The borderlands : between architecture and music

              NEXUS CHNHRIRS
The (eriTi "architecture" has been
iiilerpreted by certain scientific
disciphnes to define that which goes
beyond commonplace structure. It has
been susgested, that "architecture has
its final niinietic 'ratio' in rodent
excavations, in complex ant's
constructions or in honeycombs and
n e s t s / ' l However, it is with reference to
the aloni of a solid, that we usually
speak üí the molecular structure of
architecture. Yet, the architectonic
qualification hes precisely in whether we
can conceive of a space as habitable. To
"inhabit" consists in developing habitual
actions and wavs of living. Therefore,
"inliabitation"' reqinres a space, even an
eiivironnient - bounded, liniited -
because to "inhabit" soniething i-equires
that it possess a dimensión; the
dimensión of "inhabiting."
If this is the case, however, we can
The Borderlands:
Between
Architecture
and Music
not attribute the possibility of creating
the conditions necessary to genérate
"liabit", exclusively to arcliitecture.
Music is also able to "envelop' us. Thus.,
one way to establish a link between
music and architecture, lies precisely in
the idea of habitat, because music loo
creates habit, that is, gives shape to a
space that must be habitual and
habitable. This suggests a primary
difference between, on the one hand,
music and/or architecture (both of
which establish themselves in an
environment); and, on the other, other
figurative iconic art forms. As Eugenio
Trias States in his book "La Lógica del
Límite" (The Logic of Limits), "it is
[music's] destiny and vocation to créate
a meclianism of sound, time and space."
We thus come to understand that
music's primary function is to inhabit
the ear, that place where, according to
legend, Tom Thumb dwelt; that tiny
spiral which harks back to the intimate
immensitv insitic the architectiu'e of the
snaÜ's shell, the swirling forin ol wliicli
resembles the flowing of the wind within
lile trunipet. the verv forui tliat allows it
to produce ils characteristic soimd.
For all this, music has always
taken the flowing of water anfi wind as
its paradigm. Scluibert cuinpai'ed intisic
l^roveclo 1')')(). Autores: ,l..l. Espino Diiián y
M..l' Feo Ojedii.
^W CÍNIPOlllíNTlCODf *WE MOOf'NO
with the brook. the arclietvpe of tlie
musical flow. However, if we stiidv tlie
conventional carTographv of a river. we
notice that it is traditionallv represented
as a liiie. Similarlv. in the grapliic
documeiitatioii of architectural
construction. iii the bhtepririt of
architecture. walls are represented as
hiies, But, the existeiice of another series
of siilijective cartographies. leads us to
uiiderstand the journev as the basis for
the writing of coiiiplex planiíiietric
siirveviiig: here. arehitectttre is defined
as a space thougfit oiit for moveinent.
for the ílow of its inhabitants. We can go
eveii fiirtlier to siiggest that architecture.
like the city, is ruled by laws which
bring it closer to a state of fliiidity thaii
of soHdity.
Tfie roots of the archaeological
vocation wfíicft architecture and miisic
sitare, are to be fotind in the nivth of
the eabin. with its condition of mobilitv
and its provisional natiire, both of which
are in opposition to soliditv. The citv s
cores niove aboiit according to the socio-econoniic
conditions which control the
lile of the metrópolis. Places which were
once centers. are now fringes, and vice
versa. This process has involved complex
iirban rehabilitation in the fortn of
conversión projects and the re-iise of
outmoded áreas which were longer able
to serve the needs of the contemporarv
citv. Herein lies a fhiiditv that is shared
with mnsic. a fliiidity suggested by the
many terms shared by descriptions of
architecture and music: composition.
harmonv. key, measure. beat, t(mality.
texture, lines. point, counterpoint,
chromatism. scale. proportion, interval,
sonoritv, vibration, noise, silence, order,
time, rhvthin, flow. entrance, leitmotif,
planes, instruments. passages, length.
height, depth, resolution of continuitv,
figures, numbers, mathematics. formula,
división, fraction, modulation, series,
concomitance, serialism. what is
ascending and descending, repetition,
fugtie, variation, etc. These
commonalties might well be understood
to suggest that the architect approaches
his project in rnuch the same way as the
composer.
The continuitv of existing spaces
in Mies van der Rohe's Brick House, or
the parallelism established between
those who descend the spiral stairway
and those who descend the ramp in Le
Corbusier s Ville Savove, speak of the
effort which architects put into
developiíig projects on different levéis
with different functions. This creation of
parallel strtictures at different levéis is
to be found equally in the several planes
of sound and melodic counterpoint lines
in musical compositions. Perhaps the
idea of the continuitv of space is best
illuslrated by the flowing passages of
Frank Llovd Wrights Guggenheim
Miiseum in New York, passages inspired
by Bramantes helicoidal stairweil at the
entrance of the Vatican Museums. In
this architecture, we discern the snails
shell, the channels of the ear and the
swirling form of the trumpet. its musical
fluidity originates in the seed-shaped
fountain which, hke SuUivan's seed,
marks the beginning of a jouniey. a
journey which draws to its cióse in the
splendid skylight which covers and
illuminates this impressive work. with its
quality of sound-time-space.
