Neil O Rourke B Twentieth Century Parliament Architecture as a Symbol of. Government Power and Democracy. University of Ulster MArch II

Transcription

1 Neil O Rourke B Twentieth Century Parliament Architecture as a Symbol of Government Power and Democracy University of Ulster MArch II

2 Acknowledgement This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance of Dr. Taina Rikala and David Coyles, lecturers at the University of Ulster, Belfast. I d like to thank you both. Thanks to my parents Elizabeth and James, brothers James, Brian, Robert, Mark, Shane and Dáire and sisters Maria and Róisín and extended family, and friends. 2

3 Twentieth Century Parliament Architecture as a Symbol of Government Power and Democracy 3

4 Table of Contents List of Illustrations...5 Introduction, Aims and Overview...8 Chapter 1 Philosophy of Politics...15 Chapter 2 Glasshouses for Humans...25 Chapter 3 An Introduction to Symbolism...29 Chapter 4 An Introduction to Parliament Architecture...33 Chapter 5 Parliament Architecture as a Symbol of Government Power...37 Chapter 6 Parliament Architecture as a Symbol of Democracy...58 Chapter 7 Conclusion...71 Bibliography

5 List of Illustrations (Fig 1) : accessed on (Fig 2) : accessed on (Fig 3) : accessed on (Fig 4) : accessed on (Fig 5) accessed on (Fig 6) accessed on (Fig 7) accessed on (Fig 8) accessed on (Fig 9) accessed on (Fig 10) : accessed on (Fig 11) accessed on (Fig 12) : accessed on (Fig 13) accessed on (Fig 14) Casa Del Fascio, Como, From Architectural Design 5 1 / From Futurism to Rationalism. The Origins of Modern Italian Architecture. P74. 5

6 (Fig 15) : accessed on (Fig 16) Giuseppe Terragni, Casa Del Fascio, mass demonstration in front of the building, From Pope A. Mass Absence: Space Reader: Heterogeneous Space in Architecture, Edited by Michael Hensel, Christopher Hight, Achim Menges. Chichester, U.K. : Wiley, P52 (Fig 17) accessed on (Fig 18) accessed on (Fig 19) accessed on (Fig 20) Casa del Fascio, Ground Floor Plan. From Schumacher T.L. Surface & Symbol, Giuseppe Terragni and the Architecture of Italian Rationalism, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, P148. (Fig 21) Casa del Fascio, First Floor Plan. From Schumacher T.L. Surface & Symbol, Giuseppe Terragni and the Architecture of Italian Rationalism, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, P149. (Fig 22) Casa del Fascio, Second Floor Plan. From Schumacher T.L. Surface & Symbol, Giuseppe Terragni and the Architecture of Italian Rationalism, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, P150. (Fig 23) Casa del Fascio, Third Floor Plan. From Schumacher T.L. Surface & Symbol, Giuseppe Terragni and the Architecture of Italian Rationalism, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, P151. (Fig 24) Casa del Fascio, Via Bianchi Facade & Front Facade. From Schumacher T.L. Surface & Symbol, Giuseppe Terragni and the Architecture of Italian Rationalism, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, P166. (Fig 25) Casa del Fascio, Rear Facade & North Facade. From Schumacher T.L. Surface & Symbol, Giuseppe Terragni and the Architecture of Italian Rationalism, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, P167. (Fig 26) Terragni, Casa del Fascio, photographed in From Schumacher T.L. Surface & Symbol, Giuseppe Terragni and the Architecture of Italian Rationalism, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, P140. (Fig 27) accessed on

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8 Introduction How do parliament buildings represent their people and creators? A parliament building is the central stage for governing a collective of cultures and societies under the one political agenda. A parliament contains specific program that provide the working stage of politics and civic structure. The parliament is very closely linked to the laws and orders in place within that civic structure. The creators of a parliament have a will to provide a practical stage for the governance of its people. However, it may also be created to reflect the values of its people and politics. How does parliament architecture represent its people? The architect and designers of the parliament building provide a service to the state (client). In practice, the client is considered paramount in the process of the design, but, how does the architect of a parliament achieve the client s approval that their building over many other competitive professional practices would best represent the people and politics? Does the language of the parliament create a relationship between the state government and the people? A language that is authoritarian or democratic? What is the architect s ideological intent? The parliament provides its people with a collective identity through its aesthetics and form. This is a collective symbolic reference point that unites its people as part of a single specific civic structure. However, architects work generally embodies a methodology form project to project. What is the relationship between the architect s creative method and the symbolic content of the architecture? 8

9 Spaces and arrangements of a parliament building are addressed and explored in each civic structure. Some program arrangements have been derived from the practical reuse of existing spaces where as others are designed as a representation or symbol. Are program changes or advances symbolic or practical? Aims The aim of this dissertation is to explore Twentieth Century parliament and government buildings in relation to the questions: How does parliament architecture represents it people? This dissertation will argue that the parliament building should represent its people by providing a platform for the culture or society s policies, governance and values. It should represent its particular culture through its form and content. Its form should act as a symbol, or a reference in some way to the people and their land; its spaces should be capable of housing the content or particular program needed to practically achieve its law and order. What is the architect s ideological intent? The architect s ideological intent of a parliament would generally be driven by a reading of the culture or society and its policies and how this is manifested into an architectural project. The architect may also be merely acting out a part that is directed by the state, as the client, whose ambitions for the parliament is a driving force in the architect s philosophical intent or the language for inclusion or exclusion. 9

10 What is the relationship between the architect s creative method and the symbolic content of the architecture? The dissertation will examine the symbolism of the architecture of the parliament building particularly the architectural message of the building form, both through abstract interpretation of form and direct symbols or symbolic references. The examination of symbolism should also refer to the architect s working tectonic and, the extent to which symbolic references are an interpretation of the architect s method. Are program changes or advances symbolic or practical? The program of a parliament and the debate chamber should be explored. The atmosphere and special qualities of the debate chamber, the seating arrangement of the debate chamber both in terms of acoustics, practicality and the language particular arrangements symbolise will also be explored in the dissertation. Overview This dissertation is an exploration of the role of twentieth century parliament architecture in different cultures and societies, historically and contemporary, as a symbol of power and as a symbol of democracy: as a representation of its people, environment and political agenda. It will introduce politics in a philosophical and historical sense with reference to the book Space Reader: Heterogeneous Space in 10

11 Architecture particularly the text Atmospheric Politics by Peter Sloterdijk. 1 In this text Sloterdijk uses the glasshouse as a metaphor for theorising the role of a political structure in a historical Greek civilisation. The dissertation will incorporate symbolism in its broad philosophical sense as a way of grounding a consistent theme for examining the case studies, reference will be made to Symbolism: It s Meaning and Effect by Afred North Whitehead. 2 An introduction to symbolism in architecture with reference to Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture by Robert Venturi, 3 and Learning from Las Vegas by Venturi, Scott Brown and Izenour, will be introduced in chapter three. 4 Chapter four is an examination of parliament architecture particularly the debate chamber with reference to Architecture, Power and National Identity by Lawrence J. Vale. 5 Reference will also be made to The Architecture of Parliaments: Legislative Houses and Political Culture by Charles T Goodsell. 6 Chapter five of the dissertation will examine the role of Fascist architecture as an example of government power, illustrating Casa Del Fascio, Coma, Italy by 1 Atmospheric Politics, Peter Sloterdijk: Space Reader: Heterogeneous Space in Architecture, Edited by Michael Hensel, Christopher Hight, Achim Menges, Chichester, U.K. : Wiley, Whitehead Alfred North Symbolism: Its meaning and effect: By, The Macmillan Company, Evelyn Whitehead, Whitehead 3 Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, Robert Venturi, The Museum of Modern Art, 1966,1977, Learning from Las Vegas, Revised edition, by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Steven Izenour 1977, Architecture, Power and National Identity, Lawrence J. Vale, Yale Harverd Press New Haven & London, 1992 London. 6 The Architecture of Parliaments: Legislative Houses and Political Culture, Charles T Goodsell, BJ Pol. S accessed on: 20 Nov

