto pose metaphorical relation-
shipsin attempting to lead to a possible

determinationof architecture.Metonymy
emerges as the trope of choice, and
usuallywith an excruciating literalness.
Trumpetsections become A Place for
Music."A box of body parts becomes a
shelter for abused women. Prosthetic
jointsbecome a house and clinic for an
orthopedic surgeon. And so on. One
should cite Kathleen McElduff's den-
tists' office, however: formallyderived
from a set of braced teeth, it is the
ne plus ultra of this approach. Ms.
McElduff begins with the intention of
exploring the "language of fear"
judged to be inherent in dentistry.The
resultis a comedic sado-masochisticwork
of architecturalbridgework,rivallingthe
role of the dentist in the LittleShop of
Horrorfilms, and effectively exhausting
the capabilities of the metonymicalsys-
tem.
Thatone can discuss the presence of an
operant system, particularly evident
among the most recent studentprojects,
signals the existence of an incipient but
StudyforDentists'Office on Bannerman'sIslandby Kathleen
McElduff;1983/84
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pervasive methodology. This is despite
the admonition in Ricardo Scofidio's
provocativeessay: "Bewarethe criticism
of the methodologist,whose condemna-
tions is a type of agoraphobia, fearing
the virtual infinity of ideas that open
outwards", though it is consistent with
RaimundAbraham's concept of theory
as a necessary delimitation. As men-
tioned above, the complexity cited by
Lewisand Dilleris the resultof a confron-
tation with the "virtualinfinityof ideas"
in the early years of the Cooper educa-
tion. However, in the later years this
methodology emerges, perhaps the re-
sults of infinitaphobia.
If exposed to both systems, the title's
fictitiousArchitectwould either have to
spend a career dissecting programmatic
concepts (which, when it results in an
architecture,resultsinone curiouslyfused
to a specific programin a type of func-
tional determinism)or one dancing on
the lips of an abyss (which will never
resultin an architecturalproduct,due to
47
its removalof architecturefromconsider-
ation, butwill at best cause to emerge a
series of architecturalbyproducts). Or
the graduate may discover a thirdmode
of operating.
The third mode might originate with
the analytical exercises proffered in
the text. "Analysis"was largely docu-
mentation in the 1971 version, appar-
entlyintendedto familiarizestudentswith
a work of early twentieth century
architecture while improving their
graphic and model-making abilities,
and decentering their creative egos.
Current "analysis," beginning with
Raimund Abraham's Ledoux projects
documentedfor 1979-80 and continuing
into the thirdyearcurriculum,seems to
have an expanded repertoireof archi-
tecture deemed worthy of study,
involves multiple media, and encour-
ages the students to superimpose their
egos upon those of their predeces-
sors in order to produce a compound
work that represents both the given
building as an utterance and the
students'understandingsof the building
as a counter-utterance. The analysis
problemsare essential to the education
of this particularArchitect in that only
through these specific analyses is
architecture not "the absent," but is
instead "the other."
Again, one can returnto Scofidio's es-
say, and hisobservationthat"Antinomies,
to survive,need the dialogue of animate
conversation, not the monologue of a
coroner's report".Withoutthe casting of
a dialogical other (in an architecture
school, one would suspect that architec-
ture, society, nature, or the past would
be ideal candidates), only elaborate
monologues can occur. Some projects
- the Architectonics, the Utilitarian
Object, the Cartesian "House"(quota-
tion marksmine),forexample -engage
this other, although in a heavily con-
strainedway. Those projectsdependant
on metonymy tend to operate
monologically, making an assertation
and then isolating it in an exclusionist
rhetoric.
Summer1990 JAE43/4
48
This monologism is also the case with
thatpeculiarformof metaphorcalled the
conceit. For example, when Robert
Browningwrote a poem on Abt Vogler
and his invention,a portableorgan caTled
an Orchestrion,the poem became cen-
teredon the unravelingof the Orchestrion
and its player to reveal the "true"sub-
ject, something like a well-spent life.
Whereas in literaturesimple metaphors
utilizethe commonalityof understanding
between author and reader to initiate
ever-expandinginterpretive associations,
conceits have little capacity for engag-
ing speculation beyond the space of the
original text. Since they are dependent
on the voice of the author, metaphorical
conceits tend to defy the reader's pen-
etration. Using a conceit, an author is
content instead with its unique imagistic
properties and with its capacity for
showcasing the author's prowess in
turning an unexpected phrase. It lays
bare the act of writing. The reader of
Browning'spoem becomes a voyeur as
the poem becomes the poet's dramatic
monologue.
