ARCHITECTURAL ANALYSIS:

A Methodology to Understand and Inform the Design of Spaces

Shandiz Shahram
1283120

An explanatory document submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Architecture (Professional),
Unitec New Zealand,
2014
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ABSTRACT
The following research is an explorative study on ‘architectural analysis’ as a means of thinking
and designing architecture. It is a space of dissection, observation and representation to establish (new)
relationships creating elements that discuss, deepen and extend the ideas. An analytical exercise on
the works of selected architects - Villa Savoye ( Le Corbusier), Neue Staatsgalerie (James Stirling) and
Educatorium ( OMA/Rem Koolhaas) - to analyze the simplest, yet unknown and inevitable fundamentals of
architecture: space, its perception and organization. Questions, ambitions, ideas and possibilities are analyzed
architecturally; elements are organized differently and new relationships are established. This is an act of
critical thinking that allows questioning of the orthodox regulations.

The resulting analysis revealed promenade architecturale as the common compositional tool
in spatial arrangement of all three buildings. Subsequently, the discovery lead to a connection between
promenade architecturale and ‘theatricality’.

Additionally, two public squares - Piazza Del Campo (Sienna, Italy) and Schouwburgplein (Rotterdam,
Netherlands) – are analysed as the precedents for Aotea Square, along with Palais Garnier, a typological
precedent for the proposed opera house.

Eventually, ‘architectural analysis’ was delved into and developed, to study, examine and extend
strategies to compose and organize complex spaces of a new type of performance art centre, called
‘Performatorium’, in the contemporary urban context of New Zealand. Performatorium incorporates spaces,
resources and facilities required for production, representation and preservation of performance art, especially
opera, to form a center of gravity for Aotea Square and Aotea Quarter as the cultural nucleus of Auckland.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my deepest gratitude and love to my family. Thank you for always being around
me and supporting me in my time of need. Without you all, I would not have grown up to attempt let alone
complete this degree.
To my supervisor, Christoph Schnoor for his invaluable help for the culmination of my thesis.
Brendan Smith , I highly regard the help that you offered right until the last minute.
Last but not least to my best friend, lover and harshest critic, Uddhav Naik for his unconditional love and
brutal honesty.

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 Abstract 3 Site: An Affair of the Heart 98

Acknowledgement 5 An Open Heart Surgery 101

Aotea Square: Present 103
Introduction 13
• An Urban Loop: Aotea Center, Aotea Square,
Aotea Quarter and Auckland CBD 107
Architectural Analysis 21 Aotea Square: Past 111
Analyzed: Architects and Architecture 23 Aotea Square: Future 113
• Villa Savoye 25 Square Precedent Studies:
• Neue Staatsgalerie 33 Piazza del Campo and Schouwburgolein 117
• Educatorium 43 • Void 118
• Derived Formal Strategies 50 • Theatricality 120
Promenade Architecturale 54 • Threshold/Entry 122
• Promenade Architecturale in Villa Savoye 57 • Edge 125
• Promenade Architecturale in Neue Staatsgalerie 62 • Profile 128
• Promenade Architecturale in Educatorium 68 Analyzing Aotea Square 129
• Promenade Architecturale Types 74 • Void 129
• to See and to be Seen: • Theatricality 131
Promenade Architecturale and Theater 78 • Threshold/Entry 133
• Theatricality 80 • Edge 153
• Theatricality: Unreal and Unnatural 80 • Profile 155
• Naturalization of Theatricality 82
• Absorption and Pastoral 84 Program 157
Promenade as Theater 86
Opera in New Zealand 159
Ramp 91
The Process of Making Opera 160

• Ramp in Villa Savoye 93

Opera House Precedent Analysis :
• Ramp in Neue Staatsgalerie 94
Palais Garnier 163
• Ramp in Educatorium 96
• Lobby as Theater 177

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 • Grand Escallier 180
Garnier Opera House Analysis Conclusion 182

Design 183
The Design Program:
Learning from Garnier 184
• Performatorium 185
Aotea [re]Square 189
• [re]Void 190
• [re]Connect 198
• [re]Stage 222

Conclusion 224
Bibliography 228

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8
9
 [Link] noun

1
: separation of a whole into its
component parts
2
a : the identification or separation of
ingredients of a substance
b : a statement of the constituents of a
mixture
3
a : proof of a mathematical proposition by
assuming the result and deducing a valid
statement by a series of reversible steps
b (1) : a branch of mathematics concerned
mainly with limits, continuity, and infinite
series (2) : calculus 1b
4
a : an examination of a complex, its
elements, and their relations
b : a statement of such an analysis
5
a : a method in philosophy of resolving
complex expressions into simpler or
more basic ones
b : clarification of an expression by an
elucidation of its use in discourse
6
: the use of function words instead of
inflectional forms as a characteristic device
of a language
7
: psychoanalysis

10
What is “architectural analysis”? Is it to
observe an operation ? Or is it the operation
itself?

“Architectural analysis” is
• to dissect : to peel off the building’s skin
to reveal the ideas and dissect them until
the nerves are exposed
• to observe : to think, compare and realize
the relationships and
• to assemble : to cut, copy and paste the
elements to establish (new) relationships.

11
 Vitruvius presenting De Architectura to Augustus Durand analysis of buildings based on their function Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Plan of the Altes Museum Composed
in the manner of Durand (top), analytical diagram of the Altes
Museum as designed by Schinkel.

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 “Colin Rowe first taught me how to see what was not present in a building. Rowe did not want me to describe what I could actually see: for
example, a three-story building with a rusticated base, increasingly less rustication in each of its upper stories, and with ABCBA proportional
harmonics across the facade, etc. Rather, Rowe wanted me to see what ideas were implied by what was physically present. In other words,
less a concern for what the eye sees-the optical-and more for what the mind sees-the visual. This latter idea of “seeing with the mind” is
called here “close reading.”1

INTRODUCTION
Architectural analysis emerged during language within which a century later architects qualities of the analyzed subject and extract the
the era of modern architecture, but a historical still work. ‘Architectural analysis’ is used as a underlying strategies. However, in this research the
flashback affirms its presence as a thinking and methodology that provides architects with a vision. architectural analysis is the subject of investigation
designing device since the very beginning of A vision to see what is ‘not present’. itself and therefore the focus is more on the mean
the history of architecture. From Vitruvius, who rather than the end.
studied Greek architectural ideas and suggested Throughout the history of architecture and
them to the emperor Augustus in his treatise De science, the concept of space, its perception and This lead to a formation of the
Architectura, to architects such as Jean-Nicolas- organization has been questioned and explored question:
Louis Durand, who surveyed the whole history of from various angles, but less delved into is the
architecture according to function, Karl Fredrik question of methodology. The question of ‘how How can architectural analysis be used as a
Schinkel, whose drawings suggest a continuous to’ as oppose to ‘what is’. As is usual, architectural methodology to comprehend and inform
analysis between Neoclassical and Periclean analysis is a mean to research and investigate the
Athens, and Le Corbusier who established a subject; to achieve a deep understanding of the the design of spaces?

1. Peter Eisenman. Ten Canonical Buildings: 1950-2000. (New York: Rizzoli, 2008), 16.

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 Le Corbusier four composition

14
“It is helpful, I repeat, to study one’s own work constantly. An awareness of
one’s evolution is the springboard of progress. “2

analytical drawings. To inform the design of the find ways to design settings that facilitate such
The research will continue with formal immediate context - Aotea Square- surrounding awareness through exposure to engaging public
analysis of three selected buildings - Villa Savoye, the building, two squares will be analyzed. Similar with culture as work and participation not passive
Neue Staatsgalerie and Educatorium - studying analysis will be conducted on Aotea Square to consumption. Within this context, it is important
their formal evolution and the formation of diagnose its weaknesses and problems. The to explore ways of developing spaces that provide
spaces from outside in, through a step by step last set of analysis covers the basis of building’s adequate exposure to not interrupt the production
axonometric representation to find out the formal program. Palais Garnier as a precedent informs the while bringing people closer to the concept of
strategies used in their spatial organization. building’s program. It will be analyzed to explore culture as work.
The analysis will then be conducted from and investigate the relationship between the While many texts describe the unseen and
the experiential point of view. These series of spatial and programmatic arrangements of the unpresented qualities of different architectural
analyses are focused on moving, seeing and the building. buildings, not many describe the methods of how
relationship between spatial arrangement and In response to the lack of cultural awareness to see the unseen. Finally all these strategies and
the perception of the spaces through the use of of the opera as an art form, there is a need to techniques will be used in the design of the project

2. Peter Eisenman. Ten Canonical Buildings: 1950-2000. (New York: Rizzoli, 2008), 16.

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 itself, to see if architectural analysis can be used as a design methodology, one which reveals the unseen, and
help to understand space, and its arrangements.
Among the few resources on architectural analysis, the following tetxs are of particular importance to this
project as they not only describe the unpresented architectural qualities but also look deeply into how to
conduct analysis as means of ‘close reading’ the works of architecture: The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and
Other Essays by Colin Rowe3, The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture4 by Peter Eisenman, Ten Canonical
Buildings: 1950-20003 by Peter Eisenman and Design Strategies in Architecture: An Approach to the Analysis
of Form5 by Geoffrey baker. These text discuss how to construct architectural analysis to develop a close
reading of work of architecture and what buildings can be read closely.
In regards to the selected buildings for analysis, many text were available howeverBruno Riechlin’s6 essay on
the works of Le Corbusier and the issue of El Croquis7 magazine on early works of OMA/Rem Koolhaas came
to of great importance to this research. While information on Palais Garnier in English is elusive; it has proven
necessary to rely heavily on the book by Christopher Mead, Charles Garnier’s Paris Opera: Architectural
Empathy and the Renaissance of French Classicim8. This research is also indebted to Caroline van Eck and Stijn
Bussels invaluable book of Theatricality in Early Modern Art and Architecture9 that investigate the exchange
between art, architecture and theatre.

3. Collin Rowe, The Mathematics of Ideal Villa and Other Essays. Cambridge: MIT Press,1982.
4. Peter Eisenman, The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture: Dissertation. Cambridge: Trinity College,1963.
5. Peter Eisenman. Ten Canonical Buildings: 1950-2000: New York: Rizzoli, 2008.
6. Bruno Reichlin, “Jeanneret-Le Corbusier, Painter-Architect,” in Architecture and Cubism, Eve Blau and Nancy Troy, eds. (Montreal: Canadian Center for
Architecture, 1998).
7. OMA / Rem Koolhaas (Madrid: El Croquis, 2006)
8.
9.

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17
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“What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

19
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ARCHITECTURAL ANALYSIS

21
 10. Peter Eisenman. “What Makes Great Architecture?”
[Link] (Accessed March 20, 2012).
11. Anthony Vidler. “Notes from the Archive: James Frazer Stirling.”
[Link] (Accessed May 26,
2012).
12. Jeffery Kipnis. OMA / Rem Koolhaas (Madrid: El Croquis, 2006), 420.

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“ ...most architects can’t do ‘architecture’, I would argue...the only work “I consider 99 percent of modern architecture to be boring, banal and “it is absolutely fascinating, but utter nonsense. You say he talks about
that remains in the history of ‘architecture’ is the work about ideas...there barren”.11 it. Where? (He opens a copy of S,M,X,XL.).Look, the words freedom and
are always very few architects...you are going to a book store in an airport. liberty don’t even appear in his dictionary, or anywhere else in these 2000
Is that literature? No! Is it necessary? Yes! You go in to cinema, Cineplex. Is pages that I can remember. Koolhaas is like any other architect, all he
that film? No! Is it necessary? Yes! You go into any town, 90% of the build- does is try to make things beautiful. He has a tougher, grittier eye than
ings are not ‘architecture’. Are they necessary? Yes!”10 most, but he’s great at it, probably the best in the world. That’s why the
kids loved him before anyone else, and that’s why has finally become so
fashionable for the rest of us old farts. If you really want to take a chance,
try writing that. But then your article will be too short and no one will
think you are brilliant.”12

ANALYZED: ARCHITECTS AND ARCHITECTURE

Three buildings have been selected for dissection, observation and representation through
architectural analysis:

• Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier

• Nue Staatsgallerie, James Stirling
• Educatorium, Rem Koolhaas

Each architect marked a golden stroke on the mural of architecture; Corbusier, as the architect who
spanned pre-Modern to Modern and James Stirling, as the one sitting on top of the fulcrum that swung from
Modern to Post-Modern. James Stirling was influenced by Corbusier and exposed to the success and failures
of Modernism through his mentor and friend, Colin Rowe; his Neue Staatsgallerie is a prime example of his
architectural humour and intelligence.

Looking at the present, Rem Koolhaas as the ‘l’homme d’architecture par example du jour’ makes an
interesting case study for an understanding of the contemporary condition. Though it is hard to say anything
specific about Koolhaas, which has a lot to do with the way OMA runs, his work is nevertheless psychedelic,
yet convincing and rich to be analyzed and compared with that of Corbusier and Stirling. Educatorium, one
of the early works of OMA is chosen as a scaled down built version of the manifesto that caused the birth of
unbuilt, yet critical, buildings such as TGB (Très Grande Bibliothèque) and Jussieu Library.

Initially, all three buildings are formally analysed; a step by step demonstration of each building’s formal
evolution from outside in, as the internal spaces materialize slowly into a coherent whole.

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 3
9
8 10

2
4 7
11

6 5 12

Ground Floor Plan First Floor Plan Roof plan

5. Living Room 12. Solarium

1. Entrance 6. Kitchen
2. Utility Room 7. Guest’s Room
3. Servant’s Room 8. Son’s Room
4. Garage 9. Mr & Mrs Savoye’s Room
10. Boudoir
11. Hanging Garden

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VILLA SAVOYE

Villa Savoye, Poissy-sur-Seine, France. 1930

Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret ) with Pierre Jeanneret.
Photo courtesy the Architecture and Design Study Center, The Museum of
Modern Art, New York.

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 A white cuboid sitting on a landscape
whose pure form hovers over the ground to
hide the entrance. The facade appears quiet and
secretive. Moving along the curved glass wall,
the white sculptural spiral staircase drills into
the pure, hovering cuboid. It charms the visitor
to move upwards, but not by the spiral - it turns
its back to the visitors - but through the ramp.
The light pouring out of the windows illuminates
the stretched and bent ramp, highlighting “the
preferred route”. The ramp leads the visitor through
the house. As the visitor moves, the compressed
and expanded spaces unfold, sometimes
introverted, revealing the compact maze of spaces,
and often extroverted, opening to the views and
framing the landscape. It seems that the building
is not a house anymore, but a museum showcasing
its architectural wonders and beautiful context.
Designed by Corbusier and constructed in Paris
in 1929-31 the villa is so well known that it is
quite difficult to look at it once again from a first
principle’s view, clearing the mind of the vast
amount of existing commentary.

26
1. Starting from a simple 2. Extruding and Lifting up the 3. The Ground plane is defined 4. Extruding the boundary to form
geometric form cuboid to form two separate by the car’s axes of movement, the servant’s space
spaces. marking the boundary of the
lower space
5. Both lower and upper volumes 6. Ramp: the spine of the building 7. Upper and lower volumes are 8. Spiral: Sculptural but secondary,
are pierced to be connected that connects all the separated pierced again to form a second it is only to be used by servants
volumes is added. It is dedicated connection
to owner and guests
9. Voids are treated as spaces, 10&11. On both levels spaces are organized around
carved out of the main volume the circulation elements, the ramp and the spiral.
12. Spaces superimposed 13 Voids 14. Adding a vertical plane to the 15 Final formal outcome
surface of the upper volume forms
another space, the solarium.
 ‘Architecture can be seen only by a walking man....so much so that when
it comes to the test, buildings can be classified as alive or not according to
whether the rule of movement has been applied or not.’13

“In this house [the Villa Savoye] we are presented with a real architectural
promenade, offering prospects which are constantly changing and unex-
pected, even astonishing. It is interesting that so much variety has been
obtained when from a design point of view a rigorous scheme of pillars
and beams has been adopted. . . . It is by moving about . . . that one can
see the orders of architecture developing.”14

Through the application of formal analysis, it

becomes apparent that the spectator’s ‘moving eye’
was a major concern for Corbusier while designing
the Villa Savoye.
From approaching the building with a car, to
moving through the building on a ramp, it is the
beholder that determines the design decisions. It
is the reason that the spaces are organized around
the movement route.
It is important to note that, the movement
route does not simply mean ‘circulation’, rather it
supersedes the term ‘circulation’ and operates at
a much deeper level. It refers to a complex web of
ideas that Le Corbusier recognized as promenade
architecturale.

16. Promenade architecturale’s

route in Villa Savoye
13. Le Corbusier. Entretien avec les étudiants des écoles d’architecture. (Paris: Les Editions De Minuit, 1957).
14. Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. Oeuvre Complète 1929-1934. (Erlenbach-Zurich: Les éditions d’architecture, 1935), 24.

