October 2015  Yip Hew Shing Hewson

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABSTRACT

 

AIn today society, development is the first priority, building resulting in designs that require minimal construction output and that receive the maximum profit and further labelled as minimalism. This has to do with the theory of Minimalism being misunderstood in the society. It is expressed in a way of restriction, but in fact it is all about freedom for the spectators to connect to the surrounding environment. It is evident that the blind pursue of Minimalism neglects the connection between the occupant and its local environment for reasons such as like the lowering of cost and design effort, which further support why this topic is important to explore. This paper will first clarify the theory behind minimalism through the example of Clara-Clara (1983), identify how Serra reveal the quality of minimalism. In order to understand the core of Minimalism, its relationship to the Zen Culture’s “断, 捨, 離” theory, must be also acknowledged. The theory will be interpreted in a case study, The New Museum (2007) by Sanaa to rationalise minimalism in a reality approach. Despite the design elements such as the façade, light entry, etc contributed in achieving Minimalism, but the design method and attitude are the essence. Further on, the blind pursuit of minimalism had been critic by applying the theory of Minimalism and depicts the contradiction from the misunderstanding of the society to Minimalism through the example of Apple Store. The priority of between materiality and inner sensational experience are the main principle when identifying what is minimalism and what is not. Towards to the end of the essay, the readers will be able to reveal the fine line between Minimalism design and a simple design

 

 

In today’s society, Minimalism has been taken advantage to embellish a simple design. Designs that appeared to be simple were labelled as a Minimalism design, in fact Minimalism was abused in the process to glamourize a design from mass-production. The blind pursuit of Minimalism was very often related to the ignorance of Minimalism from the society. Minimalism does not define simplicity, its critical core and purpose must be acknowledged to prevent further misunderstanding. To understand Minimalism, it is important to understand the history and development in Minimalism. Then further rationalize the theory in analysing a case study, The New Museum (2007) by SANAA. The design elements and design attitude from the designers will reveal the core of Minimalism in a reality aspect. After the clarification of Minimalism, it will enable us to criticize on the misunderstood from the society and distinct a true meaning of Minimalism.

 

 

What is Minimalism?

 

In A Picturesque Stroll around Clara-Clara (1988), the authors Yve-Alain Bois restate Richard Serra’s philosophy of neglecting the form of the work and prioritise the physical and visual experience of the landscape as picturesque through the works.  According to Serra, architecture should remain humble and unnoticeable as an entity.[1] Therefore, the existence of the architecture should not draw the viewer’s attention to the building itself.  The placements of structural elements, which act as a telescope to read the landscape and pull the eyes of the viewers to the topography of the landscape while travelling through it.

 

 

Essentially the personal experiences from the spectator should be the only real value of the work. As a tool to interact with the surrounding environment, “Someone who trusts more in the real movement of his leg than in the fictive movement of his gaze”[2] Serra stated, “the site determines how I think what I am going to build, whether it be an urban or landscape site, a room or other architectural enclosure…”[3] His working method to achieve minimalism, led us to one of his work Clara-Clara (1983).

 

 

The work included two equal arcs of a circle positioned as an X, facing each other. The curved walls were not erected vertically, with each wall leaning with a slope in an opposite direction pointing to the bottleneck between the top of both arcs. The experience of walking inside Clara-Clara was described as “going toward the bottleneck that these two arcs form at their middle, the spectator constantly has the strange impression that one wall goes “faster” than the other, that the right and left sides of his body are not synchronised.”[4]

 

No doubt, this work will have minimal impact without the travelling experiences from the spectators, since its elevation appears as a dull rectangular wall. This work further depicts the importance of details in minimalism. The dramatic surprise is generated from the details of adjusting the slope of the walls. As stated by Serra “The symmetry of this effect is foreseeable, but not the surprise that accompanies it”.[5] Serra considered the viewer’s physical movement within the arcs and how it affects their visual observation through every step taken. Therefore, the value of this work can only be delivered from the spectators’ personally experiences.

