Joy's Rojak Architecture

Based on Tschumi, architecture consists of fragments, 11 fragments which form the pleasure of architecture. In his research on architectural theories, Tschumi had borrowed ideas from other philosophers like Barthes; The Pleasure of Text. To him, the object "text" is split because of the split of the subjects "writer" and "reader". The reader becomes a virtual creator, to whom the writer offers instruments for study or a collection of references. The pleasure of the text is the moment when my body pursues its own ideas -- for my body does not have the same ideas I do. From this idea, Tschumi established a duality of space in architecture, that of conceived space and perceived space. Conceived space is concerned with the nature of space, space as a "mental thing." In order to produce, to bring something into existence, one must first has an idea how the "thing" is to be put together and what its properties are. It is this conception, a product of the mind, that is constitutive of architectural space. In fact, one's bodily senses are struck by space much more readily than one's mind is. This indicates that space is also sensory and amounts to the notion of perceived space). Architecture is made up of “fragments” and the movement of non-existence fragments are “desires”. Besides, architecture is made up of orders, it is impossible to perceive architecture without its orders. Orders are part of sensuality and are used to create desires. And transgressions are created when architecture not only satisfy the spatial expectations, but when the pleasure of space conflicts the pleasure of order, which is moving forward towards something new/modern, exceeding.

In his own version, Tschumi attempted to bridge the gap between senses (perception) and reason (conception) with what he termed the immediate experience. In this sense, therefore, architectural space is essentially incomplete, it is always either reality or concept, always missing one or the other. The paradox is that architecture is constituted by both terms, which are interdependent yet mutually exclusive. The problem lies not in the impossible of perceiving both the spatial concept and the spatial reality at the same time, but the impossibility of simultaneously conceiving and perceiving the same space:
Indeed, architecture constitutes the reality of experience while this reality gets in the way of the overall vision (concept). Architecture constitutes the abstraction of absolute truth, while this very truth gets in the way of felling. We cannot both experience and think that we experience. "The concept of dog does not bark;" the concept of space is not space.17

Eroticism, where the subjectivity of experience and the objectivity of concept become a result from the immediate experience. Immediate experience is not about perceiving spatial concept or spatial reality, its essence does not rely directly on the abstract content or the material structure of space, but rather the abrasions the experience imposes on the mental and physical confines of a particular space. It is about re-forming forms -- both conceptual ones and sensual ones. The concept or the space itself are neither erotic, but the junction between both, which is called immediate experience.

The form represents a limit and transgression penetrates to territories beyond this very limit. Furthermore, transgression does not belong in the same level as knowledge or recognition of knowledge because by acknowledging, a form is already imposed. Hence transgression has nothing to do with ideas except as where it becomes incomplete, obliterated. Transgression occupies a space where there is no theory, only practice, where writing is only one of the modes of this practice. While theory denotes the premature fixing of a form at certain point in time, practice is never conclusive, never fixed; it only ends with death of the practicing. For example from Pleasure of text, reading does not concern the translation of a work as a whole, which only uncovers the fixed meaning of a text, its end. All that can be read from a text lies in the text, but this does not necessarily mean that the magnitude of reading is limited by the coherence or the "integrity" of the text. No two readers experience a text the same way and nobody reads everything with the same state of mind. The intensity of reading changes from person to person; the pace of reading differs from reader to reader. What one encounters in reading is his own individuality, which appropriates how and what one reads. In addition, for the same person, even the experience from separate readings of the same text is different. A reader skims or skips certain passages in order to get to the more interesting parts; he turns to the back to answer whatever questions he might have in the beginning; he speeds up, slows down, stops, and again sinks back in. The beauty of all this is that from one reading/reader to the next, the rhythm of what is read and what is not is never the same. This is what creates the reader's pleasure of the text. This applies same to architecture. The way people perceive the space differs between individual, different bodies have different experiences (desires) for the same space.

As an example, the atmosphere of urban gay bathhouses in Canada reflects on how desire operates within these premises when it intersects with the bathhouse environment and health imperatives. Men's desire for other men has created a landscape of spaces (real and virtual) where sex takes place in parks, alleys, restrooms, rest stops, adult theatres, video arcades, bookstores, bars, gay bathhouses and finally, the Internet. Although the Internet is perceived as an easy way for encountering sexual partners, gay bathhouses remain the most popular and convenient way, for men having sex with men to meet for regular or casual sex. Gay bathhouses offer patrons a space within which a wide range of interactions, sensations and pleasure can be experienced. This concept had totally overcome knowledge of taboo and creates transgression. Sensuality in architecture assists humans in perceiving architecture, creating desires in different places, making transgressions overpowering taboo. Other examples of spaces which encourage desires are like shopping malls (fragments of architecture- the glass walls, the lights, the welcoming entrance) all encourages desires. It is the orders of architecture created in this space which makes it encourage desires.

Hence in conclusion, architecture is pretty much dependable on sensuality. And that sensuality makes us feel our desires highlighting transgressive architecture, leaving taboo in shadows. Fragments of architecture created spaces in which some prohibit desires while some encourages desires.



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