12 Guiseppe Terragni, and the text Italian Architects and Fascist Politics: An Evolution of the Rationalist s role in Regime Building by Dianne Ghirardo. 7 The text Mass Absence by Albert Pope will also be referenced. 8 This building is chosen because it is considered by many architectural critics, particularly Pope, to be a symbolic building in the Fascist regime. Fascism is considered a twentieth-century political structure with a clear hierarchy of power to the Italian dictatorship. Chapter six is an exploration into how parliament architecture has developed from a symbol of power to a symbol of democracy. The two key studies in this section are Palace of Assembly, Chandigarh by Le Corbusier, and The National Assembly for Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh by Louis Kahn with reference to Authenticity, Abstraction and the Ancient Senses: Le Corbusier s and Louis Kahn s Ideas of Parliament by William T.R. Curtis. 9 The text Architecture, Power and National Identity by Lawrence J. Vale will also be referenced. These two buildings have been chosen particularly because, apart from being representative of colonial backgrounds; provide clear examples of architects that will to filter the formal expression of political power through symbolism and abstract expressions of identity. This written dissertation coincides with my thesis design project proposal Assembly NI. It will form a basis for investigation and research into theories, forms and 7 Italian Architects and Fascist Politics: An Evolution of the Rationalist s role in Regime Building, Dianne Yvonne Ghirardo, Society of the Architectural Historians, Vol. 39 No. 2 (May 1980) pp , University of California Press on behalf of the Society of Architectural Historians, accessed on 19th Nov 10 8 Mass Absence, by Albert Pope: Space Reader: Heterogeneous Space in Architecture, Edited by Michael Hensel, Christopher Hight, Achim Menges, Chichester, U.K. : Wiley, p58 9 Authenticity, Abstraction and the Ancient Senses: Le Corbusier s and Louis Kahn s Ideas of Parliament, William T.R. Curtis, Perspecta, Vol. 20 (1983) pp , Published by MIT Press on behalf of Perspecta 12

13 meanings of parliament architecture. My thesis project will be a testing ground for ideas and notions formed by the written dissertation. Case Study Buildings Casa Del Fascio, Coma, Italy, G Terragni, (Fig 1) Palace of Assembly, Chandigar, India, Le-Corbusier, (Fig 2) 13

14 Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban: The National Assembly for Bangladesh, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, L. Kahn, (Fig 3) 14

15 Chapter 1 Philosophy of Politics To understand how parliament architecture may be a symbol of government power or democracy we should first try to get an understanding the role of political structures in contemporary society, both orderly and disorderly. Particularly, how a political structure may shape our cities and places. Peter Sloterdijk ( ), a German philosopher, provides us an examination of the relationship between quality of space and social political order. From nineteenth century metropolis to current media saturated cities, he uses the developments in glass buildings as a vehicle for a series of propositions. 10 The glasshouse s relationship to plants is a metaphor for a political structures relationship to people. The Atmospheric Premise Political life form should be regarded as a by-product of citizen s exercising power and judgement. 11 The atmospheric premises for a community of democracy are the conditions that make democracy possible, and the conditions of this premises are an effect of waiting power (ability to wait and let others wait). 12 What follows should 10 Sloterdijk p ibid 12 ibid 15

16 parallel the effect of waiting power and democracies proto architectonic ability to disarm citizens. 13 In a sense, the role of governance, political representation or its life form, has shifted in the twentieth century from people exercising power and judgement in political structures such as Italian fascism to democratic waiting power or a proto architectonic waiting room in Western inspired post-colonial India. The atmospheric premise is architecture, urban planning, buildings and spaces that respond or provide a canvas for this form of political life or democratic engagement to occur. For example, Herman Hertzberger s studies in environmental psychology or more specifically the relationship between people and public and private space is the atmospheric premises of a social and democratic society, i.e. The Netherlands and Germany (Fig 4). Richard Rogers, however uses materiality i.e., glass architecture to break the formality and strengthen the engagement of traditionally imposing civic buildings such as Bordeaux Courts (Fig 5) and The Welsh Assembly (Fig 6), exploring a premises for democracy to occur. 13 ibid 16

17 (Fig 4) (Fig 5) (Fig 6) 17

18 The primary twentieth century parliament case studies each seek to represent a new political structure i.e. seek to create a new political premise. The Casa Del Fascio by G. Terragni (Fig. 7) was a testament to Italian Fascism, and the parliament buildings Palace of Assembly, Chandigarh, India by Le Corbusier (Fig. 8) and The National Assembly for Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh by L. Kahn (Fig. 9) each in testament to post colonial independence. (Fig 7) (Fig 8) 18

19 (Fig 9) Politics and Media In Mass Absence Pope describes the notion of passive politics or waiting power as not an absence of meaning but a potent silence. 14 This empty forum has been raised by cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard as a relationship between the masses and media. 15 Baudrillard had previously proposed that the silence of the masses in relation to politics was a power or a massive reply through withdrawal. Silence in politics can be a strategy rather than passivity and media can be used as a tool for disappearance. Due to media being a primary tool for political propaganda or the imposing of a political field, a social field or a cultural field then a reply of silence from the 14 Pope, p58 15 ibid 19

20 masses will block the processes. 16 He describes the notion of passive democracy as more of a negative sovereignty than alienation. 17 Media can be controlled by the state as a strategy power to manipulate the masses and force them to silence or the media can be used by the masses to hide behind. Baudrillard is suggesting that the atmospheric premises or conditions that make democracy possible, is not only made up of architecture, urban planning, buildings and spaces that respond to the particular cultures values or policies, but that the media landscape plays a vital role and how media is utilised by both the government and the masses. With a Situationist International inspired understanding of advertising and mass media as by-product of a capitalist mass culture, mass media plays a more significant role in capitalist regimes than more socially based political structures. With that there is a clear contrast in premise arising between architecture that should symbolise an imperial, right wing policy (Casa Del Fascio) in contrast to architecture symbolising a nations newly found independence from an imperial structure (Chandigarh and Dhaka). The Space Reading of an Atmospheric Premise Pope s main difference in the premise of space reading to that of Sloterdijk was his understanding of heterogeneous space as a space of invention open to innovation rather than the reduction of differences to unified and despotic models. 18 Suburban alienation and deterritorialisation are as relevant to New Urbanism as historical 16 Pope, p59 17 ibid 18 Pope, p56 20

21 urban language forms due to the apolitical process in which they are conditioned, such as land development and market economies. 19 However, the problem is creating potentials in the megalopolis, or its reading as a space of invention or tabula rasa, rather than sprawl. 20 This notion of neglect as a space of invention, as relevant to new urbanisms as historical forms, raises the first line of enquiry into the symbolism of parliament architecture. All case studies are (or appear to) be based on historical models and language forms with little reference to new urbanism. This observation or understanding becomes particularly important when understanding the Casa Del Fascio as a contradiction to modern architecture. Progression of the Glasshouse English garden architects used glasshouses in the first two decades of the nineteenth century to house extremely sensitive plants. 21 This marked a new direction in the history of building. The English declared their country a place where plants could emigrate to. This immigration of plants to Europe could be seen as a pattern for a new politics of transhumant symbioses. 22 This investigation of engineers into problems of climatic was helped by the invention of bent glass as much as prefabrication based on standardised elements, with the latter contributing 19 ibid 20 ibid 21 Sloterdijk, p ibid 21

