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L L E T T E

"In madness equilibrium is established, but it masks that equilibrium beneath the cloud of illu­sion, beneath feigned disorder; the rigor of the architecture is concealed beneath the cunning arrangement of the disordered violences, "-Michel Foucault, M adness and Civilization,

"Cinegram.' not a fixed, unique or even repeated object; but a combir:ation (of objects or

spaces) • A notation of images and movements • Writing in movement • Discontinuous con­

tinuous, "

"Madness would then be a word in perpetual discordance with itself and interrogative throughout, so that it would question its own possibility, and therefore the possibility of the language that would contain it, thus it would question language . itself, since the latter also belongs to the game of language, "-Maurice Blanchot

"The world for us, has become infinite, meaning that we cannot refuse it the possibility to lend itself to an infinity of interpretations, "-Nietszche, Le Gai Savoir

I. CINEGRAM FOLIE 1987

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•

PLAN OF PARIS WITH SITES OF "GRANDS PROJETS" AND EXISTING PARKS

p R E F A c E

The competit ion for the Parc de la V i l lette was organized by the French Government i n 1 982. Its objectives were both to mark the vision of an era and to act upon the future economic and cultu ral development of a key area i n Paris. As with other " G rands Projets, " such as the Opera at Bastil le , the Louvre Pyramid or the Arch at Tete-Defense, the Parc de la V i l lette was the center of numerous polemics, f i rst at the time of the competit ion , when landscape designers violently opposed the chal lenges of architects, then d u ri ng governmental changes and various general budgetary crises. The Parc de la Vil lette is located on one of the last remain ing large sites in Paris, a 125-acre expanse previously occupied by the central slaughter houses and situated on the Northeast corner of the City, between the Metro stations Porte de Pantin and Porte de la Vi l lette. Over one kilometer long i n one direction and seven hundred meters in the other , La Vil lette appears as a mu ltiple programmatic fie ld , containing , in add ition to the park, a large Museum of Science and Industry, a C ity of Music , a Grande Hal le for exhibitions, and a rock concert hal l . Despite its name, the park as desig nated in the competition was to be no simple landscape replica. On the contrary, the brief for this "Urban Park for the 21st Centu ry" develops a com­plex program of cultu ral and entertainment facilities encompassi ng open air theaters, restau­rants, art galleries, music and pai nti ng workshops, playgrounds, video and computer d isplays, as wel l as the obl igatory gardens where cultu ral invention rather than natural re-creat ion , was encou raged . The object of the competit ion was to select a chief architect who wou ld oversee the masterplan and also build the "structur ing" elements of the park. A rt ists, landscape designers and other architects were to contribute a variety of gardens or buildings. In March 1 983, Bernard Tschumi , a 39-year old French-Swiss architect l iv ing i n New York, was selected by an i nternational jury from over 470 teams from 70 cou ntries. H is winn ing scheme had been conceived as a large metropolitan venture, derived f rom the disju nct ions and dissoci­ations of our t ime. I t attempted to propose a new u rbanistic strategy by articulat ing concepts such as "superimposit ion," architectural "combination " and "ci nematic" landscapes. Tschumi described the Park as "the largest d isconti nuous bu i lding i n the world . " Tschumi is cu rrently completing the $130 mil l ion f i rst phase of La Vil lette. As of late 1 987, nearly half of the Park is u nder construction, i nc lud ing 1 5 of 35 Folies, part of the covered gal­leries, the bridge and segments of the "cinematic promenade" of gardens. Several gardens by individual designers are u nder way, while future build ing projects are u nder consideration . This book assembles i n one volume a few key documents f rom the nearly 4 ,000 d rawings and 70 models elaborated over the past th ree years It also presents a theoretical introduction and several texts written d u ring the development stages of the project, i ncluding extracts from the competition report, the feasibility study, and project descriptions. Another book by Bernard Tschum i , La Case Vide, (Fono VIII , Architectural Associat ion , 1 986) , expands the Park's concept beyond its bui lt phase and includes a major essay "Poi nt de Folie. Maintenant l 'Architecture , " by Jacques Derrida, as well as a contribution by Anthony Vidler and an interview by Alv in Boyarsky. Also, a publicat ion entitled Pare-Ville Villette, (Ed . Champ Val lon , 1 987) , i l lustrates contribut ions of the artists, landscape designers, architects and philosophers.

III • LA VILLETIE 1865

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THE SLAUGHTERHOUSES AT LA VILLETIE, PLAN, 1865

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18 •

26 •

JAMES Jove!: 's

f'INN£GANS WAK

23 •

PROGRAMME

19 •

24 • riverruo, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend

of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of rcciralJation back to Howth Casde and Environs.

Sir Tristram, violer d'amol"CS, fc'ovu the shott sea, had passen-

20 •

core reamved (C:i0Mh �orica on �!I s�de the scraggy 28 isthmus of Europe or to Wlclderfigbt his pentsolate war: nor • had topsawyer's y the ,ueam Oconee exaggerated themselsc

to LaurensCounty's gorgiO! while dteywcnt doublin their mumper

all the time: nor avoice from afire bellowsed mishe mishe to

tluftauf thuartpeatrick: not yet, though venissoon after, had a

Iddscad bunended a bland old isaac: not yet, though all', (air in vanessy, were sosie sesthers wroth with [Wone nathandjoe. Rot a 31 peck of pa', malt had Jhem or Shen brewedlw. arclight and rory • end to the regginbrow was to be seen rings. on the aquafaoe.

The fall (bababadalgharagh..umminarronoltonnbronnlOnner­ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohooboordenenthur­nuk!) of it once waUstrait oldput' is rewed early in bed and larer on life down through all christian minstrelsy. The grear faU of me oft'wall entailed ar such shorr notice the pfrjsc.hure of Finnegan, ene solid man, tha;Jhump'YhHlhead of humself pnHTlpdy sends 36 an unquiring one to the wesr in quest of his rumptytumtoes: and their uprump' inrandplace is at the knock. out in the park • where onnges have been laid to rust upon the green since dev­linsfirst loved livvy.

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A B S T R A e T M E D I A T I O N A N D

When confronted with an u rbanistic program , an architect may either

S T R A T E G Y

a) design a masterly construction , an inspi red arch itectu ral gesture (a composit ion) ; b) take what exists, fill i n the gaps, complete the text, scribble i n the marg ins (a complement); c) deconstruct what exists by critically analyzing the h istorical layers that preceded it, even adding other layers derived from elsewhere-from other cities, other parks (a pal impsest); d) search for an intermediary-an abstract system to mediate between the site (as wel l as al l given constraints) and some other concept, beyond city or program (a mediation). During the Parc de la Vil lette competition , thought had been given to employi ng as a methodol­ogy either the pal impsest or the abstract mediation . The composition and complement were rejected outright, the one for its subscription to old arch itectural myths, the other for its l imit ing pragmatism. Yet the pal impsest (which had been explored in the 1 976 Screenplays) was not pu rsued, for its inevitably f igurative or representational components were incompati ble with the complexity of the programmatic, tech nical and political constraints that could be foreseen. Fu rthermore, the object of the competition was both to select a chief architect who wou ld be in charge of the master plan as well as of construction of the park's key elements , and to suggest, coordinate and supervise possible contr ibutions by other artists, landscape desig ners and architects. The numerous u nknowns govern ing the general economic and ideological context suggested that much of the ch ief architect's role would depend on a strategy of su bstitution. It was clear that the elements of the program were interchangeable and that budgets and prior i ­t ies could be altered, even reversed, at least over the course of one generation . Hence the concern reinforced b y recent developments i n phi losophy, art and l iterature, that the park propose a strong conceptual framework while simultaneously suggesting m ultiple combi­

nations and substitutions. One part could replace another, or a bui lding 's program be revised, changing (to use an actual example) from restau rant to gardening center to arts workshop. In this manner, the park 's identity could be mai ntained, whi le the c i rcumstantial logics of state or

institutional politics cou ld pursue their own i ndependent scenari i . Moreover, our object ive was also to act upon a strategy of differences: if other designers were to i ntervene, their projects' difference from the Folies or divergence from the continuity of the cinematic promenade would become the condition of thei r contributions. The general circumstances of the project, then , were to find an organizing structure that could exist i ndependent of use, a structure without center or hierarchy , a structure that would negate the simplistic assumption of a causal relation­ship between a program and the resulting architecture. Recourse to the point g rid as an organizi ng structure was hardly without precedent. The con­cept of an abstract mediation had been researched earlier in Joyce's Garden (1977) , in which a

