The Gnostic Dimension in Daniel Libeskind’s Architecture, 1970-1985
Final M.Arch Project, 2018, with Alberto Pérez-Gómez
Research Paper, McGill University

ABSTRACT: How can Daniel Libeskind’s early theoretical projects be understood as architecture, when they don’t represent a building in any way? This paper argues that Libeskind’s early work is evidence of a practice of architecture as gnosis: a deliberate rejection of the world of utilitarian architecture (building) in pursuit of a higher Architecture through philosophical contemplation and poetic making. Seen in the context of the “gnostic dimension” of architectural abstraction as defined by Alberto Pérez-Gómez, Libeskind’s references to Hermeticism, alchemy and surrealism, paired with his  rejection of building, his extreme abstraction and his esoteric writing, start to suggest a coherent architectural practice with clear intentions.

Surveying the challenge that Libeskind’s early work has presented to architects, critics and historians in the past, this paper goes on to contextualize Libeskind’s work within the ancient philosophical-religious movement of gnosticism and Pérez-Gómez’s essay “Abstraction in Modern Architecture: The Gnostic Dimension.” This is followed by an analysis of the seminal projects of Libeskind’s early career, including Micromegas (1979), Chamber Works (1983), and Three Lessons in Architecture (1885). Concluding that Libeskind’s early work cannot tell anyone how best to practice gnostic architecture, let alone build it, this paper nonetheless finds in Libeskind’s work a valuable source of inspiration for future architects seeking to find their own meaning in the modern world.

Copyright 2018 Alexandre Kinney

 

The Sensuous Experience of Geometry as Divine Knowledge in Guarino Guarini’s SS. Sindone Chapel
Origins of Modern Architecture, 2018, with Alberto Pérez-Gómez
Research Paper, McGill University

FROM THE INTRODUCTION: How does Guarino Guarini pursue his intention of making divine knowledge present through the sensuous experience of geometry in architecture?[1]I examine how Guarini theorized the relationship between sensuous experience, geometry, and divine knowledge in his written works, and how these ideas are manifested in his masterpiece, SS. Sindone Chapel in Turin. Drawing on the insights of Janine Debanné, Alberto Pérez-Gómez, and H.A. Meek, I conclude that Guarini intended the sensuous experience of geometry to facilitate the understanding of divine knowledge on three levels. First, by enabling matter to register an image of spirit, making the invisible visible. Second, by shaping stone to make the divine present to tactile experience, analogous to the incarnation of God into human form through Christ. Third, geometry enacted and perceived through bodily experience allows humans to understand and to further heavenly order on earth.

All of Guarini’s written work and his architecture explore the relationship between the divine and earthly realms, whose interaction he believes always requires an intermediary substance.[2]Debanné argues that geometry is one of the intermediary substances that enables this interaction.[3]Building on this argument, I suggest that sensuous experience itself is the mediator through which geometry must pass in order to make divine order present on earth, and for it to rise from matter to apprehension in human knowledge, analogous to the process of Christ’s incarnation in matter and resurrection back into spirit. SS. Sindone Chapel is the perfect architectural program for Guarini to express his ideas about the mediation between the divine and earthly worlds through the sensuous experience of geometry. Every element of the Chapel contributes to the expression of Christianity’s most important story: incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, representing the promise of ultimate spiritual salvation for mankind.

[1]Alberto Pérez-Gómez and Louise Pelletier, Architectural Representation and the Perspective Hinge(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997), 171.Pérez-Gómez and Pelletier argue that for Guarini, “the role of architecture was to revel the order of creation through geometry.”

[2]Janine Debanné, “Surface and Appearance in Guarino Guarini’s SS. Sindone Chapel,” Chora 3: Intevals in the Philosophy of Architecture, 1999, 50, 67.

[3]Ibid., 69.

Copyright 2018 Alexandre Kinney

 

McGill’s Modern Staircases: The Architecture of Movement
Institutions and their Architectural Networks, 2018, with Ipek Türeli
Guided Architectural Tour, McGill University

SUMMARY: Based on archival research and personal interpretation, this guided tour highlights five architecturally distinctive modern staircases, each illustrated by a photograph taken by me.

