An architectural program is already a crossing of materials and motives; it does not exclusively describe one use, form or communication but is a specific moment and measure of the constellations of human and object. Dimensions, for example, of tectonic, symbolic, useful and political activity are implicated in one another and form a space of conflict, negotiation and compromise. Geometrically, the space of a program resembles an assembly of the cross curve: “the locus of points in a complex-variable plane that have each two coincident correspondent points in a correspondent plane.” In the acts of programming - reading, drawing and writing - the architect does not stand at an analytical distance but is drawn into the spaces of architecture.

But the programs’ planes are not so pure, their materials are cast through the languages of the mirror, window and shadow. In the space of the crossing, the lines of analysis formed in reflection, transparency and projection are intertwined. The material of the program and is negotiated and so is its language. The trampoline is a figure for this negotiation; it demonstrates the resonance of programs’ space.

The trampoline is distinguished from the shadow of projection by the absence of a luminous source and field of reception; from the mirror by the lack of an external image for repetition, and from the window by its opacity. The trampoline moves with and against its collaborator it is tactile. It is a surface of dynamic resistance -- containing, supporting, and propelling; not yielding insight to another side. The trampoline provokes a dynamic -- attempts at balance, inversion, twisting, rotation and resonance -- within its player. It is opaque to light, now is the only time that matters, and its space is explicitly determined in participation. The exchange between the player and the diaphragm is dependent upon gravity for activity -- arabesques, changes in orientation, and momentary weightlessness. This diaphragm supports the resonant actions of its player, it does not yield to a beyond; its surface tension binds activity within the dynamic space made by the energy, motion, and attitude of the player. The player is tied to the surface, its lift and sustenance.

The collages function as resistant surfaces, they support readings which combine the three dimensions of the program in compound phrases. Making crossed programs is a redrawing of the programs’ language to redefine the space of the architect, public and work.

PHILIP PARKER ARCHITECT

PHILIP PARKER ARCHITECT