<nettime> towards AE /comparison /parti

[brian carroll <human@architexturez.com>]

 (on seeing cyberspace, the internet, the network...)
 ._______________________________________________________________.
/_______________________________________________________________/
| working on 'the architecture of electricity' (ae) thesis to be
| finished near 2000 Common Era. just finished writing this piece
| comparing Greece, Rome & America. the upper-case letters will
| be of a smaller font size than the lowercase letters, and
| these words will be hyperlinked to their definitions, as will
| the numbered footnotes with the bibliographic information. of
| the concepts in this piece, most all have been established in the
| the thesis prior to this text (this is at the end of the thesis).
| thus, a concept like the E-INFRASTRUCTURE has a whole section
| detailing how electricity is produced and consumed, and that in
| turn has another section about what ELECTRICITY is, etcetera.
| feedback is welcome. bc
|____________________________________________________________.
 a r c h i t e x t u r e z : an online community for hacking |
 and cracking the architectural code - www.architexturez.com |
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
______________________________________________________________________

 AE   P A R T I
______________________________________________________________________

According to ARCHITECT Paul-Alan Johnson, an ARCHITECTURAL parti is
"central idea" of a work of ARCHITECTURE: it is 'the [architectural]
composition being conceived as a whole, with the detail being filled in
later'. (380n) 

Parti is used herein to mean the governing or organizational logic of an
overall work of ARCHITECTURE. It is the ARCHITECTURAL equivalent of
'seeing' the PARTICLE as the central organizing principle of the ATOM, for
example. 

An ARCHITECTURAL example of a parti is the ancient Stonehenge monument,
whereby huge stones, or megaliths, are erected in a "post-and-lintel" 
construction which Webster's Dictionary describes quite cogently: 

"Stonehenge: the remains of a large group of standing stones on Salisbury
Plain, England, probably erected between 1800 B.C. and 1400 B.C. When
complete, Stonehenge consisted of two concentric circles of tooled stones,
surrounding two concentric horseshoe-shaped groups, the whole surrounded
by a circular ditch 300 feet in diameter. The uprights of the outer circle
were connected by lintels, the fitting of which required great technical
skill..." (382) 

The ARCHITECTURAL parti of Stonehenge could thus be considered the
vertical stone "posts" and the horizontal stone "lintel." It has even been
argued that a unit of measurement, the 'megalithic yard' of 2.72 feet, is
the organizing principle behind megaliths like Stonehenge. (384n) 

In any case, because of this ARCHITECTURAL parti of post-and-lintel
construction, other meanings of Stonehenge reveal themselves in the larger
work of ARCHITECTURE. For example, as Webster's Dictionary states,
Stonehenge is thought to be an observatory for "marking of sunrise and
sunset at particular points of the calendar by the alignment of the
stones", a place for worshipping the sun, and a place for burials. (386) 

Thus, to understand the governing logic of Stonehenge, one needs to
understand how the parti of post-and-lintel construction underlies other
emergent ARCHITECTURAL properties, such as facilitating astronomical
calculations via the placement of giant stones on end, and on top of one
another, forming a basic unit of structure, symbolically connecting EARTH
and sky. 

Likewise, it is with the classical Greco-Roman ARCHITECTURE of TRADITION. 
But instead of post-and-lintel megaliths, the ARCHITECTURAL parti consists
of highly crafted pieces of stone, forming ARCHITECTURAL COLUMNs,
CAPITALs, and ENABLATUREs. 

These ARCHITECTURAL components create what is known as an ARCHITECTURAL
ORDER, each identifiable by certain measures of proportion and specific
style of decoration. The Greek ORDERs are Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian,
and the Roman ORDERs are Tuscan, and Composite. (390) 

Each of these Greco-Roman ARCHITECTURAL ORDERs has their own origin story
and type of construction often typified in specific temple designs such as
those documented by Vitruvius, and can still be 'seen' in revival in the
neo-classical ARCHITECTURE from the Renaissance to the present-day. 

John Summerson in The Classical Language of Architecture deciphers the
"rhetoric" and "grammar" of the Greco-Roman ARCHITECTURAL ORDERs, and
states that the ORDERs became canonized through an emulative process of
embalming: 

"The orders came to be regarded as the very touch-stone of architecture,
as architectural instruments of the greatest possible subtlety, embodying
all the ancient wisdom of [human]-kind in the building art- almost, in
fact as products of nature [itself]." (394n) 

In fact, the ARCHITECTURAL parti of these TRADITIONAL ORDERs of Greece and
Rome is very similar to that of Stonehenge, although not always
structural.  As Summerson states, it is found within a highly developed
version of post-and-lintel construction called 'trabeation,' a
construction wherein the "post" is the COLUMN and CAPITAL and the "lintel"
is the ENABLATURE or horizontal beam. (396) 

Trabeation, like post-and-lintel construction, also symbolically connects
EARTH and sky, often depicting the gods and goddesses of the heavens on an
ornamental FRIEZE. 

