Anti gravity

1. Against
Gravity
Towards
Freedom
Architecture of a “lightness of being”
From the book “The Unbearable Lightness Of Being”

2. Body against
Gravity
– The evolution of ape to
homosepian
– The fight against gravity to stand
upright
– To stand out and be closer to the
sky
www.portal.gsi.gov.in%2Fpls%2Fportal%2Furl%2Fpage%2FGSI_STATIC%2FGSI_STAT_GEOLOGY_LIFE_AGES

3. Aztec National
Monument
– William N. Morgan's plan drawing in his
Ancient Architecture of the Southwest,
University of Texas, Austin, 1994
http://www.dennisrhollowayarchitect.com/aztec.html

4. Historical Dictionary
of Architecture
– The earliest know architecture in human history is found
in the prehistoric period, it dates back from around
40,000 BC to around 7000 BC. While earlier humans lived
in Africa and Asia, the receding Ice Age and the extensive
climate changes that occurred in Europe during these
years set the stage for dramatic changes in the life, which
allowed for a more settled lifestyle and more extensive
forms of shelter
– Early architecture is difficult to reconstruct because most
structures were created using fibrous materials that decay
over time. Instead of inventing architecture, early human
gradually began to define and structure their environment
to help them better understand their place in the world.
Adapted from Historical Dictionary of Architecture By Allison
Lee Palmer
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/fa267.html

5. THE ANCIENT
ARCHITECTURE
– Humans made tools of bones and antler craved with
the images of animals and other organic forms, while
also painting images of hunting scenes on the internal
walls of caves. Such images not only reveal a socially
organized society, but one demonstrates the earliest
form of an aesthetic context in such creation. That
aesthetic quality can also be found in the earliest
know shelters.
– These structures are typically oval huts made of
braches, animal hides, or even bones, with a hearth in
the center.
Adapted from Historical Dictionary of Architecture By
Allison Lee Palmer
https://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/test-1/deck/12733

6. The heritage of the Orkney
islands, Skara Brae
– Skara Brae was continually inhabited for at least 600 years — over which time
there appear to have been two distinctive stages of construction.
– Dating from around 3000BC, the earliest houses in the village were circular —
made up of one main room, containing a central hearth, with beds set into the
walls at either side. Opposite the main entrance was a shelved stone dresser - a
piece of Stone Age furniture that has come to represent Skara Brae.
– The houses were not sunk into the ground but built into mounds of pre-existing
rubbish, known as "midden".
– A remarkably sophisticated drainage system was incorporated into the village's
design — which may have included an early form of toilet facilities.
– These were the first signs of building that were trying to defy gravity, as they are
made of layers of flat stones stacked up without mortar but layered to slope
inward slightly, thus the walls rise up and come together graadually.
http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/skarab1.htm

7. Nagarjuna
Caves
– Ascend to the caves
– Of walls and excavations
– Works with gravity
https://www.google.com.sg

8. Stonehenge- the
first attempt at
anti-gravity
– Stonehenge is a megalithic monument
on the Salisbury Plain in Southern
England, composed mainly of thirty
upright stones ,aligned in a circle, with
thirty lintels perched horizontally atop
the sarsens in a continuous circle.
– Stonehenge is angled such that on the
equinoxes and the solstices, the sun
rising over the horizon appears to be
perfectly placed between gaps in the
megaliths. This is doubtless not an
accident, but it’s a temple to frame
cosmic forces-the rising sun as god who
brings warmth, comfort.
http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Stonehenge.html/cid_1160197191_Stonehenge_03.html

9. http://www.gotostonehenge.com

10. Stonehenge- the first
attempt at anti-gravity
– Gerald Hawkins, a Professor of Astronomy, concluded that Stonehenge
was a sophisticated astronomical observatory designed to predict
eclipses. The positioning of the stones provides a wealth of
information, as does the choice of the site itself. If you can see the
alignment, general relationship, and the use of these stones then you
will know the reason for the construction. The movement of stones
once each year from an initial fixed position allows to predict
accurately every important lunar event for hundreds of years.
– Much have been written about the stonehenge’s wonder mainly about
the logistics of bringing these large stones to this region and of
England, as well as the mathematical precision needed to calculate the
exact da of the summer solstice, the morning in which the sun rises
directly over the heel stone, as can be see from the centre of the
horseshoe.
http://www.gotostonehenge.com