When metaphorsare used in the Cooper
Union book, they tend toward this par-
ticularlyrestrictiveform.Thecity projects
(always purportingto deal with heavily
abridged bits of New York)and manyof
the theses are structuredas conceits,
usually to the point of suppressing con-
textual impetuses in order to render the
sites virtual,passive, and infinitelymore
malleable so as not to detract fromthe
design conceits.
At least one source of this technique
appears in the book's Preface which is
an excerpt fromits Afterward,writtenby
John Hejduk, the school's dean. Its de-
scribes a certain phenomenon in Texas
whereby insects leave their transparent
shells clinging to the trunksof trees. One
can hear the insects makingsounds from
the trees "in their new metaphysical
form... We can hear it but we can not
see it. Ina way, the sound we hear is a
soul sound."
Thisconceit is then given a fixed mean-
ing by Hejduk: the shell is art, thoughtis
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the invisible (the absent). If the reader
were foolish enough to transformthis
monologue into a dialogue, in other
words to penetrate the conceit as one
would a metaphor, a dangerous new
meaning looms within. As JerryWells,
another Texan, has pointed out, the in-
sects described are cicadas. In laying
theireggs, female cicada will often de-
stroy the tree. The larvae live in the dirt
until they start their climb up the tree
trunk.Afterflying fromtheir shells, only
the male cicadas make sounds. The an-
ecdote becomes a romanticization of
destructionof the sexism. The Texas ci-
cada is also known as the seventeen
year locust because of the length of its
maturationcycle. It has been seventeen
years between publicationsof Education
of an Architect. Of course, such ex-
trapolationcan not have been intended.
Such, however, is the power of meta-
phor, and of language for multiple
meanings.
It is the capacity for multiplereadings,
though, that enables Education of an
Architecttoprovide hoursof amusement.
When read fromfrontto back, it can be
treated as the fictional account of one
architect'seducational adventures,from
firstyear throughfifth.The listof students
and dates near the back of the book can
be used as a type of mapping device
whereby the text can be layered by
lookingat all of the projectsfrom1979/
80, for example, and then from 1980/
8 1, and so on. The index of names lists
pages withstudentprojectsin bold print,
facultywritingsin lightprint,and so one
can read the book froma type of worm's-
eye view, looking firstat the projects of
studentswho became faculty, and then
at the work of theirstudents. The list of
dates and topics of visiting lecturerscan
be compared with the projects to see if
this bibliographyof glancingly-received
ideas had any effect upon the education
of their titularArchitect.
As for format, the original Educationof
an Architect, when opened flat on a
table measures just a little over 24'X
12'. Itis a very large and properdouble
square which consumes most of the vi-
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
sual field of anyone looking into it. The
pages tell of a secure, reasoned state of
architecturewhile their dimensions ex-
tend to contain the whole of the reader's
world.
Today's Education of an Architect
measures 9' X 12' when closed, ap-
proximately19 'X 12' when opened flat
(although its binding resists this degree
of opening). It is more booklike in its
proportionsand its properties,and does
less to occupy the reader'scone of vision.
The drawings and photographs within
are seldom on the wordless page. Par-
ticularlywith the paperback edition, the
waxy cover makes the book slippery to
grasp.
Tadao Ando: The Yale Studio and
CurrentWorksis a relativelysmall book,
14 1/2' X9 1/2' when open. Itscover
is of a heavyweight, texturedcard stock
and is somewhat tactile. Thebook shows
some of Ando's recentworkand mentions
a studio he led at Yale in 1987, while
DavenportProfessorthere. The vast ma-
jority of the book covers twelve of his
recent projects with drawings, photo-
graphs, and his own descriptive text.
There are two essays about Ando, one
by KennethFrampton,the other by Peter
Eisenman:a transcriptof a lectureAndo
delivered at Yale in which he discusses
"Howto Deal with the Hopelessly Stag-
nant State of (Contemporary)Modern
Architecture;"and two short essays on
the Yale studio, by Ando and by his
liaison at Yale, George Kunihiro.
