Daniela Sirbu, University of Lethbridge, Canada

Architectural Multi-Dimensional Spaces: Digital Exploration of the Unbuilt

Keywords: architecture, Henri Labrouste (1801-75), 3D, digital reconstruction

Introduction

This paper explores antique forms, symbols and other sources of the Beaux-Arts style of nineteenth-century architecture through a digital, three-dimensional cinematic reconstruction of the project Le pont destiné à réunir la France à l’Italie (1829) by the French architect Henri Labrouste (1801-75). The project marks the end of Labrouste’s five years study period in Italy as a Grand Prix winner and as a pensionnaire of the French Academy in Rome.

The digital investigation aims to provide new and unexpected points of view to aid a better understanding of Labrouste’s conception of architecture. This is achieved through reconstructing the graphical reality of the drawing in the 3D world, preserving the architect’s pictorial style of representation. Navigating the 3D world allows the re-creation of the architect’s possible visions and investigates the design process rather than the building as it might have appeared if constructed. Based on the concept of multi-dimensional spaces¹ , the computer representation of the project may provide multiple virtual designs of the bridge. Their coexistence on parallel planes corresponds to possible developments during the design stages.

Fig. 1. Digital reconstruction of the unbuilt project Le pont destiné à réunir la France à l’Italie (1829) of the French architect Henri Labrouste.
A. Perspective view matching the perspective view of the original drawing.
B. Perspective view inspired by Labrouste’s exploratory sketches. Reconstruction by Daniela Sirbu.

Brief Description of the Project

The cinematic exploration of the digital bridge aims to reveal the dynamic inter-relations between classical Antiquity and Labrouste’s means of expression. These unexplored perspectives are intended to provide new grounds for the interpretation of Labrouste’s symbolic statement formulated through the bridge project as rooted in antique symbols, myths and architectural forms.

The first part of the paper investigates the primary and contextual sources² for the project providing the necessary data for the computer reconstruction. The cinematic exploration in the digital realm follows the architect’s idea about the bridge by transposing in filmic terms the dynamics towards a centre of interest as conceived by the architect in the graphical composition.

The metaphor of digital archaeology as used in this paper refers to the preservation of unbuilt architecture and the history of its research and interpretation.

Contextual Information

The interpretation of Labrouste’s project Le pont destiné à réunir la France à l’Italie makes it necessary to position the project in the framework of the Beaux-Arts design theory and its relationships with classical Antiquity. [Ed. note: The theory derived from the teaching of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, established in Paris in 1819, which rejected the classical idiom of its predecessor, the pre-revolutionary Académie Royale d’Architecture (closed down in 1793).]

From its foundation in 1672, ³ the Académie Royale d’Architecture promoted a design theory centred round the idea that “good architecture ... exemplified a beauty of form based on fixed principles of taste.” ⁴ This theory stems from Aristotle’s and the Neo-Platonists’ idealism and continues Plato’s line of thought regarding the primacy of universal ideas over their manifestation as instances in the everyday life. As opposed to Plato’s idea that facts and events are not real, and hence not significant, Aristotle and the Neo-Platonists maintained that ideas are manifested through instances in real life, and their synthesis is possible taking into consideration these particular manifestations. The Académie Royale d’Architecture made a step further in considering that those instances of the ‘universals’ that come closest to the core principles provide models that must be studied and followed. ⁵

Throughout the history of the Académie, a minority of academicians promoted a parallel theory opposing the main Academic theory of design by accepting that architecture must respond to location, materials, and climate.⁶ Labrouste was one of the most significant exponents of this trend at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and went as far as to oppose architecture expressing the qualities of the materials and the methods used for its construction to the Academic idea of abstract composition. This departure from the Academic pre-established principles is clearly presented in Labrouste’s restoration of the Paestum temples through his fourth year envoi (annual project) as a pensionnaire of the French Academy in Rome.⁷ Labrouste’s new interpretation of architecture is rooted in his first-hand research of antique monuments. This direct research allowed him to conclude that the ancients did not repeat ideal forms in their architecture, but rather adapted to location, materials, and technological evolution. The novelty in Labrouste’s thinking derives from the re-evaluation of classical architecture in a framework freed from Academic theoretical mediation.