11. Ancient Egyptian
Pyramids
– The ancient Egyptian pyramids is a tribute to
the Sun God Ra as all pyramids are build on
the west bank of the Nile River, where the sun
sets
– The triangular tip of the pyramid points
towards the sky, a symbol of the soul of the
dead ascending towards heaven, into the after
life.
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/ancient-art/egyptian-pyramids-architecture.htm#history

12. Ancient Egyptian
Pyramids
– Egyptians had built their version of towers
that reach for the heavens and defies gravity
– A pyramid's design, with the majority of its
weight closer to the ground gives the
civilizations the ability to create stable
monumental structures
– Pyramids have been built by many civilizations
all over the world and for thousands of years
they remain the largest structures on earth
– Pyramids are shaped as a reference to the
rays of sun and have polished, highly
reflective surface, in order to give them a
shiny appearance when view from a distant
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/ancient-art/egyptian-pyramids-architecture.htm#history

13. Tower of Babel,
Biblical anti
– These rocks structures were the start if humanity’s journey to
having buildings that defies gravity
– The first buildings to attempt this, is a tower built within the city
of babel, one that was tall enough to reach the heavens
– Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and
settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks
and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and
tar for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city,
and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for
ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole
earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower
which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Indeed the
people are one and they all have one language, and this is what
they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be
withheld from them. — Genesis 11:4–9[10]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel

14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel

15. Great Mosque of Samarra
- Islamic anti gravit
– The Great Mosque of Samarra is located in Samarra city, in Iraq, about
120 km north of Baghdad, on the banks of river Tigris. It was built in
the 9th century, it remained the largest mosque in the world for the
next 400 years before it was destroyed by the armies of the Mongol
ruler Hulagu Khan during the invasion of Iraq in the year 1278.
– 27 meters from the center of the mosque's north face stands the
Malwiya Tower with its vast spiraling cone 52 meters high and 33
meters wide at the base. At the top of the tower rests a round
vestibule, which is adorned with eight pointed-arched niches.
http://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/08/the-great-mosque-of-samarra.html

16. http://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/08/the-great-mosque-of-samarra.html

17. The Erechtheion, Athens –
Classical Anti Gravity
– Caryatid is the name given to an architectural
column which takes the form of a standing
female figure. The first examples come from
ancient Greek architecture and indeed, the
most celebrated examples are found in the
south porch of the Erechtheion on the
acropolis of Athens.
– In classical architecture, Caryatid are used
instead of a column as a support.
http://www.ancient.eu/Caryatid/

18. Temple of Hera,
Selinus
– Greek temples, at least on the mainland,
followed a remarkably similar plan and
almost all were rectangular and peripteral,
that is their exterior sides and façades
consisted of rows of columns.
– However, one can almost feel the
frustration of the Pre-Poman architects
when it comes to the painfully small
distances they were able to span using
columns
– Before the discover of roman arch, there
were almost no way of suppressing the true
weight of gravity
Adapted from the article “Growing Wings”
https://thelyingtruthofarchitecture.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/growing-wings/

19. Arch of Constantine,
(A.d. 312) – Roman
Anti Gravity
– The discovery of arch allowed
spaces to free up considerably
and soar to the sky, making one
almost forget for a second that
they were enveloped in a closed
space with the weight of gravity
bearing down on it. Still, columns
and supports for these remained
frequent and thick allowing most
of the freedom to happen only in
the ceiling.
Adapted from the article “Growing
Wings”
https://global.britannica.com/technology/arch-architecture

20. Sainte-Geneviève
Library, Paris –
Gothic Anti Gravity
– It was with Gothic Architecture that architects
started seriously doing aesthetic tricks to
suppress the oppressive nature of gravity in order
that ones spirit could commune with heaven
unencumbered.
– The introduction of the ribbed vault allows bays
to be of shapes other than square.
– The introduction of the flying buttress freed up
wall space considerably allowing a marked
increase of glass surfaces on exterior walls. These
devices allowed the buildings to positively soar,
defying gravity with every fiber, but the most
important development in helping gravity
dissolve was the way that the architectural
elements were articulated.
Adapted from the article “Growing Wings”
https://global.britannica.com/technology/arch-architecture

21. https://arthistoryleavingcert.com/gothic/

22. https://arthistoryleavingcert.com/gothic/

23. https://arthistoryleavingcert.com/gothic/

24. Villa d'Este, Rome –
Curtailment of anti
gravity
– The Renaissance is a period in European history,
from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as
the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and
modern history.
– The Renaissance temporarily put an end to this
flouting of gravity. The focus shifted away from
the organic progress of architecture and more
towards a fixation with reigniting the decorum
and tradition of the Roman Empire; an
architecture whose rhetoric is decidedly more
grounded.
Adapted from the article “Growing Wings”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance

