TRANSFORMATION OF PAINTING INTO ARCHITECTURE: Museum for the Works of F. Lembersky

92 Pages·2011·23.14 MB·English

TRANSFORMATION OF PAINTING INTO ARCHITECTURE:
Museum for the Works of F. Lembersky
by
Yelena Lembersky
B.F.A., School of Art,
B.S., School of Architecture and Urban Planning
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
August, 1991
SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE
AT THE
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
FEBRUARY 1994
@ Yelena Lembersky 1994. All rights reserved.
The author hereby grants to M.I.T. permission
to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and
electronic copies of the thesis document in whole or in part.
Signature of the author
Yelena Lembersky, Department of Architecture January 14, 1994
Certified by Accepted by
Fernando Domeyko, Lecturer, ARosemary 0- nshaV,C hairperson, Departmental
Thesis Supervisor Commitee on Graduate Students
FEB 2 4 1994
2
TRANSFORMATION OF PAINTING INTO ARCHITECTURE:
Muemr6 M%1rV
ABSTRACT stract
Art and architecture sharM common goa n iil4onaprnils Their
common goal is to express an abstrac spiritual c t
and beautiful material form. The shared principles of form generation in art and
architecture are abstraction, dematerialization, organization and construction of
space.
The similarity of purpose and formal principles allow art and architecture to inform
each other. Artists have employed architectural elements as pure abstract form, and
architects have applied art to formulate architectural intentions and resolve formal
architectural problems. As well, artists and architects have collaborated often in the
creation of single artistic or architectural projects.
This thesis introduces a method of transforming painting into architecture. The
formal methods found in selected paintings of the Russian painter Felix Lembersky
(1913-1970) are used to generate the architectural form for the museum of these same But suddenly you touch my heart,y ou do me good, Iam
paintings. The intention is to derive a form which is both rooted in architectural happy and Isay: "This is beautiful." That is Architecture.
principles and is expressive of the art works to be exhibited within the museum. Art enters in. -Le Corbusier
Thesis Supervisor: Fernando Domeyko
Title: Lecturer of Architectural Design
4
cknowl ment
I thank Fernando Domeyko, Edward Levine,
and Richard Tremaglio for their invaluable
contribution to this work I also thank the
faculty and staff of the MIT School of Archi-
tecture for their untiring commitment to
students and the discpline of architecture.
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T itle ............................................................................ ........... .. .. 1
A b stract ..................................................................................................... 3
Acknowledgment ........................................................................... 5
Table of Contents .................................. 7
C hapter 1: Spirit ................................................................................... 9
Introduction .............................................................. .... 10
The Spiritual ......................................................................... 11
Beauty ................................................................................... 12
H armo ny .............................................................................. 13
Purity ................................................................. .. 14
Epoch and Universal Truth ................................................ 16
C onclusion ............................................................................ 17
Endnotes ...................................................................... ...... 17
Ilustration credits . 18 Table of Contents
Chapter 2: Method .......................................................................- 19
Dematerialization and Abstraction...................................20
O rganization ....................................................................... 21
Construction of Space ....................................................... 23
Conclusion ................................ 25
Endnotes ................................. 25
Illustration credits .............................................................. 26
Chapter 3: Concert ......................................................... - .... 27
Endnotes/Illustration credits .......................................... 33
Chapter 4: Museum ................................................................... ... 35
Phase 1: Analysis & Preliminary Design......................... 36
Pictorial organization: autonomy of elements ......... 41
Dematerialization and abstraction: juxtaposition........41
Pictorial space: transparency and continuity ........... 41
Transformation: painting into architecture ............. 51
Massachusetts Avenue ........................................ 51
Commercial Avenue ............................................. 55
Phase 2: Museum for the Paintings of F. Lembersky ......... 64
Conclusion ....................................................................... - ...- 87
Bibliography ............................................................. ... 89
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:spiri
The Architect, by his arrangemento ffonns, realizes
an order which is ap ure creation of his spirit; by
forms and shapes he affects our senses to an acute
degree and provokes plastic emotions; by the
relationshipsw hich he creates he wakes profound
echoes in us, he gives us the measure of an order
which wefeel to be in accordancew ith that of our
world, he determines the various movements of our
hearta nd of our understanding;i t is then that we
experience the sense of beauty.1
-Le Corbusier
Chapter 1: Spirit
Introduction
Fine art and architecture aspire to similar goals and utilize similar methods to achieve
them. Both aspire to express a spiritual content through beauty, harmony, and formal
purity. They aim to articulate the essence of the epoch and culture through the
embodiment of universal truth. Both art and architecture achieve this by similar
means: dematerialization, abstraction, ordering and the construction of space. The
similarity in goals and methods of art and architecture can be evidenced in the
writings of prominent artists and architects of the twentieth century, particularly
Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian avant-garde painter, theoretician and founder of
abstract painting, and Le Corbusier, the most influential architect and painter of the
twentieth century.
2
Wassily Kandinsky asserts that "form is the material expression of abstract content."
3
Le Corbusier states that "Art is this pure creation of the spirit" and "architecture is a
thing of art, a phenomenon of the emotions, lying outside questions of construction
4
and beyond them." Similarly, Hans Hollein states that "architecture is a spiritual
5
b aorder, realized through building."
Both art and architecture utilize visual form to express a spiritual,
harmonious,
beautiful and pure essence, which affects the subconscious, evokes emotions, and
alters human understanding of the immediate surrounding, nature, and one's own
existence.
10 Chapter 1: Spirit