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 12

9
9

11

15
4 4
6
5 14 10
13
3 9
7 8
2
1

Plan at Entry Level Plan at Gallery Level

1. Entrance Terrace 9. Galleries

2. Entrance Hall 10. Kammertheatre
3. Information Desk 11. Music School
4. Sculpture Court in Base of Drum 12. Library
5. Temporary Exhibitions 13. Gallery
6. Lecture Theatre 14. Link to Old State Gallery
7. Restaurant 15. Upper Terrace
8. Kammertheater Foyer
NEUE STAATSGALERIE

Neue Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany. 1977-83

James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associate

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 Announced as the winning entry of the and modern language and its “monumental
architectural design competition for an extension and informal”17 characteristics. Influenced by
to the old museum in Stuttgart, Germany, Corbusier18, James Stirling has used promenade
Neue Staatsgalerie (1977-83), aroused many architecturale as one of the key design strategies
controversies between architects and public. It for Neue Staatsgalerie. An extended circulation
was described as “inhuman and totalitarian” by path passes between, above and below the strong,
architects such as Frei Otto while others praised it easily recognized forms and functions symbolically
as “ a perfect integration into the existing fabric”15 at a city scale. Neue Staatsgalerie, was described
of the city. The strange, arrogant combination as “urbanism”19by its architect and designer, James
of classical architectural language with modern Stirling.
and high-tech elements, the use of bold, vibrant
colour and its effect on the evolution of modern
architecture and its path were the essence of this
very heated controversy.16 Three decades later,
the controversy continues and the building keeps
dividing the architectural scene into opposing
groups.

There is certainly more to this building

than a clever negotiation between the classical

15. Peter Arnell and Ted Bickford. James Stirling: Buildings and Projects. (New York: Rizzoli, 1984), 254.
16. Ibid., 252.
17. Ibid., 260.
18. Geoffrey H. Baker. The Architecture of James Stirling and His Partners James Gowan and Michael Wilford. (London: Ashgate, 2011)
19. Peter Arnell and Ted Bickford. James Stirling: Buildings and Projects. (New York: Rizzoli, 1984), 254.

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1. Responding to the immediate context: Main 2. Starting point: The rectangular boundary of the 3. The slope of the site is taken into consideration
axes of the site mimics the axes of the old state site is extruded
gallery
4. Responding to the immediate context: The 5. Responding to the immediate context: 6. Projecting the existing U-shape rhythm of the
volume is divided into three parts following the The height of the volume is adjusted to the old gallery on the initial massing creates a sense
rhythm of the old state gallery height of the old state gallery of closure and locks the building within the
A stepping platform, consists of three main context
volumes, is formed
7. Physical connections between the new and old 8. Carving volumes: The drum pierced the 9. Carving volumes: The drum and the U-shaped
galleries volumes to anchor the stepping platform it volume is carved to form the route-on the
Two line of trees forms a natural colonnade while between both ends of the sloping site. geometrical axis of the site-through the drum
separating the building from the expressway and The entry ramp from Konrad-Adenauer Strasse is
its noise carved out of the second platform
10. Spaces are arranged within the lower in 11. The second route through the drum is formed 12. Carving volumes
relation to the drum’s position and axis on the cross axis of the site. It connects the upper
volume to the spaces within the lower volume.
The circular ramp follows the form of the drum to
create a shortcut through the site
13&14: Entrance hall, information desk , lift, 15. Formation of spaces around the promenade
restaurant and ramp: Using bold, pure forms,
Stirling has housed each function within a
geometric volume and stacked them.
The space are carved both ways, inside out and
outside in.
16. Adding volume 17. Adding and carving volume 18. The final results is a well balanced
organization of spaces with in-between
moments. However, the singular element that
binds these geometrical parts into one, unified
whole is the circulation
 “The promenade architecturale surges across the [Staatsgalerie] complex
in a magical mystery tour that resonates with memories of city structur-
ing. In this scenario associations are transformed and decoded so that, for
example, the traditional rotunda acts not as a point of culmination (as in
the Pantheon or in Schinkel’s Altes Museum) but as a dynamic participant
in an elaborate dialogue between inside and outside and between an ideal
and reality.”21

Circulation has always been an important

generator of Stirling’s works. In Neue Staatsgalerie,
the use of circulation supersedes that of most
architects of the twentieth-century, suggesting
an integration of circulation and form, resulting
in an experiential dimension. It is a Corbusian
promenade architecturale, revealing a visual
sequence, contains enclosure and exposure with
geometrically composed spaces and volumes.
Geoffery Baker reads the Staatsgalerie’s promenade
as one that “emanates from analysis of the complex
texture of the city resonances of which are evoked
by metaphor and allusion and by a juxtaposition
of forms that combine visual surprises with vitality
and grandeur.”20

19. Promenade architecturale’s routes in Neue

Staatsgalerie

20. Geoffrey Baker, “James Stirling and the promenade architecturale” The Architectural Review, 1992, Dec., 72-75
21. .Ibid., 72-75.

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 5
2 6

1 4
6

Ground Floor Second Floor Plan

1. Urban Plaza 4. Megaron

2. Mixing Chamber 5. Theatron
3. Cafeteria 6. Examination Hall

3
4
1
6

First Floor Plan Third Floor Plan

1. Urban Plaza 6. Examination Hall

3. Cafeteria
4. Megaron
5. Theatron

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Educatorium, Utrecht, Netherlands
OMA

43
 Educatorium an invented name alluding to a factory of learning, is an exchange point and centre of gravity
for all fourteen faculties and many research institutes of the Uithof. The building comprises two interlocking
forms

• a raised surface that folds back into itself

• a box

The surface is a tilted ground plane, forming a large open space above and underneath, called the “pause
area”22 . The continuous ‘pause area’ - flexible, porous and permeable - is broken up by the insertion of two
volumes as auditoriums. There is an absence of intentional enforcing architectural design for the pause area
to provide the user with freedom and power to engage and define the space according to their desire. As a
result, the users turn into participants and the space into a “field of play”.23 The other interlocked box-shaped
form, however, is rigidly articulated with a deep spatial structure. As required by the housed program, three
examination halls calls for more control over the space and the users.24

22. Jeffery Kipnis. OMA / Rem Koolhaas (Madrid: El Croquis, 2006), 302.
23. Ibid., 302.
24. Ibid., 302.

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1. Site axes are responding to the 2. Starting point: the rectangular 3. The extruded rectangle is divided 4. The ground plane is lifted
surrounding buildings boundary of the site is extruded horizontal into four levels
5. The raised ground plane is folded 6. The malleable ground plane is 7. The malleable ground plane 8. The folded plane is sliced in two
on to itself to match the third level banded to create two flat surface follows the axis of the site ways partially to form the mixing
chamber
9&10. The raised plane is partially raised plane and the other remain 11. The volume for the bicycle 12. The volumes as auxiliary spaces
sliced in three ways following the connected to the raised plane. parking is inserted between the are inserted underneath, above and
longitudinal axis of the site except raised ground plane and ground in between the manipulated raise
one that marks two thresholds. One plane
connecting to the space below the
13. The auditoriums’ volumes are 14. Tow planes are interlocked: The 15. Volumes as Auxiliary spaces are 16. The connection to the building
inserted within the fold rigidly bent plane caps the folded inserted next door
plane
17
Yet again the element that unifies the building as a
whole is the promenade or, as OMA has named it in
this particular building, the ‘pause space’. The pause
space is materialized through the ground plane
that is raised, sliced, bent and folded.
The formal analysis demonstrates the dominance
of the ‘pause space’ over the other spaces. The
program-less ‘pause space’ is not the normal
circulation space that one regards as secondary
to the programed spaces within a building. It
performs as a ‘magic carpet’ taking the spectator
through the building, unfolding the spaces
while creating a social platform for students to
interact. Juxtaposition of differences between the
circulation, space and social activity contextualize
the entire campus and university within one single
building.

18. Promenade architecturale’s routes in

Neue Staatsgalerie

49
 DERIVED FORMAL STRATEGIES Villa Savoye

Comparing the formal analysis of Villa Savoye, Neue Staatsgalerie and Educatorium it is clear that
promenade architecturale is the main theme of all these buildings. Although, the formal outcome is different
in each building they share certain formal strategies:

1. Starting from a generic form following the boundary of the site

2. Organizing each program into separate volumes
3. Arrange (stack, carve, layer and insert) the volumes into one cluster
4. Connect the cluster of volumes internally through architectural circulation elements (ramp, stairs and lift)

The above commonalities are illustrated in the following diagrams. The numbers denote the strategies.

Neue Staatsgalerie

Educatorium

50
 1

2&3

4
1

2&3

4
1

2&3

4
 PROMENADE ARCHITECTURALE
The underlying key to all these shared formal strategies in Villa Savoye, Neue Staatsgalerie and Educatorium is
promenade architecturale. Consequently, this leads to the emergence of a crucial question:

What is promenade architecturale?

Is it the ‘preferred route’ that is highly articulated for the observer to move through a sequence of space?
A sequence of images that unfold before the eyes of observer as he moves through the space that at once
connects the observer with the internal space of the building and its external context? Or is it a set of
instructions for reading the work of architecture, and a setting to perceive the space?

54
 Promenade is an urban design term rather than an architectural one; a public place where people walk
through in order to ‘be seen’ and be considered part of ‘society’.

“Public place where people walk (or, in the past, rode) at leisure for pleasure, exercise, or display.
Promenades are pedestrian avenues pleasingly landscaped or commanding a view, often located along
waterfronts and in parks. Vehicular traffic may or may not be restricted.”25

The notion of promenade architecturale in modern architecture was used by Corbusier for the first time
to describe two of his villas: Villa La Roche and Villa Savoye. However, tracing back the history of architecture
proves that promenade architecturale is not originally a Corbusian idea. Spatial analysis of the Acropolis
reveals that the notion of apprehension of space through an engagement of “seeing and moving” was a
notion in architecture since ancient times.

Promenade architecturale is the legacy of this former concept. However, Christopher Schnoor26
explained how the idea of ‘promenade architecturale’ developed for Corbusier through many different sources
and, like most Corbusian things, refers to a complex web of ideas. Corbusier’s studies of urban situations in
libraries of Berlin and Munich, readings of Auguste Choisy’s interpretation of the Acropolis, his 1910 research
on Camillo Sitte27 and urbanism and most importantly his legendary journey through the Balkans to the
Bosphorus and the ancient Mediterranean world where he visited the Acropolis in Athens for the first time in
1911 and formed the notion of promenade architecturale.

“Taking this idea further, it is suggested that particular urban situations which he studied from books and
from nature served as models to be translated into particular architectural moments in his buildings. Thus, the
interior of the Maison La Roche-Jeanneret, translated as a picturesque medieval town square – an adaptation
of lessons learned from Paul Schultze-Naumburg and Theodor Fischer – intensified, on a domestic scale, the
experience of visual and bodily engagement a flâneur would have in an ‘urban theatre’, in the well-composed
streets and squares of vernacular or traditional towns.”28

25. Merriam-Webster. Promenade. [Link] s.v. “promenade”

(Accessed January 7, 2013).
26. Christoph Schnoor , La Construction des Villes: Le Corbusier’s erstes städtebauliches Traktat von 1910/11,
(Dissertation Technische Universitat Berlin, 2003).
27. Camillo Sitte (17 April 1843, Vienna– 16 November 1903 in Vienna) was a noted Austrian architect, painter and
city planning theoretician with great influence and authority of the development of urban construction
planning and regulation in Europe. (Source: Wikipedia)

55
 All this research and analysis came to fruition a decade later, when he
designed Maison La Roche-Jeanneret (1923).

“This house [the Maison La Roche-Jeanneret] will be rather like an architectural

promenade. You enter: the architectural spectacle at once offers itself to the eye. You
follow an itinerary and the perspectives develop with great variety, developing a
play of light on the walls or making pools of shadow. Large windows open up views
of the exterior where the architectural unity is reasserted.”29

Le Corbusier, subsequently, developed this idea further by designing Villa

Savoye.

“In this house [the Villa Savoye] we are presented with a real architectural
promenade, offering prospects which are constantly changing and unexpected,
even astonishing. It is interesting that so much variety has been obtained when
from a design point of view a rigorous scheme of pillars and beams has been
adopted. . . . It is by moving about . . . that one can see the orders of architecture
developing.”30

The following analyses show the movement route of the promenade in each
building. It explores:

• the location of the promenade within the plan and its arrangement,
• its arrangement in relationship to the spaces outside the promenade,
• and finally the arrangement of the spaces outside the promenade in relation to
the promenade itself

28. Christoph Schnoor, “Space and the Body: Concepts of the Corporeal in Le Corbusier’s Work”,
in Images of the Body in Architecture, Kirsten Wagner and Jasper Cepl eds. (Berlin: Wasmuth, 2013).
29. Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. Oeuvre Complète 1929-1934. (Erlenbach-Zurich: Les éditions d’architecture,
1935), 60.
30. Ibid., 24.

56
Ground floor - movement route of promenade architecturale
PROMENADE IN VILLA SAVOYE

The promenade in Villa Savoye starts when the

spectator enters the green meadow on a car
moving towards the villa. While passing along the
pilotis the spectator catches the first glimpse of the
interior, the spiral and the ramp. The ramp is the
manifestation of the promenade. However, it is only
to be used by the guests and the Savoye family. The
promenade is a vertical route ascending from the
‘underworld’ (where servants are living) through
the ‘world above’ (that is dedicated to the Savoye
family and guests) to the ‘world beyond’, where Le
First floor - movement route of promenade architecturale Corbusier hand framed a part of the scenery for
the spectator, opening up to where the spectator
had started his journey. Thus, the building that
once was seen surrounded by the beautiful setting
now frames the setting and has itself become
a platform. The roles have reversed and the
promenade is now complete.

Roof - movement route of promenade architecturale

57
 Ground floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial
arrangement within the promenade

First floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement within the promenade

Roof - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement within the promenade

58
Ground floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial
arrangement outside the promenade

First floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement outside the promenade

First floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement outside the promenade

59
 Ground floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial
arrangement within & outside the promenade

First floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement within & outside the promenade

Roof - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement within & outside the promenade

60
 In Villa Savoye:

• promenade is the centre of the plan and

located on the main axis of the building
• the spaces within the promenade have the
Movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial arrangement highest density at the entrance
within & outside the promenade in Villa Savoye - Superimposed • the spaces within the promenade are
overlapped with blurred boundaries
• comparatively, the spaces outside the
promenade are clearly defined
• the spaces outside the promenade are pushed
against the facade of the building
• the spaces outside the promenade are
arranged around it as if they are hanging off
the promenade

61
 PROMENADE ARCHITECTURALE IN
NEUE STAATSGALERIE
There are two main promenades in Neue
Staatsgalerie designated for the two main groups
of spectators:
Entry level - movement route of promenade architecturale
• museum visitors
• public

To explain the essence of promenade

architecturale in Neue Staatsgalerie both
promenades are selected for analysis and
description.
Both promenades start on the street through
different entries of the museum. Both groups of
spectators, public and museum visitors arrive
together on the entrance terrace to take different
paths.

Gallery level - movement route of promenade architecturale

62
The external promenade:

The external promenade appears to be a is unable to see the sculptural ramp, the glass lift, Back to the entrance area the observer can choose
shortcut connecting Konrad-Adenauer Strasse and brightly painted gantry. This combination to either go to the theatre’s lobby on the left, or
to Urban Strasse through the museum. The of vertical circulation, lit by means of skylights, take the ramp or glass elevator to reach the upper
promenade is linear and stays as one, controlled is the next visual cue in the promenade, leading galleries. However, the ramp and elevator grant
route and not giving the observer any option of the observer to the upper level of the galleries. priority to the route toward the galleries; a series of
diverging from the path. It instead carries them However, walking towards the ramp the observer enclosed rooms one connected to the other, all lit
directly from the starting point of the promenade, passes the colonnade that traces the drum. The by the means of skylights in the roof. Galleries form
Konrad-Adenauer Strass, to the destination (Urban sculpture court in the base of the drum appears a chain of enfilade spaces, connected both visually
Strasse), while maintaining visual connection with through the colonnade. This visual transparency and spatially so that the observer can reach the last
the surrounding spaces. Despite its linearity, the creates a tension within the path of promenade gallery room without any interruptions. The last link
promenade is quite pleasurable to walkthrough as by providing the observer the choice of their path. of the gallery chain connects the new museum to
it overlaps and exposes the internal promenade Eventually, the promenade becomes more curious the old one via a bridge.
running beneath it. while encouraging the spectator to participate.
Upon deciding to go to the sculpture court “One can readily imagine Le Corbusier applauding
the observer is able to enjoy the framed sky and this virtuoso rendering of his celebrated
The internal promenade: the movement of public passing through the site promenade architecturale. And in so doing he
via the elevated circular ramp. There are two set of would recognize the difference between the
Passing the green entrance hall and through staircase located on the cross axis of the site. One Mediterranean origins of his own philosophy
its glazed curtain wall the observer is able to see going down to the gallery of temporary exhibitions and those northern European sensibilities of his
the next stage of promenade, the information desk. and the other going up towards the upper terrace disciple.”31
However, prior to entering the hall, the observer level.

