Kenneth Frampton Kenneth Frampton's lecture "Habitat Revisited: From Land Form to Corporeal Space" was the keynote address of the Architectural League's 2002-2003 lecture series, "Habitation." Frampton argued that settlement must be integrated with landscape, and that interiors must be designed to respond "both ergonomically and poetically" to the needs of the human body. Outlining the "contemporary predicament" faced by designers and planners, Frampton suggested that "despite and even because of our over-estimating technoscientific prowess, any kind of reasonably homeostatic pattern of land settlement continues to el ude us. We are no nearer now to solving the predicament imposed by limitless megalopolitan development than we were half a century ago." Framing Frampton's talk was his two-fold definition of "habitat." "The idea of habitat" he explained, "is based first upon the extrinsic nature of the land form created by b y the residential fabric, and second upon the intrinsic i ntrinsic character of its inner corporeal space." For Frampton, these two must be critically interrelated in the design of any residential settlement so that habitat becomes "the symbiotic integration of nature and culture." On the basis of this schema, Frampton singled out for criticism two tendencies in contemporary architecture. The first is "the constant habit of o f treating every building as though it's a free standing object, plunked down on the earth as though by parachute." The second is "the penchant for either neo-expressionism or neo-minimalism, which are both r eductive in their approach to the design of corporeal space." The first of these tendencies has spawned the "endless panorama of free-standing objects that litter the megalopolitan landscape . . . irrespective of their hypothetical architectonic or aesthetic quality," while the second has led to "underarticulated formalistic volumes that do not provide for the accommodation of the subject in a sufficiently responsive and poetic manner." In opposition to these two tendencies Frampton set the concepts of "land form" and "corporeal space." "Land forms," Frampton explained, are "interventions conceived from the outset as a new topography, thereby reprofiling the sense of ground through the superimpostition of insterstitial residential form." This idea is neatly encapsulated in the German idea of teppichhäuse, which Frampton explained to mean, "a woven residential fabric that is virtually inseparable from the configuration of the ground." For Frampton, corporeal space accommodates the ergonomic and emotional needs of the subject, and stems from a design process that elevates consideration of human needs over formal expression. As examples of "the potential to create environments that are more critically articulated," Frampton discussed Eileen Gray and Jean Bodovici's E-1027 house, and selected projects by Roland Rainer. Frampton's discussion of E-1027, a 1929 modernist house nestled into a cliff on the French Riviera, centered on the "tactile and corporeal interior that is capable of responding both ergonomically and poetically to the constantly changing needs of the human subject." Frampton detailed the multiple movement paths stemming from the main entry, the subtle integration, but not compromise, of elegantly unfolding public p ublic and private sequences, the blending of indoor and outdoor sequences, and the ability of the spaces to accommodate various dwelling and entertaining functions. To outline Gray's design thinking, Frampton quoted from a book on E-1027 published by the architects: "the thing constructed is more important than the way it is constructed and the process is subordinate to the plan not the plan to the process. It is not only a matter of constructing beautiful arrangements of lines but above all, dwellings for people."
Frampton also highlighted the house's furnishings and other appurtenances. On the southern elevation, sliding windows can be retracted into the wall, so that the subject can adjust the boundary between interior and exterior at will. In bad weather conditions, "it suffices" explains Gray, "to close the large southern windows, draw the curtains, and open the small northern windows that overlook the garden of lemon trees and the old village to seek a new and different horizon where the masses of greenery replace the expanses of blue and gray." Frampton showed Gray's "non conformist chair," which, with only one arm-rest, allows a greater number of sitting positions, as an example of how for Gray "this question of posture according to changing moods, and feelings, and climate and so on is a huge issue." As an example of Gray's assiduous attention to ergonomics, Frampton quoted again from the E-1027 book. "The [guest room] linen cupboard below the window is placed at the height of the hands so that the bottom can be reached effortlessly without bending over. It is hung from the wall, which allows the tile flooring underneath to be easily cleaned. The stair has been built using smallest possible dimensions but with large deep steps that are grooved to be comfortable. The stair-shaft is much larger than the spiral stairs so that the volume seems light and airy around the spiral stair, which serves like a step ladder for a series of cupboards that are ventilated, lit, and accessible from both inside and outside [the stair.]" "It is in my opinion," concluded Frampton, "a kind of poetry of equipment. It's an extremely small house yet as you move around it there are constantly changing corporeal situations that respond to the movement gesture of the body, almost al most to excess." Frampton's discussion of Austrian architect Roland Rainer focused on his "overtly ecological approach to the issues of habitat." Quoting extensively from Rainer's 1972 book Livable Environments, Frampton outlined Rainer's belief that architecture should be integrated with landscape, even subordinated to it, by building with local materials, and making buildings "so unobtrusive that they, in effect, disappear." Frampton outlined Rai ner's rejection of technology as a means of addressing human needs, n eeds, and his exhortation to subordinate economic concerns to the goal of human welfare, conceived in psychological and biological terms. For Rainer, who boldly advocated low-rise high density courtyard housing as "a revisionist alternative to what was already the prevailing megalopolitan condition" of limitless urban sprawl, "the alternative of the atrium house [in] various forms and aggregations embraced cultural and even political consequences of the land form as a potential for cultivating a new landscape." Showing several of Rainer's houses, including the architect's own, Frampton focused on the interior dimensions of the houses, the integration of houses with the landscape through the use of stepped exterior gardens and courtyards that blur the distinction between interior and exterior, and provide an array of ways for the subject to integrate and experience enclosure and exposure. The remainder of Frampton's discussion centered on Siedlung Puchenau, a two-stage settlement on the Danube near Linz, begun in 1960 and continued for nearly twenty years thereafter. At Puchenau, the settlements are divided into three bands that run parallel to the river. The buildings closest to the river are shortest-typically one-story dwellings-and the bands increase in height as one moves away from the water. The buildings furthest from the river, and therefore highest on the riverbank, are tallest, shielding traffic noise from the settlement. The differently-sized buildings allow for different types of dwelling dwelli ng arrangements in the settlement, permit sun ample sunlight sunli ght to enter all homes in all seasons, and achieve an elegant "layering of the fabric into the site." Integrated with gardens, the stepped settlement descends gently to the river, hugging the contours of the riverbank. The settlement is not so much on the topography as in it. Puchenau therefore exemplifies an "articulated topography wherein the built fabric conceived as a land form is subtly integrated into the ground, thereby incrementally creating a new landscape."
In conclusion, Frampton reiterated the two basic thrusts of his talk. "The point is obvious: this question of how the body is accommodated in the living space is something to which we should pay greater attention. Buildings should be anchored into the site, rendered topographically, and not just as free standing objects." Regarding the architectural vocabulary with which this can be achieved, Frampton concluded, "I think that the modernity that we have, the tradition of the new that we have, is one that has already been established. What we need to do is cultivate it with a greater kind of care, without repeating it i t in a sort of simplistic si mplistic fashion."
