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EPISODE AS A UNIT OF ANALYSISOF MOVEMENT

Seppo AuraTampere University of TechnologyDepartment of Architecture

Everybody who has read his Gordon Cullen or his EdmundH. Bacon knows that movement has long been recog-nized as a factor in environmental planning in manyways. For example, in the traditional Japanese prom-enade garden the importance of movement has alwaysbeen appreciated. The promenader gains an intense expe-rience of the succession, variation and rhythm of thesurrounding scene. The spaces and paths lead him fromone stage to another.

The spatial structure of the Japanese promenadegarden, as well as of traditional Japanese architecture ingeneral, is joined most intensively to time and motion.The environment is in relation to the flow of change inmany sense, both concretely and existentially.

Taking an example of western urban environment.Here perhaps the most marked sequential spaces are to befound in small medieval, mediterranean towns. Thanksto their organic growth, narrow and winding streets and

Figure 1A streetscape from oldRauma, in Finland.

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the emphasis on public squares, most of them provideexciting experiences if the observer is only interested inseeing the townscape from the point of view of move-ment. There are also examples of this kind of environ-ment in Finland. In old wooden towns like Porvoo andRauma one can still find varied and rhythmic streetscapesand networks of streets and squares, together with ahuman scale and an almost timeless atmosphere.

One could say that such an opportunity to experiencespaces sequentially, or as serial visions, is an importantdimension for us, especially as pedestrians. And as GordonCullen has shown there is in any urban environment muchscope to heighten this experience. For example, by creat-ing a sense of ’entering in’ some place, ’leaving for’,’moving towards’, ’turning into’, ’walking through’ someplace or ’following on’ the flow of spaces.

Or, as Edmund H. Bacon has said, the departure pointof good town planning should be that the successivetowns spaces give rise to a flow of harmonic experiences:present experiences merge with earlier ones and becomea step towards a future. Or, again in the words of DonaldAppleyard, Kevin Lynch and John R. Myer: “The expe-rience of a city is basically of a moving view, and this isthe view we must understand if we wish to reform thelook of our cities”.

THE SENSITIVITY TO MOVEMENT

One could maintain that at the beginning of this centurymany artists and architects were more aware of thisdynamic dimension than others before or after them. Weneed only recall the cubists who were not content toconstruct scenes from a constant, fixed point according tothe rules of perspective. Instead they ’turned around’ theobjects and showed them from different angles simulta-neously, none of which was more predominant that theother. Thus they attempted to capture the inner essence ofthe objects and the temporal duration of the experience.In this way the cubists tried to add the fourth dimension,time, to the three dimensions of the Renaissance.

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The cubists clearly exploded the traditional conceptsof spaces and form. A feeling of movement or change wascreated and the perception of it required inner activityalso on the part of the spectator.

These views of the cubists were soon also adopted inmodern architecture. The ’space-time phenomenon’,which in a Cubist painting was created by the presence ofdifferent spatial elements, was created in architecture bythe spectator moving himself in the spatial environment,which changes according to the movement. It is as thoughthe open plans, connections between inner and outerspaces, and fluidity of spaces in modern architecture freeand imply movement. The spatial world is created in themind of the mover; time is a central factor in experience.

This spirit of Cubism can be seen for example in LeCorbusier’s architecture as spatial stratification along thedepth of axis. The principle is most evident in his designsfor Villa à Garches and Villa Savoie. In form, both areabstract space cubes in which different geometrical ele-ments are freely arranged in relation to each other. Thedifferent elements of motion, such as ramp, spiral en-trance and two-storey space lead one inside the building.All elements are combined into a close composition, bya collagist approach, and conceal one another. When onewanders through such a building, one sees a series ofelements which, as they are partly concealed, create atension between them.

Among others László Moholy-Nagy spoke of ’visionin motion’. He noted that arhitecture had developed froma closed space into the modern building in which theinterior space is connected with the exterior and the spaceis thought of as flowing. ’Vision in motion’ meant forMoholy-Nagy the rejection of the fixed viewpoint andwith the emphasis on a field within which the relations ofthe phenomena are constantly changing: “...it is to graspphenomena simultaneously: to see, feel and think of themin mutual relations and not as separate units; it is to seeduring motion; it is synonymy to simultaneousness andspace-time which refer to a new dimension”.

