Architectural Memory

Context



Person
Position
Architecture
Place


Cues




Sensory
Movement


Memory



Physical
Emotional
Psycological

Termporary
Permanent


Reaction


Mnemonic


Pshycological



Autobiographical


Fragmented


Individual
Subjective



















Modern Architectural Theory " MARC4102 " Mohammed Imran Uddin 440523167

Physical
Emotional
Psycological

Termporary
Permanent
Reaction

Autobiographical
Fragmented
Individual
Subjective
Memory


Sensory
Movement
Mnemonic
Pshycological
Cues

Person
Position
Architecture
Place
Context
1.Central Courtyard of Ena de Silva House, Colombo by David Robson. 20081.Central Courtyard of Ena de Silva House, Colombo by David Robson. 2008Architectural Memory
1.Central Courtyard of Ena de Silva House, Colombo by David Robson. 2008
1.Central Courtyard of Ena de Silva House, Colombo by David Robson. 2008

THE FLASHBACK
On a hot summer afternoon, with my head resting on the table among stacks of books on twentieth century Asian architecture, sluggishly turning page after page in half a daze wishing if the ceiling fan could turn any faster, its rhythmic squeaks almost lulling me to sleep. Upon turning the page to a monochrome image of a courtyard with a Pulmeria tree, a feeling of suspension seized me in the moment. The aroma of warm breakfast, swaying patches of light and shadows on a stone floor filtered through the leaves of a guava tree translucent under the morning sun, the tingle of fingers disturbing the cool surface of still water reflecting the roof tiles glistening in morning mist, rippling, radiating tiny waves meeting the edge of the garden cauldron. A sense of calm after spectating the morning frenzy, nowhere to rush, nothing to accomplish, a free state of being, the carefree abandon of childhood. Awakening me into a nostalgic introspection.
The monochrome image of the courtyard that evoked in me a stream of memories was if the Ena de Silva House built in 1960.As perplexing as this incidence was and continued to intrigue, where an image seen for the very first time could elicit an emotional and vivid response. Was it the image? Or the place in the image? How could a place unvisited seem so familiar, covertly aware of faint memories that rested deep within yet could colour them so lucidly. Could architecture through its interaction provoke in us sensations, emotions and memories without consent? Was it orchestrated? What triggered it? Where the questions that revived me from my daze. The answers lay only in further exploring and tracing back to the source of the recollections. The courtyard to its inception and all that lead to it.
What I had then experience was an episode of Involuntary Memory, aware of the term only after being introduced to Marcel Proust, an early twentieth century writer who authored the longest novel ever to be published "A la recherché du temps perdu" or translated from French as "In search of lost time". This seven volume magnum opus is famous for its vivid descriptions of everyday occurrences and even more so for detailing multiple episodes of involuntary memory or as it is popularly referred to as a Proustian moment. An Involuntary 2. Components of an Involuntary Memory.2. Components of an Involuntary Memory.memory occurs when cues encountered in everyday life evoke the recollections of the past without any conscious effort and are mostly autobiographical. The most famous of Proust's description of such recollection occurs early in the first volume when the narrator after a dreary day, has a cup of herbal lime tea with a Madeleine, a cake shaped like an elongated scallop, Its taste abruptly carries the narrator years back into his childhood as a little boy of six, when had spent the summer at his aunt's house in the frictional country side town of Combray, bringing along with a barrage of memories, all of its sights, sounds and aromas. Filling him up with hope, gratitude and a renewed spirit. All thanks to the taste of a Madeline that his aunt use to give him. Proust further describes these involuntary and intense recollections as more striking and bearing the essence of the past unlike other voluntary recollections though they may be more factual. (Proust 1913-27)
2. Components of an Involuntary Memory.
2. Components of an Involuntary Memory.
INVOLUNTARY MEMORY
For Proust's Narrator it was the similar taste of a Madeline that ushered these recollection as he writes
"No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory - this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence."
(Proust 1913-27)
When such sensory cues from every day actions and interactions of sense and movement prompt a recollection of an autobiographical moment from the past, resulting recollection wrests from within a response that seizes one in the moment and are key features of such occurrences. These Occurrences can take place in various context and be triggered by various cues that could range from sensory, mnemonic or psychological cues.
