Architecture and The Unconscious. Christopher Bollas

 

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Architecture and the Unconscious1 Christopher Bollas, London, United Kingdom

Bollas C. Architecture and the Unconscious. Int Forum Psychoanal 2000;9:28–42. Stockholm. ISSN 0803–706X. The way we plan and live our built environments reflect unconscious forms of thinking realised through architecture. Cities become holding environments that offer inhabitants differing forms of  psychic engagement with the object world. The way they are planned and the types of objects they offer add up to degrees of “imageability”, an attribute of any city that could become part of a psychoanalysis of the built world, or what Bachelard termed a “topoanalysis”. Cities also play with life and death as those who inhabit built structures will be outlived by the places they inhabit, yet the they y enl enlive iven n the ino inorga rganic nic spaces they they cons constru truct. ct. All buildi buildings ngs may may,, then, then, be forms forms of deat death h brought into lived experience, and architects negotiate complex issues involving the matriculation of forms of death into human life. The “spirit” of human endeavour needs representation in the built environment and we may consider the ways in which a psychoanalysis of the built world could lead to a psychopsycho-spiri spiritual tual representa representation tion of human life. Key words:   psychoanalysis, architecture, urbanism, morphology, existentialism, space, death Christopher Bollas, Ph.D., 1 A Well Road, London, NW3 1LJ United Kingdom

In int intere erestin sting g ways ways the world world of archit architectu ecture re – broadly defined here as the deliberate consideration of the constructed human environment – and the world of psychoanalysis – broadly stated the place for the study of unconscious mental life – inte in ters rsec ect. t. A buil buildi ding ng deri derive vess from from the the huma human n imag imagin inat atio ion, n, in so some me di dial alec ectic tic th that at is wide widely ly influenced by many contributing factors – its stated functi fun ction, on, its rel relati ation on to its neighb neighbour ourhoo hood, d, its functiona func tionall possibili possibilities, ties, its artistic artistic or design design statestatement, men t, its client client’s ’s wis wishes hes,, the antici anticipat pated ed public public response and many other factors that constitute its

fin findi ding ng it itss own own vi visi sion on out out of the the cons consti titu tuen entt elements? Interestingly, Freud attempted to use the image of a ci city ty as a meta metaph phor or of the the unco uncons nsci ciou ous. s. In Civilisation and its Discontents, maintaining that “i “in n ment mental al li life fe noth nothin ing g whic which h has has once once been been formed can perish” he reckoned that if we wished to imag imagin inee the the unco uncons nsci ciou ouss we coul could d do so by visualising Rome in such a way as to see all its periods – the  Roma Qudranta, the  Septimontium, the Servian wall period, and the many Romes of  the emperors to follow – at the same time. “Where

psychic structure. Even if the building the known idiom of its architect and issprings clearly from a Le Corbusier or a Mies Van der Roe, it will still have passed passe d through through many imagining imaginings, s, influenced influenced by many factors, the totality of which will be part of  the architect’s unconscious direction of his project. We know that there is an unconscious life to each eac h self. self. Is there there an archit architect ectural ural uncons unconscio cious, us, that is, a type of thinking that directs the projection of a building, influenced by many demands, yet

the stands” he writes “we at the Coliseum same same time timenow admire adm ire Nero’s Ner o’s vanish vanished ed could Golden Golden House” (1:70). He abandons his metaphor because as buildings are demolished and replaced in the course of time, a city is not a suitable example for the timeless preservations of the unconscious. Perhaps if Freud had sustained the metaphor a bit longer longer its dialec dialectic tic would would have have worked worked.. For obliterations are indeed part of the unconscious, so much so that depending on how one wished to look  at the Rome of one’s unconscious life, we could see both the preserved and the destroyed. Cert Ce rtain ainly ly fo forr the the ar arch chit itec ectt and and the the ci citi ties es or

1

This paper was presented as part of a series of seminars under the ti title tle “Space “Space and Identi Identity” ty” at the Mus Museum eum of Arc Archit hitect ecture ure in Stockholm in 1998, when Stockholm was the cultural capital of  Eu Europ rope. e. The sem semina inars rs wer weree arr arrang anged ed jointl jointly y by The Swedi Swedish sh Psy Psychoan choanalyt alytic ic Society Society and The Swed Swedish ish Society for Holi Holistic stic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.

©  2000

Taylor & Francis. ISSN 0803-706X

client’s employ them, destruction and creation bear an who intimate proximity to one another. In the

 

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inner city most new builds inner builds are developed developed after the demo demoli liti tion on of th thee fo form rmer er st stru ruct ctur ure, e, one one body body stan st andi ding ng wher wheree once once an anot othe herr st stoo ood. d. For For thos thosee who live through these moments there will always be two buildings in mind: the obliterated and the existent. I grew up in the small coastal town of Laguna

Usually the ruthlessness of demolition is allowed its curiou curiously sly stark stark nobili nobility. ty. A bulldo bulldozer zer (or its equiva equ ivalent lent)) arrive arrives, s, we wat watch ch the str struct ucture ure desdespatched in a surprisingly short period of time, and the earth at least for a moment receives sunlight once again. Sometimes architects will honour the demolished, as Evans and Shalev have done in the

Beach, some forty-five south of Los Angeles. Even though it has had miles a surprisingly coherent and vigila vig ilant nt buildi building ng code code that that makes makes it difficu difficult lt to build new structures, over time of course buildings come and go. Sometime in the late l950’s an entire row of timber framed buildings fronting the main beach in the centre of town was torn down, now revealing the sand and the sea to motorists passing along highway 101. Whenever I think about it I can easily visualise these rather quaint seaside shanties, which housed such noteworthy occupants as a photographers studio, a cafe, a drug store, a typical beach wear store, an orange juice stand and the like. When I visit the town and meet friends, we

new at St. by Ivesa gas in Cornwall. was built Tate on a Gallery site occupied tower andIteven though it was rather unsightly during its day, it was still the former occupant, now remembered in the rounded shape of the museum that mirrors it. Who drives the wreckers? Like the dreaded visits of the grim reaper in the literary imagination, the wreckers seem to be death on our doorsteps. doorsteps. Their Their actions actions are irreversib irreversible. le. Once they take out a building, it is gone forever. So when notice is given to a community that a sector is to be destroyed and something new is to be built, even if the project is promising, there is always a

oft often en give giv e direct directions ions referr referring ing to places places that that no longer exist.

certain dread witnessing efficiency of these wrec wrecke kers rs. . Ofofcour co urse se,, it istheal also so excit excitin ing. g. Like Like watching a fire or a flood wipe out an object, sight Each city has its ghost towns. of the wreckers brings out something of the child in And although the ghosts will be the inhabitants us who builds sand castles and delights in destroywe recall – I think of our town’s town’s first educated book  ing them. On this side of the psychic equation is dealer Jim Dilley and his fine book store, now long lib libera eration tion fr from om our attachm attachment ents, s, and just just as the sinc si ncee gone gone – the the pr pres esen ence ce of th thee ghos ghosts ts is is,, of  child takes pleasure in destroying his creations – course, entirely a matter of my own unconscious part part of hi hiss si sign gnif ifyi ying ng the the grow growin ing g plea pleasu sure re of  life. I know of these places because I visited them. leaving the secure architecture of the world created I loved loved the hambu hamburge rgers rs in Benson Bensons, s, I recall recall the by mother and father to strike out on his own – the stoo st ools ls at the the co coun unte terr wh wher eree one one sa sat, t, an and d the the adu adult lt watchi watching ng demoli demolition tion has his attach attachment mentss handsome machinery lining the wall, like the malt wrested from him. makers. So the energy of the ghost is of course my Demoli Dem olitio tion n is sacrifi sacrificia cial. l. Before Before too long long we ow own, n, the thand e ghos gh t –yetoccu ocprepared cupa pant nt who wh has hasthis su suff ffer ered ed – a shall be eradicated from this earth of ours, trauma isost not to o leave world gracelessly from our spaces, our place to removed be taken is of course me. I have suffered the shock of losing by the other. Until that day, removals will seem this favoured place and until I die it shall always be like sacrificial offerings: at least I do not go with somewhere in mind. the obliterated. Well, not entirely. A part of me To lesser and greater extent, this is true of all of  goes, oes, a part part I ca can n ap app par aren enttly li live ve wit itho hout ut.. us, especially as we move house. To leave a home, Des Destru tructi ction on of a buildi building ng I lik likee is emotio emotionall nally y even when the contents go with us, is to lose the painful, but I carry with me certain memories of  nooks and crannies of parts of ourselves, nesting the structure. places pla ces for our imagin imaginati ation. on. Our belief belief in ghosts ghosts will always be at least unconsciously authorised by The work of the architect, then, involves important the fact that we shall always linger on in our former symbolic issues of life and death. Demolishing the houses, just as we assume that upon moving into a existent structure to make way for a new one plays new dwelling, its former inhabitants will also still upon upon our our own own sens senses es of li limi mited ted exis existe tenc ncee and and be Arch there. Ar chit itec ects ts mess mess with with this this psyc psychi hicc re real alit ity. y.

foretells our ending. Buildings to opt for one of two possible options, given seem this psychic issue.

