The visualization of time is so immensely valuable to the human experience because it is one of few hyperobjects[1] that we are all collectively aware of and accept. The actual passage of time is the only way we understand it, so that is specifically what architecture should strive to embody. So far, we have generally only considered cyclical time—years subdivided into seasons, days into hours—a byproduct of production and assembly lines. How will this building respond to sun paths in the winter versus the summer? How can we activate this plaza after the 9-5 workers leave? Seldom do we ask: What will happen here in thirty years, when the fashions have changed and our living habits have evolved? However, asking this question should not lead to design that attempts to anticipate stylistic evolution; that’s for the fashion industry. Instead, consider this: There is no value to be found in purely formal architecture. The current hierarchical structure dictates that certain aesthetics are better than others. In other words, obsolescence is a hierarchical construct. A thing’s obsolescence is related to its time, its datedness, its relevance…our interpretation of time, too, is a hierarchical construct.
The relationship between architecture and time is a given, but we must change the nature of this relationship. The way it is now, time begins to destroy architecture, devaluing it. This perception must change. We must remember that old architecture is relevant. Jun’ichiro Tanizaki waxes poetic about this, Japanese concepts of wabi-sabi and mono no aware[2], and the value of impermanence and aging, in his book In Praise of Shadows. He talks about the patina on silver, the intensity of wood grain over time, the luster of grime on pottery—all things that accumulate over time. He talks about losing sense of time when he encounters certain qualities of light and even the lack thereof. “[B]y cutting off the light from this empty space [our ancestors] imparted to the world of shadows that formed there a quality of mystery and depth superior to that of any wall painting or ornament…for me, the most exquisite touch is the pale white glow of the shoji in the study bay; I need only pause before it and I forget the passage of time.”[3] Throughout the book, Tanizaki criticizes the (non)qualities of glaring lighting and polished silverware as superficial; they reflect (quite literally) Western (non)sensibilities towards the delicacy of time. As a writer, Tanizaki calls for this type of sensibility to resurface in the literature world, but it is clear in his text that there are architectural applications. In a culture where we equate time to capital and we never truly pause to consider beauty, only architectural space can bring about a change in these habits. Arata Isozaki, an architect who started working in the 1960s, works extensively with the concept of ma, another Japanese concept that equates time and space. Architectural space is synonymous with the events that happen within it. [4] Though technically we can say that this concept is also a hierarchical construct, it is not currently regarded as part of the same hierarchy that decided that time was cyclical (that is, Western society). THE HETERARCHY brings together all interpretations and relationships between space and time.
That is why THE HETERARCHY matters, why those of us who construct the world we inhabit must contribute to THE HETERARCHY, to design heterarchically.
THE HETERARCHY allows for any and all relationships between any and all things. THE HETERARCHY allows for comparison. THE HETERARCHY creates the foundation for open-minded understanding and tolerance.
[1] Hyperobjects are “massively distributed entities” that we can conceive but cannot touch or see. Timothy Morton, “Poisoned Ground: Art and Philosophy in the Time of Hyperobjects.” Symploke, Vol. 21 (2013) 37.
[2] Wabi-sabi: acceptance of transience and imperfection. Wabi is about austerity; sabi about patina. Mono no aware: awareness of things, relating to their transience.
[3] Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows (Sedgwick: Leete’s Island Books, Inc., 1977) 20-21.
[4] Arata Isozaki, Ma: Space-Time in Japan (New York: Cooper Hewitt Museum, 1979).