25. Eiffel Tower, Paris
– The emergence in the 19th Century of the
Industrial Revolution and its new materials
and methods, allowed for architects who were
sick of neo-classical obsessions to once again
play games with gravity.
– One such example is the explorations of
Viollet Le Duc as well as the bold form of the
Eiffel Tower show architecture soaring again in
the face of gravity.
Adapted from the article “Growing Wings”
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/world-famous-steel-structure-alma-wang

26. The Evolution Of Anti-
Gravity
– As the world advance, technology has helped architecture
– It’s development has help by changing from using cement and rock
like material to metal
– Making the building lighter while defying gravity
http://www.thousandwonders.net/Empire+State+Building

27. The Paradoxical
Ideation
– This is the paradox of the architect: to design
within gravity, to create buildings that
reassure the inhabitants that they will not
topple and crush them
– Yet at the same time to design against gravity
so that the inhabitants do not feel stifled by
the constant force that keep them grounded
as depicted by morden dance
http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/modern-Dance-coleges

28. The Unbearable
Lightness of Being
– In this modern novel, the artist, Sabina lives her life as an
extreme example of lightness, taking matters with ease and
flexibility. She declares war on kitsch and struggle against
the constraints imposed by her puritan ancestry and
oppressive political system, under which she was brought
up. Her pursuit of freedom leads her to complete isolation
and freedom in America. She expresses her desire to be
cremated and thrown in the winds after death: a last symbol
of eternal lightness as opposed to the prevail idea of burial.
Character Analysis of THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING by Milan Kundera
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/unbearablelightness/canalysis.html

29. René François Ghislain
Magritte ( 21 Nov 1898 – 15
Aug 1967), Belgian surrealist
artist
– He became well known for a number of witty
and thought-provoking images. Often
depicting ordinary objects in an unusual
context, his work is known for challenging
observers' preconditioned perceptions of
reality
– His painting gave a sense of freedom with
objects and people floating, like floating in
space where space is infinite
Golconda, 1953
Time Transfixed, 1938
http://www.renemagritte.org

30. The Castle of the Pyrenees, 1959
‘Art evokes the mystery
without which the world
would not exist.'
- Rene Magritte
The Pilgrim, 1966
http://www.renemagritte.org/the-pilgrim.jsp

31. – Gravity is rational and aesthetic
anti-gravity is purely spiritual
perhaps as exemplified in the
novel by one’s ashes flying in the
air. Analogically, Maritts’ flying
men illustrates just that. While
the rationalist deals with the
physical well being of a buildings
inhabitants, the spiritualist deals
with their mental well being,
insuring their sanity and the
sense of freedom-through
lightness of being.

32. Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la
Sagrada Família, Barcelona
– Gaudi may have not used modern industrial technology to give the
illusion that his Sagrada Familia Cathedral is floating, he merely
reintroduced and refined many of the aesthetic tricks used in Gothic
Architecture to create a building that looks as if it is being pulled
upward rather than the opposite. The cathedral looks like an upside
down melted wax candle creating a gravity that is revered.
Adapted from the article “Growing Wings”
https://thelyingtruthofarchitecture.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/growing-wings/

33. Rediscovering
Anti Gravity
– Modern Architects have one
major force they tend to fight.
While gravity beings a certain
level of comfort, and stability, it
is still very much grounded: this
force is the new idea of
aesthetic gravity
https://thelyingtruthofarchitecture.wordpress.com/page/5/

34. Anti Gravity is about
weightless so less is about
more – in space

35. Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe - Mar
27, 1886 – Aug 17, 1969
– Mies Van Der Rohe explored the idea of floating architecture mostly
beginning with the Barcelona Pavilion. Of his unbuilt work, the 50 X 50
house boldly utilized only four slender columns at the midpoints of the
perimeter to hold the roof up. These complex cantilevers gave the
impression of flotation. His floating aesthetic culminated with the
Berlin National Gallery where 8 columns are separated from the edges
and brought in to about the 1/3 points on any given facade plane. The
columns are tapered and end with a shrunken capital, almost the
inverse of traditional Greek column anatomy. The effect is stunning,
creating the illusion that the roof is hovering and the columns are
merely pinning it down. It is amazing how just a few aesthetic devices
can break the psychic bonds of gravity.
Adapted from the article “Growing Wings”
50 X 50 House (Half Scale Display)
Berlin National Gallery
https://thelyingtruthofarchitecture.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/growing-wings/

