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RESEARCH SEMINAR
‘Spatial Narratives of Architecture through
Cinematic Context’
Submitted by
RAAGVEEN KAUR
Enrolment No: A1988520008
Batch: 2020-2022
Under the guidance of
PROF. SHAGUN AGARWAL
In partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the degree of
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE
AMITY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE &
PLANNING AMITY UNIVERSITY NOIDA
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CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the research entitled “Spatial Narrative of Architecture
Through the Cinematic Context” submitted by Raagveen Kaur bearing enrolment
number A1988520008 of batch 2020 - 2022, as a part of 2-year Postgraduate program
in Architecture at Amity School of Architecture and Planning (ASAP) Amity
University Uttar Pradesh (AUUP), is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement
for the award of the Master’s degree in Architecture by the University.
The content included in the research is bona fide work of the student and has not been
submitted to any other University or institute for accord of any other degree or
diploma. The thesis has been carried under the supervision of Ar. Shagun Agarwal &
Dr. Devendra Pratap Singh (Director, Amity School of Architecture and Planning,
AUUP, Noida).
Approved by:
…………………..……….
Ar. Shagun Agarwal
(Assistant Professor, ASAP)
……………………………
……………………………
External Examiner: Dr. Devendra Pratap Singh
(Director, ASAP)
AMITY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND
PLANNING
IN-HOUSE PRACTICAL TRAINING REPORT-2015
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UNDERTAKING
I, RAAGVEEN KAUR, the author of the research paper titled, SPATIAL
NARRATIVES OF ARCHITECTURE THROUGH CINEMATIC
CONTEXT, hereby declare that this is an independent work of mine,
carried out towards partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of
Master’s Degree in Architecture and Planning, Amity University, Noida.
This work has not been submitted to any other institution for the award of
any Degree/diploma.
Date: RAAGVEEN KAUR
Place: Amity, Noida Enrolment No.: A1988520018
Signature
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DISCLAIMER
This document describes work undertaken as part of a
program of study at the Amity School of Architecture and
Planning, Amity University, Noida. All views and
opinions expressed therein remain the sole responsibility
of the author, and do not necessary represent those of the
institute.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to express my gratitude to all those who have played an
indispensable role and got involved with this research, in some
manner or another, providing guidance whenever and wherever
required. My research advisor and guide, Ar. SHAGUN
AGARWAL, valuable inputs, and direction from DR.
BANDANA JHA and other faculty members as well, all together
gave me support, help and advice throughout the research
seminar.
My research would not have been accomplished without the
constant support and motivation of my family and friends. I am
particularly indebted to my parents and my sister for their
unconditional help and support throughout this virtual journey.
RAAGVEEN KAUR
A1988520008
M.Arch (2020-2022)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ............................................................ 8
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ........................ 9
LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................. 11
CHAPTER 2 – SYNERGIES OF
ARCHITECTURE AND CINEMA .................... 15
CHAPTER 3 ......................................................... 22
CINEMATIC CASE STUDY- PARASITE .................................................................... 23
ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................. 26
CHAPTER 4 - CONCLUSION ........................... 29
REFERENCES ..................................................... 31
APPENDIX 1 - SURVEY ..................................... 33
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TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Street Level Window Kim Family House ..................... 24
Figure 2 Huge Living Room Park Family House ........................ 24
Figure 3 Kim family's quest for WIFI in the derelict bathroom .. 24
Figure 4 Park family's posh modern living room ........................ 24
Figure 5 Main Entrance of Kim Family House ........................... 25
Figure 6 Entrance of Park Family House with large Garden ..... 25
Figure 7 Outside View from Kim Family House ........................ 26
Figure 8 Outside View from Park Family House, the Garden is
Visible from most Windows ........................................................ 26
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Spatial Narratives of Architecture
Through Cinematic Context
ABSTRACT
Architects when designing-built environments are confronted with imagining and
anticipating the visuospatial and navigational experience of users during the initial
design conception phase.