A similar view was realised, for example, in the

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architecture of Alvar Aalto. Among other things it wascharateristic for him to bring exterior space partly insidea building and thus to emphasize the flow of spaces. In hisearly works he achieved this by using the walls of anentrance-hall which were facade-like and which intro-duced an atmosphere of exterior into the hall. In his laterworks the exterior and interior are connected by a free-form joining zone.

Important in this connection is the architecture of FrankLloyd Wright and especially his Fallingwater. One of thefundamental principles in its design was the intimaterelationship with its site. Secondly, Wright saw that themutual relationships of the parts of the building and theirrelationships with the whole should not appear fixed.They had to have something of the flexibility and formchange of plant growth. Both these principles - roots inthe ground and free growth - gave rise to a building whichis very dynamic and which can be experienced onlythrough motion. This building cannot be grasped as awhole from only one viewpoint. As Norris Kelly Smithhas described: “The wholeness unfolds gradually as onewalks around and about and through the building, discove-ring new vistas, new rhythmic patterns, and new phrase-like groupings of its innumerable parts, all of which havethe same simple and noncommittal uniformity of indi-vidual notes of music. It is especially in the quality of this

Figure 2The wholeness unfoldsgradually when onewalks through theFallingwater.

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temporal experience, coupled with the openness andapparent extensibility of the house, that the idea ofgrowth and change comes. The experience is dynamic.”

Later, in the 1960’s and 1970’s this dynamic dimen-sion of time and motion was, however, neglected by theexponents of technical-economic values resulting inmonotonous built environments. And although the con-cept of time is revived with the increasing interest inpreserving old buildings, and although many post-mod-ern architects have endevoured to introduce traditionalarchitectural forms, nevertheless, there is still a lack ofconsciousness of time in the form of ’vision of motion’ inpresent-day architecture and urban planning. Similarly,there is still no architectural policy for embodying anaesthetic, social and psychic content of the built environ-ment in general.

THE CHALLENGES AND TECHNICALEQUIPMENT

Today such neglect presents architecture with challengeof reevaluating the importance of the vision in motion,the serial visions and the fourth dimension. And now,partly because of highly sophisticated technical equip-ment like the endoscope and the environmental simula-tor, we do have better technical opportunities than ever todeal with this dimension. Briefly stated, this equipmentenables us to study the dimension of motion more easily,more concretely and more analytically than ever before– and even at the earliest stages of planning.

On the basis of our experience here in the Departmentof Arhitecture, planning which employs the environmen-tal simulator as a tool has clearly created new ideas onplanning. This is nowhere more evident than in ourstudents’ exercises. The elements of environment, suchas spaces, facades, masses and details are no longer seensimply as separate units; instead these elements areassessed in relation to the experience of movement.

This change in thinking can be better seen if wecompare the student-exercises done before and after thesimulator was introduced here. Earlier, before we had the

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simulator in use, the massed forms were quite static innature. A typical residential area planned by the studentscontained static, closed inner yards and separate groupsof buildings. The circulation system was often superim-posed after the siting of buildings and landmarks weredistributed according to overall aesthetic pictorial ar-rangements.

However, after the introduction of the simulator stu-dents soon learned to see the planning area in a new light.

Figure 3The entry portals,rhythmic breaks, buildingforms, landmarks andplanted elements servethe purpose of improvingthe experience of motion.

Episode Map byHenri Palmqvist

episode

episodic view

view

spatiallyindependentepisode

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This is now considered from the vantage point of the manin the street who is walking around the area. There is nowgreater emphasis, for example, on the point of arrival inthe area. Consequently, new elements are introduced,such as entry portals and various kinds of gate themes.There is also an obvious attempt to provide the experi-ence of moving through the environment with rhythmicbreaks. Building forms, together with planted elements,give direction to motion. Landmarks now serve thepurpose of improving the experience of motion.

The use of the simulator has clearly enabled thestudents to see planning no longer simply in terms of abird’s-eye perspective but in terms of adjusted eye-levelvistas and with impressions of movement at street level.

THE NEED OF A THEORY

In addition to technical equipment, however, we alsoneed new basic concepts and guiding theoretical princi-ples by which to analyse the dimension of motion.

Neither the historical examples of dynamic urbanplanning and architecture nor the technical equipmentare sufficient in themselves. Along with them we must beable to analyse, for example, what is common to thosedifferent sequences of spaces which promote the feelingof well-being. We must be able to generalize about thequalities which make one sequence of movement moreinteresting than another. We must be able to define whatkind of dimension we are, in fact, striving for by the useof the endoscope and the simulator. What is the essenceof the psychic experience of time and motion? What arethe potentialities of this dimension to which we could paymore attention in future.

