0. ZAPP 29 RIGHT SIZE 10.25.16 SPREADS 2.12.17

A House That Catches No Shadows
Project by Diemut Strebe
In “A House That Catches No Shadows” we build a 3D architectural
(with a scale of 1:100 / 16x16x12cm) model of
the famous building designed by the Austrian philosopher
Ludwig Wittgenstein who constructed the villa together
with the Austrian architect Paul Engelmann for his sister
Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein in Vienna.
The model is entirely covered with grown carbon nanotubes,
tiny cylinders which are made entirely out of carbon
atoms that will grow on a catalyst that is attached to
a carrier material. The tubes absorb 99.965% of the light.
Almost no photon can escape from the grown forest grid
of the 1mm high grown tubes, 50 to 200 nanometers in
diameter, each tube is 10,000 times thinner than a strand
of human hair.
Crucially, this material is of very low-density: it’s 99 %
empty space. That way, when light hits the material,
there’s almost nothing to reflect off of. The photons, particles
of light enter and become trapped in the nanotube
forest, bouncing around until they dissipate as heat.
This way the coverage removes all shapes, perspectives
and traceable surface features of plasticity by erasing any
shadows. In his notorious “Tractatus” - Wittgenstein tried
“to draw a limit to thought” - limitations about what we
are able to speak in a meaningful way. He phrased it, “in
order to draw a limit to thinking we should have to be
able to think both sides of this limit (i.e. we should have
to be able to think what cannot be thought).”
In this early work Wittgenstein did not deny the importance
of aesthetics or aesthetical problems, he places it
beyond the border where we can speak meaningfully. In
simple words: We can obviously hear and perfectly distinguish
the sound of a clarinet, but we have great problems,
to actually say this very sound.
We feel that even when all possible scientific questions
have been answered, the problems of life remain completely
untouched. Of course there are then no questions
left, and this itself is the answer. “Tractatus” 6.52 . An
architectural model usually is built to give full overview
about a building’s structure, to manifest all sculptural
qualities up to exact details at a smaller scale.
An architectural model that is actually hiding its plasticity
and three-dimensionality can be seen as a quite adequate
analog on ideas about limitations of thought. A sculpture
that undermines or erodes its own visibility can represent
the ambivalence, the conflicting nature of these thoughts.
We are curious, how it will look like, as well: a house that
casts and catches no shadows.
In November, 1925, Mrs. Stonborough-Wittgenstein commissioned
Engelmann and her brother to design and build
a large townhouse. The Wittgenstein House was built in
what was then Kundmanngasse 19, now Parkgasse 18,
Vienna. It consists essentially of three rectangular blocks.
Wittgenstein spent obsessive effort on details and
mathematical ratios to solve symmetrical problems and
problems of proportion which stretched the collaboration
in all respects to its ultimate philosophical and formal limits.
The house was finished by December 1928. This new
project-in-progress acts as a statement against the claim
of a British artist Anish Kapoor to try to monopolize this
material of carbon nanotubes for his own use.
It is unacceptable that any artist tries to achieve exclusive
availability for a material in artworks, by simply buying
the rights for it. We use a slightly different percentage of
carbon nanotubes, not traceable to the human eye - that
can be used by any artist on any work.
of the cabin and the waste of consumerism have become
solid and permanent - An ironic comment perhaps on the
values which built the skyline of Manhattan across the
water? Who knows?
Then there is the fun part, Slide Hill for the kids, again
some 40 feet high, with four fantastic slides and, finally
Outlook Hill, the tallest hill of 70 feet. You can reach the
top of the hill in two ways, through the 'safe' and long asphalt
path, or with the more adventurous, irregular steps
from recycled granite blocks. These blocks were part of
the seawall around the island which had to be replaced
as it did not meet current requirements of anticipated sea
level rise caused by climate change. In the code compliant
and litigious environment of the USA it came as a bit
of a surprise to me that these wonderful granite stairs
were even executed. The casual nature and the quality
of the infrastructure of the park were a breath of fresh
air in comparison to most parks in the city. Reaching the
top of the hill, one is rewarded by a magnificent view of
the Statue of Liberty, New Jersey, New York, Brooklyn and
Staten Island; the ideal visual spectacle for the tourist
snapshot.
The Hills seamlessly connect with the first phase of Governors
Island Park, which apart from the aforementioned
lawns and facilities consists of breathtaking planted fields
of color, it reminded me of the Dutch garden designer Piet
Oudolf, who has planted Battery Sea Park and the High
Line of course. Having grown up in the Netherlands on
the coast, in a town called Den Helder, the Hills gave me
a real Proustian moment. The seawall in my region consisted
of dikes but also of sandy dunes, planted with helm
grass, clusters of pine trees and rosa canina or dog-rose
bushes. Although the Hills are not intended as dunes, the
park and hills have been specifically designed to withstand
the changes brought about by climate change. The
Hills, like Dutch dikes, consist of several layers for structural
integrity and erosion prevention. They are made
up of debris from the demolition of the structures on the
island, pumice to keep them light, and finally layers of
sand, compost and topsoil. Geotextile is used to prevent
subsidence and soil run off. Furthermore, the whole quay
of the island and rip rap retaining wall was renovated and
made more robust.
Wittgenstein House, Vienna, by Paul Englemann and Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1928.