 

The University is Now on Air: Broadcasting Modern Architecture
Institutions and their Architectural Networks, 2018, with Ipek Türeli
Exhibition Review, McGill University

SUMMARY: This review provides a critical summary and analysis of the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s (CCA) exhibition “The University Is Now on Air: Broadcasting Modern Architecture.” Presenting what the exhibition claims to be the first comprehensive narrative of modern architecture, the Open University and its course “A305: History of Modern Architecture” offers an interesting, and at times troubling, perspective on how and why the general public should be educated on architecture.

 

Building As Relationscape: Architectural Implications of Erin Manning’s Movement Theory
Survey of Contemporary Architectural History and Theory, 2017, with David Theodore
Theory Paper, McGill University

ABSTRACT: In her 2009 book Relationscapes: Movement, Art, Philosophy, dancer, artist and theorist Erin Manning presents a complicated theory of movement in improvisational dance, which she extends to describing how interactions between people and various mediums of art, movement and language can be productive of creativity. After critically summarizing her book, this paper suggests three ways in which Manning’s theory could contribute to the way architects conceptualize the relationship between buildings and the people inside and around them. First, architects could deliberately design spaces to emphasize the ways in which one’s perception of a room changes as one moves through it, highlighting the ways in which Manning argues that we “create space.” Second, a variety of strategies might be employed to give architecture dynamic qualities similar to the artifacts that Manning admires – qualities that suggest the forms are not frozen or complete, but constantly in the process of becoming something else, and thus eliciting a creative response from people. Third, by drawing people’s attention to their experience of movement through buildings, architects could actually expand the range of sensory perception, allowing people to experience their movement and their bodies in new ways, and potentially leading to new forms of thought and creativity.

Copyright 2017 Alexandre Kinney

 

The Architecture of Aotearoa New Zealand
Working Holiday, 2017
Independent Project

SUMMARY: While living in beautiful Auckland, New Zealand, I immersed myself in the local architecture and design culture by reading, visiting museums and exhibitions, attending conferences and lectures, studying Kiwi architecture firms, and observing the built environment. New Zealand presents a unique and interesting context in which to examine the architectural relationships between European and indigenous Maori culture, and between landscape and building.

 

No Triangular Rooms?!: Rudolf Laban, August Schmarsow, and the Psychophysiological Effects of Non-Orthogonal Space
History of Architectural Theory, 2012, with Kai Gutschow
Research Paper, Carnegie Mellon University

ABSTRACT: After arguing that architecture is the projection of the inner axial structure inherent in the human body, German empathy theorist August Schmarsow claimed that a triangular room is unbearable to be in, with no further explanation of why.  The movement theories of Expressionist dance choreographer and movement notator Rudolf Laban bear striking similarities to Schmarsow’s psychokinetic axial model of space.  Laban’s theories can be grafted onto Schmarsow to give insight into why non-orthogonal space might be undesirable: Architecture is the solidification of a movement traceform> Laban associates some traceforms with harmonious and others with disharmonious movements and emotions> All balanced/harmonious traceforms are based on the 3-axis cube> A triangular room is a disharmonious traceform and may empathetically produces disharmony in a user> Is harmony always desirable?

Copyright © 2014 Alexandre Kinney

 

Body Architecture: Deconstructivism, Parametricism, and the Recorporealization of Space
Human Factors, 2012, with Christine Mondor
Research Paper, Carnegie Mellon University

ABSTRACT: The counterpart of Henri Lefebvre’s “corporeal space,” the violent absctraction of the body in modern space, is exemplified by Deconstructivist architecture.  While Parametricism could lead to the ultimate decorporealization of space by subjugating architecture to purely abstract geometric rules, some contemporary digitizations of the body in parametric choreography suggest how the body could parametrically generate space.  Parametricism could ultimately enable the recorporealization of space.

Copyright © 2014 Alexandre Kinney

Featured Image: Presentation Poster for “Body Architecture” paper.