Introduction
Empty shapes are an important part of interior design. In a room these empty shapes can create dynamic energy or tranquility.
This is the Tassel House by Victor Horta (1892 Brussels, Belgium). In the stairwell the stairs face the landing. The landing is an open area shaped by the flowing outlines of the stairs. Because solid things are next to it, it becomes a palpable shape. Like a poltergeist’s sheet, solid forms envelop empty shapes.
The wiggly outlines of the stairs energize the empty shape. To create flowing lines, Horta used pliable industrial materials. Ahead of his time, he exposed iron and stretched it into sculptural forms. By heating, pulling, and twisting the iron he created seaweed and waving plants. Inspired by the author Jules Verne (1820-1905) Horta molded curved windows of greenish glass between the ceiling and the roof to produce an aquatic light. For more direct light, Horta clustered electric lights into bouquets of flowers. Did you notice the flower chandelier in the stair landing? Some scholars give Horta credit for being the first to light an entire house with electricity.
The 21st Century Stairwell is cut out of the second floor ceiling. Above and below are empty areas. Did you notice that the underside of the stairs is the ceiling of the first floor nook? The nook is an empty shape flooded with warm sun from thermal glass windows. The silver edge of the stairwell outlines the stairwell and meandering like a string as it drifts down. the look of floating stairs depends on the airy nook.
In contrast to the Art Nouveau Stairs, these stairs and the weightless volume below interlock vertically. The contemporary stairwell and its skeletal stairs are bifurcated by a central axis from the second to the first floor. The axis is marked by a chandelier, a flower arrangement, and a table. Symmetrical balance is soothing. No wonder this interior is tagged as an example of Feng Shui. Compared to Horta’s stairs, it is tranquil.
Ma
“Nothing is but what is not.” Shakespeare Macbeth (Act1, scene 3)
A Picture of Nothing
From early times humans have found energetic forces in empty areas. The Japanese describe their experience of these forces as Ma. The philosopher Lao Tse, explained the importance of Ma in the poem
The Uses of Not
Thirty spokes meet in the hub,
but the empty space between them
is the essence of the wheel.
Pots are formed from clay,
but the empty space between it
is the essence of the pot.
Walls with windows and doors form the house,
the empty space within it
is the essence of the house.
[Quoted in Alan Fletcher The Art of Looking Sideways Phaidon 2001 p369 ; FYI Alan Fletcher is a designer]
Translated Ma has many meanings. It is “the Japanese sense of place, and it has both a time and space component. In interiors, Ma is “an interval in time and space, [which] . . . varies depending on your perception of it. It can be volumetric, temporal, [and/or] social space.”[Retrieved 1/25/11 from the following: http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa082097. Htm] and [Jaanus; the on-line dictionary of Japanese Architectural and Art Historical Terminology, and [Japanese Garden Design, Marc P. Keane, Tuttle Publishing, 1997, p175]
People experience weightless shapes kinesthetically and psychologically. Ma is both – the physical sensations and the visual awareness you have of an empty area. Empty areas in an interior have energy. Their impact depends on the size, mass, and shape of the solid forms. These weightless shapes make a room look small or large, energetic or tranquil. In the Tassel House Stairwell, the curving lines of the stairs are a writhing skin that enervates the empty stair landing. The empty area and the solid stairs are co-dependent.
It is possible to experience a weightless shape in two ways. Both are spatial – outside or inside. Outside is like looking over a fence into a garden. Your mind’s eye understands the garden without touching. You imagine reaching over the fence into the open area in the middle of the garden. Video games and CAD programs are virtual experiences. You would never dream of entering the monitor. In contrast, the inside experience of an empty area is visceral. You experience the inside of a weightless shape through body movements like walking, listening, and squeezing through small openings.
For example, I designed an iron gate with large abstract holes. Mr. Bullock decided it was not secure. To prove that it was not secure, the two hundred pound man punched in a foot(up to his ankle), and then he started to wriggle in his head. The gate I designed was very secure. I had to yell, “stop” before he stuck in the gate. Mr. Bullock’s mind’s eye and his kinesthetic experience did not match.
This is Merit Oppenheim’s Breakfast. The weightless shape is the interior of the bowl. Because it is small you experience it from the outside. Being in the weightless shape or looking from the outside, either way, you may feel a sensation of Ma. Sometimes Ma is tactile. You probably cringe when you imagine tasting the wet fur. In contrast, walking between the large trees (pictured below) you can happily mince through the empty volume tickled by its perimeter.
Empty Areas are Volumes
The first picture,Faces/Vase is a two dimensional pattern. What is solid and what is space depends on seeing the vase or the two faces. The images optically flip from background to foreground. The second, is an open area – a three dimensional shape surrounded by trees.
