spatial experience narrative and architecture - Architecture Insights

CONTENTS1.0 INTRODUCTION 062.0 CASE STUDY 012.1 12th International Architecture ExhibitionVenice Biennale 2010 072.2 ‘Cloudscapes’ exhibit,Transolar and Tetsuo Kondo Architects 082.3 ‘Metropolis’ exhibit: French pavilion 102.4 ‘Vacant NL’ exhibit: Netherlands pavilion 123.0 CASE STUDY 02Practitioners of the In-between 143.1 Film + Architecture: Spatial Intelligence 143.2 Temporality, Memory & sequence 163.3 Narrative: Re-imagining Architecture andthe role of the Architect 194.0 CASE STUDY 03Temporary Architecture 204.1 Architectural Redevelopment Project:‘First Church of Christ the Scientist’ Sydney 205.0 REFLECTIONS/CONCLUSIONS 256.0 ENDNOTES 277.0 APPENDIX 287.1 Short Biographies: Interview subjects8.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY 31

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 61.0 INTRODUCTION1.0INTRODUCTION1.1 INTRODUCTION‘Spatial experience, Narrative and Architecture’explores the relationship between the two disciplinesof film and architecture, the various ways theyintersect, and the various practitioners who work inthis discipline of the in-between.The aim of the research is two-fold.1. The research aims to prompt an intensiveengagement with the temporary, sensorial andsocial qualities of space and a fresh considerationof architecture. The relevance of studying therelationship between film and architecture ispursued as a specific source of inspiration andtool in the process of architectural design work.In addition, the investigation aims to explore howthe link between architectural space and filmspace might inform the expanded conception andpractice of architecture.2. A consideration of film as an art form relying ontemporary architectural environments will aid inthinking through the experience of narrative in thecity. Those who engage with temporary eventsin the city, such as festivals and exhibitions,understand how spatial experience can comeinto being and change through these temporaryevents. The project will research ways in whichthe architecture profession can engage with whatcreates this kind of experience of the city.In a related way, the experience and observation ofa major architectural exhibition (12th InternationalArchitecture Exhibition, Venice 2010) will aid inunderstanding the architectural possibilities of thespatial sequence of temporary structures. Theinvestigation will pursue how these qualities mighttranslate to more enduring spatial conditions inarchitecture. This knowledge will also be used torethink the way in which architecture deals withspatial sequence and spatial narrative in cities.I have chosen three distinct and specific casestudies to frame this research.Case study 01: Analysis of the 12th InternationalArchitecture Exhibition, Venice 2010.Case study 02: Interview series with a selection ofarchitectural/academic professionalswho straddle the professional worldsof film, architecture + art (based InLondon and Berlin).Case study 03: Analysis of architecturalre-development project‘First Church of Christ the Scientist’(Heritage building), east Sydney.My ambition is that this varied range of casestudies from the intersecting worlds of film, artand architecture may reveal an expanded field ofdesign opportunities for architectural practitioners inAustralia.PICTUREDTransolar & Tetsuo Kondo Architects,‘Cloudscapes’, Arsenale VeniceBiennale 2010

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 72.0 CASE STUDIES2.012TH INT. ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITION2.1 12th International Architecture ExhibitionThe experience and observation of a majorarchitectural exhibition (12th International ArchitectureExhibition, Venice Biennale 2010) was used toaid in understanding the architectural possibilitiesof the spatial sequence of temporary structures.The Director of the 12th International Architectureexhibition “People meet in Architecture”, KazuyoSejima of SANAA stated, “The 2010 edition of theBiennale is an exhibition about finding architecture;to reconsider the potential of architecture incontemporary society”. 1 The exhibition, ‘People meetin Architecture’ showcased 48 participants: firms,architects, engineers and artists from around theworld and ran from 29th August-21st November 2010at the Giardini and the Arsenale and in various othervenues in Venice. 2The Arsenale site:The South-East area of the historic Arsenale sitehas become the stable site of the Biennale activitiessince 1999, with exhibition spaces such as: Corderie,Artiglierie, Gaggiandre, Tese Cinquecentesche, andTese delle Vergini. 3 Kazuyo Sejima invited theparticipants of this group exhibition to explorethe relationship between architecture and humaninteraction. Many architects were also invited to studytheir own work in films in an attempt to explore howpeople within the space make the space itself. 4 Theresulting collection of temporary installations at theArsenale was extremely diverse.”Individuals will be showing their position towards theinteraction of new social and natural environments; allof which means that each person is his or her owncurator. This way the atmosphere of the exhibitionitself will be achieved through multiple points of viewrather than a single orientation” (Sejima). 5 While thecollection of installations infused the historic site withnew life, they read as separate parts. The spatialsequence of the exhibition as a whole seemed quitearbitrary over the five exhibition spaces on the South-East end of the Arsenale. The most engaging of theworks was ‘Cloudscapes’ by Transolar and TetsuoKondo Architects. This installation successfullyacknowledged the space and materiality of thebuilding it inhabited, and encouraged increaseddegrees of interactivity (refer Section 2.2).The Giardini site:The Giardini site housed the various Nationalexhibitions. Sejima stated, “This exhibition allowspeople to acknowledge various ideas from diversebackgrounds and will reflect the present, which initself encapsulates future potential. (Her) hope wasthat the show would be an experience of architecturalpossibilities; about an architecture created bydifferent approaches, expressing new ways of living.” 6The French and the Netherlands pavilions used theirexhibition to rethink the way in which architecturedeals with spatial sequence and spatial narrativein cities. Both these exhibitions framed this ideathrough the focus on empty and available spaces inthe urban environment and how these spaces mightbe productively re-integrated for urban renewal (referSection 2.3-2.4).PICTUREDLocation photograph Arsenalesite

