F

OLLIES FOR A BANKER

a monument to hubris

Isabelle Lalibert Diploma Unit 15 | FT Y2 | ID: 515119 School of Architecture | University of Greenwich

Chronogram
Hans Scharoun Berlin Library

0:32

0:43

1:24

1:57

Analysing a scene in Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire

Using chronograms when looking at the library scene in the film Wings of Desire allows for an analysis of movement (through camera, people and points of view), as well as time and sound. Various chronograms detail several different aspects of the scene, set in the Hans Scharoun-designed Berlin Library.

2:11

2:38

3:53

4:03

4:11

4:28

4:36

5:04

el ang

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Mapping an entire sequence spatially

The camera

tracks the path ( ...angels... ) of one of the angels

through the library. or sitting .

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they interact

with the angel during his journey.

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The very few who do move

have very specific paths ( ...mortal...), and

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Most mortals arent moving, they are like pillars, either standing

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Spatial analysis

angel ........ angel ........

angel ........ angel ........

rt al .. .m or t

or .m .. al

mortal....mortal....mort

mo

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t al. ...m orta l... .m

orta l

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ang

angel ........ angel ...... ..

angel .......

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The camera movement in the development of a key scene

This chronogram focuses on a scene where the angel listens to the thoughts of an old man and by doing so, realises he wants to v become a mortal as they have a richer experience of life knowing it is not eternal.

al....mo r

nge l
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om ..

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o m....lat ro m. .. .l at ro m

The camera affords us the point of view of an angel in this sequence as it is free floating, hovering above the scene. There is very little movement in the scene, other than the main protagonists, and when other mortals move, they walk slowly in the direction of the focus point in the view.
.. .. la t

ro m

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.. rtal.

Co-existing parallel worlds

China Mievilles The City and The City

Reading China Mievilles book The City and The City awakens one to the reality of multiple cities within the same geographical city. In the book, Bezel and Ul Qoma are two countries that share the same geographical space of a city - the borders are drawn between streets and even buildings. Bezel is an old historic European city of dull colours and drab citizens, while Ul Qoma is a modern, colourful, booming city with glass & steel towers. Although the two are physically intertwined, they speak different languages and one needs a passport to go from one to the other. The citizens are trained to unsee each other, even if it is an ambulance coming in ones direction. Although the story appears extreme, we all live like this, choosing to unsee certain aspects of everyday life - some ignore the poverty around us, others the CCTV cameras that are everywhere. Different people live completely different lifestyles within the same neighbourhood. This allows for multiplicities within the same city.

Rene Fitjen - The City and The City impression

Unseeing the ubiquitous

Observation of a parallel city?

Does our brain choose what we see, or how we see? How do we know what is real? How do we know we are not staring at a parallel city? Are the curved shapes we see in glass a reflection, or is it an unaware glimpse into another world? A stealth surveillance? Perhaps we are we the orthogonal reflection in the glass of a Bezier world? This investigation leads us to the other side of Spitalfields, where the glass buildings are omnipresent: the City of London.

Glass reflections

Even though we see curvy reflections of orthogonal buildings, our brain discards the curvy information and assumes that the building will be straight. In flat, square glass, the reflections are fluid, liquid, but in curved glass, they tend to reflect straight lines... Reflective transparency, unlike literal or phenomenal transparency, allows one perceives several spaces at once - in front, behind and through the glass.

Reflective transparency: the perception of several spaces at once

Curved glass often reflects straight lines...

...whereas flat glass reflects curves

SAANA does Mies: curved glass meets its flat cousin

The Picturesque

Observing a scene through reflections

Sometimes, one can perceive more of the environment by looking at it in a reflection. The Picturesque painters of the 18th century often used a Claude Glass, which was a device containing a darkened mirror, often convex, to enhance perspective. The painters would use it to help set up Picturesque scenest, that is, those which were deemed beautiful enough to be painted, and as the mirror was darkened, it helped them to embue the painting with sublime qualities such as darkness. In other words, it was a tool to create the perfect Picturesque painting.
Claude glass examples

The parallel city

Capturing the hidden city

If one observes ones surroundings through a reflection, then a whole parallel city can be discovered in the ubiquitous reflections on the buildings of the City of London. Reflective transparency (left) complicates the view in a way that confuses cameras, but the human eye quickly learns to focus on each of the layers of reflections, and just as quickly discards, or unsees, this parallel city.

