Experiential Envelopes

Abstraction within architecture exists on many levels and is defined and approached by architects in various ways which can be evidenced in their work. The abstraction within the work of Kerstin Thompson and Durbach Block is evidenced by their approach to form and spatial experience. Two main points of interest common within their work are their treatment of form and their scripting of the spatial experience. The dialogue involving different architectural historians and critics is indicative of how abstraction within the work of these two firms has been perceived. Sculptural forms, a touch of Dada, Gaudi-esque3 and a plethora of other arts-speak describes well the exterior forms of Durbach Block, until you realise that the exterior can fold into, entwine with and become the interior, delightedly duped by the continuity of materials and textures. The confusion that creates a house which does not appear to be a house. In Durbach Block: The Luminous Space of Abstraction, Harry Margalit wrote of Durbach Block, It is not conceptual architecture, but an architecture of concepts where the realisation of the project is its most exciting consummation.4 Later in the same book Philip Goad goes on to explain that The thirteen projects of Durbach Block are about the spaces between. It is a geomorphic architecture of living walls. Each project is characterised by inhabited walls that are bent, skewed, canted or carved into.5 In his book New Directions in Australian Architecture, Goad provides a very good initial positioning of Thompsons work. He writes that for Kerstin Thompson, abstraction is intended to primarily heighten the awareness of the space shaped without, or the volume shaped within.8 As Goad is recognised to be one of the eminent experts on Australian Architecture, it is fair to say that this initial analysis would influence the way that Thompsons work has been critiqued. In a later chapter of the same book, Goad goes on to explain that Thompson imagines gradients of spatial experiences which establish dialogues between the larger scale of the landscape, the forms of the building, and the consequent intimate haptic spaces.9 This particular statement indicates a certain amount of access to the architect and her process. Other sources would seem to have potentially been limited to their own experiences of her spaces, but also by the expectation that Goads opinion is a necessary influence on ones own reading. His focus on her use of light, insertion and manipulation of exterior physical perspective have determined which aspects of her narrative have become viewed as crucial ground to cover when discussing abstraction within her work.

Expressionist architecture is strongly linked to Abstraction within architecture; it is a progression of the ideology of the expressionist genre, which itself is discussed in Alan Colquhouns Modern Architecture, especially the communication of emotion through architecture.1 Colquhoun discussed an exhibition of expressionist architecture where he described it as having two formal types: the chrystaline geometrical and the amorphous curvilinear.2 which is a nut-shell explanation of the concept of abstraction of form. Abstract architecture was an evolution of expressionist architecture towards a more geometric and amorphic form, in contemporary Australian architecture this abstraction is well exemplified by Durbach Block and Kerstin Thompson.

That particular book is key to understanding their early work. The authors examine each of the thirteen case studies and provide commentary which highlights the treatment of the relationship between the interior and exterior. For example, when writing about Darling Point House they talk of Exaggerating the experience of a tiny house, into an unfolding and endless promenade through and across the inside and outside spaces, imbued with the pleasure of use.6 This is directly related to Goads earlier referral to free poch and its role in Durbach Blocks spatial definition.7

Figure 1

With seven years worth of publications later, Goad set out to define some aspects of Australian architecture which he saw as being integral to understanding the current architectural climate, one of which was abstraction.

John Macarthurs description of her house at Lake Connewarre is quite insightful, he writes of the architectural promenade on approaching the house, and how the users perception of the envelope exterior is set up to be challenged by the interior spaces, in particular the role of the roof. He discusses origami, a concept of the envelope and the interior being one and the same. This particular article contributes to developing an understanding as to how Thompson takes her distilled interiors and subtly splashes them onto the canvas of her exterior; the exterior becomes a clue to the interior. Thompsons roof is prominently visible on the approach, and it is a kind of summation of the plan. This is because in its simplification of the plan geometry it allows one to read the plan depth from the exterior. 10

z3161018 Maximilienne Whitby ARCH1322 Architectural History and Theory 3 - 2011

This kind of inseparable link between envelope and experience is so carefully considered, only it would seem as though you dont know it until you have arrived at the physical core of her spatial concept. A concept paired back to the point of an essence, one which informs the contraction and expansion of her plans and sections, which users are reminded of repeatedly in their journey through her sequential spaces.