While the majority of scholarly work addresses Labrouste’s Paestum restoration, the present paper focuses on Labrouste’s fifth year envoi. This was an original project embodying Labrouste’s architectural thinking laid out in symbolic terms and based on artistic means of expression. ⁸

During Labrouste’s stay in Italy, the pensionnaires at the French Academy in Rome demonstrated a clear cohesion around a common approach to architecture. Their systematic research and recording of antique monuments and their analytical and accurate drawing style show a common programme and adherence to common themes of study.⁹ The themes were the temple and the order in 1828, and the arch in 1829. ¹⁰

Labrouste started his fifth year envoi with sketches for the project Imaginary Church ¹¹ and most probably shifted to Pont destiné à réunir la France à l’Italie (1829) in order to adhere to the theme of the arch adopted by the pensionnaires in 1829. The digital exploration of the bridge attempts to reveal how the idea of sacral space from the Imaginary Church project resurfaced in a new form in the bridge project, and that the architect’s symbolic statement was transmitted by performing a ‘rite of passage.’ The paper demonstrates that symbolic meaning is incorporated in the function of passage, giving it primary importance in all aspects of the architectural design.

Interpretation of the Primary Sources

The primary evidence consists of the technical data extracted from the plan, section, and elevation drawings, and from the visual analysis of the graphical representation of the project.¹² While the technical data extracted from the drawings is important for obtaining correct proportional relationships between architectural forms, visual analysis provides information about the dynamics of the graphical composition and about the symbolic meaning of the project. These provide the technical and theoretical foundation at the basis of the 3D reconstruction and cinematic exploration of the bridge.

The Graphical Composition and the Function of Passage

The element that makes architecture unique and distinguishes it from other arts is its functional character. The conception and construction of architecture is geared towards its functional purpose. Considering this and Labrouste’s practical ideas stated in the Paestum temples restoration regarding the need to adapt architecture to purpose, location, and climate, it is obvious that the analysis of the bridge project must relate to the function of passage. In order to understand how Labrouste envisioned his project and to translate his vision in the digital medium, it is necessary to understand from his drawings how the experience of passing over the bridge is expressed in graphical terms.

In Labrouste’s perspective drawing, ¹³ the foreground gate has an important visual weight. The gate is an element of passage and this function is emphasised through the almost empty arch of the gate. The contrast between the linear character of the enclosing form and the roundness of the arched space further strengthens the void’s power of attraction.

The nature of the experience of passage can be further deciphered through the analysis of the compositional lines of force. An underlying grid of repetitive verticals and horizontals is embedded in the outlines of the bridge. The chosen angle of view favours the vertical-horizontal arrangement of the contours. The strong perception of the linear grid is a result of the refined simplicity of the architectural forms. These only show slight deviations from basic geometry. The vertical and horizontal lines create a feeling of stability and solid construction and emphasise the dynamic character of the diagonal line of the road, which becomes the most important line of force in the composition and strongly re-emphasises the function of passage.

One has to look along this diagonal direction in order to distinguish how the symbolic content of the project is articulated through the experience of passage.

Fig. 2. Digital reconstruction of the project Bridge to Unite France and Italy by Henri Labrouste.
Still perspective views from the digital film. Reconstruction by Daniela Sirbu.

While the first gate clearly induces the idea of crossing the bridge, the second gate counteracts that initial impulse. Its arch frames the cippus and together they create a common construction, a vertical plane across the diagonal direction of the road. The visual interplay between the curvilinear opening of the gate and the elongated volume of the cippus interrupts the eye’s movement along the line of the road and the directional impulse becomes of secondary importance. It becomes apparent that the passage over the bridge should be experienced in relation to the stronger visual statement of the cippus-gate construction.

