Twenty Years After (Deconstructivism)

                Twenty Years After (Deconstructivism)
                 An Interview with Bernard Tschumi 

Michele Costanzo interviews Bernard Tschumi about his work and his vision of the changing field of contemporary
design research. How do the younger generation of students receive Tschumi's seminal theoretical works? Is a lack
of time merely the current scapegoat for a more considered conceptual approach? How does Tschumi view the
proliferation of architectural fetishes in the urban landscape? How is his own theoretical landscape shifting?



In the early 1990s, there was a significant schism in In 1983 when Tschumi won the competition to design the 50architecture.
This was triggered in the recently globalised hectare (125-acre) Parc de la Villette in Paris, he entered the world of
world of design by a simultaneous crisis in theoretical professional practice and started to build a series of highly iconic
thought and a growing shift towards the formal. As the projects, pervaded by a profound theoretical investigation. His ties with
preoccupation with form developed through the decade it academia, however, remained strong, and in 1988 he was appointed
concurred with a burgeoning international economy, Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and
which paved the way for the exponential rise of the Preservation at Columbia University in New York. His 15-year term at
signature architect. Elevated by the association with the Columbia testifies to his efforts in the field of education, an activity
gilded world of the global brand, the architectural doyen that provided him with a great deal of stimulation and an important
inevitably became separated from the spatial concerns of outlet for his ongoing speculative, intellectual reflections on the
the city. However, with the current economic slowdown making of architecture.
and an acute growing awareness of wider issues, such as Between 2001 and 2002, the drawings from The Manhattan
the imminent shortage of water, food and energy as well Transcripts were included in a significant retrospective exhibition that
as climate change, the reconsideration of the architect as travelled to four US cities. Curated by Jeff Kipnis, ‘Perfect Acts of
merely a marketing instrument or branding package has Architecture’ displayed the graphic work that Peter Eisenman, Rem
become pressing. It is now time to re-evaluate how the Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis, Daniel Libeskind, Thom Mayne and
architect might become an operative figure in the world of Tschumi all produced in a 10-year time period – from 1972 to 1982.2
aesthetics while being attentive to social and urban Paper architecture, Kipnis notes, can have a role in the history of
objectives. architecture provided that it is innovative and if its main purpose is the
The fact that Bernard Tschumi is both a theoretician drawing in itself.3 In other words, it must suggest new research trends
and a designer is key to understanding his distinctive and have an objective value. Work was selected from that particular era
approach to architecture. After completing his degree at in order to consider these points by highlighting their internal values.
the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, However, although supported by a profound theoretical content, they
Tschumi moved to London in 1970 to teach at the all subsume the historical momentum in which they were produced. By
Architectural Association (AA) under the directorship of encapsulating the social context and the economic transformations
Alvin Boyarsky. In 1976 he moved to the US where he typical of their time, they stress their affiliation to a period of great
taught at the Institute for Architecture and Urban communication changes. This incontrovertibly led to the profusion of
Studies, founded by Peter Eisenman, and the University computer-aided design with its almost inexhaustible potential.
of Princeton, before taking up a position as a visiting In his selection of the six projects for the exhibition, Kipnis captures
professor at Cooper Union in New York in the early 1980s. a renewed confidence.4 There is a strong sense that the featured
In the late 1970s, Tschumi began to focus on architects are poised to pass on something important to ensuing
identifying a different and more direct relationship with generations. In a similar way that it was apparent in other cultural and
architecture through a series of drawings known as The artistic forms at the time, such as cinema and rock music (think of
Screenplays (1977), in which he used collages of images 2001: A Space Odyssey from Stanley Kubrick, or Electric Lady Land
from film noir to experiment with the technique of from Jimi Hendrix).
cinematic editing and montage. This research was
expanded in The Manhattan Transcripts (1981) with its Transcending History and ‘Concept-Form’
three simultaneous levels of reality:1 the event Interviewing Tschumi provided the unique opportunity to ask him
(represented by documentary-style news photography); whether he shares Kipnis’ interpretations of the featured projects. Does
movement (re-created by diagrams of movements from he think that The Manhattan Transcripts continue to have a theoretical
choreography and sport); and space (explored through value to emerging generations, providing a catalyst for new ideas?
photography, and building and site plans). This effectively ‘While the mode of communication and the general sensibility of
placed the architectural experience in close proximity on The Manhattan Transcripts clearly belong to the period, the issues they
three different levels. explore always had the ambition to transcend the historical conditions

Bernard Tschumi, Concert Hall and Exhibition Centre, Rouen, France, 2001

This cultural complex is located at the gateway to Rouen, close to the National Route 138. The concert
hall plays host to various musical and sporting events, and the new exhibition centre accommodates
large conventions and trade fairs. The concept involves two envelopes, with a large ‘in-between’ area
which, animated by the various routes to the hall itself, becomes one of the project’s key spaces.