26 •

JAMES JOYCE'S GARDEN VERSION I

JOYCE'S GARDEN 1976-77 A LITERARY TEXT, FINNEGANS WAKE, WAS USED AS THE PROGRAM. AN ABSTRACT POINT GRID FUNCTIONED AS A MEDIATOR BETWEEN THE TEXT AND THE SITE

I j � -- ---j � ____ __ ___ _________ _ __ J \ ___ / :

PSYCHO-PARK (1976), EXCERPT FROM THE SCREENPLAYS SERIES FADE-IN. FADE-OUT AS PALIMPSEST: SUPERIMPOSITION OF ABSTRACT AND FIGURATIVE ELEMENTS EDITED FROM A. HITCHCOCK'S PSYCHO AND PLANS FROM CENTRAL PARK AND MANHATTAN GRID

literary text, Finnegans Wake, was used as the program for a project involving a dozen contri­butions by different students on a "real" site, London's Covent Garden. The intersections of an ordinance survey g rid became the locations of each architectural intervention, thereby accomo­dating a heterogeneous selection of buildings through the regular spacing of points . Moreover (and perhaps more importantly) the point g rid functioned as a mediator between two mutual ly exclusive systems of words and stones, between the literary prog ram (J oyce's book) and the architectural text. Joyce's Garden in no way attempted to reconcile the disparities resulting from the superimposition of one text on another; it avoided synthesis, encouraging, instead, the

V. PRELIMINARIES 1977

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opposed and often conflicting logics of the different systems. Indeed , the abstraction of the grid as an organizing device suggested the d isju nction between an architectu ral s ignif ier and its programmatic s ign ified , between space and the use that is made of it. The point g rid became the tool of an approach that argued, against functionalist doctrines, that there is no cause-and­effect relat ionship between the two terms of program and arch itecture .

Beyond such personal precedents, the poi nt g rid was also one of the few modes of spatial organization that vigorously resisted the stamp of the individual author : its h istorical mu ltiplicity made it a sign without orig in , an image without "f i rst image" or i naugu rating mark. Neverthe­less, the g rid 's serial repetitions and seeming anonymity made it a paradigmatic 20th-century

form. And, just as it resisted the humanist claim to authorsh ip, so it opposed the closu re of i deal compositions and geometric dispositions. Through its regular and repetitive markings, the

g rid defined a potentially infinite field of points of i ntensity: an i ncomplete, i nf i nite extension , lacking center or hierarchy. The g rid, then, presented the project team with a series of dynamic oppositions. We had to design a park: the gr id was anti-nature . We had to fulf i l l a number of fu nctions: the gr id was anti-fu nctional . We had to be realists: the g rid was abstract. We had to respect the local con­text: the g rid was anti-contextual . We had to be sensitive to site bou ndaries: the g rid was i nfinite. We had to take i nto account pol itical and economic indetermination : the g rid was determinate. We had to acknowledge garden precedents: the g rid had no orig in , it opened onto an endless recession into prior images and earlier signs.

s u p E R M p o s T o N

It should be noted that the point g rid of La Vil lette cou ld just as well have taken the form of a random distribution of poi nts th roughout the site. Only for strateg ic, rather than conceptual , reasons was the regular poi nt g rid selected. It is also important to recall that the point g rid of Folies (the " system of points") constitutes only one of the project's components; the "system of l i nes" and the "system of su rfaces" are as fundamental as the "system of points." Each represents a different and autonomous system (a text) , whose superimposition on another makes impossible any "composition ," mai ntain ing differences and refusing ascendency of any privileged system or organ izing element. Although each is determined by the architect as " subject," when one system is superimposed on another, the subject-the architect-is erased . Whi le one cou ld object that the same architect continues his control l i ng authority by staging the superimposition (and hence that the park remains the product of h i s individual i ntentions), the competition requirements provided a means to relativize the presence of such a masterminding subject by stipulating, as i n any large-scale u rban project, that other professionals intervene. Another layer , another system cou ld then be i nterposed among the preceding three layers in the form of occasional constructions juxtaposed to several Folies, or of experimental gardens by d ifferent designers, inserted into the sequences of the cinematic promenade. Such juxtapo­sit ions would be successful only i nsofar as they i njected discordant notes i nto the system, hence reinforcing a specific aspect of the Park theory. The principle of heterogeneity-of mu lt i ­ple, d issociated and inherently confrontational elements-is aimed at disrupt ing the smooth coherence and reassur ing stabi l ity of composit ion , promot ing i nstabil ity and prog rammatic mad­ness ("a Fol ie") . Other existing constructions (e. g . the Museum of Science and Industry, the Grande Halle) add further to the calculated d iscontinuity.

c N E G R A M

To the notion of composition , which implies a read ing of u rbanism on the basis of the plan, the La Vil lette project substitutes an idea comparable to montage (wh ich presupposes autonomous parts or fragments). Fi lm analogies are convenient, since the world of the ci nema was the first to i ntroduce discontinu ity-a segmented world in which each f ragment maintai ns its own independence, thereby permitt ing a mult iplicity of combinations. In f i lm, each frame (or photo­g ram) is placed in continuous movement. Inscribi ng movement through the rapid succession of photog rams constitutes the c inegram The Park is a series of cinegrams, each of which is based on a precise set of architectonic, spatial or programmatic transformations. Cont igu ity and superimposit ion of cinegrams are two aspects of montage. Montage, as a tech nique, includes such other devices as repetit ion , i nver­sion , substitution and insertion . These devices suggest an art of rupture, whereby invention resides in contrast-even in contradiction .

o E c o N s T R u c T o N

Is the Parc de la Vi l lette a built theory or a theoretical bu i lding? Can the pragmatism of bui ld ing practice be allied with the analytic rigor of concepts? An earlier series of projects, published as Th·e Manhattan Transcripts (Academy Edit ions-St.

Mart in 's Press, 1981) was aimed at achievi ng a d isplacement of cohventional arch itectural categories through a theoretical argument. La Vil lette was the bu i l t extension of a comparable

method; it was impelled by the desire to move " from pure mathematics to applied mathemat­ics." In its case, the constraints of the built realizat ion both expanded and restricted the

research . It expanded it. i nsofar as the very real economic, political and tech nical constraints of the operation demanded an ever increasi ng sharpening of the theoretical argumentation : the project became better as diff iculties i ncreased. But it restricted it insofar as La Vil lette had to be built: the i ntention was never merely to publish books or mou nt exhibitions; the fi nality of each d rawing was " build ing" except in the book entitled La Case Vide, there were no "theoretical d rawings" for La Vil lette. However, the Parc de la Vil lette project had a specific aim: to prove that it was possible to con­struct a complex arch itectural organization without resort ing to traditional ru les of composition , h ierarchy, and order. The principle of superimposition of th ree autonomous systems of points, l i nes and surfaces was developed by reject ing the total izing synthesis of objective constraints evident in the majority of large-scale projects. In fact , if historically arch itecture has always been defined as the " harmonious synthesis" of cost, structu re, use and formal constraints ("venustas, f i rmitas, ut i l itas") , the Park became arch itecture against itself: a d is-i ntegration . O u r aims were t o displace the tradit ional opposition between prog ram and architecture, and to extend questioning of other arch itectural convent ions through operations of su perimposition , permutation and substitut ion to achieve "a reversal of the classical oppositions and a general displacement of the system, " as Jacques Derrida has written, in another context, in Marges.