The final component of the ARCHITECTURAL parti of TRADITION, in
combination with the utilization of the ARCHITECTURAL ORDERs, is the
systematic laying out of a "grid." 

ARCHITECT Francis D.K. Ching describes a grid as a three-dimensional
pattern or field consisting of forms and voids positioned in SPACE in
relation to one another. (398) Further, Ching states: 

"The organizing power of a grid results from the regularity and continuity
of its pattern that pervades the elements it organizes. Its pattern
establishes a constant set or field of reference points and lines in space
with which the spaces of a grid organization, although dissimilar in size,
form, or function, can share a common relationship." (400) 

Often, in classical Greco-Roman ARCHITECTURE, an ARCHITECTURAL ORDER
establishes a grid, as Ching states: "A grid is established in
architecture most often by a skeletal structural system of columns and
beams." (402)  Thus, with the ARCHITECTURAL parti of COLUMNs, CAPITALs,
and ENABLATUREs, the grid begins its formation. 

This ARCHITECTURAL grid was used innovatively by the Greeks and Romans in
the laying out of their towns. (404) 

J.B. Ward-Perkins describes in Planning in Classical Antiquity the process
used by Roman military engineers and land surveyors to plan cities with
the grid: 

"The fundamental instrument was the groma, a horizontal cross set on a
vertical staff and used for sighting the rectangular grid of limites, the
balks or paths which constituted the boundaries between each unit of
ground and its neighbors. These were ideally, though by no means
invariably, oriented, the east-west limites being known as decumani (sing.
decamanus), the north-south limites as kardines (sing. kardo). Elongated
rectangular schemes were not uncommon, but the normal practice was to lay
out squares, which commonly measured 2400 by 2400 Roman feet- the
theoretical equivalent of 100 small holdings- and were thus known as
"centuries" (centuriae). The whole process was known as limitatio or
centuratio ("centuriation")." (406) 

Greco-Roman ARCHITECTs could then place their infrastructure and buildings
within the grid framework, unifying the various elements via the
ARCHITECTURAL ORDERs. J.B. Ward-Perkins elaborates: "Once the site had
been chosen and surveyed, certain public works were an immediate concern,
among them walls and gates, a water supply, a drainage system, and the
nucleus of a civic center. Other public buildings could await their turn
as the city prospered and grew. It was one of the merits of the
standardized orthogonal framework that it lent itself so admirably to
piecemeal development over the years." (408) 

Thus, for example, a diversity of infrastructures and buildings such as
water, sewage, streets, basilicas, piazzas, theaters, baths, markets, and
warehouses could be unified within the design of a Roman city by utilizing
the ARCHITECTURAL ORDERs and the grid of the ARCHITECTURAL parti. (410) 

What does this have to do with ELECTRICITY? 

We propose that an ELECTRICAL PARTI exists as an extension of the parti of
Greco-Roman ARCHITECTURE wherein the ELECTRICAL ORDER is an ARCHITECTURAL
ORDER, and the ELECTRICAL GRID is an ARCHITECTURAL grid. 

First, the ELECTRICAL ORDER can be "seen" as an advanced version of
"post-and-lintel" construction in the ARTIFACTs of the ELECTRICAL POWER
SYSTEM: ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION POLEs can be considered vertical "posts" 
and ELECTRICAL POWERLINEs a horizontal "lintel," literally forming the
ARCHITECTURAL structure of the ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE. 

Second, a symbolic 'trabeation' of the ELECTRICAL ORDER can be "seen" to
occur in the ARTIFACTs of the ELECTRONIC MEDIA SYSTEMs: ELECTRICAL
DISTRIBUTION POLEs becoming the ARCHITECTURAL "COLUMNs," ELECTRONIC MEDIA
SYSTEMs the specific STYLE of "CAPITAL," and POWER and TELEPHONE LINEs the
"ENABLATURE" of this system of ELECTRICAL construction. 

Thus, the TELEPHONE, RADIO, TELEVISION, and COMPUTER can be considered the
"CAPITALs" of specific STYLEs of the ELECTRICAL ORDER, supported by the
"COLUMNs" of the ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEM. (412n) 

For example, as the Roman Composite ORDER is a combination of the Greek
Ionic and Corinthian ARCHITECTURAL ORDERs, so too is the COMPUTER ORDER of
today a multi-media combination of the TELEPHONE, RADIO, and TELEVISION
ORDERs. (414) Further, this COMPUTER ORDER has its own specific ENABLATURE
created by COMPUTER NETWORKs like the Internet, consisting of a FRIEZE of
websites about ELECTRICAL CIVILIZATION. 

