On Reinhold's Empty Forms

In his manifesto on the ‘Empty Forms’ Reinhold discuss how modern architecture attempts to be empty in its developmental process, devoid of programmatic or other ‘extra-architectural factors’ in its attempt to turn itself into a product of purist formalism movement. He proves this futile by going on to say that the program itself are contingent, demonstrated by modern day architectures in which programs are interchangeable or left very open.

However, Reinhold does say that an empty form is a utopian category, meaning we can only approach it so close, but to reach the actual point of being an ‘empty form’ itself is impossible. 

Many contemporary architecture have claimed itself that it is, in fact, an empty form, unaffected by any other governing bodies. Parametric design is a very good example of this. By manipulating the algorithms of shapes and forms, the form of the building is conceived of. However, the architect can not still dismiss the fact that he/she have manipulated the form to accommodate for a certain program, for example many of Zaha Hadid design, though claimed to be computer generated, is a result of human tampering with the original models to suit the building’s programmatic needs.

Hyper Reality in Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat

In semiotics, hyper-reality is a state in which the unreal, usually a simulation of reality, is indistinguishable from the real - and in the case of Borat - fiction from non-fiction. Starring Sacha Baron Cohen, the film portrays a Kazakh journalist traveling through the United States recording what is seemingly real life interaction with the American public. The film presents itself in a mockumentary style - the first set of juxtaposing quality of this film. As is common, a documentary is a film intended to document some aspect of the reality. By turning it into a mockery, the film will always in it contain a sense of irony - for example, when there is a hilarious event happening in what would otherwise be a serious circumstances.

Throughout the movie, we have a blend of fiction (Cohen and his script) and non-fiction (the public reaction) so that we are not sure which is which and so is in a state of hyper reality. Because this state of hyper reality causes everything for us to become real, we see the movie as an observer, so that whenever a character do something stupid, we can relate to and feel funny with it.

The Architectural Sign of 'Plearn Waan': A Dissection

According to Pierce, a sign is anything that is determined by something else, called its Object. The interpretant is what recognizes the sign and is affected by it. The importance of these three structure lies in its interconnectivity –the triad forms a triangle in which the object determines the sign, and the sign determines the effect on the interpretant, and so on and so forth.

Ha! Lunchtime!

To dissect this concept further, the sign must contain a signifying element. Strictly speaking, it is the signifying element in a sign that do the job of signifying – not the sign as a whole. For example, if a whole in the apple that shows us that a squirrels has bitten into it, it is not the size of the hole that shows us that it is caused by a squirrel, neither is its depth. It is, however, the teeth mark which we can see that might tell us that the animal which did this is a squirrel. Therefore, the teeth-mark is the signifier.

Now, to distillate Pierce’s work to its essential, he proposes that everything we experience in this world is a sign – including to, most obviously, the architectural environment. One such environment is Plearn Wan ‘Market’ in Huahin, Thaiand. The name itself signifies what is inside – “Plearn”, meaning to relax so that one is lost in time, and “Waan”, derived from the Thai word meaning ‘yesterday’. The two combined means a place where people can relax in an environment of the old times. However, upon a careful dissection, one can see that these signs that made up the environment only contains some essential signifying element that converts what would otherwise be a flamboyant artificial world into one where the visitors actually believe that they really are immersed in the old atmosphere.

Can you imagine such setup in real life?

[Top-right] Plearn Waan Sign

Upon entry, one can see a huge sign hanging overhead spelling out its name. The font, however, is where the vintage-ness really sets in – a rigid handwriting style with small alphabetical ‘heads’ (the part where the alphabet curves to make a complete circle)conveys the feeling of traditional formality. Though the feeling of traditional formality that is elicited in the interpretant might be accurate in conveying what the old times might be like, the graphical interpretation, sadly, isn’t, as most proper writing in old times would be done in a beautiful cursive style. Looking around, the façade (both inside and outside the complex) is seen to be made up of multi-coloured wood panels that is arranged somewhat, similar to the old times.  However, this style is seen as being those of pop-vintage, where most of the time, the colour of the material is the only thing- a single signifying element- that is a true manifest of past eras.

 How the shops inside are set up is also unrealistic- as most of them are very extravagant, fully decorated with all sorts of posters and old keep-sakes that would, otherwise, not be present in such density in real old shops. Again, it is not the shop and its arrangement as a whole that points to the past, but rather, in the individual objects themselves. Lastly, the time of operation of this ‘market‘ in itself, is deceptive.  Opening from 11 am to 12 pm, the night portion of its business time (approx. 7 to 12 pm) is not true to the workings of the old markets, as by 7 or 8 pm, most Thai market would have been closed down for the day already.

As have been shown, very little of this ‘Plearn Waan’ sign environment is really what it would have been in the past. It is the very little amount of signifying element that really holds up the illusion that so many people wants to go see and believe for themselves that they are actually in ‘Plearn Waan’. The same applies to the environment around us – that they really are just signs that we experience through the motions of our everyday lives

.

Phenomenology and Design

Over a few billion millennia, the human body have evolved the senses for which to recognize the environment, elicit a response, and therefore survives to be who we are today. However, such senses are only our psychological interpretation of things, processed by the brain. Such concept of phenomenology would then not be too hard to grasp considering that we are only a creature of thoughts and feelings - processors of the qualities of our surrounding that is perceptible to us, oh which is coined the word “phenomena”. “Noumena” is on the other hand, objects as things-in-themselves, out-of-grasp of human experience. In terms of design, it might then be logical to agree on the fact that design is done to bring out a particular response or experience from the users, and therefore, does not require a rigid control of the “noumena”, as long as the required “phenomena” is acheived. 

Sensorial Deprivation Chamber

How design can elicit a very different experience can be exemplified by the invention of the armed forces of NATO - the sensory deprivation tank. A device for interrogating prisoners within international treaty obligations, the tank is filled with liquid perflurocarbon - dubbed “breathable liquid”, and the subject are submerged inside - deprived of all sensorial stimuli. Such device can give a feeling similar to a near-death experience, where a person feels that he/she have drowned and has entered a different world, normally described as those that is a tunnel ending with bright-lighted ending. This experience is very real - yet, is a complete phenomenological process.

Near-Death Experience

Architectural, the Hogwarts Castle in the new “Wizarding World of Harry Potter” at the Universal Studio Orlando poses a very interesting question- whether the castle is real or not. Bricks and stone wise- the volume is real and touchable. However, the “noumena” of being the Hogwarts castle is very questionable, as on the ride inside, visitors experience some interior castle architecture scenes that are very real but yet a product of state-of-the-art 3D projection technology. Is it, then, adequate to build a facade and to use other means of construction to create an interior that would elicit the same response from the users as would the real physical interior do?

Virtual Architecture of the Hogwarts Castle

Albert Durer's 'Cone of Vision'

Such concept is utilised in Sira Shafiei’s conceptual work “The Magician’s Theatre, Rome”. Governed by her research on Harry’s Houdini’s Elephant trick and how it can be manifested within Albert Durer’s cone of vision, the design addresses the sensorial interaction of the users between user-object and user-user without actually building anything ‘solid’. Text - and cone- anamorphosis, along with dispersed perspectival illusion, are used to create landscapes and tectonics that are revealed only to dynamic users. The architecture is described by the architect as “constructed, choreographed...sacred and sublime”. Such works raises the question whether architecture must be real, or whether or not it can be designed as a device that can bring out the same experience without actually being what it appears to be.

The Planes of the Architecture, based on Durer's 'Cone of Vision'

"The Magician's Theatre in Rome"