 

Although minimalism originated in America, the concept is developed from Buddhist principles of the Zen Culture in Japan. Serra, as one of the earliest minimalist, admired the deambulatory space and peripatetic vision in Zen Culture. Therefore, in order to understand the core of minimalism, the Zen Philosophy must be acknowledged.

 

 

The Zen Culture

 

Minimalism is a reflection of the Zen culture in Japan. The concept of Minimalism was conveyed in the principle of Zen’s Buddhist philosophy and it was further rationalized from its religious architecture such as The Dry Rock Garden-Karesansui. The Zen Culture can be broken down into three components, “断 dan, 捨 shi and 離 ri”, meaning to refuse, to throw away and to separate.[6] This is the foundation of the Zen meditation, a method used to counter our mind and release us from the materiality and mechanisation in this world, and focus on the sensational experiences in our mind. These components are consistently seen in Serra’s philosophy of Minimalism. Both prioritise experiences over material values and reveal to spectators and meditators an experience of reality without the intervening distraction of intellect categorical analysis. The Zen philosophy is not only about proper sitting and breathing, but contains an inner meaning and purpose which is conveyed in The Dry Rock Garden successfully.

 

The Dry Rock Garden-Karesansui

 

The Dry Rock Garden-Karesansui is located in Ryoani, Kyoto, Japan. At the base of the garden lies an empty rectangle of raked gravel, with seemingly random composition of rocks and moss, often interpreted to appear similar to islands amidst the ocean.[7] The interior of Ryoanji temple opens towards the garden, with no boundary wall to the outer nature. Considering daylight as a major element, spectators sit on the deck and experience the entire space.[8] The Sakura tree hanging over the garden indicates the seasonal changes by the colour of the leaves or by the leaves, which have fallen on the garden during wintertime.[9] The openness of this garden allows the surrounding weather to affect the colour of the gravel and the texture of the rock, which harmonises the atmosphere with nature and creates an ideal space for meditation.

 

The Zen philosophy is at the core of the entire design, as it refuses the materiality and mechanisation of society and its only aim is to achieve one thing, to create an inner experience for the spectators by allowing them to escape from the reality.[10] In line with the theory of 断, 捨, 離, the garden acts as a canvas for the colours and energy from nature. Therefore, the garden is able to remain as an unknowable entity, whose value will only be revealed to the spectators who experience it.[11]

 

The Zen Culture is deeply rooted in Japanese traditions, where Minimalism is incorporated on a daily basis. It is therefore not surprising that it is also expressed in Japanese Architecture. Sanaa, a renowned Japanese Architecture firm embraced their Japanese traditions of Minimalism and used them to inspire their design of the New Museum. The New Museum is an articulated building, which Sanaa determined it is a building only Japanese architect can design.[12]

 

 

New Museum of Contemporary Art

 

The New Museum of Contemporary Art was completed in 2007. It located within a humble neighbourhood of the Bowery, a heavily gridded landscape that is set against the busy street of lower Manhattan, New York. Out of Sanaa’s collection of designs (all of which have a strong, consistent ties to minimalism combined with the principles of Japanese Architectural traditions), The New Museum is the first overseas project from SANAA.[13] It is therefore fascinating to discover how minimalism is achieved in downtown New York; one of the most consumable and materialistic city in the world. 

 

According to Kazuyo Sejima, the design was made through stacking rectangular geometry forms, which she referred as Japanese bento boxes.[14]  This prompted the reduction of Architecture to its essence and created simple spaces within the building. Each space was designed to reduce the necessities and coupled with the dramatic use of white colour throughout the exterior and interior of the building[15], the spaces were able to convey as modesty and purity. As the space was reduced as a canvas, it emphasized the vivid and colourful variety of the art that is displayed at the museum and enhanced the artistic experiences for the spectators. The spaces in the New Museum were a reflection of the Zen Culture. The reductive form transcribed the inner spaces to only serve its fundamental purpose and refused all materialistic elements. As a result it achieved the essentials of a gallery, which allows the escape from the reality and the personal artistic experiences from the spectators as they travel within the spaces. (Shown in figure 1) The rectangular forms were shifted irregularly from the exterior point of view. Through shifting the “bento boxes” the uncovered gaps between each level became a skylight that introduced natural lighting for the gallery space.[16]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1: A Diagram of The New Museum indicated the general functions and light entry from the skylight