 

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  C Bollas

 

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They can blend into the surroundings as if to deny that a new build is anything new at all. If they differ from their fellow structures they may still do so as the seemingly logical extension of a seamless progressi prog ression on in architectu architectural ral time. Or they may opt for a radica radicall depart departur uree from from past past and present present to declare themselves in the human future. If the latter

of brin bringi ging ng deat death h into into huma human n li life fe?? Are Are thes thesee monuments houses of death? Does the immense implacability of the mass signify the destruction of  the organic in the hands of the inorganic? If so, then then monume monumental ntal str struct ucture uress are highly highly ambigu amb iguous ous object objects. s. Out of the material materialss of the earth,, we create a symbol earth symbol of our death, sometimes sometimes

solution – we may think of Roger’s and Piano’s Beaubourg or Frank Gehry’s Bilbao – they seem more than simply buildings, but material testimonies to visions of the future. As such, we might identify with them. Although they will outlive us, they th ey will will none noneth thele eless ss si sign gnif ify y us in th thee fu futu ture re,, givi gi ving ng us a pl plac acee in hi hist stor oric ical al time time an and d the the existential reality of future generations who, upon gazi gazing ng at th thes esee obje object ctss may may th thin ink k of th thee la late terr twentieth century: our time of life. To identify with a building as a testimony of our intelligence cast into the future, however, it must be both beyond our immediate vision and yet not so far into the future as to alienate the imaginative

as antomb – as thepres pyramids – rmost ofte often as aproper fu func ncti tion onal al with obje object ct pr esum umed ed fo for the the living, such as a great temple, cathedral, or office building. If meant for the living, then the monument is a kind of play space for the living within a death zone, as the living animate the cold marble or mass of cement, day after day during their lifetimes, before dying as new generations walk in the same space. Monuments allow us to move into and out of death space, the human being travelling in the world of great stone mass. Like the sepulchre, however, however, we aim to put some sign of our lives on the monument, either in the fo form rm of orna orname ment nt ai aime med d to be a si sign gn of li life fe

idiom our generation. If aEiffel building goes far into theoffuture – as may the Tower in too its day – the people feel a reverse effect: the future has invaded the present and cast scorn on the sensibilities bilit ies of the present. Building is a form of prayer. We pray through our structures that our minds and hearts have been well guided and that time will prove our structures to be true. Yet the very mass of a building, going back back to the the Zigg Ziggur urat atss of the the Su Sume meri rian ans, s, the the Py Pyra rami mids ds of Egyp Egypt, t, the the te temp mple less of Gree Greece ce,, incorp inc orpora orates tes the tensio tension n of the liv living ing and their their death. Such noble structures are one way or the ot othe herr inte intend nded ed to hono honour ur the the Gods Gods who who li live ve in

in insc scri ribe bed d into into by the thegiving deat death hthe obje obparts ject ct or Gree Greek  k  nomenclature of as the in building huma human n name name,, such such as the the head head or thro throat at of a column. As an embodiment of the real – understood here as the material expression of death that eludes our ultimate knowing – does the monument al allo low w our our si sign gnat atur ures? es? Do Does es it expr expres esss huma human n frivolity? Does the architect’s imagination slightly mock its towering mass, such as Philip Johnson’s A T & T building in New York? Or as with Stalin’s proposed Project for the Palace of the Soviets and Mussolini’s architecture does it show no sign of  irony, no human dimension revealed in its massiveness?

eternity and are .offerings of are, our own limited beings to the limitless. limitless Buildings Buildings therefor therefore, e, always alway verg vergin ing g on the the pr prof ofan ane. e. Ho How w dare dare we buil build d anything for the Gods? The monumental structure – the mountain built by men – is one of the great paradoxes of  architectur archi tectural al accomplish accomplishment. ment. The monument monument is mean me antt to outl outliv ivee gene genera rati tion onss of men. men. In th thei eirr constructions many lives will be lost. Some, like Gaudi, who work their entire lives on the monument, men t, will will never never see its comple completio tion. n. All monuments, whether functionally intended so or not, are tombs. They not only shadow the deaths of the workers, and outlive their creators, they seem in

Monuments anddistinctive vivid builtand structures are evocative objects. “A legible environment not only offers security but also heightens the potent pot ential ial depth depth and int intens ensity ity of human human experi experi-ence,” writes Kevin Lynch (2:5). Objects possess degrees of “imageability” he maintains, and certain cities cities hav havee a higher higher degree degree of imagea imageabil bility ity than than others. If monuments are forms of death in life, they play both sides of the struggle between life and death, as they are also perceived as places of  sa safe fety ty.. Duri During ng di diff ffer erin ing g er eras as of the the Egyp Egypti tian an dynasties the people took refuge in the walled in te temp mple le ci citi ties es and and ma may y well well have have join joined ed thos thosee merchants and persons of standing who occupied

dwellings to the sacred place. like their mass to be forms of death amongst the living. Is architecture invested, then, with a grave task  chap callednext Panemerit they built theirPerhaps house “in thea

 

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first temple temple courtyard courtyard up against against the pylon, so that his statue statuess should should derive derive virtue virtue from from the sacred sacred rites” (3:18). Panemerit believed he was more holy because he lived close to a sacred place and he may have hoped that the journey after his death would be a favourable one. Whatever this meant to him it was

world worl d that that is esse essent ntia iall to huma human n surv surviv ival al,, not not unlike the sight of the beacon from the lighthouse duri during ng a fo fog, g, or the the endu enduri ring ng prese presenc ncee of the the national parliament during a time of war, and one could go on. In his remark remarkabl ablee work  work   The Poetics of Space Gaston Bachelard calls for a “topoanalysis” which

ine inesca scapab pably an differing emotio emotional nalintersecting experi experienc ence, e,meanings. perhap perhapss layered bylymany Those who live near La Scala or next to the Empire State Building or the Golden Gate Bridge experience what Minkowski called the “reverberation” of  the object. As particula particularr objects objects are constructe constructed d and we dwell upon them “we ask ourselves how that form comes alive and fills with life” he writes, “we discover a new dynamic and vital category, a new proper property ty of the univer universe: se: reverb reverbera eratio tion”. n”. (4:x (4:xvi vi). ). La Sc Scal alaa mi migh ghtt be th thee sp spir irit it of grea greatt oper operat atic ic musi music, c, th thee Empi Empire re St Stat atee the the sp spir irit it of  corporate virility, the Golden Gate Bridge the spirit of bridging the waters.

would beof“the psychological of  the sites oursystematic intimate lives” (4:8). He study believes there is a “transsubjectivity of the image” so that those of us situated next to prominent sites share the image even though of course each of us renders it differently. Lynch has found in his comparative analysis of Boston, Jersey City, and Los Angeles how important it is to the citizens to have legible objects with high imageability. People in Boston, for example, contrasted buildings based on their age difference, while people in Los Angeles were of the impression that “the fluidity of the environment and the absence of physical elements which anchor the past are exciting and disturbing” (2:45).

Some anthropologists thatleft the behind Ziggurats were either memories of believe mountains, by the Sumerians who migrated from a more mountainou tainouss northe northern rn region region to the Tigris Tigris-Eu -Euphr phrate atess delta del ta or simply simply devotion devotionss to the mountain mountain as a noble nob le object object of nature nature (5). (5). Hersey Hersey believ believes es that that Greek temples may well derive from sacred trees and he points out how many differing human and enviro env ironme nmenta ntall object objectss are given given place place in Greek  Greek  buildings build ings through inclusion inclusion by name (6). Lynch Lynch argues that vivid landscapes are “the skeleton upon which whi ch many many primit primitive ive races races erect erect the their ir social socially ly important myths” (2:4), incorporating the striking obje object ctss of th thee en envi viro ronm nmen entt in into to thei theirr cu cult ltur ural al

Peo People fro Jersey Jersey Cit City, y, a colour col ourles lesss from indust industria riall cityple notfrom farmfrom New York, suffered “the evident low imageability of this environment” as they found it difficult to describe differing parts of  their city, felt a general dissatisfaction living there, and were poorly oriented (2:32). Living in a city, then then,, is to occu occupy py a ment mental alit ity. y. To be in Los Los Angeles is quite different from being in Boston. How Ho w woul would d a topo topoan anal alys ysis is deco decons nstr truc uctt the the mentality of a city? We could hardly argue that a city reflects a singular unified vision. We know that there the re are many many competi competing ng int intere erests sts and div divers ersee perspe per specti ctives ves tha thatt genera generate te differ differing ing str struct uctur ures. es. What would drive such a mentality? What would

visions. muses that through reverberation “weBachelard feel a poetic power rising naively within us. After the original reverberation, we are able to experience resonances, sentimental repercussions, reminders of our past” (4:xxiii). Grea Greatt moun mounta tain ins, s, la larg rgee rive rivers rs,, the the se sea, a, the the prairie, the jungle and remarkable built structures are etched in our mind like psychic structures; each seems to posses its own small universe of emotion and meaning. Each Venetian school child learns to draw a map from home to school as this is a city wher wh eree one one ca can n ea easi sily ly beco become me lost lost an and d thes thesee children’s maps show how striking buildings are important markers for one’s basic sense of orienta-

sustain The it? Engli English sh psycho psychoana analys lystt D. W. Winnic Winnicott ott argued that each mother provides her infant with an en envi viro ronm nmen ent. t. In the the begi beginn nnin ing g it is a “hol “holdi ding ng enviro env ironme nment” nt” as one is lit litera erally lly embrac embraced ed and move oved ab abo out by the moth mother er’s ’s self self an and d her deputised objects (a walker, a toy car, a cot etc.), which sustains something of our earliest senses of  being held, as we spend our first nine months as occu occupan pants ts of her her womb womb.. In hi hiss essa essay y “B “Ber erli lin n Walls” (7), Winnicott considers the wider concept of environmental provision and its effect upon the develop dev elopmen mentt of people people.. “The “The inheri inherited ted matura matura-tional processes in the individual are potential and

tion tion.. St sign Mark Marks Sq Squa uare re,, fo forrfunction some some,, woul wo uld dobject be a lifelong ofsthe orienting of the

need for realisation of degree”. a facilitating environment of atheir certain kind and Boston, Los