A triple reflection: the Gherkin, which is geographically in front of the observer, is reflected in a glass wall behind the observer, and this reflection is bounced to the window of the restaurant across the street. In effect, one can see the real building and its blurred reflection immediately below it.

Finding follies in the urban landscape

Building an urban picturesque

The buildings found in the reflections of the City are urban follies, so identifying their flowing form allows to build an urban picturesque: a built landscape of illusions.

Perhaps reflections are not a different world, but using reflections allows us to see our world in a different light, with a fresh perspective.

The picturesque in two components - the beauty & the sublime, part 1

Beauty in architecture & landscape

Bleinheim Palace represents one of the ideals of beauty both in classical architecture and in the design of its gardens, which were about mans control over nature.
After Effects set up to turn the picture on the left into a 3D perspective in a film

The picturesque was a new way of seeing, one which focussed entirely on the aesthetic appearance of a landscape, and it was approved only if it was deemed suitable for a painting. It was a guide for how to see.

plan view

camera view

1.
each of the layer in plan view

The scene as it stood originally

Camera basic set up

2. Creating a 3D scene from a 2D picture

The still image is first broken up in Photoshop in order to create separate layers for each perspective point. The layers are then set up in a 3D space in After Effects. The camera (pale pink line) then travels through the space to capture the effect of depth created.

Layer outlines a visible outside the camera view.

The cameras field of view straightens up, changing the angle of view

The camera has moved forward, and the effect can be seen on the view at right

3.

The camera field of view turns right, focussing on the layers at the back

The camera reaches the end of its path, bringing it closer to the scene

The picturesque in two components - the beauty & the sublime, part 2

The sublime in architecture & the arts

The Beautiful and the Sublime were opposite, yet equal parts of the picturesque approach to aesthetics. It is the dark side that balances the beauty in the picturesque. The sublime is a representation of power, of the dangerous side of nature, of shadow and obscurity. It also defined solitude, vastness and infinity, soaring masses and movement.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Carcieri series - Plate 3: The Round Tower (1750)

tienne-Louis Boulle, Cnotaphe Newton (1784)

John Mallard William Turner, Calais Pier: An English Packet Arriving (1803)

Creating three-dimensional sublime worlds: Piranesis prison

The sublime complexity of Piranesis Carceri prison drawings is indeed complicated: they could never be built, and as such, they are difficult to bring in 3D. To emphasize the sublime qualities of the image in three dimensions, the emphasis was put on articulating the movement of the camera to put the accent on the large mass of the structures.

Experiencing the storm in Turners sublime painting

In order to attempt to give the viewer a better impression of Turners sublime painting of the storm, the camera had to move differently to focus on the various parties affected by the storm.

The urban sublime: the City of London

The use of glass in the City

The City of London is a representation of the picturesque definition of the sublime: soaring masses, vastness, uniformity, complexity and the impression of infinity are all used in order to intimidate and affirm ones position of power. The use of glass in many of the Citys skyscrapers also reflect the city back onto itself, yet, as the City does not have that many tall buildings, most of the tall buildings do not reflect many other buildings. They exist out of the urban context surrounding them.

Glass = Honesty?
Banks went from using stone to represent their strength and power to using glass and braced steel. The use of a transparent material implies honesty, however, the transparency is an illusion: it is only a one-way transparency where we are observed by the banks.

FOLLIES FOR A BANKER

The City v OccupyLondon

The worldwide financial crisis, which started in 2008, highlighted a divide between the financial industry and the rest of the population. Both sides feel misunderstood, and the divide grows ever wider. A series of protests, which started on Wall Street in New York, eventually made it to London and dubbed itself OccupyLSX (London Stock Exchange). The Occupy movement managed to get much press, however, their demands are not heard by the City, and a deaf mans dialogue appears to continue. The movement recognizes its own weaknesses - their website mentions as one of the top items to address is to clarify their demands, and communicate them more effectively. A deaf-mans dialogue is ongoing between the two parties, and the intention of the Soros Foundation is to provide a physical site which can educate whilst being fun - an approach often forgotten by the financial world, but which the rest of the world is more receptive to.