If we imagine the interruption of the visitor’s passage from inside the bridge, we find it in between the two cippi. The exploration of the cippus from within the bridge naturally goes toward the bas-relief decoration, and only a further examination fully reveals the ascending character of the overall form.

The experience of passing over the bridge seems to be related to the cippi both from inside and outside the bridge. In the perspective view, the significance of the cippus is related to the circumscribing arch. This makes the cippus an embodiment of the idea of fertility. From inside the bridge, the perception of the vertical direction induced by the cippus is mediated by the exploration of the decorative bas-relief. In the lateral view, the ascending character of the cippi is fully revealed suggesting a passage with mythical and sacral connotations between the earth and the sky. ¹⁴ The passage, as an action in the physical world, follows the direction of the road. At the intersection between the vertical and horizontal directions of passage, in the centre of the bridge and in between the two cippi, the visitor arrives at a cross point where he or she should come to a stop as suggested in the perspective drawing. Here, the visitor may experience the refined simplicity of the architectural forms from inside the bridge. As the austere decorations discreetly adhere to the surface, the underlying geometric structure is fully revealed, with almost no intermediate coverage. We have the impression that immediate access to some unknown reality is possible. However, the geometric simplicity and its very familiar character give the forms an independent life, one belonging both to the present and the future, but escaping the ephemeral character of the present reality.

The Proportions and Dynamics of the Architectural Forms

The forms of the bridge are not monumental, nor are they so small as to diminish their impact in relation to the viewer. If we imagine the bridge seen from inside, the human size should naturally integrate with the architectural forms. However, the proportioning system is subtly calculated to transport the viewer seamlessly from a familiar space to a world that is out of the human scale.

If we keep in mind the proportional relationships, and imagine that we arrive near one of the gates or at the base of one of the cippi and raise our head, the architectural forms seem to slide out of our human space. We perceive them in relation to the natural elements: the sky, the clouds, the wind, and the shadows thrown by the moving incomprehensible natural elements in continuous change. As we see the gate or the cippus from a low angle and projected against the sky, we can certainly grasp its monumental vitality through the relation established with changeable natural elements. When seen from this angle, the architectural forms and their dialogue with the intangible space of the sky escape beyond the human space. A shift from one space to another can occur through following trajectories suggested by the compositional lines of force.

The Symbolic Closed Space of the Bridge Project

A closer analysis of the side elevation drawing indicates an imaginary closed space, conveyed by the particular shape of the attics which recede towards the external faces of the bridge. These create two symmetrical upwardly-oriented concavities, giving a sense of open space towards the sky. There is also an inside orientation, shown at the end line of the cornice. An imaginary continuation of the indicated direction suggests a closure of the bridge space in the shape of a cupola, seen in the side view section.

The suggested closed cupola and the inner orientation of the bas-reliefs and gate decorations suggest a sacral space, a temple, inside the opened structure of the bridge. ¹⁵

The Cippus, the Arch, and the Gate

When seen from different points of view, the dynamics of the cippi within the overall structure of the bridge can be perceived differently.

The lateral view of the bridge shows a symmetrical arrangement with the boundary stone as the central element. The ascending character of the cippus is further strengthened in opposition to the two semicircular arches, which seem to propel it upwards. This re-states the function of passage in a vertical direction, from the physical world towards the sky. Continuing the line of thought suggested by the hypothesis of an imaginary temple, sacral connotations could be ascribed to this vertical symbolic passage.

The composition in the perspective drawing shows the cippus as part of a more dominant construction formed in association with the gate. The ascending character of the cippus is lost in this construction, while the gate and cippus together suggest that the passer-by should stop his progression across the bridge. The interruption of the passage in the centre of the bridge between the two cippi allows the experience of the sacral space embedded within the bridge structure. It might be the point of revelation in the imaginary temple.