22 in the enabling of large assemblies in a short space of time i.e. Crystal Palace 1851, largest edifice in history at that time, built in 10 months (Fig 10). 23 Not only did the glasshouse mark a new direction in the history of building it also began to raise philosophical questions and ideas about our environment or more specifically how we perceive our environment as individual beings. It also provides a characterisation of political structures. (Fig 10) The Philosophical Significance of the Glasshouse In: An Introduction to Umwelt by Jacob von Uexkull, 24 the notion of Umwelt is an environmental philosophy coined by an Estonian biologist Uexkull. Umwelt is constituted by an individual organism experiencing the world through its specific 23 ibid 24 An Introduction to Umwelt, Jacob von Uexkull: Space Reader: Heterogeneous Space in Architecture, Edited by Michael Hensel, Christopher Hight, Achim Menges. Chichester, U.K. : Wiley,

23 senses. The notion of Umwelt suggests that the relationship between man and his environment is not in but rather separated by a protective wall of senses and furthermore that while environments are shared : they are experienced subjectively or individually by each individual organism (Fig 11). 25 (Fig 11) The glasshouse is a forgotten instrument in the shift in ideology of modern to postmodern thinking. The glasshouse has caused a series of questions or arguments in relation to sense perception of objects or how we perceive our environment. This has led to an understanding that we perceive our environment subjectively through symbols or shared reference points. These notions of perception, sense perception and symbols were theorized by Robert Venturi in Complexities and Contradiction in Architecture and developed into a full architectural manifesto on the iconography of the signs and symbols of the Las Vegas Strip in Learning from Las Vegas by Venturi, Scott Brown and Izeneur in 1972 (Fig 12). 25 Uexkull p146 23

24 The architectural analysis on symbolism carried out on the selected case studies initially derived from this cross disciplinary relationship between biology, philosophy and architectural thinkers. These philosophies on symbolism and their relationship to architectural symbolism will be explored later in their own introduction. (Fig 12) 24

25 Chapter 2 Glasshouses for Humans With reference to plants and the glasshouse s ability to recreate the plants original conditions, a similar solution for humans would involve embedding the newcomer in the hosts language as the house of being (or an environment impregnated by mysteriousness and nothingness ). 26 According to Sloterdijk, the human version of the glasshouse may have been considered and suggested as far back as Classical Greek times. According to Aristole the polis was not derived by a social drive but rather an insight that a cooperative constitution would be an advantage but considering a polis is a relatively artificial way to live. 27 Early philosophers formed the notion of polis which is, in a sense, nothing but an artificial construct ruled by nomos. 28 It is considered a place that challenged the idea of numerous people not being able to co-exist together behind a shared wall. Sloterdijk uses polis as a philosophical metaphor for the first cities. 29 The notion of polis suggests that cities stand out like a social wonder in relation to pre-urban conditions. The city is possibly a concept for the glasshouse equivalent for humans. The city was a glasshouse for people who allowed them to be collected from separate living to living together. The metaphor is further reinforced when the streets, buildings and spaces are manipulated to form an atmospheric premise or a condition or environment which responds to a will to carry out (or explicitly communicate) the particular types of law and order more practically. Within different 26 Sloterdijk, p ibid 28 ibid 29 ibid 25

26 social structures the laws change and so do the premises i.e. the buildings, streets, attitudes and spaces. So if someone was to move to a different city, the next city acts as a glasshouse creating a new environment, structure and premises. Cities and Politics: Developing a Universal Philosophical Logic According to Aristotle, suggests Sloterdijk, humans are not urbanites by nature, but have changed to be that way. 30 However, simple decisions by villagers are not enough to stabilise the co-existence of cities. This then suggests a third act that comes between nature and the act of will, strong enough to neutralise people s powers to repel each other and avoid aversion to involuntary neighbourhoods. 31 It is within a cities moral enigma that rests its own ability to turn people from a natural phobia of neighbours to a highly artificial and confined construct. 32 The engineer Daedalus, according to Sloterdijk, states that instead of being derived from tyranny or nature, psycho-politics of democracy is based on the skilful application of anti-misanthropic procedure, in various rituals. 33 Daedalus argues urban planning is necessary at 2 levels (polis) the political and (physis) the physical, hence cities are the double assembly room. 34 This anti-misanthropic procedure is politics in it very practical sense. Cities are designed as a physical premises and political premises. 30 Sloterdijk, p ibid 32 ibid 33 ibid 34 ibid 26

27 Democracy and Free Speech Democracy was truly born with the introduction of speakers at the agora : because it allowed those who wished to speak could speak. Democracy is also the significance of the lack of relevance in a speaker s position on the list. 35 The audience s ability to give the speaker space, or a spatial dimension can be understood as a basic characterisation of democracy or the atmospheric premises for democracy to occur. It involves a literacy or understanding of the audience to a situation. Sloterdijk believes democracy implies constant patience for that literacy to lend things a spatial dimension. Hence, the atmospheric premises rely on waiting power. A Fascist uprising can be characterised as a revolt against speakers. The Atmospheric Premises 2 To establish democratic forms of living it must be ensured that if people s thymos (pride) is agitated, it does not result in direct actions (i.e. waiting power). This can only happen if the people s self control is fostered by observers whose respected opinion is made up of the thymos of those they are observing. 36 In other words, a democracy is putting forward and supporting people who partly represent your belief or pride and allow them to become an observer (or representative of yours) within a large group of observers (or representatives). If democracy is achieved in its purest sense it is merely a process of self fostering. 35 Sloterdijk, p Sloterdijk, p182 27

28 Anyone who wanted democracy would strengthen their observer s performance, including isosthenia - the principal of equal power. 37 Only in a stabilised atmosphere conductive to equal power principals can agents practice democracy. It s not communication of free speech that makes democracy possible but the ability for agents to prevent themselves acting on unilateral pretensions. 38 Democracy is the success phase of procedures that prevent people abusing the freedom of speech of one another. The atmospheric premise of liberty is ponophilia - the athletic love of effort first practiced on polis the culture of classical antiquity. 39 With this understanding of the relationship between politics and space the dissertation will explore, using case studies how different parliament and government buildings have represented their specific political structures: particularly, how the architect philosophically intends to represent the people and creators. I will explore these aspects of the selected case studies within the sub headings: How parliament architecture represents it people, and the architect s ideological intent. 37 ibid 38 ibid 39 ibid 28

29 Chapter 3 An Introduction to Symbolism Symbolic reference is the transition from symbol to meaning, when the components of the human mind experience evoke consciousness, beliefs, emotions and usages respecting other components of its experience. 40 The symbolic reference is the active synthetic element contributed by the percipients nature (shape, size, colour etc.). 41 Language is a symbolism that is in a sense superficial, yet we would find it difficult to communicate without it. A word is a symbol with the constitution of its meaning by emotions and images which it responds to in the mind of the user. Algebra, for example, is a language of mathematical symbols different to the symbols of ordinary language. Algebra symbols do the reasoning for you provided you keep to the rules of play. Symbolism in Architecture Architects learn and study space ; and enclosed space is easiest to handle. Modernists focused on space is that which separates architecture from other art forms (painting and sculpture), and its uniqueness provoked the glory in their definitions. 42 Purist Architecture was a rejection of nineteenth century s eclecticism. The dressing up of buildings in styles created a romantic allusion to the past but in 40 Whitehead p8 41 ibid 42 Venturi, Scott Brown, Izenour p7 29

30 architecture of space and form did not suffice. Orthodox modern architects who shunned the expression or reinforcement of content in symbolism of form were supported by critics and historians that announced the decline of popular symbols in art. 43 Communication of meaning was through determination of program and structure and without images of past experience. 44 The level of content derived or perceived from abstract forms were questioned by critics. 45 Others believed functionalists created a language or vocabulary of their own ( from current art movements and the industrial vernacular ). Architecture can be symbolic in many ways. The iconicity or nature of symbols can be either iconographic, that is the use of popular symbols or decorations of religious or mass culture; whereas iconology in architecture or architecture-as-subject, is when the form or content is visually compelling but the message being communicated is more subjective and abstract. This type of symbolism is generally derived from the architect s creative methodology, particularly present in the later (post-modern) works of Le Corbusier and Kahn: where inner inspirations such as Le- Corbusier s visual references to his own artwork and Kahn s growing desire towards monumentality drive the formal expression, each at the expense of the international style. The following examples of iconography are how different cultures and societies, high and low, use architecture as a sign or popular symbol in their historical 43 Venturi, Scott Brown, Izenour p7 44 ibid 45 Venturi, Scott Brown, Izenour p8 30