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 82.0 CASE STUDIES2.2 CLOUDSCAPESTransolar and Tetsuo Kondo ArchitectsA significant installation that took place in theArsenale Artiglierie was “Cloudscapes” by Germanengineering firm Transolar and Tetsuo KondoArchitects. They collaborated to create a real cloud,with clear extents, in the Arsenale Corderie, the effectbeing an ethereal layering of the Arsenale space.This installation housed a series of ramps that invitedvisitors to experience an ephemeral atmosphere frombelow, within and above using a ramp that windsthrough the space, with varying levels of visibilityand humidity. 7 The cloud greatly affected the naturallight qualities in the space, imbuing the space witha theatrical atmosphere. The temporary insertion oframps into the space allowed the participant to gainaccess to new vantage points of the original building,previously inaccessible.Mise-en-scène is an expression used to describe thedesign aspects of a theatre or film production, whichessentially means “visual theme” or “telling a story”-both in visually artful ways through storyboarding,cinematography and stage design, and in poeticallyartful ways through direction. 8 When applied to thecinema, mise-en-scène refers to everything thatappears before the camera and its arrangementcomposition,sets, props, actors, costumes, andlighting. 9 Transolar and Tetsuo Kondo Architectsadopted a very filmic approach to architectural spacein this work, which had to do with people in space,and experiencing that space. They were interestedin how “you will change the space and how it willchange you.” 101The images show different views of the exhibitionspace. Images 2-4 follow the movement sequence Itook through the space via the spiral ramp. The rampallowed for a detailed exploration of Architecturalfeatures such as the existing columns and ceilingspace. From the crest of the ramp the mist wouldcover the entire floor level with changing degrees ofvisibility. This added new vistas, and removed others,making the space feel alternatively more, or lessintimate. The ‘cloud’ also altered and enhanced thelight effects in the room, as can be seen in image 6.The use of props and atmospheric effects incombination with the existing building encouragedthe viewer to experience the space in new waysbased on a new set of sensory stimuli.2PICTUREDTransolar & Tetsuo Kondo Architects,‘Cloudscapes’, Arsenale VeniceArchitecture Biennale 20103

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 92.0 CASE STUDIES45PICTUREDTransolar & Tetsuo Kondo Architects,‘Cloudscapes’, Arsenale VeniceArchitecture Biennale 20106

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 102.0 CASE STUDIES2.3 French Pavilion:'Metropolis' exhibit, Giardini VeniceArchitecture Biennale 2010French Architect Dominique Perault was the curatorof the French Pavilion. His project explored the themeof ‘Metropolis.’ The theme aimed to demonstrate thata metropolis itself is not a city but rather a territorymostly comprised of empty and available spaces.Consequently, the perception of these voids as theplaces where all possibilities can still be realizedguided the approach to the subject and overalldesign of the pavilion.To illustrate his ideas, Dominique Perrault invitedfive major actors on the French scene: themetropolises of Bordeaux (Housing, Tidal Docks,Transportation…), Lyon (Lyon Confluences anddistrict of La Part Dieu…), Marseille (Metropolis inmotion, Parallel routes, Coastal scenery…), andNantes (Territory, Nantes Saint-Nazaire Estuary, Ilede-Nantes,EuroNantes, the Ile-de-Nantes, planningdu Grand Paris. Five experiments, five ways of linkingsolids and voids, five proposals for a definition ofthe metropolis no longer conceived of as a physicalmass but rather as a territory.1These Five examples, treated through filmsand projected texts were designed in a highlycinematographic way. Walls of the exhibitionspace were covered from floor to ceiling with filmprojections. The interplay of screens and mirrorsexponentially increased images and sensations,enhanced by background sounds comprised ofmetropolitan noises. The result was an immersivesensory environment, enabling the viewer to graspthe full scope of the metropolis as an idea, and alsoengage with the discourse on an imaginative level:through mental images, sensations and concepts. 11I was interested in the method Perrault used topresent information, and its effectiveness as acommunication tool. By creating an immersivesensory environment, the viewer was placed in asubjective position to the ideas expressed. TheFrench pavilion presented various levels of visualand audio information simultaneously; in the formof photos and film footage of the urban landscape,statistical data, mapping, diagrams, soundscapesand discourse. This environment made the concepteasy to absorb experientially and define one’s ownexperience of the ‘metropolis’. The images showthe various techniques used: Image 1 and 3 showthe use of mirrors to reflect similar threads of visualinformation to the viewer from different perspectives.PICTURED‘Metropolis’exhibit, French pavilionGiardini Venice, Architecture Biennale20102

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 112.0 CASE STUDIES3PICTURED‘Metropolis’exhibit, French pavilionGiardini Venice, Architecture Biennale20104

