Abstract
Luis Barragán House and Studio, designed by Barragán in 1947, is the architect's most representative and significant work. In it, he first established his architectural language in terms of organizing the interaction between physical structure and surrounding nature. This paper focuses on the methodology of Barragán's coordination of a sense of boundary as an intriguing factor in Barragán House. Representations of ambiguity in the house—which contains a sense of openness, extension, and combination—were analyzed, yielding three conclusions. First, overlapped, undefined thresholds and structural fluidity stimulate visual ambiguity by implying spatial integration. Second, the adjacent juxtaposition of functionally diverse spaces creates spatial tension and leads to the effect of a vanishing, filmy boundary. Third, spatial experience penetrates the distribution of invisible boundaries such as light, memory, and sensuous synthesis, which renders phenomenological diffusion as a temporary, but rather dominant, ambiguity. The paper concludes that Barragán's spatial ambiguity does not represent disorder or confusion, but a methodology for the embodiment of his emotive architecture. It does so through still, simple, and minimal spatiality that refers to both tangible and invisible attributes and operates as a key factor in understanding the intrinsic quality of attraction and resonance in Barragán's spaces. Keywords: Luis Barragán; Barragán House; ambiguity; sense of boundary; vernacular architecture 1. Introduction The exemplary Barragán House and Studio 1.1 Background demonstrates the distinctive methodology of an "Quiet Revolution" is a title that appropriately existing spatial order. This experimental project, begun describes Luis Barragán's attitude toward space, in 1947, generated Barragán's architectural language architecture, and life. At the same time, it also refers in terms of organizing the interaction between physical to the criticism, interpretation, and appreciation structure and surrounding nature. The combination of of his works. However, an authentic appraisal of form, material, color, light, and nature—such as trees emotional architecture—the key feature of his work— and flowers—in this house functions as an identity requires a detailed observation of Barragán's spatial that establishes a unique boundary condition. Barragán composition. His architecture is simple, gentle, appears to have used his intuition to design a sense and extremely abundant, and it requires a decisive of boundary as an intriguing factor in his house. The choice of meaningful reinterpretation, rather than dispersion of boundaries at Barragán House leads to mere description. As Barragán declared, "I believe an effect of ambiguity, which yields a simultaneous in emotive architecture," (Smith and Adin, 1968) sense of openness, extension, and containment. and "My house is my refuge, an emotional piece of These transitional moments are a key feature for architecture, not a cold piece of convenience" (Pauly, understanding the intrinsic quality of the attraction and 2002, p.214). Thus, the investigation of the structure of resonance of this space. his representative projects is an essential step toward 1.2 Aim and Methodology the understanding of his emotive architecture. This paper aims at an anatomical analysis of the dispersion of boundaries at Barragán House. It attempts to clarify the elements that compose these boundaries *Contact Author: Jeehyun Nam, General Manager, and their state of dispersal among Barragán's diverse Architectural Research Institute, Heerim Architects & Planners spatial strata. General information on Luis Barragán Co., Ltd., Heerim Bldg.12, Gwangpyong-ro 56-gil, House and Studio and its relationship to Barragán's Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-885, Korea other houses is described in Section 2. This will Tel: +82-10-6650-6691 Fax: +82-2-3410-9093 provide logical connections between his mesmerizing E-mail: whlove@gmail.com space and its ambiguity. In Section 3, three ( Received April 8, 2014 ; accepted February 17, 2015 ) Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering/May 2015/291 287 representational types of ambiguity will be categorized piece to erase the boundary line for the effect of spatial according to the texture that forms each boundary, such synthesis. In other words, it can be said that Barragán's as its physical, functional, and phenomenal attributes. ambiguity indicates the state of boundaries in his Ultimately, the distribution of Barragán's entire space architecture. combines and integrates, generating an emotional piece He was also interested in the concept of intermediate of architecture. conditions. "Architects are forgetting the need of human beings for half-light, the sort of light that 2. Spatiality of Luis Barragán House and Studio imposes a tranquility, in their living rooms as well as in Luis Barragán designed Barragán House in 1947 their bedrooms," he stated. "We should try to recover on a homogeneous street in the middle of a modest mental and spiritual ease and to alleviate anxiety, neighborhood in Tacubaya. Like many of Barragán's the salient characteristic of these agitated times, and other houses, the homogeneousness of its façade the pleasure of thinking, working, conversing are implies his careful consideration of the intrinsic quality heightened by the absence of glaring, distracting behind it. When Louis I. Kahn visited the Studio light" (Smith, 1967, p.74). He also said: "I attentively House in Tacubaya, he felt immediately attuned to the studied light and colour, because