Take an example: the world of the house with me inside and you outside, or vice versa. There´s also the world of the street - the city - with you inside and me outside or vice versa. Get what I mean? Two worlds clashing, no transition. The individual on one side, the collective on the other. It´s terrifying. Between the two, society in general throws up lots of barriers, whilst architects in particular are so poor in spirit that they provide doors two inches thick and six feet high; flat surfaces in a flat surface - of glass as often as not. Just think of it: two inches or a quarter of an inch if it is glass - between such fantastic phenomena - hair-raising, brutal - like a guillotine. Every time we pass through a door like that we´re split in two but we don´t take notice any more, and simply walk on, halved. Is that the reality of a door? What then, I ask, is the greater reality of a door? Well, perhaps the greater reality of a door is the localized setting for a wonderful human gesture: conscious entry and departure. That´s what a door is, something that frames your coming and going, for it´s a vital experience not only for those that do so, but also for those encountered or left behind. A DOOR IS A PLACE MADE FOR AN OCCASION. A door is a place made for an act that is repeated millions of times in a life time between the first entry and the last exit. I think that´s symbolical. And what is the greater reality of a window? I leave that to you. Aldo van Eyck in O. Newman, CIAM ´59 in Otterlo, Stuttgart 1961; Documents of Modern Architecture Vol. 1. Congress report, projects and discussions. Review of CIAM activities, pp.26-28.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 19:58:06 +0000
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