Louise Adams Holland and Joseph Rykwert¹⁶ document the idea of the antique Temple of Janus as having the form of an open passage with two gates, one at the beginning and one at the end of the passage, reminiscent of a typical Roman bridge as well as Labrouste’s bridge. If we interpret Labrouste’s bridge as a Janus temple, then we can interpret the actions suggested by the graphical composition as part of a rite of passage. The central point in this symbolic construction is the altar, in between the two cippi. The vertical dynamics of the cippi suggest transcendence from the real space towards another, ‘higher’ space.

The bridge situated at the frontier between France and Italy is clearly used by Labrouste to delimit physical territories and symbolic spaces.

Considering the essentially open character of the bridge, and the discreet suggestion of an interior space resulting from a closer analysis, it can be assumed that the coexistence of the two spaces in the same architectural structure prefigures the concept of ’transparency’ in Labrouste’s later built work. ¹⁷ David Van Zanten explains that “‘Transparency’ to Nicolle and Labrouste meant the external manifestation of the spiritual contents of the architectural vessel. Their designs are not so much logical as cerebral. In analysing them one is led from the facts of mechanical construction to the images and metaphors of the imaginative mind. The problem was the moment of passage – the entry from the real world into the cerebral illusion.”¹⁸

Fig. 3. Digital reconstruction of the project Bridge to Unite France and Italy of Henri Labrouste. Stills from the digital film.
A. Detail: cippus.
B. Detail of the foreground gate. Computer reconstruction by Daniela Sirbu

The main element unifying the inside and outside spaces in Labrouste’s built work, carrying the idea of ’transparency’ is light. ¹⁹ In the bridge project, the light effects are closely interwoven with the complex projection of various natural elements building together the specific locus of the bridge.

Multi-Dimensional Spaces and Digital Exploration of the Unbuilt

The digital representation of architecture uses computing power to raise the two-dimensional projections to an n-dimensional space based on manipulating the viewer’s perceptual system. Both the original drawing and the computer representation are two-dimensional projections of the multi-dimensional space of the architect’s visions. Various multi-dimensional interpretations could be associated with unbuilt architecture as a basis from where a digital reconstruction can be developed.

A strategy for the digital reconstruction of the unbuilt is introduced by drawing from the multi-dimensional interpretation of architectural space developed by Norberg-Schultz and considering Peter Anders’s approach to the design of cyberspace based on information spatialisation.

The digital reconstruction of the unbuilt aims to create visualisations of architectural space and to make them available for exploration, as it may have appeared to the architect during the design stages. From the perspective of Norberg-Schultz’s theory of space,²⁰ this can be translated as an attempt to simulate in the digital medium the combined action of the system of five spaces. He defines these spaces as pragmatic, perceptual, existential, cognitive and abstract. ²¹

If we consider the particular character of the architect’s visualisations during the design stages, then we have to take into consideration the architect’s visualisations as manifestations of the creative process, an experiment in creating space rather than an experience of being immersed in an imaginary representation recalling something that has been experienced in real life.

Norberg-Schultz defines this ‘created space’ as expressive or artistic, and containing the projection of the inner world of its creator. The focus of my digital reconstruction is on this expressive space. The choice of its dimensions assist the description of its specific features.

Norberg-Schultz defines architectural space as a ’concretisation of the man’s existential space’, that is, as a concretisation of the ’social and cultural totality’ to which man belongs. ²² If we go a step further, we can define the architectural expressive space represented on paper as a concretisation of the architect’s inner way of structuring the world. From this perspective, a digital reconstruction has to be a projection in the computer medium of the architect’s perceptual spaces. That is, a multi-dimensional representation incorporating complex inferences that create the architect’s vision of the project as a result of his existence in the world.

