1991.02_Scale & Perspective (058.1991)

DELEU

Scale & Perspective

LUC

LUC DELEU
Scale & Perspective

LUC DELEU

Scale & Perspective

JANUARY 29-MARCH 6

1991
Gallery Hours:

Tuesday- Saturday, 12-6 pm
OPENING RECEPTION:
January 29, 6-8 pm

This exhibition is made posssible in part by a special
giant from the Flemish Minister of Culture.

1/29 - 3/6

Exhibition

LUC DELEU
Scale ft. Perspective
Jiaiary 29-Ftlrurj 6, 1991

Gallery HOURS: TuesiAy-Srtw&.y, 12-6 pm
OPENING RECEPTION. Tutsky, Jnwy 29, 6-8 pm

1/29 - 3/6

Exhibition

Luc Delta
Scale & Perspective

Juury 29-Fekrury 6, 1941

GALLERY HOURS: Tu*sfoy-Satwky, 12-6 pm
OPENING RECEPTION: Tu*s4jy, Jtiwy 29, 6-8 pm

Earth, passengers and buildings

In these dmes of great change, architecture could do
with a change, too. The traditional place of architecture
in society has become obsolete. The concept needs to
be redefined. Its task, contents, aims, realization, and
its emergence in social space must be re-examined.

The architect would seem to be die obvious person to
question architecture, but he is the only person vho
doesn't. Although everyone knows that lack of
destination leads to aimlessness, hardly any thinking
has been done about die aims of architecture since the
demise of the “modernist heroes ” I can't get away
from the impression that architects today tend to
concentrate on details at. the expense of the broad
outlines.

As early as 1980, in my “Orban Planning Manifesto,"
I pointed out die necessity of looking at architecture on
a global scale. This immediately and clearly points up
die relative significance of a. building, especially with a
view to the total number of buildings. Since the
explosive development of transport, (and the transfer of
information) in the twentieth century, infrastructures in
the world have become all-important. And, although in
many places in the world it has become almost
impossible to create new waterways, railways,
motorways, and airways, this spatial problem is hardly
ever thought of as an architectural one.

Improbable as it may seem, die main issue is felt to be
a gaaaBte flegigvabM All too often, architects are
preoccupied with commissions, functions, side issues
and objectives that are unworthy of architecture. And
when architects do go to great lengths to design die
most wonderful spaces, “earthly space" is left to Its
own devices, to be ruined and wasted by the monetary
and political lobby, without any protest, interest or
concern from architects A strange reality!

Apart from ite material function, architecture has a
spiritual function and task The imaginative power of
architecture must create examples for the future.
Architecture must express, record and pass on future
perspectives, and it must stimulate the imagination:
architecture as medium, as data carrier for future
generations. It is not even necessary for architecture to
be realised, and not every space needs architectural
envelopment The primordial requirement of
architecture is that it should guarantee the freedom of
the individual. The creation of freedom is the creation
of spiritual space

The fact that architects solve today's problems does
not mean that architecture is only rooted in the present.
It is also rooted in the future After all, infrastructure
and architecture have a long to very long life span.
Fate forces us to make a choice for many generations
to come. It is of the greatest importance that the
individual should preserve his or her freedom

Urban development and planning should increase the
number of possibilities, but they usually operate in a
repressive atmosphere of what should or should not be
done. In Belgium, building legislation, district plans,
B P A (development plans), allotment regulations, the
Order of Architects, administration, building
premiums, and social premiums usually have a
repressive effect and are hardly ever stimulating. One
example the ecological call for the reduction of motor
traffic will lead to repressive regulations (rush hour
taxation, higher rates and taxes, higher petrol prices,
stricter parking regulations), but it will not lead to
improvements in public transport (more, better and all-
night). The advent of the T.G. Y. in Europe will not be
used to diversify the existing network: it will, to a
large extent, run parallel to tire present tracks. Abo the
ideas behind the railway network remain national
ideas, many tracks stop at national borders and there
are ama 2 ingly few border crossings by rail. Antwerp,
for instance, has no direct passenger train link with the
Ruhr-area, although a track partly alongside the Albert
Canal might well be worthy of consideration. The
above raises serious questions as to the morality of
contemporary architecture, which considers building
as a value in itself Architecture as dogma

Architecture has two basic scales: man and the earth
Architecture as ORB AN PLANNING (the world scab
as context) can, in a modest way, contribute to a
substantial improvement of the general climate of life
on earth. Architecture could see to it that "earthly
space" is better organized, made more comfortabb and
intense To achieve this, the distinction between
“beautiful" and "good" (now indistinguishabb in
bourgeois parlance) must be restored

There is a great need for new visionary models for the
“earthly space." Contemporary architects may deny it.

hut the architect helps to shape society, for the simple
reason that he or she has no choice hut to work vithin
a social context and space

Complying vith this ethical architectural brief is a
challenge, but also a major source of inspiration for
every architect T O P office (Turn On Planning) tries
to keep these objectives in mind, and can always be
recognized by a consistent adherence to them, rather
than by a consistent form.

