Myth as Material: Oral Traditions in Architectural Design

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What do divine grudge-holding gods and structure have in frequent? Originating in historical Greece, oral storytelling – or extra precisely fable – was the primary cultural phenomenon the place space-making and narrative clashed. Myths have been tales crafted by societies to elucidate pure phenomena, the creation of the world, and the character of people. They concerned highly effective beings, supernatural worlds and epic tales.

Particularly within the fifth century BC, myths turned a elementary a part of Greek tradition, used not solely as a type of leisure but additionally as a software for didactic educating. Cosmogonic Myths talked in regards to the origins of the universe (the cosmos), Theogonic Myths weaved narratives in regards to the relationship between gods and folks, Aetiological Myths defined explicit pure phenomena and, lastly, Foundational Myths have been tales associated to the founding of cities and societal fashions.

Plato, specifically, was the primary to make use of (foundational) myths in his work to discover the thought of the perfect metropolis. By means of his dialogues – the Legal guidelines, the Republic and Critias – he created cities reminiscent of Kallipolis, Atlantis and primeval Athens to check out his theories, which surprisingly adopted a selected city imaginative and prescient. Atlantis, for instance, was described as an island fabricated from concentric circles, three of land and three of sea, and on the middle, a small hill hosted the palace of Poseidon, his temple and an array of rivers and gardens.

Trendy thinkers reminiscent of Mircea Eliade have studied how cultures orient their buildings as cosmic diagrams, the place their plan follows for instance the solar or world axes. He explicitly argues that myths are spatially translated not merely by ornamental components however really by appearing as a really energetic software in figuring out the general hierarchy of house.

In parallel, Joseph Campbell in his e-book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), maps out a common sample in fable storytelling, defining it as: departure, initiation and return. Curiously, this mannequin — if imagined spatially — describes many architectural buildings reminiscent of temples or shrines, the place thresholds (i.e. a legendary gateway that transports the hero into one other world), sequential chambers (i.e. the collection of ordeals they’ve to beat) or sanctums (i.e., the profitable return house) are actively employed.

Progressively, the phrase “fable” has been changed with phrases reminiscent of folklore, i.e. oral tales handed down inside a cultural group, and even fiction. But, whatever the particular time period, these oral tales turned the blueprint for some fairly unimaginable architectural works. The Angkor Wat in Cambodia for instance, is a temple advanced constructed throughout the twelfth century that embodies two of probably the most influential Indian epics: the tales of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The reliefs alongside the temple’s surfaces develop into visible translations of those tales, whereas the inside circulation guides guests by a collection of narrative-based areas that showcase battles, journeys and cosmic struggles, presenting them on the rhythm of oral recitation.

Equally, discovered within the Southwestern U.S., the Navajo Hogan is a standard dwelling typology constructed from timber, earth and stone, whose entrance is oriented in direction of the east, welcoming the rising solar. In Navajo tradition, the Hogan is a sacred house, the place every day rituals and ceremonial practices are hosted and the place the construction’s 4 partitions symbolize the sacred mountains that encompass the territory.

Architectural mythmaking, nonetheless, isn’t solely present in historical temples and forgotten cultures. Two of probably the most well-known, modern works that show spatial storytelling are Peter Zumthor’s Bruder Klaus Discipline Chapel in Germany (2007) and Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin (2001). The primary makes use of materiality as expression, the place the chapel’s charred, hole inside fabricated from burnt timber constructs a threshold that actually connects darkness and illumination. The second makes use of cultural trauma and tales in regards to the holocaust as spatial instruments to create fragmented areas, voids and disorienting passages that speak about loss and survival.

Lastly, the digital period has additionally given a brand new life in oral storytelling traditions. By means of the usage of digital and augmented actuality individuals might be immersed in worlds, that are not possible to materialize with present building applied sciences. In parallel, video video games have pushed architectural myth-making in an entire new degree, not solely setting up interactive legendary landscapes but additionally establishing storylines, quests and rituals that mirror the construction of historical epics, permitting gamers to inhabit and carry out myths in actual time.

In reality, architects usually pay too shut consideration to a spot’s bodily cultural heritage. Ruins, historical websites, protected landscapes and listed buildings are all the time celebrated, recorded and carefully guarded, being thought of integral elements of a metropolis or place. Nonetheless, there’s one other, immaterial side of tradition that performs an equally necessary position to the formation and operation of an city atmosphere or architectural house. Even when invisible, myths, tales, folklore or fiction form collective reminiscence and identification, quietly scripting how areas are inhabited, remembered and finally reimagined throughout generations.

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Featured Picture: Marek Śliwecki, Berlin Jüdisches Museum und der Libeskind-Bau (cropped), CC BY-SA 4.0