Above al l , the project directed an attack agai nst cause and effect relationships, whether between form and fu nct ion , structure and economics or (of cou rse) form and program, replac­ing these opposit ions by new concepts of contigu ity and su perimposit ion . "Deconstructing" a g iven program meant showing that the program cou ld chal lenge the very ideology it impl ied . And deconstructing architectu re involved dismantl i ng its convent ions, usi ng concepts derived both f rom architectu re and from elsewhere-from cinema, l i terary criticism and other discip­l i nes. For if the limits between different domai ns of thought have g radual ly vanished in the past twenty years, the same phenomenon appl ies to arch itectu re , which now entertains relations with cinema, philosophy and psychoanalysis (to cite only a few examples) in an intertextuality sub­versive of modernist autonomy. But it is above al l the historical split between arch itecture and its theory that is eroded by the pri nciples of deconstruct ion. I t is not by chance that the different systems of the Park negate one another as they are super­imposed on the site. Much of my earlier theoretical work had questioned the very idea of struc­ture , paralleling contemporary research on l iterary texts. One of the goals at La Vil lette was to pu rsue this i nvestigat ion of the concept of structu re, as expressed in the respective forms of the poi nt g rid , the coordinate axes (covered gal leries) and the "random curve" (ci nematic promenade). Su perimposing these autonomous and completely log ical structu res meant ques­t ioning thei r conceptual status as ordering machines the superimposit ion of th ree coherent structu res can never result in a supercoherent megastructure , but in something u ndecidable, someth ing that is the opposite of a totality. Th is device had been explored from 1 976 onwards in The Manhattan Transcripts, where the overlapping of abstract and figu rative elements (based on "abstract" architectonic transformations as much as on "figurative" extracts from the selected site) coincided with a more general exploration of the ideas of program, scenario and sequence. The independence of the th ree superposed structu res thus avoided al l attempts to homogenize the Park i nto a totality. It el iminated the presumption of a pre-established causality between program, arch itecture and sig nificat ion. Moreover, the Park rejected context, encou rag ing i ntertextual ity and the d ispersion of mean ing . It su bverted context: La Vi l lette is anticontextual . It has no relation to its surrou ndings. Its plan su bverts the very notion of borders on which "context" depends.

N O N S E N S E N 0 M E A N N G

The Parc de la Vil lette project thus can be seen to encou rage conflict over synthesis, fragmen­tat ion over u nity, madness and play over careful management. It subverts a number of ideals that were sacrosanct to the M odern period and, in this manner, it can be al l ied to a specific vision of postmodernity. But the project takes issue with a part icular premise of architectu re, namely, its obsession with presence, with the idea of a mean ing immanent in architectu ral structu res and forms which d i rects its s ign ify ing capacity. The latest resurgence of this myth has been the recuperation , by architects, of meaning , symbol , cod ing and "double coding , " in an eclectic movement reminiscent of the long tradit ion of "revival isms" and "symbolisms" appearing throughout h istory. This arch itectural postmodernism contravenes the reading evi­dent i n other domai ns, where postmodernism involves an assault on mean ing or , more pre­cisely, a reject ion of a wel l-defi ned sig nified that guarantees the authenticity of the work of art . To dismantle meaning , showi ng that i t i s never transparent, but social ly produced , was a key objective in a new critical approach that questioned the humanist assumptions of style Instead , arch itectu ral postmodernism- opposed the style of the Modern Movement, offering as an alternative another, more palatable style. Its nostalgic pursuit of coherence, which ig nores

today's socia l , political and cultu ral d issociations, is frequently the avatar of a particular ly con­servative architectural milieu .

The La Vi l lette project, in contrast, attempts to dislocate and de- regu late mean ing , rejecti ng the "symbolic" repertory of architecture as a refuge of humanist thought. For today the term "park" (l ike "arch itecture ," "science," or "literature") has lost its u n iversal meani ng: it no longer refers to a fixed absolute, nor to an ideal . Not the hortus conclusus and not the repl ica of Nature, La Vil lette is a term in constant production, in continuous change; its meaning is

VII. DISSOCIATION

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never fi xed but is always deferred , d iffered , rendered i r resolute by the multipl icity of meani ngs it i nscri bes. The project aims to unsettle both memory and context, opposing many contextualist and continualist ideals which imply that the architect 's intervent ion necessarily refers to a typol­ogy, o rig i n or determi ning sign ified . Indeed , the Park's architecture refuses to operate as the expression of a pre-existing content, whether subjective, formal or functional . Just as i t does not answer to the demands of the self (the sovereign or "creative" architect) so i t negates the immanent dialectic of the form, si nce the latter is displaced by superimposit ions and transforma­t ions of elements that always exceed any g iven formal configuration. Presence is postponed and closure deferred as each permutation or combi nation of form shifts the image one step ahead . Most importantly , the Park cal ls into quest ion the fundamental or primary sig nified of arch itecture-its tendency (as Derrida remarks in La Case Vide) to be "in service, and at ser­

vice," obeying an economy of meaning premised on functional use. In contrast, La Vil lette pro­motes programmatic instability, functional Folie. Not a plenitude, but instead "empty" form: les cases sont vides.

La Vil lette, then, aims at an architecture that means nothing, an architecture of the signifier rather than the signified-one that is pure trace or play of language. In a Nietzschean manner, La Vi l lette moves towards i nterpretive i nfinity, for the effect of refusing fix ity is not i nsign ificance, but semantic plural ity. The Park's th ree autonomous and superimposed systems and the end­less combi natory possibilities of the Folies g ive way to a multi pl ic ity of impressions. Each observer wi l l project h is own i nterpretat ion , resulti ng in an account that wi l l again be i nterpreted (according to psychanalytic, sociological or other methodologies) and so on. In consequence, there is no absolute "truth" to the architectural project, for whatever "meaning " it may have is a funct ion of interpretation it is not resident in the object, or in the object's materials. Hence,

the "truth " of red Folies is not the "truth" of Constructivism, just as the "truth " of the system of poi nts is not the "truth " of the system of l i nes. The addition of the systems' i nternal coherences is not coherent. The excess of rationality is not rat ional . La Vil lette looks out on new social and historical circumstances: a dispersed and differentiated reality that marks an end to the utopia of unity.

New York, Summer 1987

A N U R B A N P A R K F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y

The competition for the Parc de La Vi l lette is the first in recent arch itectural history to set forth a new prog ram-that of the "Urban Park," proposing that the juxtaposition and combination of a variety of activities wi l l encou rage new attitudes and perspectives This program represents an important breakthrough. The '70s witnessed a period of renewed interest in the formal constitu­t ion of the city, its typologies and its morphologies. While developing analyses focused on the h istory of the city, this attent ion was largely devoid of programmatic Justificat ion. No analysis addressed the issue of the activities that were to occur in the city Nor did any properly add ress the fact that the organization of funct ions and events was as much an architectu ral concern as the elaboration of forms or styles. The Parc de La Vi l lette, in contrast, represents an open-air cultu ral center, encouraging an integrated programmatic policy related both to the city's needs and to its l im itations. The pro­gram al locates space for workshops, gymnasium and bath faci l ities, playg rounds, exh ibitions, concerts, scientific experiments, games and competitions, in addit ion to a Museum of Science and Technology and a City of Music. The Park could be conceived as one of the largest build­ings ever const ructed-a d iscontinuous bui lding , but nevertheless a single structure, overlap­ping In certain areas with the city and existing suburbs. It forms an embryonic model of what the new programs for the 21 st century wi l l be. Du ring the 20th centu ry we have witnessed a sh ift in the concept of the park, which can no longer be separated from the concept of the city. The park forms part of the vision of the city. The fact that Paris concentrates tertiary or profeSSional employment argues against passive "esthetic" parks of repose in favor of new urban parks based on cu ltural invention, education and entertainment. The inadequacy of the cIvilization vs. nature polarity under modern city conditions has inval idated the time-honored prototype of the park as an image of natu re. It can no longer be conceived as an undefi led Utopian world- in-minlature, protected from vile reality. What we see, then, IS the exhaustion of the "open space" concept faced with the reality of the cultural park. Hence we oppose the notion of Olmsted, IA-ldespread throughout the 1 9th cen­

tu ry, that "in the park, the city is not supposed to exist ." To create false hi l ls hiding the Peripherique Ignores the power of urban reality.

