Two Definition

“Architecture is understood to be a special bridge between the real and fantasy”

Architecture is always about a story and that is why most tales are set in the city. From distant to recent history, architecture is considered a tool for storytelling: stating the authority either in a constructive form of palaces or shrines or in a destructive form of urbicide. In both, architecture is an artifact; is staging the fact rather than causing the fact: in other word, architecture does not create history (factional); history (factional) creates the architecture. But, history (factional) only concerns the wartimes, winners and losers, construction and destruction of the city (Michell Serres, state of war).

But as Michel Serres explains there are times of uncertainties, when enemies and friends are obscured, when society is on verge of collapsing (civil war): Stage of Plague.

Architecture is always about a story and that is why most tales are set in the city. From distant to recent history, architecture is considered a tool for storytelling: stressing the crisis either in a constructive form play or destructive form of riot. In both, architecture is a representational: is bridging the fact to fiction. Fantasies are often told in respond to the exciting reality (crisis). Within this respect they work in two ways, first they operate as machines, gathering victims to rebuild lost, they brings hopes, envision goals, promise prosperity. They are productive, every innovation and development has started from a fantasy. They are futuristic, idealistic. But at the same time they can be a remedy for reveling the pains, a distraction machine for the society. They operate like dramas, tragedies, which superficiality disconnect you from the reality and take you to the land of fantasy. Their successes are related on douse of spectacle, amount of representation, extend of special effects. In other word the history (fictional) does not create the architecture; architecture creates the history (fictional).

“The origin of plays is one foundation of Rome. The origin of spectacle, of representation, is political foundation. Foundation returns to equilibrium, to standardization.” Michell Serres, Rome the Book of Foundation, Pp214

I have to stop here to first clarify the word ‘history’ as it sounds vague here. What I meant as the “History’ is the written stories, either factional or what we commonly regard as a history, which is record of wars, victories, natural crisis, etc… and fictional, which is known as a play (For example the ‘Orestia’ by this definition is piece of history.) The first version is about the kings and the cities (artifact) and the second is about the society (polis).

Now after clearing this confusion. This introduction was essential for entering the definition of architecture, as I shown above, obviously there are clear boundaries between two definitions.

“In both recent and distant history, they have been those who claim that the sense of a work of architecture, like music or poetry, resides in the design rather than in the realized building… others have argued that only the realized work has meaning, and that the drawings are irrelevant once the work is constructed. “ Stan Allen, mapping the unmappable, Pp31

Originally Architecture was only considered as a building (artifact). Authorities always hired architects after the standardization. Architects relentlessly were busy building monuments, which they were nothing but another statement for the already told story. Monuments either were referential to the king’s victory or to a public suffering of a lost. In both stories had been already conveyed, the architect’s task was only to translate them into forms. In another word, Architect’s main challenge was “How to tell a story” rather “what the story to tell”.

“Architectural drawings work notaitonally, and can be compared to musical scores, texts or scripts… the drawings as artifacts are unimportant. It is rather a set of instruction for realizing another artifact.” Stan Allen, mapping the unmappable, Pp32

Now put these two soundly separated topics in comparison, to see clarity: a bridge between the fictions and facts. Starting with Michell Serres as he totalizes, founding a city consists of standardizing the nonstandard, the passage from the stage plague to stat of war. If we considered a city as an artifact a city, a place when the architecture (artifact, building) is up to built, the passage from the nonstandardized society to stable is necessary, and this is relevant in process of architecture, the passage from the depiction of reality (drawings) to constructed reality (buildings). But architects are known for designing theatres, arenas, few design a play. They designed the container rather than contained.