These Sensory cues are like precious fragments (Mace 2007)induced by our sight, sound, smell, touch, taste and movement. Novelist Rainer Maria Rilke in his work The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge eloquently writes
"As I recover it in recalling my child wrought memories, it is no complete building: it is all broken up inside me, here a room, there a room, and here a piece there a piece of hallway that does not connect these two rooms but is preserved, as a fragment, by itself. In this way it is all dispersed within me…. All that is still in me and will never cease to be in me it is as through the picture of this house had fallen into me from an infinite height and had shattered against my very ground."
(Rilke 1992)
As Rilke suggest, these fragments are independent of others but when brought about voluntarily or involuntarily pull other fragments that are connected and bridging other thoughts but are rarely noticed and often overlooked unless profound enough. This is evident when attempting to pen structured thoughts or when writing a diary. (Mace 2007, 50). If these recollections lead to unpleasant reactions arising from previously traumatic experiences, if recurring are clinically associated with psychiatric conditions.
Most critical of these Signs are of context than cues as Proust's compatriot Gilles Deleuze suggests that involuntary memory
…Internalizes the context, it renders the former context inseparable from the present sensation...
(Deleuze 1972, 75; 58)
It is the context within which the memories are formed and associated, it is also this context that helps in identifying the memory and the personalised emotions that rest within its centre as soft essence, a core that embodies and hues our interpretation, sensation and biases about the moment. In Proust's episode it did not matter if the recollection were factually accurate, whether the narrator's Holiday destination was Combray or Clermont of it the river that ran next it was Vivonne or Varonne, what mattered it the sensitivity the narrator has and sensual immediacy to recognize the smell of her aunts bedroom, how the light fell on the Combray's Central square in mid-afternoon, the moistness of the air along the river banks. These may seem irrelevant but have more life and meaning within them than a factual recollection and appreciation of the moment. (Botton 1997 ) As the author of "How Proust Can Change Your Life", Alain De Botton compares these moments and memories to the differentiation between good and bad paintings, suggesting that bad ones may be actual or more realistic in its representation of the subject but may lack the essence that a good painting can evoke and how easy it is to relate what the artist is trying to convey. An Artist may orchestrate us to see their perspective and by putting us in their perspective helps us in taking a new appreciative understanding of the subject.
THE ARCHITECT
The intriguing image of the courtyard embodied within itself aspirations of a family, memories and the genius of its architect and a revolution. Geoffrey Bawa (1919-2003) seems to have devoted almost half a lifetime to aimless travel and self-discovery before finally stumbling, as if by chance, upon his true vocation…his childhood and early year holds a key to understand his astonishing metamorphosis from a rootless dilettante and hesitant lawyer to an exemplary architect. Born to parent of mixed Moorish Christian Burgher ethnicity in a highly stratified society of Ceylon under colonial rule, him family would not fit well neither with the colonial masters nor with the indigenous population, but did enjoy a life of luxury as his father was a successfully lawyer and also an aide de champ to the governors, who owned expansive tea estates. As a child he would spend most of his time on these estates and at Manor houses of his relatives after his father passed away when he was four years of age. Geoffrey's European countenance added to his identity dilemma and was evident in his social interaction, after his schooling in Ceylon, he moved to Cambridge to read English and later to become a lawyer like his father as it was expected of him. He was at ease here and fit well with his wide circle of friends, their avant-garde parties and was busy "exploring alternate possibilities" (sic). Owing to his luxurious lifestyle, he developed a reputation for being a man of taste and consulted friends on their interior decoration, gardens. Having travelled the orient and the Far East as child with his mother, he was now exploring Southern Europe, particularly Palladian villas and Italian garden as a general interest still unaware of his true calling. Later only to be pinned down by an ailing mother and draining family wealth. The fast changing socio - political climate was not of any help either, compelling him to return as soon as completed his education.