31. Geoffrey Baker. “Stuttgart Promenade” The Architectural Review, 1992, Dec., 76-78.

63
 Entry level - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial
arrangement within the promenade

Gallery level - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement within the promenade

64
Entry level - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial
arrangement outside the promenade

Gallery level - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement outside the promenade

65
 Entry level - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial
arrangement within & outside the promenade

Gallery level - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement within & outside the promenade

66
 In Neue Staatsgalerie:

• the external Promenade is the centre of the

plan and located on the axis of the museum
• the spaces within the promenade have the
highest density at the entrance
Movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial arrangement
• The spaces within the promenade are highly
within & outside the promenade in Neue Staatsgalerie - Superimposed overlapped and yet fragmented
• the spaces outside the promenade are pushed
towards the boundaries/facades of the
building
• the spaces outside the promenade are hanging
off the promenade and promenade appears as
spatial connection
• the spaces outside the promenade are defined
and arranged rigidly

67
 Ground floor - movement route of promenade architecturale

PROMENADE ARCHITECTURALE IN
EDUCATORIUM:
The promenade in Educatorium consists of
a dense network of movement routes that go to
various destinations within the building.

Promenade starts on the street. Going up

First floor - movement route of promenade architecturale the wide ramp that starts outside the building,
the observer moves through an outdoor plaza
before reaching the first level. This ramp provides
the shortest and fastest path to the lecture hall
level. However, the observer is also able to enter
the building via a mediatory flat surface that is
called a “mixing chamber”. The mixing chamber
overlooks the cafeteria on the ground floor while
also being shared as a platform for all ramps and
entries. From the mixing chamber the observer
can take the ramp that descends towards the
Second floor - movement route of promenade architecturale
cafeteria, or the adjacent ramp running along the
external ramp housing the outdoor plaza. As the
observer reaches the first level, the floor plane
becomes flat and provides more options; either

Third floor - movement route of promenade architecturale

68
This is different from the controlled promenade architecturale--for
instance Le Corbusier’s Mundaneum project--because it refuses to
privilege one interpretation over another.”32

move ahead by turning left or go straight to the is where the observer can experience the fluid and
ramp squeezed between the glass facade of the rigid plane interlocked; where, the observer looking
building and the glazed wall of the lecture hall over the two interlocked planes and the movement
(Theatron). Going up the ramp both side views are of other observers through the two planes. This is
open, while the front view is blocked, encouraging where promenade ends, facing a void that, despite
the observer to gaze outside the building. The front interrupting the continuity of the promenade,
view is saved for the next part of the promenade. creates a visual connection between the two
Upon reaching the end of the ramp the axis separated parts of the building: the folded plane
changes and forces the observer to turn. At the and the rigid plane. The other ramp, positioned
turn the observer confronts another threshold. between the box-shaped lecture hall (Megaron)
One half is exposed to the outside by means of a and the fire staircase, connects the folded plane to
glazed wall with an exposed roof structure. The the examination halls.
other half is blocked by the concrete floor that is
folded upon itself, forming the wall and the roof. All the aforementioned ramps weave and
The threshold accommodates entries to both wrap around volumes and voids, interlocking
lecture halls. The lecture halls are separated by a the fluid plane with the rigid plane. Thus a
ramp stretched along the longitudinal axis of the single trajectory is created in which the entire
building. The ramp leads the observer to where university experience – socialization, learning, and
both longitudinal and latitudinal axes overlap. This examination – can be encapsulated.
marks an important point within the building as it

32. Charles Jencks. The Architecture of the Jumping Universe (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995), 88.

69
 Ground floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial
arrangement within the promenade

First floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement within the promenade

Second floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement within the promenade

Third - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement within the promenade

70
Ground floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial
arrangement outside the promenade

First floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement outside the promenade

Second floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement outside the promenade

Third floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement outside the promenade

71
 Ground floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial
arrangement within & outside the promenade

First floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement within & outside the promenade

Second floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement within & outside the promenade

Third floor - movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial

arrangement within & outside the promenade

72
 In Educatorium:

• promenade is the centre of the plan

and located on the main axis of the
Movement route of promenade architecturale & spatial arrangement building.
within & outside the promenade in Educatorium - Superimposed
• the promenade is also pushed against
the facades of the building so it seems
that the spaces outside the promenade
are wrapped around by the promenade
• the spaces within the promenade
are highly overlapped with blurred
boundaries
• the boundary between the
promenade and the spaces outside it is
occasionally blurred

73
 PROMENADE ARCHITECTURALE
TYPES
Bruno Reichlin describes promenade guides the ‘reading of the work’ ”.34 later proposed the term “phenomenal
architecturale as a set of instructions that assist transparency”.35
the beholder in “reading of the work”33 and
understanding architecture and space. He divides the Corbusian promenade “In poetics, enjambment means the breaking of
architecturale into two types: congruence between syntax and meter, which
“The understanding of architecture requires occurs when the end of a phrase or part of a
a multiplicity of views from categorically different 1. The linear promenade that has controlled phrase does not coincide with the end of a line
viewpoints integrated with each other during the transitions and does not privilege any (rhymed or not).Transposed into architecture,
real time of a tour. Such a process of understanding viewpoint or no framing threshold. This type enjambment seems to describe perfectly the
requires a scenario. It is here that the idea of a of promenade was used in the very first of overflow of one space into another...”36
promenade arises. What is required is a “tour” that, Corbusier’s architectural projects: Villa Besnus
in the real time and space of observation, selects at Vaucresson. If enjambment is the quality that refers to
and structures “physical sensations” so that the 2. The second type is a diversified promenade an overlapped and continuous space, then the
viewer’s mind-the observer’s mental, fixed “place”- that provides multiple readings of the work. promenade architecturale in Villa Savoye, Neue
yields a synthesis of “elective” images that permits This type of promenade involves enjambment, Staatsgalerie and Educatorium can be classified
an exhaustive understanding of the object, a re- a term that Corbusier used to describe under the second type.
creation of the “creative moment”. In the “theatrical” the effects of spatial interface, of overlap
space of the “garden terrace” the promenade or ambiguity, for which Rowe and Slutzky

33. Reading the work” is a concept of Le Corbusier’s.

34. Bruno Reichlin, “Jeanneret-Le Corbusier, Painter-Architect,” in Architecture and Cubism, Eve Blau and Nancy Troy, eds.
(Montreal: Canadian Center for Architecture, 1998), 205.
35. Gyorgy Kepes, Language of Vision, cited in Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky, Transparency (Boston, MA: Birkhauser, 1997).
36. Bruno Reichlin, “Jeanneret-Le Corbusier, Painter-Architect,”

74
“This denial of the ground as a datum begins to appear in Koolhaas’s
project for the Tre Grande Bibliotheque in 1993, which further develops
Koolhaas’s diagram of contiguous discontinuity in the section of the
building.”38

The following diagram illustrates the spatial originally conceived as one, literally continuous, preferred route.
continuity of the promenade in Villa Savoye. surface.37 In Educatorium both voids and functional
The promenade in all three building represents volumes-spaces-are inserted within the continuous As a result, the observer is provided with
a continuous space. However, this continuity is surface of the promenade, unlike Villa Savoye and many options turning the building into a field of
of a different nature in Villa Savoye and Neue Neue Staatsgalerie where the spaces hang off the play and the observer into an active player.
Staatsgalerie compared to Educatorium. promenade.
The promenade in both Villa Savoye and Neue Despite the different nature of continues space in
Staatsgalerie is of a stacked, layered and carved out The continuous space of the promenade in Villa Savoye, Neue Staatsgalerie and Educatorium,
nature. As the formal analysis illustrated previously Educatorium is broken up by the insertion of the the experience of the spaces within the promenade
in this document, in Villa Savoye both upper and volumes to form a “contiguous discontinuity”39 . is like “ an architectural theatre in which spaces,
lower volumes are carved for the ramp and spiral The ramps and stairs are not inserted anymore but places, and objects take on a different meaning and
insertion (vertical insertion). So that the spectators the surface is manipulated (sliced, folded, bended, a new shape depending upon weather they are
partially moves through the in between spaces of wrapped) to create them while showcasing viewed or used.”41
the stacked volumes. Similarly in Neue Staatsgalerie the formal strategy of horizontal disturbance.40
the stacked volumes are carved or layered with In Educatorium the circulation spaces are not So an important questions emerges:
ramps and lifts to create spatial continuity for the subordinate of specifically programed spaces
beholder. therefore the circulation is a dense network of What is the relationship between theatre,
Conversely in Educatorium the promenade is movement routes with no hierarchy, hence no architecture and promenade architecturale?

37. The initial concept of the building was one continuous surface, but due to
structural limits the final design was broken down into two different plane one fluid
and the other rigid. (Rem Koolhaas / OMA (Essays in Architecture)
38. Peter Eisenman. Ten Canonical Buildings: 1950-2000. (New York: Rizzoli, 2008), 203.
39. Ibid., 203.
40. Ibid., 220-228.
41. Bruno Reichlin, “Jeanneret-Le Corbusier, Painter-Architect,” 209.

75
 The diagram is constructed of still images taken
from a video recording. The video is a recorded
experience of the spectator walking through
Villa Savoye (which is a museum currently) with a
handy cam video camera. The still images of the
video then constructed to show the journey of the
spectator through the villa.

76
77
 TO SEE AND BE SEEN: PROMENADE
ARCHITECTURE AND THEATRE
The interplay between seeing, moving John Soane (1753-1837), mentioned in century by the Galli-Bibbiena family.43 Conversely,
and perceiving is integral to no other traditional the notes for one of his academy lectures that architecture has borrowed many attributes of
cultural phenomenon as much as it is to theatre. the experience of seeing and walking through a theatre to make the buildings perform and unfold
Architecturally, this translates to the notion of building is comparable with that of watching a the drama as can be traced in Classical, Baroque
promenade architecturale; walking through a theatre performance. and Beaux Art schools of architecture.44 They both
space, seeing, being seen and perceiving. The connection between architecture require, and play to, the spectator; in fact, the
and theatre is discussed thoroughly by Caroline presence of an audience is a required dynamic
“The front of a building is like the prologue of a van Eck and Stijn Bussels in “Theatricality in Early for both architecture and theatre. Both make use
play, it prepares us for what we are to expect. If the Modern Art and Architecture”. The disciplines of of visual techniques to provide an impression of
outside promises more than we find in the inside, architecture and theatre, while distinct, have shared reality, albeit a performed reality contained within
we are disappointed. The plot opens itself in the a companionable, mutually beneficial relationship clearly observable borders. Finally, the viewer’s
first act and is carried on through the remainder, throughout history with practitioners of each eye is (hopefully) directed through the visual cues
through all the mazes of character, convenience regularly experimenting in the parallel field. Theatre established by the architect or dramaturge.
of arrangement, elegance and propriety of has borrowed elements from architecture, from Modern architecture, however, is often
ornaments, and lastly produces a complete whole the primitive wooden scaffoldings used in Athens associated with film rather than theatre and,
in distribution, decoration and construction.”42 in the 5th century BC to perform Bacchic plays, to therefore, it seems that the influence of theatre
the elaborate perspectival backdrops with their on modern architecture is relatively less explored.
suggestion of infinite space developed in the 18th There are fundamental similarities between theatre

42. Sigrid de Jong. “Staging Ruins: Paestum and Theatricality”, in Theatricality in Early Modern Art and Architecture,
ed. Caroline Van Eck and Stijn Bussels, (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011), 135.
43. Caroline Van Eck and Stijn Bussels. “The Visual Arts and The Theatre in Early Modern Europe”,
in Theatricality in Early Modern Art and Architecture, 9.
44. Sigrid de Jong. “Staging Ruins: Paestum and Theatricality”, 135-149.

78
and film which originate from theatre, such as However, before exploring the theatrical
scripts, sets, costumes, production, direction, • space and its organization (stage and mise en qualities of promenade architecturale a necessary
actors, audience, storyboards and scores. There scène), and question needs to be answered.
is, however, an indispensable difference; the • observer (performer and audience).
relationship of the performer to the audience. What is theatricality?
The experience of being in the presence of the Consequently, considering the theatrical
performer is of most importance to the theatre. At relationships, it is appropriate to analyze
the heart of theatre experience is the performer - ‘promenade architecturale’ within the context of
audience relationship: the immediate and personal modern architecture as an architectural theatre
exchange. It is this chemistry and magic that gives with all its theatrical attributes.
theatre its special quality. Focusing on the ‘theatricality’ of the spaces
Theatre shares this performer - audience arranged in ‘promenade architecturale’, the
relationship with architecture and promenade intention is not to investigate a superior influence
architecturale. between theatre and film on architecture. The focus
is to realize and delve into the ‘theatrical’ qualities
of architecture and its implications for the space
It can be argued that they tend to share and its organization with regard to the presence of
certain relationships such as: the observer.

79
 THEATRICALITY: UNREAL AND
THEATRICALITY UNNATURAL
‘Theatricality’ is a concept with many The multi-facetted concept of theatricality
meanings, ambiguity being a constant feature. demands multiple foci. Therefore, instead of taking
On one side of the semantic spectrum it simply the latest definition of ‘theatricality’ as the point
refers to anything pertaining to the theatre - from of departure, it appears more logical to study the
the props to the script - on the other the term has implications of the use of elements that make
ethical and political connotations. It also carries the up theatre both as a technical medium, and the
negative meaning of being deceitful and, therefore, wider social phenomenon: the work on stage, the
against the truth. However, ‘naturalness’ comes to spectator and, ultimately, the relations between
rescue theatre and theatricality from being unreal them.
and artificial. Further explanations are required to
elucidate how naturalness in theatre and visual Prior to the 2nd century - the Greek word
arts is achieved and also how naturalness is to ‘thea’ (derived from the verb ‘theaomai’ meaning
be translated and applied to architecture and to gaze with admiration or bewilderment, or to
landscape. contemplate) and its cognate ‘theatron’ were used
to identify the distinctive visual characteristics of
the theatre. It is only since the 2nd century that the
word ‘thea’, apart from its reference to the visual

80
characteristics of the theatre, started to be used work of art and architecture. This negative
to refer to exaggeration, distortion, and deceit.45 understanding of theatre has a long history that
The term ‘theatricality’ was first documented in goes back to Plato’s famous anti-theatrical, or
English in 1711 and later in French. Both languages rather anti-mimetic, arguments in the tenth book
use the word to refer to subjects, objects and of The Republic. Plato attacked what he saw as
situations directly related to the theatre. However, the theatre’s distortion of reality. Theatricality for
towards the end of the 18th century it came to him was ‘a corruption of the mind of all listeners
be associated with exaggeration and affectation who do not possess as antidote a knowledge
attributed to the theatre. of its real nature‘.47 As Caroline van Ech and
Stijn Bussels explain in their article, “The Visual
“Theatricality becomes associated with Arts and the Theatre in Early Modern Europe”,
everything unreal and unnatural, with conscious the distortion of reality was one of the greatest
deceit, not only of the audience in the theatre but dangers of theatre for the audience who might be
of society at large, and even with a loss of self.”46 unable to differentiate it from the truth. However,
Bram van Oostveldt has shown in his article, “Ut
Theatricality commonly carries negative pictura hortus/ut theatrum hortus: Theatricality
connotations by challenging the value of the and French Picturesque Garden Theory (1771-

45. Caroline Van Eck and Stijn Bussels. “The Visual Arts and the Theatre in Early Modern Europe”, 9-22.
46. Ibid., 12.
47. Plato. The Republic. Trans. Paul Shorey, (Cambridge, MA: Heinmann, 1963).

81
 NATURALIZATION OF THEATRICALITY
95)”48 that it is not the theatre itself that posed The rejection of theatre and theatricality
the problem, but the danger of theatricality. and the view of ‘naturalness’ as its apparent cure
This apparent danger forms the concept of anti- turned into a hot topic among European scholars
theatricality as the subtext to theatricality.49 in 18th century.50 Johann Sulzer provided a
definition for the word “natural” for the fine arts
in the Encyclopedie51 and acknowledged it as an
appropriate adjective for theatre and, as a result,
dissociated theatricality from theatre itself.

“NATURAL, Fine Arts, adjective by which one

designates artificial objects that are presented to us
as if art is not involved and as if they were products
of nature itself. A painting that strikes the eye as
if it were the object itself; a dramatic action that
makes us forget it is only a spectacle; a description,
the representation of a character that gives us the
same idea of things as if we had seen them...all this
is called natural.”52

48. Bram van Oostveldt. “Ut Pictura Hortus/ut Theatrum Hortus: Theatricality and French Picturesque Garden Theory (1771-95)”,
in Theatricality in Early Modern Art and Architecture, eds. Caroline Van Eck and Stijn Bussels, 164-177.
49. Jonas Barish. The Anti-Theatrical Prejudice. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press,1985).
50. Kati Röttger. “What do I See?’ The Order of Looking in Lessing’s Emilia Galotti”, in Theatricality in Early Modern Art and
Architecture, eds. Caroline Van Eck and Stijn Bussels, 178-188.
51. Kerslake, Lawrence. “Johann Georg Sulzer and the Supplement to the Encyclopédie”, in Studies on Voltaire and the
Eighteenth Century 148-149, edited by Theodore Besterman, 148 (Oxford: The Voltaire Foundation, 1976), 240.