I wanted to create intimate atmosphere. As Kahn himself remarked, "His an atmosphere of stillness and spiritual meditation. house is not just a house. It is the house. Everyone can The idea of semi-darkness was very important in feel at home there. Its materials are traditional, and this project. I underline the study of colour above its character eternal" (Pauly, 2002, p.170). This house all" (Pauly, 2002, p.148). Barragán's sense of semi- allowed Barragán to establish his own architectural darkness, or half-light, not only involves the intensity language, with walls, gardens, and lights that he of light but also refers to the entire atmosphere created continued to develop in later years at the Chapel for by the balance between walls, colors, material, and the Capuchinas (1952-55), Antoni Galvez house (1955- structure. This may be a matter of visible property, or 57), Gilardi House (1976), and Barbara Meyer House of invisible features such as memory and serenity, as (1981). Since this paper attempts to focus on the issue Barragán emphasized in interviews. In a 1980 speech of a sense of boundary, this section concentrates on at the presentation of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the spatial layout mainly in the ambiguous moments he stated: "Serenity is the great and true antidote dispersed on the Luis Barragán House and Studio. against anguish and fear, and today, more than ever, it is architect's duty to make of it a permanent guest in the home, no matter how sumptuous or humble. Throughout my work I have always strived to achieve serenity." He was clearly well aware of the interplay between tangible and emotive elements in his work. Fig.1. Sense of Boundary and Overlaps As Barragán stated, "It is essential that an architect know how to see." The ability to see the various aspects of architecture leads the perceiver to sense its intrinsic value. In a given space, one's eyes can follow a boundary at which an edge is formulated and will stop where the view is blocked. Barragán House contains abundant spaces full of multiple boundary conditions, wherein one's gaze drifts across the space. Therefore, the sense of boundaries functions as a critical component that integrates the house's overall spatial organization in terms of experiencing the space all the way through. Fig.2. Main Stairway in the First Floor Hall As Barragán's spaces are simple and minimal, the (Photo Courtesy of Yutaka Saito) status of their boundaries also represents simplicity. What embodies substantive spatial structure is not a For instance, the main stairway (Fig.2.) in the first singular boundary, but a group of boundaries. Barragán floor hall contains ambiguous elements, including had an instinctive attitude toward creating subtle light from the upper west corner; a hidden window arrangements to adjust the strength of boundaries providing permeating light; the heterogeneous, glossy according to their spatial effect. Sometimes he material of the work of Mathias Goeritz; multi- overlapped layers in order to maximize the enclosure dispersed lines showing inconsistent spatial layouts; effect with partial openings, or concealed a particular and design-intended colors that conceal or highlight 288 JAABE vol.14 no.2 May 2015 Jiae Han particular pieces. Various architectural layers are Furthermore, these partially open walls not only found in a single glance at this scene, which is full of produce layering effects, but can also be perceived as meaningful resonance representing ambiguity. The a form of unspecified ambiguity, especially when they ambiguity here does not involve illogical criteria, but have intersecting layouts. Here, Barragán seems to refers to the possibility of the connection of adjacent, have focused more on how to disperse the relationships un de fi ne d e l e m e nt s. T he c l a ssi fi c a t i on of t he se among the enclosure-ness of his house than on how to elements and the specific procedure of their integration create a single powerful unit. Thus, it seems probable will be discussed in the following section. that Barragán saw the partially open thresholds in the house as a means of weaving together its structural 3. Representations of Ambiguity tissue. This undefined scope extends the function 3.1 Physical Boundary of walls from division to integration. Other houses The layout of walls, variation of levels, quality of designed by Barragán also adopted the undefined materials, and use of colors determine the tangible threshold as an indigenous feature. boundaries of Barragán House. The combination Intentionally effacing certain objects also creates of these settings creates the effect of layers and another aspect of the undefined threshold. Effaced overlapping views, which represent the ambiguity of stair banisters and missing furniture legs stimulate the overall atmosphere. There are two main attributes the sense of integration as a whole. The stairs in of this visible ambiguity: undefined thresholds and the entrance hall and library, which lack handrails, structural fluidity. Both suspended boundary and enhance the concept of visual synthesis between a spatial flexibility offer a scope of uncertainty within the main body and its attached parts. Even the underneath physical layouts, stimulating their uniquely ambiguous white color helps the threshold pervading vanishing sense of tangible integration. process. The conception of a vanished object opens up the idea of extended parts folding out from existing objects. Essentially, physical ambiguity implies spatial connection. 