Simultaneously Space and Event: Bernard Tschumi’s Conception of Architecture

Abstract

This essay examines the way in which Bernard Tschumi understood and discussed the concept of space during the 1970s, interpreting it in conjunction with his relationship with the so-called ‘London Conceptualists’ whose concern was to embrace spatial experience. Tschumi’s exchanges with the conceptual and performance art scene in London are pivotal for understanding his conception of space at the time. Special attention is hence paid to a number of exhibitions that epitomized the cross-fertilisation between architecture and art, such as ‘A Space: A Thousand Words’ held at the Royal College of Art in 1975 and co-curated by Bernard Tschumi and RoseLee Goldberg. The importance of this exhibition for comprehending the role of space in Tschumi’s thought lies in the fact that it aimed ‘[t]o reveal a change in attitudes towards the theories and the language of space’, and thus to reinforce the contact of architecture with the very reality of spatial experience. The essay examines the evolution of Tschumi’s concerns about spatial praxis, addressing core issues of his 1970s pedagogical and design practice. Particular emphasis is placed upon his teaching strategies at the Architectural Association (AA) in London, and on an ensemble of projects on which he worked during his first forays in the United States of America such as 'The Manhattan Transcripts, The Screenplays' and 'The 20th Century Follies'. The main objective of this essay us to render explicit how Tschumi’s conception of urban experience as simultaneously space and event is closely related to his intention to challenge the cause-effect relationships dominating Modernist views of the city. Of great significance for his understanding of urban conditions is Tschumi’s claim that in architecture the materialisation of concepts coincides with their simultaneous visual and social expression.

Keywords

• bernard tschumi
• london conceptualists
• event
• space
• pedagogy