 

SANAA has considered the entry of the natural light, as an important factor of design. By having daylight entry from above instead of the façade, the building can avoid direct daylight entering from the spectator’s eye level, which can diminish their experiences with the artwork. This idea of integrating bonds between architecture and its surrounding landscape is a fundamental aspect of the Japanese style, and is realised throughout the design of the building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2:The street view of The New Museum[17] 

 

The Japanese Minimalism concepts were brought into the museum in an innovative manner. Sanaa differentiated them from conventional Japanese architecture that physically places a project within a green landscape or adds greenery into architecture. For this project, their aim was to achieve the sense of nature within a dense urban fabric through the use of material. (Shown in Figure 2) The exterior of the museum was fully cladded with an aluminium mesh. The continuous monolithic façade shaped a firm image for the museum, which corresponded to the existing urban landscape.

 

Closer examination to detail of the façade, revealed every molecule pattern in the aluminium mesh has a curved angle, which created several interesting interactions with the surrounding landscape.[18] (Shown in figure 3) Viewing from the interior space, the angle of the façade blocked the vision of the sky when you look up, but it exposed the street view when you look down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3: The view from the interior[19]

 

From the perspective on the street, the façade create a colour change for the building altering from day to night. During the day, sunlight illuminates the inside of the museum while the exterior facade is shining from sunlight reflection[20]. As night falls, the lit interior emits light within the structure, producing a glowing effect that brightens its white complexion against a darkened background.[21] Both qualities are applied to achieve and enhance the connection between The New Museum and the city of New York.

 

As mentioned by Serra, “It is appreciated while on the move, with one’s feet; it is while walking, moving from one place to another, that one sees how the arrangements of the architecture develop.”[22] This theory is on full display in The New Museum. Due to the detail of the aluminium mesh, the façade was designed to visually express an abstract animation that corresponded to the spectator’s movement on the street; meaning this effect will only be experienced when the spectators were moving and the animation can be fast or slow depending on their walking pace. Therefore every spectator will have his or her own personal relationship with the museum.

 

All the elements analysed above proves that The New Museum is one of the most successful Minimalism Architecture in today’s society. This success is due to their design attitude, which is the essence of their achievement. Kazuyo Sejima stated in an interview “There are also many consultants we work with, structural engineers, many engineers. In any case, we always try to be involved from the beginning to the end, and our growing experience has made us learn that it is important to be involved as much as possible. In the New York building, there are two people from our office who live there and visit the site every day. At the Essen and the Basel buildings, architects from our studio have stayed there as long as possible, even on the construction site.”[23] SANAA understood how important it is for Minimalism Architecture to interact with the landscape; especially when they are trying to design a space to inspire inner emotional experiences from the spectators. This attitude was also portrayed in Serra’s theory, “Architects suffer from the same studio syndrome. They work out of their offices, terrace the landscape and place their building into the carved-out site. As a result the studio-designed, then site adjusted building look like blown-up card board models.”[24] This was his critique on studio-based architects, which over rely on site plans and as such do not allow the spectator to feel the landscape as a whole.

 

 

The Blind Pursuit of Minimalism

 

The theory of Minimalism was explained clearly above, which gave us the opportunity to critic on the blind pursuit of Minimalism in today’s society. “Minimalism is perhaps one of the most misunderstood movements of the latter half of the twentieth century.”[25] Therefore there is definitely a fine line between Minimalism and simple design. It is agreeable that Minimalism involved simplicity, but it does not mean designs that seem simple should be considered as Minimalism. Unfortunately, the lack of understanding from the society encouraged a negative connotation to the word, “Minimalism”. As this paper had explained Minimalism should not be defined as superficial or simplistic, as its purpose is about finding the essence at its critical core.

