Man Shu
The Pleasure of Architecture - The Architecture of Pleasure
What is the hidden, but powerful mechanism connecting eroticism and architecture?
How to inspire the individual's erotic imagination and activate the society's unconscious desire through the sensuousness of space?
What new role can erotic architecture take on in our urban society in the era of sexual liberation?
The Pleasure of Architecture:
“Architecture is the ultimate erotic act. Carry it to excess and it will reveal both the traces of reason and the sensual experience of space. Simultaneously.”
Bernard Tschumi,
Fragment 9: Architecture of Pleasure
Chapter 10: The Pleasure of Architecture,
What is Architecture?
Fragment 1: Architecture = Eroticism
Architecture is imagination by nature. Imagination is pornographic by nature. Taken to its extreme, architecture is the ultimate erotic act, which includes both pain and pleasure.
Fragment 2: Pain or Pleasure – the Sensuousness of Space
The ropes and rules of architecture have the erotic significance of bondage: the more numerous and sophisticated the restraints, the greater the pleasure. Thus, during the game of erotic space, the pleasure is the pain, the pain is the pleasure. The pain and pleasure of architecture is an unspoken experience of sensuousness, which lies in the form of formlessness, coming from loose fragments representing erotic significance.
Fragment 3: The Pleasure of Eroticism
The pleasure of eroticism lies in the erotic relationship between architecture and architecture, which can be perceived as a kind of spiritual sensuality. Although palpable sexual tension exists between these entities, their consummation is often deferred or remains unrealized. The erotic sensation between architecture and its audience assumes a seemingly effortless yet meticulously orchestrated equilibrium, akin to the art of pole dancing. These moments of touching and gestures evoke a profound pleasure response.
Fragment 4: The Pain of Memorial
What is the pain of architecture? How to address both the pleasure and pain of spatial sensuousness through the erotic form at the same time? Physically, it has nothing to do with the symbolic form of the body, it lies in the tortured surface, the seductive line, the prickly point. Spiritually, it can be gained from the meaning of the memorial form. The memorial form is the representation of the cautionary form, the reflection of sexual risk. Simultaneously, it is a commemoration and tribute to the erotic experiences of space. Involving the structure of space, it helps evoke feelings of sensuality and celebrate the expression of human sexuality.
Fragment 5: The Climax of Fragments
The pleasure of architecture achieves climax ultimately, when the erotic fragments abruptly collide and merge in delight, all the rules are disproved, limits are perverted, prohibitions are transgressed, typologies, morphologies, spatial compressions, logical constructions - all dissolved. The starting point of architecture is distortion which is the most forbidden parts of the architecture act. Such architecture is perverse because its real significance lies outside utility or purpose and ultimately is not even necessarily aimed at giving pleasure.
A word of Warning. A piece of erotic architecture is architectural not because it fulfills some utilitarian function, but because it inspires erotic imagination, suggests seduction, activate the society's and individual's unconscious desires.
The Architecture of Pleasure:
Want Pleasure? Go to the Memorial!
The 10,000 m2 of Desire
The Ukiyo-e of Libido
The project is a public/non-private playground for adults’ collective engagement in sexual recreation. It is a spatial embodiment of sexual equity and liberation. Although combined with the memorial for persecuted women in Yoshiwara Yukaku. It is not a cemetery. Guilt or sadness is not the goal. It is a cautionary memorial against sexual exploitation. The sensuousness of space (pain or pleasure) is the destination. Sexuality can be freely expressed and celebrated in this inclusive environment. It is the Ukiyo-e of libido in the era of sexual liberation, inspiring erotic imagination and unspoken desires of society and individuals.
Yoshiwara Yukaku: 1617-1958, one of the three licensed and well-known pleasure quarters in Edo, present-day Tokyo. It was a vibrant and bustling area known for its entertainment, including brothels, theaters, teahouses, restaurants, etc.
Ukiyo: 'floating/fleeting/transient world', describes the urban lifestyle and culture of pleasure-seeking aspects, of Edo period Japan
Provocation
Fragments
Fragments
Elevation
Interior