Modern Architecture and Spatial Experiences in Film Rizka Fitri Ridayanti Advisor: Diane Wildsmith Architecture International Program Faculty of Engineering University of Indonesia ABSTRACT Architecture and film in this modern era are inseparable concerning the generation of perceptual spaces. Architecture is built in and around spaces, which may provide the setting for a film, whereas film stands as a two-dimensional medium to explore and present architecture as a narrative framework. Architecture is a fundamental component in order that film can deliver its narrative. This paper discusses how architectural representation is conveyed to encase the spatial narrative of a film and the important role they hold in conveying messages, underlying narratives, and the spatial experiences in a film. It discusses the workings of real to reel, borrowing Nezar AlSayyad‟s term in reference to the reality and the cinema, using the modern architecture in Jacques Tati‟s Playtime (1967) as a case in point. Architecture in the real and reel stand as the main focuses of this paper. Finally, it observes the concept of reel to real, how the architecture and film can affect our perspectives in life and be used as parameters for design. Keywords: architecture; architectural representation; film; narrative; space INTRODUCTION Since the late 19 th century, film developed as a medium that has allowed increased awareness and appreciation of the 3D representation of architecture as well as urban spaces. 1 Film captures motions, sounds, and sequential narratives of a city‟s architecture that allows an experience of 3D architectural spaces through 2D medium. No other medium has had the power to present an exploration of real or virtual 3D architectural spaces as boundlessly as film. The versatile camera positions and the cinematography enables all kinds of angles and perspectives that present a rich visual treat of architecture and enhances the virtual experience. This rich representation of architecture through the medium of film stands as the initial idea of commencing the study of architecture and film. AlSayyad (2006, p. xii) suggests looking at the world of cinema and reality simultaneously, in that, “Both real and reel become mutually constitutive to a point that renders the study of one without the other incomplete or ill-informed.” Real being the reality, and reel the screen. This research uses this statement as the basis in structuring the writing 1 Boake, Terry M. Architecture and Film: Experiential Realities and Dystopic Futures, 2005/2006. http://www.architecture.uwaterloo.ca/faculty_projects/terri/pdf/boake_arch_film_colour.pdf (accessed February 17, 2013) Arsitektur modern..., Rizka Fitri Ridayanti, FT UI, 2013
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Modern Architecture and Spatial Experiences in Film
Rizka Fitri Ridayanti
Advisor: Diane Wildsmith
Architecture International Program
Faculty of Engineering
University of Indonesia
ABSTRACT
Architecture and film in this modern era are inseparable concerning the generation of
perceptual spaces. Architecture is built in and around spaces, which may provide the setting
for a film, whereas film stands as a two-dimensional medium to explore and present
architecture as a narrative framework. Architecture is a fundamental component in order that
film can deliver its narrative. This paper discusses how architectural representation is
conveyed to encase the spatial narrative of a film and the important role they hold in
conveying messages, underlying narratives, and the spatial experiences in a film. It discusses
the workings of real to reel, borrowing Nezar AlSayyad‟s term in reference to the reality and
the cinema, using the modern architecture in Jacques Tati‟s Playtime (1967) as a case in point.
Architecture in the real and reel stand as the main focuses of this paper. Finally, it observes
the concept of reel to real, how the architecture and film can affect our perspectives in life
and be used as parameters for design.
Keywords: architecture; architectural representation; film; narrative; space
INTRODUCTION
Since the late 19th
century, film developed as a medium that has allowed increased awareness
and appreciation of the 3D representation of architecture as well as urban spaces.1 Film
captures motions, sounds, and sequential narratives of a city‟s architecture that allows an
experience of 3D architectural spaces through 2D medium. No other medium has had the
power to present an exploration of real or virtual 3D architectural spaces as boundlessly as
film.
The versatile camera positions and the cinematography enables all kinds of angles and
perspectives that present a rich visual treat of architecture and enhances the virtual
experience. This rich representation of architecture through the medium of film stands as the
initial idea of commencing the study of architecture and film.
AlSayyad (2006, p. xii) suggests looking at the world of cinema and reality
simultaneously, in that, “Both real and reel become mutually constitutive to a point that
renders the study of one without the other incomplete or ill-informed.” Real being the reality,
and reel the screen. This research uses this statement as the basis in structuring the writing
1 Boake, Terry M. Architecture and Film: Experiential Realities and Dystopic Futures, 2005/2006.
http://www.architecture.uwaterloo.ca/faculty_projects/terri/pdf/boake_arch_film_colour.pdf (accessed February 17, 2013)
Arsitektur modern..., Rizka Fitri Ridayanti, FT UI, 2013
Le Corbusier‟s simple, functional, uniform manifestation of his architectural designs
are seen through his mechanical urban planning projects. He believed this would be the best
way to organize society to be efficient and effective along the lines of industrial production.