Architecture constructs spaces while film provides a way of viewing those spaces in
time. Cinematic narrative transpires using spatial cues of architecture to evoke emotion
in viewers. These very viewers become users of space and place. This research puts
forth the view, how understanding cinematic narratives are translated to form using
architectural cues would help in dissecting the architectural narrative better.
Instead of regarding architectural elements as passive, we should view them as actions
that embody and carry emotion. To understand architectural elements in action, we need
to collide time with space and cinema gives access to both dimensions. Exploring and
reviewing the architectural narrative in films to assess the interiority and exteriority and
the relation of the space with the characters, their movement in space and time.
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CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
One day, you decide to study architecture. You learn to draw plans, sections and
axonometrics; make models; discover structure, materials and even composition. Still,
you feel that there is something missing in much of what you read and learn. You are
aware that architecture uses sophisticated means of notation – elevation, axonometrics,
perspective views, and so on. But you soon realize that they don’t tell you anything
about sound, smell, touch, or the movement of bodies through space…
“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.”
-Bernard Tschumi/Architecture Concepts
What is Architecture? If asked ten different people, we get more than ten different
answers, depending on the educational, cultural, chronological age and profession of a
person; the personality of the person might also contribute few more different
responses. The answers generally derive from the subjective experience and worldview
that is influenced by gender, geo-cultural background, socio-economic status,
developmental stage and many more.
Architecture provides an apperception of place and support of all kinds of human
activity. It is not a personal affair; even a house must serve an entire family and friends,
and buildings are used by everyone, people from all walks of life. If a building is to
satisfy the requirements of all the people, the architect must search for some common
footing of understanding and experience.
Architects when designing-built environments are confronted with imagining and
anticipating the visuospatial and navigational experience of users during the initial
design conception phase.
Architecture constructs spaces while film provides a way of viewing those spaces in
time. Cinematic narrative transpires using spatial cues of architecture to evoke emotion
in viewers.
Even today, the tendency for architectural magazines is to publish images of buildings
devoid of human presence.
‘What is generally absent in even the most elaborately illustrated building is the way
human figures will occupy it’, Robin Evans wrote in ‘Figures, Doors and Passages’ in
1978.[1]
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To appreciate architectural elements in action, we need to add time to space – and only
cinema gives us access to both dimensions. Instead of contemplating architectural
elements as passive nouns, we should view them as verbs and actions that embody and
carry emotion.
The major link between architecture and film is time. They are time sensitive mediums.
Cinema has the ability to capture the life cycles of architecture and place. It can be used
strategically to discuss these, and the memories held within a certain building and
spaces. Cinema as a multi-dimensional mapping tool incorporating aspects of space and
time can enkindle deeper understandings of inhabited environments than architects’
traditional hand-eye approaches alone.
Surpassing the functional and structural aspects of architecture, it is a psychological
necessity for humans that could conceive and project endless meanings or connotations
for users. In film, space is experienced through sounds, motions, and emotions, and we
comprehend its invisible boundaries. “Film provides a very rich representation of
architecture” (Christopher Gerard).
Persistently, architecture manifests itself as the background of a scene, a setting for
actions or a way to convey the mood of a scene or an era. They work together like the
mind and body to decipher the sensory aspects.[4] Architecture plays multiple roles in
films, whether it is to define to the setting and backdrop, magnify the mood and context
or have the architectural marvels in the background pose as a metaphorical
representation of the character's state of mind they do so much more than they intend to.
The experience of viewing cinema may outwardly appear to be a very passive activity.