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 122.0 CASE STUDIES2.4 Netherlands Pavilion‘Vacant NL - Where Architecture meetsideas’ exhibit, Giardini Venice,Architecture Biennale 2010The Netherlands Pavilion, ‘Vacant NL - WhereArchitecture meets ideas’ exhibit, made subject ofthe thousands of buildings in the Netherlands thatremain unoccupied. Vacant NL aimed to show howthis enormous quantity and diversity of temporarilyavailable property offers a range of possibilities, andthat temporary use can give positive impulse forinnovation within the creative knowledge economy.Ironically, the building where the exhibition tookplace had also been empty for over 39 years sinceits inauguration in 1954. Rietveld Landscape (theexhibition curators) emphasized the theme by leavingthe ground level of the pavilion empty. From below,one could make out a suspended ceiling of bluefoam. From the first level of the pavilion, thesuspended field revealed itself to be a collection ofmodel churches, schools, water towers, factories,hangars, light houses and offices. A diagram on thewall showed the connections that could be madebetween vacant buildings and creative professionals.The curators explored an existing scenario withintheir urban environment to strategically re-imaginenew spatial possibilities at an urban scale. 12This installation tackled similar ideas in part to theFrench pavilion regarding the productivere-use of empty and available spaces in the urbanenvironment. It used a very different format however.The exhibit played games with the presentation ofurban scale in order to make the concept accessibleto the viewer. From underneath the models appearedas a field, resembling a figure-ground study. FromPICTURED‘Vacant NL’ exhibitNetherlands pavilion, Giardini VeniceArchitecture Biennale 2010

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 132.0 CASE STUDIESabove, this collection of model buildings could beseen to have distinct character and identity. The useof scale models, clustered together to express thegreat mass of empty and available buildings in theNetherlands, showed the vastness of a conditionnot perceptible as separate parts. The argumentwas strengthened by acknowledging the historicalcondition of the existing building (having been emptyitself for over 39 years).PICTURED‘Vacant NL’ exhibitNetherlands pavilion, Giardini VeniceArchitecture Biennale 2010

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 143.0 PRACTITIONERS OF THE IN-BETWEEN3.0PRACTITIONERS OF THE IN-BETWEEN3.1 Film + Architecture: Spatial IntelligenceA series of interviews were conducted withArchitectural/Academic professionals from Londonand Berlin, who straddle the professional worldsof architecture, film and art. The conversationshighlighted particular concepts such as spatialintelligence, memory, temporality and narrative.These concepts have been used in the followingchapter to frame the link between film + architecture.Christophe Gérard is the founding director of‘Criticalspace’, an academic specialist on the subjectof film+architecture (having co-ordinated and taughtprograms at The Bartlett UCL, UK), an Architect, afilmmaker and highly experienced scenographer. 13Chistophe Gerard described ‘Film + Architecture’ “asa discipline between two disciplines and a disciplineof the in-between. It deals with the pollution, thecontamination of each discipline, film andarchitecture, by the other. It looks at the wayarchitectural-space and film-space collide, inform andreconfigure one another.” 14Baudrillard reminds us that architecture is notwhat fills the space but what generates it. 15 Whenconsidering the link between architectural spaceand film space, one must consider that space isultimately generated in our mind: it is a combinationof our perception, our experience of space, altered orpondered by such things as our personal knowledge,memory and our state of mind. Gerard suggests,the real space, like the filmic space you reconfigure inyour mind from irreconcilable snippets, and differentpoints of view, is ultimately a mental space. Hesuggests that is where film and architecture meet up,where film in generating space, in a sense, becomesarchitecture, and again why as architects we have tolook into films.“Film provides a very rich representation ofarchitecture” (Gerard). 16 Gerard stated in our interviewSeptember 2010, that “film as a medium developsthe conception (both the mental picture and the actof conceiving) of architecture.” He elaborated on thistopic by describing how the filmic space confrontsus with specific aspects of physical space that asarchitects we are contributing to (and physical spacehas to be taken here in its broadest meaning: thesensorial space, the social space… etc). In film,space is experienced through sounds, motionsand e-motions, and we comprehend its invisibleboundaries. Film is therefore a good material ofstudy to expand our understanding of architectureand change the way we go about making it.PICTURED‘The Rise’Exhibition view,Stedelijk Museum BureauAmsterdam, 2007Image source:http://fischerelsani.net/

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 153.0 PRACTITIONERS OF THE IN-BETWEENBerlin based artists Nina Fischer and Maroanel Sani focus on transitory spaces and vacuumsituations in urban environments, collective memoryand vision in various media such as film, video,installation and photography. 17 They use their workto discuss the relationship between buildings andtheir psychological effect. The films by these twoartists are frequently concerned with visualisingurban architectural settings in order to address theparameters of a discourse on space that has shapedthe 20th century. In the installation work ‘The Rise’they explore “the complex relationship betweenthe visual language of a building, its psychologicaleffects and the political-economic reality in which itfunctions.” 18This work examines the architectural reality of aneighbourhood in Amsterdam undergoing radicalchange. In conversation with the artists, they referredto the work of Anthony Vidler ‘The ArchitecturalUncanny: Essays in the Modern Unhomely’. Byrepeatedly using cinema to approach architecturalspaces of particular significance, they constantlyraise questions about the production of meaning inthat place. 19 There are many films also that are basedon this effect, like Hitchcock’s Vertigo, and alsorecent films that play in the modern environment ofempty office cities by night. The house, which usuallyshould be shelter, often becomes a frightening place,like a prison.PICTURED‘The Rise’Film stillsHD / 35 mm, 16:9,17 min.,loop,colour,Dolby Digital, 2007Image source:http://fischerelsani.net/