 

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Angeles and Jersey City are facilitating environments as they direct their occupants in differing ways. One of the mother’s tasks, argued Winnicott, wass to pres wa presen entt obje objects cts to her her in infa fant. nt. This This was was something of an art, for if she forced a new object upon the infant he would inevitably turn away, but if she allowed for “a period of hesitation” during

denuded its population. Part of the error of such thinking, it see seems to me, is the view that consci con scious ousnes nesss alone alone can form form a city. city. Cities Cities   are rather unconscious processes. There are so many competing comp eting functions, functions, aesthetics aesthetics,, local interests, interests, and economics, each element influencing the other, that a city is more like the seeming chaos of the

which the infant away presumably out of disinterest, hewould wouldturn soon enough return with height hei ghtene ened d int intere erest st and desire desire toward towardss the new object. obje ct. In this respect, respect, cities cities continual continually ly present present their inhabitants with new objects and the planning stage, when the proposals are floated in the press, may constitute an important psychic element in the population’s relation to the new. Several plans for celebration of the Millennium in Great Britain, for exampl exa mple, e, were were floated floated some some years years ago, ago, evokin evoking g almost universal opposition. In part it was because any supposed public spending on what seemed a fri frivol volous ous advent adventur uree was object objection ionabl able. e. In part part because the site – an unpleasant industrial dock-

unconscious mind. Indeedself it bears rather striking similarity to any ordinary which has biological, sexual, sexual, historical, historical, spiritual, spiritual, vocationa vocational, l, familfamilia ial, l, and and econ econom omic ic inte intere rest sts, s, al alll of whic which h find find themse the mselve lvess int interl erlaced aced in some some kind kind of moving moving form that gives rise to a type of organising vision, or ment mental alit ity. y. Ps Psyc ycho hoan anal alys ysts ts work workin ing g with with a pers person on long long enou enough gh ra rath ther er ente enterr into into a very very partic par ticula ularr cultur culture, e, not unlike unlike moving moving int into o a city city an and d comi coming ng to know know it itss oddi odditi ties es:: it itss aest aesthe heti ticc preferences, its dislikes, its overcome obstacles, its wastel was teland ands, s, its partit partition ioning ing of int intere erests sts and its long-standing conflicts. When Whe n evocat evocative ive str struct ucture uress are built built they they wil willl

lands – was like mind’s fored’s grounding of  London Lon don in the min eye of the London LonJersey doners ers.City . Time Tim e needed to pass before the very idea itself could become bec ome palata palatable ble (a taste taste metaph metaphor) or).. It is more more than interesting that the gigantic object the English selected for a long while was the body of a woman next to her child, into which queues of people were to enter through her hip. (It was finally decided to create two anodyne figures, one large and the other small, a desexualisation of the very bodies which still indicate one is entering two human forms: one big, the other small). Unlike the Statue of Liberty into whom one climbs in order to see if one can get to the top – a rather phallic object suggesting an

give intense associations in the population. Whenrise thetoGetty museum in Los Angeles opened to the public it was the object of widespread critical re resp spon onse se.. Driv Drivin ing g nort north h on the the 405 405 Fr Free eewa way y towards west Los Angeles one sees on the hillside an evoc evocat ativ ivee cult cultur ural al obje object ct,, “spe “speak akin ing” g” to us throug thr ough h our associ associati ations ons.. Bef Befor oree its openin opening g it was just a new rather impressive building, but now it is part of what it means to be Los Angeles. These elaborations, however, will eventually subside and then like the Metropolitan Museum in New York  or any other imposing museum its impact on the inha inhabi bita tant ntss of it itss ti time me will will be lost lost on fu futu ture re gene genera rati tion onss who who will will subj subjec ectt it to th thei eirr own own

equally inner exploration –s Engl En glis ish h phallic Woma Woman nconclusion was was to to have have re recl clin ined ed,, hand hands extended behind her while the population entered  just about where the womb would be. Once inside, one was to have gazed at exhibits of the inside of  the human body. The Britis British h Millen Millennia niall str struct ucture ure,, howeve however, r, is simply another expression of the English mentality ity,, realis realised ed throug through h the work work of archit architect ecture ure.. Taking Winnicott’s view that a holding environment is an act of psychic intelligence, then a city is a living form that holds its population. Mentality is the idiom of holding, reflecting the very particular cu cult ltur uree of pl plac ace. e. No vi visi sion on of it beco become mess its its

sensibilities. as we walk or drive through our cities we Indeed know relatively little, if anything at all, all, about about the great great maj majori ority ty of str struct ucture ures. s. Onc Oncee evocative, at least to the locals effected by their ar arri riva val, l, they they ar aree now now li like ke si sile lent nt obel obelis isks ks,, that that would wou ld requir requiree consid considera erable ble histor historica icall work work and decoding to resurrect their voices. So we are back to death yet again. Our cities cities contai contain n hundre hundreds ds and thousa thousands nds of  buildings which, once alive as evocative objects, part of the culture of place, are now cemeterial. In our consideration of the unconscious life of a city, then, we must reckon with a certain mute presence,

totality; in those epochs men attempted to impo impose se a tota totali lita tari rian anwhen vi visi sion on ofhave a ci city ty,, it has has

aever sil silenc enced edofvoi voice that that of is the perhap pervoice hapss eviden evi in We the everyday yday thecedying of dence the ce built.

 

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know, don’t we, that even simple buildings have stor st orie iess to th them em.. Thes Thesee tomb tombss of the the unkn unknow own n citizens are nonetheless a part of our life and of  living in the everyday. The silence of the buildings is a premon premoniti itiona onall presen presence ce of our own ending, ending, inev in evit itab ably ly part part of our our life life.. We co coul uld, d, if we so wished, put placards on each building, giving the

mute mu te when when it come comess to nami naming ng thes thesee vi visu sual al objects? Pe Perh rhap apss the the answ answer er li lies es in the the unco uncons nsci ciou ouss meaning of beholding a form which we treasure. Imagine for a moment that we do indeed like trees, that flowers and plants are very important, and that ce cert rtain ain buil builtt st stru ruct ctur ures es,, abou aboutt whic which h we know know

date completion, the name of the architect, a list of theofworkers, and perhaps select local response in the newspapers or from from oral notations. For the most part, we choose not to do this. Even the architects who build great structures structures are usually usually forgotten forgotten,, unless like Eiffel, their name – for better or worse – is identified with the object. Remembering a name is a curiously conflicted event. Most people like wandering in a wood or gazing at wildflowers, but how many people can identify more than ten trees? We eat a fair amount of fish, but how many know what a cod, a turbot, or a monkfish look like? Freud’s theory of repression suggests that if we know the name of an object it

nothi nothing, ng, are truly important important to us. They are part of  our visual life. Perhaps they are intended to remain in that that orde orderr of perc percep epti tion on and and im imag agin inat atio ion, n, fundamentally as silent visual objects. I remember driving across the Plains states in North America, where to this day one may travel for hours without ever seeing another car. Countless American novelists and poets have likened the tall grass to a vast sea, as it moves in the breeze like ocean waves on a flat plane unmodified by hills. Thee sky Th sky and and the the prai prairi riee seem seem to meet meet in one one continuous vast canvas. Now and then one sees a tree. As they can be miles apart a single tree stands out in all its formal beauty as the essence of tree. A

generates greater network personal as names adisting distinguish uish objectsofand network netwomeaning, rk rather inte in tell llig igen entl tly y with with ot othe herr na name mes, s, in th thee movi moving ng psychi psy chicc experi experienc ences es of everyd everyday ay lif life. e. The word word “Oak” designates a very unique tree, but it also contains the phoneme “Oh” in it, it could suggest “yoke”” or “okay” and other “yoke other meanings. Were we to know all the names of the differing trees in the fore forest st,, so tha that as we sa saw w a bi birc rch, h, a la lau ure rell, a dogwood, a maple, or the endless other trees we would also be in a symphony of phonemes that would be playing along with the visual order. If we knew knew the the name namess of our our buil buildi ding ngs, s, the the year yearss in which they were completed, and the names of the

