Architecture as Air

“Architecture is the air we breathe, an air laden precisely with that: architecture. ”

                                                                                                                                                   ——— Alejandro de la Sota

The envelope of Architecture is the container of interior space, and the interior space organization also shapes the building envelope. That is our common sense. Normally space is defined by elements like the column, beam, wall, opening, floor, roof and so on. But what if those elements become invisible? Can we still feel the existence of space? 

The answer is yes. Space is always there. The building envelope is just a way to limit the interior space. Junya Ishigami had his exhibition “ Architecture as Air: Study for Chateau la Coste” at the 2012 Venice Biennale. His project used 0.9 mm diameter transparent nylon fibers to form the invisible space inside the exhibition hall. It might be the most delicate spatial container. 

“Ishigami is a practicing architect, concerned with structure and space; however, rather than the formal or even ecological implications of organic geometry, Ishigami meditates on the poetics of natural and physical structures.”  

Ishigami used this kind of disappearance to show people space without an envelope. He played with volumes similar to SANAA’s Moriyama House. People can feel calm and serene atmosphere through those fragile thin structural elements. Back to the reality, the building envelope has a lot social and political meanings, and it varies through the time and locations. We cannot do the same thing like what Junya Ishigami did in the real life. However, the purpose of his experiment is to question the nature of envelope and space. Is building envelope an add-on? Should the envelope follow with the interior or the other way?  That is what we should figure out in the future.