The model proposed by Norberg-Schultz is related to the behavioural models proposed by Piaget and especially by Talcott Parsons.²³ This explains Norberg-Schultz’s clarification of his model as being characterised by “a growing abstraction from pragmatic space at the ’lowest’ level to a logical space at the top, that is, a growing content of information.” ²⁴

Digital reconstruction aims to emulate this behavioural model in an attempt to reach a high informational level following the architect’s process of creating expressive architecture, starting from the pragmatic level of actions generated in the digital realm. Thus, the computer reconstruction first recreates the ‘the pragmatic space’, which consists of re-casting the graphical representation of the project in the 3D space. Taking advantage of the facilities offered by the digital medium, computer animations are used to simulate actions in the virtual space. The virtual interactions generated in the process are used to convey the perceptual, existential and cognitive spaces in the architect’s realm of possible visualisations. Thus, we reach a high level of the cognitive space, with the expressive architectural space as a particular form of cognitive space.

The model of anthropic cyberspace²⁵ defined by Peter Anders can suggest possible strategies for the implementation of the digital reconstruction of the unbuilt. Anders’s approach to the design of virtual environments draws on human experience of space. Anders says: “Space is a medium that lets us communicate with ourselves, our environment, and others. It is a mental image created to manage and organize information. Without it we would not be able to navigate, manipulate or communicate.” ²⁶

From this perspective, the digital reconstruction of an architect’s drawing could be interpreted as a reflection in the digital medium of his way of structuring the world. The complex interaction with virtual architecture, engaging multiple dimensions of communication, can reveal, by experiential means, abstract aspects of the architect’s thinking.

Digital Reconstruction Process

The digital reconstruction resulting from data collection, organisation and interpretation aims to allow viewers to experience the action of passing over the bridge. It follows the dynamics of Labrouste’s graphical composition and synthesises, in a three-dimensional medium, his ideas and the spirit of his experiment. The filmic mode of investigation is preferred over interactive exploration because of the coherent exposition of information.

Digital movement is designed to convey real movement in human space, especially in subjective shots. Where the investigation of virtual architecture assumes impossible standpoints for the human viewer, the movement of the digital camera is based on conventions of representation used in the film industry. These are already natural to the viewer to such a degree as to enable him or her to concentrate on Labrouste’s exploration of space rather than on the digital medium itself.

The exploration of the digital bridge is an experiment shifting between hypermediacy and immediacy, trying to focus the viewer’s attention on exploring the bridge. It is based on the original drawing, while the digital medium of representation becomes an invisible agent to support the experience. ²⁷ This makes the virtual representation a permanent visual citation of Labrouste’s drawings in various changeable contexts. Important shots are staged to recall Labrouste’s frontal, section and elevation drawings as well as views analysed by him through exploratory sketches for the project. The entire digital investigation of the bridge is intended to remind us, at all times, of the graphic style, symbolic content and specific atmosphere as conveyed by Labrouste. It also extends the spatial illusion by representing the bridge from points of view never shown directly by the architect.

The sense of immediacy comes from using the traditional techniques of art and film to suggest linear and aerial perspective and the pictorial continuity of moving images. The naturer of hypermediacy stems from the mediation of the traditional representation by the computer medium and from enriching the experiment in ways not possible by the use of the traditional media alone.

This paper supports the idea that important common characteristics of digital and traditional representations are derived from their two-dimensional output. The principles of visual manipulation are basically the same. However, the media used to generate these outputs are different and the analysis of how the digital medium shapes the virtual representation of Labrouste’s bridge allows us to evaluate the approximations introduced.

Conclusion

This paper proposes the use of an architect’s drawing as a basis for the digital re-creation of unbuilt architectural projects, with the intention to promote research into the architect’s design process. It supports the creation of parallel multi-dimensional worlds stemming from the architect’s drawing. This allows the ’graphic reality’ of the architect’s representation to be transformed into digital spatial environments, adding new avenues of critical thinking to traditional architectural exploration.

