SilenceNothing has changed ‘man’s nature so much as the loss of silence. Max Picard The present state of the world and the whole of, life is diseased. If I were adoctor and were asked for my advice, Ishould reply: Create silence! Bring men to silence. ‘The Word of God cannot be heard in the noisy world of today. And even if it were blazoned forth with all the panoply of noise so that it could be heard in the midst of all the other noise. then it would no longer be the Word of God. Therefore create silenct Soren Kierkegaard Poetry comes out of silence and yearns for silence? Max Picard Not the darkness but the light belongs to silence. That is never so clear as in the summer noon when the silence is utterly transformed into light! Max Picard.ae The Silent Voice of Architecture Alll great art evokes an experience of silence. The silence of art is not amere absence of sound and noise, buta reminder of an ontological and independent condition, an observing, listening and knowing silence,a silence that awakens a mental and sensory awareness. Great architecture can also create silence and connect us with the benevolent tranquillity of the universe. As Max Picard, the philosopher of silence, observes, “The colonnades of the Greek temples are like boundary lines along the silence. They become ever straighter and ever whiter as they lean against the silence.* ‘The experience of a meaningful place is not only a matter of moving about in its spaces, looking at its forms and materials, and touching its surfaces; the encounter also invites us to listen to the characteristic and unique silence of the space. This condition is not limited to buildings: the silence of a dark cave permits us to conceive its dimensions and shape through the ‘echoes of water drops dripping from the moist rock, and our enjoyment of the paved street in the silence of an old town at night is strengthened by the echoes of our footsteps reflected back from the mute walls of stone. Buildings are reservoirs and museums of time and silence; they preserve and contain the era of their construction. Egyptian temples enable us to attempt to grasp the silence of the pharaonic era, Every building has its recognizable silence, and the greater the building, the deeper and more meaningful is its silence. “The cathedrals are like silence inlaid with stone.”*This architec- tural silence invokes associations and imaginations. As we enter the space of a Gothic cathedral, we can feel its ancient, embracing silence as a haptic sensation that evokes images of past rituals and forms of life,and which invites us toimagine 7 echoes of Gregorian chants bouncing off the ribbed vaults. This is a silence with memory. Itis not limited to pre-modern structures: as we enter the great space of the Bibliothéque Nationale de France in Paris by Henri Labrouste, the Crown Hall in Chicago by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the Kimbell Art Museum of Louis Kahn or the Thermal Baths at Vals by Peter Zumthor, we are struck by the majestic calm and stillness of these spaces They are appreciated by our ears in consonance with our eyes and body. -Aprofound artistic and_ hitectural experience eliminates ternal noise and turns our onsciousness inwards to ourselves. “An impressive piece of at ora powerful architectural space silences the noise of people and the sound of footsteps. As T enter ‘great architectural space, I hear1 ‘The originary silence of the universe. Our solar system seen trom the distance oftrilion kilometres, The sun is seen in the middle against a background of fainter stars beyond. Petrified Pharaonic silence. The burial chamber in the Pyramid of King Unas, the last king of the Fifth Dynasty (¢. 2450 BC). The walls ae covered with ‘the Pyramid Texts, 3 Architectural structures are reservoirs of silence. “The colonnades of the Gre temples are like boundary lines along the silence”. Max Picard. The Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, 447-492 BC. ‘The architects of the tempie were Iktinos, Kallikrates and Phigias. results from the fact that it turns “Ourattentiontoourown éxistence—Ifind myselflistening tomy own being. Th the well-known but enig- matic chapter ‘Ceci tuera cela’ [this will kill that] that Victor Hugo appended to the eighth edition of Notre Dame de Paris, he pro- nounces the death sentence of architecture, ‘Human thought discovered a means of perpetuating itself in a more lasting and resistant form than architecture. It was simpler and easier as well Architecture was dethroned. To Orpheus's stone letters succeeded Gutenberg’s leaden type.” The writer further examines this thought, which he places in the mouth of the Archdeacon of Notre Dame, But behind this thought [...]The foreshadowing that the human mind in changing its form would change its mode of expres- sion, that the foremost idea of every generation would no longer be written on the same material, with the same manner; that the stone book, so solid and lasting, would give away to the paper book, still more solid and lasting {...]