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A Note on Anthropomorphic Architecture

Peter J. M. Nas and Chantal Brakus Space and Culture 2004 7: 260 DOI: 10.1177/1206331204266202 The online version of this article can be found at: http://sac.sagepub.com/content/7/3/260

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Bricks of Movement

A Note on Anthropomorphic Architecture

Peter J. M. Nas Leiden University, the Netherlands Chantal Brakus Leiden University, the Netherlands
This poster article highights the revival of the anthropomorphic design in modern architecture by presenting two striking examples. Keywords: architecture; built environment; urban anthropology; anthropomorphic architecture

Throughout history, the human body has been an inspiration for architecture. Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, possesses a striking present-day example of such type of design called Ginger & Fred or The Dancing Couple, referring to the glamorous Hollywood magical dancing partners Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire (Pesch, 1997). The two modern multistorey office buildings, placed elegantly side by side as if dancing, depict an upright man with a fancy haircut, standing steady, who is stretching his arm out to a gracefully curved lady, twirling to a joyous rhythm with her flexible legs. Fred, the right cylinder, fits in with the rest of the buildings and the ancient structures in central Prague, whereas Ginger, the column of glass with a trim waist, lets her skirt flare out through the air and stands out as an individual personality symbolizing freedom (see Figure 1). Frank O. Gehry, in creating Ginger & Fred, seems to be influenced by the London Knees painted by Claes Oldenburg (see Figure 2).1 In the 1960s, Oldenburg designed such colossal objects, which he considered as associative landmarks for certain cities, to be placed in urban landscapes. His colossal London Knees was a monument he associated with the dampness, cramped cabs, and miniskirts of London (see Abramson, 1999). The resemblance of Oldenburgs static London Knees and Gehrys Ginger, twirling on the left of the Dancing Building, is considerable. Van Bruggen (1997, p. 119) points out that Gehry has never avoided memorable images from the

space & culture vol. 7 no. 3, august 2004 260-264 DOI: 10.1177/1206331204266202 2004 Sage Publications 260

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Figure 1: Frank O. Gehry, Ginger & Fred, the Dancing Couple, Prague. Photograph by Dirk Jan van Wieringhen Borski, the Netherlands, 2000.

artists he respects. He fictionalizes the process as a communal game. Gehry mentions that he obviously was influenced by the Knees, although he was not aware of it.2

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262 s p a c e a n d c u l t u r e / a u g u s t 2 0 0 4

Figure 2: Claes Oldenburg, The London Knees, photo collage, 10.25 in. 15.75 in., 1969 (Clercx, 1997).

It was the form of the human body in a particular gesture of togetherness that inspired Gehry to design this edifice, of course without ignoring construction requirements. Ginger & Fred is a clear example of modern anthropomorphic architecture stressing the human body in motion. Other present-day examples of anthropomorphic architecture are the public buildings and bridges designed by Santiago Calatrava, who was born in Spain in 1951. Not only the measurements and movements of the human body inspired this architect, the external and internal shapes of the human body are also incorporated in his architecture. One of the most striking examples of Calatravas anthropomorphic architecture can be found in Valencia, Spain. LHemisfric, also known as the Eye of Wisdom, provides a home for the planetarium, film theatre, and auditorium. It is situated in the middle of a vast pond, and the reflection of the building in the water creates the complete image of an eye. The planetarium globe is placed in the middle of an ellipticalshaped building constructed of concrete, glass, and steel, and can be seen as the pupil of the big eye (see Figure 3). Probably the modern hedonistic emphasis on the pleasant external form and image of man and the human body can be considered to be one of the main incentives for a revival of anthropomorphic architecture (see Braham & Emmons, 2002). The transformation of society from a communal, industrial culture characterized by the rectilinear, orthogonal mode into an individual, informational one with completely new computer design potentials exploring intricate fractal and organic curved line systems may also lead to the reinforcement of the human body as an architectural frame of reference. In modern Western architecture, this renewed emphasis is increasingly taking the quality of straightforward dynamic anthropomorphism as exempli-

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Figure 3: Santiago Calatrava, L Hemisfric, City of Science, Valencia, Spain, 1996 (retrieved April 6, 2004, from http://www.culturageneral.net/arquitectura/arquitec/lhemisfer.htm).

fied by The Dancing Couple of Gehry and The Eye of Wisdom of Calatrava. This indicates that the whole or the parts of the human body in a specific situation and gesture function as an interesting, attractive, and even provocative frame of reference for future building design. Being part of a widely spread, long, and celebrated history covering various present-day traditional cultures and old societies from classic historyanthropomorphic architecture has acquired a fascinating vitality in the wake of fundamental societal transformations and new passions for human form and life.

Notes
1. With the Czech coarchitect Vladimir Milunic. For Frank O. Gehry, see also Van Bruggen (1997). 2. Whoever is playing puts an idea on the table; the parlay from the London Knees (a multiple by Oldenburg) to Prague (Gehrys Nationale-Nederlanden office building) to Richard (Serra)s new pieces is amazing. Richard says he was influenced by the Lewis Residence, and its obvious I was influenced by the Knees, although I didnt know it. Everybody sees it, (Frank) Stella saw it. So I look at it as a communal language (Van Bruggen, 1997, p. 119).

References
Abramson, D. (1999). Make history, not memory: Historys critique of memory. Harvard Design Magazine, 9, 1-6. Braham, W. W., & Emmons, P. (2002). Upright or flexible? Exercising posture in modern architecture. In G. Dodos & R. Tavernor (Eds.), Body and building: Essays on the changing relation of body and architecture (pp. 290-303). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Clercx, B. (1997, November). Computers and sculpture in education: Reshaping the for(u)m for the 21st century. Sculpture Magazine Online, 16(9). Retrieved April 6, 2004, from http://www.sculpture.org

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264 s p a c e a n d c u l t u r e / a u g u s t 2 0 0 4 Pesch, J. (1997). Postmoderne Spielerei oder post-apokalyptische Architektur? [Postmodern trifling or post-apocalyptic architecture?] Frank Gehrys Ginger and Fred in Prague. Kunst & Kultur, 4(5), 14-17. Van Bruggen, C. (1997). Frank O. Gehry, Guggenheim Museum Bilboa. New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

Peter J.M. Nas is a professor at Leiden Universit, and attached to the departments of cultural anthropology and development sociology as well as Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asia and Oceania. He teaches urban and applied sociology and anthropology, and has conducted fieldwork in Indonesia. Peter J.M. Nas is secretary-general of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences.

Chantal G. Brakus studies cultural anthropology at Leiden University, the Netherlands, specializing in medical anthropology. She carried out doctoral fieldwork on health care utilization in a rural community in Crete. Her other fields of interest are urban sociology and lifestyles. Her fieldwork training was focused on lifestyles of golf players and soccer players in the Netherlands.

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