3.1.2 Structural Fluidity Barragán House contains various places in which flexible structures provide selective situations. Barragán devised particular types of doors and windows that have various degrees of opening according to the user's immediate needs, direction, or time. This selective alteration provides another form of augmented ambiguity, other than rigid structure. Moreover, even fixed walls Fig.3. Partially Open Walls in the First-Floor Library assume different expressions according to the color and 3.1.1 Undefined Thresholds texture of the adjacent walls as a reflection. The walls in As Barragán initially emphasized the significance the cloth room (Fig.5.-(R)) on the second floor bear the of enclosures within dwellings, he also investigated property of yellow even though they do not have any ways in which to coordinate architectural language such attributes. The gradual transition of such attributes in the ambient joints at which spatial enclosures are molds an innate spatial appearance, while transient, formulated. His elaborate approach established specific continuous fluidity becomes another factor of the house's patterns that created a sense of a continual, enclosed ambiguity. This fluidity creates variations on situation and room with open edges. This undefined threshold time, and the experience penetrating all of these various renders the sense of a multi-layered enclosure and aspects maximizes the house's undefined ambiguity. strengthens the sensuous ambiguity of the space at the same time. Fig.5. Second-Floor Guestroom in the Southeast Corner (L) and Wall in the Cloth Room (R) (Photos Courtesy of Luis Barragán House and Studio) Fig.4. Partially Open Walls in the First-Floor Library (Photo Courtesy of Luis Barragán House and Studio) JAABE vol.14 no.2 May 2015 Jiae Han 289 3.2 Intrinsic Attributes 3.2.2 Main Space/Service Space Another ambiguous aspect of Barragán House stems The service spaces in Barragán House are located from the intrinsic role that the space initially played. between the primary living spaces, bedrooms, and dining This is more of a functional dimension that extends to areas. They have been inserted via both horizontal the level of the perceiver's awareness than a physical interposition and vertical adding, creating level structure of the kind discussed above. These invisible differences. There are spatial gaps amid the inserted properties lead to a methodology that can compound, service spaces, and Barragán made use of those locations juxtapose, or reverse the house's primary functions. in his design strategy. The boundary between main space 3.2.1 Nature/House and service space in Barragán House contains additional Barragán consistently investigated the relationship furniture and features, including a bench at the house's between dwellings and their surrounding nature. He entrance (Fig.7.) and a split window underneath the maintained a strong identity as a landscape architect indoor service patio on the third floor, which drops as well. Barragán House has a main garden on the light onto the main stairway hall on the first floor. The west side, which the living room faces. He accentuated attached stairway space (Fig.2.) with its adjusted level the daily intimate communion with nature, stating, differences also functions as a connecting piece through "Architecture, besides being spiritual, is also musical. its surrounding wall with a partial opening at the top. That music is played with water. The importance of walls is that they isolate one from the street's exterior space. The street is aggressive, even hostile. Walls create silence. From that silence you can play with water as music. Afterwards, that music surrounds us" (Saito, 2002, p.25), and, "In the gardens and homes I have designed, I have always endeavored to allow for the placid murmur of silence. In my fountains, silence sings" (Artes, 1999, p.74). To Barragán, a garden was a place of meditation where spiritual and musical moments permeate mundane routines. Fig.7. Entrance on the First Floor (L) and Split Window (R) (Photo Courtesy of Yutaka Saito (L) and Luis Barragán House and Studio (R)) 3.3 Phenomenological Diffusion From a phenomenological perspective, Barragán house offers a multi-sensuous experience, interplaying with light, sound, memory, movement, and emotion. While this natural phenomenon creates temporary ambiguity, its intensity is rather dominant. The intangibility of phenomenological diffusion has divergent criteria, whereas physical or functional attributes have visible contact boundaries. Fig.6. Living Room on the First Floor (Photo Courtesy of Yutaka Saito) Barragán presented a prudent approach in the places where inner dwelling space encounters nature in the house's living room (Fig.6.). He omitted the general mullion on the window frame and attached a single window the size of a whole wall facing the garden. The window as a façade becomes a thin film that directs the dramatic spatial tension with the effect of a vanishing, filmy boundary. All of a sudden, the separation Fig.8. Window on the East Side of Barragán House (L) between landscape and house disappears through a and Window in the Chapel for the Capuchinas (R) vague boundary, like a light membrane. (Photo Courtesy of Luis Barragán House and Studio (L) and Yutaka Saito (R)) 290 JAABE vol.14 no.2 May 2015 Jiae Han 3.3.1 Permeating Light it is full of spatial ambiguity. Concealed pieces of There are two types of light in Barragán House: boundaries and discordant distribution maximize direct light and half-filtered light. The degree of light this effect. Those features continued to be used in his connects to the concept of