1 • SITUA liON PLAN 1982

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EARLY PRI NCIPLE OF COMBI NATION AND TRANSFORMATION OF ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS FROM THE POINT G R I D OF FOLI ES, DEVELOPED FROM AN EXISTING FIGURATIVE ELEM ENT (AN 1 865 PAVI LLION ON THE SITE) TO AN ABSTRACT CUBE

POINTS

THE SUPERIMPOSITION OF THE THREE SYSTEMS (POINTS, LIN ES, SURFACES) CREATES THE PARK AS IT G EN­ERATES A SERIES OF CALCULATED TENSIONS WHICH REIN FORCE THE DYNAMISM OF THE PLACE. EACH OF THE THREE SYSTEMS DISPLAYS ITS OWN LOGIC AND INDEPENDENCE

3 • SUPER IMPOSITION POI NTS/LI NES/SURFACES 1982

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IMPLOSION RECOMPOSITIDN POINT FRAMES

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A SIM PLE STRUCTURAL SOLUTION EXPLODING PROGRAMMATIC REQU IREMENTS THROUGHOUT THE SITE ONTO A REGULAR GRID OF POINTS OF I NTENSITY (A MARK, A TRACE) HENCE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ACTIVITIES ARE FI RST ISOLATED AND THEN DISTRIBUTED ON THE SITE, OFTEN ENCOURAGING THE COM BI · NATION OF APPARENTLY INCOMPATI BLE ACTIVITIES (THE RUNN ING TRACK PASSES THROUGH THE PIANO· BAR INSIDE THE TROPICAL GREENHOUSE)

A N E w M o o E L

We propose, instead , a distinctive and innovative kind of park, em bodying a change i n social context . Extending the radical shift in ideology impl icit in the prog ram , our ambition goes beyond producing a variat ion on an exist ing type by alterlng one of its com ponents. We aim neither to change styles while retain ing a tradit ional content, nor to fit the proposed program into a conventional mold, whether neo-classical , neo-romantic , or neo-modernist. Rather, our project is motivated by the most constructive principle with i n the legitimate "h istory" of arch itec­tu re, by which new prog rammatic developments and inspirat ions result in new typologies. Our ambit ion is to create a new model in which program , form, and ideology al l play integral roles.

S Y S T E M S A N D S U P E R I M P O S I T I O N S

Our project is motivated by the fact that the site is not "v i rg in land , " but is located i n a popu­lated semi-industrial quarter , and includes two enormous existing structures, the Museum of Sci­ence and Technology and the G rand Hal le. Reject ing the idea of introducing another mass, even of a linear character, into an already encumbered terra in and respecting the extensive requi rements of the program , we propose a s imple structu ral solution to d istr ibute the pro­g rammatic requirements over the total site in a regular arrangement of points of intensity, desig­nated as Folies . Deconstruct ing the program into intense areas of activity placed accord ing to exist ing site characteristi.cs and use, th is scheme permits maximum movement th rough the site, emphasizi ng discoveries and presenting visitors with a variety of programs and events. Developments in architectu re are general ly related to cu ltu ral developments motivated by new fu nct ions, social relat ions or tech nological advances. We have taken this as axiomatic for our scheme, wh ich aims to constitute itself as image, as structural model and as a paradigmatic

example of arch itectural organization . Proper to a period that has seen the r ise of mass pro­duct ion, serial repetition and disjunct ion, th is concept Tor the Park consists of a series of related neutral objects whose very s imi larity al lows them to be "qual ified " by fu nct ion . Th us in its basic structure each Folie is bare, u ndifferentiated and "industr ial " in character ; in the special izat ion of its program it is complex, articulated and weighted with meaning . Each Folie constitutes an autonomous sign that indicates its independent programmatic concerns and possi bi l ities while suggest ing, through a common structu ral core, the u nity of the total system. This i nterplay of theme and variation al lows the Park to read symbolical ly and structu ral ly, whi le permitting max-imum programmatic flexi bility and invention .

.

In contrast to Renaissance or 19th centu ry spatial organ ization, the Parc de La Vil lette presents a variation on a canonical modern spatial scheme, the open plan. Conforming to the definition of a system or structure, the g rid of the Folies is a self- referential ,

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meaning that it is i n it ial ly independent of park, program and site. It is only when the g rid is appl ied or , more precisely, put in place, that i t takes on a reality d isti nguish ing i t f rom a simple geometric system. The new park is formed by the encou nter of th ree autonomous systems, each with i ts own logic, particularities and l im its: the system of objects, the system of movements and the system of spaces. The overlay of the d ifferent systems thus creates a carefu l ly staged series of ten­sions that enhances the dynamism of the park.

E T y M o L o G y

At its or ig in i n seventeenth-century France, "folie" or fol ly had a meaning d ifferent from the one now assig ned it at La Vi l lette; it i ndicated an extravagant house of enterta inment. In the 21 st Century U rban Park, it loses such aristocratic connotations to gain a public image, whi le enlarg­ing on contemporary psychoanalytic d iscoveries ( in french , la folie means " madness , " " i nsan­ity' ') .

The new meaning of folie transforms its or ig i nal sense b y replaci ng the extravagant d isplay of eclect ic styles with the regulated juxtaposit ion of u nprecedented programs. The pu rpose of th is operation is to remove la folie from immersion i n the h istorical object and to relocate i t on the broader level of abstract ion as an autonomous neutral object that subsequently receives the play of s igns. Thus it is not the specific attributes of the object that are s ign ificant, but rather, its artificial abstract ion-the closed perfect ion of the system to wh ich the object refers. The Folies

and thei r gr id are fabricated forms, the products of processes by which abstraction ( in th is case, point, l i ne, su rface) has progressively come to replace real ity. Substitut ing "cu ltu re" for "natu re ," they represent the g radual decl i ne of the latter, and take thei r model from the repeti­tive capabi l i t ies and artificial ity of the machi ne. In th is manner, the U rban Park can be seen to oppose the n i neteenth-century concept of Nature , based on biolog ical or physical laws. with the technological ly-formed concept of the envi ronment.

A Folie as homage to Borges, Burroughs, Cocteau, Quenau and of course to Otto Julius

Manntoifel, whose combinatory construction brought together "the revolving stage, the circulat­ing library, the house as a living unit, the winter garden, some flawless allegorical marbles, the

Roman Catholic chapel, the Buddhist temple, the skating rink, frescoes, the polyphonic organ, the currency exchange, the men 's room, the Turkish bath, and the wedding cake-to mention only a few of its elements. The burdensome maintenance of this multiple structure, however, caused it to be auctioned off and dismantled almost immediately following the festivities which

crowned its opening. " (JL Borges, A Bioy Casares, Ch ronicles of Bustos Domecq).

5 . MECHANICAL AXONOMETRICS 1 983

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THE PROGRAMMATIC NEEDS FIRST HAVE BEEN EXPLODED INTO A SERI ES OF FRAGMENTS. THESE FRAG­MENTS ARE TH EN DISTRIBUTED AROUND A SINGLE BU ILT COMMON DENOMINATOR: TH E POINT GRID OF FOLI ES

LINES THE PEDESTRIAN MOVEMENTS ARE QUALIFIED BY 1) TWO COORDINATE AXES, OR COVERED PERPENDICU­LAR GALLERIES, 2) A MEANDERING "CINEMATIC" PROMENADE THAT RELATES VARIOUS PARTS OF. THE PARK IN A SEQUENTIAL MANNER, 3) ALLEYS OF TREES LINKING THE KEY ACTIVITIES ON THE SITE

SURFACES THE VARIOUS PARK SURFACES HAVE THEIR OWN TEXTURES, CORRESPONDING TO THEIR RESPECTIVE PRO­GRAMMATIC NEEDS (PAVEMENTS, GRASS, SPORTS)

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L N E S S U R F A C E S

The Folies are placed according to a poi nt-grid coordinate system at 120-meter i ntervals. They provide a common denominator for all events generated by the program . Each is essential for the program . Each is essential ly a 1 0 x 10 x 10 meter cube or a th ree-story construction of neutral space which can be transformed and elaborated according to specific programmatic needs. The strict repetition of the basic 1 0 x 1 0 x 1 0 meter Folie is aimed at developing a clear symbol for the Park, a recognizable identity as strong as the B ritish telephone booth or the Paris Metro gates. The advantages of this g rid system are manifold. It is by far the simplest system establishing territorial recognition and one that is easily implemented. It lends itself to easy mai ntenance.

7 • GENERAL AXONOMETRIC VIEW

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TH E CINEMATIC PROMENADE OF GARDENS A MONTAGE OF SEQUENCES AND FRAMES CONCEIVED AS SPACES FOR THE INTERVENTIONS OF ARTISTS, LANDSCAPE DESIGNERS, ARCH ITECTS AND PHILOSOPH ERS. THE PROMENADE OF GARDENS IS DESIGNED AS A F ILM STRI P, IN WHICH THE SOUNDTRACK CORRESPONDS TO TH E PEDESTRIAN PATH AND THE I MAGE TRACK TO THE SUCCESSIVE FRAMES OF SPECI FIC GARDENS AIMED AT SUCH ACTIVITIES AS BATHING, P ICNICKING, ROLLERSKATING, AS WELL AS FOR D ISPLAYING THE STAGING OF "NATURAL" PLANTING OR CONCEPTUAL GARDENS (GARDENS BY DESIGNERS)

The structure provides a comprehensive image or shape for an otherwise il l -defined terrain . The regu larity of routes and positioning makes orientation simple for those u nfamiliar with the area. The advantage of the point g rid system is that it provides for the minimum adequate equipment of the u rban park relative to the number of its visitors.