31 context. 46 Egyptian hieroglyphics found on temples and pylons is communicating through inscription, in a proto-information age. Ornamented pediments on Greek and Roman temples are both artistic and iconographic of the religious content. French Gothic cathedrals and hierarchy of statues of saints were three dimensional billboards. The Billboard as an American vernacular commercial element in car culture and finally the graphic propaganda of Italian Fascist Architecture on simplified classical surfaces. Perception of Symbolism in Architecture Our perception of objects is a more fundamental symbolism than the previous types. For example consider a chair: we see the colour and shape of a chair so jump to the notion that it is a chair and use it practically (or alternatively), passing by the perception of the coloured shape or our previous experiences of various shapes and various colours. 47 The conclusion is drawn that we are in the presence of a chair. In Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, Robert Venturi highlights the ambiguous nature of perception in architecture in relation to the manifestations of form and content in program and structure. 48 There is a paradox inherent in perception resulting from the juxtaposition of an image and what it seems. Abstract expressionism acknowledges this perception ambiguity, as like pop painters who 46 Venturi Robert, Scott Brown Denise, Architecture as Signs and Systems for a Mannerist Time, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts. London, England Whitehead p3 48 Venturi p20 31

32 exploit possibilities of perception. 49 Architectural elements are perceived as form and structure, textures and materials: whose meanings are derived from interior characteristics and its particular context. 50 These oscillating relationships, are: a source of ambiguity and tension in architecture. 51 If parliament and government architecture is the single most representational way of providing politics as a series of inhabited spaces, there should be a clear difference between the architecture of power and the architecture of democracy. However, parliament architecture is not traditionally based on a practical arrangement of spaces for politics to occur, parliaments also act as symbols to their people and creators. These aspects are explored within the sub headings: The relationship between the architect s creative methodology and the symbolic references of the architecture and the symbolic or practical relevance of program changes or advances. 49 ibid 50 Venturi p3 51 ibid 32

33 Chapter 4 An Introduction to Parliament Architecture According to Charles T. Goodsell the architecture of parliament and legislative assembly across the world should be analysed in relationship to political culture. 52 Preservation of the cultural values of the polity over time, articulation of contemporaneous political attitudes and values and contribution to the formation of political culture should be embodied by the parliament. 53 Preservation is how the parliament may occupy a sacred site, symbolise the state and assure continuity of legislative traditions. 54 Articulation should reflect the importance of the legislative traditions. 55 Formation can be addresses or affected by chamber dimensions, seating arrangements and spatial relationships between the parliament and the executives. 56 The role media plays particularly television broadcasting of parliamentary sessions, can make these features more important in perpetuating, manifesting and shaping political culture. 57 Parliaments should preserve cultural values over time through mobilisation, conservation and maintenance. 58 The introduction of durable materials allows the architecture to perform as a bearer of ideas over time embodying deep cultural concepts concerning the nation, state and legislative institution within the form and substance and displayed for later generations to absorb. Goodsell believes a site of 52 Goodsell p ibid 54 ibid 55 ibid 56 ibid 57 ibid 58 Goodsell p288 33

34 specific cultural significance with historic or symbolic importance perpetuates the honour of the parliament. 59 Parliament architecture should also manifest values and ideas of political life not as a monument but as inhabited spaces in a built environment during the time of the buildings performance and use. They should not only express pre-dated cultural values but function as contemporary realities. Parliaments can act in the Formation of political values in an indirect way. Although the parliaments physical environment does not directly influence or control a government or peoples actions it can affect their thoughts subtly and interactively. The Debate Chamber In medieval times, the seating of debate chambers were in blocks with one block for each estate. The Westminster style of opposing seating is a development of this with the Government MP s seated at on bloc and the opposing MP s on the opposite side, facing each other with a space of approximately twelve feet wide. This was to encourage a two party system but hasn t prevented emerging third parties. Although party discipline is strong in Westminster, the MP s however, vote as individual rather than by bloc. 60 Outside Britain and Commonwealth countries the seating is different; a semi-circular arrangement is more popular with the parties facing the presiding officer. Various 59 ibid 60 Goodsell p295 34

35 radial sectors of the fan shaped seating are occupied according to the ideal orientation. 61 This concept is believed to have originated during the French Revolution when estates rebelled and broke away from bloc voting. 62 Four years later JP Gisors constructed a hall for the National Convention from a converted Persian theatre and the amphitheatre form became the seating model for non Westminster parliaments ever since. 63 Variants of this do exist, with a semi-circular debate chamber organically following the arrangement of the seating or rectangular spaces with semi circular seating ranging from shallow and spacious to intimate and deep. Vale gives an account of Goodsell s analysis in the layouts of American Council chambers and how political power distribution can be observed in a single room. Goodsell s observation on the shift in central focus from the preceding officer to the corporate existence represents a shift away from personalistic rule. 64 He observes a change from separate aldermanic desks to a common dais table as a downgrading of geographical representation. 65 The reorientation of the councils seating to communicate with the public rather than with each other, along with increasing public seating, represents a transparency between government and the public. However, although Goodsell does recognise the changes as a promotion of popular sovereignty and based on a view of the public as individuals rather than an undifferentiated mass, he does question whether this is merely a deception that 61 Goodsell p ibid 63 ibid 64 Vale. P ibid 35

36 masks the powerlessness of the ordinary citizen. 66 Vale supports and elaborates on this question i.e. the layout of parliamentary chambers, treat the public as spectators of government as oppose to potential participants ibid 67 ibid 36

37 Chapter 5 Parliament Architecture as a Symbol of Government Power Casa Del Fascio (1936): Guiseppe Terragni ( ) (Fig 13) Casa Del Fascio by Guiseppe Terragni is a building that symbolises government power because it is a symbolic building in the Fascist regime. Fascism is a twentieth century political structure with a clear hierarchy of power to the Italian dictatorship, led by Mussolini. The role of the Fascio as an icon and symbol of Fascist power is a contradiction to modern architecture because modernists rejected iconography, monumentality and popular symbols, making it an incredibly interesting building to study in terms of architectural theory. 37

38 Twentieth Century Parliament Architecture as a Symbol of Government Power and Democracy (Fig 14) 38

39 The relationship between thought and architecture of Italian Rationalists and the new Fascist state is often considered a battle between Revolutionary modernism and a reactionary regime. 68 Historians tend to avoid the issue of ardent Fascism, and study the buildings objectively. 69 Due to the discrediting of the Fascism political structure the best architects were extricated also resulting in ignorance to their architectural agenda. The Fascist state claimed to provide the revolutionary social programmes while architectural factions such as the Rationalists, traditionalists and moderates merely argued what forms these programmes could be housed. 70 There is an acknowledgement from historians that European modern architect s of the inter-war period explored social programs but according to Ghirardo Italian Modernism of that era were exempt from that level of discussion. However, because so much of the Italian Rationalists architecture was form obsessed, it can be seen as more of a reaction against modernism by using a modernist language or style to dress up a post-modern approach to design, particularly symbolism and monumentality, and the will to seek an appropriate form for the political order of Fascism to occur. According to Ghirardo, many other historians had a broader view that buildings could be studied apart from historical setting, intended use and patronage and world architectural movements could be completely understood through a formal 68 Ghirardo p Ghirardo p Ghirardo p109 39