However, the viewer is highly active. The viewer must process the rapid sequence of
audio-visual information, perceive what is represented on the screen, comprehend the
characters, spaces and actions depicted and engage in the construction of the narrative
throughout the film.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
Architects concerned with designing-built environments are confronted with imagining
and anticipating the visuospatial and navigational experience of users during the initial
design conception phase. Architecture constructs spaces while film constructs a way of
viewing those spaces in time. Cinematic narrative transpires using spatial cues of
architecture to evoke emotion in viewers. These very viewers become users of space
and place. A key challenge for architects and designers is to envision people interactions
and situation centred design goals.[2]
A spatial narrative is a constant interrelation and interaction between the formal and
pattern language of space and the events unfolding within it. In film, space is
experienced through sounds, motions, and emotions, and we comprehend its invisible
boundaries. “Film provides a very rich representation of architecture” (Christopher
Gerard). Gerard stated in an interview in September 2010, that “film as a medium
develops the conception (both the mental picture and the act of conceiving) of
architecture.” He expressed that by describing how the filmic space confronts us with
specific aspects of physical space that as architects we are contributing to, physical
space taken here is in its broadest sense: the sensorial space, the social space etc).[3]
Architecture still defines itself though permanence.
The major link between architecture and cinema is time. They are time sensitive
mediums. Film as a medium has the ability to capture the life cycles of architecture and
place. It can be used strategically to discuss these, and the memories held within a
certain building and spaces. That film as a multi-dimensional mapping tool
incorporating aspects of space and time can generate deeper understandings of inhabited
environments than architects’ traditional hand-eye approaches alone.[4]
Cinema can be seen as a visual study emphasising the importance of the effect of
architecture and the built environment on the psyche and behaviours of a person. Time
and again, architecture manifests itself as the background of a scene, a setting for
various actions or a way to convey the mood of a scene or an era. They work together
like the mind and body to decipher the sensory aspects.[5]
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Architecture plays multiple roles in films, whether it is to define to the setting and
backdrop, magnify the mood and context or have the architectural marvels in the
background pose as a metaphorical representation of the character's state of mind they
do so much more then they intend to.
Exploring and clarifying visual communication in every field and then finding the
common factors which can be transmit between these two fields we reach to the point
that cinema and architecture have much in common as to visual perception and
transmission, expanding this connection can lead to preparing new thoughts, ideas, and
new methods in visual communications. Consolidating these two majors in terms of
visual communications can start new areas in this field.[6]
The passivity of watching a film can be quite deceptive as the viewer is highly active.
The viewer must process the rapid sequence of audio-visual information, perceive what
is represented on the screen, comprehend the characters, spaces and actions depicted
and engage in the construction of the narrative throughout the film. Human perception
of objects works in varied ways.
While in the real environment, architecture is perceived in a detailed one-way form
whereas, in cinema the entirety of an object is covered due to the possibility of wide-
angle shots which then allow humans to perceive it along the lines of the context of the
shot. Conceptually, experience is most related to sensory fruition, an ephemeral action
or reaction that is triggered by a particular context. According to the authors of
reference, it can be both intellectual and sensory, implying that a certain object triggers
a sensitive experience in the self, that is later processed by our structures of
understating, producing an intellectual interpretation.[7]
The term ‘spatial sensation’ is defined twofold: as the ability to comprehend three-
dimensional space with the help of the senses, and as the ability to create spatial ideas
and concepts that are subsequently formed into a more tangible shape such as in
architecture, sculpture or dance.[8]
Environmental psychology is an important research field that assists architects
understanding more about their built environment.[9] Visual representations and
narratives of cinema, assist in perceiving the spatial configuration in accordance with
the situational context of the user.
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Hypothesis
Both Cinema and Architecture have a relationship with time, space, light, and sound. [6]
Cinema can be broken down into scenes, sequences, and frames. Architecture can be
divided into spaces, components, and details. [10]
Motion pictures can present profound and potentially radicalizing, insights into the
human spatial experience.[11]
Movies can be an introspection on social mores regarding spaces and how these affect
the principles of architecture. It demonstrates the way people have put meaning on the
notions of home, public spaces, monuments, and landscapes.[12]
Cinema and Architecture share many imagistic and spatial characteristics. Moreover,
“both architecture and cinema define qualities of lived space as existential space and
allow for experiential life situations.” (Pallasmaa, 2007). Visual representations and
narratives of cinema, assist in perceiving the spatial configuration in accordance with
the situational context of the user.