farm visually from househouse, s, canseparated be seen for m iles any andother as farm one approaches it, it seems to embody the essence of  a house. A flash of lightning lightning in the the distance, distance, a cloud pass passiing th thee sky, sky, a flo flock ck of bir irds ds,, a fiel eld d of  sunflow sun flowers ers,, a tra tracto ctor, r, all of these these object objectss stand stand out in stark singularity against the silence of the background. Each object seems to be the spirit of  its brothers, one tree standing for the existence of  all trees, one house standing for the presence of all houses. It is as if one contemplates the purity of a form. Pe Perh rhap apss we choo choose se to igno ignore re the the nami naming ng of  objects because we find ourselves more moved by

architects, would also create a wider and denser universe ofwe personal meaning. Why don’t we do this? The proble problem m cannot cannot simply simply be int intell ellectu ectual al or cognitive. We have much less difficulty learning a foreign language or the characters of novels than we do remembering the names of trees or plants or fish and yet these objects are more immediately a part of our everyday life than Emma Bovary or French for “please direct me to the nearest tourist bureau”. At first glance it would seem as if we have a ce cert rtai ain n di disi sint nter erest est in tree trees, s, pl plan ants ts,, fis fish, h, or our our

their wericcknow name know knowform. onl only y Until it itss gene generi name nametheand anprecise d this this may ma y bewea compromise between the natural and the man made world. Perhaps we choose to walk only amongst thee tree th trees, s, the the plan plants ts,, or our our st stre reet ets, s, in orde orderr to commune with form itself. When we break down thes th esee fo form rmss and and gi give ve them them thei theirr name name,, whos whosee names do we use? Do the names derive from the form itself? Of course not. The names derive from that patriarchal order that arbitrarily names objects. So to defy the knowing of the names may well be to decline the secularisation of objects which we believe carry great spiritual weight. Buildings and structures that become nameless,

buildings. of sothe little interest toare us?we It would seemAre thisthey is hardly case. So why

that meld into the matrix of a city, may fulfilsimply our need for nameless forms, rather like pure

 

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objects unsullied by knowledge. We choose to live in the visual, visual, not the verbal verbal,, order. order. We choose choose,, therefore, to live part of our life in the maternal order – that register of perception that is guided by the maternal imaginary – rather than in the paternal order which names objects and possesses them in language. And part of our wanderings in this visual

or across a street to Cherry Hill, before winding my way to 72nd 2nd an and d Fif ifth th unt ntiil ar arrriv iviing at my destination. Each segment of this journey is well known to me. Each unit has its own “structural integrity”, that is, its own particular character. But of course what they evoked in me will differ from what they evoke in another person. And although I

world that shall nameless to meander then in the the– pr prev ever erbal balgoworl wo rld, d, one one– is or orga gani nise sed d ar arou ound nd sigh si ghts ts,, so soun unds ds,, smel smells ls,, an and d af affin finit itie ies. s. Th This is is a world of ours that has in many respects gone by. Our life within our mothers and then alongside her, before bef ore we know know about about obliga obligatio tions ns and speech speech,, fades and fades as we age. Like the silent buildings with no name, the materna maternall order is rather rather lost upon the workaday maturity of the languaged self. If we need to know the names of streets, the name namess an and d lo loca cati tion onss of ma many ny di diff ffer erin ing g publ public ic buildings – from the motor vehicle licensing office to the opera house, from the tax office to the post office, from the ticket office to the best bookstore –

enjoyed lost in thought during this walk I certainlybeing was inspired by the sequential implication tionss of each each inte integr gral al fo form rm.. One One is is,, as Bl Blak ake’ e’ss poem suggests, suggests, always always a “mental “mental traveller traveller”” in this world, and the paths we choose to take in our life – even as simple as the way I walked to work – are vital parts of the expression of our own personal idiom. Each city, then, has its own structural integrity (the (the mate materia riall re real alis isat atio ion n of im imag agin ined ed fo form rms) s) through which we travel. Cities evolve their own interspatial relations as roads intersect, as parks are placed pla ced,, as hig high h str street eetss are segreg segregate ated d from from resiresidentia den tiall areas, areas, as ind indust ustria riall parks parks are segreg segregate ated d

we need to name. walk among many buildings thatalso shallmay be without “Ever “Every y citize citizen n has had long long associ associati ations ons with with some part of his city” writes Lynch “and his image is soaked in memories and meanings” (2:1). As we walk or travel about our city we select routes each of which has differing evocative effects. “What a dyna dynami mic, c, hand handso some me obje object ct is a path path”” writ writes es Bachel Bac helard ard (4:11) (4:11) as those those paths paths we choose choose are lin lined ed by object objectss that that shall shall play play upon upon our mind. mind. Even though certain routes will be ordained by the mentality of the city, so that in taking the highway to the airport, or the only road to the ferry we are guided by the intelligences of form of those who

from art centres and the like. spatialization is the the unconscious development of If area according to evolut evo lution ion of any city city then then int inters erspati patial al rel relati ations ons would wou ld define define the psycho psycholog logy y of spaces spaces as the they y relate to one another and as they invite the citizen to move across boundaries and into new centres that define locations. Moving in this unconscious organi org anisat sation ion of sit sites es and their their functi functions ons is the individual who will elect favoured paths and who will quite quite idiosyncr idiosyncratical atically ly find certain certain locations locations more evocative than others. Most obviously this occurs when one has been raised in a particular “neck of the woods” so that the objects experienced during childhood will contain parts of the

have planned and executed the routes, we elect our own paths throughout our life. Having lived a year in New York I had a wide choice of paths from my home on west 94th street to my office on east 65th street. I had to cross the park which offers innumerable paths. Although I varied my path when I tired of my favoured route, I enjoyed a particular path. I walked along Central Park West to 81st street, which gave me a long vista of the west side and the families spilling out of the elegant Apartment Blocks onto the streets. I entered the park and walked between The Great Lawn Law n and Turtle Turtle Pond, Pond, the field the locati location on of  baseba bas eball ll pit pitche chess and the pond pond full full of duc ducks ks and

self’s experience that will have been into the objects as mnemic containers ofprojected lived experien ence ce.. But But in ti time me,, any any indi indivi vidu dual al will will fin find d a new area more more int intere eresti sting ng in some some respec respects ts and less interesting in others, as he gravitates toward certai cer tain n object objectss that that becom becomee points points of person personal al reverie. Walking between The Great Lawn and Turtle Pond I am between two distinct structures (one a large field of Kentucky Green Grass with baseball diamonds here and there, the other a large pond with a rock cliff on one side and a marsh to grass sector on the other) serving public visions (the field for human play, the pond for observation of natural

turtles. I then through a tunnel along the edgeeither of the walked Metropolitan Museum of and Art

life) liar tobut myeach life.structure evokes associations pecu-

 

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Architecture and the Unconscious

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To take The Great Lawn. As a st stru ruct ctur uree in its its own own righ right, t, with with it itss own own integrity integ rity,, there there is a simpl simplee beauty beauty about about a baseball baseball field. The diamond shape of the “infield” is earth an and d the the “o “out utfie field ld”” is gr grass ass.. In a well well gr groo oome med d baseball field the contrast between the grass and the earth is beautiful. As a purely empty space,

dream that night. But as a type of dreaming in their own right, the reveries wrought by evocative obje object ctss cons consti titu tute te an im impo port rtan antt fe feat atur uree of our our psychic life. Anyone who dislikes his district is in a sad state of disrepair for he is denied the vital need nee d for person personal al reveri reverie. e. Each Each per person son needs needs to fe feed ed on evoc evocat ativ ivee obje object cts, s, so call called ed fo food od fo forr

minimalist it excludes the players, is like a famili fam iliar ar though thoas ugh varied varied rendit ren dition ion of ait potent pot ential ial space. When the players occupy the field, usually in brilli brilliant antly ly differ different ent costum costumes, es, a baseba baseball ll diadiamond – especially if one considers the teams upon teams that shall occupy this space – is like a Paul Klee painting. Each team has nine participants who though occupying set positions will move out of  place pla ce – creati creating ng lin lines es of moveme movement nt agains againstt the earth/green outline of the pitch – that becomes a figurat figu rative ive form form of abstra abstract ct expres expressio sionis nism: m: the figures who move create the abstraction that gives the game its visual poetry. The Great Lawn considered not as an integral

thought, that stimulate self’s and elaborates the self’s self’the s desire desir e psychic through through interests engageengagement with the world of objects. Indeed, although su such ch move movemen mentt is too too dens densee to be inte interp rpre reted ted,, each person senses something of his own unique idiom of being as he moves freely through space. He will not know what that idiom is but he will se sens nsee that that he is movi moving ng acco accord rdin ing g to his his own own re real alise ised d inte intelli llige genc ncee of fo form rm,, shap shapin ing g hi hiss li life fe through his selection of objects. My walk through Central Park is not available to a simple psychoan anal alyt ytic ic (o (orr any any ot othe her) r) inte interp rpre reta tati tion, on, but but the the movement of inspired musings is uplifting and is part of the feeling that life is for the living not