40 analysis. 71 However, this is a formal analysis, similar to attempting to understanding a building for its symbolism alone, is subjective due to the nature of how we perceive form and content. Before the symbolism of Fascist architecture can be studied, it should be explored how the architecture represented its people and creators, particularly the role of the modern movement, and more specifically the rationalist s role in the spirit of fascism. How Parliament Architecture Represents its People Italian Fascism was not based on a coherent, monolithic system of ideas. 72 Its short lived political success was hampered with inconsistencies, and derived from the simultaneous appeal to diverse aspirations and social groups. 73 Lyttleton, for example, doubted the possibility to arrange Fascist ideas into one relatively coherent system of generalizations about nature, society and man. 74 Fascism and its new political system seemed to have revolutionary answers to social and political problems. Moderates and Rationalists each had their own assumptions on these political objectives. Rationalists tried to echo the social theories through style and material. Fascism preceded the modern movement in Italy and when the first Rationalists buildings were being designed and built a politically Fascist state was well in place. During the inter-war period, even the architecture had considerable diversity between the three main groups: with diversity within the groups themselves. The 71 Ghirardo p Ghirardo p Ghirardo p Ghirardo p112 40

41 right wing accademi or academics followed nineteenth century eclecticism and replication of Neo-Classical architecture, whereas the Moderates were not concerned with nineteenth century eclecticism and returned to a purified classism, simplifying and rationalising the academic style for an Italian synthesis of modern and traditional. 75 The Rationalist, however, were the Italian avant-garde. They considered technicality and functionality deriving a new aesthetic. They favoured glass surfacing, structure and the purpose correspondence. The European avant-garde inspired Northern Group, the Gruppo Sette, were led by picturesque scenic effects, emphasis on the heroic, reluctances to renounce individual expression and fantasy and a preoccupation with monumentality. 76 However, unlike the European and American architects of the 1930 s the Rationalist did not adhere dogmatically to their style. Libera claimed there is not a clear notion, a clear idea of our movement. 77 Mussolini developed a domestic and foreign policy for dealing with diversity. 78 The Scotch douche involved, being hot and cold by turns, friendly or provocative, democratic or authoritarian, radical or reactionary, or socialist or anti-socialist. 79 Consequently to this, a different appreciation of different architectural trends at different stages was experienced. In the 1930 s however, the Rationalists success came from a link with the Fascist revolution to new modern concepts. The Mostra della Rivoluzione Fascista (a structure for a Fascist exhibition in Rome) insisted to 75 ibid 76 Ghirardo p ibid 78 ibid 79 Ibid Scotch Douche is a therapeutic shower of jets of hot and cold water 41

42 be stylistically modern. 80 This shift towards modern architecture was encouraged by Mussolini, as a representation of a new political direction would create a new athmospheric premise. Make something of today, very modern and audacious, without gloomy reminders of the decorative styles of the past. 81 The Architects Ideological Intent Italian scholars attempt to explain away the role of Fascism in Rationalist architecture out of discomfort. 82 One argument is that the architects played Fascism in order to do architecture, employing that architects are merely a product of the state. 83 Where others would argue that this is an excuse rather than an explanation that the architects were indeed ardent Fascists, however if it is a case that the architects were blind, misled, young or betrayed, the same explanation would have to hold for an entire populace. 84 The architect client relations were elusive with a lack of totally clear rigorous functionality. 85 Rationalists rejected ornamentation and expressive materiality but you don t have to look far to see compromises to this. Italian Rationalist architects, whose work was substantial to the modern movement and the acceptance of the 80 ibid 81 Dino Alfieri and Luigi Freddi, Guida Storica della Mostra della Rivoluzione Fascista, Rome, 1932: Ghirardo p Ghirardo p ibid 84 ibid 85 Ghirardo p110 42

43 modern movement in Europe, undertook their greatest work in the spirit of Italian Fascism. In the 1976 Venice Biennale, Georgio Ciucci and Cesare De Seta assert that the good vs. Bad view is no longer sustainable with relevance to Rationalists. De Seta believes that although Terragni and other rationalists were enthusiastic Fascists and their works, including the Fascio, were born from spiritual exigencies and formal references that were alien to Fascism so the architecture cannot be Fascist. 86 These spiritual exigencies and formal references were rooted in reactionary, monumentality, imperialism and celebratory architecture. De Seta also argued that the Casa Del Fascio and urban Periphery works of Sironi, are works of Fascist artists but not Fascist culture produced because Fascist culture had values antagonistic to Terrangi and Sironi. 87 Guiseppe Terragni included Fascist decorative symbols along with designing the windows of the Casa del Fascio as simplified versions of the fascio in order to build the patrons emblem into the structure. 88 This led many to believe Rationalists were persecuted by the regime, so received few commissions after However the reality of post 1935 Italy was that the Italian Government had priorities other than domestic building, due to the brief war in Ethiopia and the ineffectual sanctions of the League of Nations. 90 After 1936 few domestic projects went on but military 86 Ghirardo p ibid 88 Ghirardo p ibid 90 ibid 43

44 construction still continued. 91 The Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF) records state that Luigi Mancini, Director of Technical Services of the PNF (in charge of approving and directing construction and maintenance of party buildings) sent a letter to the sedi Federali (provincial headquarters) requesting plans and photos of the headquarters (Terragni: Casa Del Fascio, Como) for a PNF publication. No evidence of any other specific request to any other Sede Federale. The Rationalists regime was not as discarded in the late 30 s as many believe. 92 (Fig 15) Terragni s own personal statements on his ideological intent seem to offer a clear expression of his architectural ideals for the building and his view or the embodiment 91 ibid 92 Ghirardo

45 of Fascism tradition in his building. He describes the theme as new with no reference to buildings of a representational character, to reflect Fascisms absolute original occurrence. 93 His idea of continuity between inside and outside that reflects the Moussolinian concept of Fascism as a house of glass to which all may look. 94 Terragni stated that a house for the public, moral, political and propagandistic factors cannot be built of the popular type but rather translate into enrichment of material, freedom in proportion, perfect organisation of installations and celebratory character in the rooms of the members. 95 The concept of visibility dominates the Fascio in the control between the public and the members. The seat of the Fascio, with the task of orginisation, propaganda and political and social education should become house, school or temple and no longer a liar, refuge or redoubt and decorated humbly with struggle, conquest and victory. 96 Hierarchy (gerarchia) was embraced by Rationalist Architects as a means of informing society the regulation of their place through function and authority. The upper echelons defined the responsibilities of the lower strata with all defined by the duce. Giovanni Gentile, a leading theorist of Fascism argued the lack of compatibility individualism had with the nation. 97 The individual submitted to the authority of the state which allowed him to realise himself more fully than in a liberal-democratic state. 98 This concept was voiced explicitly by Mussolini, throughout his reign. The Italian or State was described as more powerful than the citizens who composed it Ghirardo p ibid 95 ibid 96 ibid 97 Ghirardo p ibid 99 ibid 45

46 From this analysis it appears that Terragni, like many other Rationalists practiced architecture with philosophies antagonistic to those of the Fascist Regime but appeared to wilfully accept and strengthen the relationship between their style and the political structure, but, by doing this they created a contradiction in the relationship between their creative methodology and what they were intending to symbolise. This will be analysed further. The relationship between the architect s creative methodology and the symbolic references of the architecture The ambiguity and tension described by Venturi in Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture is evident in the Casa Del Fascio. Although Modernism was a rejection of popular symbols, monumentality and iconology, the Modernist Fascio has become a Symbol, Reference and icon for the Fascist state. In Architecture as Signs and Systems, Venturi highlights Italian fascist architecture s communication as tragically simplified and abstracted classical surfaces, abounded in graphic political propaganda. 100 According to Pope: the relationship or dialect between the architects creative methodology (autonomy of modernism) and the symbolic reference (or representation) of the architecture collapsed in on itself during this moment when 100 Venturi, Scott Brown 2004 p24 46