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 163.0 PRACTITIONERS OF THE IN-BETWEEN3.2 Temporality / Memory & sequenceArchitecture still defines itself though permanence.The major link between film and architecture is time.They are time sensitive mediums.Film as a medium has the ability to capture the lifecycles of architecture and place. It can be usedstrategically to discuss these, and the memories heldwithin a certain building. As with many of Fischer & ElSani’s art projects (such as the aforementioned ‘TheRise’, their film project ‘Spelling Dystopia’ (2009) askshow memory operates, how a site wears its history,both physically and metaphorically. 20“History manifests itself in the diversity of architecturefrom different epochs. A building is a visible remnantand a piece of memory of a certain time. Our workis a permanent pursuit of and negotiation with thetransition of time, or the transition of epochs. Weexplore the historic traces of urban landmarks,monuments and events that embody such atransition” (Fischer & El Sani). 21Fischer & El Sani are interested in how cinema has animpact on locations, how it changes the perceptionof a place and causes a shift in collective memory.Christophe Gérard suggests that architects like totoy with concepts such as sequence and narrative,however there are other phenomena that might beconsidered (as evident in Fischer and El Sani’s work‘Spelling Dystopia’) like adaptation, appropriation andthe blurring and time. 22 With ‘Spelling Dystopia’ theyfocused on the public perception of the uninhabitedisland Hashima near Nagasaki, which has a vividhistory. In the year 2000 it became the film locationof a science fiction blockbuster Battle Royale andcame back into the Japanese consciousness, witha different connotation. 23 The younger generationstarted to know the place mostly from movies,mangas and video games, as an abandoned ghostisland.Through these images the island appears almost asa fantasy, an imaginary playground where variousimages and layers of reality and fiction have alreadygot in a state of mingling. Aided by its appearancein Battle Royale the island has since taken on aghostly, mythic status in the national imagination, afictionalised shift in collective memory. 24PICTURED‘Spelling Dystopia’Exhibition view (top)Film still (bottom)Image source:http://fischerelsani.net/

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 173.0 PRACTITIONERS OF THE IN-BETWEENPICTURED‘Spelling Dystopia’Film stillsImage source:http://fischerelsani.net/

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 183.0 PRACTITIONERS OF THE IN-BETWEENMemory changes with the media that is produced atthese places. By producing a new artwork about aplace like Hashima Island, Fischer and El Sani aimedto bring memory back to the contemporary streamof media consumption, but also influence how it willbe remembered in the future. “By the format of afilm installation, that uses several screens we triedto create a new approach for the way to watch it”(Fischer & El Sani). 25PICTURED‘Spelling Dystopia’Film stillsExhibition view (bottom)Image source:http://fischerelsani.net/

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 193.0 PRACTITIONERS OF THE IN-BETWEEN3.3 Narrative: Re-imagining Architectureand the role of the ArchitectFilm + Architecture is an emerging discipline.Commissioners in each discipline are naturallynervous at the idea of someone working in betweentwo disciplines. Christophe Gérard expressed,that as a practitioner “one moves between thesedisciplines with difficulties. So my work tends tobe, at times, purely architectural, at others, purelyfilmic. Having said that, I have a filmic approach toarchitecture and an architectural approach to film -my knowledge in one domain enriches the other.” 26In the face of such limitations within the profession,how might practitioners critically revise the role ofthe architect, and operate in an expanded field ofarchitectural activities?Liam Young is an urbanist, architect and curatorwho currently lives and works in London. He isinterested in the way one uses a design project toput abstract ideas together and launch a project asa narrative. Liam is a founder of the futures think tank‘Tomorrows Thoughts Today’, a group whose workexplores the consequences of fantastic, perverseand underrated architectures and urbanisms. Liam isalso a design lecturer coordinating at the AA, Bartlett,Chelsea College of Art and other schools throughoutEurope and Asia. His studios are positioned in theprojective worlds of speculation and fiction andbecome critical instruments for instigating debateabout the cultural consequences of emergingbiological and technological futures. 27Liam draws upon his Architectural education towork as a Designer, on architectural projects and‘architecturally informed’ projects with a rangeof applications. This takes form as Art, curation,architecture, teaching and event moderation. Hesuggests this expanded field of architectural activitiesis “one voice with many outputs.” 28 He seeks differentforums to address the same problems, to engage inproductive discussion and debate.Liam looks at different ways the Architect canoperate as a Designer & provocateur outside builtpractice. He stated, “the value of this speculativeprocess and projects is judged on how it filtersdown into the built world, and how it generates adiscussion. In addition, The Architect might usethis technique, these interventions, as a way tounderstand emerging technologies in this contextand to review problems in a new way.” 29One such project Liam co-ordinated was ‘Winter2011_Strange times_far North Alaska: 0–180ºlongitude” as part of “the Unknown Fields Division.’ 30The Unknown Fields Division is a nomadic designstudio that travels on annual expeditions to theends of the earth exploring unreal and forgottenlandscapes, alien terrains and obsolete ecologies:“The otherworldly sites we encounter afford usa distanced viewpoint from which to survey theconsequences of emerging environmental andtechnological scenarios”(Unknown Fields Division). 31They annually navigate a different global crosssection and map the complex and contradictoryrealities of the present as a site of strange andextraordinary futures. The division mission states:“we are both visionaries and reporters, partdocumentarian and part science fiction soothsayersas the otherworldly sites we encounter afford usa distanced viewpoint from which to survey theconsequences of emerging environmental andtechnological scenarios.” 32Liam’s design methodology promotes the tools offiction and speculation to engage with urban andecological problems in a real way in the present,as opposed to imagining a future. While thesespeculative projects are quite fantastical, this methodof designing ‘interventions’ and drawing comparisonsbetween ecological and urban environments hasthe ability to reveal particular problems and potentialsolutions via subtle fabrications and iterations.PICTUREDUnknown Fields DivsionProject imagesImage source:http://www.unknownfieldsdivision.com/