These were the questions I posed with professorHelmer Stenros after some years of technical experiencewith the simulator. We became increasingly interested ina theoretical sense of what is really meant by ’time’ and’motion’ in architecture. As a result we started gatheringmaterial on this subject. This was done mainly on thebasis of the existing literature from different areas, such

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as the psychology of time, social psychology, environ-mental and ecological psychology, and to some extentfrom philosophy and the history of architecture.

These studies led us to wrote, in collaboration, ourbook “Time, Motion and Architecture” in 1987 and twoyears later I published, in Finnish, my dissertation “Episodiliikkumisen analyysiyksikkönä” (Episode as a unit of theanalysis of movement).

THE THEORY OF EPISODE

On the basis of our investigation we have, for example,attempted to answer the question of what is common todifferent interesting sequences of spaces. We maintainthat most of them can be characterized as solid, integratedepisodes of movement. They have their beginning, theirinternal development, and their end. One space flows intoanother through movement, developing further the recip-rocal effect of time and space.

At best one could compare the experience of thesequences of movement with musical composition. Whenwe listen to a piece of music we do not hear separate notesbut rather melodies or tensions between the tones. Whatwe have listened to is then recorded in our memory andthis, in turn, determines how we expect the followingtones to sound. In music the separate tones are not inthemselves significant but more their collective inter-play. In other words, those sounds we are listening to inthe present also include elements of the past and what isto follow. In addition there are many main- andsubconstructions within a compositional work as VictorZuckerkandl, in particular, has shown in his theory ofmusic.

In the same way in an architectonic spatial environ-ment there can be temporal tensions, rhythm, expecta-tions and interpenetrations of the past, present and future.

At best there can exist integrated sequences and main-and subconstructions, which the mover can experience assolid ’episodes of movement’.

Figure 4The experience of thesequences of movementcan be compared withmusical composition.

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THE TERM ’EPISODE’

What do we mean exactly by the term ’episode’ in thiscontext? We have borrowed it from Elliot Jaques, amongothers, who has suggested that the human being exists intwo temporal dimensions: on the chronological axis oftime and on the temporal axis of intention.

Chronological time enables us to locate events inrelation to time. At the intentional level of time we aregoal-directed; for example, we determine a course ofaction or set out to achieve something. Simultaneouslyour present thoughts are intersecting with memories orimages of similiar earlier situations, and with forthcom-ing expectations.

It is in this connection Jaques uses the term ’episode’. Heuses it to refer to the interval between setting a goal andits achievement. According to him all human life can beseen as consisting of time episodes. Each individual issimultaneously bound to several episodes, some shorter,some longer, varying from one hour to many months. Thelonger episodes overlap each other and also the shorterones. Thus several episodes advance in parallel at a

Figure 6All human life can beseen as consisting of timeepisodes (Jaques 1982).

Figure 5Episode is constructed onthe temporal axis ofintension, and it refers tothe interval betweensetting a goal and itsachievement.

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specific moment. Jaques goes on to state that “it isimportant that we have strong contact with our intuitivefeeling of episodic movement, because without it we losethe meaning of our emotions and contact with ourintensions, wishes and desires, which make these humanepisodes human”.

The term episode is also employed in the socialpsychological theory of R. Harré and P.F. Secord, and inthe theory of Joseph P. Forgas. Furthermore, it has beenused in ecological psychology by Roger Barker since the1950’s. Barker refers to behavioral episodes with corre-sponding behavioral settings.

Thus, we speculated, if the episode is a central con-cept in describing our psychological and social life, whycould it not also be succesfully adopted to the analysis ofmovement from place to place. In other words, whetherone is tuning oneself into a musical composition, takingpart in some event or moving from place to place, one ismost likely mentally constructing in advance what is tocome – more or less consciously. And in the case ofphysical movement it is of advantage if there is someawaited presence in the environment of movement; ifthere is something which extends the movement forwardor devides it into periods.

It is also in this way that an architect can support theinner process of the mover. At best the successiveness ofspaces can be an interesting, ’dramatic’ event full ofanticipation; allowing the mover to recall the spaces hehas encountered so he can reconstruct the image of thewhole episode of movement in his mind. A succesfulenvironment thus affords many oppurtunities to con-struct these kinds of episodes of movement. It is in suchsurroundings that people are most likely to become moreaware of this aspect of their built environment and thusmore eager to experience the serial visions.