Its been four years since the financial crisis hit. Governments have failed catastrophically to implement the economic change needed to prevent it happening again. They have failed to protect their citizens interests against those of corporations and the financial markets. Ordinary people families, small businesses and communities are being forced to pay for a crisis they didnt cause. May marks an international call to act locally and globally against this injustice and to fight for a sustainable economy that puts people and the environment we live in before corporate profits.

A woman walks in front of the FTSE stock market indicator in London

[www.occupylondon.org.uk]

OccupyLSX tent city at St. Pauls Cathedral, London, 2011

The site

The site is in the eastern part of central London, just north of the City of London. It occupies the building at 21-29 Sun Street, which is on the corner of Sun Street and Crown Place. The site is located next to the City of London, and adjacent key transport hubs, such as Liverpool Street station. Its easy access both in terms of proximity from the City and major transport hubs is a key advantage.

Central London Finsbury Square Finsbury Circus Site Broadgate indicates Borough limits Liverpool Street Station Spitalfields Market

The site : 21-29 Sun Street, Central London

The building belongs to the UBS Bank, and has been sitting empty for some time. It was taken over temporarily by OccupyLondon and renamed the Bank of Ideas.

The building at 21-29 Sun St. is a combination of former buildings which are nearly identical. The ground floor was previously extended (light grey).

Sun Street

Sun Street is a short street which runs approximately east-west. Crown Place, which continues the border of the building, is now a pedestrian street with large mature trees, and which is partly used as the outdoor terrace of a local cafe.

Although the street is of easy access and is located between major traffic arteries (Commercial Street and Bishopsgate), and is adjacent to Liverpool Street Station, it has very little thorough traffic, which makes it a pleasant area to be in.

The south side of the street, which is part of the City of London, is now occupied by seven-storied, glazed curtain-walled, 20th century office buildings which do not relate to the site (below) and creates a departure from the historical local vernacular. The intervention planned for 21-29 Sun Street will help create a link between the old and new vernacular of the area.

Finsbury Square

Wilson St.

Earl Street

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Sun street, looking west

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The Sun street elevation of the site

Sun street, looking east

The world of finance as a chess game

The world of international finance revolves around 3 dimensions:

Time Money Risk

Bankers and traders constantly play with these three elements. In as such, amongst bankers, there is an established hubris in the idea that they can control the outcome of the game if they play it well enough. Playing well to win can often lead to sloppy ethics...

Three-dimensional chess

The German inventor of 3-dimensional chess, Dr. Ferdinand Maack, contended that for it to be more like modern warfare, attack should be possible not only from a two-dimensional plane but also from above (air) and below (underwater). Maacks eventually settled on 555 as the best configuration for Raumschach (space) boards. Other obvious differences from chess include two additional pawns per player, and a special piece (two per player) named unicorn.

Raumschach board

The Raumschach 3D board can be thought of as a cube sliced into five equal spaces across each of its three major coordinal planes. The horizontal levels are denoted by capital letters A through E. Ranks and files of a level are denoted using algebraic notation. White starts on the A and B levels and Black starts on E and D. (So, the kings begin on squares Ac1 and Ec5.)

Move rules

Rooks, bishops, and knights move as they do in chess in any given plane. - Rooks, for example, move through the six walls of the cubes in any rank, file, or column. - Bishops move through the twelve edges of the cubes, and knights make a (0,1,2) leaping move (the same effect as one step as a rook and one as a bishop) enabling it to control 24 different cubes from the boards center. - Unicorns move in a manner special to a 3D space (called triagonal movement) through the corners of the cubes. (Thus each unicorn can reach only 30 cubes; each players pair, 60.) - The queen combines the moves of a rook, bishop, and unicorn, giving it a total of 26 different directions to move (6 faces plus 12 edges plus 8 corners). - The king moves the same as a queen but one step at a time. - Pawns move forward as in chess, or one step directly upward (for White) or downward (for Black). Pawns capture diagonally as in chess, including one step upward (White) or downward (Black), through a front or side cube edge.
(source: Wikipedia)

examples of 3D chess boards

the Tri-D chess set was first used on Star Trek in the 1960s

banking architecture, pre-economic boom

architecture of the boom

Post-crash: a new culture emerges?

