manifesta and musings mash-up a.k.a. project brief

Glamour is the elusive element of celebrity culture that elevates the star. It is the careful transformation of a person from how they truly appear to an idealized fantasy that exists nowhere on this planet. Images in fashion magazines of unattainable clothing, impeccable hair, flawless makeup, photoshop adjustments and the occasional nip/tuck, construct contemporary icons for us to meditate upon whilst in line at the grocery store; celebrated figures imbued with an otherworldly character. The public instinctively craves these images like nothing else. The Church, an institution that once monopolized the production of glamorous visions of a world beyond, has fallen behind pop culture in the output of such imagery. Having taken on the austere desires of the Reformation, The Church is no longer able to seduce. Although the Reformation favorably lead to an age of rationality and the beginning of greater class equality, something vital was lost. The Church, which like modern architecture, fell victim to a narrow view of functionalism, needs to regain its position as the primary source of glamour and lure followers back into the fold.

Glam Space describes an architectural agenda for a chuch in Rome that highlights spatial qualities which signify that which is glam or glamorous. Originally, glamour refers to a spell which may be cast on a person. This spell changes how things appear. The primary modern meaning of glamour alludes to fascination, charisma, beauty, a kind of exciting and often illusory and romantic attractiveness. Thereby, it describes both a material quality and an immaterial one. Glamour gives utopian fantasy a sensuality, permitting a human connection. It provides just enough familiarity to lure the imagination. It is a highly mysterious blend of engagement coupled with distance. It is neither transparent nor opaque, but translucent: a partially revealed environment.

This shifting concept of glamour as that which is tangible/intangible is echoed in the notion of The Church which serves as a material representation of the trancendental world. The Church’s opulant treatment of space in the Baroque era not only communicates its otherworldliness but also serves to seduce and convince those who experience it, of the institution’s power.

Considering the two-fold formal characteristics of glamour, the built form of glam space will be a structure within a structure. The relatively sober outer structure alludes to the interior space but obscures its contents. Enclosed within is a seamless undulating surface which transforms from wall to floor to pulpit to pew and so on. Continuous curves make it difficult to discern depth in the space. The interior shell will take its cues from the dramatic walls of its baroque predecessors. This undulating sheath will work to define the spaces of The Church where transformative events occur: the areas which host The Sacraments.

Similarly, the iconic costumes associated with the rituals of the church, underscore a long-standing tradition of marking transformational events through elaborate dress. The Sacraments, the most intensely transformative ritual within the church, demands a distinct set of highly articulated garments such as wedding gowns, christening gowns etc. which serve to mark the unique importance of these divine encounters. Taking into account fashion's ability to provide an everyday means of transforming ones appearance and acknowledging its position as the most common contemporary medium of glamour, the glamorous church will depart from the austere tendencies of recent church design by using the techniques of fashion, in particular dressmaking, as a way to re-establish glamorous associations with The Church.

Prior to constructing the garment, a sensuous body must be defined upon which to lay the garment. The garment  is fitted to a body which is defined by the building’s program. The body is composed of a proliferation of glamorous curves: oval segments which are organized by inflection. Oval segments are used in reference to the Baroque, a period when the Catholic Church used glamour to persuade the laity. The most significant shape during this time was the oval (which results from the transformation of a circle). The space within the oval was symbolic of heaven. Mathematical inflection connects oval segments to create a sensuous curvature as the oval alone is not enough. The glamorous curve must express transformation and duality. The glamorous curve takes heavenly perfection (the oval) and makes it accessible through an organic language (oval segments joined by inflection). Because inflection marks the point where a curve changes sign from positive to negative, it represents the sign of the in-between and the form of the vague. Upon this indefinite curvaceous body fits the dress. The dress takes after the paradigm set  by the corset and petticoat which integrates structure with volume. The dress is a two part affair with an external structural shell and a voluminous interior that blooms from the structure.