During the World War II, Gestalt psychologists developed brain exercises, like Faces/Vase, to train pilots. From the air, shapes appear flat, like the vase and faces in the photo. By using exercises like this, pilots learned to identify forms.[http://www.gombrich.co.uk/showdis.php?id=10] Faces/Vase teases the mind to decide which silhouette is background- “space,” and which silhouette is an object.
The second picture, Würzburg Trees is an example of a weightless-shape between trees. The trees make a space shaped like an attenuated Hershey’s Kiss. Being there is a kinesthetic experience. Moving between the Würzburg trees, tourists experience – dampness, a change in temperature, and tree leaves brushing their skin. As Lao Tse would say, the shape between the trees is the essence of the trees. People choose to go into the empty area to enjoy their embrace.
These trees are on the grounds of the Würzburg Palace in Germany (18th century). They are part of the grounds of the Residence. Similar to giving yourself an artificial tan, English Garden designers used artifice to make the garden look natural. The gardeners constructed empty areas to attract strollers. To form an empty shape, they tweeked trees like these with ropes and ties. For information see [http://www.residenz-wuerzburg.de/englisch/residenz/timetab.htm]
Under The Table – The Little House
The experience of Ma in an empty area is natural. People are drawn to empty shapes. If a person (or pet) is short, the space under the table is cozy.
Toby, Angie, and Zeke are hiding for different reasons. They enjoy hiding under the table. Toby is the master of disappearing. He hides in the rafters of the table-house, then pounces. Adults crouching cannot see him. You will not see him unless you roll over and look up. Angie huddles low and does not move a muscle. She hopes to blend. If she doesn’t twitch, you will have to squint. 
On the other hand, Zeke hides waiting for his mother, then pops out and surprises her.
Under-the-Table is a turning point in many narratives, like the The Odious Ogre by Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer published by Michael di Capua ( 2010). The Ogre’s boots are big, taller than houses. He scoops up villagers and eats them. Some villagers run under tables to escape. He grabs them anyway. He cannot frighten a little girl because she is not afraid of him. Instead, she is very obsequious and offers him a muffin. The ogre has a three-page tantrum and dies of disappointment.
The empty area under a table can be scary; a place to squat until you fry. Maybe you have talked to people who remember “Duck and Cover” drills in elementary school (1951). National Security designed drills so students would know what to do in the event of an air raid. Children learned a catchy tune The Duck and Cover song. They saw a film about Bert the Turtle who knew how to duck and cover. A civil defense drill began with children watching a movie. Next they ran when an adenoidal bleat permeated the air. Finally, everyone crouched under her desk for safety. None of us felt safe under those desk-top-tables. There was no Ma.
After two years of frightening children, a committee decided that Duck and Cover “created anxiety and tension in children.”[Retrieved from http://www.conelrad.com/duckandcover/cover.php?turtle=04 ] Instead of a cute turtle some of us saw footage of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945). We saw people screaming because their skin and clothes were burning. They had Asian faces. We wondered, why are they burning and who set them on fire?
Under the table, pets and children hide. They listen to conversations. Later in school, notes pass under desks. Adults slip payoffs “under the table.” If you are unlucky, someone can trap you under the table.
Kami
Ancient Japanese religion was animistic. Some of the old shrines remain. They are located in natural forms where Kami spirit concentrates. The spiritual essence of the shrine is designated by an empty shapes around a natural forms. Markers delineate the perimeter of the numinous. Charles Wei-hsun explains, “Kami [do]. . . not abide: [they]. . . arrive and then depart.”Worshipers experience Ma at the shrines. At a shrine, “Ma is the magnetic field from which the chi of Kami emanates.”[ Japan in Traditional and Postmodern Perspectives, eds. Charles Wei-hsun Fu, Steven Heine Albany:SUNY press,1995]
The first Kami were non- corporeal forces – animistic spirits that permeated nature. Kami continue to saturate nature. Today, Kami are the essence of waterfalls, boulders, the sea, mountains, rice fields and typhoons; When you visit Japan, you can see shrines indicating the presence of Kami. [ word IQ.com http://www.wordiq.com/definition/; https://eee.uci.edu/clients/sbklein/THEATER/04/EA120-01b-04outline.htm]
The ancestors of the Japanese knew when a location in nature was the home of a Kami. The ability to recognize Kami is called”kehai.” [ Japan in Traditional and Postmodern Perspectives eds Charles Wei-hsun Fu, Steven Heine.Albany: SUNY, press, 1995] Today Shintoists and Buddhists recognize and honor these invisible spiritual forces by marking the location with sacred ropes (shimenawa), zigzag paper strips(gohei), and gate posts (torii). [Jan 4 2011, http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2059.html] The pictures above are examples of these weightless shapes. Of course, you cannot see the Kami, and you can barely see the sacred space!