The site sits across the street from the city. The folly reflects the City onto itself. What is the distortion that happens in this reflection? In a time of crisis, we often retreat to an era of comfort and safety. A new subtle, stealth luxury is emerging.

London Borough of Hackney

City of London

SUN STREET
post-crash : the City returns to more traditional values?

SUN STREET

An architectural 3-dimensional chess game: cutting through the building

Both Gordon Matta-Clark (left) and Diller Scofidio (bottom) explored three dimentional moves through space which are not hindered by walls and floors.

A conceptual image showing one way to crack the site open, Gordon Matta-Clark style

An urban parcscape is born.

The building is a theatre in the same way that a picturesque landscape was always intended. The parcscape is the setting for follies, a modern commentary on the banking world. The building is fragmented, scuplted and played with in a similar fashion to what Capability Brown did to 18th century landscapes, and Gordon Matta-Clark did to 20th century buildings.

The building as an urban parcscape

The building becomes an urban version of an 18th century picturesque landscape: the paths are designed to allow one to discover follies along the way. The building as a parcscape is imbued with a complexity found in the Carceri series by Piranesi, or some of Brodsky + Utkins drawings. it plays with levels of transparency and allows for a controlled interaction between the forces of capitalism and anti-capitalism. It is through this dynamic tension that a state of poise can be achieved between the opposing parties.

OMAs competition model for the Trs Grande Bibliothque Jussieu

Piranesis Carceri complex prison design

Brodsky + Utkins internal complexity of the Dome

An urban parcscape as a form of Epic theatre

Creating an urban parcscape in a building is a form of Epic theatre: the juxtaposition of realistic and non-realistic fragments where the visitor is made more aware of what they are seeing and experiencing by their confrontation with the sometimes jarring contrasts. Traditional theatre is about creating the illusion of reality, and trying to manipulate the audience into believing this illusion, but Epic theatre is about being aware of the illusion, seeing the back of the decor. If the urban parcscape is stripped with its structure and guts opened up, it is an architectural form of Epic theatre.

An Erwin Piscator set for an Epic-style play

Palladios Teatro Olimpico, well known for its illusion of depth and perspective

Each trading day is played out as a different play, not part of a continuous story.

A rejection of the rat-race of extravagance

The new OMA-designed Rothschild Bank headquarters in the City, the first new bank building of the post financial crash era, reflects this new subdued luxury. Much like old money, it is not about an ostentatious display of wealth, but rather an appreciation for the highest quality (thus expensive) materials, and architectural decisions that speak of wealth more than any material could do. OMA declares it a rejection of the rat-race of extravagance.

Large expansive slabs of travertine marble, an artist-design curtain containing strips of gold, and a long reception desk made out of a single tree...

The luxury of a private car access lane in land-poor City is a true, subtle display of wealth. It could also have been a good location for the Occupy London tents.

The Rothschild Bank headquarters standing behind Wrens St.Stephen Walbrook

The familys art collection is displayed on engraved aluminium walls or on raw silk.

The doors evoke bank vaults of yesteryears.

Graphical translations
Analysing how other artists manage to translate from live observation to graphical representation requires a certain type of graphical translation. A simple drawing is often the most difficult to achieve. From Angie Lewins linocuts inspired by nature (left) to Johnny Hardstaffs BBC Three introduction trailer, it is a style I will favour in the production of my film.

Anglie Lewin

My take on Angie Lewins work

My own sketch of St.Pauls Cathedrals dome.

Johnny Hardstaffs BBC Three advert (and one of his sketchbooks above).

The City and OccupyLondon: a dialectical relationship

State of dynamic tension between sin and virtue

(forces of capitalism/anti-capitalism)
Seven Heavenly Virtues Seven Deadly Sins

In order to create an architectural response to this relationship of apparent opposites, an analysis of values which are often assigned to each party was conducted, that is, the City versus the Occupy movement. Reiser and Umemoto devised a concept of operating in a state of poise, which evolved from Aristotles concept of the mean, and which creates an ambiguous and dynamic point between the two extremes values.

