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The Medium as a Construction Material
On Coop Himmelb(l)au
'Katharina Gsöllpointner
Katharina Gsöllpointner
1. THE BODY AS MEDIUM For Coop Himmelb(l)au, the transformation and extension of bodily functions was the central focus of their treatment of architecture and the environment from the very beginning. In 1968, they made the following statement:
"Our architecture has not a physical plan, but a psychic one. Walls no longer exist. Our spaces are pulsating balloons. Our heartbeat becomes space; our face is the facade."
With projects such as "Herzraum" ("Heart Space") or "Harter Raum" ("Hard Space"), both from 1969, bodily functions were either realized by means of media or they functioned directly as "architecture". Cyberspace and VR data suits were already reality in 1969. In the case of the "White Suit", the audio-visual information which appeared on and inside the suit's helmet was reinforced by smell and/or haptic information from the pneumatic vest. Coop Himmelb(l)au regarded this innovation from the following point of view: "The cold medium of television is getting hot."
Hard Space, 1969
Through the heartbeat of 3 people, 60 explosions are released. The explosives were laid out in 2 km long lines across a field. For the duration of 20 heartbeats, a "space" is created.
Facial Space, 1969
Facial movements become corresponding colors and sounds in the column. Helmet with facial contacts, light and sound column.
Action Circus, 1970 Feedback Environment
Light, sound and a TV video mirror are used as spacebuilding elements. Through the movements of the visitors, the light and sound sculptures are brought into function. The visitor's actions are recorded by a VCR and replayed at half-minute intervals.2. ARCHITECTURE AS MEDIUM Projects serving as informational media for electronically transmitted communication. The information consists of information on the environment. In the case of "Medienturm" ("Media Tower"), conceived in 1991 for the Europaplatz in Vienna, the facade comprises four partially electronic "layers", each of which covers different areas of information:- the neutral, material layer of the constructed architecture,
- the layer with information on the environment (weather, temperature, date, time, etc.),
- the layer of "mutation", which reacts to the movement and presence or absence of people around it.
- the "commercial" layer for advertisements and commercials.
Coop Himmelb(l)au created a quasi non-material, invisible wall for Peter Sellers' production of Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex" at the Salzburg Festival in 1994. This wall is first made visible to the audience when the hero is blinded so that the view of the events on the stage is blocked simultaneously.3. THE MEDIUM BETWEEN THE BODY AND ARCHITECTURE The computer was employed for the architectural design and construction of the Groningen Museum (eastern pavilion).
The first draft was placed over the photograph of a working model, and the resulting two dimensional image was applied to the 3-D model as an additional layer. This model was then digitalized according to a specially developed scanning process and stored with all the errors and arbitrary forms from the design process. These data then served as a basis for planning an exact version of the eastern pavilion, how it could actually be constructed. Through its utilization in this case, the computer inscribed itself in the aesthetics of architecture as a medium of possibilities.
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