His practices left footprints which is related to the bottom line he aimed to achieve in the era
of modernism, that led to the modernism of the1950's and 1960's in Paris.
AlSayyad (2006) explains the situation of the mid-1950s in Paris in that there had not
been enough housing stock in Paris since the nineteenth century, and that the situation was
exacerbated by World War II. The influx of migrants, as a result of World War II, added to
the housing issues the government had been dealing with since the economic crisis in the
1930‟s. As economic recovery advanced in the 1950's, the city began to improve. The
government proposed large-scale apartment projects on the outskirts of the city, which were
influenced by the ideas of 1920's and 1930's of the garden city (AlSayyad, 2006). The French
government was in a state where it endorsed modernists and modernization through urban
renewal and industrialization.
According to Iain Borden (2002, p. 217), "This correlation of modernism and the state
was common in the 1950's and 1960's, and provides much of the context for the second of
Jacques Tati‟s films to feature his famous invention, Monsieur Hulot." Apparently, Jacques
Tati, too, as a filmmaker was concerned with housing issues and the urban 'transformation' of
Paris, which would then become the main reference behind the idea of the design of the
modern housing of Villa Arpel, in contrast to the old part of Paris in Mon Oncle (1958),
leading to Tativille as a modernist set in a city scale in Playtime (1967).
Arsitektur modern..., Rizka Fitri Ridayanti, FT UI, 2013
Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (Mr. Hulot's Holiday) in 1953 was Tati's first film
that introduced the character of Hulot. His second film to feature Hulot was Mon Oncle (My
Uncle) in 1958. Hulot‟s character represents a person who is in opposition with the world of
modernism and modern architecture where he is never seen to fit in.
In Mon Oncle he critiqued the mechanical and banal way of living in the modern
world, represented by the sterile, geometric, Cubist house in which Hulot's sister lives in,
contrasting it with the life in the old part of Paris where Hulot lived, untouched by modernist
culture. Playtime picks up where Mon Oncle left off and brings forth the same themes of
modernism and modern architecture, however we do not see any scenes taking place in the
'old Paris' at all. The themes in Playtime are emphasized by the presence of homogeneous
buildings and omnipresence of glass, concrete, and steel throughout the film.
Playtime was filmed from October 1964 to October 1976 with a 70 mm camera,
famous for the construction of the pseudo-city Tativille built solely for the film. The 70 mm
camera was used because Tati wanted to capture long shots to give time for the eyes to
wander and wanted every moment and movement to be clearly caught, which was also a
perfect format for capturing large panoramic views of architectural spaces.5
With everyone supposedly cast as stars, there are two main protagonists: Monsieur
Hulot and the American tourist Barbara. They act as the main agents in experiencing the
various spatial environments in the film. Starting off from the Orly airport in Paris, Hulot's
and Barbara's path crisscross throughout the film, where they eventually end up being in the
same group of people at a frenzied restaurant sequence, in which the restaurant scene acts as
the turning point of the rigidity of the series of movements and dullness of modern life in the
city of Tativille.
Tativille was built in 1964 on a vast wasteland outside of Paris near Vincennes. It was
a city of 162,000 sq ft that consumed 65,000 cubic yards of concrete, 42,300 sq ft of plastic,
342,000 sq ft of timber, and 12,600 sq ft of glass.6 It was conceived by Jacques Tati and
designed by Eugene Roman, a cinema town with big blocks of dwellings, buildings of steel
and glass, offices, tarmacked roads, and car parks.7 There were approximately 100 workers in
the 5-month construction of this city.8
5 Penz, Francois. Architecture in the Films of Jacques Tati. In: Penz, Francois, and Thomas, Maureen, Cinema and
Architecture. London: British Film Institure, 1997. 6 Borden, Iain. Playtime 'Tativille' and Paris. In: Leach, Neil, editor, The Hieroglyphics of Space: Reading and Experiencing
the Modern Metropolis, London ; New York: Routledge, 2002, p. 217 7http://www.tativille.com/uk/index.php?page=starter&anim=pt_playtime&width=800&height=600&titre=playtime (accessed
April 9, 2013) 8http://www.tativille.com/uk/index.php?page=starter&anim=pt_playtime&width=800&height=600&titre=playtime (accessed
April 9, 2013)
Arsitektur modern..., Rizka Fitri Ridayanti, FT UI, 2013
9 Borden, Iain. Playtime 'Tativille' and Paris. In: Leach, Neil, editor, The Hieroglyphics of Space: Reading and Experiencing
the Modern Metropolis, London ; New York: Routledge, 2002, p. 217 10 Alsayyad, Nezar. Cinematic Urbanism: A History of the Modern from Reel to Real. New York ; London: Routledge, 2006,
p. 110. 11 http://www.emporis.com/building/leverhouse-newyorkcity-ny-usa (accessed Apri 23, 2013)
Arsitektur modern..., Rizka Fitri Ridayanti, FT UI, 2013