Page 202 - ELEMENTS EUROPA (EN)

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Going back to the lantern backstage area, its corridors coiling round
conference halls following the lines of their elliptical plan, the epitome of the
architect’s artistic and technical knowledge is to be found there. The effect
produced on curved lines is striking and we can only attempt to understand
why. Anyone considering the roughness of exchanges behind official
walls will admit to conversations occurring in corridors alongside official
meetings. But those spaces are not halls; their function is mainly restricted to
passageways for interpreters going to or leaving their booths. Nonetheless,
those corridors are attractive with natural lights illuminating them,
highlighting the shapes created, thus revealing the somewhat mythical
beauty of the glass sphere more than in any other spot.

Curved shapes on the outline sketch and on the cross-section view,
the horizontal curves and that following the lantern’s curve in the vertical
plan combine their effects in space. Their vanishing perspective hints at
possibly understanding their architecture. This is not a question of appraising
mere aesthetical appearances or assessing some technical demonstration
efficiency but of focusing on spatial effects of occupied shapes properly
speaking. It is impossible to see the end of a curved corridor; all that is visible
is the lines of its walls, not the doors it leads to. Walking along glass galleries
inside the Europa lantern gives a merry-go-round race feeling above
the atrium, overlooking a void where its countless windows’ reflections
shine. Glass panels with their white stripes, cut into a trapezium shape and
individually profiled according to the lantern centre’s double curving layer,
have a thick glazing.

The chosen glass panels are an example of “aesthetical” details; how
can we see them? To the narrow corridor scale, we can merely perceive
the difference between flatness and curve. The representation of the
building’s – spontaneous or rebuilt – global form makes the hypothesis
of flat sides assembly inconsistent. The individual curve of the panels is
almost imperceptible but understanding that spatial ensemble they belong
to hints at an adjusted perception, made aware of the individual form of
each element. This is a typical instance of the estimate size theory. Beyond
a certain measure, the difference is imperceptible. Yet, details are both the
question and the answer: the order regulating them is first and foremost
one of perception. It allows for aesthetical and technical questioning and it
deeply depends on the matrix of the architectural project and its synthetic
scope.