The Einstein Tower

Megan Fritzler | EVDA 621

Figure 1 |
Figure 1 is intended as a means
to test to what extent the Einstein
Tower abides by the concept of
euclidean space as opposed to
more intesive spatial qualities. By
placing the spaces of the Einstein
Tower on the traditional cartesian
grid, one discovers that the formal
logic of the interior spaces of
the Einstein tower is surprisingly
symmetrical. This has implications
for how one perceives and uses
the space; the symmetry gives the
space a predictability and comfort.
The buildings exterior is much more
liberated from the grid showing
considerably less symmetry and
further differentiation from the
rectilinear concept of space.
Concrete was used to carry out this
less refined notion of space. The
material was used to obscure the
langauge of the interior spaces
and create another language on
the exterior. The exterior of the
Einstein Tower acts as an object in
space to be reacted to. Figure 1
reveals that human behaviour on the
D | Space
Figure 1 | euclidean comparison
Figure 2 | spatial inhabitation Figure 3 | the naked building interior and the exterior of the space
may be affected differently due to the
different treatments of space as a
symmetrical enclosure and a sculpted
object respectively.
Figure 2|
Figure 2 was intended as a means to
discover the occupiable space within
the Einstein Tower. The diagram
reveals that the central area of each
floor is not inhabitable. These spaces
are not governed by the human, but
by the telescopic equipment the tower
was built to house; the human is
limited to traversing the space around
the equipment.
By revealing the spatial allocation of
the building, Figure 2 analyses the
program which the space endorses.
In many ways, the spatial allocation
of the Einstein Tower can be said to
encompass a space of integrative
programming; both the human and the
machine are given soveriegnty through
their designated spaces. This spatial
articulation of human and machine
conditions against one another can
work, as the empowering agent for
research...toward purposefully violating
boundaries, hybridizing processes.
to output scientific decisions and
solutions (Taron, 2011, P. 22). When
the spaces of the operator and the
machine are used in tandem or in other
words when the spatial boundaries are
violated, an integrative process of
research results.
Figure 3 |
Guy Debords 1957 concept of The
Naked City exposed the city as a series
of separate but connected unit[ies]
of atmosphere. (McDonough, 2004,
P.242). By applying Debords approach,
Figure 3 reveals the great number of
united spaces as well as the great
number of intervals between spaces in
the Einstein Tower. When comparing
Figures 2 and 3, one can deduce that
much of the connections between
spaces are necessitated by the space
required by the telescope equipment.
The vertical arrows connecting
relatively small spaces indicate that
the height of the tower is in fact
composed completely of interstitial
basement | plan view
fourth floor | plan view
space occupied by wall
space uninhabitable by human body
space inhabitable by human body
fourth floor
| plan view
basement
| plan view
a
a
b
b
c
d
d
e
e
c
*letters correlate the view of the
space to location of the space in
plan
Figure 4 | space & time
space necessitated by the need
for access to the telescope. Much
of the tower is therefore space
between spaces or places.
Figure 4 |
Figure 4 seeks to identify the
changes that have taken place
within a particular interior space of
the tower from its conception to the
present day. The photograph to the
right displays a perspective of the
work room in the past. Subsequent
photos show the same room at
present day. The black and white
renderings depict the incremental
changes that have taken place in
the space betwen the two periods.
The space over time has become
much more inhabited. Over
Works Consulted
Hentschel, K. (1997). The Einstein Tower: An Intertexture of Dynamic
Construction, Relativity Thoery, and Astronomy. (Anne Hentschel, Trans.).
California: Stanford Press. (Original Work Published 1992).
Kolarevic, B. (2008). Post Digital Architecture: Towards Integrative Design,
proceedings of the First International Conference on Critical Digital: What
Matter(s)?
McDonough, T. (2004). Situationist Space in ed., Guy Debord and the
Situationist International.
Taron, J. (2011). On the Integrative Program in
Integration Through Computation, proceedings of
the 31st annual conference of the Association for
Computer Aided Design i Architecture (ACADIA).
time the users of the building come
increasingly to govern it, further and
further violating the original spatial
boundaries of the building.
The increasing violation of the spatial
boundaries of the space over time has
particular implications for what the
space outputs. With the increasing
integration of the human space
past
present
with the space of the equipment
there comes a new relationship
of collaboration between the two
different space governing bodies. The
culture of the space, or the mode of
behaviour, transforms as the spatial
boundaries and relationships change
over time. Just as, higher degrees
of integration promise buildings
that are better, faster, and cheaper
to design and construct, the increasing
simultaneity of the use of space in the
Einstein Tower may promise to output
higher degrees of scientific research
through increased conceptual integration
of space (Kolarevic, P.150). As the space
integrates over time, its culture changes
and its potential to produce greater
minds, bodies, decisions and solutions
increases with integration.