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 204.0 TEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE4.0TEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE4.1 Architectural Re-development projectProject: The First Church of Christ theScientist Redevelopment ProjectType:Adaptive Reuse/ RefurbishmentLocation: Liverpool Street, East SydneyArchitect: Bates Smart SydneyDirector: Simon SwaneyProject Leader: Charmaine PangCompletion date: 2011Architecture has traditionally defined itself throughpermanence. An architecture that engages withtemporary residential and mixed use environmentswithin heritage buildings is indicative of a shift inthe way we think about Architecture, the role of theArchitect, and building life cycles in Australian cities.Christophe Gerard states: “We are living in a timewhere building life cycles are speeding up. The lifeexpectancy of a building is getting shorter, and it isnow more important than ever that architects have tothink about degradation and recycling”(Gerard). 33The First Church of Christ the Scientistredevelopment project suggests how the use oftemporary construction techniques (traditionally usedfor film set construction and exhibition construction)can translate to a more enduring spatial condition asarchitecture.This project first came to my attention throughcolleagues at the Sydney based Architecture practiceBates Smart. It became evident that this design/construction project from my professional world inArchitectural practice was employing parallel design/construction techniques to those I had witnessedfrom the contemporary worlds of Film and Art. It isa useful case study to explore some of the practicalapplications of the theories proposed by thisresearch.The Application for Development Approval, 2011states:“The architectural intent of the proposal is for theadaptive re-use of the former ‘First Church of Christthe Scientist’ to create a single dwelling withinthe auditorium by inserting a new structure whichexpresses its temporary quality, carries its owndistinctive identity, allows the existing space andfabric to be experienced and is able to be removedwithout impact and as such will be a fully reversibleadaptive reuse.It is intended that the new insertion will enable thearchitectural and spatial qualities of the auditorium tobe fully experienced by offering unimpeded views ofthe major volume whilst maintaining the natural lightqualities within the space.The challenge for the project is not only to berespectful and subservient to the grandeur andeloquence of the original space but also to ensurethat all is done in a manner that is fully reversible. Thegoal is that when the main space is returned to a usethat is compatible with its original purpose, all originalbuilding fabric and furniture (i.e. pews) may be readilyre-used” (S. Swaney). 34ProgramThe first and current function of this development isa family residence. The future scenario imagined forthis building will include a mix of programs including,but not limited to, residential, commercial office,art/ gallery space, event /performance space,small scale retail and hospitality. 35 The hybrid natureof this project alludes to the current simultaneityof realities of movement and occupation, andcategories of program. On an urban level, thescheme has the potential to provoke various patternsof public occupation in conjunction with structuredand unstructured events occurring within the siteenvelope.The client of the project advised “the task ofinhabiting this building involves asking how the spacecan be used/ how one can experience it.” 36 Theproject proposes a layered set of event spaces andoccupation within the existing envelope in order to“enliven” the building. The aspiration for this spaceis to create a community model, as schematic as itis flexible, capable of plotting events, altering itselfand accommodating, at the same time, exteriorcontingencies.The residential design product was not a finitesolution, but a step in the process that could bere-informed, if needed, by greater complexity anddetail. Architectural performance will be judgedover time and through an experimental process.The basic conception/ambition for this project isnot just functional, typological, or technical, butfocuses rather on creating new spatial experiences,pinpointing the way in which a critical revision ofresidential and mixed-use paradigms can intersectwith contemporary culture. 37 The challenge was, andcontinues to be to develop an architectural designthat has the ability to index multiple sets of urbandata relevant for the local community, and mediatebetween different conditions.1 2 3PICTURED1+2. First Church of Christ the Scientist’exterior site photo, 2011 Photographer: Marcus Clinton,2+3. ‘First Church of Christ the Scientist’interior site photo, 2011

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 214.0 TEMPORARY ARCHITECTUREPICTURED‘First Church of Christ the Scientist’redevelopment complete,Interior photos, Jan 2012Photographer: Marcus Clinton

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 224.0 TEMPORARY ARCHITECTUREPICTURED‘First Church of Christ the Scientist’redevelopment in construction phase ,interior site photos, 2011 (various)Image source: Bates Smart Sydney