but but as inspires an ev evoc ocat ativ ivee obje object ct –parts th that atofismyself so some meth thin ing g which idiosyncratic that havee been hav been projec projected ted int into o that that space space during during the course of my lifetime – holds that part of me that nearly went on to play professional baseball in my youth. Depending on my frame of mind, on any day day si sigh ghtt of it ma may y in insp spir iree di diff ffer erin ing g ty type pess of  memory mem ory:: actual actual recoll recollect ection ion,, a type type of mood, mood, a wish to play the game. But on the other side of me is Turtle Turtle Pond, Pond, which which though though also of course course an integral object – that is something with its own structural integrity not altered by human projection – is also an evocative object. It does not bring to mind my youth, but in my early forties when I lived

 just for recumbent thinking or vocational productivity. This Th is pros prospe pect ct is not not lost lost on ar arch chit itect ectss who who certainly know of the evocative potential of any of  their buildings, even if the precise idiom of reverie deri derive ved d fr from om the the ci citi tize zens ns woul would d of cour course se be largely unknowable. And although new towns may be said to have planned obvious places for reverie – parks and the like – the evocativeness of objects cannot be charted into a psychic journey, even if  the layout layout of Disney Disneylan land d in Califo Californi rniaa (with (with no di dire rect ctio ions ns,, just just the the next next re real alm m of fa fant ntas asy y li life fe)) attempts to prove the exception. But we know that vivid structures find their way into our dreams at

for two years in the countryside of the western chusetts. Although it does evoke spiritMassaof the pond – and certain recollections of the ponds of  that part of the world – it also evokes memories of  my place of work, of my families’ interests, and quite personal issues deriving from that time of my life. With Wi thou outt thin thinki king ng ab abou outt it much much,, when when we traverse a city – or walk in our district – we are engaged in a type of dreaming. Each gaze that falls upon an object of interest may yield a moment’s re reve veri riee – when when we thin think k of some someth thin ing g el else se,, inspired by the point of emotional contact – and duri during ng our our day we will will have have sc scor orees of such such

night ise here –itec intthe dream world vi visi sion onsand s ofitthe th ar arch chit ect and and the the drea dr eams msthat of the the the citizen find curious communion. Just as Athenians must certainly have had the Pa Part rthen henon on in thei theirr drea dreams ms,, we too too ta take ke vi vivi vid d str struct ucture uress int into o our dreams dreams and the uncons unconscio cious us that operates in the material realm of the built and the uncons unconscio cious us that that organi organises ses each each self self meet. meet. Vision Vis ionary ary archit architects ects int intend end their their str struct ucture uress to suggest a dream to its dwellers, but I shall maintain that all along we know that vivid structures will enter our dreams and effect our dream life. Indeed we might say that just as perspective in fine art was ac achi hiev eved ed thro throug ugh h the the ar arch chit itec ectu tura rall ef effe fect ctss of 

reveries, Freud intensities, and which whicwhich h he believ bel ieved edtermed were were psychic the stimuli stimu li for the

Renaissance Renais arch architect itecture ure extraord extr aordinary influinfluence ofsance Brunelleschi), our(the dream life isinary influenced

 

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by the perspectives accomplished in the architectural imagination. I best give an example. I shall report a recent dream of mine. I am walking down a sloping street in Laguna Beach that goes to Victoria Beach. I am with my wife, my father and mother, my next youngest brother, and my son and we are all in a mood to hang out on the beach. I look to the right and to my surprise see the reflection of  a wave breaking over a high cliff that is rimmed with tall trees. The wave is bright green and translucent so that it does not actually obliterate the sight of the cliff  and the trees. Above the wave is a brilliant blue sky and the overall effect is visually astonishing. I point this out to my family and we are all astonished and delighted and head toward toward the beach wi with th even even greate greaterr enthuenthusiasm. Although the event is felt to be remarkable it is not understood to be unusual. In the next scene we are bathing in the water, in really quite big waves, and I see my father arms crossed floating in the white water right up to the shore shore,, being being car carrie ried d along along and obviousl obviously y enjoying himself. In the final scene I am leaving my family fam ily at our fav favori orite te outdoo outdoorr restau restauran rantt near near Main Main Beach (about two miles from Victoria Beach) in order to nip off to Dilley’s Bookstore. The mood of the dream is one of well being.

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(victorious in the oedipal sense, as in the name of  the beach) my son is also along for the trip to the sea, and so in a way my ending is also in sight. The restau restauran rantt no longer longer exists exists.. Neithe Neitherr does does Dilley’s bookstore. Except in my dream, or, in the world of literature. Going off to the bookstore that is no longer there may very well be a premonition in dream of the writing this essay, which notthe incidentally is task now of written down and part of a literature of sorts. For some days after the dream I asked myself a questi que stion on that that had occurr occurred ed bef before ore on previo previous us memorable dreams. What is the function of such vivid beauty? Why does the unconscious bother to constr con struct uct such such a settin setting? g? Perhap Perhapss bec becaus ausee truly truly profound dreams are meant to be memorable, to be commemorated forever through a high degree of  imageability. Perhaps we are meant to pass them along from one generation to the next. And perhaps the part part of us that that constr construct uctss the unfor unforget gettab table le dream – alongside those that are more pedestrian – comes from the same part of us that seeks to build unforgettable structures.

Is vision visionary ary arc archit hitectu ecture re a dreami dreaming? ng? Do we intend monumental structures to be dreamt upon Cert Ce rtai ain n fact factss sh shal alll help help il illu lumi mina nate te part part of the the and to extend themselves into our dreams and those dr drea eam, m, whic which h I sh shal alll not not su subj bjec ectt to an anal alyt ytic ical al of the gener generatio ations ns to come? come? Yet if they they signif signify y association or interpretation, but shall instead use death on earth, the immobile inert mass of silence, to illustrate a point in this essay. The dream took  why should they be vivid? Would we not want place approximately a year after my father’s death death to be as marginal and as inconspicuous for as an and d hi hiss ashe ashess were were sc scat atte tere red d at se seaa off off Lagu Laguna na long long as poss possib ible le?? The The unca uncann nny y comp compro romi mise se Beach. Bea ch. Victor Victoria ia Beach Beach was the place place where where we achieved by the monumental is that it is both a hung out as a family, until I was fourteen years old. sign of life and a sign of death. As we sleep we all Until I was about ten I was not permitted by my go off into a darkness, perhaps never to return. To father go in outthe into the very large surf,inbut instead had to to play white water, indeed, much the way my father did in the dream. In a restaurant of the Surf and Sand Hotel (about midway between Victoria Beach and Main Beach) there is a mirror on the ceiling. Sitting at a table with a view of the sea, you can also look above you and see the waves moving across the ceiling, which is an unusual and pleasant visual effect. I think I incorporated this design innovation into my dream, in that that I saw the reflected wave breaking on the hill. But the object and its design origin – from a mirror – seems also a part of the dream, as my father mirrors my way of swimming as a boy.

dream is tototake sample ofhistory lived experience us, indeed takea our entire with us intowith the dark darkne ness. ss. If we surv surviv ivee to li live ve anot anothe herr day, day, so much the better. better. But our dream dream objects, objects, furnitur furnitures es of li life fe,, may may be the the la last st ar arti ticl cles es we see see befo before re everything goes completely and irreversibly dark. A monument that bears death in its mass, supposed ironic triumph of the inorganic over the organic, of  the creati creation on over over the creato creator, r, may tra transc nscend end its termin terminabi abilit lity y with with evocat evocative ive sugges suggestiv tivene eness. ss. It intends, in other words, to stimulate the imagination as we walk about in the shadows of death. One city in particular seems to have grasped the str strang angee ambigu ambiguity ity of the monum monument ental al as int interer-

Only now isygone dispersed –mily and alth althou ough gh Ihemay ma be –titu titula larr head headinofthethe thsea e fa fami ly

course between life in and death. When the Nevada sun sets and dark descends the middle of the

 

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Architecture and the Unconscious