Since multimedia can facilitate access to a large amount of information, it will encourage further experimentation of the never actualised worlds projected in conventional drawing by architects. The information in digital space is easily available to researchers, allowing them more time for interpretation. In future, such digital representations could make the work of important architects accessible to the public at large.

The metaphor of digital archaeology is concerned with preserving the unbuilt and the history of its research and interpretation. Research in the area of real-time navigation, virtual reality and artificial life provides a great amount of information gathered and interpreted as a collective effort.

November 2003

Notes

1. The concept of multidimensional spaces is explained later in this paper and in Sirbu, D. , ‘Digital Exploration of Unbuilt Architecture: A Non-Photorealistic Approach’, Klinger, K. R. (ed.), Connecting: Crossroads of Digital Discourse, ACADIA 2003 Conference Proceedings, Indianapolis, CA USA, October 2002, pp. 234-245.

2. In the present paper, primary sources for past architecture are considered: the preserved built work, in the form of ruins or entire buildings, and design documents. The information regarding the architect and the epoch when the building was constructed, including visual representations from sources other than the original design, defines the contextual information.

3. Drew Egbert, D. , (ed. by Van Zanten, D.), The Beaux-Arts Tradition in French Architecture, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,1980. See the first chapter for more information about the foundation of the Académie Royale d’Architecture.

4. Drew Egbert, D. , (ed. by Van Zanten, D.), The Beaux-Arts Tradition in French Architecture, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,1980, p. 99.

5. Drew Egbert, D. , (ed. by Van Zanten, D.), The Beaux-Arts Tradition in French Architecture, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,1980, p. 100.

6. Drew Egbert, D. , (ed. by Van Zanten, D.), The Beaux-Arts Tradition in French Architecture, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,1980, p. 115f.

7. Levine, N., Architectural Reasoning in the Age of Positivism: The Néo-Grec Idea of Henri Labrouste’s Bibliothèque de Sainte-Geneviève, Yale University, Ph. D. thesis, vol. 3. 1975, pp. 780-844.

8. For the fifth-year envoi the Academy required the student to produce an original composition incorporating the experience he drew from the study of antique remains during his previous four years in Rome and an ability to adapt to the construction demands of the modern French society. This must be understood in the specific context implied by the Academy, which is that of an ahistorical continuity of the classic ideal. Labrouste’s project Pont destiné à réunir la France à l’Italie is analysed in depth as a fifth year envoi by Neil Levine in ’The Romantic Idea of Architectural Legibility: Henri Labrouste and the Neo-Grec’, Drexler, A. (ed.), The Architecture of the École des Beaux-Arts, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1977, pp. 365-66.

9. In his book: Les Vaudoyer: Une dynastie d'architect, Les Dossiers du Musée d'Orsay, Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1991, p. 76f, Barry Begdoll shows how the pensionnaires, ‘led, it seems, by Labrouste,’ developed a drawing technique ‘with lines that seemed ruled and self-consciously precise, as to emphasize a heightened objectivity.’ Léon Vaudoyer in the correspondence with his father, stated that it was a conscious change in style as they saw their drawing technique as a method of research and recording monuments. When the drawings were not meant to serve the restoration of an antique monument, but to document an original project, the preciseness of the drawings was maintained in great degree due to technical requirements. These were of extreme importance in Labrouste's thinking about architecture: the constructive requirements has to be considered first, and only then could the architect think about the artistic side of the project art which was meant to ‘embellish’ it (see Levine, N., ’The Romantic Idea of Architectural Legibility: Henri Labrouste and the Neo-Grec’, pp. 325-60). Labrouste later repeatedly stated this principle to the students in his atelier. Bergdoll, B., Leon Vaudoyer: Historicism in the Age of industry, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1994, p. 363.

10. Bergdoll, B., Leon Vaudoyer: Historicism in the Age of industry, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1994, pp. 75-86.