 

The reasons why Minimalism is being abuse might relate to problems such as lowering on design effort, mass production and reducing construction cost and time. One of the most predominant example is the Apple Store.  The image of the Apple Store should be vivid in our mind. Features such as the big glazed façade, the long wooden tables displayed the collection of Apple products and the advertisement posters on the sidewalls are elements that we could remember immediately from the apple store. This paper was not written to judge whether this design is good or bad, but through analyzing it and determine does this design fit in to the category of Minimalism, in order to reveal the misunderstanding and blind pursuit of ‘Minimalism’ by the majority of the population.

 

The enormous glazed entrance does express a sense of clarity and openness, but the glazed façade was applied nearly in all Apple stores, considering it was located around the world from the narrow and compressed street of Hong Kong to a street surrounded by historical building in UK. This directly contradicted to the theory of Minimalism. According to Serra, “The placement of all structural elements in the open view draws the viewer’s attention to the topography of the landscape as the landscaped is walked.”[26] in this case, the landscape between Hong Kong and UK has a dramatic different, there is no way the design remained the same, since it has to be driven by the experience from the spectators with the surrounding landscape. Through the similarities from every Apple Store, it could be understood as a studio based design. As explained from the case study of The New museum and the example of Clara-Clara, both designers, SANNA and Serra understood the essential for architects to experience the environment before designing. SANNA used two years to investigate New York and Serra determination to finish most of the work on the site.[27] Through studio-based design, the core of Minimalism will not be achieved, which further distinct the apple store from a Minimalism design.

 

Some might argue the glazed façade is a representation of Apple Inc. Unfortunately the form of Minimalism Architecture should “…remains ambiguous, indeterminable, unknowable as an entity.”[28] The moment when a design has a representation of materiality, it is not considered as a Minimalism design, referring to the 断, 捨, 離 theory from the Zen Culture. Ironically, The atmosphere in an apple store was covered with ‘spending and getting’, not to mention Apple Inc. is the most consummerable cooperation in the world. This contradicted to Minimalism every sense of way.

 

 

Conclusion

 

From the history of Minimalism, the theory was explained clearly that the architecture itself should be defined as unknowable and focused on the inner personal experience from the spectators in respond to the surrounding landscape. The idea of subtraction for achieving the essentials required a long-term investigation of the landscape. Therefore Minimalism is not simple, in fact it is very complex, since it has to produce ‘more’ with ‘less’. The design elements that were analysed in The New Museum are supporting the theory in a reality aspect, explained the reasons and methods behind the Architects for achieving Minimalism.

 

The blind pursuit of Minimalism has been critic through the theoretical facts of Minimalism. The abusive use of Minimalism caused by the materialistic aspect such as mass production and lowering design effort, which is the opposite of what Minimalism is. From the example of the Apple Store, the false minimalism aspects had been rejected by the theory. Further differentiated Minimalism and the misunderstanding from the society. Minimalism is an opposite of Globalisation, a world where materiality and mechanisation were prioritized. This affect the development of Minimalism as human selected to value material over nature and their own inner sensational feelings. If this continue, this world will lost its natural beauty and minimized the essence of human living.

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Bois, Yve-Alain and John Shepley (1988), A Picturesque Stroll around Clara-Clara, University of South Australia: Australia, p. 34

[2] Ibid, p. 34

[3] Bois, Yve-Alain and John Shepley (1988), A Picturesque Stroll around Clara-Clara, University of South Australia: Australia, p. 36

[4] Ibid, p. 49

[5] Ibid, p. 49

[6] Michael Hoffman (2011), “Ditching Materialism for the Simple Life”, The Japan Times LTD: Japan

[7] Gert J. Van Tonder, Michael J. Lyons & Yoshimichi Ejima (2002), Nature Vol. 419: Visual structure of a Japanese Zen garden, Nature publishing Group: United Kingdom, p. 359