The cinematic world influences the lives of thousands; they tend to gravitate and often
aspire from the architecture seen in films. Movies can present profound and potentially
radicalizing insights into the human spatial experience. A reflection of social mores and
cultures; cinema depicts the way how people have put meaning on the notions of home,
public spaces, landscapes.
The aim of this research is exploring cinematic narratives of space and building
characters that trigger emotions in users to aids that can be adopted into the design
process with insight into physical and social context.
Can movies be used as a medium to understand the emotion and design of a space?
Can we consciously try and notice the unnoticed architecture in films to better
understand various aesthetic sensibilities?
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CHAPTER 2 – SYNERGIES OF ARCHITECTURE
AND CINEMA
"Architecture exists, like cinema, in the dimension of time and movement. One
conceives and reads a building in terms of sequences. To erect a building is to predict
and seek effects of contrast and linkage Through which one passes..."
- Jean Nouvel
Architecture is an undaunted and deep rooting identity which speaks for itself through
built structures and on the other hand, Cinema is a play of expressions and narrative
writing. Both have a relation that goes a long way and is both seeming and acute.
Although cinema and architecture are distant arts, dynamic and static respectively; their
complex relationship enlivens each other. Sharing a requited respect for the analogous
processes involved in producing the works, the creators behind the two expressions
have an understanding through which one will always benefit the other.
Architecture brings out the believability and authenticity factor needed by the director to
make his film as close to the story and setting as possible.
Thus, several parallel points have been discovered in the design and production
processes of architecture and film by using which one has looked through the other in
order to find a field of study dealing with similar subjects, or similar concepts. Both
Cinema and Architecture include the much-lamented use of arbitrarily selected or
previously employed sets, compelling portraits of the speed and excitement of city life,
propaganda documentaries of modernism, and painstakingly accurate historical
reconstructions.
"The focus on the ability to represent space incorporates the relationship of cinema and
architecture and entails address to key thinker and conception of space and place. "
-Adilogu
Cinema has a history of architecture and/or they create architecture, and thus it becomes
an imaginary model that is sometimes even taken up by reality. Architects and
designers, consciously or subconsciously have a 'give and take relationship' With the
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film maker. They both compose spatial sequences, propose conditions for inhabitation,
and communicate multiple narratives which further showcase similarities between the
two fields.
Though films are made for audiences to appreciate it and like it as either a discovery or
epiphany or merely a time pass, it has architecture as the backdrop, it maybe of most
importance or least importance, it is there somewhere affecting the wellness of a scene
in a film.
The relation between architecture and cinema began with the advent of the technology
of moving images at the dawn of the 20th century and it has continued to progress by
exchanging various representational, intellectual, and practical devices from each other
in order to reconfigure their own systems of knowledge. In this investigation, the
fundamental elements of architectural design and principles of their organization are
used in the field of cinema as a methodological tool to analyse the compositional
features of narrative and mise-en-scene.
Architecture is the designing and constructing buildings and other physical Structures
primarily to provide shelter. A broader definition includes the design of the total built
environment, from the macro level of how a building interacts with its surrounding
landscape to the micro level of architectural or construction details and, occasionally
fittings and furniture.
Separate from the design process, architecture is experienced through the senses, which
therefore gives rise to aural, visual, and tactile architecture. As people move through a
space, architecture is experienced through time sequence. Even though we consider
architecture to be a visual experience, the other senses play a role in how we experience
both natural and built environments. Attitudes towards the senses depend on culture.
The process of design and the sensory experience of space are very separate views, each
with its own language and assumptions.