11. Projects for Imaginary Church appear in Neil Levine’s study Architectural Reasoning in the Age of Positivism: The Néo-Grec Idea of Henri Labrouste’s Bibliothèque de Sainte-Geneviève, Yale University, Ph. D. thesis, vol. 1. 1975, p. 56.

12. The material available for the digital reconstruction consists of six black and white photographs showing section, elevation and perspective drawings (Plates 38-40). These provide measurements which describe the bridge accurately in technical terms.

13. In the present analysis any reference to Labrouste’s drawing indicates the perspective drawing unless otherwise indicated. Fig. 1.A. provides a digital reconstruction closely matching the view in the original perspective drawing.

14. Here I use Christian Norbert-Schultz’s theoretical interpretation of the elements of existential and architectural spaces. Architectural space is understood as a concretisation of the existential space. Norbert-Schultz defines the ‘existential space as a relatively stable system of perceptual schemata, or ‘image’ of the environment,’ comprising the social and cultural totality that is mostly common to all of us. The existential space is only one of the six major components of the system of spaces that interrelate within the complex concept of spaces. Norbert-Schultz interprets direction as an element of the existential space. Regarding the sacral connotation attributed to the ascending direction induced by the cippi element in the bridge project, consideration was given to Norbert-Schultz’s assumption that the vertical “has always been regarded as the sacred dimension of space. It represents a ‘path’ towards a reality which may be ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ than daily life, a reality which conquers gravity, that is earthly existence, or succumbs to it. See Norbert-Schultz, C., Existence, Space and Architecture, New York: Praeger Paperbacks, 1971.

15. The idea that Labrouste tried to suggest an interior space for the bridge, including the observations regarding the inner orientation of the gates and cippi decorations, as well as the suggestion of an imaginary cupola, are developed by Neil Levine in his analysis of the bridge project, ‘The Romantic Idea of Architectural Legibility: Henri Labrouste and the Neo-Grec, Drexler, A. (ed.), The Architecture of the École des Beaux-Arts, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1977, pp. 325-416.

16. Rykwert says: ‘Janus was worshipped in one of the most ancient Roman temples reputed by some to have been built before the union between the Romans and Sabines. It was in the forms of a passage between two parallel walls, with arched gates at either end ... . See Rykwert, J., The Idea of a Town. The Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy and the Ancient World, p. 137.

17. Van Zanten, D., Designing Paris, pp. 236-250.

18. Van Zanten, D., Designing Paris, pp. 235f.

19. Van Zanten, D., The Architecture of Duban, Labrouste, Duc, and Vaudoyer, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1987, pp. 236-250. The same idea is extensively developed as it applies to the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève by Neil Levine in his Ph.D. dissertation Architectural Reasoning in the Age of Positivism: The Neo-Grec Idea of Henri Labrouste's Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève. Ph.D. Thesis. Yale University, 1975.

20. Norberg-Schultz, C., Existence, Space and Architecture, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1971.

21. Norberg-Schultz, C., Existence, Space and Architecture, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1971.

22. Norberg-Schultz, C., Existence, Space and Architecture, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1971, p. 11f.

23. Norberg-Schultz, C., Existence, Space and Architecture, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1971. The author acknowledges that his model is related to “Talcott Parson’s ‘System of Action’ (Societies p. 28). His system is divided into four subsystems which form ‘environments’ to each other: the behavioural organism, the personality system, the social system and the cultural system.”

24. Norberg-Schultz, C., Existence, Space and Architecture, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1971.

25. Anders, P., Envisioning Cyberspace. Designing 3D Electronic Spaces, New York: McGraw Hill Companies, Inc., pp. 9-16.

26. Anders, P., Envisioning Cyberspace. Designing 3D Electronic Spaces, New York: McGraw Hill Companies, Inc., p. 17.

27. The term remediation is used here as defined by Bolton, Jay David, and Richard Grusin. Remediation. Understanding New Media, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1999, pp. 20-24.

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