82
 In searching for a theatre without To invite the beholder to forget that he is
theatricality, and changing the artificiality of the attending a performance he found it necessary for
classical theatre, the theatre theorists tried to the actor to keep the performance natural through
moderate their declamatory and speaking style. sustaining the illusion that he was not acting a role.
Denis Diderot was the first person who attempted This, in turn, would help to persuade the viewer
to overcome the problem of theatricality from that he was watching the events themselves, not a
a different angle by shifting the focus from the play.
literary and verbal to the visual. Diderot associated Diderot’s dramaturgic and theatrical concept
the problem of theatricality with spectatorship of ‘the fourth wall’ may appear to be a simple
and the position of the spectator. He developed strategy, but in fact it is a multilayered one. Other
a simple yet magnificent solution known as ‘the than the double strategy of forgetting, it also
fourth wall’. formulates a secret gaze. The secrecy of ‘seeing’ in
the concept of ‘the fourth wall’ is not only providing
“Do not think of the spectator anymore. ...Imagine the representation with its natural and non-
at the front of the stage a great wall that separates theatrical qualities; it also defined spectatorship as
you from the parterre; play as if the curtain will not voyeurism.
rise.”53

52. Bram van Oostveldt. “Ut Pictura Hortus/ut Theatrum Hortus: Theatricality and French Picturesque Garden Theory (1771-95)”,
in Theatricality in Early Modern Art and Architecture, eds. Caroline Van Eck and Stijn Bussels, 170.
53. Ibid., 172

83
 ABSORPTION AND PASTORAL
Diderot’s solution for naturalization of Fried described absorption as a strategy of
theatricality was thoroughly discussed and persuasion that neutralizes the awareness of the
analyzed by Michael Fried in his much cited spectator and, most importantly, makes it secretive.
study Absorption and Theatricality: Painting and Otherwise, as Bleeker rightly pointed out, if it
beholder in the Age of Diderot.54 He identifies reveals itself as a strategy, it will have a negative
Diderot’s strategy as being an exclusive one effect and it appears theatrical.
because it rejects the presence of the spectator This exclusive strategy of Diderot is quiet
from the depicted scene. Fried named it effective for curing the artificiality of theatricality
“absorption”. in theatre and painting. However, it is not much
of an answer to this problem in the context of
“Character depicted in a painting or presented on architecture and landscape as the depiction of
stage must be absorbed by what they are doing, human action is not the central theme any more.
hearing, thinking or feeling that they seem to Diderot, being aware of the different condition for
forget that they are the object of a beholder’s gaze, architecture and landscape, had proposed a second
just like actors in front of the imagined fourth strategy. This strategy, similar to the ‘absorption’,
wall”55 deals with spectatorship and its relation to the
representation but is totally opposite to his former

54. Michael Fried, Absorption and Theatricality: Painting and Beholder in the Age of Diderot, (Berkeley, CA: The University of Chicago Press, 1980).
55. Bram van Oostveldt. “Ut Pictura Hortus/ut Theatrum Hortus: Theatricality and French Picturesque Garden Theory (1771-95)”, 171

84
exclusive strategy. This second strategy that Fried Complementing each other, both strategies are
calls ‘pastoral’ is inclusive; the viewer is no longer used to simultaneously naturalize and neutralize
said to be excluded from the depicted scene but the performance, observation and voyeurism. The
is now understood as being invited to participate, result is a carefully constructed mise en scène,
or seduced into doing so. Fried described Diderot’s strictly defining the place of the spectator and
paradoxical strategy this way: encouraging them to overcome the theatricality
“The estrangement of the beholder from the of the garden in order to become a participant in
objects of his beholding is overcome; the condition the grand spectacle of nature. Consequently, the
of spectatorship is transformed and thereby notion of voyeurism in architecture has developed
redeemed”56 The ‘pastoral strategy turns the from the one way, secretive, observation to a
spectator into a participant who has successfully mutual act through turning the architecture
closed the gap between representation and into a simultaneous stage and auditorium. This
spectator. in turn encourages the spectator to be active
Such redefinitions of spectatorship, and constantly transforming from spectator to
‘absorption’ and ‘pastoral’, were used widely to performer and vice versa, while architecture offers
resolve the problem of theatricality in landscape itself as a platform for this change.
especially the French picturesque movement.

56. Bram van Oostveldt. “Ut Pictura Hortus/ut Theatrum Hortus: Theatricality and French Picturesque Garden Theory (1771-95)”, 171

85
 overlap layering thresholds

Villa Savoye
PROMENADE AS THEATRE
To understand the theatrical experience of
the promenade in Villa Savoye, Neue Staatsgallerie
and Educatorium; and to explore the architectural
technique to achieve this theatrical experience
further investigation is required. The following
analysis explore the connection between moving
and seeing; the connection between the observer,
the building and other observers.

Pervious analysis (the relationship between

the line of movement and the spacial arrangement)
revealed a repeating some spatial pattern in all
three buildings: Neue Staatsgalerie

• Long spaces/threshold
• Overlapping
• Layering

One specific point/space in each building is

selected to closely analyze and investigate the
relationship ofthese techniques with the moving
spectator.

Educatorium

86
 The vision lines are illustrated from the point
that the observer standing. The lines reveal how
much of the building is revealed to the observer.
As it can be seen from the photograph
(taken from the same point in Villa Savoye) layering
the columns, spiral and walls with the thresholds
at the background has created a rich depth of field.
This intensity of depth field along with layering
and the use of thresholds at the background
vison lines shows what spectators sees as he creates several different vanishing points as the
stands at that point spectator moves through the spaces. The moving
observer perceive a constant tension that is the
characteristics of ambiguous spaces of promenade.
The use of similar techniques can be seen in
Neue Staatsgalerie and Educatorium.

87
 Since Neue Staatsgalerie and Educatorium
are public building, the other spectators will be
added the layered spatial structure of the buildings,
adding more complexity and ambiguity.
This visual connection of observer-building
and observer-observer combined with the formal
changes of the ground plane results establish
theatrical relationship. The building turn into a
stage while the observer change into a performer
while at the same time another space with certain
visual connection turn into the auditorium and
the beholder will be the audience. This constant
change of stage and auditorium and performer and
audience results into a dynamic space.

the spectators vision lines in Neue Staatsgalerie

88
the spectators vision lines in Educatorium

The combination of formal and visual

strategies in Educatorium

89
 1
ramp verb

Definition of RAMP52
intransitive verb
1
a : to stand or advance menacingly with forelegs or
with arms raised

b : to move or act furiously

2
: to creep up —used especially of plants
3
: to speed up, expand, or increase especially
quickly or at a constant rate —used with up
<ramping up to full speed>

57. Merriam-Webster. [Link] s.v. “ramp”

(Accessed March 19, 2013).

90
RAMP
Comparing Villa Savoye, Neue Staatsgalerie [of Ema, which Le Corbusier visited on his first
and Educatorium promenades establishes the journey to Italy in 1907], the visitor encounters a
ramp as a consistent element of the promenade long, gently ascending ramp with low steps leading
architecturale. In fact Jurgen Joedicke defines upward in the opposite direction. Going up this
ramp as architectonic of the promenade. This ramp one is looking out through large apertures
understanding leads us to question: enclosed with semicircular arches onto the path
one has come. Was this the proto-type, the model-
What is a ramp and what does it convey as the -retained in the memory--for the ramp in the Villa
architectonic of the promenade? Savoye and for all other ramps in Le Corbusier’s
later work?”58
The ramp is not a Corbusian invention. Stanislaus
von Moos in Elements of Synthesis suggests the
late Italian and French Renaissance tradition of Practically, a ramp adds a fast, vertical
articulating “arrival-zones in terms of solemnly movement to the usual horizontal movement
exposed ascents” as the ramp’s most likely historical pattern of the observer within the promenade.
precedent. However, a ramp is more than a vertical path.
“Having reached the entrance to the monastery In Corbusian terms it could constitute many
characteristics:

58. Jürgen Joedicke,

“The Ramp as Architectonic Promenade in
Le Corbusier’s Work” Daidalus, 1984, June, 104.

91
 • Spectacle of pure form and space the regulator of architecture. To establish order is
• Space-time construction to begin to work. Architecture is based on axes.
• Explicit machine-age symbolism The axis is a line of direction leading to an end.
• Ceremonial ascent In architecture you must have a destination for
• Guideline; a materialized axis your axis. In the schools they have forgotten this
“[T]he ramp was designed as the preferred route and their axes cross one another in star-shapes,
of what the architect [Le Corbusier] calls the all leading to infinity, to the undefined, to the
promenade architecturale through the various unknown, to nowhere, without end or aim. The
spaces of the building--a concept which appears axes of the school is a recipe and a dodge.
to be close to that almost mystical meaning of Arrangement is the grading of axes, and so it is the
the word “axis” that he had employed in Vers un grading of aims, the classification of intentions.
Architecture.”59 The architect therefore assigns destinations to his
axes. These ends are the wall (the plenum, sensorial
Reyner Banham’s concept of the ramp is very close sensation) or light and space (again sensorial
to the concept of axis defined by Corbusier: sensation).”60

“An axis is perhaps the first human manifestation;

it is the means of every human act. The toddling
child moves along an axis, the man striving in the
tempest of life traces for him an axis. The axis is

59. Reyner Banham. Theory and Design in the First Machine Age. (London: Architectural Press, 1960), 324.
60. Le Corbusier. Towards a New Architecture. (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1960), 173.

92
RAMP IN VILLA SAVOYE
The ramp in Villa Savoye is the path that In Villa Savoye the ramp, the beginning
signals the beginning of the promenade. A set of of the upward path through the house and
axes is embedded within the path. The primary the terminal point of this path, and finally the
axis follows the geometrical axes of the ramp, vista point - from which one looks out onto
guiding the spectator towards the destination, the landscape - are all situated vertically. The
the solarium on roof top. While the secondary set promenade concludes as a full circle.
of axes is a collection of many single axes that
start somewhere through the path on the ramp, “movement through space became the guiding
and end at different destinations outside the path principle of a new and different architecture, not
and away from the primary axis. As Corbusier has just movement in and through space but also in
mentioned, these destinations could be the spaces the alternation between movement and being
arranged around the promenade- such as the stationary. Thus the ramp in the Villa Savoye
bedrooms, kitchen and living room in Villa Savoye- not only leads from one place to another, it also
or a wall or even light. The overlap of primary axis connects places that are harmoniously balanced
with secondary axes creates a constantly changing within themselves. It does not simply lead through
rhythm to the ramp (path). The secondary axes the building but has a beginning and an end, and
inject a sequence of images into the primary when one end is reached it begins to lead us once
axis, exposing the spectator to a dynamic spatial more to another place.”61
experience while moving up the ramp until
reaching the destination.

61. Jürgen Joedicke, “The Ramp as Architectonic Promenade in Le Corbusier’s Work” 104-108.

93
 RAMP IN NEUE STAATSGALERIE
Two main ramps can be identified in Neue observer from the entrance space at the lower
Staatsgalerie: level, to the gallery rooms at the upper level.
Stirling uses the ramp as an architectural statement
The ramp that connects the entrance area to the that addresses axes, changes of levels and beyond.
upper galleries: He conceived the ramp as a ceremonial path,
ascending from the entrance space towards the
The ramp next to the glass elevator with the upper galleries – the exhibition space for art -
brightly coloured gantry has a sculptural effect. It connecting profane to sacred. By locating the ramp
seems that Stirling intentionally designed them with its back to the observer - approaching from
both (the ramp and the elevator) as functional the entrance - Stirling decided to accentuate the
sculptures and lit them from above through the change of axis making the ramp an entry to the
skylights to attract observers. gallery. This in turn highlights the transition from
Overlapping the entry hall level and gallery level one space to another. The ramp makes the axis fold
plans shows that reaching the galleries does not back upon itself twice before reaching the upper
require any initial change of axes. It is only after level. This deliberate repetition makes the approach
visiting the first gallery room that the observer longer and the delay creates anticipation in the
needs to turn as the axis is changed. However, a observer. Anticipation results in greater awareness
vertical connection is required to transition the of the destination.

94
The ramp that constructs the external promenade: on the other. The axis changes as the ramp turns
“The promenade architecturale surges and the spectator locates along the main axis of
across the [Staatsgalerie] complex in a magical the building. The route then enters the drum at
mystery tour that resonates with memories of its midpoint, piercing its cylindrical volume and
city structuring. In this scenario associations are creating a focal point for the two axes.
transformed and decoded so that, for example, The drum is the most important space
the traditional rotunda acts not as a point of within the museum and, as Geoffrey Bakers
culmination (as in the Pantheon or in Schinkel’s describes, it acts as “a dynamic participant in an
Altes Museum) but as a dynamic participant in an elaborate dialogue between inside and outside and
elaborate dialogue between inside and outside and between an ideal and reality.”63 The drum connects
between an ideal and reality.”62 and separates the lower and the upper volume
The second important ramp goes simultaneously by puncturing through them. The
through the drum connecting Konrad-Adenauer drum is a void; a space of nothingness. Its circularity
Strasse to Urban Strasse. The ramp starts from the is reinforced by the ramp that traverses it.
entrance terrace, positioned at an angle on the The other main axis that crosses the
axis of the eastern entry. As the spectator walks building is occupied by the museum visitors
up the ramp the city is revealed on one side and walking in the sculpture court at the base of the
the monumental cylindrical form of the drum drum. Within the drum at the concentric point of

62. Geoffrey Baker. “Stuttgart Promenade” The Architectural Review, 1992, Dec., 76.

95
 RAMP IN EDUCATORIUM
two axes there is no physical connection between is organized around a cruciform of two corridors,
the public and museum visitors. However, the subdividing each level into quadrants that function
visual connection is maintained, thus giving the as the main connectors. A secondary system of
public the opportunity to watch people and the paths allows the building to function as a network.
liveliness of the museum, while walking up through This network includes many ramps that run parallel
the drum via the ramp. Prior to the moment of to the main cruciform axis of the building. However,
exit the drum’s axis changes by 90 degrees and the most important ramp within the building is
it aligns with the main axis of the building. The the one located between the two lecture halls.
spectator follows the ramp that splits the upper This ramp runs along the longitudinal axis of the
galleries through a tight threshold. Before leaving building and concludes at the point of intersection
the promenade, the axis changes for the last time of the two axes. This intersection is the culmination
to conclude the promenade and indicate that the of the building as it is the point of mergence for
observer is about to leave the museum for the city. all the promenades in the building. It also holds a
visual connection to the rigid plane volume that
“To walk inside is to enter a magical domain houses the examination halls.
where architecture is condensed to its essentials;
the courtyard is a processional stage set where
the spirit of architecture promenades its hieratic
presence.”64 The promenade in the Educatorium

63. Ibid.
64. Emilio Ambasz. The Architectural Review, 1984, Dec, 249.

96
97
 SITE: AN AFFAIR OF THE HEART
Any site will serve the theoretical aspect of
this research as merely a test-field. However, the
limitations and opportunities of a specific site are
valuable in augmenting the development of this
project. Hence, it is logical to deal with a site with a
certain amount of complexity.
Auckland with its bustling CBD of 404,65865
residents comprises seven urban quarters, with Aotea
65. “QuickStats About Auckland City.”
Quarter as a tremendously attractive zone to locate [Link]
the test-field. Census/2006CensusHomePage/QuickStats/
AboutAPlace/[Link]?id=2000007&
type=ta&ParentID=1000002,
(Accessed August 28, 2012).

98
100
 AN OPEN ‘HEART’ SURGERY
This map of Auckland by Eric Fischer, photographer and digital cartographer, reflects the density of
footfall in different parts of the Auckland City. The geotags of photos uploaded to Flickr and Twitter are used
to plot out every photograph taken on a street map to demonstrate a more cultural consensus of photogenic
places or tourist spots. The data visualized in blue, red and yellow dots. Blue represent locals, people who have
taken pictures in a city over a period of a month or more; red represents tourists, people who took pictures in
a city for less than a month while yellow is for undetermined.
Evidently the Waterfront, Queen Street, Karangahape Road and Sky Tower zone are the socially
attractive areas in Auckland, visited and occupied by both tourists and locals on a daily basis. However, the
most notable and concerning aspect of the map is the dramatic reduction of pedestrian density from Upper
Queen Street on towards the Karangahape Road. This low density patch is the location of the biggest public
square in one of the most livable cities of the world.66 Therefore, it is to be expected that a prominent area
such as Aotea Quarter be a social hub and a high density location.