Bernard Tschumi, Blue Residential Tower, Manhattan, New York, 2007

This 17-storey residential and commercial tower in the Lower East Side of Manhattan includes 32 apartments.
The strategy was to create a highly specific architectural statement that responds to the eclecticism of the historic
neighbourhood. Its original, pixellated profile is a new presence in the Manhattan urbanscape.

of their time. My interest at that time (as well as today) conceptual design. Is this, however, now a justifiable scapegoat for the
was to try to contribute to – or potentially alter – the loss of any conceptual approach to design?
generally accepted definition of what architecture is. ‘There have always been periods of conception and periods of
Hence issues of movement and event, together with their consumption. This is due to economic or social forces way beyond the
mode of notation, were first of all an investigation into the control of architects. I would say that, as opposed to the1970s, the
nature of architecture. early 21st century is characterised by a faster cycle of production and
‘Had I engaged in the work today, it is likely that the consumption. This raises conceptual as well as political issues. I hope
use of computers would have radically changed these will soon be investigated.’
the appearance of the work. Would it have changed the Given Tschumi’s association with Deconstruction, I was keen to find
content itself? Probably up to a point, yet the questioning out what his understanding of the ‘formalistic’ is vis-à-vis the current
would have remained fairly comparable, due to the larger hedonistic attitude affecting architecture now:
issues at hand. Would the new generations be able to ‘What is “form”? The problem is that both media and dictionaries
draw from them? I have always been suspicious of the define it in the most reductive and banalising way: “form as the outline
notion of generations. I rather believe in a certain of an object against a background”. So does the architectural
periodicity of themes, returning to haunt us at certain dictionary of received ideas. I find more pleasure in what I would call
moments of history.’ “concept-form”, bringing a high level of abstraction in orchestrating
Tschumi’s generation was able to dedicate a great deal together a complexity that includes materials, movement and
of time to further research and careful consideration of programmes in the definition of architectural form.

26



Bernard Tschumi, Parc de la Villette, Paris, 1983–98 Bernard Tschumi, Lindner Athletic Center,
The aim of this project, which marked the starting point of Tschumi’s University of Cincinnati, Ohio, 2006
career as a theorist and designer, was to create a new model for the Representing the epicentre of the university’s athletic and
urban park, in which programme, form and ideology all play integral academic activities, the unusual curvilinear shape of this
roles. The image represents, as the architect asserts, the idea that the building takes advantage of the tight constraints of the site
importance of architecture ‘resides in the ability to accelerate society’s to create dynamic residual spaces between the existing
transformation through a careful agency of spaces and events’. stadium, sports fields and the recreation centre.
‘I suppose it is the same distinction as between on the one hand raise interesting questions about a new form of
pornography and eroticism. They are both okay, but one is architecture, yet on the other signify an impoverishment of
substantially more complex and more abstract.’ architectural thought and invention. I personally like the challenge of
Spectacle? different geographical or social contexts as a stimulus to new
‘I also would not completely condemn the production architectural concepts.’
of spectacle. After all, it can also be theorised ... ‘ Given the distractions and difficulties of executing work, do you
think it remains important to establish the ‘theoretical core’ around
Context, Place and Theory which architecture is to rely on in the near future? ‘Probably not one
Designers cannot avoid including in their work the single synthetic core, but four or five anchor points, around which
changes occurring in their everyday lives, whether it is a issues revolve and occasionally intersect: space, programme, body,
matter of interpretation or mirroring their own inner envelopes, global versus local, economy of means, typology versus
thoughts. With this in mind, how can we view the topology, concept-form, etc.’
proliferation of architectural fetishes in the urban Given this, can the theoretical/conceptual nucleus of a project
landscape; that is, the uncontrolled diffusion of safeguard architecture from the market?
architectural objects that are indifferent to the ‘Architecture does not need to be safeguarded: commerce has also
environment they are part of? been a driving force of progress throughout history. Yet it is
‘This indifference is more problematic. Exporting the commercialism that is problematic – when market forces begin to
same “shapes” to Bilbao, Los Angeles or Abu Dhabi may control every aspect of architectural thinking.’




