DYNAMICS AS A WAY OF PERCEIVING GEOMETRY

ANNA DYBCZYŃSKA-BUŁYSZKO

ABSTRACT

In the wake of the developing art (paintings) modernist architecture introduced dynamics into spatial composition. Neoplasticism based it on regular rhythm and open composition, while functionalism based it on movement – the way we perceive geometry while moving through space. In the 1930s the spatial perception model in accordance with physiology principles (regular rhythm) was replaced by the perception model in accordance with the principles of psychology (theory of incentives) and relied on the creation of a subjective psychological narrative. The subjective impression, kept vague on purpose, enabled diverse interpretation and created a new canon of the basic elements of architectural composition (Norberg-Schulz): the center, the direction, an area – characteristic because they did not define borders of the form. Ambiguity or freedom of interpretation of the space allows (as an option proposed rather than imposed by the architect) for a transfer of values. The pavilion at the world exhibition in Paris in 1937 with the design by Romuald Gutt can be viewed as an example where the psychological narrative despite the "open form" culminates in definite geometry – the acousctical shell’s dome. It serves as a message from the architect, who in 1936 had decided that the greatest value of Poland in those times, at the international exhibition, was its cultural value – represented symbolically by concerts with Chopin’s music.

Key words: composition, architectural space, dynamics of space, neoplasticism, architectural rhythm, open composition, architectural narrative, Władysław Strzemiński, Jan Koszczyc-Witkiewicz, Edgar Norwerth, Romuald Gutt, Christian Norberg-Schulz, architectural theory, Polish interwar architecture