Page 81 - AC-2-1

Arts & Communication Nebula rasa: The diaphanous in architectural design

elements. Jullien speaks here of a “divergence that is meaning of a drawing is ultimately postponed and closure
provoked” within the work. Each new line extends the never arrives. 58,59 Instead, there are multiple openings-up
play of forces and the architectural design process in its and settlings-down at work, and the issue of closure or
55
entirety. The diaphanous creates divergencies in the form ultimate meaning is once again an attempt to determine
of new possibilities, foregrounding certain elements while and fix the generative process that occurs in a drawing.
blurring others out. A better way of thinking about such processes is to embrace
the instability and experiential richness of the diaphanous,
The skill of organizing this process constitutes the
craftsmanship of architectural design. Jullien emphasizes accepting the occurrence of singular events, unexpected
combinations, and unforeseen turns in the road.
the importance of shi (efficacy) in this process. Not every
scribble or sketch drives the design process forward or Creation in design processes requires indeterminacy.
creates fruitful thinking. Discipline and exercise are In the diaphanous, we witness a process of becoming-
required to draw well and to imbue sketches with an form (Formwerden) and form-fading (Formvergehen) that
affective force that makes them truly come alive: continuously unfolds. When Palmboom discussed forms
“[I]t is shi that ‘gives life’ and that makes the slightest dot that “shine through,” he did not just state a fact about the
or stroke vibrate, as if we were reliving the moment of visual properties of architectural drawings but indicated
its execution. Shi always enhances what would be mere what makes the effective present truly effective. These are
empty representation without it, for shi gives depth to the relations and elements that present themselves in the
a representation and exceeds its concrete limitations by diaphanous zone between determinacy and indeterminacy,
revealing within the actualized static form, a dimension causing the movements of “settling and springing-up,” as
of perpetual, soaring flight.” 56 well as foregrounding and gradually unfolding.
Once more, the Chinese line of thinking subverts the To unfold, then, means to be involved in a process of
cognitivist paradigm and simultaneously extends and becoming-form and form-fading in which non-determinacy
supplements the phenomenological approach. If drawings is utilized in ways that are not merely differential or
are seen as static carriers of information, their empirical divergent. We are not speaking of unconstrained elation,
content is what makes them useful or valid. Conversely, but of a developmental, sedimental process in which some
if drawings are regarded as active catalysts in a thinking elements and relations “sink” and others “float.” The creative
process, their “concrete limitations” are not important process organizes its contents without the pressing need to
– instead, it is far more important how they unleash the freeze, to fix, and to determine. Taking the freedom to let
process of “perpetual soaring flight” or intense creativity. things run their course, it lets them sediment into coherent
The property of nichtfestgelegtheit is that which urges on and surprising structures.
forward, inviting growth and change. This requires a regimen of openness, a nebula rasa.
Openness is not just the absence of constraints, but a
To create an “effective present,” a drawing needs to be
shot through with diaphaneity, that nebulous property visual organization in which alternatives spring up, ideas
crystallize, and relations settle down. In the nebula rasa, the
which stimulates the creative dynamic which Immanuel designer engages in a fine-grained, ever-shifting geography of
Kant so aptly called the “free play of the imagination.” 57 creative possibilities. It is constituted by temporal stabilities,

6. The diaphanous as generative stimulus modalities of being-present, such as foregrounding, self-
presenting, and self-suggesting, or even being-promising. By
In summary, in the diaphanous, relations and ideas spring engaging with the diaphanous space in all its concreteness,
up. They seemingly foreground themselves as the eye roves and by fully embracing this shifting presence on “face value,”
over the surface. Even in the moment when the pen touches logos loosens its determinative hold, and the representational
the paper, the new already emerges. Between the body and contents acquire an agency of their own.
the efficacy of the drawing occur an active entanglement We can now rework the Aristotelian notion with
that touches on the potentials residing in an idea. But even
if the eye repeatedly scans the drawing surface, the image which we started. The diaphanous enables indeed a form
and eye are not the same as on the first occasion. Freed of visibility, not just because it is a visual characteristic,
but because it is a generative stimulus that directs its own
from the process of ceaseless determination (and therefore development. As Aristoteles argued, the diaphanous is a
fixing) by the logos, the diaphanous literally renders new mediating phenomenon: it is not a void, nor is it ossified
ideas and associations visible.
in determinations and fixed, rigid notions and concepts.
The movement of springing up is not the same as the It is the medium through which representations are
Derridean notion of différance, whereby the ultimate viewed, while it suffuses them – without being an entity

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2024) 9 https://doi.org/10.36922/ac.1922