Zaha Hadid: Randomness Vs Arbitrariness [PDF]

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Articulation The Manhattan Transcripts are not a random accumulation of events; they display a particular organizat ion . Their chief characteristics is the sequence, a composite succession of frame s that confronts space s, movement s and eve nts, eac h with its own combinative structure and inherent se t of rules ... Transformation The Transcripts' sequence s are intensified th rough the use of devices, or rules of transformation, such as compression, insertion , tra nsference, etc .. . Combination By going beyond the conventional definition of 'function', the Transc ripts use their combined level s of inve stigation to address the notion of the program - a field architectura l ideolo gies have bani shed for decade s - and to exp lore unlikely confro ntations ... Page omitted here Deconstruction Despite the abstraction of their device s, the Transcripts generally pre suppo se a reality already in ex istence, a reality waiting to be deconstructed - and eventua lly transformed. They isolate, frame , 'take ' elements from the city. (Yet the role of the Transcript s is never to represent ; they are not mimetic.) ... Sensations If the programs used for The Manahattan Transcrip ts are of the most extreme nature it is to underline the fact that perhaps all architecture , rather than being about functional standard s, is about love and death ... (pp 19-28) Extracts. Source: Bernard Tschumi, The Manhattan Transcripts,Academy Editions (London), 1994. © Bernard T schumi and Academy Editions.



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1982



ZAHA HADID Randomness vs Arbitrariness A student at the ArchitecturalAssociationin the early I 970s, Zaha Hadid (b I 950, Baghdad,Iraq) went on to become a unit master from 1977 to I 987 as well as a member of OMA (Office of Metro-



politanArchitecture)for several years. Randomn ess: To most people there is no apparent difference either conceptu ally or vis ually between randomness and arbitrariness. It is difficult to demon strate this basic difference scientifically. Treated as a mathematica l formu la, it beco mes even more abstract, although the prin ciple of distinguishing between the two is the ability to ana lyse the conceptual d ifference through abstract ion. Randomne ss in architect ure is a visual tran slation of pure math ematical orde r and th inking which is guided by logic, wherea s arbitrarine ss has no underlying conceptua l logic - randomness is not to do with pure formalism - to demon strate all the different aspect s. It is necessary to use symbols like tho se of a mathematical equation - which is again obscure. So what are we saying? Aren ' t we ju st trying to ju stify our act ion s? No. So Explain. Arbitrariness: Thi s is diffi cult. It has always bee n a problem trying to translate becau se the field of ' explanation' is limited, the forces at play are not necessa rily tho se of conventional earthly natu re; it's neither spiritual nor cosmic nor religious. It is impo ss ible to summ ari se the implication s of the writings and manifes toes of Malevich , and the merits of his writing are not paralle l to those of his painting s. This has to do with the inabi lity to trans late. He had then to resort to meta phy sical and spiritual concepts to make the work comprehensible: he dressed it in a language wh ich wa s fami liar. Arb itrarine ss ha s to do with a generation which has been brought up on shopping for idea s. A cata logue exi sts from which they freely co py anythin g and appl y it with litt le rele vance to any sit uatio n. But in architecture our respon sibiliti es are far greater: we mu st create new dynami cs of arch itecture in which the land is part iall y occ upied. We must und ers tand the basic principle s of liberati on. Source: AA Files:Annals of the ArchitecturalAssociation of Architecture, No 2, July 1982. © Zaha Hadid and the Architectura l Associatio n.



2 78 Theories and Manifestoes



New Modern



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