47 the Fascio became a symbol of a totalitarian government. 101 At this time where the notion of modernism as an inscription of mass society was abandoned and shifted towards its artistic and technical tendencies, it opened the door for apolitical, egocentric vision of the contemporary city such undertaken during totalitarian regimes. Pope uses an image (Fig 16) of a Fascist demonstration in front of the Casa del Fascio to highlight that the modernist ideal of uniform space as a diagram for social order is now impossible idea of mass subject. 102 It is considered a disturbing and haunting image in modernisms history. The fascinating image lays out a betrayal of modernism s diagram for social order from an entirely different modernism of entirely different consequences Pope p Pope p ibid 47

48 (Fig 16) 48

49 The Casa Del Fascio is an architectural tour de force. It manifests orthodox modernism through an ability to reveal its in-built form, technical and cultural intentions. It has few modern rivals in relation to proportion, tectonic clarity and the level at which it is resolved. 104 However, it is iconic of the Fascist state. The question from Pope is how can such a self-referencing building represent anything but itself, particularly a contemporary political body? 105 (Fig 17) 104 Pope p ibid 49

50 The image of the Fascist demonstration is a paradox and a contradiction to modern architecture, but a paradox and contradiction that are entirely relevant to the history of architecture and fascist politics. An ability to reference autonomous form and also be an icon of a powerful historical movement is a key to monumental construction, although modernists rejected monumentality and the autonomous culture of architecture. 106 It is difficult to understand the role of the Fascio in the political movement. It may be a desire to represent a contemporary empowering political body over fading powers of the monarch and the church, whether it was the uprising of Communism or Socialism or even Fascism it was to become the collective political subject of modernism. 107 However, the role of the Fascio in Fascism could have been merely unfortunate in the post World War 2 rewritten view that modern building s express their own material existence. 108 Although the Fascio manifests orthodox modernism more than any of its counterparts, in the image of the demonstration it fails to reinforce its historic connection due to a remoteness from contemporary urbanism in its overt inscription of the masses, which totally contradicts the modernists denial of contemporary political space ibid 107 ibid 108 ibid 109 ibid 50

51 The materials used by Terragni in the Fascio have a symbolic meaning. The marble of the Fascio symbolises a richness and rule, traditionally used on the palazzi of the rich and the vilini of the bourgeoisie. 110 The exterior and vestibule are clad in marble slabs with no structural significance, but rather clearly decorative and symbolic. However, Terragni always claimed the practicality and functionality of the material choice and its role in the points of contact between the crowds and the official employees as well as an ambience achieved when used on the ceiling of the atrium he has also stated the for a representative building only marble walls can be used. 111 Although these decisions contradict his functionalist roots the Come Party Secretary leader claimed Terragni did not appease the client and had a free hand in the design of the Fascio. 112 The image of the Fascio (Fig 15) was used to promote the possibilities of the building as a symbol of the fascist state. The large pictures Mussolini, emblem is political propaganda embraced by Terragni and expressed in the building as symbolism, or more specifically, iconography. 110 Ghirardo p ibid 112 ibid 51

52 (Fig 18) (Fig 19) 52

53 (Fig 20) (Fig 21) 53

54 (Fig 22) (Fig 23) 54

55 (Fig 24) (Fig 25) 55

56 (Fig 26) The symbolic or practical relevance of program changes or advances State funded buildings constructed during the Fascist period, like any other state funded buildings, were intended with certain functions in a particular setting served in the design. Buildings served as vehicles for that ideology because they referenced definitive political programs. The twenty year history of Fascism was marked by a vacillation between an apparent adventurous modernism and a recalcitrant traditionalism. 113 The concept of Fascism was seen as something new and a step better than the liberal 113 Ghirardo p114 56

57 democratic state with, on the other hand, roots that were sunk deep in tradition, particularly Roman History. 114 Fascists praised a programme or building for its modernity and solid roots in Italian history. 115 The state s past was referred to when validating a program or action. However, if we refer back to the philosophical introduction and Pope s space reading of contemporary cities, the Fascio stands in opposition to the contemporary urban space or new urbanisms. The Fascios built space of mass politics represents a historical rapture or inversion rather than being an antithesis of contemporary urban environments of parking lots, gutted central business districts, undeveloped or abandoned lots, corperate buffer zones and endless carscapes. 116 It is this remoteness from realities of modern urbanism that adds to its contradiction to modern architecture. 114 ibid 115 ibid 116 Pope p56 57

58 Chapter 6 Parliament Architecture as a Symbol of Democracy Palace of Assembly, Chandigar, India, Le-Corbusier, (Fig 27) Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban: The National Assembly for Bangladesh, Sher-e- Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, L. Kahn, (Fig 28) 58

59 How parliament architecture represents it people In Architecture, Power and National Identity, Vale recognises the relationship between the planning of Chandigarh to the Greek philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. 117 The design of Chandigarh city and parliament was an effort by Le Corbusier to use modern architecture and urbanism to symbolise progress and to convey national identity in a postcolonial context. 118 However, Vale sees Kahn s parliament at Dhaka as more of a reference to his own architectural oeuvre than a reference to the rest of Dhaka, although it can be observed in relation to both the society and the architects individual career. 119 Some perceive the building as an alternative to Dhaka. 120 Although Chandigarh was intended as state capital for Punjab, its importance to the whole of India was clear from the beginning. Delhi was the capstone of British rule, so Chandigarh was to be a symbol of independent India. It would also act as compensation to the ancient Lahore, its governmental, commercial and spiritual capital which was no longer part of India since the split that created Pakistan. 121 Chandigarh was selected for the house of government due to its beauty, assess to transport routes and strategic location to Pakistan. 122 Although planning went ahead with a background of political turmoil, it was described by Pandit Nehru as a temple of New India and believed the location site was free from the existing encumbrances of old towns and old traditions Architecture, Power and National Identity, Lawrence J. Vale, Yale Harverd Press New Haven & London, 1992 London. 118 Vale p Vale p ibid 121 Vale p ibid 123 ibid 59

60 Dhaka, however, is a city of extraordinary history and decline. 124 In the late seventeenth century, it was one of the world s largest with a population of estimated nine hundred thousand. 125 Following Mughal imperial decline, floods, famine and British colonisation population declined to fifty thousand in the late nineteenth century with many labourers working to the European raw materials market dependant on Britan. 126 Following the split of Pakistan from India, Dhaka would become provincial capital of East Pakistan (former East Bengal). Due to enormous cultural conflict between the Bengals and Pakistanis, civil war broke out and killing three hundred thousand people. This led to the curious result that Kahn s parliament intended for East Pakistan to consider visiting officials from West Pakistan was to be built by Bangladesh, a civil war was fought against the original client. 127 Architectural historian William J.R. Curtis argues that Le Corbusier s parliament buildings at Chandigarh befits an emblem of State with solid dignity due to its control of mass, silhouette and surface. 128 The interior hierarchy of spaces are expressed clearly in the overall exterior form of the building bringing to life Le Corbusier s notion of the plan being the generator. The heavily weathered exposed concrete makes it appear to have stood for centuries, rather than decades with spaces that wouldn t look out of place in Ancient Egypt. 129 The portico entrance precedes an inner looking box with asymmetrical placement of objects housing the assembly room and senate. 124 Vale p ibid 126 ibid 127 ibid 128 Curtis p ibid 60

61 (Fig 29) Le Corbusier had a complex task of expressing tradition along with capacity for innovation of a newly independent India. 130 Most of his attention in doing this was with the capital monuments in which he sought a synthesis of Eastern and western values in these designs. 131 Although, his initial response was climatic such as the shading parasol laid horizontally over concrete stems, it did however, parallel his own personal vision of concrete architecture. His second agenda was symbolic reference to India s past. The building embodies a preservation of the Indian people s natural values while benefiting from industrialisation Curtis p ibid 132 ibid 61

62 (Fig 30) If Le Corbusier s climatic response was the parasol, then Kahn s response was the perimeter layer of secondary spaces around the assembly chamber. If Le Corbusier s response to monumentality were the raw concrete shapes that created and illusion of antiquity, then so were Kahn s projecting sculptural volumes of rough brick and concrete, and their response to light and shade. Kahn s parliament was a testimony to the ruin recalling references such as the Roman baths and the Ruins on the Palatine in Rome ibid 62