Films can be defined as two-dimensional art that create the illusion of a third dimension
through their "walk-around" capability. Films are artefacts created by cultures, which
reflect those specific cultures, and, in turn, have an effect on them. Film is considered to
be an important art form, a source of entertainment and an influential method for
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educating citizens. The Visual elements of cinema give motion pictures a universal
command or power of communication.
Creating architecture is a design process in which the organization and the arrangement
of architectural elements are developed in order to solve a spatial problem in response to
conditions of function, purpose, form, and context. According to the common meaning
of the word, "architecture is the art of constructing, ordering and ornamenting buildings
in conformity and practicality with plans drawn beforehand." Architecture does not only
provide a space protecting us from environmental conditions, it also creates an orderly
arranged framework for our activities by expressing symbolic or ethical values.
Francis Ching states that “Architectural order is created when these elements and
systems, as constituent parts, make visible the relationships among themselves and
building as a whole. When their relationships are perceived as contributing to the
singular nature Of the Whole, then a conceptual order exists.”
In this three-dimensional world perceived in mind, and then on stage and then on a
planar white surface, the purpose of the director, like an architect, is to control the
orchestration and arrangement of various elements to create an intended meaning with
the use of all possibilities in its own medium. They capture shots selectively, frame
them in a variety of graphic compositions and assign them in sequence on the screen
under a written text.
In 'Narrative Space', Stephen Heath compares the space-time circumstance between the
real life and its representation in cinema. He expresses that continuous story in
cinematic reality can be obtained by the juxtaposition of shots taken at different time
and spaces. Design in cinema is obtained by selection, organization and rendering of
spatial and temporal elements under a conceptual, visual, and relational context in order
to finalize with an intended sense of completeness. It is developed by formulating the
dynamics of the film as a calculated act under certain principles.
NARRATIVE
Narrative means in its simplest terms 'telling a story'. In a broader definition, it
concerned with how stories get told, how they are constructed and how a representative
environment is created with the techniques of storytelling.
Allan Rowe states in his article 'Film Form and Narrative' that:
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"Narrative involves the viewer in making sense Of What is seen, asking questions Of
What We See and anticipating the answers. In particular, narrative invites us to ask
both what are going to happen next and when, and how will it all end. It operates on the
tension between our anticipation of likely outcomes drawn from genre conventions and
the capacity to surprise or frustrate our expectations."
Architecture narrative is the art of designing a space in the manner of telling a story.
Books, comics, folktales tell the story by texts and picture. Architecture tells the stories
without texts, but by form, space, and materials. Narrative could be translated into
architectural form by materials, route, event, rooms, and also smell, sound and light
effects.
Architectural narrative is not exclusively in the morphological properties of space
themselves, nor in the cultural processes of its formation and interpretation, but in the
dynamic network of spatial, social, professional, and intellectual practices that
assimilate and turn out different kinds of social knowledge.
We can make sense of principles of narrative construction by identifying its events
under a Story and a plot; and linking them by cause and effect, time, space, and patterns
of development. A narrative originates with one circumstance; a series of changes occur
in accordance with a pattern of cause and effect; ultimately, a new situation arises that
brings an end to the narrative.
The importance of narrative for the process of filmmaking is lying at drawing the
outlines of the final product, formulating the parts or elements that compose the whole.
Similar to the conceptual architectural elements, narrative enables us to conceive the
final product in the mind before it takes on physical shape. Thus, a comparative between
cinema and architecture may be realized on the similitude of approach in the
arrangement of these primary elements.
Architecture and Cinema are distinct arts, static and dynamic respectively; whose
complex relationship gives life to each other. Architecture, gives films its plausibility
and believability, setting the mood, character, time, and place for any type of action.
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Cinema, on the other hand, provide an outlet for realising visions that exist or can exist
and entreat experiences that in reality may or may not have occurred.
The architecture in a film i.e., the complete setting of space and its depiction makes the
user or viewer perceive and understand the respective setting i.e., of the location and
space, where the story is based and the fabric of time through which the story flows.