The first picture of a Kami Shrine is a waterfall. It is marked by a shimenawa. The second picture is a Shrine with a toran gate. the gate indicates the entrance to a sacred space. This one is surrounded by trees. The last picture has a crown of papers slips and sculpted forms. It circles the aura of Kami spirit that emanates from two unusual boulders.
In Japan, the ancient shrines dedicated to nature spirits are as old as the second and third century. During the Tomb period (4th century) to Nara period (period 8th century), Buddhist and Shinto beliefs were incoded in the ancient animistic nature worship and the perception of Kami changed significantly. Today, at the old shrines, Shintoists and Buddhists still honor Kami. In addition they worship Kami at elaborate temples and shrines (elegant buildings often in bright red, gold, and black). Now Kami can dwell in temples and they may inhabit bodies. In some cases they have merged with Buddhist deities. Now Kami are non corporeal and corporeal. If you see a Sumo wrestler wearing the Shimenawa for a belt, it means that he is an embodied Kami. The Kami inside a wrestler with a rope belt is a typhoon! [Jan 4 2011http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2059.html General information about Kami: [ https://eee.uci.edu/clients/sbklein/THEATER/04/EA120-01b-04outline.htm]
Weightless Architectural Shapes
The Kaisersaal (1741-1755 by Balthasar Neumann) is an opulent interior. The entire composition is sculpted plaster work painted white and gilded with gold leaf. The room and its amazing stairs are part of the Bishop’s residence in Würzburg Germany. The stairs rise from the ground floor carriage entrance culminating in an elaborate room with a special ceiling. According to tradition, when Napoleon saw this interior, he quipped, “Not bad for a country parson.”
After reaching the second landing, turn back and look down. Look at the arches under the two flights of stairs. Each arch forms the side of a three-sided weightless shape. These shapes have domed ceilings, and each has four corners and a roof, but no walls. These vertical boxes form an open arcade under the stairs. The tops of the boxes support the stairs. However, the vaults are not easy to see. As a result, the stairs appear to float.
Ascend the stairs to a room with an extraordinary vaulted ceiling. The ceiling is one huge painting depicting people of all ethnitcities about to rise into heaven. On the rim of the picture sit important people. Two of the people, en route to heaven, are Balthazar Neumann (the architect) and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (the artist). [1/3/11 <http://www.residenz-wuerzburg.de/englisch/residenz/timetab.htm>]
The exterior walls support the large domed ceiling, and empty boxes, like telephone booths without wall, support the stairs. Empty – shapes create the lively and voluminous energy of the room. This frothy confection floats up and out the ceiling to heaven. Ma experienced in the Kaisersaal is up lifting exuberance.
This building is TWA Terminal 5 in New York by Eero Saarinen. The photograph shows 1960′s travelers using the many venues of the terminal. Saarinen, was a sculptor, furniture designer, and architect. In TWA Terminal 5, Saarinen used all three art forms to create a Surrealist’s stage set. The interior reminds me of Salvador Dali’s bone – paintings (late 1930′s). Saarinen choreographed the solid forms and weightless shapes to express flight. The weightless shapes are ovoids. Lao Tse would say these empty ovoids are the essence of TWA Terminal 5. They appear to support the solid shapes. In the musical composition, the curved mezzanine and lava stairs are the notes, the weightless shapes unite the composition. Look through the large egg shape on the left. Once Andy Warhol and I stood there waiting to get our bags.
TWA Terminal 5 (Exterior)‘s structure is like a “Toad House” -a thin concrete shell that is not supported from inside. If you have made a Toad House, you know what I mean. Put your hand on the ground, cover it with wet sand, when the sand hardens, slowly slide your hand out. Technically the roof is a hyperbolic paraboloid. Here is a reference that explains the structure of a hyperbolic paraboloid: [http://mthworld.wolfram.cm/HyperbolicParaboloid.html] Like wings, the lateral extensions of the roof stick out. Like a beak and tail , the front and back tilt down. Does the roof remind you of a flying bird?
Kaisersaal and TWA Terminal 5 are great Buildings of World Architecture. Both buildings came close to destruction. The Bishop’s Residence, which includes the Kaisersaal, burned on March 16th 1945. The stairs and the dome survived and have been restored. Terminal 5 now belongs to JetBlue. Because the building is historically significant, JetBlue did not destroy it. Instead, the new airport surrounds Terminal 5! That is why you see rail road tracks in front of the 2008 photograph. [http://www.lerc.educ.ubc.ca/lerc/courses/498/worldlang/german/culture.html] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA _Flight_Center]
Empty volumes in the 21st Century
In this interior, the weightless shape is an L-shaped short box. It is a small area in a palatial drawing room. In contradistinction to the Baroque elegance of the cream colored sculpted walls, the empty area is the inside of an oasis of strong contrasting colors. Upholstered sofas and a wall of side tables, benches, and a vase, bolster the empty area. In contrast to the large room, the furniture, which is the walls of the small room, does not have ornament. Like a butler, a silver ball sitting on the carpet marks the entrance into the empty area. Go in sit down, scoot back, and let your legs dangle. Absorb the splendor of the large room, while your legs dangle in the weightless shape. Do you experience Ma?