LI NES

The Folie grid is related to a larger coordinate structure (the Coord inates) an orthogonal system of h igh-density pedestrian movement which marks the site with a cross. The North-South Pas­sage or Coordinate l inks the two Paris gates and su bway stat ions of Porte de la Vi l lette and Porte de Pantin; the East-West Coord inate joins Par is to its subu rbs. A 5 meter wide, open covered structure runs the length of both Coordinates. Organized around the Coordinates so as to fac i l itate and encourage access are Folies designated for the most frequented activities:

the City of Music, restaurants, Square of the Baths, art and science displays, chi ldren's play­grounds, video workshops and Sports Center. The Line system also includes the Path of Thematic Gardens, the seemingly random curvi- l i near route that l i nks various parts of the Park in the form of a careful ly planned ci rcuit. The Path of Thematic Gardens i ntersects the Coord inate axes at various places, providing u nexpected encounters with u nusual aspects of domesticated or " programmed " nature.

SURFACES

The surfaces of the Park receive al l activities requiring large expanses of horizontal space for play, games, body exercises, mass entertainment, markets, etc. Each surface is programmati­cal ly determined. So-called left-over surfaces (when every aspect of the program has been fu lfilled) are composed of compacted earth and g ravel , a park material fami l iar to all Parisians. Earth and g ravel surfaces al low for complete programmatic freedom.

Excerpts from the architect's report t o the International Jury, 1 983.

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F R A M E S A N D S E 0 U E N e E S

The C i nematic Promenade is one of the key featu res of the Park, It is conceived along the analogy of a film strip in wh ich the sou nd-track corresponds to the general walkway for visitors and the image-track corresponds to the suc'cessive f rames of individual gardens, The linearity of sequences orders events, movements and spaces in a progression that either combines or parallels divergent concerns, Each part, each frame of a sequence qualifies, reinforces or alters the parts that precede and follow it, The associations thus formed allow for a plurality of

interpretations rather than a singular fact, Each part is thus both complete and incomplete, If the general structu re of the sequence of gardens requires the indetermination of its content (hence the role of the chief architect as film director overseeing the montage of sequences) , its specific content impl ies determinacy (through the part icular designs of i ndividual designers), The Park is also inhabited: sequences of events, use, activities, incidents are inevitably super­imposed on those fixed spatial sequences, It suggests secret maps and impossible fictions, rambling collections of events all strung along a collection of spaces, frame after frame, garden

after garden, episode after episode, At La Vi l lette a frame means each of the segments of the sequence in the cinematic promenade, each frame defines a garden , Each of these frames can be turned i nto a s ingle piece of work, The framing principle permits arrangement of each part of the sequence si nce, as with the

cinegrams of a film, each frame can be i nfinitely mixed , combined , superimposed, etc, More­over, the content of each frame can be shown from above or from below, producing u nusual viewpoints, The spat ial sequences at La Vil lette can also be seen independently from the mean ings they may suggest. Thei r signification can be deduced directly from the events occur­ring i n the sequence (a row of s l ides, a sand box and a rol lerskati ng space undoubted ly imply a child ren's sequence), In literature and in the cinema the relations between frames or between sequences can be man ipulated through devices such as flashbacks, jumpcuts, d issolves and so on: Why not i n architecture or i n landscape? At La V i l lette, the cu t between two garden sequences is exe­cuted by means of a l i ne of trees, In other words, the l i nes of trees defin ing the "t riangle" and the "c i rcle" are to be read first as cuts between sequences, All sequences are cumulative, Their "frames" derive significance from juxtaposition, They establish memory�of the preced­

ing frames,

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throughout, so that it would question its own possibility, and therefore the possibility of the language that would contain it; thus it would question itself, since the latter also belongs to the game of language." (Mau rice Blanchot) Madness serves as a constant poi nt of reference throughout the Urban Park of La Vil lette because it appears to i l l ustrate a characteristic situation at the end of the twentieth century­that of d isjunctions and dissociation between use, form and social values. This situat ion is not necessari ly a negative one, but rather is symptomatic of a new condit ion , as d istant from eighteenth century h uman ism as f rom this centu ry's various modernisms. Madness, here, is l i nked to its psychoanalytical meaning-i nsanity-and can be related to its built sense-folly­only with extreme caution . We aim to free the bu i lt Folie f rom its h istorical connotations and to place it on a broader, more abstract plane, as an autonomous object which , in the futu re, wi l l be able to receive new meani ngs. I t is not necessary to recall i n this context how M ichel Foucault , i n Madness and Civilization,

analyzes the manner i n which insan ity raises questions of a sociological , phi losoph ical , and psychoanalytic nature. If I suggest that madness also raises an architectural quest ion , it is in

MONTAGE AND SUPERIM POSITION 1 984 • 1 6

order to demonstrate two points. On the one hand, that normal ity ( " good " arch itecture: typolo­gies, Modern M ovement dogmas, Rational ism , and other " isms" of recent h i story) is only one possib i l ity among those offered by the combinat ion, the "genetics" of architectural elements. On the other , that , just as al l societies requ i re lunatics, deviants, and cr iminals to mark thei r own negativity, so architecture needs extremes and i nterd ict ions to i nscr ibe the reality of its constant osci l lat ion between the pragmatics of the bui l t realm and the absoluteness of concepts. There is no i ntention here to descend i nto an i ntel lectual fascination with madness, but rather to stress that madness art iculates somethi ng that is often negated in order to preserve a frag i le cultu ral or social order. In this analogy, the contemporary city and its many parts (here La Vi l lette) are made to correspond with the dissociated elements of sch izophrenia. The question becomes that of knowing one's relationsh ip to such dis located city parts. Our hypothesis, here, is that this rela­tionsh ip necessari ly suggests the idea of transference. Transference in arch itecture resembles the psychoanalytic situat ion , the tool th rough which theoretical reconstruction of the totality of

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2 . A TYPOLOGY OF POSSIBLE SURFACES AND CON FIGURATIONS AT THE USERS DISPOSAL

OPPOSITE PAGE COM BI NATION OF FOLIES BASED ON THE PRI NCIPLE OF THE CASE VIDE (TH E VOID IN EACH MATRIX) EACH FOLIE IS THE RESULT OF THE INTERSECTON BETWEEN SPACES, MOVEMENTS AND EVENTS. VERTICALLY: ORGANIZATION OF SPACE AND MOVEMENT CON FIGURATIONS-TYPE A SIMPLE FOLIE . TYPE B FOLIE WITH GALLERY. TYPE C EXTENDED FOLIE . HOR IZONTALLY FROM THE TOP-FIRST LINE I NTRO­DUCING "IN DUSTRIAL" COMPONENTS; SECOND L INE "URBAN " COM PON ENTS; TH IRD L INE "NATURE" COMPON ENTS

the subject is attempted. "Transference is taken here as transport : d issociat ion explodes transference i nto fragments of transference . " I n the La Vi l lette project, we speak of a "formali­zation , " an acti ng-out of dissociat ion. In a psychoanalytical situat ion , the transference frag­ments are transported to the psychotherapist. In an arch itectu ral situation , these transference

fragments can only be transported onto architecture itself, The approach beh ind La Vi l lette suggests meeting points, anchori ng poi nts where fragments of dislocated reality can be apprehended. In th is situation , the formation of the dissociation requ i res that a support be structured as a poi nt of reassembly, The poi nt of the Folie becomes the focus of this d issociated space; it acts as a common denominator, constitut ing itself as a system of relations between objects, events, and people. It al lows the development of a charge, a point of i ntensity. The grid of Folies permits the combination of places of transference on the backgrou nd of the La Vi l lette site. Obviously, it is secondary to try to determ ine in advance the arch itectural forms that are most appropriate to such transferential situat ions. Al l that cou nts is that the Folie is both the place and the object of t ransference, Th is fragmentary transference i n mad ness is noth ing but the production of an ephemeral regrouping of exploded or dissociated structu res, The point g rid is the strateg ic tool of the La Vi l lette project . I t both art iculates space and activates it . While refusi ng al l h ierarch ies and "compositions, " it plays a pol itical role, rejecti ng the ideological a priori of the masterplans of the past. The U rban Park at La Vi l lette offers the possibi l ity of a restructur ing of a d issociated world through i ntermediary space-Folies-in which the grafts of transference can take ho ld . The poi nt g rid of Folies constitutes the place of a new i nvestment. The Folies are new mark­ings: the grafts of transference, These t ransference g rafts al low access to space: one beg ins with an am bivalence toward a form in space which must be " reincarnated . " The Folies create a " nodal point where sym bol and reality permit the bu i ld i ng of the imag inary by rei ntroducing a d ialectic of space and t ime . " The park at La Vi l lette offers such a transition space, a form of access to new cu ltu ral and social forms ih which expression is possible, even when speech has

d isappeared. La Vi l lette, then, can be seen as an i nnovative exposition of a technique on the level of su per­posit ions and anchor ing points, I t offers places to apprehend objects and uses. I t " bu i lds itself i nto a mechanism that acts as reassembl ing u nit for al l the modes of locati ng . " I t is a surface of mu lt i referential anchoring points for th ings or people which leads to a partial coherence, yet chal lenges the institutional structure of official culture, u rban parks, museums, leisure centers, etc.