Seven year away had changed a lot for Bawa, soon after his return he joined a local law firm to help clear the family debts but was disinterested in day to day court proceedings, after his mother's passing in 1946, he bequeathed the remaining property that was split between him and his brother. Sri Lanka was inundated in nationalist spirits and was moving towards its independence, and was becoming ever more cosmopolitan unlike the quaint fort town that he was used to as a child. Having spent almost third of his life outside the island, he was now more at home in Europe and at ease in company of Europeans, or so he decided to sell his share of inheritance to buy a similar villa that he had been renting near Lake Garda, Italy which was a base for his frequent visits to explore and relax in the midst of Tuscan gardens. In a post-world war economy he could hardly afford the palatial villa that he was so used to, compelling him to acknowledge the other part of his identity, a Ceylonese with European blood and to hold on to bare necessities of his previous life, an English country house set in an Italian garden overlooking a lake, a Rolls Royce parked in his garage. With ever more aspirations but without the financial capacity to realise for himself, in turn he helped friends and acquaintances with his talent. He joined a local Architectural firm Edward, Reid & Begg (E.R.B) as an apprentice for the technical knowledge that he lacked, after Edward's passing, the only surviving partner in the frim, he decided to study to become an architect and set sail once again for Britain for his studies at the AA in London. A time when AA was raging with debates about international modernism, with camps divided into Mies-ian or Corbusian ethos.
As Bawa reminiscent in conversation with Channa Daswatte in 1997
"…I went to Lectures on Modernism movement, on Le Corbusier. I thought it was marvellous, thought I didn't find Corb any more interesting than Alberti or Vignola or Palladio..."
Bawa opted to spend much of his final year in a shared apartment in Rome with his Cambridge friends and would drive back in his Rolls Royce when his presence was required at a tutorial or a review. During this time he started to look more systematically at the buildings and gardens of renaissance and developed a taste for Mannerism and Baroque and works of Michelangelo, Vignola and Guillio Romano and even his final dissertation was a study on the German Baroque architect Balthasar Neumann. Upon graduation he was elected an associate member of RIBA in1957. At 38, Geoffrey's career was about to begin. Same year he joined back as an associate in E.R.B with projects waiting for him to complete that he had initiated earlier and undertaking new ones, collaborating with other partners, especially with Ulrik Plesner who he closely worked with on the De Silva House. (Robson 2002)
THE ARCHITECTURE
Bawa with Ulrik, worked on initial projects exploring international modernism applying spatial and material principles. But realised soon that it was not suitable to the local climate or culture and adapted instinctively. The De Silva House was commissioned by Ena, a Batik artist and her husband Osmund, a government official. Ena wanted a program that included an office for her husband, a studio work space for her son and accommodation for guests all on a urban parcel considered small at the time, this almost rectangular parcel faced the Alfred street and shared three side with adjoining neighbours. Ena wanted a modern house that incorporated the features of a traditional Kandyan house that Ena had grew up and wanted to do away with air conditioning. (Robson 2002)
This led Bawa to refer the Walauwe, a traditional Sinhalese manor house from the region of Kandy in Sri Lanka, while adapting it to modernist aspirations of the client and to suit an upper middle class nuclear family. The net resulting house was something quite new: an inward looking house on a restricted urban site in which workspaces, guest rooms, family rooms and service space were all clearly defined and separated but at the same time interconnected. The tiled roof and a localized palette of materials gave this house its vernacular feel, like all Bawa's early buildings the house was built during a time of shortage and import restrictions, when glass and steel were expensive and modern fittings were almost impossible to obtain. He could only use locally produced materials because these were all that were available but these restrictions encouraged him to study how materials have been used traditionally, inspiring him to be innovative and inventive.