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 234.0 TEMPORARY ARCHITECTUREPICTURED‘First Church of Christ the Scientist’redevelopment in construction phase ,interior site photos, 2011 (various)Image source: Bates Smart Sydney

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 244.0 TEMPORARY ARCHITECTUREPICTURED‘First Church of Christ the Scientist’redevelopment complete,Interior photos, Jan 2012Photographer: Marcus Clinton

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 255.0 REFLECTIONS/ CONCLUSIONS5.0REFLECTIONS/CONCLUSIONS5.0 REFLECTIONS/CONCLUSIONSFilmic space can propose a different relationshipbetween architecture and people based on a broaderrange of sensory, social and temporal qualities. Aninvestigation into the construction of space, bothintellectually and physically reveals the variety ofmeanings and implications that attend the term‘space’.The 12th International Architecture Exhibition,Venice 2010 teaches us how those who engagewith temporary events in the city, such as festivalsand exhibitions understand that spatial experiencecan come into being and change through thesetemporary events. The select exhibits discussed inthis paper examined a plurality of approaches to,and ways to experience architectural space. Theaim of this was to explore practical techniques thatmay subvert conventional ways we perceive anarchitectural or urban condition.A parallel can be drawn between the temporaryconstruction techniques used for exhibition/ film setconstruction and those used for the constructionof the architectural redevelopment project ‘TheChurch’ in Sydney. The ambition for this projectas a ‘reversible’ construction borrowed more fromthe traditions of film and exhibition design andconstruction than that of architecture. The spatialflexibility for both functional and social programis also similarly increased. This approach to anarchitectural project is now more important than everas we are living in a time where building life cyclesare speeding up. The life expectancy of a building isgetting shorter, and architects need to start engagingwith adaptive re-use projects for a more relevantcontemporary use.A research project of this nature challenges theprofession of architecture to critically revise currentnotions of spatial thinking and spatial intelligence,and re-establish the trade within more extensivenetworks. Those practitioners who merge thedisciplines of architecture, art and film as theirpractice explore new ways to negotiate architecturaldesign problems in the present. In film, spaceis experienced through sounds, motions ande-motions. Film as a medium also allows the viewerto switch between parallel time and story streams,depending on one’s own knowledge, associationsand imagination. A filmic approach to space impliesdifferent models for contemporary living andsuggests an expanded field of architectural activitiesfor the contemporary practitioner. It is therefore agood material of study to expand our understandingof architecture and change the way we go aboutmaking it.

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 266.0 ENDNOTES

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 276.0 ENDNOTES6.0END NOTES6.0 END NOTES1. ‘People meet in Architecture’, Biennale Architettura2010 Short Catalog, Printed by Grafica Venetas.p.s, Trebaseleghe (Padua) For Marsilio Editoris.p.s, in Venice, p.72. ‘The Biennale of Venice: Architecture’, 12thInternational Architecture Exhibition, viewed040710, http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/archive/3. ‘The Biennale of Venice: Architecture’, 12thInternational Architecture Exhibition, viewed040710, http://www.labiennale.org/en/venues/arsenale4. ‘People meet in Architecture’, Biennale Architettura2010 Short Catalog, Printed by Grafica Venetas.p.s, Trebaseleghe (Padua) For Marsilio Editoris.p.s, in Venice, p.75.‘The Biennale of Venice: Architecture’, 12thInternational Architecture Exhibition, viewed040710, http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/archive/exhibition/sejima/6. ’People meet in Architecture’ Biennale Architettura2010 Short Catalog, Printed by Grafica Venetas.p.s, Trebaseleghe (Padua) For Marsilio Editoris.p.s, in Venice, p.77. ‘Karin Patriquinn, Architect’ viewed 091210http://www.karinpatriquin.com/site/tag/cloudscape/8. ‘People meet in Architecture’, Biennale Architettura2010 Short Catalog, Printed by Grafica Venetas.p.s, Trebaseleghe (Padua) For Marsilio Editoris.p.s, in Venice, p.219. Henderson, B “The Long Take,” in Movies andMethods: An Anthology, ed. Bill Nichols (Berkeley:University of California Press, 1976), p. 31510. Bordwell, D; Thompson, K (2003). Film Art: AnIntroduction, 7th ed.. New York: McGraw-Hill.ISBN 0072484551.11. ‘French Pavilion in Venice by Dominique PerraultExplores the Metropolis’, Art Daily, viewed 070910http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&intnew=40394&int_modo=112. Rietveld Landscape, viewed 0100112http://www.rietveldlandscape.com/en/projects/43913. See full bilbliography, Christophe Gerard(appendix p. 28)14. Christophe Gerard interview 10th Sept 201015. Baudrillard, J ‘Simulacra and Simulation’, AnnArbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1994.16. SG 1 Film and Architecture programme (2010)description from The Bartlett, Faculty of the BuiltEnvironment, viewed 201010, http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/17. Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani biography (withconsent of artists)18. ‘Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani’, viewed121210, and many times thereafter, http://www.fischerelsani.net/19. Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani, viewed 100112(http://www.fischerelsani.net/texts/kelvin_text.html)20. Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani, interview 12thSept, 201021. Christophe Gerard interview 15th Sept 201022. Battle Royale is a 2000 Japanese thriller filmdirected by Kinji Fukasaku based on the novelof the same name, viewed 100112, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266308/23. Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani’, viewed 121210,and many times thereafter, http://www.fischerelsani.net/24. Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani, interview 12thSept, 201025. Liam Young Biography (appendix p. 28)26. Liam Young interview 8th Sept 201027. Ibid28. Young, L ‘Unknown Fields’, viewed 050112, http://www.unknownfieldsdivision.com/index.html29. Young, L ‘Unknown Fields’, viewed 050112, http://unknownfieldsdivision.com/trajectories.html30. Young, L ‘Unknown Fields’, viewed 050112,, http://www.unknownfieldsdivision.com/blog/?p=75831. Christophe Gerard interview 10th Sept 201032. Swaney, S First Church of Christ the ScientistLiverpool Street East Sydney, Application forDevelopment Approval - March 201133. Client interview, ‘First Church of Christ theScientist Re-devlopment project, 13th Jan 201234. Payne J. & Roberge H. “Shifting Infrastructures:Hirsutery in Architecture”, Princeton ArchitecturalPress, 2004, p.254