Between 1970 and 1980, when T O.P. office was still
a one-man organization with occasional contributors,
the basis for this approach was created. I took it upon
myself to question architecture and building in general
Soon I found out that, especially in the Western world,
too much is built too quickly and too rashly; that
building is the primary pollution on this earth; and that
few people in the budding process realize that earthly
space is finite and that further annexation of farming
land will lead to starvation of others I also understood
that the surface of the sea could be used and that
architecture doesn't necessarily lead to immobile
structures, and that mobile structures can be valid
alternatives

Then I examined how cities could become more
complex, how they could combine more functions
within themselves (thereby alleviating the pressure on
Hie country) and still offer greater freedom to their
inhabitants. It was a foregone conclusion: greater
chaos means greater individual freedom and in this
chaos a higher order can be recognized

The urban development basis for T O P office's work
couM now be formulated in a number of proposals
(proposals are only proposals) and recommendations
Proposal Air tots/ decenoalriatiin (of Antwerp)
Ptopasal Air compile abtilishment at as/?*: rates fin
Antwerp) Ptopasal Air avnptete disuse of the pukin'
Ighting Ptopasal V plant Trait avenues Proposal to
switch to 12 volts. Proposal Air the imptentioLin at
tubaa dunghills) Ptopasal ti inttodmte plastic mone y
fin Pnosehr) Ptopasal Air Aing lawns. PmpasalAw
an open sewtinge fin Singes) Ptopasal Air mo bite
monuments. Proposal Air an iiiternatkinal dunghill in
the Sahata. Ptopasal Jar naked Olympte (lames fin
Montreal). Ptopasal lor whan wood ptoducnon
Ptopasal to shoot nixJear waste to the son Ptopasal
Air car-Jiee noons. Proposal Air tton-ptogtammed TV
broadcasts Advise Aar vegetable bores instead of
lit wet -bates Advice Air ransuntpotvi strikes.
Ptopasal Aw an imgativi svttani using' tain water
Ptoposal lor viable telephone taring electricity
cables Ptopasal it declassify womwiaiits and tecyzte
them into svcia/Among Proposal Air tree masonry
Ptopasal Av piotet'tivi of weeds Proposal Air tidy
beehives. Advice to ciise the coo fin Antwerp).
Proposal Av abalraan ol the law on the pintecbon of
hti and gjivasanw of aichttect. Proposal Air tool

Mm'ttftmv Pmptml to avUek A? paw

Pjvpoxtf to stop PAw? actmtfcr. Pjvpoxtf Jiv tip
juutvaoivi of tip pahlk' tnaapaiT. PtvptmlAvimf
JiVfrmig: Pjvpcxi/AviiWpdympJit?. Pivpox.il Av
tuban xgxxnltwe_, mban AvUrufoas, oaf arite?
Avktoj' Pjppata/Av-rjr?-ivrAvrfs. arypartunsj. xml
lubxn wttfc PjvpaW Jiv mbxn Jixhmg poutt.
Proposal Jar urban game.

These proposals were first visualized in a project for
the Quarter des Halles-district in Paris The principal
idea is that jkv braiding a far-fetched programme
preserves the district for the future The present
situation has a powerful character of its own and
could, with minimal alterations, generate all kinds of
life in and around this district.

This approach does not necessarily lead id a denial of
architecture On the contrary, ■where possible it can
lead to a more intense kind of architecture, more firmly
based in society This does imply that the architect has
to surrender his immediate building ambitions to a
more theoretical and conceptual approach (He could,
for instance, play with Lego blocks or containers.) To
demonstrate this, I decided in 1980 to develop a new
urban development principle: “Scale & Perspective."
Whereas, since antiquity, the axial, more or less
symmetrical perspective has always been a well-
known and much-used means of achieving
monumentahty, I developed an idea of standing and
lying volumes, based on sleeping and waking man,
which offers a more playful and dynamic
monumentality and invites the visitor to explore the
entire building, watching identical spaces and volumes
from ever-changing angles With a project based on
tiiis principle T.O.P. office received in 1989 an
honourable mention at the Housing & the City
competition in Barcelona. It is a combination of a
standing and a lying volume, incorporating most urban
functions and a wide "promenade architecturale ." This
project is the most elaborate so far

This theoretical and conceptual approach, a continually
recurring theme with T.O.P. office, allows me, as an
architect, to assume a very radical stance towards the
braiding customer, an attitude which is also a forceful
indictment against the monopoly of architects (as laid
down by law in Belgium). When I started up "Scale &
Perspective," I also decided to build a great many
ready-made houses. I realized the clients' drawings or
sketches with hardly any alternations The hand of the
architect was absent. The totality of these houses was
called "Luc Deleu manifesto to the Order " This project
proves that it is totally unnecessary to give architects
the monopoly of building; that in many cases their
expertise is unnecessary and even undesirable. I am
convinced that principals should only be given houses
or buildings that they can visualize. I am even of the
opinion that plans are not always necessary for
building!