Alfred StreetAlfred Street3 Lateral Section through the House (Robson 2002)3 Lateral Section through the House (Robson 2002)4 Ground Floor Plan (Robson 2002)4 Ground Floor Plan (Robson 2002)5. First Floor Plan (Robson 2002)5. First Floor Plan (Robson 2002)
The house was planned as two distinct yet interconnected two level blocks with the main living and bedrooms for the family at the rear of the site and with guest bedrooms and garage at the front, while connecting these were the servant quarters along the eastern edge and had its separate access. The most dominant and striking feature of the house was the large central courtyard, with an existing mango tree, in one quadrant and a transplanted Pulmeria tree (temple tree) slightly of the main axis additionally four large grinding stones where placed on the corners. The Entry Passage in to 6. Timber Lattice bay windows overlooking the central courtyard. (Setiawan 2010)6. Timber Lattice bay windows overlooking the central courtyard. (Setiawan 2010)7. Traditional House of the Moorish Merchants, Galle. (Lewcock 1998)7. Traditional House of the Moorish Merchants, Galle. (Lewcock 1998)the house lead through an elongated fore court fronted by the main door which was salvaged from a local temple and this leads into a narrow corridor that opens into the central courtyard.








Alfred Street
Alfred Street
3 Lateral Section through the House (Robson 2002)
3 Lateral Section through the House (Robson 2002)
4 Ground Floor Plan (Robson 2002)
4 Ground Floor Plan (Robson 2002)
5. First Floor Plan (Robson 2002)
5. First Floor Plan (Robson 2002)
6. Timber Lattice bay windows overlooking the central courtyard. (Setiawan 2010)
6. Timber Lattice bay windows overlooking the central courtyard. (Setiawan 2010)
7. Traditional House of the Moorish Merchants, Galle. (Lewcock 1998)

7. Traditional House of the Moorish Merchants, Galle. (Lewcock 1998)

8 The Satin wood Columns around the courtyard, De Silva House. (Robson 2002)8 The Satin wood Columns around the courtyard, De Silva House. (Robson 2002)9 Columns in a traditional Sinhalese Walauwe. (Lewcock 1998)9 Columns in a traditional Sinhalese Walauwe. (Lewcock 1998)On first impression the house seems familiar with its thick white walls protected from the sun and rain by sloping roofs clad in clay tiles. The courtyard was reminiscent of an almost forgotten feature of the traditional Walauwe, a typology that was replaced with Manor houses set amidst tea estates. The open ground floor of the living quarters is a reminder of the wide verandah of the Walauwe and colonial mansions, and the bedrooms on the second floor hint at the Piano Nobile in Portuguese colonial houses. The architects had placed a series of Mashrabiyya or wooden lattice screens on the second floor facing into the main courtyard that where traditionally found on Moorish merchant's shop top houses as these allowed for ventilation and privacy. Louvered doors and windows used in the house are similar to the doors and the windows of colonial houses. The house alludes to features of different houses found on the island, including those of the Sinhalese, the Tamils, the Muslims, the Dutch, and the Portuguese, although the elements are inspired and adapted to suit the taste and underlying ethos. Each of these elements when combined with traditional techniques and materials involuntarily evoke a particular emotive and mnemonic response recreating precious moments that are personal as well as communal and to these elemental cues the memories are tied to and tugged from, the comfortable breeze of the bay window, the sparkling pearls of water on dripping the eaves after a down pour, echoing laughter of the loved ones, await the sensate and the conscious.
8 The Satin wood Columns around the courtyard, De Silva House. (Robson 2002)
8 The Satin wood Columns around the courtyard, De Silva House. (Robson 2002)
9 Columns in a traditional Sinhalese Walauwe. (Lewcock 1998)
9 Columns in a traditional Sinhalese Walauwe. (Lewcock 1998)
The synthesis is evident in the use of reinforced concrete post and beam as the primary structure that blends well with the traditional timber columns around the courtyard that support the eaves. These Columns bulging at the centre to give an allusion of having as base and a capital without exact replication maintaining the essence of the original. The spaces may seem symmetric and ordered at first but its Bawa's modulation, layering and juxtaposition amplifies the sense of place where each individual element in insolation may not be able to. It is this context that embodies these memories that are projected on it by others and in turn projects on those who associate with it. The intensity of these projections may vary as does the sensitivity. Bawa was criticised for historically inaccurate details that he applied/ attributed to his projects but was able to synthesise the essence, it did not matter if the capital was from a certain era or from era slightly after.
This project was seminal in Bawa's career because on this project he achieved the synergy of culture, nature and architecture. As his partner Ulrich Plesner shares
"That (De Silva House) was the first house where the whole thing came into fruition. The whole concept of the big roof. About protection from the rain and sun and nothing else and letting air go though. She had all these carpenters and skills up on the estate in Aluvihare and we got huge satinwood columns that she fetched from the jungle. It was a kind of a whole mutual inspiration society, between Ena and him and me."
10 View of the courtyard from the family dining10 View of the courtyard from the family dining11 Polished river stones lining the courtyard11 Polished river stones lining the courtyardMore over the Bawa's aspiration for realising the character of a place that he was exposed to as a child and the gardens, houses he so loved, was just coming to fruition. It is evident that in his dilemmas about his identity faded away when he either voluntarily or involuntarily embraced all his eccentricities. His internal and external dynamics imbibed in him the qualities and awaken the sensitivity within him that reflected on his design philosophy that he is was known for and right pursued it true to his potential all it took was a perspective change impel and compelled by his context.
10 View of the courtyard from the family dining
10 View of the courtyard from the family dining
11 Polished river stones lining the courtyard
11 Polished river stones lining the courtyard
The Conclusion
The repository of memories held in each of its brick, tile and room at the De Silva house no longer exists as it was demolished in 2011 to make way for a car parking, with it were demolished all tangible those memories its image only remains. The involuntary recollection of the memories that I experienced on that hot summer afternoon were of my grandmother's home, where I grew up, the courtyard was the my first taste of freedom as child, where I could explore and marvel at the sound of splashing water. Just as the De Silva house it too was demolished and survives in faint sepia images but remains precious in high definition in my memory, ever keen for another episodic recollection and eager for another work of architecture to evoke another episode.
Architecture like art can evoke in us a fresh and an appreciative understanding of our world. Rising beyond the utilitarian aspect and as a respite from the familiarity of everyday life, dulling our senses and separating us from realizations that matter, stopping us from appreciating the hues at the crack of dawn, our daily toils and all that we hold dearly in our lives. Architects are able to do this through their work encouraging in us this perspective and expose us to these experiences and help us in understanding how to lead life with new sensitivity and gratitude. Just at the cost of our awareness.

