The Architectural Parallax (2024)

For this week, I have been assigned to write a post relating to the reading assigned to me. Last week, I did talk quite a bit about my appreciation for decoration and detail as a response to the same assigned reading. This is something that many modernists would most likely criticize me for; it is my belief that there is some good in creating a design with aesthetics in mind. So, with this at hand, what is the the architecture parallax?

First, let me just explain a little bit of my understanding of the word parallax: It is the displacement between our perception of an object and the actual position of the object due to the angle at which we view the object from. So, what you think you see is not necessarily the reality of an object, but your perception of it. In short, what you see is not what you get.

At first, I was utterly confused with what the architectural parallax means. However, after spending some time reading and contemplating over the handout given to us, I finally came to identify the “parallax” in architecture, or at least, what I managed to interpret and sum up from it.

In my opinion, the architectural parallax refers to the idea of having a building give off a certain impression or feeling, but turning out differently than what we expected. It’s the same concept of not getting what you think you see. A simple idea that would explain this would be the style of postmodern architecture, which involves severing the link between form and function. This means that the appearance of a building might not reflect the function and use of it in any way, and neither does the use of the building inspire the way the building looks. A very good example of such a building would be the Oriental Art Centre in Shanghai designed by Paul Andreu. From the exterior, the building looks organic and round, with an egg-like cupola forming the outer shell of the building. However, inside the building is a straight and box-like interior space which doesn’t resemble the roundness of the building exterior at all. So, in this way, people may be deceived regarding the outer (form) and inner (function) of the building. In my opinion, this is where the parallax is seen in architecture today.

Personally, I like this idea of separating the form and function of a building. Not only does this allow decoration on the building, but it also gives off an element of surprise to visitors who view the building from outside and then enter it.

Below is a sketch of the Oriental Art Center in Shanghai. I personally like the organic shape of it – it is coincidentally similar to my design of the Calder museum I did for my Architecture 121 class.