63 (Fig 31) Although Kahn was inspired by Piranesi s bold and sublime geometries, Boullee s and Ledoux s abstraction, Garnier s ceremonial use of space in the Paris Opera House and the Roman Baths and Pantheon, like Le Corbusier however, he was concerned with not creating a Western import to the Indian subcontinent. 134 Kahn was willing to learn from Eastern architecture traditions and apply to the parliament at Bangladesh. However, the fact that Kahn s parliament was originally intended for East Pakistan and not Bangladesh raises the question of whether there is a stigma attached and if so for how long does the stigma remain? 135 Vale suggest that because Kahn s design is abstract with more visual reference to his own architectural legacy than to 134 Curtis p Curtis p239 63

64 Dhaka, or furthermore West Pakistan, makes the transition to act as a symbol in a new political context easier. 136 The Architects ideological intent Goodsell argues that those who conceive, plan, design and furnish public buildings follow clear orders from the state as well as unconsciously responding to the cultural situations that surrounds them. Le Corbusier s creative method seems to be matching pre-forms of his style with phenomena of the outside world. 137 His forms become similar to some sort of abstract language through multiple readings of abstract forms. His notion of the plan being the generator, in a way, can be read at multiple levels. The overall plan organises the portico, processional route, centralised domical space and fringe of secondary functions. 138 Schinkel s Altes Museum has been suggested as a precedent for Le Corbusier s organisation of plan or more specifically the hierarchal order of the plan. 139 The parliament may be read as an ideogram to the process of democracy similarly to the idealization of the balancing of powers to the acropolis, but Le Corbusier wouldn t have sensed these similarities unless he viewed the institution in a particular way. 140 The clarity and simplicity of the plan allow a spatial debate between the primary elements of form such as the two chambers in the forum fringed by the smaller scale bureaucracy and the linking to the public plaza via the generous portico ibid 137 Curtis p ibid 139 ibid 140 ibid 141 ibid 64

65 The relationship between the architect s creative methodology and the symbolic references of the architecture Buildings can be seen as non-verbal communicators where messages or references are imbedded or encoded by the builder or architect and decoded by the user. Later generations, however, can reinterpret these meanings with reference to their own cultural premises. 142 Le Corbusier used meanings and images of cultural interpretation and institution embedded in the one symbolic form. His travel notes and sketches showed sketches of the bull or more specifically the comparison between an overturned parasol canopy and the silhouette of bulls horns. 143 Although the bulls horns could create a local symbolism relating to the oxen or more broadly a preservation of natural values, it does coincide with his own obsession for bulls in his paintings and drawings. 144 However, the upturned parasol could also be interpreted as an umbrella: an ancient symbol of Authority. 145 This iconology of decoded references by Le Corbusier: create a spatial debate between symbols with reference to mass culture against those that act as symbols to his own personal architectural legacy. 142 Goodsell p Curtis p ibid 145 ibid 65

66 (Fig 32) 66

67 In Le Corbusier s mind the symbol of the dome was a dead one, due to the lack of significance in its centralised undivided authority, it no longer engaged with emergent social realities. 146 The parasol-dome was transformed to a counter shape with its own symbolism to the open hand : an international peace and generosity emblem. The shape also served to link the building to the sky, giving it a further representational quality. 147 The plan and interior arrangement is open and free, curved partitions define the main functional organs in a grid of structure. 148 The natural lighting and ventilation structure was a practical solution but given a shape of symbolic potential. 149 The shape seems to be inspired by a cooling tower: a reference to India s benefit from industrialisation. Also, the introduction of a single beam of light from the roof through this funnel during the parliaments opening suggests controlling rhythms of nature in reminding man that he is a son of the sun, or a world within a world microcosm. 150 (Fig 33) 146 ibid 147 ibid 148 Curtis p ibid 150 ibid 67

68 Le Corbusier s use of the concrete skeleton system had a natural visual relationship to the post and beam construction of Fathepur. 151 Similarly, Kahn s working methodologies of solid masonry cut by figural openings and centralised geometries, related to the tombs on platforms close to Deli and Agra. 152 Islamic tomb buildings made virtual obsessions out of the elegant reconciliation of circular, polygonal and square geometries. 153 (Fig 34) 151 Curtis p ibid 153 ibid 68

69 It is not totally clear weather Kahn s centralized forms belonged to an understanding of Eastern or Western traditions, however, his pre-existing obsessions and formal schemata allowed him to seek out underlying references different to those of Le Corbusier. 154 It was Kahn s understanding of the idealisation of the social order that differentiated the parliament at Dhaka from a skin-deep Orientalism or overblown formalism to a set of symbolic forms with an underlying philosophy. 155 Kahn believed it was an architect s primary task to understand the nature of the institution that the building is intended for which involves going back to the beginning of any established activity of man in order to see beyond the program to its deeper identity before generating an idea. 156 The design process is then the realisation of the idea into a visual building. (Fig 35) 154 Curtis p ibid 156 ibid 69

70 The symbolic or practical relevance of program changes or advances Kahn s early sketches reveal his search for an appropriate symbolic form for the seating of the institution. 157 His sketches conceive a unified course of action through the centralisation of the assembly, similar to synagogues and religious spaces but bearing his own typologies. 158 Although the circle was the ideal shape for an assembly of this sort, parliamentary debates were more commonly handled by variants on an amphitheatre. 159 There is a slightly uncomfortable relationship between the circular plan (form of the ideal shape) and the eventual realization of the amphitheatre seating arrangement. However, this highlights the role of the design process to adjust to the circumstantial. 160 (Fig 36) 157 Curtis p ibid 159 ibid 160 ibid 70

71 Chapter 7 Conclusion How have parliament buildings symbolised their relevance in different cultures? The Atmospheric premises are not only a set of rules and laws but an understanding of people of those rules and laws that allow them to exist. The premises are also made up of the relationship between the quality of the spaces and the social order itself as well as the media field that exists within the social order. It is of huge importance for architects to represent the culture and society in buildings, hence, reinforcing the political premises as a glasshouse or specific environment. However, parliament architecture is not clearly a product of a practical understanding of the relationship between quality of space and the social order; they also act as communicators or symbols of the political regime. Although the symbolism expressed in a parliament building may filter the architecture but allows them to act as a political billboard to their culture or society, or in later years, a historic artefact with messages to be decoded or interpreted. The political media landscape plays a more significant role in the Casa Del Fasio than the parliaments of the East. The iconography or use of the building as a political billboard highlights the extent of the use of mass media as a tool for political propaganda embraced by both Mussolini and Terrangi. 71

72 The Casa Del Fascio by Giuseppe Terrangi is a monument and Fascist icon. It is not a contradiction to modern architecture but a consequence of an entire different formdriven and aesthetically-stylised post-modernism. The symbolism is iconography. The Rationalists simplified classical elements enriched with political propaganda were understood as political billboards by the mass culture, but were certainly not a product of Fascist culture. Terrangi, like many other Rationalists practiced architecture with philosophies antagonistic to those of the Fascist Regime but appeared to wilfully accept and strengthen the relationship between their style and the political structure. This allowed them to practice architecture with the forms that related to their creative methodology, but diluted their expression. The Casa Del Fascio represented its people and political structure by providing a building that was stylistically modern without references to the past; this architecture supported a new direction in Italy s politics. Although Fascism appeared to have revolutionary solutions to social problems, its short-lived regime was hampered with contradictions and inconsistencies. These contradictions have been ironically reflected in the Fascio, as not an orthodox modernism but a stylised form driven post-modernsm. Terrangi s ideological intent was not to reflect a political structure in his architecture but to create a building to his own working tectonic; however, he accepted the relationship between the style and the political structure and used it as an opportunity to practice architecture whose forms represented his own ideological intent. 72