Concurrently, cinema also helps form an image of a place and as for architects, it helps
them to actually see and understand the use of spaces in particular, both interior and
exterior.
Conceivably it is more accurate to say that the audience enters into and subsequently
becomes engaged in the body of the film as they would a building. The director
arranges shots in sequence as the architect designs a floor plan, framing and confining,
dissecting, and condensing elements through which the spectator is encouraged to
partake in the now of movement. Similarly, both architecture and film possess the
ability to affect the audience in a somewhat unconscious manner.
"The focus on the ability to represent space incorporates the relationship of cinema and
architecture and entails address to key thinker and conception of space and place."
- Adiloglu
Cinema is a pure rendition of space, how one space can be used for portrayal of a
particular emotion, how it can enrich a sense of connection between the viewer and
cinema. The viewer here can be anybody from an architect to a layman. She or he can
have the same or different perspective about the portrayal of the same emotion in that
same particular space.
Time and space are not just thought, as places, dimensions or objects with stable forms
and boundaries. Rather, as active, and effective practices and relations through which
the world of people and objects is made and constantly remade. Exploring human
spatial experience through the lens of time and space "can provide fresh insights into the
way we construct and perceive the world".
Every movie, irrespective of its genre or theme, is based in a particular TIME and some
SPACE. No cinema can exist in fluidity.
The director, much like the architect, shoulders the role of constructing and guiding a
project which is carried out by a team of specialists of their respective fields. The
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encompassing vision of the director is what holds these disparate elements together
allowing the finished product to be read as a cohesive whole. Like architecture, which
aspires to direct movement through a physical space, the film maker must manoeuvre
and choreograph time in order to direct the viewer's perceptive experience of a fictional
or psychological space.
With architecture we alter our experience of outsideness and estrangement into the
positive feeling of abode. The structuring of space, scale, circumstances, place, lighting
etc„ characteristic to architecture - the composing of human existence - trickles
inevitably into every cinematic expression. In the same way that architecture articulates
space, it also manipulates time.
Architecture is not what fills the space but what makes it. Contemplating the connection
between architectural space and film space, it should be remembered that space is
ultimately generated in our mind: it is a composition of our experience of space, our
perception, altered by such things as our personal knowledge, memory, and our state of
mind. The physical space, like the cinematic space we reconfigure in our minds from
uncompromising snippets, and different perspectives, is ultimately a mental space. That
is where film and architecture meet up, where film in creating space, that in a sense,
becomes architecture, and again why as architects we should look into films. Therefore,
giving rise to the concept of the Cognitive Image of a place.
Architects create an Environment which comprises of the Built and the Unbuilt defining
a space, which FORMS a cognitive image of a place, as a result of the rise of
imagination and the reality of the place, in the minds of the viewer, including the
filmmaker, who thus CREATES the virtual cinema for the masses getting affected by
this Cognitive Image, which in turn INSPIRES, the audience, including architects and
designers, in getting influenced by the film and thereby AFFECTS the ideas and
concepts of an Architect who is, as stated earlier the Creator of the Environment, hence
this forms in essence a never-ending cycle. It can be concluded that both Architecture
and Cinema influence each other in many ways.
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CHAPTER 3
Architecture shares many spatial and imagistic characteristics with cinema.
More importantly, “both architecture and cinema define qualities of lived space as
existential space and allow for experiential life situations.” (Pallasmaa, 2007). Lefebvre,
in Production of Space (1974), describes the space of architects as ‘conceived space’
represented by abstract means, whereas the user’s space is lived, not conceived, and
socially produced. There is an abundant scope of seeking social meaning in the
narrativized architecture of filmic spaces.
Architecture is socially situated and constructed, as are films when viewed in their
appropriate contexts. Filmic representations are creative interpretations of reality, and
have the potential to add a layer of cultural
meaning that would otherwise not be available were the researchers merely analysing
theory or observing public behaviour (Dudley, 2010).