COMBINATION

"Although every creation is of necessity combinative, society, by virtue of the romantic myth of 'inspiration ' cannot stand being told so. " Roland Barthes, Sade, Fourier, Loyola. The fragmentation of our contemporary, " mad " condit ion inevitably suggests new and u nfore­seen regrou pings of its fragments. No longer l i nked in a coherent whole, i ndependent from their past, these autonomous fragments can be recombi ned through a series of permutations whose rules have noth ing to do with those of classicism or modern ism.

ARCHITECTON IC AND VOLU M ETRIC CONFIGU RATIONS . 24

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URBANISTIC CONCEPT AS THE POINT GR ID OF FOLI ES IS DESIGNED AN D BU ILT BY BERNARD TSCHU M I, CHIEF ARCHITECT OF THE PARK, OTH ER DESIGNERS MAY BU ILD ADJACENT CONSTRUCTIONS

The argument beh i nd our La Vi l lette project attem pts to demonstrate, fi rst, that any " new" architecture impl ies the ideas of combination , that al l form is the result of com binat ion. I t then proceeds to indicate that the notion of combination can be articulated into different categories. It should be emphasized that arch itectu re is not seen here as the result of composit ion, a syn­thesis of formal concerns and functional constrai nts, but rather as part of a complex process of transformational relat ions. Our pu rpose is not to propose the kind of new moral or phi losophical role often associated with architectural endeavors. I nstead , we aim to consider the arch itect f i rst as a formulator, an inventor of relations. We also aim to analyze what wi l l be called in this context the "combina­tive, " that is , the set of combi nat ions and permutations that is possi ble among different categories of analysis (space, movement, event, techn ique, symbol , etc . ) , as opposed to the more traditional play between fu nct ion or use and form or style. I n this perspective, architecture is regarded as no longer concerned with composit ion or the expression of function . I nstead , it is seen as the object of permutation, the combi nation of a large set of variables, which is meant to relate, either i n a man ifest or secret way, domains as d ifferent as the act of runn ing , double expansion joints, and the free plan. Such a play of per­m utations is not g ratu itous. I t permits new and h itherto u nimagined activities to occur. How­ever, it also impl ies that any attempt to f ind a new model or form of architecture requ i res an analysis of the ful l range of possibi l it ies, as in the permutational matrices used by research scientists and structu ral ists al ike. I ndeed , perhaps the most im portant legacy of structu ral ism has to do with heu ristics, demonstrating that meaning is always a fu nction of both position and su rface, produced by the movement of an empty slot in the series of a structure.

The gu id ing pr inciple of reseach on La Vi l lette is precisely that of the empty slot. Thi s play of permutations was i n it ial ly explored in The Manhattan Transcripts; "the football player skates on the battlef ield" was the manifesto of the i nterchangeabi l ity of objects, people, and events. I nf luenced by postst ructural ist texts as much as by the different techniques of film montage, the Transcripts were only introduci ng , in a theoretical manner, what is to be appl ied at La Vi l lette. I n a remarkable study entitled Palimpsestes, the literary critic Gerard Genette has refined these concepts of transformat ion. Combinat ion, he writes, exists only with in a complex system of transformational relat ions. These relations can act on whole texts as much as on fragments. I n the case that concerns u s , that of L a Vi l lette, a general type of transformation called "mechani­cal operations " can be disti ngu ished . Mechanical operations may take several forms a) that of " Iexical" permutations, as in the decom posit ion of the 1 Om x 1 Om x 1 Om cube of the or iginal Folie i nto a series of d iscrete fragments or elements, i . e . , square or rectangu lar rooms, ramps, cyl indrical stai rs, etc . , which have been ordered to form a catalogue or lexicon. A lexical per­mutation entai ls taking an element from the or iginal cube and mechanical ly replacing it with another from the lexicon (for example, e + 7: each element of the cube is exchanged for the element of the lexicon placed i n seventh position beh i nd it) ; or b) that of " hypertextual " permu­tation , by which an element of the cube wi l l be replaced by another-for example, by a n ineteenth-century Neo-Classical pavi l ion placed nearby on the site. Such transplantat ion may lead to a semantic transformation in terms of its new context. A series of transformations and permutations simi lar to the f2"oul ipian" manipulations of the writers Queneau and Perec derives from the notion of the mechanical operat ion. This mix ing technique, general ly known as "contami nation , " can take innumerable forms. I t is character­ized by the purely mechanical aspect of the transformation, thus distingu ish ing it from pastiche or parody, which careful ly d ivert a text from its i n itial context toward a use with a mean ing known well i n advance. No semantic i ntention governs the transformation of La Vi l lette; they result from the appl ication of a device or formula . Whi le this may superficial ly resemble a varia­tion on the Surreal i st "exquisite corpse, " we have seen earl ier that the relation between form and meaning is never one between sign if ier and sign if ied . Arch itectural relations are never semantic, syntactic or formal , in the sense of formal log ic. I nstead , a better analogy to these montage and mix ing techniques m ight be found in Vertov' s or E isenste in 's work in the cinema, Queneau 's i n l iterature, or in the infin ite variat ions ar.ound an i n itial theme that one f inds in J .S . Bach 's Fugues. However, were th is process only to i nvolve deriving transformations and permutations on the level of the sol id elements of architecture, such as wal ls , stai rs, windows, and moldings, it wou ld not differ s ignificantly from most research on modes of composition or transformation as

URBANISTIC STRATEGY . 26

A BASIC CONSTRUCTION (THE CU BE) BEGINNING WITH A "NORMAL" CON FIGU RATION AND THEN DEVIATING FROM IT ACCORDING TO COMBINATION DEVICES INDICATED EACiLIER

Programmatic combination of folies: L5: cinema-restaurant, piano-bar, video theater, shops, running track, possibly small radio studio.

observatory, N5:

children 's folie, dra wing workshop, tarzan-bar, slide, water water games, the administration. N 7: folie of spectacles,

wheel, first aid clinic.

such . I n contrast, and in opposition to functional ist, formalist , classica l , and modernist doc­trines, our ambition , al ready expressed in The Manhatten Transcripts , is to deconstruct arch itec­tu ral norms i n order to reconstruct architecture along different axes; to i ndicate that space, movement and event are inevitably part of a min imal defi nit ion of architecture, and that the con­temporary disjunction between use, form and social values suggests an i nterchangeable rela­t ion between object, movement and act ion. I n this manner, the program becomes an integral part of architecture and each element of this prog ram becomes an element of permutation akin to sol id elements.

Excerpts from "Madness and Combinative." Bernard Tschumi in Precis . Columbia Architecture Journal, New York, Fall 1 984.