73 Le Corbusier s Assembly at Chandigarh represents his opinion on democracy through openness, simplicity and clarity of organisation. The symbolism is iconology. Le Corbusier s heavy concrete forms are as much a testimony to his own inner experiences as they are symbols of Indian culture. The heavily weathered bold concrete forms express monumentality that make it appear to have stood for centuries rather than decades. This monumentality, along with the externally expressed hierarchy of internal program, creates a spatial debate between architecture of power and architecture of openness and self expression. At Chandigarh there is no visual communication between the form of the parliament and the masses but the heavy symbolic forms are full of references that need a background understanding in order to be decoded. The palace of assembly represented its people and political structure through the iconology of abstract sculptural forms. The heavy rough concrete forms and their response to light and shade, particularly the cooling tower, capture a historic monumentality and reflect a natural architecture of tradition. This can be translated or decoded into a parliament built for a newly independent state that should look to its own history and heritage while similarly benefitting from industrialisation. However, these can be perceived as merely climatic responses. Like Terrangi, Le Corbusier s ideological intent was not to totally reflect the political structure but to create a building that was as much a testament to his own legacy as 73

74 it was to the people and politics. Like Terrangi, he has always accepted the relationship between the abstract forms of his architecture and the culture for which they exist, although many of these symbols can also reflect his own personal experiences. The monumentality perceived at Chandigarh is also evident at Dhaka, with Kahn s testimony to the ruin. Kahn s symbolism is also iconology. The symbolism is regarded, much like Chandigarh, as much symbols of his own life experiences as they are symbols of Indian culture. The heavy geometric forms that respond very expressively to light and shadow, like Chandigarh, create an external visual debate between architecture as a symbol of power and architecture as a testimony to the architect s working method. 74

75 Bibliography Curtis W. T. R. Authenticity, Abstraction and the Ancient Senses: Le Corbusier s and Louis Kahn s Ideas of Parliament, Perspecta, Vol. 20 (1983) pp , Published by MIT Press on behalf of Perspecta accessed on: 19 Nov 2010 Ghirardo D. Y. Italian Architects and Fascist Politics: An Evolution of the Rationalist s role in Regime Building, Society of the Architectural Historians, Vol. 39 No. 2 (May 1980) pp , University of California Press on behalf of the Society of Architectural Historians, accessed on 19th Nov 10 Goodsell C. T. The Architecture of Parliaments: Legislative Houses and Political Culture, BJ Pol. S accessed on: 20 Nov. 10 Pope A. Mass Absence: Space Reader: Heterogeneous Space in Architecture, Edited by Michael Hensel, Christopher Hight, Achim Menges. Chichester, U.K. : Wiley, A. Pope, Mass Absence, Ladders, Princeton Architectural Press (New York), 1997, pp228-37, Addendum: The Reinvention of Space and the Space of Reinvention (2008), (c) John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 75

76 Sloterdijk P. Atmospheric Politics: Space Reader: Heterogeneous Space in Architecture, Edited by Michael Hensel, Christopher Hight, Achim Menges. Chichester, U.K. : Wiley, P. Sloterdijk, Atmospheric Politics, Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel (eds), Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy, MIT Press (Cambridge MA and London), ZKM Centre for Art and Media (Karlsruhe), 2005, pp Uexkull J. V. An Introduction to Umwelt: Space Reader: Heterogeneous Space in Architecture, Edited by Michael Hensel, Christopher Hight, Achim Menges. Chichester, U.K. : Wiley, Vale J. L. Architecture, Power and National Identity, Yale Harverd Press New Haven & London, 1992 London. Venturi R. Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture: The Museum of Modern Art, 1966,1977,2002. Venturi Robert, Scott Brown Denise, Architecture as Signs and Systems for a Mannerist Time, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts. London, England Venturi Robert, Scott Brown Denise, Izenour Steven, Learning from Las Vegas, Revised edition: 1977, Whitehead Alfred North Symbolism: Its meaning and effect: By, The Macmillan Company, Evelyn Whitehead,

77 (A Short Story) House of Being: The Glasshouse for Transhumant Symbioses 77

78 A long time ago, in a school of architecture, before the understanding of politics and its practicalities and before the progression of glass as viable architectural material, there was a project submitted. The location and time of the school and project is not exact, some believe it was ancient Greece others say it was industrial England. The project was titled House of Being: The Glasshouse for Transhumant Symbioses. It consisted of a large glasshouse for humans; the envelope of the glasshouse was fabricated of standard elements of civic transparent glass panels on a solid steel structure of politics, law and order, supported delicately on an inquisitive notion that large amounts of people can coexist in a shared environment. The student set up the glasshouse just beside the busiest Port on the coast and invited many people from all around to enter, socialise and engage. Many had nothing in common only the magnificent glass structure that surrounded them. The student s lectures and tutors were amazed; they were intrigued by the striking formality of the steel structure and its ability to provide a law order to the congested culture that entered. Although, the structure met its foundations with pinpoint delicateness it was strengthened and reinforced with the invisible glass panels which formed a perfect sealed envelope around the structure, sealing its faith as an artificial premises for humans, a unique environment that could be manipulated and controlled regardless of the outside conditions. Philosophers questioned the glasshouse and more specifically the environment of the glasshouse. Political scientists studied the steel structure and how it could be reinforced or simplified. Social scientists questioned the foundations, and whether or not this magnificent structure was capable of being supported on an idea, concept or 78

79 chance. Architects studied the quality of the space and the relationship between the envelope, structure and foundation s to the quality of atmosphere being created. Italy 1936 As years passed the steel structure was developed to imposing pillars of stone, the foundations became stronger and glasshouse entrance was restricted from open society to reactionary regime. The glass panels became bigger with less and less seams corners and joints. No longer was the glasshouse envelope decorated by the individuality of each panel but expressed by their reliance on the imposing primary support structure. India 1960 In the later part of the nineteenth century, a glasshouse was built in India. A selection of modern architects were employed by the state to study perform studies on the quality of spaces within the glasshouse, these studies were manifested in the form of parliaments. The envelope of the glasshouse was a return to small individual panels, not as an expression of individuality but rather out of practicality and flexibility of arrangement. The structure was a Western inspired modular of weathered steel beams and columns that were easily obtained due to the benefits of recent industrialisation. The columns were once again delicately supported, not on the foundations that large amounts of people can coexist in a shared environment but rather on the probability that an Eastern culture could coexist under a Western political system. 79

80 (Thesis Design Proposal) Assembly NI: Politics and the City 80

81 Design Statement The thesis project Assembly NI is a new parliament building proposal in Belfast city centre to replace the existing parliament buildings at Stormont and embed the home of Northern Ireland politics in the Capital s city centre. It should act as an important symbol for Northern Ireland s forward thinking era of politics and move on from the history and stigma attached to Northern Ireland politics and Stormont Parliament Buildings. The project is to investigate the parliament, not as an iconic tourist building on the periphery but as a city centre function and program, particularly the Public Forum. The assembly should consider the role of mass media and the contemporary speakers green and explicitly display the process of media research and investigation as civically and openly as possible. The site at Chichester Street has been selected to display this process through horizontal and vertical movement, as well as the display of the private journeys to the debate chamber and meeting rooms etc. throughout the main public spaces. The chosen site at Chichester Street Belfast should provide an additional civic space to add to the civic entity of Chichester Street situated between Belfast City Hall s open green space and The Justice Courts associated Pedestrian Street and seating areas. The site should also provide the Assembly with a large passive audience in a commercial/retail part of the City. The City centre site at Chichester Street should also provide the parliament with a 81

82 politically neutral setting. The Assemblies location in Belfast City should also provide a focal point of Northern Ireland s infrastructure making it the most accessible location in NI. Belfast also acts as a European stage due to the close proximity to the city airport. The city should act as a producer and consumer of new thoughts and ideas. 82

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