The theories of EBS find many applications in architecture and urban design and are
largely applied to understand user behaviour in institutional or public spaces. The realm
of domestic spaces is rarely discussed from the behavioural perspective and being a
private domain, it also presents practical problems of observation based empirical
research. Domestic spaces portrayed in cinema have a great potential to bring to fore an
otherwise private domain.
Over the last century, cinema has archived, expressed, characterised, interpreted, and
portrayed hundreds of thousands of buildings. Cinema constitutes a comprehensive
encyclopaedia of architectural spaces and building elements and how to use them: an
extraordinary archive of lived spaces and a unique reservoir of post-occupancy studies,
yet a largely ignored and untapped resource.
There are vast libraries of films that have shaped our perceived perspective and
collective urban imagination. Over time, cinema has cast up a variety of invisible film
layers over cities, which, through a process of cinematic urban archaeology, can be
excavated to trace, not just the evolution of the urban fabric, but also the social, cultural,
and societal changes that took place through the 20th century to the present.
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Architects can take advantage of existent commercial, dramatic, comedic, or
documentary films for inspiration and research. Cinema does not just give an insight
into the grandeur of architecture but also the little things that influence it. The temporal
play of spaces is what we can understand from films.
CINEMATIC CASE STUDY- PARASITE
Parasite tells the story of a poverty-stricken family, the Kims, who cunningly place
themselves in the service of the Parks, an obscenely wealthy household who have been
unknowingly harbouring a stranger in their basement for years. Parasite outlines how
the working class are forced into conflict against one another, fighting for scraps, while
families like the Parks live a comfortable life, fuelled by the labour of the many
individuals working beneath them.
This particular film does an excellent job of blurring the boundaries between the two
disciplinary fields, to the point where the architecture is not just the background of the
set, but it has been placed at the forefront of the storyline and takes on the leading role
in many scenes.
The architecture of the two homes becomes the main device for telling several
metaphors of the plot.
Kim Family House
Park Family House
Half basement type housing, half
buried eroded den with only a single
window on the street level.
Opulent house in an upscale neighbourhood,
with refined materials and minimalistic
furniture, austere atmosphere, and a big
garden.
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Figure 1 Street Level Window Kim Family House
Figure 2 Huge Living Room Park Family House
Figure 3 Kim family's quest for WIFI in the derelict bathroom
Figure 4 Park family's posh modern living room
Source: movie screenshot photo: ⓒ 2019 CJ ENM Corporation, Barunson E&A All Rights
Reserved
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Figure 5 Main Entrance of Kim Family House
Figure 6 Entrance of Park Family House with large Garden
• Kim family living in the half basement, did not have much in terms of quality of
life.
• Their living situation had a huge impact on their psyche and behaviour.
• The derelict living conditions of the half basement affected their outlook that
became mostly of negative connotation.
• Encroachment of the park house again affected their behaviour, they fancied
themselves the owner and wanted to fight their circumstances for a better
lifestyle.
• The difference in ‘class’ of the families affect their perception of space.
• The juxtaposition of the views from either house depicts this.
Source: movie screenshot photo: ⓒ 2019 CJ ENM Corporation, Barunson E&A All Rights
Reserved
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Figure 7Outside View from Kim Family House
Figure 8Outside View from Park Family House, the Garden is Visible from most Windows
ANALYSIS
The movie Parasite reflects on the lives of the urban poor living in semi-basements,
while the wealthy reside in a stunning modern house in the upper part of the city –
another prime example of the Modernist aesthetic association with dystopia. The film’s
opening shot is of a street seen from a basement window. The camera tilts down and we
see the Kim family’s quest for hunting for a Wi-Fi spot.