Bibliography
Botton, Alain de. 1997 . How Proust Can Change Your Life. New York: Random House.
Deleuze, Gilles. 1972. Proust and Signs. Translated by Richard Howard. New York: George Braziller.
Lewcock, R., Sansoni, B., Senanayake, L. 1998. The Architecture of an Island: The Living Heitage of Sri Lanka. Colombo: Barefoot (pvt) ltd.
Mace, John. 2007. Involuntary Memory: Concept and theory. Wiley-Blackwell.
Proust, Marcel. 1913-27. Remembrance of Things Past. Volume 1: Swann's Way: Within a Budding Grove. Translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff & Terence Kilmartin. New York: Vintage. pp. 48-51. Vol. 1. 7 vols. New York: Vintage PP.
Rilke, Rainer Maria. 1992. The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. Translated by M.O. Herter. New York & London: Norton.
Robson, David. 2002. Geoffrey Bawa: The Complete Works. London: Thames and Hudson.
Setiawan, Arief B. 2010. Modernity in Architecture in Relation to Context. Atlanta: Georgia Institute of Technology.


Figures
1.Central Courtyard of Ena de Silva House, Colombo by David Robson. 2008 1
2. Components of an Involuntary Memory. 2
3 Lateral Section through the House (Robson 2002) 5
4 Ground Floor Plan (Robson 2002) 5
5. First Floor Plan (Robson 2002) 5
6. Timber Lattice bay windows overlooking the central courtyard. (Setiawan 2010) 6
7. Traditional House of the Moorish Merchants, Galle. (Lewcock 1998) 6
8 The Satin wood Columns around the courtyard, De Silva House. (Robson 2002) 6
9 Columns in a traditional Sinhalese Walauwe. (Lewcock 1998) 6
10 View of the courtyard from the family dining 7
11 Polished river stones lining the courtyard 7