Michael Ostwald, in the article House Podles which predates the Margalit and Goad book, refers to the geographic techtonics of Durbach block.

Sources 1 Colquhoun, Alan, Modern Architecture, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 95. 2 Ibid., 97. 3 Hyde, Olivia, Perfect Skin, Architecture Australia 99, 1 (2010): 66. 4 Margalit, Harry, and Goad, Philip, Durbach Block: The Luminous Space of Abstraction, (Balmain, Pesaro Publishing, 1999), 8. 5 Ibid., 18. 6 Ibid., 7 Ibid., 30. 8 Goad, Philip, New Directions in Australian Architecture, (Balmain, Pesaro Publishing, 2001), 47. 9 Ibid., 209. 10 Macarthur, John, A simple gesture across a piece of land., Architecture Australia 93, 1 (2004): 57. 11 Black, Richard, Sea Through, Monument 75 (2006): 73. 12 Johnson, Anna, Dark Side of Light, Monument 58 (2003/2004): 7. 13 Hamann, Conrad, Irvinve House, Architecture Australia 98, 3 (2009): 86. 14 Goad, Wall Games, Architecture Australia 88, 2 (1999): 40. 15 Ibid., 49. 16 Ostwald, Michael, House Podles: Neil Durbach Architect , Transition 43 (1994): 19. 17 Droga Apartment, Architecture Australia 87, 6 (1998): 49. 18 Ibid., 19 Black (2006): 73. Figure 1. Ostwald (1994): 12. Figure 2. Black (2006): 70

These interlaced planes, which geographically resemble the techtonics ofTatlin or Malevich, overlap and intersect to reveal a geometry which mediates between the sites abstract planes and angles and the orthogonal needs of the anthropomorphic user.16
This is made more clear by of images in the article. Ostwalds Choice [see figure 1]

In writing about the experientiality of her work, both Richard Black and Anna Johnson in regards to Blairgowrie House11 and the Fitzroy Residence12 respectively, draw attention to Thompsons awareness of the spatial relationship between user and form and how it informs her design. They refer to her use of the dialogue between users and her spaces to amplifly emotion, and make theatre of the monotony of routine. [see figure 2]

In the Jury Verdict for the 1998 RAIA Robin Boyd Award for Housing, the Droga Apartments are highly appraised. Having written that The exterior and interior forms and surfaces act as architectural theatre17 the jury qualifies this comment by explaining that the finishes are simple, relying on the interior sculptural forms to create the magic.18

Conrad Hamann in the article Irvine House refers to how spatial and formal elements developed as distinct episodes in an unfolding narrative encounter.13 This validates what Goad wrote about Thompsons intention to draw attention, through abstraction, to the role of the volume shaped within.

Durbach Block also relies on challenging the users perspective. In their earlier work this is accomplished through the use of the play of topography and the morphing of the interior sequencing. Goad, in the article Wall Games, describes how Durbach Block deliver another lesson in freestyle radial geometry, perspective manipulation and the spatial potential of the sweeping wall.14 This focus on abstraction of the envelope is brought back into focus some pages later where he writes, the designers re-orient the picture plane and fold the line, the sky and the water back into the earth.15 In the article the author also deals with their use of void and light, and how that contributes to the plasticity of their architecture.

In much the same way that the writings of others informed Goad, by informing the way in which the work of some particular architects are read, he in turn informed the writing of younger critics and historians. This too can be said of the work of Durbach Block and Kerstin Thompson, their work not only evolves over time to accommodate new ideas , but also give a great deal of room for precedence study of their work by others. The validity of abstraction within architecture is open to determination by the user as well as the architect, critic or historian. It is however potentially easily overlooked or misread without some type of guidance. Sophisticated architecture is often so eloquent in resolution that the careful considered process which it resulted from can be underestimated. At the heart of each abstraction is an idea, which once abstracted can inform entire schemes or provoke a whole new interpretation of form and what it ought to be.

Figure 2. is Described by Black as illustraiting The movemnet of light over time suggests a performance unfolding19

Figure 2 z3161018 Maximilienne Whitby ARCH1322 Architectural History and Theory 3 - 2011