top of page
1907group1no3

THE MANHATTAN TRANSCRIPT.

Updated: Aug 6, 2019

📷 Ever wondered about the hidden dilemma in Architecture world? Architecture is a field of ever changing matters where ideas and concerns evolve overtime. Yet, the non-changing conflict with this evolvement is whether architecture is objective or subjective. It is that the winning argument is that architecture can be both objective and subjective; Architecture is about material and immaterial, about the form and the action of a given form. The Manhattan Transcripts differ from the most architectural drawings insofar as they are neither real projects nor more fantasies.The Manhattan provides different readings of architecture by which his movements are all independent.

       The Manhattan Transcripts are a group of visuals done by the architect Bernard Tschumi between the years 1976 – 1981. In these visual projects Tschumi made the significant attempt of integrating both the architectural spaces and their uses to manifest –from his perspective- a valuable architectural design. The allegory that Tschumi himself used was the integration between the set of a play or a movie and its own script which creates an improved work of art. It is very apparent that Tschumi was influenced by the idea of visual arts that rely on physical forms, and not just the functionality of the designs; he had 8 basic standards for his outlook on a design, which I will discuss in this paper and how they could be seen in the bus stops site visit that we reviewed. ​

📷Sketch for one of the bus stops on site.  In Tschumi’s point of view regarding classification, the three elements of a design which are space (the setting), movement (the human factor) and the events that will ultimately happen are all independent of each other. However, these three factors are supposed to connect with each other whenever a state of one of them changes; resulting in a change of the usage of the design itself. This is demonstrated in a bus station when a bus arrives, it changes the setting and the movement rate, when the people in the bus are getting down to the bus station and when those in the bus station try to get on the bus. This forms momentum in setting itself, which is different from that when the people are idle waiting for the bus to arrive.        In the transcripts the relation between the three aforementioned dimensions form the architectural experience itself. However, the success of this relationship is not built on overcoming the negations between these dimensions, but rather built on the embracing of these contradictions. In the example of the bus stations.Articulation,Can be defined as the demonstration of the order of events that happen, and the cause and effect relationship between the events. Showcased in the bus stations by understanding that the buses’ movement is central to all that happens in a bus station. The bus arrives, causing the people in the station to start moving from their seats, and the people try to get ready for the arrival before it happens because of the stopwatch that they observe. This cause-effect relationship needs to be placed in the architect’s mind when creating a sketch of a bus station. The sequence or cause-effect relationship between the “frames” in a design, and the efficient transition between those frames usually happens through the implementation of rules, or specific tools. In a bus station these rules usually start being implemented when the bus repetitively stops to drop off and picks up people on daily base so that indicates some sort of arranged sequence

       Manhattan considers sensation as one of his basic standard.It is a standard we can truly feelwherever and whenever we are at some sort of place.I personally experienced that through my visit to the bus stops.When you can smell the smell of local cuisine around the area while you are waiting for the bus at which makes you feel homesick or reminds you of a specific memory that you shared with a family member or a friend of yours,unrecognizable noises coming up from different directions for instance (passing by cars,loud random people's conversations,Crying baby and so on. places makes you feel lost and destructed. Those are all intangible feelings anyone could go through while waiting for his bus to come and pick him/her up.sensation is one of the important points that the writer claimed about"that the most extreme nature it is to underline the fact that perhaps all the architectural,rather than being functional standards".As said architecture is not only about buildings and forms its also about feelings.Such feelings that the writer mentioned about that love and death are feelings that are similar that you could feel in the bus stop. 📷Images of people waiting at the bus stop showing two opposite modes of them. proving the sensational effect of waiting at the bus stop.📷

    Furthermore, The integrated two basic standards which are the combination and the notations,for instance the bus stop wasn't planned to be a bus stop.It was an opened space but some sort of regulations and terms turned this opened place to be functional as bus stop.However,the landcould have been used in another form or function.The notation is the event which formed the spaces by assisting the idea of having the bus stop at this area.

📷      Last but not least, The transformation,I'll explain this point through a group work assignment that we made during class and that will give a virtual vision to be easier in understanding the Manhattan Transcript. As you see in the figure below,it shows that the books shelves was perfectly arranged in the first shelf and then it goes in a total mess by changing the arrangement of the books by changing their positions in the second book shelve,adding some extra tools that weren't there at the first shelve that indicates the compression by adding a lot of books next to one another,the add of extra tools show the insertion of extra ideas.The transference is showed here by changing the location of the books and the other material.Finally,the last shelve,presents the final ideal arrangement after many trial of changing the form and the function.

      To sum up, Architecture is a matter of space quality and human activity in this space and how one responds towards the space. How invisible elements may affect us equal to light reflecting a shadow that we can see but not touch. It is how certain substances trigger our emotions. The object or form does not stand alone. It can only make sense along with the tangible elements.

SALMA ABUBAKR - 1001645662.

21 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Kommentare


Post: Blog2_Post
bottom of page