66. Auckland City Council. “Draft City Center Master Plan”, Last modified Sep 2011. 3.

101
71
 WATERFRONT
AOTEA SQUARE: PRESENT
Located in the Queen Street valley and
THE ENGINE
ROOM
bounded by Mayoral Drive, Wellesley Street, Lorne
Street and Khartoum Place, the Aotea Quarter lies
VICTORIA QUAY PARK
at the heart of Auckland’s CBD. Within the CBD,
Aotea Quarter is Auckland’s nucleus, intended
to bind other zones into the coherent body of
Auckland City. Aotea Quarter is intended as not
AOTEA
LEARNING only a focal point in geographic terms but also in
socio-economic and cultural terms. Renowned as
the hub of the ”cultural infrastructure”67 of the city,
a vicinity of art and entertainment for Aucklanders;
KARANGAHAPE
ROAD it houses an attractive and collection of cultural
public buildings and spaces: Auckland Art Gallery,
Auckland Central Library, Imax and Civic Cinemas,
Q theatre, Town Hall, Aotea Centre and Aotea
Square.
However, currently Aotea Quarter lacks a
strong socio-economic character to initiate Queen
Street. Travelling northwards away from Downtown
the pedestrian density starts to dissipate.
Metaphorically, the Viaduct and Downtown,
respectively, provide Queen Street with an anchor
point as the recreational and shopping areas,
but Aotea Quarter fails to maintain the balance
between Downtown and Upper Queen Street. It
67. Auckland City Council. “Aotea Quarter Plan”, 4

103
104
fails to provide any semblance of a focal point,
mainly due to the failure of Aotea Square, the
largest public component of the Aotea Quarter.
Looking at the big picture, the failure of the
“heart” sabotages the performance of the CBD.
Subsequently, a question emerges:

Considering its location within the Aotea

Quarter, Why is Aotea Square, a failure in the
urban scenario?

105
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106
M
AN URBAN LOOP: AOTEA CENTER,
AOTEA SQUARE, AOTEA QUARTER
AND AUCKLAND CBD
The relationship between the Aotea Quarter,
Square and Centre is intertwined. Aotea Centre,
the largest component of the Square that defines
the northern edge of the Square, has the biggest
influence on Aotea Square. Subsequently, the
square acts as the heart of both Aotea Quarter
and CBD and its failure affects both accordingly.
Therefore, it is crucial to consider the problems of
Aotea Centre within the context of Aotea Square,
Aotea Quarter and ultimately Auckland CBD.

107
 1940

1959 1974-89 1996

The Diagram demonstrate the time line of Aotea Square since 1940 (before it existed) until 2013. It illustrates
the formation of Aotea Square and its changes during this period of time.
The red dot represents the period (1974-89) that Aotea Center was under construction.

108
 2013

2006 2008 2010

109
 1940 1940
2013 2013

110
AOTEA SQUARE: PAST
The Council had no inducement to place promise of bringing dynamism to the A ‘not desirable, but no other option’
the centre city on any special pedestal of attention city defined by developers scenario left behind an ailing, incoherent building
until the 1960s so the primate status of the area • Destruction of heritage buildings and that did not fit within its surrounding. Since then,
remained unchanged and unquestioned. sites Aotea Centre, the largest public component of the
cultural hub of Auckland City - Aotea Quarter - has
Since the public announcement of “The The initial plan for the Aotea Centre turned into the weakest link of the Aotea Square.
Central Area Proposals” in 1971 centre city started comprised an auditorium with a sitting capacity of
to shift towards an urban centre. Although the 5,000 and a 1,200-seat theatre. However, due to the
immense amount of construction, followed by the cost of construction, the building was reduced to a
surging office-boom of the mid-1980s added up to 2,300-seat auditorium and an 800-seat theatre. The
the rebirth of the centre city, some moves pushed final design by Ewen Wainscott was unveiled to the
the centre city further into the grave by the end of public in 1980. Eventually, “a generation overdue”68
the 1980s. Some of these mistakes include: because of financial struggle, the controversial
• Preference for car parking buildings Aotea Centre, described as “a tragic and expensive
over people and public spaces, which mistake”69 by opponents broke ground in August
has hindered the CBD 1985, a day which some called “a momentous day
• The mirror-glass ‘anywheresville’ towers for Auckland”70.
following the American style with the

68. Graham Bush. Advance in Order: The Auckland City Council from Centenary to Reorganization
1971-1989, (Auckland: Auckland City Council, 1991), 260.
69. Ibid., 264.
70. Ibid.

111
 2013 2013 ? ?

112
AOTEA SQUARE: FUTURE
Auckland City Council is certainly The images show the development capacity
acquainted with Aotea Square’s failure. A popular of Aotea Quarter and its potential built form. The
subject of debate amongst urban designers, potential areas of development, highlighted in
architects and critics, the Square has been orange, include sites fringing the square:
gradually upgraded since 2000. The goal was -Land behind the Aotea Square and
to transform it into the “city’s living room”; a Auckland Council’s Civic,
comfortable and familiar place for people to relax -West Bledisloe and South Town Hall sites,
and socialize; a place for people who come for a -Southern flank of the square
conference, a show, a night in the town, or simply The prospective effect of the proposals on
to browse, promenade, sit and relax. Aotea Centre does not seem thoughtful. Aotea
In the recent Auckland’s masterplan, Centre, as can be seen from the images, is encased
published in September 2011, Auckland City by recent and future development. One of the
Council identified the Quarter and the Square as major performing art venues in New Zealand, once
one of the areas to house a new rail link, Aotea the symbol of “a new, bright and vibrant city”72, is
rail link station,71 along with other development now proposed to be secretively hidden away. So, a
opportunities that will reinforce the role of Aotea question emerges:
Quarter as the “cultural and civic hub” of Auckland.

Is there an alternative plan to this scenario?

71. The station will see an estimated 13,000 rail trips per day, Aotea rail link will be
situated on the corner of Wellesley and Albert Streets as a major feeder
station eastwards for both University of Auckland and
AUT (Auckland University of Technology)
72. Bush. Advance in Order, 238.

113
 potential landmarks:
buildings, art work
, landscape

Development opportunity

Enhanced pocket parks

Wel
le sley
Existing vegetation St

Proposed vegetation

Enhanced active edge

Enhanced pedestrian access

Lor

r
al D
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t
en S

Wa

yor
St
ke
Que

Ma
field
St
Aire
dale
St
Aotea Quarter action plan- proposed by Auckland City Council

114
Aotea Quarter potential built form- proposed by Auckland City Council

115
 SQUARE PRECEDENT STUDIES:
PIAZZA DEL CAMPO AND SCHOUWBURGPLEIN
Two squares are selected as precedents for Aotea Square:
Piazza Del Campo
Siena, Italy 1. Piazza Del Campo in Sienna, Italy as a classical precedent
2. Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam, Netherlands as a contemporary precedent. It is
also known as ‘Theatre Square’.

Piazza Del Campo and Schouwburgplein are contradictory, yet they share five
key elements:

• Void
• Theatricality
• Threshold
• Edge
• Profile

Schouwburgolen
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

117
 Piazza Del Campo Piazza Del Campo
Piazza Del Campo Ground Diagram Siena, Italy
Figure Diagram

VOID
The concept of ‘void’ in both squares is the dense fabric of Sienna to the empty void. Piazza
employed similarly. As a positive and productive Del Campo, despite its irregular shell-shaped form,
concept to develop the urban space. The void is self-contained, like a vast urban interior room.
points to the absence of intention, architecture and The form of the square is marked clearly by the
preprogrammed use. It is the domain of unfulfilled buildings aligned along its hard edges.
promise and unlimited opportunity. It is the project
screen of the public’s desire. The square contains no specific program,
except the Palio di Siena.69 It is, therefore, an urban
The figure-ground diagrams of both squares space defined and programmed by people, both
73.

The Palio di Siena - known locally simply as
Il Palio - is a horse race that is held twice each
illustrate certain aspects of the voids. Similar to all locals and tourists, who enjoy the sun and the view
year, on July 2 and August 16, in Siena, Italy. ‘classical Italian cities’, narrow alleyways connect all year round.
Source: Wkipedia)

118
 Schouwburgolen Schouwburgolen Schouwburgolen
Rotterdam, The Netherlands Ground Diagram Figure Diagram

than the surrounding public-oriented theatre,

The two dimensional figure-ground concert, and shopping facilities.
diagram of Schouwburgplein fails to show the
‘void’ as a contained space. However, the bird’s The elevated ‘urban void’ does not have
eye photograph does justice to the square. any program. The absence of preprogrammed use
The quality of the space in Schouwburgplein allows urban dwellers to create their own use of the
is poor by comparison with Piazza del Campo. square.
Schouwburgplein is not confined by walls, but
is open to the skyline creating a panorama.
Schouwburgplein has a greater relationship with
the abstract urban skyline in the background rather

119
 THEATRICALITY
Unlike void, theatricality is achieved differently in both squares. Piazza Del
Campo and Schouwburgplein both have the elements of the stage and auditorium,
and both are settings to develop relationship between people as performers and
audience.
Piazza del Campo has a slight slant towards the town hall, Pallazzo Comunale,
turning the square into a big amphitheatre with the town hall and its enormous
tower at the place of the stage. The square is paved with vibrant shades of red brick
Piazza del Campo- The soalnated plane of Piazza del Campo -The entry is stepping
and nine strips of white travertine to express both the concavity of the square and
the square acts as an auditorium down towards the square as if the one its role as a big urban theatre, while the balconies on the surrounding buildings
steps onto an stage
function like theatre boxes during municipal celebrations such as the Palio. This
medieval square - a medieval urban showroom - functions as a centre of civic and
social interaction.
Schouwburgplein is designed as an urban theatre for the public. The surface
of the square is designed as a slightly elevated stage. Covered with different
industrial materials, it appears to withdraw from its immediate surroundings
and evokes the atmosphere of the Rotterdam’s expansive World Harbour.
Schouwburgplein is more than a stage and encourages public to take an active
stance. The most iconic element of Schouwburgplein, the movable coin-operated
crane lightings, can be controlled and changed by public, thus making them
responsible for a part of the square’s character during the day and night.

Piazza del Campo -The pattern of square’s Piazza del Campo -Square at the time of Piazza del Campo and Schouwburgplein are both ‘urban theatres’, but no
pavement accentuate its slant Palio. Public watching the square from the
surrounding buildings comma contrasting. In Piazza de Campo the formation of ‘urban theatre’ is effortless.

120
The essence of theatre is reduced to its essentials:

• Slanted plane of the square

• The elevated balconies overlooking the square

These simple architectural gestures coupled with the already strong space
of the void are just enough to make strong visual relationship between the people
occupying the square and the ones standing in the balconies, resembling the Schouwburgplein -Artists playing on Schouwburgplein -Benches provides
relationship between the audience and performers within a theatre. Conversely, the free stage of the square- Social public with seating space to watch the
engagement stage
the gimmick of Schouwburgplein’s four big light towers and the emphatic stage
function give rise to an explicitly aesthetic type of staging that stands in marked
contrast to the elegant staging of Piazza del Campo.

Schouwburgplein-The square turns into a Schouwburgplein- the choice of material

full on stage at night with public as both stage set the square as an industrial place
stage designer and performer

121
 THRESHOLD/ENTRY
No specific program or activity anticipates
visitors, especially the locals at the ‘void’. The dark,
narrow alleyways occupied by retail, direct people
to the bright, wide, open space of Piazza del
Campo. Entering the ‘void’ through the threshold is
certainly dramatic.
The line of retail, restaurants and cafes
stretched all along the edge of the square, holds
the public inside the square, while balancing the
absence of preprogrammed use in the ‘void’.

Similar to Piazza del Campo, the streets

leading to Schouwburgplein are filled with

122
restaurants and retail. However, they are neither
narrow, nor dark. Lacking any sense of approach
and contrast to mark the entry to Schouwburgplein
eliminates all the drama that visitors normally
experience as they enter Piazza del Campo. This
could be one of the reasons that the quality of
space in Schouwburgplein is not as refined as the
Pizza del Campo.

123
 APARTMENTS APARTMENTS APARTMENTS
OFFICES OFFICES APARTMENTS OFFICES OFFICES
OFFICES APARTMENTS OFFICES OFFICES
CAFE APARTMENTS CAFE RETAIL RESTAURANT
RESTAURANT RESTAURANT RETAIL CAFE RETAIL RESTAURANT RESTAURANTCAFE
CAFE CAFE CITY HALL

Piazza del Campo - Edge

Piazza del Campo - Edge

124
 APARTMENTSOFFICESCINEMA COMPLEX
APARTMENTS
OFFICES APARTMENTS
RETAIL
OFFICES
CONCERT HALL
RETAIL CAFE RESTAURANT
OFFICES OFFICES
RETAIL RESTAURANT OPERA HOUSE
CAFE CAFE CAFE CASINO CAFE RESTAURANT
CAFE

Schouwburgplein- Edge

EDGE
The continuous line of retail, restaurants and
cafes stretche from thresholds all along the edge
of the square. This continuous band of program
brings people to the square and holds them inside
it, while balancing the absence of preprogrammed
use in the ‘void’.
Similar to Piazza del Campo, the streets
leading to Schouwburgplein are filled with
restaurants and retail.

Schouwburgplein- Edge

125
background building
FOREGROUNDbackground
BUILDING building

Piazza del Campo -Profile

126
 FOREGROUND
background building background building BUILDING
background building

Schouwburgplein- Profile

127
 PROFILE
Pallazzo Comunale is situated at the focal
point of the slanted plane of the square and
marking the stage, is in contrast with the other
buildings surrounding the Piazza del Campo. It
announces its superior presence with its tall tower,
stealing the stage from other buildings that are
relatively uniform judging by their facades.

Cinema Schouwburgplein is the landmark

of the Theatre Square. Its grey, raised volume
is relatively inviting and public oriented
by comparison with the town hall that is a
government building and, thus, highly reserved.
The appearance of the building is not in stark
contrast with other buildings on the square.
Cinema Schouwburgplein stands out because of
its out of the line position on the square, not by
breaking the skyline of the square.

128
 Aotea Square - Figure Diagram Aotea Square - Ground Diagram Aotea Square - Auckland, New
Zealand

ANALYZING AOTEA SQUARE: VOID

As has been diagnosed in the chapter “an open It is difficult to identify Aotea Square on the figure- mainly due to lack of any mass or defined edge to
surgery of the heart” Aotea Square is a failure ground diagram. Looking at the figure-ground cap the square on the southern side.
within the context of Aotea Quarter and Auckland’s diagrams of Aotea Square, what can clearly be
city centre. In order to specifically identify the read is Aotea Centre, not the square itself. On
weaknesses of Aotea Square the conditions of void, the diagrams Aotea Centre appears as an island
theatricality, threshold/entry, edge and profile in in the middle of a massive void. The location of
the square are investigated and analyzed. Aotea Centre and the massiveness of the void
makes it difficult to distinguish the boundaries of
the square. However, that massive void is not the
square. The square can barely form an “urban void”
as it is not coherent, productive and positive. This is

129
Aotea Square- Looking from Aotea Center towards Queen Street
AUDITORIUM

STAGE
130
THEATRICALITY
The flat surface of the square forms a stage, while
the elevated set of stairs located on the eastern
side of the square overlooking the square forms
an auditorium for people to sit and watch. The
same relationship is maintained on the western
edge of the square that is defined by Aotea Centre.
The recent renovation of the balcony housing
the Box Cafe creates a platform for people to sit
and overlook the square. The location of these
two settings in front of each other creates a third:
the raised stairs on the eastern edge and the
balcony on the western. All these settings have the
potential to create a more socially dynamic space
within the square but, due to the lack of foot traffic
on the square, this potential does not get used to
its maximum capacity.

131
Aotea Square- Looking from east (standing on the square) looking towards Aotea Centre
AUDITORIUM

STAGE
132
THRESHOLD/ENTRY

Thresholds and entries have an important role

in defining Aotea Square and its occupancy and,
therefore, a thorough investigation is required.
Currently, eight entries can be recognized two of
which are defined by Aotea Centre, connecting
Queen Street to Mayoral Drive and Grey’s Avenue
through Aotea Square.

133
 The weak, unarticulated and pedestrian unfriendly
connection from Mayoral Drive leads to the
square’s entry defined by Aotea Centre and
Belidesloe building.

The entry to the civic underground carpark, located on

the north-east side of Aotea Centre.

134
Northern entries to Aotea Square looking from Mayoral Drive towards
Aotea Square

The entry from the Mayoral Drive to Aotea Square-

on the north-west boundary-is extremely poorly
defined. It is formed partly by the entry to the civic
underground car park and partly by Aotea Centre
on one side, and on the other side by an open
space on the junction of Mayoral Drive and Victoria
Street. This is amplified by the weak, unarticulated
and pedestrian unfriendly connection from Mayoral
Drive to the Square.

135
 The northern entry to the square. This entry forms the
end part of an immature threshold that connects
Mayoral Drive to Aotea Square to Queen Street.
136
 Northern entries to Aotea
Square looking from
Aotea Square towards out

The threshold/entry is defined by Bledisloe House and

Civic Cinema, connecting the Square and Queen Street
to Victoria Street. 137
 Looking towards the incomplete threshold
connecting Mayoral Drive to the Square. As
photographs show it is more of a car zone rather
than a pedestrian zone.