Source: movie screenshot photo: ⓒ 2019 CJ ENM Corporation, Barunson E&A All Rights
Reserved
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The film is a tale of two windows: an exposure of Seoul’s social structures and
inequalities. As a result of the film, the South Korean government had announced that,
they would offer substantial grants to improve semi-basement dwellings.
To further assess the influence of cinema, a survey was circulated among peers relating
to the movie, to understand and assess the psychological/emotion effect of architecture
and surrounding space on users (viewers). The results of which are as follows.
The overall outcome of the survey was in line with the inferences discussed above.
Majority of the respondents noticed the architectural narratives within the movie and
also how the surrounding built environment has a psychological effect on the inhabiting
family, both for the positive and the negative.
It can be inferred, the film narrativizes architectural space to the point of being a
protagonist, in the absence of any external threat or even individuals with dubious
intent. Thus, the most pertinent analysis to lead meaning comes through the sensitivity
and appreciation of lived space and its impact on behaviour. This approach gives a fresh
look at the binaries of Public/ Private, Inner/Outer, Home/World.
‘In films, one can explore the spaces of the past, in order to better anticipate the
spaces of the future’
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CHAPTER 4 - CONCLUSION
The relationship between architecture and cinema is one of complementarity. Cinema is
a temporal assembly in which space is rooted, and architecture is a spatial assembly in
which time is rooted. Space and time are inextricable which is why the two fields
overlap in so many ways. In the manner which architecture articulates space, it also
manipulates time. Reconstituting and articulating time - rearranging, speeding up,
slowing down, halting, and reversing - is equally essential in cinematic expression.
This commonality and overlap are essential to engage with their encapsulated
dimensions of spatio-temporality. Architecture invigorates the spatial dimension of
cinema and cinema invigorates the temporal dimension of architecture.
This research concludes with an attempt to develop a process that assimilates the
process of developing a spatial/ architectural narrative, through cinematic contexts.
Perceived process for analysis -:
1) Understanding context of the space and architecture
- Physical and geographical
- Social
- Economic
- Cultural
2) “Role” the architecture involved play into the storyline of the movie.
- Importance
- Background or foreground
- What particular aspects or components play a key role
- Use of space and movement flow
3) Mapping movement trajectories and storyboarding narratives
4) Comparing and contrasting in terms of context & requirement or inspiration &
perception.
5) Analysing the contextual needs and forming a conclusion based on perception
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The dynamics of a film is merged with the spatiality of architecture creates a synergy
between two fields that can change the way translation of thought from mind to paper
occurs. This synthesis helps us reinvent the way we perceive an architectural or spatial
condition and its representation during the design process. A different relationship can
be forged between architecture and people based on sensory, social, and temporal
qualities of mental and physical space, as visualised by cinema.
Architecture is socially situated and constructed, as are films when viewed in their
appropriate contexts. Filmic representations are creative interpretations of reality and
have the potential to add a layer of cultural meaning that would otherwise not be
available were the researchers merely analysing theory or observing public behaviour.
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APPENDIX 1 - SURVEY
Can movies be used as a medium to understand the emotion and
design of a space?
1.
How significant is the juxtaposition of the architecture of both the
houses to the narrative of the storyline?
It plays around in the background
It forms the main device for the narrative
It is only important to understand the background
Other
58% responded with the 2nd option
2.
Do you think our surroundings have an effect on our behaviours and
performance?
Yes
No
Maybe
Other
88% said Yes
3.
In the movie, the approach to life led by both families is directly
affected by their surroundings and living conditions.
Agree
Disagree
Maybe
71% Agreed
4.
Does the change in surroundings have a significant effect on the psyche
of the Kim family?
Agree
Disagree
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Neutral
Other
75% Agreed
5.
Do the architecture styles depicted in the movie have any effect on the
overall narrative? *
Yes
No
Maybe
67% said Yes
6.
Do the visual representations of spaces in the movie have any effect on
how you would perceive space in the future? *
Yes
No
Maybe
50% said Yes and the other 50% said maybe
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SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
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