In their design for a building
which houses a Teaching Center,
Cañarían architects Juan José Espino
Duran and Manuel Feo Ojeda have
explored this borderland between music
and architecture. The result is an
architectural piece and a musical piece
which bear interest in the implied
lingtiistic convergence of these two
artistic disciplines. The building is
located on the university cainpus at La
Laguna (Tenerife, Ganarv Islands). The
musical piece has been reduced to the
rhythm of a quartet for flute, piano,
violin and cello, in which the motif of a
more complex score is configured. As
one listens to this music, it becomes
evident that no melodic line has been
left to chance. However, the final
composition is not the result of having
obser\'ed and moved an architectural
piclure to a pentagram which is
subsequently harmonized (as Heitor
Villa-Lobos did witli his profile of San
Francisco), ñor is it a musical diversión
which takes certain signs as its theme
(as did Ravel in his exploration of the
letters in Haydn's ñame). Rather, the
architects have sought the existing
spaces which architecture and music
share. To do so, they have used the signs
of a common linguistic systein, ever
mindful that the building not only
contains currents of movement, but is
itself externally shaped as a result of
these internal flows.
The building is elevated on pillars,
and only touches the ground through a
narrow body which stems from the sixth
facade and is reminiscent of an aniínals
bellv, and which provides access from
the apartments to the interior passage-wav
circuit. According to the architects,
this section coidd be the animáis
testicles, invoking a clear reference to
the 'seed that gives rise to the
Guggenheim s ramp passage-way.
Sepárate drain-pipes channel rainwater.
which flows along the roof in two slopes.
IG3
In the interior, the classrooms are
arranged in two lateral baiids, while the
large nucieus of circulatioii situated in
the niiddie permits nioveinent throngh
the entire building hi an discontinuous
way, hy ineans oí successive rainps. Tlie
need to bind the resulting vohinie witliin
the área, restiits in the zigzag effect of
f)assagewavs. which reinind one of the
tnbes of a trunipet (an instriiment which
A wotjld be inipossible to play in any other
forrn, becaiise of its length).
A The concept of the building as a
N
^ single organisin encapstilating contintious
' spaee, ctilininates in the roof. As we
c
A clinib the stairs, wliich take us iip to the
164 natural space, we cross under the sky-
' iight which illiuninates the center of the
n
^ building - and suggests the Iight of a
„ knowledge which finds its source in
a
I nature. The resiilt is a reflection on time
i
" and space, its leitmotif the careful design
" of the passage-ways and the perceptíon of
the building in foreshortening, froin both
the interior and the exterior. Since the
ground-level of the building is insufficient
in coping with all the deinands of the
conteniporarv' citv. we are forced to
(•reate áreas of elevation which do íiot
obstruct inobiliry, bearing in mind the
fact that the city, and to a lesser extent
the building, inust allow fluid circulation.
As Paul Virilio notes in "Clau<le Parent,
Paul Virilio 1953-1%8 Anjuitectos":
"The inclined plañe represeiUs thi.s basic
geonietric principal. As is more generally
accepted in the field of geologv, we llave
used nature for a long time to solve
problems of trajecton,' and flow; in
acoustics, hydratilics and engineering
(doors and adornments) this method of
continuous elevation is conunonly used."
He goes on to say that, "This mode of
elevation and of tlistributing space allows
US to isolate habitable áreas without
creating overwhehning obstacles. Without
"closing off" with walls and endosures. it
allows US to intégrate the circulation of
the living área, while the mode of vertical
elevation decoinposes these two uses by
adding the strange body of the
"stairway ."
That one of the architects who
designed this project (Juan Espino), was
finishing bis degree in piano at
practicallv the same time as he
graduated in architecture, niakes sense
of the convergence between these two
disciplines in the building under
discussion. Once the two architects had
agreed on the precepts of this project,
thev worked on bordering stylistic
theories which would incliide even the
aesthetics of the car (Ferrari,
Lamborghini. Bugatti). When it came to
putting the design on paper, the
counterpoint of the lines of the project
were forged as melodic lines and the
hoUow spaces of the facade as musical
notes, thus playing with the heights, the
rhythms and the spaces between the
Windows, wliile at the same time
responding to the function of the interior
of the building. By recourse to the
cho.sen abscissa and ordinate, the height
of the building was divided into three
dodecaphonic octaves, semitone to
semitone. In time with the horizontal
axis, the rigid equidistaiU pilláis plav
the role of the dividing lines of sheet-iniisic.
Thus. the tmisical composition
()|)ens a specular dialogue with the
section and the height of the project: as
we stroll through the builduig
accompanied by the score, the music
lells US wliat is happeniug above, below
and in the exterior of the passage-way
space. The work may be interpreted to
its end: or in the reverse direction, to the
point where we stop walkiiig.
This is not a matter of reducing
architecture to munbers so as to discover
a relation between architecture and
music. as it was in the experiments of
Xenaquis. Rather, it is the fonnalizatioii
of a complex structiire in an'hitecture
and/or itiusic which, by existing in the
border regions, produces an obvioiis
linguistic contribution to both fields.
Althovigh the existence of this route
through the building seems Baroque. it
mav reinind us of the drama that
imderlies Havdn s svmphonies. it is. in
fact, a [)ath towards Iight, with no
return (unless we retrace our steps or
succumb to the ginunick of the stairway.
which is imavoidable in case of fire).
The musicality of the building balances
and vet maintains the indepeudence of
all the volees. A large pedal makes
coustant reference to the ground, to the
terrain: which is to suggest that the
dominant atonality certainly doesii't
preclude the existence of harmonv.
which is unusual in contemporarv
scores. What may be of most interest. is
the distancing of the dodecaphonic,
serialist approacli from its numerical
logic, which maintahis that each note is
a consequence of the precedhig one.
Through this distance, a randomness
and a subsequent sense of doubt are
added to the subjective wanderings of
each person. The determination of the
end of the work, of its length, and even
of its development, is left to the
spectator. While the musical motif
engenders a oiie-way journey through
the building, which is reflected in the
enclosed documentation. this is
ultiinately nothing more than an
interpretative option.