[8] The University of Hong Kong (2012), Visual Art: Aesthetics of Zen in Japan Garden, The Hong Kong Institute of Architects: Hong Kong, p. 8

[9] Ibid, p. 8

[10]Philip Kapleau (1965), The Three Pillars of Zen, p. 208, Beacon Press: Boston, p.208

[11] Gert J. Van Tonder, Michael J. Lyons & Yoshimichi Ejima (2002), Nature Vol. 419: Visual structure of a Japanese Zen garden, Nature publishing Group: United Kingdom, p. 359

[12] Fernando Márquez Cecilia y Richard Levene (2007),  El Croquis SANAA [Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa], El Croquis Editorial: Spain, p. 20.

[1]3 Ibid. , p. 28.

[14] Herbert Muschamp (2003), “Lunchbox for Art: A New Museum”, The New York Times, New York

[15] Fernando Márquez Cecilia y Richard Levene (2007),  El Croquis SANAA [Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa], El Croquis Editorial: Spain, p. 28.

[16] Howard Silver (2009), “New Museum Of Contemporary Art and SANAA architect, Kazuyo Sejima”, Bloomberg MUSE: New York.

[17] Fernando Márquez Cecilia y Richard Levene (2007),  El Croquis SANAA [Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa], El Croquis Editorial: Spain, p. 28.

[18] Fernando Márquez Cecilia y Richard Levene (2007),  El Croquis SANAA [Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa], El Croquis Editorial: Spain, p. 29.

[19] Irene Cheng (2007), “New New Museum”, Frieze Magazine: United Kingdom

[20] Marcy Marro (2008), Metal Architecture Magazine, Metal Architecture: North America

[21] Ibid.

[22] Bois, Yve-Alain and John Shepley (1988), A Picturesque Stroll around Clara-Clara, University of South Australia: Australia, p. 56

[23] Fernando Márquez Cecilia y Richard Levene (2007),  El Croquis SANAA [Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa], El Croquis Editorial: Spain, p. 15

[24] Bois, Yve-Alain and John Shepley (1988), A Picturesque Stroll around Clara-Clara, University of South Australia: Australia, p. 39

[25] Terry Riley (2007), First International Conference on Music and Minimalism, University of Wales, Bangor

[26] Richard Serra (1982), “Not from Sight Point Road,” Perspecta No.19, The M.I.T Press: America, p. 180.

[27] Bois, Yve-Alain and John Shepley (1988), A Picturesque Stroll around Clara-Clara, University of South Australia: Australia, p. 37

[28] Bois, Yve-Alain and John Shepley (1988), A Picturesque Stroll around Clara-Clara, University of South Australia: Australia, p. 34

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRPAHY

 

Gert J. Van Tonder, Michael J. Lyons & Yoshimichi Ejima (2002), Nature Vol. 419: Visual structure of a Japanese Zen garden, Nature publishing Group: United Kingdom

 

The University of Hong Kong (2012), Visual Art: Aesthetics of Zen in Japan Garden, The Hong Kong Institute of Architects: Hong Kong

 

Philip Kapleau (1965), The Three Pillars of Zen, p. 208, Beacon Press: Boston

 

Michael Hoffman (2011), “Ditching Materialism for the Simple Life”, The Japan Times LTD: Japan

 

​Fernando Márquez Cecilia y Richard Levene (2007),  El Croquis SANAA [Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa], El Croquis Editorial: Spain

 

Bois, Yve-Alain and John Shepley (1988), A Picturesque Stroll around Clara-Clara, University of South Australia: Australia

 

Terry Riley (2007), First International Conference on Music and Minimalism, University of Wales, Bangor

 

Richard Serra (1982), “Not from Sight Point Road,” Perspecta No.19, The M.I.T Press: America

 

Marcy Marro (2008), Metal Architecture Magazine, Metal Architecture: North America

 

Irene Cheng (2007), “New New Museum”, Frieze Magazine: United Kingdom

 

Herbert Muschamp (2003), “Lunchbox for Art: A New Museum”, The New York Times, New York