36. A 50 x 50 House for Mass
Production (1951): An Unbuilt
Project By L. Mies Van Der Rohe
– A building of only four thin
exterior columns that would carry
the weight of a huge flat roof.
Making it a cantilevering plane of
anti gravity
– The columns makes the midpoint
of the house with its corners
being windowed with glass
– This gives an idea of the whole
building being supported without
columns
Adapted from the article “A 50 x 50 House for Mass Production
(1951): An Unbuilt Project By L. Mies Van Der Rohe”
http://socks-studio.com/2013/11/23/a-50-x-50-house-for-mass-production-1951-an-unbuilt-project-by-l-mies-van-der-rohe/

37. – In 2009, the artist Iñigo Manglano-
Ovallé constructed a half-scale
version of the house in which the
floor and ceiling were reversed at
the Massachusetts Museum of
Contemporary Art.
– It gave an impression of a floating
plane elevated from the ground,
making it seem like the whole
house is floating and is about fly
like a space ship.
http://socks-studio.com/2013/11/23/a-50-x-50-house-for-mass-production-1951-an-unbuilt-project-by-l-mies-van-der-rohe/

38. Farnsworth House -
Ludwig Mies Van Der
Rohe, 1951
– Elevated from the floor.
– The house has a huge column
supporting the the roof while
many thin columns supports the
rest of the weight of the
building
https://planyourcity.net/2013/10/29/the-farnsworth-house/

40. Berlin National
Gallery - Ludwig
Mies Van Der Rohe
– The roof seems like it’s hovering
with its columns placed far
apart from one another,
creating more open spaces
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gallery_(Berlin)

41. Barcelona Pavilion, by
Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe
– Ludwig explored the idea of
floating planes in the design of
Barcelona Pavilion
https://thelyingtruthofarchitecture.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/growing-wings/

42. Le Corbusier - Oct 6,
1887 – Aug 27, 1965
– Le Corbusier innovated the Domino
system of building.
– With this system columns separated
from facades allowing anti-gravity tricks
such as ribbon windows to create the
illusion of floating architecture.
– Columns are placed within the building
rather than leaving them exposed
– Erich Mendelsohn used this trick to
good effect on his Schocken storefronts
Adapted from the article “Growing Wings”

43. Schocken
Department
Store, Stuttgart
- Erich
Mendelsohn

44. Le Corbusier
- Villa Savoye
– Rows and layers of the windows and
walls create an accessible façade
– Forms a kind of levitating illusion that
is being supported by just the thin
columns
– Makes everything that is supported
by it seem like as if it floating
– The structure that are shown outside
can be of any shapes and forms
because it’s being supported by
columns inside
https://utopiadystopiawwi.wordpress.com/purism/le-corbusier/villa-savoye/

45. Ronchamp by Le
Corbusier
– The most striking part of Ronchamp is the curved roof
that peels up towards the heavens. The curving roof
appears to float above the building as it is supported
by embedded columns in the walls, which creates a 10
cm gap between the roof and the walls, which allow
for a sliver of clerestory light. The roof is actually the
only glimpse of mechanized influence in the overall
design of Ronchamp; the roof’s curvature mimics the
curves of an airplane wing. It’s aerodynamic in design
and in all of its massive and heavy qualities it still
appears weightless. Giving the whole building the idea
of anti-gravity.
Adapted from the article “AD Classics: Ronchamp / Le Corbusier”
http://www.archdaily.com/84988/ad-classics-ronchamp-le-corbusier

46. – Tiny little columns at the top of the wall are
the ones supporting the ceiling
– In the day, natural light enters the chapel,
showing shapes and lines. The gap between
the ceiling and the wall that allows natural
light in gives the user a feeling like as if the
building is going upwards or floating up.
Ronchamp by Le
Corbusier
http://www.archdaily.com/84988/ad-classics-ronchamp-le-corbusier

47. Frank Lloyd Wright -
Jun 8, 1867 – Apr 9,
1959
– Frank Lloyd Wright created a
whole vocabulary on the
defiance of gravity. His
perfection of the cantilever
literally allowed for certain
parts of his structures to float.
Also the way he articulated
corners etc. were all put into
place in order to keep his
buildings soaring.
Adapted from the article “Growing Wings”
https://thelyingtruthofarchitecture.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/growing-wings/

48. Falling Water by Frank
Lloyd Wright
– Floating planes over planes that are
cantilevered over a water fall
– The idea of anti gravity with the many level of
planes on top of one another and supported
by columns within the building but not shown
outside
https://thelyingtruthofarchitecture.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/growing-wings/

