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RESEARCH ESSAY This thesis idea is to translate the fundamentals of surrealism into a way of thinking about spatial experiences and architectural design. The main philosophy of surrealism is to create a new reality, which the Surrealists were seeking in the 1920s after World War 1, in order to transform the way we experience the world. The sources collected here all discuss the major theoretical ideas of surrealism in relation to either architecture or film. Since this thesis is trying to create surrealist architectural spaces, the most relevant sources are ones which discuss past attempts and trials at exploring surrealist ideas in architecture, such as the 1978 Feb./March Volume of Architecture Design, Anthony Vidler’s essay on Fantasy, the Uncanny and Surrealist Theories of Architecture, as well as Vidler’s introduction to The Architectural Uncanny. Vidler’s essays discuss the idea of the uncanny, which Vidler says can be found in the “state between dreaming and awakening”, and could be described as “a representation of a mental state of projection that precisely elides the boundaries of the real and the unreal in order to provoke a disturbing ambiguity, a slippage between waking and dreaming.” 1 On the other hand, the Architectural Design magazine articles focus on the beginnings and philosophy of surrealism, including quotes from Andre Breton, the founder of Surrealism, and examples of surrealist exhibitions and spaces. In addition, a more contemporary collection of essays in Surrealism and Architecture, edited by Thomas Mical, discuss how surrealist thought has made its way into architectural theory and method. The lack of built surrealist architecture can be attributed to its extremely theoretical nature. Because of this, my sources relating to surrealist cinema will be just as relevant in analyzing how the directors of those films translated the idea of the real world versus the dream world into one reality. The two major influences in surrealist cinema that appear in my sources are film director Luis Bunuel and surrealist painter Salvador Dali. Luis Bunuel directed the first surrealist films in the 1930s, which are Un Chien Andalou, and L’Age D’Or. Salvador Dali worked alongside Bunuel to instill surrealist ideas into the films. David Lynch, a more contemporary director of the films Eraserhead and Blue Velvet, becomes a focus of study as well due to his films depicting reality 1 Anthony Vidler. The Architectural Uncanny: Essays in the Modern Unhomely. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1992, 11 19
and imaginary as one existence. The sources regarding Bunuel and Dali, since they were a collaboration, are Dali, Surrealism, and Cinema by Elliott King, Robert Short’s The Age of Gold: Dali, Bunuel, Artaud: Surrealist Cinema as well as Surrealism and Cinema by Michael Richardson. Chris Rodley collaborated with David Lynch to create Lynch on Lynch, which is all about the director and his filmmaking. Along with reading books about these directors, the actual films themselves are being considered and viewed. Most of these authors discuss the idea of transforming the way we view the world by combining the physical reality with the mental dreamlike reality to make one reality, which is one of the main objectives of the Surrealist movement. Definition of Surrealism The intentions of the surrealist movement are at the forefront of many sources, which starts off the authors’ dialogue in a clear way. Dalibor Veseley contributed an important article in the 1978 volume of Architectural Design, in which he explains the vision of surrealism as a way of thinking and viewing the world, using quotes from primary sources written by Andre Breton. Veseley points out that Breton believed “in the future resolution of those two seemingly contradictory states, dream and reality, of surreality, so to speak.” 2 Using this idea, Veseley deduces that surrealists believed in a “new myth”, which is the surreality that involved the “whole of human existence.” 3 This surreality is the “imaginary-real world of certain primitives, stripped of all supernatural implication and meanings.” 4 Stuart Knight’s “Observations on Dada and Surrealism”, also in Architectural Design, adds that surrealism is a “state of mind, a form of knowledge”, as opposed to just an art movement, that was able to revolutionize the “dream world into a palpable reality.” 5 Author of Surrealism and Cinema, Michael Richardson notes that surrealism is a convergence of the “different realms of existence” and “a meeting point between the opposites of light and dark, presence and absence, [and] actuality and imagination.” 6 Richardson claims surrealism is also a collaborative effort that is still a “living thing.” 7 Similarly, Elliot H. King, author of Dali, Surrealism 2 Surrealism and Architecture. Architectural Design 48, no. 2-3(1978), 87. 3 Ibid, 88. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid, 102. 6 Michael Richardson. Surrealism and Cinema. Oxford; New York: Berg, 2006, 1. 7 Michael Richardson. Surrealism and Cinema. Oxford; New York: Berg, 2006, 5. 21
Page 1 and 2: TRANSFORMATION UNDERGROUND: SURREAL
Page 3 and 4: “The man who cannot visualize a h
Page 5 and 6: INVESTIGATION OF THE THESIS TOPIC
Page 7 and 8: VISUAL ABSTRACT 13
Page 9: IDEA MAP 17
Page 13 and 14: a site for the “uncanny” to man
Page 15 and 16: in Artaud’s film. Artaud is intri
Page 17 and 18: in Michael Richardson’s Surrealis
Page 19 and 20: Surrealism and Architecture. Archit
Page 21 and 22: Short, Robert. The Age of Gold: Dal
Page 23 and 24: VISUAL STUDIES - PASSAGE OF TIME 45
Page 25 and 26: CONCLUSION Conducting scholarly res
Page 27 and 28: SITE ABANDONED UNDERGROUND SUBWAY T
Page 29 and 30: SITE DATA - PHOTOGRAPHS 57
Page 31 and 32: SITE ANALYSIS 61
Page 33 and 34: PROGRAM The programmatic function f
Page 35 and 36: PROGRAM + SITE FIT ANALYSIS 69
Page 37 and 38: METHODOLOGY My process throughout t
Page 39 and 40: AEROGRAPHY use of a 3D object as a
Page 41 and 42: CUT-UP TECHNIQUE text is cut up and
Page 43 and 44: OUTAGRAPHY the object of the image/
Page 45 and 46: THREE-DIMENSIONAL ASSEMBLAGE Taking
Page 47 and 48: STUDY ONE 93
Page 49 and 50: STUDY THREE 97
Page 51 and 52: EXPERIENTIAL MOMENTS Using the 4”
Page 53 and 54: EXPERIENTIAL MOMENTS 105
Page 55 and 56: EXPERIENTIAL SECTION Using the expe
Page 57 and 58: A FROZEN VAULT OF REPORTS first spa
Page 59 and 60: A GARDEN OF BROAD INSTRUMENTS garde
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A POOL OF EMPTY CURTAINS bedroom th
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THE FLOOR OF DROWSY WHIRLPOOLS lay
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AN AUDITORIUM OF DESERTED EYES thea
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CONCEPTUAL SECTION This diagrammati
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GROUND PLAN The site is located on
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FLOOR NEGATIVE TWO The different ho
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SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE HOSTEL This s
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BEDROOM OF MOLTEN MEMORY 149
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POOL OF EMPTY CURTAINS 153
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FLOOR OF DROWSY WHIRLPOOLS & MOUNTA
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CONCLUSION OF THESIS SEMESTER The p
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