It seems more logical to me that, if one -wants to have
control over the building process, if one -wants to make
district plans, structural plans, development plans and
such, these only make sense if they serve to enable the
“family as principal" to design and build its own nest
in total freedom. However, when structures (like
limited liability companies, promoters, multinationals,
political groups, central administrations) take to
building, society must be able to exercise die strictest
possible supervision, in order to protect the individual
quality of the family from plagues caused by
monocultures In short, like die freedom of the
individual is sacred, die containment of structures is
necessary So chaos should be seen as an acquired
right of the individual, and order as the counterforce
unleashed by the individual within an organisation.

I feel that within the broadest possible framework the
architect can supply the examples for this.

Luc Deleu, 1990
Reprinted from FanaaQA!\)

Ttaralaad bv Webe vxnder Wad.

FORUM

Por a Storefront HyperARCHITEXT

With an accumulation of textual opinions: statements,
criticism, and suggestions from a known and
unknown audience; with a growing series of
statements, manifestos, and explanations by Storefront
writers, artists and architects; with increased gallery¬
generated announcements fessays, and dates-with all
these documents at hand. Storefront requires a system
and format for improved communications if it is to
serve writing, discussion, and text-literaryfartstie
dialogue-as fully as it does visual dialogue. Since
textual exchange is, ironically, the foundation for
architectural discourse, the neglect of such
verbal/texfial exchanges and its records in the context

of Storefront's history foattrs an infsfffiaflfin void It
is this void that Storefront needs to fill, creating a
forum that vill bring together new writers eM those
who are currently engaged in a dialogue revolving
around the gallery, but ■who, precisely for a lack of a
foram are essentially unrecognized Storefront
participants In effect, this lack positions ■writers as
second-class aitisis, active at Storefront but never
acknowledged as equal to the architectiartistidesigner

Several formats are already in place at Storefront, such
as discussions and publications. Yet they do not
support the notion of a sustained, multifaceted
dialogue about Storefront activities and their
relationship to each other or the outside world: to
politics, literary theory, philosophy, aesthetics,
architectural history and theory-even anecdote

Various electronic forms are currently employed
(especially in university English departments) that
could serve as a prototype for organizing an
information/media system at Storefront, one that
employs electronic paths and icons to frame co¬
authored documents collectively, providing a multi-
authored history of the gallery and its satellite activities
while also presenting a channel for unrestricted
insertion of ideas, opinions, notes, and texts
(eventually drawings, digitalized photographs, video,
and audio etc.) by anyone willing to venture into the
computer database. Loosely following the model of a
hypertext document as devised for literary study and
documentation-a system of computerized nodes and
links of interactive text, graphics, video, and sound
that can be entered and exiled from various points in
the hyperdocument, allowing multiple users to
browse, read, or co-author information-Storefront
could create and stimulate dialogue between the
gallery: willing but currently silent visitors, its critics
and champions, artists and architects, and its writers
And once on line, this hyperARCHITEXT could be
available to any individual or group equiped wilh a
computer and modum.

By beginning an electronic net of architectural
information, Storefront would be 3tategically
positioning itself to benefit from the growth of, and
individual reliance on, electronic communication
media. In doing so. Storefront, even vith
technologically modest hardware and software, would
begin to position itself not only as an architectural
communication center, an organization with a process¬
documentary of itself, but also as an experimental,
showcase model to other organizations for the
arrangement and transformation of hypertext into
hyperARCHITEXT.

Dermis L. Dollens

COGELS OSYLEI 42

B-2600 BERCHEM-ANTWERPEN

TEL 32 (0)3 230 40 67

STEDEBOUWKUNDIGE ARCHITECT

LUC DELEU

OFFICE

July 18, 1994.

Storefront for Art & Architecture
97 Kenmare Street
NEW YORK. N Y. 10012
U.S.A.

Dear Kyong,

It was indeed nice to meet you in Vienna.

I think it is a good idea to publish a book about Storefront and I am glad to figure in it with such a lot of material.

Enclosed you will find mostly all photographic material you asked for. When possible, I send you slides, otherwise it had to be B/W
photographs and cibachromes (see enclosed list).