Thirdly, the ELECTRICAL ORDER creates an ARCHITECTURAL ORDER by the
regular placement of DISTRIBUTION POLEs in SPACE, constituting the
ELECTRICAL GRID.  This ELECTRICAL GRID can be "seen" in the billions of
marching wooden COLUMNs on typical streets carrying POWERLINEs for
ELECTRICAL CIVILIZATION.  (416n) 

These marching COLUMNs of THE GRID are also a spatio-temporal device, as
Francis D.K. Ching states: "Two parallel lines have the ability to
visually describe a plane. A transparent spatial membrane can be stretched
between them to acknowledge their visual relationship. The closer these
lines are to each other, the stronger will be the sense of plane they
convey." (418) 

This fact can help us visualize THE GRID by "seeing" the regular placement
of ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION POLEs as a continuous ARCHITECTURAL plane
defining the three-dimensional SPACE inhabited by our SPACE-TIME MACHINEs. 

Ching likely agrees in Architecture: Form-Space & Order: 

"A series of parallel lines, through their repetitiveness, will reinforce
our perception of the plane they describe... As these lines extend
themselves along the plane they describe, the implied plane becomes real,
and the original voids between the lines become merely interruptions of
the planar surface." (420) 

Thus, we can begin to "see" the CYBERSPACE of the Internet COMPUTER
NETWORK in the continuous SPACE of the POWERLINEs and TELEPHONE LINEs
structurally suspended between the billions of ELECTRICAL POLEs of THE
GRID, forming spatio-temporal planes much like that of Greco-Roman
trabeation. 

Also like the ARCHITECTURAL parti of classical Greece and Rome, the
ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE and newly evolved ELECTRICAL buildings can be
placed into this ELECTRICAL GRID as needed, just like an ELECTRICAL PLUG
and OUTLET, unifying its disparate ARCHITECTURAL elements via an
ELECTRICAL STYLE. 

For example, the newly evolved cellular TELEPHONE network creates a new
variant of the TELEPHONE ORDER in the BUILT ENVIRONMENT, consisting of
cellular towers, repeater stations, beepers, pagers, and cell phones by
recognizing and designing within the rules, laws, and structures of the
ELECTRICAL PARTI. 

In turn, this ELECTRICAL PARTI consisting of the ELECTRICAL ORDER and THE
GRID creates opportunities to apply design principles such as axis,
symmetry, hierarchy, rhythm, repetition, datum, and transformation for
ARCHITECTURAL construction. (424) 

In summary, the ELECTRICAL PARTI functions as an extension of the
ARCHITECTURAL parti of classical Greco-Roman ARCHITECTURE via the
present-day ELECTRICAL ORDER and GRID. 

We test the equivalence of this statement by substituting "ELECTRICAL" for
"ARCHITECTURAL" in Francis D.K. Ching's purposeful definition of
ARCHITECTURE, remniscant of the ELECTRICAL PARTI: 

"...[electrical] elements and [electrical] systems should be interrelated,
interdependent, and mutually reinforcing to form an integrated whole. 
[Electrical order] is created when these [electrical] elements and
[electrical] systems, as constituent parts, make visible the relationships
among themselves and the building as a whole. When their relationships are
perceived as contributing to the singular nature of the whole, then a
conceptual order exists - an order that is, perhaps, more enduring than
transient perceptual visions." (426) 

Thus, by "seeing" the ELECTRICAL ORDER and GRID of the ELECTRICAL PARTI as
an ARCHITECTURAL parti like that of Greece and Rome, we can begin to
understand the ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE as an ARCHITECTURE OF ELECTRICITY
representing our present-day ELECTRICAL CIVILIZATION. 

______________________________________________________________________
The New Lexicon Webster's Dictionary of the English Language, Lexicon
Publications, Inc. NY, c.1989 Edition (355) p.309, (382) p.976 (386) p.976
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Theory of Architecture: Concepts, Themes, & Practices. Paul-Alan
Johnson. With a Foreword by Stanley Tigerman. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New
York. c.1994. (380n) p.338 & p.240, with reference to the Beaux Arts use of
the parti in architectural design.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
An Introduction to Prehistoric Archeology, Third Edition. Frank Hole and
Robert F. Heizer. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. New York. c.1965 (384n)
pp.410-411, see studies by Alexander Thom.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Architecture. Edited by Cyril M. Harris,
c.1977. Dover Publications, Inc. New York. (390) p.389 (414) p.130
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Classical Langauge of Architecture, John Summerson, c.1963 & the BBC.
The M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Thirteenth printing 1987.
(394n) p.10, the gender reference in this quote is neutralized, even though
many of the classical orders were given either a masculine or feminine
essence, as was nature. (396) p.15,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Architecture: Form-Space & Order, Francis D.K. Ching, Van Nostrand
Reinhold, NY, c.1979, (398) p.238, (400) p.238, (402) p.239, (418) p.30,
(420) p.30, (424) p.333, (426) p.11,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Planning and Cities: Cities of Ancient Greece and Italy: Planning in
Classical Antiquity. J.B. Ward-Perkins, c.1974. George Braziller, New York.
(404) p.27, (406) pp.27-28, (408) p.30, (410) p.29,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(412n) The electrical light can also be considered the most basic
electrical order, equivalent to the Tuscan order.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(416n) The electrical grid continues even when underground, sans poles,
taking on the dimension of 'disneyfication' in its hidden modus operandi.
------------------------------------------------------------------------





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