The lecture succinctly lays out Ando's
approach to architecture. Modernism,
for Ando, is seen as a stylisticvocabu-
lary,divorcedfromitsoriginal(andfailed)
utopianurges and fromits backslide into
the economic determinismthat followed
the ultimateextension of its functionalist
doctrine. Geometryis importantto Ando
(he refersto it as his methodology), as is
the direct confrontationof naturalenvi-
ronmentby the user within the architec-
turalcontainer. Perhaps most unique to
Ando's campaign, at least as viewed by
Western audiences, is his attempt to
integrate Japanese ritual and spatial

conceptions with modernarchitecture-
a combinationof two traditionsachieved
largelythroughgeometryand spareness.
Framptonwritesquite fondlyabout Ando
here and on several other occasions,
and certainlyAndo's work representsa
fine exemplar of Frampton'scritical re-
gionalism. Eisenman, who produced a
free-associational lecture on the related
concept of criticalpractice, publishedin
the Cooper Union book, pens an ap-
preciation of Ando and his role in post-
World War IIJapan.
As a presentation of Ando's work, the
Yale book has more sketches than most
texts on Ando. However, the Global
Architecture monography on Ando is
perhaps the mostcomplete and includes
all the projects presented in the Yale
book. The Electa/Casabella documen-
tation Tadao Ando: RokkoHousing is
probably the mostinsightfulcoverage of
Ando's design processes in relationto a
specific project. One is led to assume
thatthe proportionatelyinordinateinclu-
sion of Ando's work is the resultof either
a contractual obligation of his accep-
tance of the DavenportProfessorship,or
it is an opportunitytaken by the pub-
lisher, Rizzoli, to produce a supplement
to its 1984 Tadao Ando: Buildings
Projects Writings.
Our concern here, however, is within
Ando's participationin the Yale studio,
and with the educational system sug-
gested by the relation. Ando's involve-
mentwith the studio was limitedto one
week of classes each monthof the se-
mester. The studio typically met twice a
week. The design problemwas to trans-
formPaulRudolph's1962 Artand Archi-
tecture Buildingat Yale into a museum
of architecture. The intention was to
stimulate a confrontation with issues
associated primarilywith the continuity
of the modernist program - largely
the subject of Ando's own work. The
students were requiredto read Ken-
neth Frampton'sModern Architecture:
A Critical History, Robert Venturi's
Complexity and Contradiction in Ar-
chitecture, KakuzoOkakura'sThe Book
of Tea, and Junichiro Tanizaki's In
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Praise of Shadows which proposes a
Japanese outlook on the varieties of
naturallight.
When an individualis asked to conduct
a design studio specifically because of
his or her unique achievements, the
physiognomyof education becomes al-
tered. The students must first teach
themselveshow to learnfromthisteacher,
who is elevated by the situation to the
status of model. In the case at hand,
since Ando's work is remarkablefor its
synthesis of a modernism, know, espe-
cially in Japan, only by its afterimage,
with the "Japaneseaesthetic conscious-
ness," the students had to develop con-
versantfamiliaritywith a delimited mod-
ern architecture(undoubtedlythe reason
for requiring Frampton'shistory), and
they had to effect a passable degree of
Japaneseness (certainly the reason for
requiringTheBook of Tea and In Praise
of Shadows).
The second major obstacle becomes
the studio problem itself. The Rudolph
building, although it is considered by
Ando to be a normative example of
modern architecture (a position which
requires Venturi'ssupport), is already
phenomenally a museum of architec-
ture, albeit a rather rococo exponent
of the venture. The building is too
eccentric to be consumed as an
exhibit, too tardy to be of any
formative value. It is a monumental
presence which strives to represent a
personalized accumulationof modernist
spatial and materialideals. Eitherthe
building remains and simply becomes
the museum, or it goes away, having
never happened, yielding instead a
somewhatunreasonable site for such a
program. Given the philosophies of
the instructor,the problem becomes a
tautology.
And still, the instructoris not satisfied
with the results. Frustratedby what he
perceives as the Americanstudents'ex-
cessive facility for form-making(a per-
ception modified by George Kunihiroin
his evaluation of the semester's events),
Ando is led to ask several fundamental
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
49
questions: "Whatshould be the goal of
architecturaleducation?"and "What is
possible and impossible to achieve in
education? (Ando-p15).These, perhaps
like the design problem itself, become
rhetoricalquestions, for Ando offers no
answers. Thebook ends with Eisenman's
essay which ends with an observation
which infersthe unteachabilityof "Ando".