As you also asked for material on more recent projects since the exhibition, I added :

24. Housing (&) the City, Barcelona, Detail staircase

This is a mock-up of a staircase functioning in two directions

25/26. Housing (&) the City, Barcelona, Detail 'culture' deck and ‘sports’ deck with swimming pool and Detail swimming pool
This is a model, which is a detail of the project Housing (&) the City (see also copy nr. 21)

27/28. Journey around the world in 80 days Antwerp-Antwerp via Paciiic Ocean 51 C 13’’S - 175°35’W and
Journey around the world in 80 days Madrid-Weber-Madrid

This is a cartographic study to make journeys around the world (great circles = 40.000 km ), starting from Antwerp or from
Madrid. Madrid was choosen because it is one of the only European cities that has land as antipode (the antipode of Madrid is
Weber).

This study makes it possible to choose the easiest itinerary around the world from Antwerp or Madrid.

B.T.W. BE 509.535.753

POSTCHEQUE REK. : 000-0043586-33 BANK BRUSSEL LAMBERT 320-0295855-75 ABN AMROBANK NL 40.80.23.899

- 2 -

If you have any questions or problems, you can always write or phone me.

I am sure you will handle all slides and photographs with the utmost care, as some of them are unique and I trust that you will return all
material as soon as possible.

Give my best regards to Shireen, also on behalf of Laurette. We hope all is well with you both and your little son.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

B.T.W. BE 509.535,753

POSTCHEQUE REK. : 000-0043586-33 BANK BRUSSEL LAMBERT 320-0295855-75 ABN AMROBANK NL 40 80.23.899

T0P

OFFICE

Photographic material for Storefront (letter July 18, 1994)

1. 35x24 mm. slide : Mobile Medium University Revisited (floating U.I.A.). 1989

2. B/W photograph : Big triumphal arch, Neuchatel, Switzerland, 1983

3. B/W photograph : Big triumphal arch. Neuchatel, Switzerland, 1983

4. 4,8x5,4 cm. slide : Small triumphal arch for the exhibition “Beelden Buiten”, Tielt, 1986

5. 35x24 mm. slide : Scale & Perspective, Watou, 1988

6. 35x24 mm. slide : Bridge. Hoorn, 1990

7. 35x24 mm. slide : Bridge. Hoorn, 1990

8. B/W photograph : Big triumphal arch, Barcelona, 1987

9. B/W photograph : Promenade pier, Flushing, 1985, model

10. B/W negative Tent for 'Napoleon', first design, photo-copy montage, 1986-88

11. Color photograph Tent for 'Napoleon', second design, model, 1986-88

12. B/W negative photograph : Waterloo, Tent for ‘Napoleon) (the movie), 1986-88, Interior view of the tent with projection at night

13. Photocopy : La Roche-sur-Yon, "En mai, fais ce qu’il te plait", 1989, Tent for ‘Napoleon’, exercise, scale 1/200

14. BAA/ photograph : Waterloo, Tent for 'Napoleon', model, scale 1/5, La Roche-sur-Yon, 1989

15. 6x6 cm. slide : Principle of a lesson in scale with two identical buildings, model with QE I and II, 1981

16. Original (unique) copy: Scale & Perspective with two high-tention pylons, drawing, 1984

17. 6x6 cm. slide : Demonstration of Scale Perspective, Exhibition “Initiatief '86", Ghent, 1986

18. B/W photograph : Demonstration of Scale & Perspective, Exhibition "Initiatief '86", Ghent, 1986

19. B/W photograph : Barcelona 1981 Towers, Housing (&) the City (Scale & Perspective), Fagade study, drawing, 1990-91

20. B/W photograph : Housing (&) the City, Barcelona (Scale & Perspective), model. 1989

21. Coloured copy : Housing (&) the City, Barcelona (Scale & Perspective), exploded view, drawing, 1989

22. 35x24 mm. slide : Rotterdam, "De Hef", Sky plaza with civil registry offices, Study I, model, 1990

23. Photocopy : Rotterdam, recycling of the vertical lift bridge over the Koningshaven, Preliminary study I: Sky plaza with civil
registration offices, 1989

Selection of works since 1991 :

24. Cibachrome : Housing (&) the City, Barcelona, Detail staircase , mock-up, installation for Kroller-Muller Museum, 1991

25. 35x24 mm. slide : Housing (&) the City, Barcelona, Detail 'culture'deck and 'sports' deck with swimming pool, model, 1991-92

26. Cibachrome : Housing (&) the City, Barcelona, Detail swimming pool, model, 1991-92

27. Colour photograph : Journey around the world in 80 days Antwerp - Antwerp via Pacific Ocean 51°13’ S - 175°35' W, ensemble,
1992

28. Cibachrome : Journey around the world in 80 days Madrid-Weber-Madrid, on World Map, physical edition, Kummerly & Frey, Bern,
projection van der Grinten, 1992-93