Reinventing the Danteum Project E. Ng The Arts Tower, School of Architectural Studies,

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1 Reinventing the Danteum Project E. Ng The Arts Tower, School of Architectural Studies, Abstract This paper describes an experiment where architectural history and theories are re-interpreted using some of the latest visualisation and multimedia techniques. The Danteum Project by G.Terragni was used as a vehicle to conduct our investigation into some of the potentials offered by computer visualisation. On the one hand the project was meticulously modelled based on available plans and sections, on the other hand studies were carried out to understand the contextual and philosophical framework on which the project is based. The experiment then proceeds to combine the two levels of readings, physical and contextual, and went forward to 'Reinvent The Danteum Project'. The re-interpretation is an attempt to explore some of the meanings of the Project and to further one's appreciation of Terragni's notion of life and death. The re-interpretation relied heavily on a non-realistic and semantic approach to computer visualisation. This leads to a hypothesis on the brave new virtual world where, unlike physical modelling, computer visualisation can be used to represent the 'perceived world'. Representation and Interpretation The fundamental question of: 'What is Architecture?' can often spark off endless debates concerning its true nature and

2 448 Visualization and Intelligent Design significance. However, before one can even enter the debate meaningfully, one has to ask some more fundamental questions: What Architecture? What exactly are we debating about? On what basis is the subject of our debate made known? Are we talking about the same thing anyway? It is not the intention of this paper to enter into another philosophy discourse. However, a short diversion would help to illustrate the problem this paper is setting out to investigate, that is the notion of knowledge through representation and interpretation. Karl Popper in his Objective Knowledge outlined three fundamental mediums through which knowledge can be obtainedj They are, language, mathematics and artefacts. In his book he emphasised the importance of using correct and effective expression to maximise the integrity in the transmission of knowledge. For instance, an entity commonly known as 'circle' can be represented by the word 'circle' in English, or it can be represented mathematically by the equation x%+y2=c, or it can be represented by a picture 'o'. In all these three means of representation, the knowledge 'circle' is transmitted. However, it should be noted that although the knowledge is represented, it does not necessarily mean that it can be properly or effectively perceived. The perception of a piece of knowledge depends on the context from which the knowledge is 'needed to be perceived'. That is to say, the perceiver 'expects' the knowledge to match the context in which he or she is working. Take a typical art class as an example, the commands 'draw a circle', 'draw an x2+y2=c', or 'draw o' carry with them very different messages; and in the context of the action 'draw', the third command is most likely to yield the required action from the student. The understanding of the nature of medium and representation has a profound effect on our ability to transmit and receive knowledge.2 The realm in which architecture is operating means that the problem of medium and representation is a fundamental

3 Visualization and Intelligent Design 449 issue in teaching, research and practice. Architecture is art and science in one. It speaks both artistic and scientific languages. It relates to geometry and mathematics. It borrows ideas from poetry and literature. It embodies structure and environmental science. And it deals with people, culture and society. All these mean that in order to practice architecture, one needs to be familiar with all knowledge involved and understand all the media through which knowledge is expressed. A Critique on Computer Visualisation 'In recent years, remarkable advances in computer visualisation of objects and physical phenomena have been made. Computer images can now represent real objects very accurately V However, although the claim signifies a notable achievement in the field of engineering, science and technology, it cannot be totally endorsed by the artists and architects alike. Computer associated research has always been criticised by artists and architects for being noncreative, too structural and hierarchical, lack of fussiness and ambiguity, and too precise and geometrical/ Tool without qualities' is how some architects come to describe CAD. The criticism is not without ground. In an evening reception held at the Mies Van der Rohe Pavilion, Gabriel Ferrater, Rector of Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, challenged the participants of the ECADDE 92 conference that despite all the advances in CAD techniques, none of the many wonderful architectures that had been built in Barcelona was 'designed' on a computer. The challenge is not to be taken lightly, especially in the field of design and architecture. It reminds one of another challenge from Nikolaus Pevsner, "A bicycle shed is a building, Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architecture'. What exactly does it mean? And when one comes to visualise Lincoln Cathedral, what should one visualise? Is it enough to represent the structure as it is or what? What is the reality and meaning of the challenge? How can one make the