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 287.0 APPENDIX7.0APPENDIX7.1 SHORT BIOGRAPHIES:Interview subjectsLiam Young:LondonLiam Young is an urbanist, architect and curatorwho currently lives and works in London. Liam wasrecently named by Blueprint magazine as one of 25people who will change architecture and design in2010.Liam is a founder of the futures think tank TomorrowsThoughts Today, a group whose work explores theconsequences of fantastic, perverse and underratedarchitectures and urbanisms. His projects includethe stuffed and mounted collections of ‘Specimensof Unnatural History: A Near Future Bestiary’ and‘Where the Grass Is Greener’ a set of picturesquepostcards from a sustainability cult. Liam curatesinternational events and exhibitions including theconference and book series ‘Thrilling Wonder Stories:Speculative Futures for an Alternate Present’ withBldgblog’s Geoff Manaugh and the ‘Examples ToFollow! ‘ Exhibition in Berlin with Beyond Architectureeditor Lukas Feireiss.Christophe Gérard:LondonChristophe Gérard: is the founding director ofCriticalspace, an academic specialist on the subjectof Film+Architecture, an architect, a filmmaker andhighly experienced scenographer of ground breaking,critically acclaimed and extremely popular exhibitionsincluding Bruce Nauman: A Retrospective (1998),Sonic Boom (2000), Eyes, Lies & Illusions (2004), heldat the Hayward Gallery. The work he has done asa director has been shown in a long list of festivalsaround the world and has had theatre release in theUK. Since 2000, Christophe teaches at the BartlettSchool of Architecture, UCL. He is currently workingon a feature film, on a second animation short and isdeveloping an exhibition that draws on his extensivepractical knowledge of the media of film, architectureand scenography.Website: ‘Critical Space’http://www.criticalspace.co.uk/Stefanie Bürkle:BerlinStefanie Bürkle, born 1966 in Heilbronn, is Professorof Fine Art at the TU Berlin. She studied scenographyin Paris and Fine Art at the University of the Arts inBerlin. She worked as a stage designer in Paris at theThéatre des Amandiers & MC 93 Bobigny, in Berlin atthe Berliner Ensemble & HAU. Her early work focuseson topics such as “City”, “Artificial Worlds”, “facadewallpaper-spacearchitecture”, with various mediaincluding painting, photography and multimediaprojects. Her work reviews the usual perception ofthe city through new ways of reading projection andthe spaces behind itWebsite: ‘Stefanie Buerkle - Home: Sweet: City’http://www.stefanie-buerkle.de/EN/home/home.phpLiam is also a celebrated design lecturer-coordinatingaward winning design studios at the AA, Bartlett,Chelsea College of Art and other schools throughoutEurope and Asia. His studios are positioned in theprojective worlds of speculation and fiction andbecome critical instruments for instigating debateabout the cultural consequences of emergingbiological and technological futures. Liam’s AA studiowas last year awarded the Royal Institute of BritishArchitects Presidents Medal for his ‘NecessaryMonsters’ unit based in the Galapagos Islands andare nominated again for this year’s award for theArctic Circle studio ‘The End of the World and OtherBedtime Stories’.Website: ‘Tomorrow’s thoughts today’www.tomorrowsthoughtstoday.com

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 297.0 APPENDIXNina Fischer / Maroan el Sani:BerlinWith their work Fischer & el Sani focus ontransitory spaces and vacuum situations in urbanenvironments, collective memory and vision invarious media such as film, video, installation andphotography. They critically reflect the rise and fallof modernity, the intense and uncanny relationshipbetween our contemporary society and utopianprojects that have driven the evolution of our history,from the past to the future, or the anachronisticmerging of both ends. Their work is a permanentpursuit of and negotiation with the transition of time.Nina Fischer / Maroan el Sani have been workingtogether in Berlin since 1993. From 2007 until 2010they have been working as Associate Professorsfor Film and Media Art at Sapporo City University,Japan. They have been the recipient of the Karl-Hofer-Prize of the University of the Arts, Berlin andwere awarded several artist in residence stipends e.g.at German Academy Villa Massimo, Rome, DAAD inTokyo, Cité des Arts in Paris and at Stedelijk Museumin Amsterdam.Robert Beson:SydneyRobert Beson is the principal of AR-MA, anarchitectural design and consulting firm focusedon conceptual design, fabrication and assembly.A graduate of the Master of Architecture at theUniversity of Technology Sydney, Robert wasawarded the Byera Hadley Traveling scholarship forresearch on fabrication and production of complexstructures, conducted at the Zurich office of Designto Production, Switzerland. Robert has taughtarchitectural design as well as advanced modelingat UTS, the University of Sydney, and the Universityof Newcastle. Robert has acted as art directorand curator for academic institutions (University ofTechnology and University of Sydney).Website: AR-MAhttp://www.ar-ma.netWebsite:Gallery contact:www.fischerelsani.nethttp://www.eigen-art.com/