- That printing would kill architecture.”* Although Hugo's prophecy has been quoted time and again, its meaning for the course of architectural history has frequently been misinterpreted. The writer’s prediction that archi- tecture would lose its status as the most important cultural medium, tonew media has undoubtedly come true. But the new media have not ousted architecture because f their greater strength and durability, as Hugo predicted, but for exactly the opposite reason: because they are fast, fleeting, dispensable and noisy Inits very essence, architecture is a background phenomenon that creates settings for human events and acts of life. Yet, in all areas of communication and artisti expression, our current consumerist “callttre tends to favour quick, forceful, noisy and emotionally ‘overwhelming experiences. ~Acommercially-oriented image effect, a sort of image shock, has gained popularity in the compe- tition for the attention of the overstimulated consumers. As a consequence, in today’s society of spectacle, architecture is “Increasingly a product of sensation- alismt. Trying to compete with “other media, architecture becomes an eye-catching image or another ~form of entertainment, creating an obsession with uniqueness and unforeseen novelty. But this is a misunderstanding of the role of architecture and its fundamental task as a framing device for perception, understanding and events of life. The power of architecture isin its silent but perpetual presence in our daily lives. This persistent presence creates an unnoticeable frame of pre-understanding for our entire existential experience. ‘Silence no longer exists as a‘ The benevolent tranqulity of architecture. The Cistercian Abbey of Le Thoronet, Var, France, 1176. Nave looking east. ‘The abbey was. great inspiration to LeCorbusier. world, but only in fragments, as the _Temains of a world, And as man is frightened by remains so. ‘hes frightened by the remains of ‘Silence,’ Picard points out.’ In our civilization, which values speed, novelty and immediate imps ‘innately silent message of archit lost. Moreover, the “Citizens of the consumerist world are ceaselessly bombarded by ‘entertaining’ noise,to the degree that natural silence already appears frightening. “Profound architecture does not dictate or force distinct behaviour, reactions and emotions. Itneeds to be moderate, tactful and generous. Jean-Paul Sartre, the existentialist philosopher, points out this necessary element of generosity in the art of literature, The writer should not seek to overwhelm; otherwise he isin contradiction with himself; ifhe wishes to make demands he must propose only the task to be fulfilled. Hence the character 5 “The placid murmur of silence” n)- Luis Barragan, EI muro Wall), Las Arboledas, México, DF, 1958. of pure presentation which appears essential to the work of art. The reader must be able to make acertain aesthetic withdrawal [Jean] Genet justly calls it the author's politeness towards the reader.” Architecture definitely calls for the same ‘aesthetic withdrawal’ ‘politeness’ and silence. Architectural experiences _are always relational and dialectic; in the end, profound architecture “fo the world and our own life, ~~ Despite the general tendencies of contemporary culture away from experiential depth and meaning, there are always counter-tendencies. Writing about the prevailing values in the art of the 1980s, Donald Kuspit, the art critic, expressed concerns similar to Picard’, but he remained hopeful, seeing a positive change taking place. “A new inner need, a new vigor may be in the process of being born: an art that is not interested in direct communication, or any attempt to 6 ‘An embracing and calming tranquility ‘of space. Peter Zumthor, Therme Vals, Borough of Vals, 1986- bring about an immediately observable significance. If the time of operais on the wane, then the time of chamber music may be waxing, Where opera externalizes, chamber music internalizes. Where the former appeals to the crowds, the latter appeals to the individual, offers only one experience, the feeling of being oneself" In our culture of speed,and noise, itis the ethical task of architecture to preserve the memory of the world of silence and to protect the existing fragments of this fundamental and precious condition. Architecture needs to create, maintain and protect silence. Great buildings represent silence turned into matter, and architecture isa petrified silence. As the thunder and clatter of construction fades away,and the shouting of workers ceases, the great building turns into a timeless monument of silence awaiting the unknown times to come 7