THE DEMANDS FOR ENVIRONMENTALPLANNING

After adopting the concept of episode we began to thinkabout architecture and environmental planning in a dif-

Figures 7a and 7bWhen one is moving fromplace to place, one ismentally constructing inadvance what is to come.

m p g

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ferent way. One of the ideas most central to our thinkingwas that the basic unit of planning the environment formoving cannot simply be a separate space as such.Instead the architect has to project himself into theepisode of movement as a whole and to the psychologicalexperience of it. He has to recognize the episode inholistic terms with its beginning, internal tensions, tem-poral rhythms and its end. As a basic unit the episode ofmovement should be seen as a single dynamic entity.Spaces should not be planned separately space by spacebut rather through the interpenetration of them.

Finally, I would like to give two concrete examples ofexisting episodes of movement. One of these, a Finnishexample, is the Esplanade in Helsinki which forms a linkbetween two important centres: the Swedish Theatre andthe Market Square. These centres are not so far apart, ashort stroll in fact, and more spatial interest is added bythe various elements situated along the pedestrian route:the fountain, the rows of trees, the statues, the restaurantbuilding and the richly decorated neoclassical facades ofthe adjacent buildings. There is much to enjoy duringmotion in the boulevard itself. In addition the MarketSquare area near the waterside, a busy centre in itself,provides powerful motivation to the walker.

The other example is Puutarhakatu in Tampere. It isa street with all the potential to become a good episodicalstructure. Unfortunately, however, it has not been uti-lized as an east – west directional pedestrian street.

It would be out of the question to change Hämeenkatu,the main street into pedestrian precinct but Puutarhakatucould well serve as the next potential route. It has twomarket squares at either end and it passes the Art Mu-seum, the Swimming Hall, the City Library and the TownOffice Building. Further along it extends through theCentral Square and the old factory area; then it crosess thewaterfall, continues through an alley which at presentserves only as a parking place, and ends in the mostbustling market square of the town.

Why are such spatial potentialities as these not real-ized? Firstly, because the car still dictates our ideas on

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Figure 8Esplanade in Helsinki,Finland.

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urban planning, and many shopkeepers also are afraid ofthat restrictions on traffic will mean a loss of customers.

Secondly, we are not yet ready nor trained to see ourenvironment in terms of motion: as serial visions or as asuccession of spaces. We are not yet able to appreciate theexperience of motion as one important dimension whichcould have a positive impact on our urban life. In short,we cannot yet distinguish, analysize and stregthen theepisodes of movement which potentially already exist inour environment.

Even though the creation of new pedestrian precinctsis gradually increasing in Finland, their planners are toooften satisfied with only restricting vehicular trafficbetween a couple of cross. However, it would be amistake to think that when a street is pedestrianised in thisway that it would automatically promote freedom ofmotion. In fact, such changes only serve to remove thedrawbacks of traffic without necessarily introducingother improvements in terms of motion.

Such planning does little to promote to the psychicprocesses of pedestrians. It lacks sensitivity for the crea-tion of tensions, interpenetrating and temporal rhythminto the streetspace, for example, by adding elements thatlimit or detract from the streetscape.

In brief, we too seldom consider the continuousnetworks of pedestrian routes and sequences of spaces asinteresting spatial events.

REFERENCES

Appleyard, Donald - Lynch, Kevin - Myer, John R.: TheView from the Road. The MIT Press, Cambridge1964.

Aura, Seppo: Episodi liikkumisen analyysiyksikkönä.Tampereen teknillinen korkeakoulu, julkaisuja 58.Tampere 1989 (only in Finnish).

Bacon, Edmund H.: Design of Cities. Thames and Hud-son, London 1967.

Cullen, Gordon: The Concise Townscape. The Architec-tural Press, London 1973.

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Forgas, Joseph P.: Social Episodes. Academic Press,London 1979.

Jaques, Elliot: The Form of Time. Crane Russak, NewYork; Heineman, London 1982.

Moholy-Nagy, L.: Vision in Motion. Paul Theobald andCompany, Chicago 1961.

Smith, Norris Kelly: Frank Lloyd Wright. A Study inArchitectural Content. American Life Foundation &Study Institute 1979.

Stenros, Helmer - Aura, Seppo: Time, Motion and Archi-tecture. Weilin+Göös, Espoo 1987.

Zuckerkandl, Victor: Sound and Symbol. Pantheon Books,Bolling Series, New York 1956.