Perhaps this perceived disillusionment
is the reason there are only three
photographs of student projects. Cer-
tainly the commitment to include
Ando's oeuvre makes juxtaposition
awkward. There are, however, critical
descriptions by Ando of two addi-
tional student projects. Since these
projects are not shown, the critiqueis
give exclusive authority. Interestingly,
the text ends with the following
sequence of photographs: an interior
view of the architecturestudio at Yale in
1962; an aerial view of the campus; a
group shot of Ando, Kunihiro,and the
class; two action shots of the final re-
view; a sketchof the studentsenrolled in
the studio (identifying them by their
names, native countries, and/or un-
dergraduate schools); and a photo-
graph of Ando in his studio. In other
words, there is morevisual coverage of
the personalitiesinvolvedthanthereis of
the products generated. There is a
conceptual symmetryat work here: if
the studio is being vaunted because
of the presence at Yale of a popular
personality, then the logical outcome
of the studio is the final promotion of
the students as personae, as demigods
initiated into a personalitycult.
Yale's programis a graduate program.
It is sustained by enticing under-
graduate students, generally from
architectureor pre-architecture
programs.
The motive for the text can be seen
as a formof solicitation to this specific
market.The easily consumable message
is the hallmark of advertising. As
such, this mission is largely accom-
plished by the cover. The direct text of
the cover tells us that Tadao Ando
was at Yale. The subtext is that, if one
were to go to Yale, one would be in a
Summer1990 JAE43/4
50
George Kunihiroand Tadao Ando (center, left and right)
and the Yale Studio
studio with someone as respected as
Tadao Ando.
The audience of Educationof an Archi-
tect is most likely architecture students
and faculty members across America,
and alumni of the Cooper Union. Be-
cause the Cooper Union is an under-
graduate school, it is extremelyunlikely
that students entering from high school
would be enticed by - much less be
aware of - this text. In a sense, the
Cooper book is a noble venture; it is a
polemic cast into the maelstrom.
Furthermore,if the Cooper Union ap-
pears almost obsessively driven in its
investigationsof an architecturalepiste-
mology, the Yale depicted could be
seen as being piloted by a faith in
epidemiology - that architectural
knowledge can be transmittedthrough
casual contact. While Cooper's faculty
pose problemswhich functionto intermit-
tently problematize architecture,the in-
tention of the Yale studio is to demon-
stratethatthere is no problem,or at least
that the solution is readily accessible.
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Having tried to constructbodies for the
images in the "funhouse mirrors,"and
having argued the capacity for a meta-
phor to extend its life into that of its
readers, I will suggest an explication for
the "midway' in the background, and
invite extended scrutiny as furtherevi-
dence appears.
Bothtexts reviewed here reveal an archi-
tecturewhich resistsregulation,bothpose
dissatisfactionwith failed agendas, and
both belie the mythof a single universal
- much less international -
species of
architecture. Ando, a gifted architect,
finds that when he is hired as a mission-
ary, he himself becomes the catechism,
the object of the discourse. To teach
such a lesson places himin opposition to
his own ideology. His acculturationof a
specific strain of modernarchitectureis
localized and discreteand so is disserved
by distributionin the marketplace.At the
Cooper Union, the reluctanceto engage
in exhausted architectureas an interlocu-
tor resultsin a discourse which, when it
occurs, is primarilyinternalized;the fac-
ulty act as authors while the students
performas narratorsin a prolepsis of
imminentcatastrophism.When architec-
tureis seen to be impossible, then either
teaching will also be impossible, or it
will be possible only when its subject is
impossibility.Forexample, a numberof
thesisprojectsin theCooper book appear
to emerge exclusively in a writtenform.
Since the productionof a text (to write)is
a volitional activity, when chosen in
preference to the productionof a more
directedly architecturalobject (e.g. a
drawing or model), there is in the pro-
duction of a text as the terminal mani-
festation of an architecturalproject the
implicitdesire for architectureto be im-
possible. A thetic act overcomes the
hope of a syntheticone.
Do not believe fora momentthatyou and
I are removed fromall of this. We may
feign distance fromthe funhousemirrors,
but we can not study the reflections of
otherswithoutourselves being caught in
a line of refraction.If there is a success
to Educationof an Architect- and there
are many - it is that, like its predeces-
sor, its diagrammed orbits of idiosyn-
cratic postulations,disseminatedamong
students and faculty members across
America and beyond, unsettledschools
everywhere into either uncriticallysimu-
lating the problems illustrated, or into
reassertingtheir own sense of balance.
Or, as Prof. Diller would have it, of
sanity.
Val K. Warke
Cornell University