Existence And 2.5-Dimensional Perceptions In Architecture

This dissertation starts with the question of what is an excellent architectural concept,based on Peter Eisenman's formal basis of modern architecture,the semiotic system of Roland Barthes,and the phenomenological trend of thoughts acting on architecture,and raises a deep discussion on the existence of architecture and the creation of architectural form.Architecture,if it is considered as a type of immaterial existence,and thus,the concept of architecture,can be regarded as a way of thinking and thoughts beyond materiality.In addition to the necessary quantitative conditions of buildings,an excellent concept must have other extraordinary capacities,with the capabilities of obtaining the deep mechanisms based on the abstract forms and expression systems.For instance,a good concept may have perceptual consciousness,while having the universality of discussion,and by making experience directly act on the form.This type of experience not only refers to the opinions of the representational world,but also includes the phenomenological experience and memory.Moreover,it can naturalize complex concepts such as culture and history through the transformational mechanism and interweaving system similar to the semiotics of“implication”.A good concept does not have to occur in a strict or singular space or time,but can happen in parallel space-time dimensions,forming a logical order of two or more worlds.Seemingly contradictory juxtaposition of dimensions,or the co-existence of virtue and reality,can just be a kind of conscious existence.A good concept can also be situated between volume and non-volume,two-dimensional planes and three-dimensional perspectives,visible and invisible,even defined and undefined,with a thread of suggestive power,and can transform such so-called“weak boundary conditions”into a deep explanatory ability.Furthermore,a good concept can also be an inspiring method,correlating multi-elements,not only within the formal language of architecture;both also surpasses the simple art of structure,and becomes an art of the construction of concepts.If architecture is to contain such open conceptual elements,we shall first establish an even more flexible context for discussion.Based on the sequence of academic experiments in the School of Architecture at China Academy of Arts,and the very personal experiences from Xiangshan Campus and Ningbo Museum by Wang Shu,this dissertation applies a sequential and constructive method to analysis and discusses the behavior,memory,consciousness,parallax,emotion and other aspects of architectural experiences.In discussing painting,sculpture,garden,drama,film,with the structural language of arts,this dissertation tries to define the vulnerability of boundary,and its further abilities for formal operation.In particular,the analogy of Chinese landscape painting,Chinese opera and Oriental film,emphasizes the real structure that belongs to the natural narrative.It is not Naturalism to be said here,but a structural nature,that is presented as the natural consciousness under the strict logical order.The two-dimensional abstraction discussed here is also not an abstraction of structuralism,but(co)exists with a minor reference to the phenomenal transparency of Colin Rowe.Yet it is not only limited to the Western Cubism work,but also as an abstraction of extraordinary capacity presented by Chinese landscape painting,which is a super power acting upon two-and-a-half dimensions.As when form can be separated from function,history can be naturally transformed into the world of memory,and thus architecture can exist.This dissertation discusses the existence of architecture and the mechanism of architectural concept,by analyzing three fundamental attributes of the space-time dimension:Blur of Boundary,Fragmentation,Simultaneity.It also argues for a double world order that the spacetime dimension and the event dimension co-exist in parallel,and under which the disintegration of meaning and the destruction of narrative can occur,and thus,reaching an emptiness as destiny.In addition,this dissertation applies the word of“2.5D”,which implicates the vulnerable interface between the two-dimensional parallel state and the three-dimensional form,as well as an unsteady thinking state as the half dimension implies.With the so-called 2.5-dimensional perceptions of architecture,this dissertation is hoping to put forward new possibilities for constructing a world of better and richer experiences,and expects such possibilities can play a continuous role in the building of natural forms for the current China.