Chastity Restraint Generosity Diligence Patience Kindness Humility

Seven Heavenly Virtues (OccupyLSX) Seven Deadly Sins
(the City of London)

Chaste Luxury Restrained Gluttony Generous Greed Diligent Sloth Patient Wrath Kind Envy Humble Pride

Luxuriance Gluttony Greed Sloth Wrath Envy Pride

Together, they create a dynamic tension that defines the typology of follies set in the parcscape.

Introduction to the new parcscape

The Sun Street elevation

The new elevation on Sun Street retains the dressed stone facade of the 1930s, but the new structure punctures it, creating a highly visible eye-catcher on a particularly drab existing streetscape, thus highlighting the buildings new vocation. The windows will retain their current appearance, but will be replaced by highly efficient triple-glazed windows. A simple mechanism would allow the windows to open in the summer to naturally ventilate the building, but would be under a mechanical control, as they would not be accessible otherwise. The doors of the front facade are functional, though not usually in use, as the main entrance is now moved to Crown Place. The leftmost doors on the image at left are part of a new fire escape route.

A revived Crown Place

The entrance to the new building is located on Crown Place, thus giving the building a more dignified entrance atrium. It also allows for a disabled access ramp, which was inexistant in the previous building, and which is equally close to the new lift. This east facade equally retains the rythmn of its previous appearance, however, above the new entrance sits one of the follies, the Claude Glass, bringing a new perception of the other side through the use of convex glass. This new wall of glass allows even more of the morning light to enter the building. A new fire escape route exits to the right of the main entrance, providing a second means of escape to the building.

The new entrance and elevation

The Crown Place elevation prior to our intervention

The new courtyard

The rear of the former building was in fact a collage of 3 older buildings which had been extended in an unsymmetrical manner over the years, and thus did not enhance the space. The ground floor had been extended to the same area as the basement, however, the previous rear-extensions did not follow the same patterns from the 1st to 3rd floor. The new courtyard is thus brought back to ground level, providing a visual link with the street, and eliminating the unnecessary indentation to the upper floors. The new arrangement allows neutral northern light to flood the internal space of the building. The larger courtyard accomodates one of the follies and plays with the buildings threshold: the internal space continues to the outside, whilst remaining an internal part of the main building. As this wall is north-facing, triple-glazing will of course be in order, as this will ensure the thermal efficiency of the building. These glazed panels are fixed, and they accomodate two openings where the ramp exits and re-enters the main space of the building.

The proposed new courtyard

The existing courtyard

A design strategy in three parts

A park within a building

Setting about transforming a building into an urban park requires one to look at the building in the same way as a picturesque landscape. It is a setting for follies, completely man-made, fragmented and sculpted in a similar fashion to what Capability Brown did to 18th century landscapes. The building becomes an enclosed parcscape.

Flooding the space with natural light

The building is a park, and thus needs to be flooded with light. As the building already had a good level of natural light through the existing facades on Sun Street and Crown Place, it was decided to retain those elevations whilst not letting them hinder the development plans.

Minimising energy consumption As well as introducing photovoltaic cells on the roof, a strategy of insulation and better glazing will help minimise fluctuactions in the ambient temperature of the building. Additional temperature control will be effected through temperature zoning.

a glimpse of the follies through a cut-away view of the front elevation

Follies: from the 18th century to the 21st

A folly is an excessive and extravagant expense. It is a physical representation of a social environement and of attitudes towards money.

The nature of the folly is to be conspicuous by its lack of response to its context. Form Colour Materiality are all out of context

Follies are a form of capriccio: the landscape is a fantastical composition of many locations, many ideas expressed in an unexpected, impossible form.

Eccentricity is key, as is lack of purpose, dedication and location.

The Arcellor-Mittal Orbit, Stratford, London

Flounders Folly, Shropshire: an observation tower built at the bottom of a valley

David Chipperfield + Antony Gormley, Kivik Arts Centre, Sweden

McCaigs Tower, Argyll, Scotland

Canaletto, The Thames and the City of London from Richmond House 1747. This view does not exist, it is a collage of various vantage points in London

Organisation of the follies in the urban parcscape

roof

Kind Envy: the Claude glass

3rd floor

Patient Wrath: a debating chamber

2nd floor

Restrained Gluttony: the trompe-loeil

1st floor

Generous Greed: a modern confessional

ground floor

Chaste Luxury: monastic opulence

Using all the areas of the building at 21-29 Sun Street helps to determine the seven follies. It does not determine the exact location, however, it ties all the spaces of the building together - the follies can be part of the fabric of the building, or set within the building. It becomes quickly clear though, that the current internal structure prevents moving through the building in a three-dimensional way. The demolition of the current internal structure becomes necessary.

basement

Humble Pride: the bell of morality

The current structure limits the extent of the intervention. Demolition of this part of the structure is necessary.