S T R U e T U R A L S Y S T E M o F T H E F O L I E S

All of the Folies use the same repetitive system , based on 10 .8 meter by 1 0 .8 meter by 1 0 .8 meter (36 x 36 x 36 foot) cube . The cube is then d ivided i n three i n each d i rect ion, forming a cage with 3 . 6 meters (1 2 feet) between bars. The cage can be decom posed i nto fragments of a cage or extended through the addition of other elements (one- or two-story cyl indrical or tr iangular volumes, stai rs, ramps) according to a variety of combinatory principles, wh i le simultaneously (and i ndependently) confronting specific programmatic requ i rements. The primary structure (the cage) is composed of a frame which can be concrete or steel-or any other material , for that matter. The selection of the structural material is made according to f i re code requi rements or economic condit ions. A red enamelled steel envelope covers every part of the structural frame. I t is designed so as to solve every interior or exterior corner, canti lever or edge condition . Although the Folies proceed from a s imple construction pri nciple, deviat ion alters the relation­ship to the structural g rid . The g rid then becomes a simple support around which a transgres­sive arch itecture can develop in relation to the or igi nal norm. The relationsh ip between normal­ity and deviation suggested a method for the elaboration of the Folies: Fi rst, requ i rements and constraints derived from the program are confronted with the arch itectonic combi nation and transformation principles of the project. The confrontat ion results in a basic arch itectural state: the "norm . " Then, the norm is transgressed-without, however, d isappearing . A distortion of the or igi nal norm resu lts: deviation . Deviation is both the excess of rational ity and i rrational ity. As a norm, it contains the com­ponents of its own explosion . As a deviation , it frees them . Normal ity tends towards u nity, devi­ation towards heterogeneity and d issociat ion. This is not a coupl ing of opposites but, instead , a matter of degree._ How are these degrees of deviation determined? Through economy, t ime, money, c i rcumstances , c l ient's demands. A " normal " Folie i s not bui l t i n the same manner as a " deviant" one.

27 . NORMALITYIDEVIATION 1 984

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T H E G A . L L E R I E S

If the system of poi nts of intensity th roughout the Park material izes th rough the g rid of Folies , the system of l i nes is characterized by the C i nematic Promenade, the al leys of trees and, i n par­t icular , by the covered North-South and East-West gal leries which act as coordinate axes of the site. Nearly one ki lometer long, l ink ing the Porte de Panti n to the Porte de la V i l lette, the North­South Gal lery is a br i l l iantly-l it publ ic street, open 24 hours a day and connecting the u rban fu nctions of the park: the M useum of Science and I ndustry, Cinema-Folies, Restaurant-Folies, Video-Folies , the 1 9th century G rande Hal l , a theater, the City of Music. The breaks in scale that can be observed on such a trajectory suggested that one could take advantage of occa­sional changes in g round level by keeping the main supporting beam of the Gal lery r igorously horizontal , hence increasing i ts standard height of 5 .4 meters ( 1 8 feet) to 9 meters (30 feet) near the g igantic M u seum of Science and I ndustry. The length of the Gal le ry (of which perhaps no comparable example exists anywhere in the world) , as well as the concept of a "float ing" superimposed element, suggested long 2 1 .6 meter (65-foot) spans between vertical su pports which contrast architectural ly and h istorical ly with the 8 meter (24-foot) span of the 1 9th-centu ry Grand Hal l . Consistent with the pr inciple of autonomy of the Park's various con­ceptual systems, the construction module of the main beam d iffers from the g rid of the u ndu lat­i ng canopy it supports. This pri nci ple of superimposition f inds its most spectacular expression in the carefu l ly orchestrated col l is ions between the North-South Gal le ry and the Folies it meets on its trajectory. Parallel to the di?torted paral lelogram of the Grand Hal le rather than to the orthogonal gr id of Folies , the Gal lery col l ides fou r t imes with Folies , thus determin ig their respective arch itecture. The East-West Gal lery along the Canal de l 'Ourcq not only extends the monumental route that leads from Ledoux 's Rotonda to the subu rbs but also acts as an elevated track, a sort of bal­cony overlooking the Park and the M useum of Science and I ndustry and giv ing second-floor access to the Folies located along the Canal . Agai n , the i nterpenetrat ion of the East-West Gal­lery and the Folies it encounters qual ifies the cantilevered architectu re of these Folies .

NORTH-SOUTH AND EAST-WEST GALLERIES 1 985 • 40

41 • AXONOMETRIC VIEW. NORTH-SOUTH GALLERY 1 985

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NORTH - SOUTH GALLERY, MODELS 1 986 • 48

NORTH-SOUTH GALLERY, EARLY PROJECT 1 984

P R O G R A M A N D o S T A N C A T o N

At La Vi l lette (or anywhere else, for that matter) there is no longer any relationship possible between arch itecture and program , architecture and meaning . I t has been suggested, in d is­cussing La Vi l lette, that architecture must produce a d istance between itself and the program it fu lfi l ls . This is comparable to the effect of d istanciat ion fi rst elaborated in the performing arts as the pri nc iple of non-identity between actor and character. I n the same way, it could be said that there must be no identification between architecture and program : a bank must not look l i ke a bank, nor an opera house l i ke an opera house , nor a park l i ke a park. Th is distanciation can be produced either through calculated shifts in programmatic expectations, or through the use of some mediati ng agent-an abstract parameter that acts as a distancing agent between the bui lt realm and the user's demands (at La Vi l lette, th is agent was the gr id of Folies) .

The concept of program , however, remai ns i ncreasingly important. By no means should it be el imi nated (a " pu re" arch itectu re) or re-injected at the end of the development of a " pu re" arch itectonic elaboration . The program plays the same role as narrative i n other domains: i t can and must be reinterpreted , rewritten, deconstructed by the arch itect. La Vi l lette, i n this sense, is dys-narrative or dys-programmatic : the programmatic content is f i l led with calcu lated

d istortions and i nterruptions, making for a city fragment in wh ich each image, each event strives towards its very concept.

Gardens have had a strange fate. Their history has almost always anticipated the history of cities. The orchard grid of man 's earliest agricultural achievements preceded the layout of the

first military cities. The perspectives, diagonals and archetypal schemes of the Renaissance

Gardens were applied to Squares, Colonnades and design of Renaissance cities. Similarly, the Romantic picturesque parks of English empiricism preempted the Crescents, Arcades and rich urban design tradition of nineteenth century England.

Built exclusively for delight, gardens are like the earliest experiments in that part of architecture that is so difficult to express with words or drawings: pleasure and eroticism. Whether "roman­tic " or "classic, " gardens merge the sensual pleasure of space with the pleasure of reason, in a most useless manner.

Excerpt from · 'The Pleasure of Arch itecture, " ' Bernard Tschuml, in Architectural Design, London 3/1 977. 49 • GALLERIES AND BRIDGE

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38 LA FOLIE ADMINISTRATIVE

3 LA FOLIE DU NORD (PORTE)

2 LA FOLIE D'ARIANE 4 LA FOLIE DE L'ATEL IER

1 LA FOLIE DE FLANDRE 7 LE FOLIE DE L'ANGLE DROIT

5 LA FOLIE DE LA SCIENCE 6 LA FOLIE DE L' INDUSTRIE

10 LA FOLIE A CUVIER

8 LA FOLIE DES ENFANTS DES ECOLES 13 LA FOLIE DU DRAGON

14 LA FOLIE DU BOTANISTE (SERRES)

35 LA FOLIE KIOSQUE

40 LA FOLIE DU CHEF DE GARE I I

1 5 L A FOLIE D U TEMPS E T D E S ETOILES

37 LA FOLIE DU THEATRE ET DE LA GASTRONOMIE II

1 8 LA FOLIE DU BATEAU LAVOIR

1 9 LA FOLIE DE L'OUEST ET DE LA BAIGNADE

22 LA FOLIE DU CANAL

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25 LA FOLIE DES ENFANTS DU VOISINAGE

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C LIENT BODY The French Government The Ministry of Culture Serge Goldberg President of the Etablissement Publ ic du Parc de la Vil lette Franc;;ois Barre Directeur du Parc

ARCH ITECTS I nternational Competition 1 982-83 Bernard Tschu m i , assisted by Luca Merl in i With Alexandra Villegas, Luca Pagnamenta And Galen Cranz, Phoebe Cutler Wi l l iam Wall is , Jon Olsen, Thomas Balsley

Prel iminaries and general planning documents 1 983-84 Bernard Tschumi , assisted by Colin Fournier With Luca Merl in i , Alexandra Vi l legas, Neil Porter, Steve McAdam , Luca Pagnamenta, Marie-Line Luquet Jean-Pierre Nourry, Didier Pasquier , Kathryn Gustafson, Renzo Bader With Peter Rice (RFR, Structures), Henry Barsley, SETEC-TP , SETEC-Batiment, Commins-BBM, Kate Linker And Don Paine, Patrizia Falcone, Patrick Bouchai n , Jul ia Bourke, Dina Dai n i , Peter Fleis­sig, David Kessler, Veronique Metadier, Marina Merson , Pietr Zaborski , Jon Olsen.