Sitting on the edge of the empty area you are mentally separated from the beige room. Although two historical styles exist in the same interior -Louis XIV (16th century) and the International Style (1930’s.) The larger room is the visual and historical opposite of the room where you are sitting. Low furniture in chrome and soft black and white fabrics are a chic contrast to the elegant warm beige plaster work. Like watching Stanley Kubrick’s historic movie Barry Lyndon, here you are experiencing two histories at the same time. In the more modern room you can relax and look at the past.
Translucent curtains filter a bright light adding to the whiteness of floor and furniture. This light also makes the sculpted beige walls more incongruous. Traditionally the windows would have had heavy draperies. And the floors would have been parquet. The room is about contrast and nostalgia. The design succeeds because of the empty shape. If the modern furniture lined the walls and there was no empty shape, the interior would look like a mistake. It would look like the moving people unloaded the van and left the furniture higgledy-piggledy. Here the visitor is magnetically drawn to the empty area. He becomes the thinking subject who puts it all together. Do you agree that the conflicting styles are a pleasing metaphor for contemporary thought and past tradition?
This 21st century room also looks back to history. It is an English Arts and Crafts Dining Room. There are two empty shapes on either side of the of the window. These open areas create an illusion of extended space. Each is a short three sided box connected by a path in front of the window.
The corners of the room form two sides of the empty areas. On the right, the third side is an armchair. On the left, the third side is a narrow china cabinet. With effort, it is possible to look into the weightless shapes from the top. To do this you need to circumvent the table and duck under the trees. Unlike the empty shape in the Post Modern Interior, these shapes are not inviting. Why would you want to enter them? They are clearly a place for a pet. Here the experience of Ma is from the outside. You have the sensation of inaccessible space in a compressed room. These open corners provide mental breathing room – a feeling that, after all, the room is airy.
The ornamental dado under the chair rail and the figurative mural are characteristic of the English Arts and Crafts Style. The horizontal moldings and the variety of patterns in the rug, upholstery, curtain, and mural reflect modern fin des siecle style. For more information about this room click here.
Picture Credits:
Introduction
Tassel House Stairs 1893 Brussels
by Victor Horta
UNESCO World Heritage Museum jpg
Contemporary Stairs
http://moderninteriordecoratingideas.onsugar.com/tag/lights+and+luxury+interior+design
Ma
The Breakfast
by Merit Oppenheim
The Museum of Modern Art NYC
Empty Areas are Volumes
Faces /Vase
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Two_silhouette_profile_or_a_white_vase.jpg
Description Two silhouette profile or a white vase.jpg
English: Two silhouette profiles or a white vase? (an optical illusion)
Date 3 November 2009(2009-11-03)
Source Own work
Author Mila Zinkova
Wurzburg Trees
Travel stories and photos about Wurzburg German Travel pod
treesgermany_ poster_p228207
Under The Table
Toby’s Hiding Ready to Pounce
by Jens Alfhe
used with permission (Flickr)
Angie Hiding Under The Table
byCherry Popz
used with permission (Flickr)
One of Zeek’s Favorite Hiding Places
by Anne Frank ( chrisanddanne.wordpress.com)
used with permission
Kami Shrines
Nachi (waterfall with scared rope)
https://eee.uci.edu/clients/sbklein/images/RELIGION/shamanism/images/08waterfall.jpg
Toran in open glade (Name of shrine unknown)
image belongs to <ojisanjake.blogspot.com> [according to Google images]
Two Boulders with rope and paper slips(name of shrine unknown)
If you can identify the two unidentified Shrines, please post in comments.
Weightless Architectural Shapes
Kaisersaal
Horizontal Picture of Stairs
Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-F079088-0003_Wurzburg,_Residenz.jpeg
Vertical Picture of Stairs
germany_2005.1115750700.wurzburg_stairs_2
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog
TWA Terminal 5
Interior
“TWA Terminal Interior” by ElectroSpark
Used with permission
Exterior
“JFK Terminal 5 Behind Tracks”
by Mario Burger taken on November 14,2008
Used with permission
Empty Volumes in the 21st Century
Postmodern Interior
“Roche Bobois Inside Traditional Walls”
Trendir.com
English Arts and Crafts Interior
StudioCelesteInteriors.com