From the existing square one walks through a

carpark to reach Mayoral Drive.
The carpark, however, will accommodate Aotea
Rail Link within ten years. This will bring more
traffic to Aotea Square through this entry.

138
As the observer moves through the northern entry
to the Square to get to Mayoral Drive, this is the
scene that he is confronted by; carparks on both
sides!

139
 The entry from Mayoral Drive to the back
of Aotea Centre on the western side of
the square goes through the Centre’s
backstage carpark.

From the carpark entry, pedestrians

can either share the path with cars
to reach the Square’s ground or take
the stairs to reach the offices located
at the back of Aotea Centre.

Looking from the square towards the

140 western entry/exit.
Western entry from Mayoral to Aotea Square looking towards the square

One of the most important, yet undefined and problematic, entries to Aotea Square is the one located
on the western boundary of the square. This entry connects Queen Street through the square to the junction
of Mayoral Drive, Vincent Street, Cook Street and Federal Street.

Due to the steep topography of the site there is a ten metre drop at the western, undeveloped, end of
Aotea Centre. This area has turned into an urban leftover space, resulting in a humble and undefined pathway
that leads into the square.

141
142
 The other entry located on Mayoral Drive,
initially serves the offices at the back of the Aotea
Centre. The pathway goes through the carpark
located on top of the backstage areas. Pedestrians
from there can go towards the northern entry to
reach Aotea Square.

143
 Grey’s Avenue entry to the Civic carpark
144
Southern entries to
Aotea Square looking
from Grey’s Avenue
towards Aotea Square

145
146
 The entry on the south west side of the Square
again passes through a carpark. This entry has the
potential to be part of a threshold, but the lack of
massing on the southern boundary of the Square
has left both, the Square and this entry, weak and
undefined.

Looking back from Aotea Square towards

Grey’s Avenue

147
148
 Looking through the threshold
towards the Grey’s Avenue

Contrary to the other entry on the southern

boundary, this one is articulated and successful; on
one side constructed between the Town Hall and Q
Theatre and on the other the raised surface of the
Square. This articulated threshold stretches along
the square from south to east, connecting Grey’s
Avenue to the Queen Street.

Looking through the threshold

towards the Queen Street

149
150
 Aotea Square does not have any face on
the eastern boundary, looking from Queen Street.
Therefore, Aotea Center’s facade- Although sitting a
square away from that edge- contributes to Queen
Street.
There is a height difference between the
square plane and the pedestrian walkway along
the Queen Street. The gap is filled with a set of wide
staircase that provides access and seating for the
public.
The formal entry to Aotea Square from Queen
Street is located between Civic Cinemas and the
Looking towards the square’s eastern mentioned staircase. The entry seems adequately
entry, standing on Queen Street working.

151
 PERFORMANCE CINEMA
OFFICES
ART CENTER OFFICES COMPLEX
TOWN HALL OFFICES CAFE RESTAURANT
Q THEATER CAFE

Aotea Square- Edge

152
 EDGE
Aotea Square’s edge condition follows the incomplete and undefined
Aotea Square- Edge
boundary of the Square. The interruption of the edge has been amplified by
the lack of activities around the square. Looking at the diagrams more than
half of the buildings are offices. Very few public buildings operate during the
day while, the rest are dedicated to programs that are only activated during
the night. As a result, less public life is brought to the square during the day
which leaves the Square unoccupied and lifeless.

153
 FOREGROUND BUILDING?
background building background building

Aotea Square- Profile

154
 ?
?

PROFILE
Location wise Aotea Centre is the dominant building on the Square.
However, practically it is the most unpopular public building of the site.
That in turn affects the coherence of Aotea Square as it lacks any
gravitational point.
Aotea Square- Profile Currently Aotea Centre is the only performance art centre in Auckland
that houses opera performances. However, it does not have any positive
impact on the square and public as the largest public component of Aotea
Square.
The following photographs, shows the lobby (public) spaces of Aotea
Centre, on a weekday between 12 am-1pm. As it is clearly demonstrated,
the building manifest emptiness. Although it is open to public and highly
maintained yet public does not have any desire to use it during the day.
At night the building is still open to public but it will be used only if a
performance on.

155
 Aotea Center, manifesting emptiness

156
PROGRAM

157
 74. ‘OPERA’, from An Encyclopedia of New Zealand, ed. A.H. McLintock, originally published in 1966.
Te Ara: the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Last modified April 22, 2009,
[Link]
75. Class Act Opera, Southern Opera, Opera Factory and New Zealand Opera
[Link]
(Last Accessed September 28, 2012)
76. The company was formed in 2000 when the Wellington City Opera (1992–1999) and
Auckland Opera (1970–2000) companies decided to merge into one organization
for financial reasons. New Zealand Opera grew larger when Southern Opera joined them this year.
([Link]

158
OPERA IN NEW ZEALAND
Stories and storytelling seem to tap into a basic after several amateur productions of grand opera
human need and opera is the art of telling human that New Zealand Opera company was founded
stories with power and beauty. Opera, as a western in 1954 as the first New Zealand’s professional
form of musical storytelling had its beginning “grand” opera company. Today, out of four existing
at the height of Renaissance. A highly creative institutions,75 New Zealand Opera76 is the largest,
and multidisciplinary art form, it has always been producing two fully staged operas each year.
associated with social, political and technological
changes; reflecting them back to society as a mirror.
Born during the Renaissance, a time of upheaval
and creativity, opera has existed for more than
four hundred years. Although opera is considered
a major art form of cultural expression and the
greatest art form to ever be created, it struggles to
stay alive. It is no exception for New Zealand and
it can even be argued that opera status is more
fragile in New Zealand by comparison with Europe
and America.
The history of opera in New Zealand only goes back
to the early 1860.74 It is hence a relatively young
industry by comparison with other countries.
Opera in New Zealand has remained an imported
art form, produced and played by visiting opera
directors and actors from overseas. Other forms
of opera, known as light opera, became popular
amongst the New Zealand public, yet it was only

159
 THE PROCESS OF MAKING OPERA
Opera performances are highly technical
and mechanical. The production process is a highly
collaborative activity, involving many different skills
and talents. This process can be broken down into
three main parts:

• Planning (3-4 years before the show time)

- casting
- production cost
- touring plan
• Training ( 2 years before the show time)
• Rehearsing
- music call: chorus, principal singers, the cast,
Sitzprobe
- production rehearsals
- theatre rehearsals: piano accompaniment, Stage
orchestral
- dress rehearsals

This process, from beginning to end,

happens within a time-frame of three to four years
due to the huge amount of preparation and long
77. Sitzprobe (German) is a term used in opera and musical theatre to describe a
seated rehearsal—the literal translation of Sitzprobe—where the singers sing with
term planning required.
the orchestra, focusing attention on integrating the two groups. It is often the first
rehearsal where the orchestra and singers rehearse together. As the process diagrams show, creation
(Source: Wikipedia)

160
and staging of an opera performance is extremely is an industrial high ceiling warehouse that hold a rooms. They can be located inside the opera house,
complex and hierarchical. Each stage of this process different range of technical tools used to build sets which is certainly preferable, or where the opera
happens in a designated place which can be and props. Due to the industrial nature of the sets company is based.
classified in three groups: and props workshop, it is normally located in an
industrial area of a city and, thus, far away from the
• Administration offices opera house. For each opera show sets and props Auditorium:
• Studios are made inside the workshop and then transferred The auditorium is one of the most important spaces
• Auditorium to the opera house. There are storage places in an opera house. It is a space of both production
designed for the backstage area of all opera houses and presentation. Sitzprobe77 and studio rehearsals
Administration offices: to hold sets and props during the show season. are done on the main stage in the auditorium.
In these rooms different directors involved in Comparatively, the costume and wig workshop These rehearsals are considered to be final ones
making the opera come together to plan out the is small scale as smaller equipment is required to and happen a few weeks before the show. Finally,
stages of an opera production. Similar to most make costumes and wigs. This small workshop is the show is staged in the auditorium where the
office spaces, the rooms are designed open plan to located within the opera house as costumes and audience experiences the final production.
provide maximum flexibility. wigs are required to be altered, fitted and repaired
constantly before during and after the show.
Studios:
Studios can be divided into two different types.

• Technical studio/workshop Artistic studios:

• Artistic studios Artistic studios are where the opera performers
train and rehearse. Both production and theatrical
Technical studio/workshop: rehearsals are done in the artistic studios that
It is here that the sets, props, costumes and wigs belong to the related opera company. Spatially,
are designed and created. Sets and props workshop these studios are open plan, high ceiling and large

161
 14 12

13 13 13

12
11 10 11
8 11 10 9

7 7
6 9
5 3 5
8
4 2 4
1 6

4 3 5
2
1

1. Facade Portico 8. Emperor’s Pavillon 1. Loggia 7. Salon de Glacier

2. Grand Vestibule 9. Pavillon des Abonnes 2. Grand Foyer 8. Auditorium Corridor
3. Vestibule de Controle 10. Vestibule des Abonnes 3. Avant Foyer 9. Auditorium
4. Outer Vestibule 11. Rotonde des Abonnes 4. Rotonde de la lune 10. Stage
5. Ticket Vestibule 12. Orchestra Pit 5. Rotonde du soleil 11. Backstage
6. Grand Scalier 13. Backstage 6. Galerie de Glacier 12. Administration offices
7. Bassin de la Pythia 14. Administration offices
OPERA HOUSE PRECEDENT ANALYSIS:
PALAIS GARNIER
The superimposed diagram illustrates the timely, hierarchical and complex creation of an opera
performance. Consequently, the program’s complexity reflects the opera house’s spatial qualities and
organization.
The following section is a study on the relationship between the program of opera, spatial organization
and its qualities within an opera house through a series of analyses done on Palais Garnier.
Palais Garnier, is the well known Paris opera house named after its architect Charles Garnier. It was the
winner of an architectural design competition-the very first of its kind - and the largest and most prestigious
public building of Francis II empire.
Charles Garnier was trained in Ecole des Beaux Arts and exposed to the Beaux-Arts system of
composition. However, being a student of Louis-Hippolyte Lebas also influenced his understanding of
composition, so much so that he developed his own compositional system. Garnier system was a combination
of what he had learned in Beaux-Arts and what he had been taught by Lebas into a single “fundamental
principle”.78

“Garnier’s “fundamental principle” was “a sort of condensation.”Programmatically rational, it was

guided by a compositional method that liberated architecture from set formal paradigms while permitting
the diverse, if impressionistic, use of real models; it incorporated Romanticism’s concern for functionally 78. Garnier has explained his
determined form, yet transcended the vrai to reach the higher truth of the vrasemblant. This epitomizes “fundamental principle” in Le Théâtre by using
four key terms:
Garnier’s intuitively synthetic thought. Caught between the two absolutes of Neoclassical idealism and Distribution: programmatic division of a
Romantic rationalism, he sought a flexible middle ground.” building into its separate functions
Disposition: Disposition was the spatial
organization of those functions in plan
Composition: Composition was the three
dimensional development of those spaces
in a unified whole
Character: the expressive consequence of a
coherent composition

163
 Administration and offices Back stage and fly tower

Auditorium Access and lobby area Pavilions added on both sides

The opera house external form is consists of four separated volumes placed next to each other.

164
Administration offices Stage Auditorium Lobby area
&
Back Stage

The external form of the opera house follows a

rational approach, as Garnier believed that the
overall shape of the edifice ought to express the
spaces inside and their function.
The structure was designed as a succession of
four clearly separated segments each housing a
particular function:
First segment: public and access
Second segment: the auditorium
Third segment: stage
Fourth segment: various technical and
administration services

Although the stage and the auditorium make up

the highest volumes of external form they are not
the dominant spaces within the opera house. The
most important segment of the Palais Garnier is the
access areas belonging to the public.
Until Palais Garnier access areas had always been
the architectural Cinderellas in theatres and were
treated as simple, utilitarian necessities. However, in
Palais Garnier the access areas have been given so
much importance by Garnier that nearly a quarter
of the building has been devoted to them.

Opera House

Lobby area

165
 Garnier, in his treatise “Le Théâtre,” defined a promenade through the lobby to the auditorium.
theatre as being a social interaction, paraphrasing The promenades start from different points, cross
Shakespeare’s famous lines-”All the world’s over and connect in the Grand Escalier. The Grand
a stage, And all the men and women merely Escalier is the focus of all four promenades for the
players” - Garnier was convinced that built forms four categories of theatre-goers. From the Grand
are a consequence of social interactions within Escalier the connected promenades diverge and
the symbiotic relationship between human and yet come together in the auditorium.
architecture. Hence in “Le Théâtre” he has described
Palais Garnier from the outside in, based on what
the inspector experiences moving through the
building.
Garnier considered two main groups of
theatregoers who are further divided into two
smaller groups:

Pedestrians:
-Holding tickets
-Without tickets

Carriage arrivals
-Holding tickets
-Without tickets

Each group has a designated entry, marking

166
 PEDESTRIANS [HOLDING TICKETS]
The pedestrians who have already
bought their tickets before the night of the show
enter from the front facade, moving through
the double door into the Grand Vestibule. The
Movement lines
Opera’s Grand Vestibule, without preventing the
theatregoers from proceeding immediately to his
seat, encourages a pause by revealing through
the vestibule’s inner arches both the Vestibule
de Controle and the Grand Escalier beyond,
indicating the movement route towards the
auditorium. Passing through the Grand Vestibule,
the theatregoer reaches the Vestibule de Controle.
Aligned with the Grand Vestibule, yet substantially
narrower and raised by stairs to the level of the
Grand Escalier, the Vestibule de Controle acts as a
transitional space to pull one onward to the next
space, the Grand Escalier.

Movement lines in relation to circulation pattern

167
 PEDESTRIANS [WITHOUT TICKETS]
Pedestrians without tickets need to go to the
Outer Vestibule, placed to either side of the Opera
facade, which leads through double doors into
Movement lines enclosed galleries that run along the building’s
forward flanks. These connect with ticket vestibules
at each end of the Vestibule de Controle. From the
Vestibule de Controle they enter to the main lobby
where the Grand Escalier is located.

Movement lines in relation to circulation pattern

168
 CARRIAGE ARRIVALS [WITH TICKETS]
The approach for the season ticket holders arriving
in carriages is more elaborate than that offered to
the pedestrians, though it is similar in conception.
Movment lines The season ticket holders enter through the
Movement lines
carriage portico of the Pavillon des Abonnés
in their carriages, get dropped off and move
inside with their servants. Implicitly, the abonnés
belonged to a wealthier class than the pedestrian
theatregoers and, consequently, required a
vestibule for their servants. From the servant’s
vestibule, the abonnés would be pulled visually
towards the front of the Opera by the Pythian niche
beneath the Grand Escalier. Ascending the ramps
on either side of this niche, they would mingle at
the foot of the Grand Escalier with the pedestrians
coming from the Vestibule de Controle.

Movement lines in relation to circulation pattern

169
 Movement lines

Movement lines in relation to circulation pattern

170
 Movement lines in relation to circulation pattern - super imposed
Movement lines - super imposed

171
 In the Opera’s foyers and galleries: 2. Instead of watching this general
movement the second type of
Garnier’s development of arrival spaces promenaders take part and walk
reflects his sensitivity to the public’s social around to find friendly and familiar faces
complexity of experience and his belief that human 3. The third type of promenader is looking
actions determine a building’s disposition. Hence, for a place to relax, a place comfortably
to organize the lobby and gallery spaces he moved furnished, where they are not bothered
from a basic distinction between pedestrians by the crowd.
and carriage arrivals to an increasingly detailed 4. The fourth type of promenader leaves
study of every possible permutation of the human the salons towards the Opera’s facade,
personality. As a result, the Opera’s foyers and loggia, to get some fresh air. They prefer
galleries are coordinated with the six ways people to watch the view of the theatre and
might behave during an intermission. First are the what is happening in the galleries.
sedentary types who remain in their loges or, at 5. The fifth type of promenader is the
most, step a few feet into the auditorium corridors. smokers who go out for a cigarette
Five types of promenaders, were identified by during the interval, while many will
Garnier as follows: finally take something to drink, or line
up in front of a long buffet, or some find
1. The first type of promenaders are the a place to be seated and rest for a while.
viewers: they are calm and walk slowly,
tending to stop at certain points where
the views are extending. From those
points they continue their promenade,
not by walking around, but by following
the other promenaders.

172
 Movement lines Movement lines

Movement lines in relation to circulation pattern

Movement lines in relation to circulation pattern

173
 Movement lines
Movement lines

Movement lines in relation to circulation pattern Movement lines in relation to circulation pattern

174
 Movement lines Movement lines

Movement lines in relation to circulation pattern Movement lines in relation to circulation pattern

175
 CONCLUSION

Studies of the movement patterns, spatial patterns

and their relationships prove that the functional
and practical requirements were not the only
factors for Garnier’s disposition of the spaces.
Underlying Garnier’s argument was the concern
for circulation which, as an essential component
of disposition, had always played a major role in
Beaux-Arts systems of composition. Yet Garnier
made that role preeminent. By analyzing what the
public needs both practically and aesthetically,
Garnier transformed the simple element of
circulation into a major architectural and social
statement. Effectively, the opera house is the
product of theatre-goers’ movement patterns
in relation to spatial patterns. However, further
investigation is required to understand how
specific combinations of the movement patterns
and spatial patterns are brought together to create
the magnificent public and access spaces of the
opera house and how these spaces turn the lobby
into a social platform for the public to interact.