serenity. To avoid glare from later architecture, and became a pattern within his direct light, Barragán positioned additional pieces, such architectural language. as awnings, covers that open and close, and deeply This paper's main analysis concentrated on the shaded zones. He often used lattice windows (Fig.8.) total experience of Barragán House. It analyzed the to create the kind of half-light that he emphasized. physical structure of the house in terms of boundary The lattice window in the living room is an early conditions, examined the issue of how the given space style of Barragán's, which he continued to develop is used, and revealed how the perceiver can penetrate in the Chapel for the Capuchinas (1952-55) and the and sense the status of phenomenological diffusion Barbara Meyer House (1981). Lattice windows not within the house. Barragán was not an architect who only filter light, but also penetrate one's perception as a created diverse discourses on his architectural theory; boundary plane. The one at the entrance to the Chapel his tracing process would have been delicate enough for the Capuchinas implies the transition between not to merely describe the work's separate traits. This mundanity and spiritual sanctuary, rendering them paper concludes that Barragán's spatial ambiguity glimpses of each other. Although the early version in does not represent disorder or confusion, but provides Barragán House is more passively transparent than a methodology for the embodiment of his emotive later examples, it still opens up the possibility of the architecture. It does so through still, simple, and connection between porosity and ambiguity. Filtered minimal spatiality that refers to both tangible and half-light has ambiguity in that it lies somewhere invisible attributes and operates as a key factor in between transparency and opacity. understanding the intrinsic quality of attraction and 3.3.2 Bringing Memory and Cognition resonance in Barragán's spaces. Juan Palomar described Barragán as an alchemist of memory (Artes, 1999, p.76). Indeed, Barragán Acknowledgement was masterful at drawing inner memory from an This work was supported by the Hongik University architectural atmosphere. The moods that he designed new faculty research support fund. relate to the original character of a given site, the particular objects in common awareness, or the general References 1) Artes de Mexico. (1999) En El Mundo de Luis Barragán, Numero cognition of a spatial structure. A wooden chair 23, Primavera. Mexico: Artes de Mexico. stimulates a sense of meditation, while the Jacaranda 2) Baek, J. (2013) Between Material Sensuousness and Thingness: tree in the middle of Gilardi House (1976) traces back the Significance of the Structural Glass in Kengo Kuma′s Water / to the origin of that project. Sometimes Barragán Glass House from the Perspective of Phenomenology, Journal of reverses common awareness by rendering illusionary Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 12 (1), pp.1-7. 3) Barragán Foundation. (2001) Luis Barragán: The Quiet moments. For instance, he colored the water black in Revolution. Milano: Skira. the patio pool at the Chapel for the Capuchinas (1952- 4) Burri, R. (2000) Luis Barragán. Phaidon. 55), creating an illusion of depth. In addition, the color 5) Eggener, K. L. (2001) Luis Barragán's Gardens of El Pedregal. of the walls in Barragán House operates as a cognitive New York: Princeton Architectural Press. process by matching the color of the materials in each 6) Han, J. (2006) A Study on the Spatial Organization of Luis Barragán's Architecture, Seoul National University (Master thesis), room. The doors' textures are normally different from Seoul. that of the walls, providing a guideline for visitors' 7) Han, J. Kim, S. and Shim, W. (2011) Luis Barragán's Architecture perception and movement. Thus, the process of based on the Representation for Emotion. Journal of Architectural stimulating memory creates an intangible integration, Institute of Korea, 27 (12), pp.201-208. especially amid the discordance between visual form 8) Luis Barragán House and Studio (2004) World Heritage Scanned Nomination 1136.pdf, Proposal for Inscription on the World and cognitive sense, which leads to other spatial Heritage List, pp.1-145. properties. 9) Pauly, D. (2002) Barragán: Space and Shadow, Walls and Colour. Basel: Birkhauser. 4. Conclusion 10) Portugal A. S. (1992) Luis Barragán. New York: Rizzoli. The architecture of Luis Barragán is based on the 11) Reverte, R. and Labanda, J. (1996) The Life and Work of Luis Barragán. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. concept of integrating tangible structures with invisible 12) Rispa, P. (1995) Barragán: The Complete Works. New York: values. This paper focused on Luis Barragán House and Princeton Architectural Press, Inc. Studio, which UNESCO added to its World Heritage 13) Saito, Y. (2002) Casa Barragán. Tokyo: TOTO. List in 2004, as the most representative example of this 14) Smith, C. B. (1967) Builders in the sun, Five Mexican Architects. concept. In this project, Barragán experimented with Architectural Book Publishing Co., Inc. breaking the rigid spatial frame and representing the continuous superimposition of undefined boundaries. It is hard to recognize the precise composition of this space; however, it is clearly rich and abundant because JAABE vol.14 no.2 May 2015 Jiae Han 291
Journal
Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering
– Taylor & Francis
Published: May 1, 2015
Keywords: Luis Barragán; Barragán House; ambiguity; sense of boundary; vernacular architecture