Project and construction 1 985 Bernard Tschumi , assisted by Jean-Franc;;ois Erhel With Alexandra Vi l legas, U rsula Kurz With Luca Merl in i , Christian Biecher, Marie-Line Luquet With Peter Rice (RFR, Bridge and Galleries Struc­tu res), Hugh Dutton, Henry Bardsley, Nadia Petit, Bernard Vaudevi l le With SETEC-Batiment, Pierre Robert; SETEC-TP, Franc;;ois Demouy; Jean-Paul Bonroy And Jean-Louis Raynaud, Vincent Polsi nel l i , Patrick Winters, M itsugu Osakawa, George Ka­todrytis , Rawia Muderris. Modelmaker: Jacques Fiore

Chronology of research prel iminary to the la Vil­lette project: 1 976 Joyce 's Garden : theoretical project based on James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. Exhi bited at Centre Pompidou , Paris, 1 980. 1 976-8 1 The Manhattan Transcripts: book intro­ducing sequential, superimposition and decon­struction devices. (Academy Editions/St. Mart i n ' s Press, London, N ew York, 1 98 1 ) . 1 979-81 20th Century Follies experimental con­structions of a polemical and ephemeral nature bui lt in New York, London and M iddleburg, Hoi­land . 1 985-86 La Case Vide twenty plates exploring future conceptual transformations and disloca­tions of the la Vil lette proJect. With an essay on Bernard Tschumi by Jacques Derrida, an i ntro­duction by Anthony Vidler and an interview with Alvin Boyarsky. (Bernard Tschu m i , Folio VI I I , Architectural Association, London, 1 986) .

BIBLIOGRAPHY (Excerpts) " La Vil lette: An U rban Park for the 2 1 st Cen­tury, " International Architect, 1 /83. "Architecture, Limites at Programmes , " Art Press, H .S. no. 2/83. " I I Parco delle ' Fol ies' de Tschumi , " Casabella , 6/83. "Concours I nternational pou r Ie Parc de la Vil­lette, " Architecture d 'Aujourd 'hui no. 227, 6/83. " Le footbal leur patine sur Ie Champ de Batai l le, " by Kenneth Frampton, Architecture d 'Aujourd 'hui, no. 228, 9/83. " I l l ustrated I ndex , " AA Files, London , 6/83. " I nterview , " Cree no. 1 97 , Paris, 1 0/83.

" Parc de la Vi l lette , " A rchitectural Review no. 1 040, London, 1 0/83. "Sequences, " Princeton Journal, Vol . 1 , Ritual, 1 983. " Bernard Tschumi et les ' Folies' de la Vi l lette , " L e Monde Dimanche, Paris, 1 1 /20/83. " Su perpositions et Communs Denominateurs" (with Col i n Fournier) , Urbanisme no. 203, Paris, 8/84. " Madness and the Combi native , " Precis, Colum­bia U niversity, New York, Fall 1 984. "Sequences, " in Vivre l'Architecture-Revue Autrement, Paris, 1 984. "A Paris for the 2 1 st Century, " (by Helene Li pstadt) , Art in America, New York, 1 1 /84. "Work-in Progress , " i n l'lnvention du Parc, Edi­t ions G raphite, Paris , 1 984. " Bernard Tschu m i , I e Parc de la Vi l lette , " AMC, 1 2/84. " P rogressive Architecture Awards, " Progressive Architecture, 1 /85. " Close to the madding crowd , " by Brian H atton , Bui/ding Design , London , 5/1 7/85. " Close to the madding crowd , " by Brian H atton, Architectures, New York , Summer 1 985. "A New Modernism , " Paul Goldberger, The New York Times, 1 1 /24/85. " Landscape and Architecture, " Architectural Review no. 1 063, London, 9/85. " Parc de la Vi l lette , " Cree no. 209, Paris, 1 /86. "Sequence 6 , Profession Ci neaste" by Claude Eveno, in "Architecture: recits, figures, fictions, " Cahiers du CCI, Centre Georqes Pompidou,

Paris, 1 986. " La Case Vide , " Folio VI!!, Architectural Associa­tion, (textes of Jacques Derrida, Anthony Vidler, Alvin Boyarsky) London, 1 986. "Art on Location , " Artforum , N ew York, 4/86. " Point de Fol ie -Mai ntenant l 'Architecture, " by J acques Derrida in AA Files no. 1 2 , London, 1 986. "Tschumi-Ies stries du Parc , " Urbanisme no. 2 1 5 , Paris, 9/86. " Parco spectacolare di Parigi , " Arca no. 1 , Mi lano, 1 1 /86. " Parc-Vi l le Vi l lette , " Vaisseau de Pierres , Ed. Champ Val lon , 1 987. "Architecture et Paysage, Bernard Tschumi , " Techniq ues et Architecture, Marc h , 1 987. " Disju nctions, Bernard Tschum i , " Perspecta 23, Yale Architecture Journal , New Haven, 1 986. "The Point of No-Return , " Daralice D . Boles, Pro­gressive Architecture, J u ly 1 987. Les Travaux de Bernard Tschu m i , AMC, Paris, October 1 987.

BERNARD TSCHUMI

Architect. Lives New York and Paris. Studied ETH (Federal I nstitute of Technology), Zu rich . Taught at the Architectural Associat inn, London, 1 970-79; I n stitute for Architecture and U rban Stu­dies, New York, 1 976; P ri nceton U niversity, 1 976 and 1 980; Visiti ng Professor, Cooper U n ion School of Architecture, New York, 1 980-83. Lec­tured extensively throughout U nited States and Europe. Exhi bited New York, London, Paris, Copenhagen, Madrid , Kassel, Berl i n , Athens, Moscow, Seoul , Lisbon, Los Angeles and Tokyo. H i s critical writi ngs have been pu blished in nu merous architecture and art magazines i nclud­ing Architectural Design , Oppositions, A + U, Precis, Perspecta , and Artforum. P rizewi nner in many i nternational competitions, i ncluding Parc de la Vi l lette, 1 983 (first prize); La Defense, Paris, 1 983 (Award); Tokyo Opera House, 1 986 (Second Prize); also wi nner of Pro­gressive Architecture Award, 1 985 for Parc de la Vil lette. The fi rst phase of the Parc de la Vi l lette, for which he is Chief .Architect and main designer, wil l be com pleted in 1 987. This phase i ncludes fourteen folies , part of the covered Gal leries, the bridge, and part of the "Cinematic Promenade. "

PRI NCETON ARCH ITECTU RAL PRESS 2 Research Way Forrestal Center Pri nceton , NJ 08540 (609) 987-2424

Design Concept: Bernard Tsch umi , assisted by Ch ristian Biecher

Design: Renate Fox and H u bert Tonka

Photography Credits: Bernard Tschumi, 1 9 , 28-29,48 Franc;;ois-X. Bouchart, 48 LART, 20,2 1 ,30 , 3 1 ,33-39,42-47

Typography M . Dawson, E . Short, A. U rban Photogravure: ErniolAzer (Spai n/France) Vercingetorix-photogravure(France) SRG (France)

Paper text and cover: Fedrigoni (Italy) Printing and Binding: Neo- Typo (France)

First publ ished 1 987 in France in the series

LlEUX D 'ARCH I TECTU RES edited by H u bert Tonka and publ ished by

C HAMP VALLON 0 1 420 SEYSSE L France

© 1 987 Bernard Tschumi I SBN 0-9 1 041 3-37- 1

S20L. ';

N E W DESIGNS

AN ARCH ITECT, A PROJECT, A BOOK, D EMONSTRATING, NARRATING CONTEMPORARY

ARCH ITECTUR E , AT T H E POINT OF E LABORATION OR B U I LDING.

TO PERMIT A THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING

OF T H E THOUGHT BEH IND THE DESIGN

OF ARC H ITECTU RAL SPACES.

THIS BOOK, D I RECTED BY THE ARCH ITECT

H I MSELF, ACCOMPLISHES T H E I D EA AND ACCOMPAN!ES THE DEED.

T H E AUTHOR CONCEIVED T H E NARRATION

AND OVERSAW THE DESIGN I N ORDER

TO INCORPORATE THEM I NTO HIS ARCH ITECTU R E .

H U B E RT TO N KA

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ISBN 0-9 1 04 1 3-37-1