49. “Towards a Plastic
Architecture” (1924)
– 1. The new architecture is elementary, that is, it is developed
from the elements of building, in the widest sense. These
elements, such as function, mass, plane, time, space, light, color,
material, etc., are at the same time elements of plasticism.
– 2. The new architecture is formless and yet determinate, i.e., it
does not recognize any preconceived formal frame-work; any
mould in which are cast the functional spaces arising from
practical dwelling requirements. In contrast with all previous
styles, the new architectural method does not recognize any self-
contained type, any basic form. The subdivision of the functional
spaces is strictly determined by rectangular planes, which possess
no individual forms in themselves, since, although they are limited
(the one plane by the other), they can be imagined extended into
infinity, thereby forming a system of coordinates, the different
points of which would correspond to an equal number of points in
universal, open space. From this it follows that the planes possess
a direct tensile relationship with open (exterior) space.
Adapted from the article “Theo van Doesburg’s “Towards a Plastic Architecture” (1924)”
https://modernistarchitecture.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/theo-van-doesburg’s-“towards-a-plastic-architecture”-1924/

50. “Towards a Plastic
Architecture” (1924)
– 3.The new architecture does not recognize a single passive moment. It has conquered the opening (in the
wall). The window possesses an active significance as openness in opposition to the closed character of the
wall plane. Nowhere does there appear simply a hole or a void, everything is strictly determined by its
contrast. (Compare the various counter-constructions in which the elements comprising architecture —
plane, line and mass — have been placed loosely in a three-dimensional relationship.)
– 4. The plan. The new architecture has disrupted the wall and, in so doing, destroyed the division between
inside and outside.
– Walls are no longer load-bearing; they have been reduced to points of support. As a result, a new open plan
has been created, differing completely from the Classical plan in that internal and external space are
interpenetrating.
– 5. The new architecture is open. The whole consists of a single space, which is subdivided according to
functional requirements. This subdivision is effected by means of separating planes (interior) or sheltering
planes (exterior).
– 6.The new architecture is anti-cubic, i.e., it does not strive to contain the different functional space cells in a
single closed cube, in this way architecture acquires a more or less floating aspect which, so to speak, runs
counter to the natural force of gravity.
– 7. In contrast to the frontality sanctified by a rigid static concept of life, the new architecture offers a plastic
wealth of multi-faceted temporal and spatial effects.
Adapted from the article “Theo van Doesburg’s “Towards a Plastic Architecture” (1924)”
https://modernistarchitecture.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/theo-van-doesburg’s-“towards-a-plastic-architecture”-1924/

51. Renzo Piano –
Sep 14, 1937
till present
– Architects have one major foe
they tend to fight, even if at the
same time they embrace
because of the level of comfort it
brings them: this foe is gravity,
and since the beginning
architects have done everything
in their power to pull out every
magic trick available to suppress
its oppressive pervasiveness.
https://thelyingtruthofarchitecture.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/growing-wings/

52. The Modern Wing
by Renzo Piano
– A current and successful building that
utilizes many of these same tricks can
be seen in the New Modern Art Wing in
Chicago by Renzo Piano. The louvered
and articulated roof hovers over the
main building and is held down by
dramatically slim columns that taper at
both the capital and the base. With their
proportions, it is difficult to believe they
are doing any work at all. The effective
use of cantilevers, proportioning,
structural disconnection from the
facade and many other tricks, all
contributed in the architect’s quest to
break the oppressive pull of gravity.
Adapted from the article “Growing Wings”
https://thelyingtruthofarchitecture.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/growing-wings/

53. The Modern Wing by
Renzo Piano
– The roof is held by many slim columns, giving
an impression that the whole building feels
”light” as if weightless
– Does the aesthetics of anti-gravity serve any
rational purpose? Making a structure that
need no embellishment to help it withstand
gravity will by its very nature be lighter. It will
fulfill the ultimate rationalist benchmark. The
closer one comes to floating, the closer one
comes to perfection.
http://www.rpbw.com/project/74/chicago-art-institute-the-modern-wing/#

54. – The building’s roof consist of
two layers of glass and the space
in between gives an impression
of another floating layer above
the ceiling that casts shadows in
the day. A phenomenal
transparency can be experienced

55. Now in all reality a building that floats is not rational for all programs. A hospital or a
prison most definitely would not want to adopt the aesthetics of anti-gravity for
practical and rhetorical reasons. There is a time and place for the expression of
flotation in architecture. - Adapted from the article “Growing Wings”