Bernard Tschumi, New Acropolis Museum, Athens, 2009

The distinctive characteristic of this new museum structure is its
relationship with the ancient Acropolis and celebrated
monuments which sit on a plateau overlooking the city. The
building highlights the individual elements on the site by
focusing on the creation of broad and inspired views from the
different vantage points within the museum.


Bernard Tschumi, School of Architecture, FIU Miami, Florida, 2003

The Florida International School of Architecture is a place in
which social exchange, discussion and debate between students
and teachers are key. Its buildings are thus generators of events and
interactions. According to Tschumi: ‘The project can be described
as the sobriety of two wings defining a space activated by the
exuberance of three colourful generators. The sober wings are
made of precise yet user-friendly precast concrete; the three
generators are, respectively, varied yellow ceramic tiles, varied
red ceramic tiles and nature.’

Bernard Tschumi, Concert Hall, Limoges, France, 2007

Like the Rouen Concert Hall and Exhibition Centre, the Limoges
Concert Hall is based on the idea of a double envelope. The inner
envelope, which delineates the perimeter of the performance space,
is clad entirely with wood, while the exterior envelope is composed
of polycarbonate panels. The concept responds to the dramatic site:
a clearing in a large forest at the edge of the city, surrounded by
200-year-old trees.

Tschumi’s buildings tend to be vital places open to a range of
human activities and exchanges: places committed to the satisfaction
of social needs. However, in the third volume from Event-Cities,5 the
identification of the ‘Concept, Context, Content’ triad seems to have
removed the role of the user from architecture’s original aim. What has
caused such a change in the understanding of strategic planning?

‘To move from “Space, Event, Movement” to “Concept, Context,
Content” is by no means a negation of the first triad. On the contrary,
my goal is to expand the earlier issues by inserting the unavoidable
complexity that reality entails. To bring context and content to event
and movement is a way to confront them with the realities of both
culture and production.’

In recent times, words like ‘event’ and ‘space’ in Tschumi’s work
have been replaced by others like ‘concept’ and ‘context’. This
seemed to start happening with the project for the New Acropolis
Museum. Does this shift in terminology represent a critical
reassessment of the work?

‘The project for the New Acropolis Museum had a profound effect
on my thinking. After we won the competition and for a couple of years,
I was not sure what to make of it. It did not fit neatly into the
argumentation around my earlier projects. So I would rarely talk about
it. And yet I knew the project was important. It took me a while to
realise that this project brutally confronted issues that I had been able
to sidestep before, such as the issue of context. Rather than a
reassessment of the work, it became a means to expand thought about
the overall work, a case where practice feeds theory.’

The last consideration, in which Tschumi asserts that it is possible
in defined circumstances to arrive at a theory through practice,
explains and analyses more thoroughly what he affirmed at the
beginning of his studies and reflections on the project: that ‘concept,
context and content are part of the definition of contemporary urban
culture and therefore of architecture. Theory is a practice, a practice of
concepts. Practice is a theory, a theory of contexts.’6 4


This interview has been compiled from email correspondence between Michele Costanzo
and Bernard Tschumi from April to June 2008.

Translated from the Italian version into English by Paul David Blackmore

Notes


1. The Manhattan Transcripts, Architectural Design (London), 1981; 2nd edition, Academy 
Editions (London), 1994. 
2. For an overview of the exhibition see 
http://www.sfmoma.org/exhibitions/exhib_detail.asp?id=42. 
3. Jeffrey Kipnis, Perfect Acts of Architecture, The Museum of Modern Art (New York) and 
Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus), 2001. 
4. The six featured series of drawings in the exhibition were as follows: Rem Koolhaas and 
Elia Zenghelis, Exodus or The Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture, 1972; Peter Eisenman, 
House VI Transformation Collages, 1976; Bernard Tschumi, The Manhattan Transcripts, 
1976–81; Daniel Libeskind, Micromegas, 1978, and Chamber Works, 1983; Thom Mayne 
(Morphosis Studio), Sixth Street House, 1986–87, and Kate Mantilini Restaurant, 1986. 
5. Bernard Tschumi, Event-Cities 3, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA, and London), 2005. 
6. Event-Cities, op cit, p 3. 
Text © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Images: pp 24, 26, 29 © Peter Mauss/Esto; p 27 © 
Sophie Chivet; p 28 © Christian Richters