176
 LOBBY AS A THEATRE
As mentioned before Garnier perceived
architecture as theatre and the consequence of
human social interaction. In order to stimulate
and encourage social interaction he designed
provocative spaces with theatrical qualities,
achieved through designing spaces as a series
of “real” stage sets, incorporating scenographic
techniques. Translated into the realm of
architecture, the illusion of space becomes real
space, so that apparent movement through
the illusionistic recession of the stage becomes
actual movement through the real depth of the
building. Yet the treatment of those real spaces as
scenographic tableaux presents the spectator with
a perspectival image that visually defines the path
of movement to be taken physically.

The Opera’s exterior-the three volumetric masses

of facade, auditorium dome, and stage fly-tower is
described as a sequence of two-dimensional planes
that collectively form a picture, a tableau.

The opera’s interior is equally scenographic.

Individual spaces are rarely contained by walls.
Jacques-Germain Soufflot. Church of Ste.-Genevieve (Pantheon), Paris, 1756-90. They are instead outlined by generously opened
Contemporary engraving of interior by Munier and Nee

177
 screens that layer back in space from the spectator. the destination.
Standing in the Grand Vestibule, for example, one
looks through an arcade screen into the Vestibule As the diagrams show, Garnier created
de Controle, through another screen into the Grand a strong axis for the spectator to move on and
Escalier cage, and, at least potentially, through the reach the Grand Scalier. The constant hide and
cage screen into the auditorium corridors that lie reveal of the Grand Escalier through the columns
beyond. The visual passage from brighter Grand encourages the observer to move on and not to
Vestibule, to darker Vestibule de Controle, to forget the destination. However, by layering a
brighter Grand Escalier cage, to darker auditorium combination of wide, narrow and especially long,
corridors further punctuates and emphasizes the Garnier plays a game with the moving spectator.
receding tableaux.
By shaping some of the thresholds
Looking at the diagrams that demonstrate spaciously, sufficiently wide and especially long
the relationship between the movement pattern Garnier created an arresting cross axis to the main,
and spatial pattern, one can see the layered straight path of movement. While combining it
arrangement of long corridor-like spaces around with narrow, but still long, thresholds, acting as
the Grand Escalier, the heart of the spatial transitional spaces to pull one onward Garnier
composition. These layers of thresholds, positioned creates a constant tension for the moving
one after another, are conceived as screens as the spectator. The constant clash of axis and the
columns are arranged in a way to reserve the full resulting tension is amplified by the play of light
view, while teasing the spectator as he approaches and shadow to signify the spectator’s procession
the Grand Scalier. The other artful spatial technique through a sequence of concatenated spaces.
that Garnier used is the arrangement of axis
and creating perspectival/visual tensions as the
spectator moves through these thresholds towards

178
179
 GRAND ESCALIER
Garnier’s reference to the spatial symbiosis between the building and the public
arrangement as stage sets carries broad who, by interacting with the building, bring
implications. Architecture as the stage implies architecture to life.
the public as actors. This relationship between
the spectators (public) and the architecture is
demonstrated at its best in the Grand Escalier.
The Grand Escalier is not only a staircase.
It is the focus of circulation for all four categories
of theatre goers. It is the Opera’s compositional
heart, to which even the auditorium seems to
be subordinated. Reuniting the four categories
of theatre-goers, it offers a processional
announcement to the public of arriving at the
Opera.
The opera’s Grand Escalier and cage
epitomize this idea of the architectural mise-en-
scène. It fulfills its practical purpose of connecting
the main lobby to the different levels of the
Auditorium through weaved ramps and the
surrounding cage81 . But, most importantly it
marked a significant rethinking of theatre design.
The Grand Escalier-its cage an auditorium,
and its staircase a stage-becomes a vast
spontaneous theatre where the public itself
performs. Architecture is the product of a dramatic

180
Auditorium
Stage
Lobby- Theater within a theater

181
 GARNIER OPERA HOUSE ANALYSIS
CONCLUSION
Justifying the movement patterns and the
spatial patterns with a social analysis of what the
public needs, both practically and aesthetically,
Garnier transformed a simple element of circulation
into a major architectural statement. His detailed
narrative of a spectator’s passage through the
Opera effectively presents the monument’s
composition as the product of its circulation.

By interpreting architecture as a
scenographic experience-a combination of layering
spaces with clashing axes and games of light and
shadow-defined by the perception of a spectator
walking through the building, Garnier opened the
door to a spatial ambiguity that in turn challenges
the spectator’s perception and encourages him to
be on the move constantly, while being mentally
and visually stimulated.

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DESIGN

183
 THE DESIGN PROGRAM:
LEARNING FROM GARNIER
Studying Palais Garnier’s spatial organization architecture needs to bring for today’s society in
and qualities in relationship to its program as Auckland does not have much to do with social
an opera house, reveals Garnier’s stance about class and equality. The main concern is to save
program. He considered the act of ‘attending an opera as an art form in the current cultural context
opera show’ as a social activity and, therefore, of Auckland and New Zealand.
realized the opera house as a platform to create Attending opera performances in Auckland one
social interaction between the public, regardless instantly notices the huge gap between the opera
of their social class. The development of spaces in goers demographics; the large number of old and
Palais Garnier reflects Garnier’s sensitivity for the middle age opera goers contrasts with the small
public’s social complexity of experience. By means number of young opera goers attending. Projecting
of architecture-choreographing the entrances,the into future this gap can be quite alarming. Who
Grand Escalier and foyers-he has challenged the will attend an opera performance in 50 years time?
norms of society at the time as he believed that Is opera as an art form destined to die in the near
those who have already “arrived” in society might future?
have fewer stairs to climb than those still climbing Considering the price of an opera performance
the social ladder, but everyone begins and interacts ticket and comparing it to that of a pop concert
in public on the same level of equality.78 ticket79, it is clear that it is not a case of economic
Learning from Garnier, the challenge that affordability, but a lack of cultural awareness about

78. Christopher Mead. Charles Garnier’s Paris Opera: Architectural Empathy and the Renaissance of French Classicism (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1991), 133-134.
79. Currently the price for an opera ticket (A-Reserve) is $98.50 while the price for a pop concert (A-Reserve) is $320.00

184
 PERFORMATORIUM

this art form. The program through which opera can be

As has been discussed opera production is an exposed to the public to bring cultural awareness
extremely technical collaboration between is ‘Performatorium’. This program is the result
different creative forces. However, this highly time of architectural, contextual and programmatic
consuming and complex process is never exposed analyses that have been done within the space of
to the opera goers. What they see is only the final this project. It is the platform against which the
result of this collaboration. extracted strategies will be put on test.
Culture is work, not just passive consumption. What ‘Performatorium’ is a performance machine with its
is needed is public participation. Attending an engine exposed. It is a facility to produce, present
opera performance is not simply a cultural act and and preserve performance art, mainly opera, while
it does not contribute much to the cultural body exposing the process to the public. It also acts
of New Zealand. In order to create this cultural as the gravitational point of the cultural hub of
awareness, there needs to be cultural education Auckland city-Aotea Quarter-without overlapping
happening through exposure. the function of any currently existing cultural
The word “opera” in Italian means work (from the venues within the quarter.
plural of Latin opus meaning “work” or “labour”) Generally, in opera houses production areas are
and, by exposing the real opera to the public, there located far from presentation areas within the
will be more participation. Participation is the way industrial zones. However, in Performatorium, to
to inspire creativity and, with creativity, the power
to propel opera into a new dimension can be
generated.

185
 expose the production of opera to the public, the Production
workshops are located next to the opera house Presentation
and exposed strategically to public so that they can Preservation
engage with the act of producing opera. Also, other
educational and creative facilities, such as archival The phases of production and presentation have
resources and production spaces for amateur and already been explained in ‘Introducing Opera’,
young artists and performers, are placed close while preservation of performing art is a fairly new
to professional production areas. This proximity concept and requires further elucidation.
creates an exchange between experienced and Performing art documentation is essential for the
young artists, while opening up new perspectives survival of this genre of art forms and equally vital
for opera as an art form. to performing art history. The unique experience
‘Performatorium’ is a facility that primarily serves that performing art provides an audience with is
NZO (New Zealand Opera) and Royal New Zealand impossible to capture in other media. Therefore,
Ballet84, but it also serves other nearby performing performing art preservation has turned into a
arts facilities, such as theTown Hall and Q Theatre. challenging task that cannot be accomplished
Program-wise Performatorium can be divided into through traditional forms of preserving art works
three main phases: such as paintings or sculpture.
To make the preservation possible two main

186
methods can be considered: re-presentation, which is impossible without any
documentation of performance.
Passive archiving:
Passive archiving refers to the documentation of Facilities required for the Production phase:
performances. Documentation is important for
future performances as it keeps a record of ideas Administration offices:
and concepts which will be used as a resource for These offices include the administration offices for
future re-presentations. Also, it can be used as an NZO, Royal New Zealand Ballet and The Edge as
invaluable educational resource. it is the management company of Aotea Centre,
Documentation can be divided into: Auckland Town Hall, The Civic and Aotea Square.
Actual documentation and preserving sets, props, Artistic studios:
costumes, plays and notes of performers Rehearsal studio for opera performers
Visual documentation and recording of the Dance studio for ballet dancers
experience of the performance through other Technical studio:
media, such as digital video and photographs Sets and props workshop
Wigs and costume workshop
Active archiving:
Active archiving refers to preservation by means of

187
 Facilities required for the Presentation phase: Conference and function rooms seats) where re-presentations happen. It also acts
Secondary Auditorium: as a secondary space for presentation by young
Main Auditorium: A 600 seat auditorium for speech and presentation and upcoming artists to introduce their work to the
ASB Theatre (2000 seats) has recently gone through public.
a two phase refurbishment. The refurbishment Facilities required for the Preservation phase:
included85:
- Installation of new seating Preservation hall:
- State of the art theatre lighting Preservation hall is where all the documentation
- Improvement to air conditioning processes both actual and physical are happening.
- Floor replacement, interior wall linings and Digital Chamber:
ceilings with sound reflective materials to improve Digital chamber is where the visual documentation
the acoustics for a range of performance types is digitized and represented to researchers and the
- Improvement to aesthetics of the auditorium general public.
Galleries:
It seems absurd to replace a recently refurbished Galleries where the preserved items, such as sets,
auditorium with a new one while ASB theatre props and costumes will be displayed.
is highly functional. Therefore, ASB theatre is Experimental theatre:
preserved. Experimental theatre is a small auditorium (800

188
AOTEA [RE]SQUARE:
The immediate context of Performatorium, Aotea
Square, needs to be improved and enhanced
so that Performatorium can be effective as the
gravitational point of Auckland City’s cultural hub,
Aotea Quarter.
Pervious site investigations have shown that in
order to create a strong relationship between city
(public) and any public building on Aotea Square,
the square needs to be:

• [re]Defined as a void
• [re]Connected to the surrounding context
through articulated thresholds/entries
• [re]Staged to maximize social interactions
• [re]Programmed
• [re]Think Aotea Centre

189
 [re]VOID

Axis: • A concrete wall on the south

Tracing the boundary of Aotea Square its The primary part of the square is clearly
irregular composite shape becomes obvious. It aligned with the surrounding buildings. However,
seems that the square is divided into two parts. The there is an axial conflict between the layout of
first part is the primary space. This is the main entry the secondary part and its surrounding buildings.
located on eastern boundary of Aotea Square that In its recent renovation the square, once defined
the public enters through. This primary space is by Aotea Centre, has now ignored the building’s
defined by: position completely. The recently designed
rectangular grass area - occupying most of the
• The wide urban steps on the eastern side square’s secondary part - is aligned with the Town
• Civic cinema on the northern side Hall not Aotea Centre. This decision seems logical
• East side of Aotea Centre on north-west as the current edge of Aotea Centre adjacent to
• The southern boundary is open - it has been the square, is undefined and weak by comparison
marked by a row of trees and seats parallel to it with the Town Hall. As a result, the Town Hall’s axis
has been offset to indicate the orientation of the
The other part, the secondary space, is defined by: grass area and the secondary part of the square
• Q Theatre in the south-east and Town Hall in respectively. This axial repetition accentuates the
the east, dominance of the Town Hall on Aotea Square.
• Rows of the trees and seats towards the The looseness of the square’s southern
northern side, boundary - both physically and programmatically
• South-east of Aotea Centre on west side of the - questions the definition of the formed space
square, in between Q Theatre, Town Hall, Civic Cinema,
• Civic administration building on south-west, Bledisloe Building, Aotea Square and Civic
and Administration Building as a square.

190
The irregular composite shape of the square is the result of the The diagram demonstrates the relationship between the shape of
arrangement of the surrounding buildings the square and the surrounding buildings by illustrating their axial
relationship.

191
 The southern boundary: Performatorium:
The second step in redefining the square’s void is to
To complete Aotea Square, and resolve layout and to mass Performatorium.
its looseness, a mass needs to be placed on the
southern boundary. This mass is conceived as a Layout:
Library defines the southern boundary
and enhance square’s access and
building to house the extension to Auckland’s Performatorium is located on the western
public life Central City Library.75 boundary of Aotea Square and, therefore, its layout
This new addition, a public library, will affects the Square extensively. The Square is already
improve Aotea Square by: defined by the buildings on all other boundaries.
This leaves Performatorium as the last addition. It is
1. Completing the square as a void hence more logical to consider Performatorium as a
2. Enhancing both public and cultural profile subordinate of the Square’s form.
of Aotea Square by balancing the ratio of The following diagrams demonstrate the layout of
government and office buildings to public and Performatorium in accordance with Aotea Square
cultural buildings on the Square and the surrounding buildings taken to be context.
3. Introducing a new life to Aotea Square
by attracting more people to the Square
throughout the day

75. Auckland City Council. “Aotea Quarter Plan”, 11

192
Diagrams demonstrate the development of Aotea Square’s shape in relation to the the surrounding buildings

Diagrams demonstrate the development of Performatorium’s layout in relation to the shape of the square and surrounding
buildings

193
 1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15
Initial massing iterations

194
Massing: volume. These geometrical volumes are then
There are two absolutes embedded within juxtaposed to satisfy the building’s form both
the site against the necessary and required practically and contextually.
programmatic and spatial relationships within the Many different options are explored
Performatorium. These are strictly inflexible, yet however, only a selection of them are showcased
dependent on each other: here and from that selection only the blue foam
• The preserved auditorium, ASB Theatre models that marks an important step in the formal
• Heavy vehicle access from Mayoral Drive evolution of the performatorium are explained
further through other diagrams.
The ASB Theatre dictates the location of
“front of house” (lobby and access areas) and “back
of house” (backstage areas). While ‘sets and props’
workshop is to be located in close proximity to the
backstage area and vehicle access.
These absolutes, and their imposed consequences,
construct some compositional guidelines
that can be used as a starting point to decide
on the programmatic arrangement of the
building. The programmatic arrangements are
augmented through a series of blue foam massing
iterations, demonstrating the initial massing of
Performatorium.
Each part of the program is broken down
into its main elements and each programmatic
element is then housed into a simple, geometric

195
 1

PRODUCTION PRESENTATION

PRESERVATION

The building is divided into three main programmatic volume. The massing follows the site’s axes.

2 3 5

The preservation volume is raised so people can have access from Breaking the front axis of the site and pushing the production volume Adjusting the production volume with the dominant axis of the town
Mayoral Drive to Aotea Square further into the square hall. Lifting up the preservation volume for public access through the
building from Mayoral drive to Aotea Square. Adding a volume on top for
administration.

196
 14

PRODUCTION

PRESERVATION
PRESENTATION
LIB
RA
RY

7 8

197
 [re]CONNECT
The previous analysis of Aotea Square
and its comparison with Piazza Del Campo
and Schouwburgplein confirms that one of
the weaknesses of Aotea Square is the lack of
connection with its immediate surroundings. The
disconnection is primarily caused by some of the
Square’s poor entries/thresholds that are supposed
to tie the void to the urban fabric.