4 450 Visualization and Intelligent Design distinction in method and in paradigm when one tries to model and visualise a bicycle shed and a cathedral? The fundamental quest in today's urge for computer visualisation is realities, or how computer animation can mimic it better. But what is reality? Although many philosophers have put their thoughts to the subject, the enquiry has yet to escape the three realities Aristotle defined more than two thousand years ago. In his Metaphysics, Aristotle defined reality as: what it is, what it should be and what it is perceived to be.s He asserted that although reality could be made known through representation, physical representation was the least important in the world of perception. He further stated that reality was based on senses and not on physical objects, therefore, imagination and emotional impression had to be employed to meaningfully interpret the physical world. In a similar vein, Sir Joshua Reynolds, first President of the Royal Academy, offered his most powerful criticism on the issue of realistic representation The Art which we profess has beauty for its object; this it is our business to discover and to express; but the beauty of which we are in quest is general and intellectual; it is an idea that subsists only in the mind; the sight never beheld it, nor has the hand expressed it; it is an idea residing in the breast of the artist, which he is always labouring to impart, and which he dies at last without imparting; but which he is yet so far able to communicate, as to raise the thoughts, and extend the views of the spectator^ It is not difficult to understand the real meaning of his theory by looking at his painting 'Mrs Siddens and the Tragic Muse'. The painting is an example of sublime on canvas, not perhaps by means of a vast sublime scene but by means of the sublime mind it contained; the mind of the greatest actress of the age and her

5 Visualization and Intelligent Design 451 imagination is dramatised in the picture. One needs to have some ideas of art as well as personal knowledge of the sitter to be able to fully comprehend the picture. This notion of representation goes beyond what could be seen, as it also laid heavily on a triangular relationship between the painter, the subject to be painted and the viewer. This notion of representing reality through interpretation is precisely what current computer visualisation is lacking. Unless the issue can be addressed and put into the agenda of further CAD research, it may be difficult to persuade artists and architects that the computer can be a 'tool with qualities'. It is against this philosophical background that this paper is setting out to investigate the various possibilities and to offer some thoughts on the subject. Re-inventing the Danteum Project The Danteum Project was designed by G.Terragni in the 30s. Mussolini apparently approved the project, but it was never built because the war intervened. The project was Terragni's architectural interpretation of Dante's notion of life and death through Hell and Purgatory. It contains a richness of imagery comparable to the three 'canticas' of 'The Divine Comedy'. Despite the availability of some plans and sections, the true nature of the project is often mis-perceived as being an exercise in geometry and proportion. However, by carefully modelling and reconstructing its context, we are hoping to address some of its hidden dimensions vital to an appreciation of the project. Thanks to generous support from the University, The Electric Design Atelier was set up in 1991 to conduct experiments to seek for this representation-interpretation interface. The grant allows

6 452 Visualization and Intelligent Design us to purchase an Apple Macintosh based workstation complete with various input and output devices (see fig.l). INPUT OUTPUT Fig. 1 System Set-up based on an Apple Macintosh workstation Taking information from available plans and sections, a computer model was constructed using our in-house CAD software GABLE. The file was then transferred to the Macintosh through DXF and Kermit. It was opened in StrataVision, a rendering, visualisation and animation software, for further manipulation and image enhancement. Finally, a number of other softwares were also used to manipulate the images, to compose the visual and audio sequences and to group and present the final result/ It should be noted that all the hardware and software we used are straight forward off-the-shelf products. In addition, we are not thefirstto model The Danteum Project on a computer. Our contribution is based on the way we apply available technology to experiment on new ideas, and through it comment on the suitability of the tools for the task and offer our suggestions to improve them. The physical modelling process of our experiment is straight forward and requires no further explanation. Our main task is to understand The Project, interpret it based on our understanding and represent it meaningfully. Lengthy research has gone into knowing the designer, his personal philosophy and the context in which his design works are based. In particular, we were interested in the way 'The Project' was originally drawn. We were also keen to see how this drawn representation came to

7 Visualization and Intelligent Design 453 reveal the designer's intention of the way his design should be perceived. Although Terragni's original drawings contain much of his thoughts on number and geometry, they do not offer the same level of insight into the quality of the spaces and how they are related back to his interpretation of Dante's poems. To re-invent the missing picture, we embarked on a visualisation of the project based on Dante's The Divine Comedy. A number of techniques were used to represent the design non-realistic physically but realistic interpretatively. One of the rendering sequences is a walk through of The Danteum Project. The intention of the sequence is to explore the spatial quality of the spaces and their interlocking labyrinth. Context and content were overlaid to convey the overall atmosphere of each of the three main spaces. Dante's three canticas of The Divine Comedy were read during the walk through. There were no hard edges, no definitive geometry and no realistic texture mapping. The intention was to construct a sequence for feeling; hard physical facts were not included, instead, the sequence relied heavily on the viewer's ability to recall his knowledge of the project through association and interpretation. Fig. 2 A view of The Danteum Project visualised non-realistically