Exploded axonometric drawing of the demolition plan

In an 18th century garden, the follies appeared to have been strewn around the landscape randomly, but they were in fact placed with much attention so they would be discovered along the way. A similar guiding principle is used in the parcscape: - the space is divided in two zones: the darkness and quiet of the basement, and the light and noise of the main floor - the grid of the steel structure dictates the location of the follies - the circulation is mainly done through a curvy ramp

The follies, viewed from the front elevation

A picturesque approach to the seven follies

The main hall is organised under the theme of picturesque beauty: illusion, irregularity, asymmetry, variety, intricacy and movement.

The basement is reinterpreted as the picturesque sublime: obscurity, solitude, infinity. It is an aesthetic appreciation of terror.

not to scale

Defining the parcscape

The use of bright colours for the follies is deliberate: only the follies are coloured, and their shape tends to be more curved or organic. All of this emphasizes the parc-like atmosphere and the eccentricity of it all. The structure is defined by its rectilinear form, and its lack of colour (white). It provides clear visual cues as to the organisation of the space. The choice of colours is also deliberate: the primary and secondary colours of the colour wheel were chosen, and they were chosen as they are the most intense of the colour spectrum. This intensity was important as it reflects the intensity of the beliefs of the two parties involved in this project, the bankers and OccupyLondon.

A cut-away view of the building, showing the colourful chaos of the interior parcscape

Folly 1: A monastic cell (Chaste Luxury)

The space hugs the visitor in the same way that a monks cell provides a quiet place for contemplation and reflection. The visitor does not have views to the outside to distract him or to be observed, but benefits from daylight, either indirect & modulated, Inside, a meditative state is encouraged by the way light embraces the walls: the faceted surfaces reflect light or create shadows depending on their angle. The meditative space inside provides largers spaces to be quietly shared with others, but equally a smaller space which is lit directly from above by a chimney painted with colour on the inside, in order to colour the light coming in. In this case, the colour chosen was yellow, in order to continue raising the mood of the users of the space.

The shape follows the intersection of selected stock market graphs and extrapolates between them. It is a visual representation of the peaks and valleys of the stock market movements. The outside of the folly is of a bright plum colour, however the inside is completely white. It is thus possible to appreciate the space for what it is, but equally, it is possible to colour the light coming in by sliding a clear, coloured perspex panel at each opening. Some of the openings are extruded like oddly-shaped chimneys, others are part of the skin of the folly.

The meditation space hugs the form of the ramp in order to maximise its size in the limited footprint of the courtyard.

the ramp defines the space within the main hall

Folly 2: a promenade architecturale (Diligent Sloth)

Being lazy, slothful, but with the utmost diligence and care. It is about minimizing the effort required to get the best results. The promenade architecturale defines the parcscape. It wraps around the building and leads from one folly to the other, in the same way that the garden path led to the follies in the picturesque garden.
The ramps wraps around the building, leading from one point of interest to the next. a view from the inside the ramp that follows the front elevation

Folly 3: a debating chamber (Patient Wrath)

Nothing spells wrath that is sustained over years sometimes like the Houses of Parliament. One must display the qualities of patience to get anything through, yet show fire and wrath to awake the masses. A debating chamber is all about achieving a dynamic tension, reaching the equilibrium to that state of poise. Much like the Houses of Parliament, this debating chamber allows the opposing sides to engage in discussions. However, as both parties tend to avoid listening to each other, this is reflected in the architecture: the two half roman theatres are slightly turned against each other, so whilst it is still possible to hold a discussion between both sides, it is just not very comfortable to do so. The seating also does not face each other, and it is located in an open environment which brightens the cacophony of the debate. The seating is constructed of simple plywood sheets covered with wood veneer (to smooth out the angles) and the whole surface then covered in a polyurethane-resin compound.