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desert, the city of Las Vegas comes alive as an extraordi extr aordinary nary illuminatio illumination n of human fancy, perhapss capita hap capitalis lising ing in all respec respects ts on the wishf wishful ul nature natu re of the dream event. In the day the buildings buildings of Las Vegas Vegas are simp simply ly rat rather her dead and uninuninteresting, all the more more reason for its visitors to sleep during the day (perhaps keeping the city of the

coming across as quite inventive in its own right. From the rectangular structure to the pagan area to the Blue Building bears little architectural integrity (as in most architectural evolutions no plan would have intended this) but it does seem to work in an odd kind of way. If we bear in mind that two tethered goats have the run of the large field in the

night in the dream) waiting forOne the lives moment to wake alive and reenter the night vision. in the midst of a type of managed dream in Las Vegas, which in the past fifteen years has broadened the scope of its dream furniture to include the city of  New York and the Egyptian Pyramids. Perhaps the world is dreaming itself through this architectural structure as if the planners of Las Vegas, having astutely extended the evocative function of design to influence the dream life of citizens, has found a pl plac acee wher wheree desi design gn an and d drea dream m ca can n meet meet in the the middle of the night to the profit and loss of both participants. Architects intermittently play with the idea of 

center that in thethis children and thethat faculty are all on firstand names school, and children at differing stages in their lives there construct small vi vill llag ages es on the the fie field ld to le lear arn n abou aboutt ma mate teria rials ls,, planning, execution, and cohabitation, the evolution of design at the King Alfred’s School seems to havee captur hav captured ed the overde overdeter termine mined d capabi capability lity of  buildings. They are meant to serve functions but they they may may al also so serv servee th thee di diff ffer erin ing g evoc evocat ativ ivee implic imp licati ations ons of their their locati location. on. In the int intere eresti sting ng rendez ren dezvou vouss of childr children, en, parent parents, s, educat educators, ors, and admini adm inistr strato ators rs buildi buildings ngs are constr construct ucted ed which which reassure all (they can sleep in peace) and which constitutes a kind of embodied dream.

meeting the self’s for the integral object’s other function (thatdesire of evocation). On the slope of a hill leading from Hamp Hampstead stead Village to Golde Golders rs Green in North London lies a well known English progre pro gressi ssive ve sch school ool.. The The buildi buildings ngs of the King King Alfred Alf red’s ’s School School surro surround und a large large irregu irregular lar but slightly sligh tly circular circular somewhat somewhat uneven uneven playing playing field. Fr From om the the smal smalll si sing ngle le st stor ory y st stru ruct ctur ures es to the the immedi imm ediate ate left left as one enters enters the school school,, where where the little children reside, moving clockwise around the field, other structures house the children as they grow up. The “Lower School” over the last years has has seve severa rall new new buil builds ds wh whic ich h ca catc tch h the the ey eyee of  visiting prospective parents as signs of modernity

A progressive like Alfred’s, evento if  endowed with theschool funds to doKing so, would not want raze its existent structure and build an entirely new school. Nor would it want the temporary buildings (man (m any y now now well well into into thei theirr th thir irti tiet eth h year year)) to exemplify too much the spirit that each child (in the form of each building) must be allowed to go forward at his own pace in respect of his progressive capacity. KAS is a kind of fairy tale world for the diverse requirements of its participants, pan ts, dreaming dreaming its way into shared shared reali reality ty at a pace that is just about right. Set against these design dreams – of a Las Vegas or a KAS – are objects which would seem clearly

an and d good good fund ndin ing. g. At o’cl cloc ock k ar aree wood wooden en fortress likefu structures for12 the o’ more adventurous, at 1 o’clock tennis courts and the gymnasium, at 2 a rectangular building constructed in the 1980’s, at 2:45 a kind of pagan space called Squirrel Hall surrou sur roundi nding ng a gigant gigantic ic chestn chestnut ut tree tree where where the older and more wizened adolescents hang out, and at three o’clock is the Blue Building. It is a new build which rises above an old temporary building on stilts so that one day when the school can afford to remove the old building the stilts will act as the new skin of what would then be a new structure. Prospective parents and school members view the spirit of progressive education in this structure, in

to be offend. the tower in Pa Pari ris s meant and and the theto Tele Te leco com m Both To Towe wer r inEiffel Lond London on we were re re rega gard rded ed as “shi “shit” t” by la larg rgee memb member erss of the the popu popula lati tion. on. What What we mi migh ghtt thin think k of as ar arch chiiexcretions, that is buildings which seem intended to offend the population, are nonetheless interesting features of the architectural unconscious. The offensive object, or “eye-sore”, may be created by the architect, or allowed to go into existence by the pl plan anne ners rs,, as an unco uncons nsci ciou ouss defia defianc ncee of th thee popula pop ulatio tion: n: popula popularr as notori notorious ous,, put puttin ting g noses noses up in the air out of offence. If we set aside simple sadism as the function of such offending acts, why might archi-excrement be tolerated?

part, because it adaptiveness signifies costwhile saving and integrative at inventiveness the same time

Architecture must Ase new new ma mate teri rial alss todeve dedevelop velo lop p they th ey make may may mistakes. outp outpac acee the th

 

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architect’s grasp of their limitations and for a while ugly structures will certainly be produced. But one generation gener ation’s ’s excrement excremental al object object may be another another generation’s gold, as is somewhat the case with the Eiff Eiffel el towe towerr thes thesee days days:: at le leas ast, t, so fa farr as the the visitors are concerned who rather admire it. The offensive object, however, may be unconsciously

beginnings. Or the unspectacular, surprising design – for example, a newly built small shop that fits into in to a prev previo ious usly ly dere dereli lict ct si sigh ghtt ra rath ther er ni nice cely ly – might mig ht elicit elicit a “Ahhhh “Ahhhhh! h! I didn’t didn’t know that that was there”. To build the evocative on whatever scale is to open the psyche-soma seemingly expanding the mind and the body in one singular act of reception

welcomed even as int it is consciously vilified –l becaus bec ausee it –rai raises ses an intere erestin sting g psycho psycho-sp -spiri iritua tual question. Is this self of ours, which is deposited upon this earth, nothing more than shit? As our bodies decay, as we see early signs of our wasting away, knowing that one day we shall be wormed to a kind of stinking waste, will anything come of this excretion? Will we ever truly be resurrected? How could anything be made out of our waste? The same same questi question on is rai raised sed when when archit architects ects create shit. Surely, the people wonder, how can this excrement ever come to anything? What form of  int interv ervent ention ion in the minds minds of the genera generatio tions ns to come could possibly transform this dross to gold?

linking thediscussed new object to thebuildings pleasantly surprised object. As earlier, trade on our uncons unc onscio cious us awe of the statur staturee of the physic physical al world – the “breathtaking” view of a mountain, the se sea, a, the the prai prairi riee and and to this this exte extent nt they they have have an ontological potential: we may be returned to the origin of our being in its first perceptions of the object. When this occurs the building occupies a certain spirit of place, its design establishing ontological value, as we are put back in the place of birth, as new objects open our mouths and our psyches to the continui continuing ng spirit spirit of birth. birth. If the body body fro from m whom we arrive, the mother, may be regarded as

Disguised inlythis offended frame mind well be a deep deeply hi hidd dden en wish wish that thatof quit qu itee may poss possib ibly ly someday this building will be loved by those who surround it. Perhaps waste will be transformed into live live matt matter er.. Pe Perh rhap apss the the re reje ject cted ed will will be the the resu resurr rrec ected ted.. But But if so so,, this this will will happ happen en in the the mind’s of man. The eye sore, then, awaits a future frame fra me of mind, mind, perhap perhapss one more more sophis sophistic ticate ated d than our own, perhaps one that will function in the world wor ld of futuri futuristi sticc medici medicine, ne, perhap perhapss even even in a world where through DNA replication of our blood samples we can be resurrected after all. Perhaps then, these piles of waste are strange prayers to the future, futu re, very different different from those admired admired monumonu-

the God who delivers our being, subsequent subse quent presentatio presen tation nusofinto objects may bethen seenher as consecrations of the object world. Each object the infa in fant nt puts puts into into hi hiss mout mouth h fo forr the the ta tast stee te test st,, is co comm mmun unio ion n with with the the moth mother er’s ’s brea breast st.. In our our unconscious, then, buildings sustain (or fail) this communion. This good breast, as Melanie Klein famous fam ously ly terms terms it, is dissem dissemina inated ted in the object object world, to be found for each person in those objects which whi ch either either physic physicall ally y or psychi psychical cally ly open open the mouth and mind of man. New found objects either pass or fail this taste test and people will of course vary enormously in their idea of what is in good taste or in bad taste.

ments Newdiscussed building buildings, s,earlier. especially especially visionary visionary ones, elicit elicit the sounds of awe. In the visual field of the Empire State Building must be the auditory inscriptions of  many “Aaaaaaahhhhhh’s” or “Ooooooooooh’s” or “Wooooowwwww’s”. The mouth opens to take in thee si th sigh ght, t, the the self self perh perhap apss thro thrown wn back back to the the infant’s opened mouth of surprise as yet another asto as toni nish shing ing new new obje object ct is pr pres esen ente ted d befo before re it. it. Cert Ce rtai ainl nly y th thee scal scalee of New New Yo York rk puts puts al alll of us back back into into the the real realms ms of the the ch chil ild d amon amongs gstt the the giants, but the spectacle of the object, its spectacular value, trades off the history of any self born int into a wor orld ld of sur surpr pris ises es.. So too does does the

Is the sight divine or not? Designers and architects, then, create a world of  taste or for the taste, and inherit the task of the mother moth er who delivers the self into a new place with new views and new objects. Cities will have well known likely areas for the awe-inspiring, but the small material objects of life – a glass, cutlery, a lamp etc. – are every bit as likely to carry this delight in them. Love of our objects, sometimes something of an embarrassment, is a passion that performs a communion. The man made world contrasted to the natural world, however, raises a different duality as built

“Yuuuuuuuuuuck!” the averted gaze of express the unpleasures of theand unwelcome objects one’s

objects seem testimonies the patriarchal order, while the natural world isto likened to the maternal