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 308.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE & ARCHITECTURE - BYERA HADLEY REPORT 318.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY8.0BIBILIOGRAPHY8.0 BIBLIOGRAPHYInterviews:Robert Beson was interviewed for this ByeraHadley report: ‘Spatial Experience, Narrative andArchitecture‘ (Sydney, Feb 2011) by Amanda ClarkeSydney, Feb 2011Stefanie Bürkle was interviewed for this ByeraHadley report: ‘Spatial Experience, Narrative andArchitecture‘ (Berlin, Sept 2010) by Amanda ClarkeNina Fischer and Maroan el Sani were interviewedfor this Byera Hadley report: ‘Spatial Experience,Narrative and Architecture‘ (Berlin, Sept 2010) byAmanda ClarkeChristophe Gérard was interviewed for this ByeraHadley report: ‘Spatial Experience, Narrative andArchitecture‘ (London, Sept 2010) by Amanda ClarkeLiam Young was interviewed for this ByeraHadley report: ‘Spatial Experience, Narrative andArchitecture‘ (London, Sept 2010) by Amanda Clarke‘Client’, First Church of Christ the Scientist Redevlopmentproject was interviewed for this ByeraHadley report: ‘Spatial Experience, Narrative andArchitecture‘ (Sydney, Jan 2012) by Amanda ClarkeBooks:Baudrillard, J ‘Simulacra and Simulation’, Ann Arbor:The University of Michigan Press, 1994.Bordwell, D; Thompson, K (2003). Film Art: AnIntroduction, 7th ed.. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN0072484551.Henderson, B “The Long Take,” in Movies andMethods: An Anthology, ed. Bill Nichols (Berkeley:University of California Press, 1976)Male-Alemany, M “Parametric Constructions: avirtual exploration on virtual standardization” inModels: 306090 11, By Emily Abruzzo, Eric Ellingsen,Jonathan D. Solomon, Princeton Architectural Press,2008Payne J. & Roberge H. “Shifting Infrastructures:Hirsutery in Architecture”, Princeton ArchitecturalPress, 2004Publications:‘A’A’ L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, France, Issue 379‘People meet in Architecture’, Biennale Architettura2010 Short Catalog, Printed by Grafica Veneta s.p.s,Trebaseleghe (Padua) For Marsilio Editori s.p.s, inVeniceSwaney, S (Director Bates Smart ) ‘First Church ofChrist the Scientist: Application for DevelopmentApproval ‘, Sydney March 2011Websites:AR-MA, viewed 200211http://ar-ma.net/Architectural Association School of Architecture,viewed 050710, and many times thereafterhttp://www.aaschool.ac.uk/The Bartlett UCL, viewed 050710, and many timesthereafter, http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/‘The Biennale of Venice: Architecture’viewed 040710, and many times thereafterhttp://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/archive/(http://www.labiennale.org/en/venues/arsenaleBuerkle, S ‘Stefanie Buerkle - Home: Sweet: City’viewed 180311, http://www.stefanie-buerkle.de/buerkle/home/home.php‘Expanded Architecture’,viewed 081110, and many times thereafterhttp://www.expandedarchitecture.blogspot.com/‘French Pavilion in Venice by Dominique PerraultExplores the Metropolis’, Art Daily, viewed 070910http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=40394&int_modo=1‘Karin Patriquinn, Architect’ viewed 091210http://www.karinpatriquin.com/site/tag/cloudscape/Kellner, D ‘Jean Baudrillard’, 2007, viewed180112http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/baudrillard/#BibGérard, C ‘Critical Space’, viewed101211http://www.criticalspace.co.uk/Gérard, C ‘The Bartlett Faculty of the BuiltEnvironment’, viewed 020211http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/history_theory/programmes/bsc/sg1.htm‘Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani’, viewed 121210, andmany times thereafter, http://www.fischerelsani.net/Rietveld Landscape, viewed 0100112http://www.rietveldlandscape.com/en/projects/439Young, L ‘Unknown Fields’, viewed 050112http://www.unknownfieldsdivision.com/index.htmlhttp://www.unknownfieldsdivision.com/blog/Young, L ‘Tomorrows thoughts today’, viewed111110, and many times thereafter, http://www.tomorrowsthoughtstoday.com/Picture Credits:All photographs taken by Amanda Clarke or notedotherwise.Photographer: Marcus Clintonhttp://www.marcusclintonphotography.com.au/Photographer for Bates Smart Sydney project,‘First Church of Christ the ScientistRedevelopment.’