case study parc de villette

8/18/2019 Case Study Parc de Villette

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Deconstructivism

and architecture


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Deconstructivism is a development of postmodern architecture that began in th1950s.It is inuenced by the theory of "Deconstruction", hich is a form of semiotic anIt is characteri!ed by fragmentation, an interest in manipulating a structures ss#in, non$rectilinear shapes hich appear to distort and dislocate elements of

architecture,such as structure and envelope. %he &nished visual appearance of buildings thadeconstructivist "styles" is characteri!ed by unpredictability and controlled cha

(y the early 19)0s it as clear that something ne ashappening. *ery di+erent architects, in very di+erent places, seemed tobe placing buildings and bits of buildings at odd angles so that theyclashed and even penetrated each other. %his #ind of or# includedor#s by ichard -eier, isenman, /aha adid and (ernard %schumi.

(ut as e ill see the movements origin is not to be found on2hilosophy alone, in fact only to architects admitted to having drantheir ideas from ritings such as Derridas and applying them inarchitecture3 (ernard %schumi and 2eter isenman 4the latter even

or#ed together ith Derrida on a proect6.


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(ernard

tschumi(ernard %schumi is a very good translator of Deconstruction

philosophy into architecture, or the one that best e'plains hisinterpretation of it. 7If in todays orld, he says, railay stationsbecome museums and churches become nightclubs, e must come toterms ith the e'traordinary interchangeability of form and function, theloss of traditional cause$and$e+ect relationships as sancti&ed bymodernism. 8orm does not follo function any more. If the respectivecontamination of all categories, the constant substitutions and theconfusion of genres are the ne directions of our times, it may ell beused to our advantage.


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:e &nd this in everyhere today, ith its multiple programs scatteredthroughout the oors of the high$rise buildings3 department$store,museum, health$club, railay$station, and putting$greens on the roofs.;nd e &nd this as ell on %schumis 2arc de la *illette. e devisedays of contaminating and displacing the categories in architecture, tobrea# any hierarchy beteen use and space, concept and e'perience,structure and super&cial image. %hese are3

CROSSPROGRAMMING3


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%he largest demonstration of "Deconstruction" at or# inarchitecture is certainly (ernard %schumis 2arc de la *illette419)A$19)B6.

%he programme for Ca *illette as comple' indeed. It had toinclude or#shop, gymnasium and bath facilities, playgrounds, placesfor e'hibitions, concerts, scienti&c e'periments, games and

competitions. ;lready on site ere the 19th$century cast$iron$and$glassrande alle, 8ainsilbers -useum of >cience and Industry ith a ne=ity of -usic also to be built. %schumi reected the traditional conceptof "composition" li#e an inspired architectural gesture. e reected7complement as ell3 to ta#e hat e'ists and &ll in the gaps, completethe te't, complement hat is there already. e sa this as restrictive,imposing limits, too traditional. e didnt e'plore the "palimpsest"either. ;s there as no guarantee that it ould ever be reali!ed, hoever

as appointed chief architect ould have to improvise during theprocess according to economic and ideological changes, so this ould beeasier if improvisation itself ere the basis of the concept. ence

%schumi, reinforced by recent developments in philosophy, art andliterature, gave a strong conceptual frameor# to the par#, containingithin itself multiple "combinations and substitutions."


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%hus the programme can be in constant change, according toneed, one part substituted for another, and so on. Ene of the folliesindeed as changed from restaurant to gardening center to artsor#shopF these changes could be accommodated easily, hilst the par#as a hole retained its overall identity.

%schumi, moreover, acted on 7a strategy of di+erence. If other

designers ere to contribute to his par# then it ould be a "condition" of their contribution that their proects di+er from his 8olies or brea# thecontinuity of his cinematic promenade. %schumi aimed, therefore, topresent 7an organi!ing structure that could e'ist independent of use, astructure ithout centre or hierarchy 4hence the grid6, a structure thatould negate the simplistic assumption of casual relationship beteen aprogramme and the resulting architecture. ; clear statement of "deconstructionist" programming. ; grid by its nature resists any sense

of hierarchy or stamp of individual author3 It is anonymous. %he grid of points 4a folie mar#s each point6 is only one of threesystems. %here are systems of lines and surfaces too3 7ach represents adi+erent and autonomous system 4a te't6, hose superimposition onanother ma#es impossible any "composition", maintaining di+erencesand refusing ascendancy of any privileged system or organi!ingelement.


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%he superimposition of one system over the other ends byerasing any trace of the architect control, in fact, the =ompetitionconditions re@uired that other designers be involved, and their or#ould only be successful only in so far "as they inect discordant notesinto the system, hence reinforcing a speci&c part of the 2ar# theory".

%his heterogeneity is aimed at disrupting the smooth coherence

and resulting stability of classical composition. Instead of conventional"composition" %schumi presents "montage" at Ca *illette, hich of course had been developed as part of &lm editing. %he addition of systems, each ith its on internal coherence, produces a result hich isby no means coherent. >o Ca *illette points to ne social and historicalconditions, as a built "reality", it is disperse and di+erentiated, hich,for %schumi, mar#s an end to "the utopias of unity". :hats more heignored the conte't, subverted any notion of border to his site, so the

2arc de Ca *illette is @uite unrelated to its surroundings. %schumireects absolutely the idea that his 2arc should e'press in any ay some"pre$e'isting" content of some #ind be it "subective, formal orfunctional >o, overall, there is3 "conict over synthesis, fragmentationover unity, madness and play over careful management.7Deconstruction for %schumi ta#es in consideration todays social,political and cultural dissociations, in place of the -odern -ovementsnostalgic pursuit of coherence.

case study parc de villette

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