 

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order. As discussed, however, there are countless forms of intercourse between the maternal and the paternal orders. If we allow that the decision over inseminati insem ination on is a patriarch patriarchal al action action – take a Greek  Greek  Temp Temple le fo forr ex exam ampl plee – an and d it itss co cons nstr truc ucti tion on is named by man, then its birth to the newcomer (that is, the first moment of seeing it) always trades off 

Mostt cities Mos cities do have have open open market marketss contai containin ning g fishmonge fishmo ngers rs and farm farm produc producee and the market market square bears something of these spirits. Fisherman or farmers, for example, visiting the market square will feel that their lives – and the world of fish or of  cr crop opss – ar aree re repr pres esen ente ted d to some some exte extent nt.. Ye Yett someti som etimes mes city city planne planners rs and archit architects ects do more more

maternal mater nal presentat presentation ionaof the surp surprisin object. object. If  the monument seems hallmark ofrising thegmonolithic triumph of the inorganic over our organic lives, then the n naming naming its str struct ucture ure from the parts of our bodies bod ies inscri inscribes bes the human human form form int into o it. These These same temples also bear the names of parts of the animal and botanical world, just as cave paintings and Egyptian tombs bore representations or artefa fact ctss from from the the natu natura rall worl world. d. We have have been been bringing together objects from the maternal order and the patern paternal al order order and from from lif lifee forms forms and death forms together since the beginning of time, a sequ sequal alae ae of juxt juxtap apos osit itio ions ns that that is part part of the the unconscious obligation of architecture.

than this. In Bergen, for large example, in theenabling central harbour there are several fish tanks people to gaze at these remarkable creatures from the other world moving about in tanks of sea water, welll before wel before they they go elsewh elsewhere ere on their their journe journey. y. The same presentation of the sea, its contents (the fish), and the lives of those men and women who work in this world (fisherman) are given honoured place in Helsinki and in Gothenburg. But a similar architectural representation of the spirit of fish has disappeared for quite some time from the area near the Old Town in Stockholm where it once existed. We could call this a loss of one element of the city’s spirit.

The park in the city, garden at the of the house, the potted plantthe in the room, theback flowers in the vase, are emblems of the natural world in the built world, just as a small chapel in the forest, or a sculpture in the meadow are signs of the built order in the natural world. These The se forms forms of int interc ercour ourse se are spirit spiritual ual moments if we understand by this that each embodiment carries with it the spirit of the signifier. A flower in a vase is the spirit of flowers, a church in thee wood th woodss is the the sp spir irit it of Ch Chri rist stia ian n fa fait ith. h. Ci City ty pl plan anni ning ng is not not si simp mply ly fu func ncti tion onal al an and d lo local cally ly mean me anin ingf gful ul,, it also also in invo volv lves es a ty type pe of psyc psycho ho-spirituality, that is, it is invested with the psycho-

Atof thethe time of thecommunities Tory parties of ruthless tion mining Great destrucBritain, during Margaret Thatcher’s reign, Covent Garden (the fruit and vegetable market of central London) was transformed into boutiques and tourist shops. The new Covent Garden was resited many miles away aw ay.. At this this mome moment nt,, Smit Smithfi hfiel eld’ d’ss (t (the he me meat at market of London) is also being resited and will so soon on be tr tran ansf sfor orme med d into into more more bout boutiq ique uess and and design des igner er stores stores.. One nee need d not quarrel quarrel with with the structural necessity of any of the above. Perhaps it was necessary to restructure the mining industry, to relocate and enlarge the produce market, just as there is need to relocate the meat market. But if 

lo logi gica call place. task task of br brin ingi ging ng th thee sp spir irit itss of li life fe into into certain As space does not permit what we might think of  as a spiritual deconstruction of western society – we could examine a house in terms of the spirit of  its plumbing, or the spirit of its heating, or the spirit of its living space – let us limit ourselves to the spiritual representation of certain social phenomenon vital to human life. We farm the land and we fish the seas. Our survival depends upon these two very ancient functions. In the modern city the fruits of farming and of fishing will of course find their way into the large supermarkets, but we might ask  if architecturally we are succeeding in representing

my is correct, that planning ing ing argument is not not si simp mply ly fu func ncti tion onal al, , but but the theand work wobuildrk of  meaning mean ing,, ind indeed eed the work work of spirit spiritual ual commucommunion, then the eradication of these sites from the center of the city amounts to a form of spiritual elimination. One need only visit the Pike Place in Seattle Washington Washin gton to see how the sea and the land can be functionally and spiritually located. Planning could easily allocate the vast majority of its fish, meat, and agricultural processing to the perimeters of a city, while at the same time comprehending the need both of those who work in these distant field and the people who live within the city to have a

the of fishing as well as the spirit spirit of of the the fisherman farmer andand of farming.

spiritual relation to one idiom another. (Remember, by spirit I mean the precise of evocative effect

 

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derived from the integrity of each of these differing realms). There is no reason, then, why a city like London, for ex exam amp ple, le, co cou uld not not hav avee in its its ce cen nte terr a monument to the underworld of coal mining and to the spirit of mining. The great mining villages of  Yorkshire and Wales could find spiritual represen-

perception” is born, “that of concrete abstraction; this, moreover, is the meaning which we can give today to the word  structure: a corpus of intelligent forms” (8:9). Gazing down on Paris one sees the structure of the city as a body of intelligent forms. Thee multit Th multitude ude of co-ter co-termin minus us dialec dialectics tics that that dr driv ivee the the di diff ffer erin ing g inte intell llig igen ence cess of a ci city ty –

tation in their capital city were a city block  designed to reveal it. The same half could go for the shipping industry, the automobile industry and so forth. Su Such ch tote totems ms,, as it were were,, woul would d invi invite te the the spiritual worlds of man and woman into places of  represent repr esentation ation.. However However interestin interesting g and deeply deeply meaningful monotheism has been, were the monothei th eist stic ic dr driv ivee to elim elimin inat atee th thee sp spir irit itua uall wo worl rld d embodi emb odied ed in differ differing ing lesser lesser gods gods (i.e., (i.e., the corn corn spirit, the rain spirit, etc.), it would be a senseless eradication of the spirit of life on earth. We do all deri derive ve from from the the moth mother er an and d in that that se sens nsee our our monotheism is apt, but what kind of mother would

eradication creation of roads, new parks, schools, etc.and – constitutes thenew body of a city’s form. Like Like the the unco uncons nscio cious us li life fe of any any one one self self,, the the intelligence of a city’s formings and transformings of itself, derives from no single stimuli, but will al alwa ways ys have have been been a dyna dynami micc matr matrix ix of many many influ in fluen ence cess that that none noneth thel eles esss seem seems, s, in ti time me,, to createe its mentality. creat mentality. Although Although that mentality mentality,, or let us say collected vision – a dreaming derived from the many constituents may be destroyed, once alive and in place it constitutes a very particular system unconscious that will generate the complex meanings of a city and its inhabitants. The Engli English sh psycho psychoanal analyst yst Wilfre Wilfred d Bion Bion (9 (9))

we be rec ecal alli ling ng destroying if hono honour urin ing g embodied her was spirits to be accomplished by the of the object world that she set us into enjoying? Thee mono Th monoth thei eist stic ic mi migh ghtt th then en be a to tota tali lita tari rian an spirit spi ritual uality ity presid presided ed over over by what what Andre Andre Green Green terms the “dead mother”, a figure whose psychic anguis ang uish, h, self self pre preocc occupa upatio tion, n, and dement dementia ia has preclu pre cluded ded her passin passing g her rel relati ation on to her child child onto the child’s relation to reality. Part of the task of the architectural unconscious, then, may be to survive monotheistic genocide of  difference and through the diversity of structures to at least provide the form for many spirits even if as yet the true houses for the spirits of life have yet to

arg argued ued that mental men tal lif lifee cannot can not be assume umed. d. The Thise only reason we develop a mind, heass maintains, because we have thoughts and eventually thoughts demand the arrival of a thinker to think them. We have have many many expe experi rien ence cess in li life fe,, but but if thes thesee experiences are not transformed into some form of material for thought, from Bion’s point of view these would therefore be “undigested experiences” and he gives the arbitrary sign B, or Beta, to such elements. But if the self’s mind is forming then the ontic factors of life may find ontological significa canc nce, e, and and we ma may y deri derive ve fo food od fo forr thou though ght, t, to which he assigns the term A or alpha. We may may be able able to borr borrow ow some some of Bi Bion on’s ’s

be Fifty fully fully years comprehen compbefore rehended ded attended to. theand construction of the Eiffel tower, Roland Barthes reminds us that the nineteenth teen th century century novel materialise materialised d in the literary imagin ima ginati ation on that that point point of perspe perspecti ctive ve creati creating ng a pano panora rami micc vi view ew that that woul would d be ac achi hiev eved ed in the the tech techno nolo logy gy of the the Towe Tower. r. In a ch chap apte terr of the the  Hunchback of Notre Dame   which gives a bird’seye view of the city and in Michelet’s   Tableau chronologique which does the same, one looks out upon Paris, something one will do later when the Towerr is constructed. Towe constructed. Barth Barthes es argues argues that travel lite li tera ratu ture re had had desc descri ribe bed d sc scene eness of li life fe,, but but the the traveller was always thrust into the midst of his

thinking considerofthe life of aand village a city. The mereto existence buildings citiesor does not mean that they have a mentality. They may once have been “a corpus of intelligent forms”, but now they could be dead. Those living in the city might be hard hard pres presse sed d to deri derive ve fr from om the the ci citi ties es beta beta functioning – that is purely functional operation – an any y fo food od fo forr thou though ght: t: it wo woul uld d not not gi give ve ri rise se to legend leg ends, s, myt myths, hs, memori memories, es, dre dreams ams,, contem contempla pla-tions, new visions, like Jersey City in the Lynch study. But if the city transforms itself, generating new forms of life, then it would be creating alpha – that hat is th thee food ood of th thou ough ghtt – an and d th thee cit ity y’s mental men tality ity,, its uncons unconscio cious us for formin ming g of its itself elf and

scene describing sensation new, fr from om th thes esee nove novels lsthean and d from from the thof e the Towe Tower r “awhile new new

its The inhabitants, would alive and well.County in topography of be southern Orange