8 454 Visualization and Intelligent Design Fig. 3 A non-realistic walk through of The Danteum Project Conclusion In the foreword to his book Space, Time and Architecture, Sigfried Giedion actually attributed the sterility of modern architecture to the 'contemporary man's separation between thinking and feeling'. Recognising the problem, he went on to propose his solution in his Mechanization Takes Command. He was trying to show 'how this break between thinking and feeling came about', and 'how to bridge the gap between inner and outer reality by re-establishing the dynamic equilibrium that governs their relationship'. He concluded at the end of his book: The science and the arts are activities which, by exploring the unknown in the human mind, directly enlarge man's consciousness. Every scientist, every artist, is part of a long line of tradition. However, only a creative spirit can go

9 Visualization and Intelligent Design 455 forward, beyond the limits of that tradition, to explore what until then no one has known, no one has seen, no one has felt. By means of intuition, imagination, mystical impulse - what you will - he is able to open up new spheres of the unconscious. These spheres are distinguished from the outer world in that their essential development takes place directly, personally, without interference from any external power. They develop only in liberty, for no command can open the way to the unexplored.^ Today, computer visualisation is facing a similar dilemma. The admirable achievement in visualisation technology is not tested and used critically by artists and designers. Many designers either discard the whole idea of computer visualisation or accept it literally as it is. The photography was situation reminds one of the time when first invented. It took the artists many years to come to terms with the new technology and many more to develop a dialogue with the scientists. This paper offers a way to establish such a dialogue. This is not the only way, but the methodology offered is one which is based on content and context, the very things on which Art is based.at last, may I quote a passage from one of my previous papers to end the present discourse: Today, driven by the business world and market economy, technology is no longer a problem, humanising it is. The way we define technology is changing. The ability to go faster, better, cheaper and cleaner is no longer what the realm of technology is all about. Our ability to capture, to understand, to melt and to synthesize new technology into the 20th century culture and humanity is becoming a more fundamental issue in our practice and education. The digital revolution is coined by some as the Third Industrial Revolution. If we accept that its significance, for better or for worse, can be equated to what had been happening in the First Machine Age a century ago, we would have to accept that a new set of artistic, aesthetic, philosophic and social framework has to be formulated to guide us through this technological labyrinth.9

10 456 Visualization and Intelligent Design It is my own belief that only when the art side of CAD research can match the excellent standard set by the science side shall we begin to talk about a synergy of the two, and until this synergy can happen computer visualisation has very limited effects on the way things are designed, represented and interpreted. Postscript The student, now in his third year, who worked on The Danteum Project has now proceeded to apply the technique to his own design project. 1 Karl Popper, Objective Knowledge, Oxford University Press, Revised edition, A very good paper on the subject of knowledge, medium and representation in architecture has been published recently in Design Studies. Although concerning themselves with a slightly different line of argument, the authors managed to delineate a hypothetical structure on knowledge and medium. See Philip Rhodes, Kevin McCartney & James Powell, 'Narrative structures within architectural videos', Design Studies, vol.13, no.4, October 1992, Butterworth-Heinemann, pp For more information on creativity and representation, see Dalibor Vesley, 'Representation as a Vehicle of Creativity', Scroope, issue 2, Cambridge, 1990, p.11. Concerning structure of pictorial representation, see Ernst H Gombrich, Art and illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation, Princeton, For information and method, see Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method, London, 1975, p Taken from VIDEA 93 call for papers poster. 4 See Francois Penz et al, Tools for Design: A Controlled Experiment Comparing Computer Work with Traditional Hand Drawings', Computer in Architecture, Longman, $ee W.D.Ross, Aristotle - Selections, Oxford University Press, London, Cited in Stephen Jones, The Eighteenth Century, Cambridge University Press, London, 1985, p HyperCard, Adobe Premiere, Adobe Photoshop and Movie Recorder are used. 8 S.Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture, 5th ed., 1982, p Edward Ng, Towards the 4th Dimension', Conference Proceedings, ECADDE 1992 Conference, Barcelona, p.96.