198
 Southeast entry/threshold:

The south-east entry, in the proposed

massing, is defined by the library on one side and
the ‘sets and props’ workshop on the other. The
blue foam iterative models demonstrate a step by
step and careful formation of this entry based on
considering the following:
• The Square axis
• Spatial quality of the entry

Considering the ratio of the entry’s width to

the height of the proposed library and production
volume was essential to form a strong threshold
as the new entry to the Square, defined by the
proposed library and production volume. This
accentuates the experience of entering the square
by marking a contrast between the tight space of
the threshold and the wide, open space of the void.
• Civic administration building

The logistics of south-east entry is quite

sensitive as it creates a physical and visual
relationship between the Square and Civic
Southeast entry to Aotea Square looking from Aotea Administration Building. The Civic Administration
Square towards Grey’s Avenue

199
 Building is one New Zealand’s finest modernist
buildings and an important piece of heritage in
New Zealand’s history of architecture.76 However,
Auckland City Council has identified the building
as a problem and is planning to demolish it.77 The
demolition of the building would not only erase
an important part of Auckland and New Zealand’s
heritage and architectural history but also it can
potentially weaken the Square and the surrounding
buildings as a whole. Establishing a physical and
visual connection between Civic Administration
Building and the Square makes the building an
essential part of Aotea Square and Aotea Quarter.

76 “$10m to rid Auckland of sick, rusting Civic Building”,

The New Zealand Herald. Last modified Nov 5, 2012
[Link]
77. Ibid.

200
201
 PERFORMATORIUM AS A CONNECTOR
The western boundary of Aotea Square, with the site; that causes social interaction
the location of Performatorium, has the weakest between the public, Performatorium and the
entries/thresholds to the Square due to the site’s Square. Consequently, the public turn into active
topography. promenaders, rather than merely passive occupiers.
A careful negotiation between the site and The “contiguous discontinuity” can be
Performatorium can establish the missed divided into a variety of surfaces that forms several
connection. Therefore, it seems logical to realize fragments. Each makes a crucial connection
Performatorium as a mediator between Aotea between Aotea Quarter and Aotea Square.
Square and its immediate context on the western
boundary.
Performatorium is conceptualized as a
cluster of programmatic volumes and objects,
affixed on the surface of ground plane. The
interaction between the objects and the ground
plane connects Mayoral Drive via Aotea Square
to Queen Street. As a formal strategy the ground
plane is considered as a malleable surface, is
interrupted by the programmed objects creating
a “contiguous discontinuity”. The ground plane
is sliced, pierced, interlocked, folded, wrapped,
stretched and extended in relation to the
programmatic volumes of Performatorium,
creating a new spatial condition that unleashes
the maximum freedom of movement on the site
for public. The public is encouraged to negotiate

202
Lifting the ground plane

203
 • Fragment 1:
The ramp (stretched from west to east) physically
connecting Mayoral Drive to Aotea Square and,
ergo, creating a stronger connection to Queen
Street
• Fragment 2:
The surface that makes a visual connection
between both ends of Aotea Square (the primary
space of the Square)
• Fragment 3:
The ramp that connects the junction of Mayoral
Drive, Federal Street, Cook Street and Vincent
Street to Aotea Square (the secondary space of the
Square)

204
Ground plane, a malleable surface Auditorium is preserved Programtic volumes are affixed on the surface of the The malleable surface is wrapped around the
plane volumes

Fragment 1

Fragment 3

Fragment 2

Square
 Fragment 1, connection between Mayoral Drive • Car drivers:
and Aotea Square’s northern entry: 1. Drivers going to Civic Carpark
2. Drivers with passengers going to Civic Carpark
This connection is shared between the Civic to go to Performatorium afterwards
Carpark entry on Mayoral Drive, northern entry of 3. Drivers who merely drop off passengers who
Aotea Square and the future Aotea Rail Link. As go to Performatorium, and then leave the site
a result, two main categories of people use this
connection: The ramp, therefore, needs to accommodate access
to required destinations for all these different
• Pedestrians categories.
• Car drivers The first design move is to raise the ground plane
• to the level of Mayoral Drive, forming a pedestrian
These two main categories can in turn be broken friendly surface. This forms a wide and long ramp
down into more detailed ones: from Mayoral Drive to northern entry of the Aotea
• Pedestrian: Square. This simple gesture of lifting the ground
1. Pedestrians going to Aotea Square from plane emphasizes pedestrians priority over
Mayoral Drive cars; something which had not been previously
2. Pedestrians going to Aotea Rail Link from considered.
Mayoral Drive
3. Pedestrians going to Performatorium from
Mayoral Drive
4. Pedestrians going to Performatorium from
Aotea Rail Link
5. Pedestrians going to Aotea Square from Aotea
Rail Link

206
A series of test models the explored different options of movement for car drivers and pedestrians for the connection between Mayoral Drive and
Aotea Square.

207
 • Drivers going to Civic Carpark
The inflexible location of Civic Carpark and its
entry to Mayoral Drive has been preserved as an
extremely functional piece of the old infrastructure.
The proposed ramps provide access to the Civic
Carpark from Mayoral Drive.

• Drivers dropping off passengers at

Performatorium and then proceeding to Civic
Carpark
An additional internal intermediary drop off area
along the car ramp allows drivers going to the
Performatorium to drop off passengers before
reaching the carpark level. The internal drop
off area is connected to the internal levels of
Performatorium so people who are dropped off
move inside the building immediately. The driver
parks the car at the parking levels and joins them
by an alternate entry.

208
 UM
ATORI
UM
civic
civic

ATORI
carpark
carpark

RM
entry
entry

PERFO
RM
PERFO

drop
off area
Internal
Drivers dropping off passengers at Performatorium and then
Drivers going to Civic Carpark proceeding to Civic Carpark

209
 IUM
• Drivers dropping off passengers at civic

MATOR
Performatorium and then leave the site carpark
entry
For the drivers who merely use the ramp to drop

R
PERFO
off passengers and leave the site immediately
afterwards, an external drop off area is required.
Therefore, a driveway near the Civic Carpark entry
is located on the ramp, connected to a drop off area
that is placed at the midpoint of the driveway. External drop
The sequence of dropping off passengers is as off area
follows:

1. cars enter the driveway

2. turn to get into the drop off zone
3. drop off the passenger
4. turn and get on the driveway again to leave
the ramp.

Drivers dropping off passengers at

Performatorium and then leave the
site

210
• Pedestrians going to Aotea Square from the level of the future Aotea Rail Link.
Mayoral Drive
• Pedestrians going to Performatorium from
The driveway is designed wider than required so Mayoral Drive
that it can be a shared zone for pedestrians and
cars. Following a straight route on the wide ramp One of the main entries to the opera house is
will take the pedestrian towards the Square’s located on this ramp. The ramp, in close proximity
entry. The raised surface of the ramp at the point to the external drop off area, is pierced to
of reaching the Square is sliced into two smaller accommodate an escalator, connecting the ramp’s
ramps. One remains untouched to connect surface directly to the lobby area.
fragment 1 to 2, while the other bends towards the The location of Aotea Rail Link close to the Square
Square surface to form a smaller ramp. and Performatorium brings a huge amount of
foot traffic, moving towards the Square and
• Pedestrians going to Aotea Rail Link from Performatorium on a daily basis. However, due to
Mayoral Drive the height difference between the Aotea Rail Link
site level, Aotea Square surface and Mayoral Drive
A ramp and elevator is designed on the northern these areas are disconnected while sitting next
edge of the wide ramp (along the Aotea Rail Link to each other. The space created underneath the
area) to connect pedestrians from the ramp level to raised surface of the ground plane-the ramp-is

211
 a sheltered space mediatory located in between
the Aotea Rail Link site, Aotea Square and Mayoral
Drive. This space, that is called mixing chamber, is
designed as a circulation core where pedestrians
gather and move to and from Aotea Rail Link,

RIUM
Mayoral Drive and Aotea Square. civic
carpark

RMATO
entry

PERFO

AOTEA RAIL LINK

Entry to
performatorium
from Mayoral Dr

212
• Pedestrians going to Performatorium from Aotea Rail Link

The mixing chamber is at the same level as Aotea Rail Link site and, therefore, people coming from the rail link
can easily flow to this space and enter Performatorium immediately.

• Pedestrians going to Aotea Square from Aotea Rail Link

By going through the mixing chamber and taking up an extended part of the Square’s surface formed as a ramp,
pedestrians coming from the Aotea Rail Link can connect to Aotea Square.

213
 Fragment 2: Queen Street side of Aotea Square, generates
multiple visual connections within the Square.
The elevated ground plane is pierced by the These visual connections enhance the social
opera house volume, leaving only a strip of flat interaction between people by turning the Square
surface. The flat surface forms a public terrace into an urban theatre, where people constantly
overlooking the Square. The terrace stretches change their roles from actor to audience and
along the length of the front facade of the opera audience to actor.
house. It then wraps and bends to form a ramp
along the southern facade of the opera house.
The ramp connects the first and second fragment
of the promenade to the third fragment to form a
continuous plane.
The northern face of the opera house is open to
this terrace at strategic areas. These openings
change the observer’s linear line of movement and
encourage him to enter the building.
The change of level between the terrace, Square’s
ground plane, and the elevated steps towards

214
Fragment 3: • General public
• Performers and staff
The raised ground surface in between the opera
house, archive, experimental theatre and workshop Consequently, each group of spectators can be
is sliced to form a long wide ramp to connect divided into further, more detailed groups, based
the junction of Mayoral Drive, Federal Street, on the spectator’s destination:
Cook Street and Vincent Street to the surface of
Aotea Square. It is imagined as a platform that • General public:
can accommodate different social and cultural
programs. This programmatic flexibility turns the 1. From Aotea Square to Mayoral Drive or vice
ramp into a contemporary boulevard that grounds versa
Performatorium firmly within Aotea Quarter. 2. From Aotea Square/Mayoral Drive to galleries
The ramp is a pedestrian only connection that (active archives)
cuts through a large variety of public and private 3. From Aotea Square/Mayoral Drive to the opera
programs happening in the Performatorium. As a house’s lobby
result, pedestrians using the ramp can be divided 4. From Aotea Square/Mayoral Drive to the lobby
into two groups of spectators: cafe
5. From Aotea Square/Mayoral Drive to the
bookshop
6. From Aotea Square/Mayoral Drive to the
Archive cafe

215
216
• Performers and staff visitors while maintaining the visual connection to
create social and cultural interaction.
1. From the opera house to experimental Thus, Performatorium provides an ideal
theatre’s backstage opportunity to broaden, develop and represent
2. From opera house to the workshop Stirling’s drum so that it suits a different number of
levels and connections.
For technical reasons there is a need for complete
separation between the areas used by the general
public and the ones used by performers and
staff. However, maintaining a controlled visual
connection creates a level of interaction between
these two groups, resulting in a greater cultural
dynamic and awareness of Aotea Square and
subsequently Aotea Quarter.

This scenario has a direct connection with Stirling’s

formal strategy - the drum - in Neue Staatsgalerie;
separating the general public from the museum

217
218
The zigzag ramp: The main piece, sitting flat in the middle is pierced
to hold the drum. It is connected to the backstage
The gentle, diagonal sloping ramp allows an easy area of the opera house from the side, while on the
promenade, while breaking up the ramp into two other side it forms a shared entry space between
zones of pause and transition. This enhances the the workshop and experimental theatre backstage.
act of promenading by providing pedestrians The other two pieces connect the main piece to
with a variety of options for movement and visual Aotea Square from one side and Mayoral Drive on
interaction. the other.
The diagonal slicing of the ramp divides the
surface into a number of small stages and
auditoriums for pedestrians, while providing
a sneak view of the hidden underworld, the
production spaces that are located beneath the
ramp. Thus, the ramp turns into a cluster of small
urban theatres.
The ramp creates a network of intricate spaces
that extends the Square’s public is extended
towards Mayoral Drive.
The ramp is divided into three main pieces.

219
 The drum is combined with the zigzag ramp to connect the two
buildings while keeping them separate.

220
The connection between Aotea Square and the junction Mayoral Dr and Cook Street

221
 [re]Stage:

As a result of following architectural moves Aotea

Square has turned into a cluster of theatres (
auditoriums and stages), scattered all around it that
encourage social interaction and encounter within
the Aotea Square.

[re]Program:

Re defining and reprograming the square forms an

urban promenade, ‘Aotea Loop’ that revitalize Aotea
Square.

222
Redesigning Aotea Square As a result, the square is defined

Enclosing the square by adding the library Aotea promenade starting from the down town going
through Aotea Square towards Federal Street

Insertion of a mixed used building at the junction of The promenade ends where it has started
Mayoral Drive and Federal Street as an traction

223
 CONCLUSION
spatial arrangement of all three buildings. The
ARCHITECTURAL ANALYSIS: SEEING THE association of promenade architecturale with
UNSEEN WITHIN ARCHITECTURE movement, seeing and perception highlighted,
the connection between architecture, theatre
Architectural analysis was used as a and the theatrical qualities of the promenade. To
methodology to think and design architecture. discover the theatrical implications of architecture
Three buildings- Villa Savoye ( Le Corbusier), Neue within the space of promenade architecturale,
Staatsgalerie ( James Stirling) and Educatorium ( further sets of analyses were carried out, to dissect
OMA/Rem Koolhaas)- were analyzed both formally and investigate the underlying strategies of the
and visually. space as theatre. As a result, the focus was not only
Commencing with a formal investigation on the space and its arrangement, based on the
the analyses demonstrated the underlying movement routes of the moving spectator, but also
formal strategies of the selected building’s formal on how the implied formal strategies affected the
evolution from outside in. The formal analysis, spectator’s perception within the ambiguous space
following Peter Eisenman system of analysis of the promenade architecturale. A set of visual
was used to define a step by step and close analysis involved in the position of the spectator,
reading of each building’s formal evolution. The movement rout and the visual experiences were
analyses revealed promenade architecturale as conducted. The interplay between movement,
the common compositional tool in formal and observation and perception of space was explored

224
to trace the underlying strategies of the ambiguous public component of the square. Formally, it
and theatrical spaces of the promenade. weakens the square by failing to connect the
square to its surroundings and facilitating public
ARCHITECTURAL ANALYSIS: the testified access. While programmatically it lacks social
and PROGRAMMATIC REINTERPRETATION AND attraction.
APPLICATION In an effort to improve the Aotea Square,
Aotea Quarter appeared as an appropriate an alternative solution to the one by Auckland
test field for the outcome of analysis. Site analysis Council was proposed, leading to the redesign
revealed the failures of Aotea Quarter, the cultural of Aotea Center. Aotea Center as the only opera
hub of Auckland City, due to the failure of Aotea house of Auckland, creates a second anchor to the
Square. Further investigations showed the design project; reintroducing opera as a highly
weaknesses of Aotea Square that informed and complex, collaborative and creative form of art to
imposed valuable initiatives towards the design Aucklanders.
process. Piazza del Campo and Schouwburgplein Traditionally, performance art centers and
were analyzed and compared as two urban opera houses tend to restrictedly separate the back
theatrical squares. Aotea Square was analyzed of the house from front of the house to maximize
similarly to evaluate the square and specifically the effect of the spectacle’s revelation. Most, such
identify its problems. Aotea Centre proved to be as Aotea Center in Auckland, have their production
the major weak link of the square as the largest facilities completely separate from the presentation

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 areas, while on the other hand preservation social encounters, exposure and opportunities..
is also done behind the doors of archives and Promenade architecturale is used as the
storages, with audience specifically restricted to main compositional tool within the building. Using
the auditoriums as the only place of interaction the formal strategies extracted from Villa Savoye,
between artists and audience. They leave unaware Neue Staatsgalerie and Educatorium, the building
of the creative and complex process of producing is broken down into its main component to be
opera and are only presented by the outcome like a connected back through the malleable ground
canned soup; ready to be consumed. plane. The ground plane is lifted, sliced, bend and
Underlying spatial strategies of promenade pierced to form a “contiguous discontinuity” that
architecturale and the theatrical spaces in Villa wraps around the volumes of Performatorium
Savoye, Neue Staatsgalerie, Educatorium and while grounding it within the difficult topography
Garnier Opera House (as the programmatic of the site.
precedent), extracted through the process of Through the use of architectural analysis,
architectural analysis, were used to reconnect all as a critical design methodology - that turned the
the pieces this urban socio-cultural puzzle into one work of architecture into a platform to observe,
coherent image. All the tools and strategies that dissect, doubt, speculate and eventually see the
had been gathered were assembled to create a unseen- the old typology of opera house was
theatre (Performatorium) within a bigger theatre challenged. Through its design Performatorium
(Aotea Square), to encourage an eruption of events, reorganized the opera house to expose the

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 ARCHITECTURAL ANALYSIS: FUTURE SCOPE

complex and creative process of opera production Throughout this project, capabilities of
to the public; promoting culture as work not merely architectural analysis as a design methodology
passive consumption, and to engage the public was studied and investigated. It is used as a pair of
to participate. Performatorium’s location on the glasses to see the unseen and to extend the design
western boundary, and a library on the southern possibilities while standing on the shoulders of
boundary, encloses and defines Aotea Square. giants. Through retracing the lines and projecting it
Thus, resolving Aotea Square’s disconnection back, new possibilities will emerge that can extend
with its surrounding and the urban void to be and enrich the work of architecture.
programmed, used and occupied by public. The
zigzag ramp establishes the missing link of ‘Aotea
Loop’. Subsequently, it connects the urban island of
Aotea Square to form a greater urban promenade
(Aotea Loop) to maximize Aotea Quarter’s potential
as the cultural hub of Auckland City.

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