 

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California shows how so called developers have tried to bypass the struggle to move from beta to alpha, from the undigested to the digested, through the creation of ready made towns, with themes like Sp Span anis ish h vi vill llag age, e, or Cape Cape Cod. Cod. Alth Althou ough gh the the schools, parks, shopping malls, and graded housing districts were executed in one single swift act of 

It re rema main inss fo forr us to fo foll llow ow the the psyc psycho hoan anal alyt ytic ic project toward all its implications, not simply as has happened in the study of literature and culture, but elsewher elsewhere, e, as in the continue continued d study study of the unconscious dimensions of architecture, or what Guy Debord, a French Situationist termed “psycho-ge cho -geogr ograph aphy, y, the study study and man manipu ipulati lation on of 

development, andSpain certainly intending or to Cape exudeCod the spirit of place (ie. in California, in California), cloning a mentality is not equivalent to working through those stages of human strife out of which a community grows its own true spirit. Thee anodyn Th anodynee new towns towns of southe southern rn Orange Orange County, California, are the city equivalents of the human false self, an invented identity meaning to stand sta nd in for authen authentic tic civic civic lif life. e. These These enviro environnments themselves suggest that its inhabitants share in a kind of shallowing out of the self, meant to live in apparent immediate normality, as if the theme park city has true integrity. Such places would then be empty empty forms, forms, falsely falsely presumed presumed intellige intelligences, nces,

enviro env ironme nments nts to create create ambien amb iences ces and new psychic possibilities” (innew Harris 10:20).

References

A diagram of the human individual is something that

1. Freud Freud S. Civili Civilisat sation ion and its discon disconten tents. ts. (1930) (1930).. London London:: Hogarth Press 1953:SE 21. 2. Lynch K. The image of the city. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996. 3. Montet P. Everyday life in Egypt in the days of Ramesses the Great. (1958). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, l981. 4. Bachel Bachelard ard G. The poet poetics ics of space. space. (1958). (1958). Boston: Boston: Beacon Press, 1994. 5. Crawford H. Sumer and the Sumerians. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, l995. 6. Hersey G. The lost meaning of classical architecture. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995. 7. Winnicott DW. Berlin walls. In: Home is where we start from. London: WW Norton, 1986. 8. Barthes R. The Eiffel tower. In: The Eiffel tower. 1979. New York: University of California Press, 1984:3–22. 9. Bion WR. Second thoughts. New York: Jason Aronson, l967. 10. Harri Harriss S, Berke D. Archi Architectu tecture re of the everyday. everyday. Princeton: Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 1997. 11. Bollas C. Being a character. New York: Hill & Wang Publications, 1992. 12. Bollas C. Cracking up. New York: Hill & Wang Publications, 1995. 13. Burgin V. In/Different spaces. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. 14. Field M. Classroom on stilts puts new life into an old prefab. The Architects’ Journal 1995;(3):23. 15. Harbison R. The built, the unbuilt, and the unbuildable. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1994.

can be mad madee and the superi superimpo mposit sition ion of a thousa thousand nd million of these diagrams represents the sum total of the contribution of the individuals that compose the world and at the same time it is a sociological diagram of the world. (7:221–22)

16. Har Harbis bison on R. Thi Thirte rteen en ways: ways: Theore Theoretic tical al invest investiga igatio tions ns in architecture. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997. 17. Lefebvre H. The production of space. (1974). Oxford: Blackwell, 1992. 18. Rasm Rasmussen ussen SE. Experienc Experiencing ing architectu architecture. re. Cambridge Cambridge:: MIT Press, 1995.

aim aiming to produc produce e a mental men ity mentalities by photoc photocopy opying ing anding transposing other sitestality and to the new site. At the end of the day, a Lynch studying these cities would find, I think, that its inhabitants were possessed of a curiously dislocating contented edne ness ss:: they they have have ev ever eryt ythi hing ng an and d yet yet it woul would d appearr to mean nothing. appea nothing. The study of unconscious life is a project that we associate with Freud’s announcement of the formation of psychoanalysis. Still very much in its early ear ly stages stages as an int intell ellect ectual ual projec project, t, Freud Freud’s ’s designation should not stop with the limits of the individual self. Winnicott wrote that,

 

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Summaries in German and Spanish Bollass C. Architekt Bolla Architektur ur und das Unbewu Unbewußte ßte

Bollas C. Arquitectura y el Inconsciente.

Lebenspla¨ne und Baupla¨¨ne ne enthalten unbewußtes Denken, das in der Archi Architektur tektur Ausdruck findet. Sta¨¨dte dte werden zur haltenden Umwelt fu¨r ihre Bewohner und bieten verschiedene Beziehungsformen zur Welt der Objekte. Wie sie geplant sind und welche welche Obj Objekt ektee sie enthal enthalten ten,, reflekt reflektier iertt den Vor Vorste stelllungsraum, lungsr aum, der jede Stadt pra¨¨gt. gt. Er ko¨¨nnte nnte in einer Topoanalyse, analys e, einer Psychoanaly Psychoanalyse se der gebauten Welt, erschloss erschlossen en werden. Die Bauten sind aber auch Formen des Todes, die lebendig lebend ig erfahr erfahren en werden ko¨nnen. So kann eine Psychoanalysee der gebauten Welt letztlich die psychoanalys psycho-spiri spirituell tuellee Dimension Dimen sion des menschl menschlichen ichen Lebens offenb offenbaren. aren.

La for forma ma en que pla planifi nificam camos, os, viven viven o con constr struim uimos os ambientes, reflejan formas inconscientes de pensar realizadas a trave trave´s ´ s de la arq arquit uitect ectura ura.. Las ciu ciudade dadess emp empiez iezan an a ser ambientes ambie ntes de asimi asimiento ento que ofrec ofrecen en habita habitantes ntes con forma formass diferentes de vnculo psquico con el objeto mundo. La forma en que plani planifican fican y catego categorizan rizan los objetos que ofrecen an˜ ade grados de “imaginacio´n”, un atributo de cualquier ciudad que puede empezar a ser una parte de un psicoana´´lisis lisis sobre la constr con strucci uccio o´n del mun mundo, do, o lo que Bach Bachela elarr deno denomin mino o´ “topoanalisi “topoa nalisis.” s.” Las ciudad ciudades es juegan tambie´n ´n con la vida y la muerte y aquellas que habitan estructuras construidas sera´n ´n sobre sob revi vivi vida dass por lo loss lu luga gare ress qu quee el ello loss habi habita tan n au aunqu nquee vivifiquen vivifiq uen los espacio espacioss inorg inorgaa´´nicos nicos que constr construyen. uyen. Todos los los edifi edifici cios os pu pued eden en po porr ta tant nto o ser ser form formas as de muer muerte te conve con vert rtid idas as en exp exper erie ienci ncias as de vi vida da,, y lo loss arqui arquite tect ctos os negocian negocia n temas complejos que envuelv envuelven en la convers conversio io´n ´n de formas de muerte en vida humana. El “espritu” del esfuerzo humano necesita neces ita representacio´n en el ambiente construido y debemos considerar las formas en las que un psicoana´lisis del mundo mun do cons constru truido ido pue puede de cond conduci ucirr a una psicopsico-espi espirit ritual ual representacio´n de la vida human humana. a.

 

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o p y r ig h t o f In te rn a tio o n te n t m a y n o t b e c o p o p y r i g h t h o l d e r 's e x p r r tic l e s f o r i n d i v id u a l u

n a l F o r u m o f P s y c h o a n a l y s i s i s t h e p r o p e r t y o f R o u t l e d g e a n d i t s   i e d o r e m a i l e d t o m u l t i p l e s i t e s o r p o s t e d t o a l i s t s e r v w i t h o u t t h e    e s s w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n . H o w e v e r , u s e r s m a y p r i n t , d o w n l o a d , o r e m a i l   s e .