Early conceptual and development sketches of the debating chamber

Folly 4: an internal belfry (Humble Pride)

Everything in the City is about appearances: trying to be bigger than ones neighbour. The building gains a kind of belfry which contains a small bell, but the belfry is an internal one, thus it is a timid one. From the outside, one has the impression of grandeur, but the small bell represents the modesty and inner compass that the OccupyLSX is to the Bankers. All stock exchanges around the world are opened and closed with a bell or gong of some kind. This bell reminds one of morality and opens and closes the trading day within the building. Although follies technically have no function, this one acts as a lightwell. The internal belfry was given the shape of a cone in order to maximize the amount of light gathered for the basement. A reflective material covers the inside of the cone to enhance the light, and using gold leaf will not only reflect the light but gently colour it in order to bring a golden light to the dark basement even on cloudy days.

site

The cone of light is a physical representation of its function, that is, to bring sunlight to the basement

Folly 5: a giant Claude glass (Kind Envy)

A way to look at what others have in a kinder way, indirectly, and in doing so, gaining a different perspective on the object of our envy. This version of the Claude glass allows both the bankers and the OccupyLondon to become aware of how perception affects envy, and how the same observer will perceive the other side differently if it is severely distorted. This perception creates an ephemeral new reality, but equally gives the observer an awareness of the distortion and of this new reality. In creating a modern Claude glass, a convex mold needs to be devised in order to create the right amount of distortions. The pattern and size of the claude glass panels follow the rythmn of the remaining existing facade. Whilst it is relatively simple in construction, the Claude glass adds a subtle and interesting change to the Crown Place elevation.

Folly 6: a modern confessional (Generous Greed)

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The capsules clear electronic display that projects the various tweet-like confessions. As the pods are all interlinked, the confessions do not necessarily appear on the same pod that the user is in, and in addition, it is possible to log in remotely and post through a smart-phone app.

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These attributes are translated architecturally by glass bubbles, constructed out of hand-made Murano glass, where one finds a very simple terminal, linked to a central computer. The confessions are then displayed randomly onto the clear displays superimposed onto the outside of the glass of the capsules in the hall. The greedy self-propaganda intended by the author is thus thwarted as they cannot draw specific attention to them.
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Bankers and other influentials members of society feel that by confessing their innermost thoughts, they are being generous with the rest of the population whilst greedily promoting themselves. In this regards, the newspapers, Twitter and Facebook are a form of modern confessional, open to the world for all to see.

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Inside the capsule, the slightly opaque glass gives an impression of privacy.

Folly 7: a trompe loeil (Restrained Gluttony)

Although the trompe loeil has been around for centuries, it came into force during the Baroque - a sometimes cost-effective way to obtain exuberance and the illusion of grandeur. The optical illusions are often painted, and though the eye is never convinced by a trompe loeil, they remain popular and appreciated for the skill required in their construction. The contemporary trompe loeil can be minimum in architectural construction, however not in effort or skill required to accomplish it successfully. In this case, the illusion is visible only from the entrance on the ground floor: an Escher-like entanglement of staircases appear to the visitor, however, a very simple and straightforward staircase lies behind the glass. The staircases are printed onto an adhesive clear surface and applied on the inside of the staircase glass wall, in order to enhance the illusion.

Gloweka Rennies installation in the womens toilets at the V&A Museum, 2009.

The sum of its parts

As the building is complicated due to its intertwining parts, a gradual build up of the key parts as they are added on is detailed here in axonometric view. The order of the images does not relate to the order of construction but rather to a clear understanding and visibility of each of the parts. The next page shows the front elevation view.

Although not a folly, the cafe follows the style of the follies, embracing a secondary colour, rounded edges and flooded with natural light. As it floats above the other follies, it benefits from an interesting vantage point and offers a cozy space to relax and enjoy a light refreshment.

The intention of the building was always to be a Carceri-like space, not so much in terms of sublime terror, but rather in terms of the busy atmosphere of the space. The visitor is unable to fully grasp the entirety of it in a glance as the result of this complexity, and thus interest and curiosity is sustained.

Piranesis Carceri drawing

Fin