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A Critical Analysis of the Writings of Amos Rapoport Author(s): Russ V. V. Bradley, Jr. Source: Journal of Architectural Education (1947-1974), Vol. 24, No. 2/3 (Apr., 1970), pp. 16-25 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1424238 Accessed: 13-12-2016 02:24 UTC REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1424238?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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By Russ V. V. Bradley, Jr.

A Critical Analysis of the Writings of Amos Rapoport

Amos Rapoport, the Australian archi-

can complete and change and to

territories, completing it, changing it

(Rapoport 1967d, 44)." These are things people will always do even against odds as he notes in the cases informative, but three articles ("Com- of the CBS Building in New York written a number of articles about plexity and Ambiguity in Environ- (Rapoport 1967d), but it has sadly vernacular architecture and about the mental Design" with Robert Kantor been the role of architects to discourage lessons contemporary architects might 1967c, "Whose Meaning in Architec- this process. learn from it. The earliest articles do ture?" 1967d, and "The Personal Rapoport believes that a completely little more than describe villages and Element in Housing: an Argument designed environment like the CBS buildings as he finds them in Iran for Open-ended Design" 1968b) try Building creates an instability easily (Rapoport 1964), in California (Rapo- to establish rigorous, scientific bases for upset by the disarray of living within port and Sanoff 1965) and in the his attitude, particularly with regard it. This instability is in direct proportion Amazon (Rapoport 1967e). In recent to the need for visual complexity and the to the tightness of the organization

tect formerly on the faculty at the

University of California at Berkeley and recently Lecturer in Architecture at University College London, has

years, however, he has developed an

attitude about vernacular architecture

which they may give their own mean-

ing (Rapoport 1968b, 305). Much of Rapoport's writing is

necessity for significant user participa-and causes an apparently composed

tion in the environment in order for it todesign to exist on the verge of being

and its relationship to contemporary become meaningful. Upon studying "messed up," he quotes Florence Knoll urban problems that, if valid, could be these articles carefully and checking as saying. People want and even need, useful for designers. his sources in professional and psycho- he says, to live in what she derisively In his articles, Rapoport describes logical literature, I find that Rapoport'scalls a "kewpie doll atmosphere" two mutually exclusive traditions in (Rapoport 1967d, 44). reading of these works is inaccurate; architecture. The architect belongs to his assertions are not sound and his This urge, he continues, is not conclusions, therefore, not useful to simply to resist the oppression of a the "grand design" tradition (Rapoport 1969a). He demands tight control architects. I propose in this paper, to resolved environment, but also an over the environment and imposes the present Rapoport's position as statedexplicit demand to be included in that in these articles and then to discuss in detached, fashionable, intellectual environment as a participant rather values of the "high culture" which is more detail the substance and signifi-than as a bystander or consumer. In the ideal one-to-one relationship of unresponsive to people. Architects, cance of each major point.

he says, usually design isolated mon- Meaning, Rapoport states, as it hasinhabitant to environment in vernacular uments in vast, controlled spaces. At been presented to us in architectural architecture, the buildings respond present, they are working in a in a very direct and immediate way history, has tended to be the rigid

technological idiom that creates repetitious, boring universal space. On the other hand, he claims, folk

and single meaning of the architect, orto each changing need, desire and even whim. Some of these aspects of folk of a powerful client/patron through the architecture must remain if environarchitect, and rarely has considered architecture (the vernacular) grows the responses and feelings of the manyments are to continue to be livable. directly out of the needs, means, users of the building or city (Rapoport In his own words: materials, traditions, culture and natural 1967d). As a result, architects have "... unless people can change the

order of the users. The resulting

designed "complete closed forms" in

unselfconscious forms melt into a rich, an effort to gain total control over and continuous fabric of vital overlapping reinforce the meaning they wished to

uses, chance juxtapositions, and variedimpart (Rapoport 1967d, 45). Yet, he

environment, it remains alien . . . they need to feel they have had a hand in shaping their own environment

(Rapoport 1967, 45)."

personal statements that contribute to says, this meaning, no matter how In his discussions of the process a high visual density and complexity. strongly stated, is not the one that by which people impart meanings to Only if people can directly effect theircomes across to the users. They see architecture, as in the vernacular the building much as Kipling's blind their environment, Rapoport refers tradition, can they achieve the visual men discerned the elephant-each repeatedly to two basic concepts or richness that modern psychologists according to his own direct and limitedurges-the urge to territorialize and the need to personalize. The first have demonstrated is preferred by interaction with a piece of it. concept, territorialization, he describes man. (Rapoport and Kantor 1967c). Meaning for Rapoport is an active as coming from ethology and he cites Modern architects must build "open-force that requires interaction and ended" frameworks which people "implies taking possession, establishing several writers and psychologists as

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i.

andastroreacts with it. That translates into reception room that welcomes support for his assertion including nauts Robert Sommer, R. Ardrey, E. back T. from the moon. ConsisHall and A. E. Parr (Rapoport 1968b, tently, Rapoport believes, architects' 300). values are very different from the values of the public. If it is becoming necessary to use The Importance of Personalization repeated elements and even plans to

"creative participatiotn" in Rapoport's words (Rapoport 1968b, 301). Learn-

between the individual and definition housing(Rapoport 1968b, 301).

is one of his major tenets.

Rather, the inhabitants are subjected unpredictable ones . . . people will see

Similarly, complexity is defined as "an assemblage of related things-an intricate combination (Rapoport with Kantor 1967c, 210)." The relationship between the two

ing to live in an ugly and unsuitable

environment is presumably conscious/passive surrender, while a

third and insidious, if unlikely, The central idea in most of meet the housing demand, then it is possibility would be unconscious/ Rapoport's writing is the importance mandatory that they be right. Right passive brainwashing. In a situation of personalization. Under thefor most Rapoport does not mean that there where elements of conflict are subject adverse circumstances, this isneed to change, a serious mismatch between an ideal space arrangement for a makes itself known whether in house given family size or economic class, but environment and inhabitant should paint in Johannesburg or in rather window implies generalized arrange - be resolved by active participation. decoration in dormitories in ments Berkelev. suitable for pluralistic and An important by-product of open(Rapoport 1967d, 45). Personalization changing needs. Predictably, the term ended design claimed by Rapoport is he chooses is "loose fit" (Rapoport is particularly important in housing a general visual variety created by all of the individual efforts of the 301). He wants architecture where real cultural values are1968b, directly that is and adaptable at the outset-able expressed in terms of style, form inhabitants. Such a variety could not organization. The shapes and to beuses pushed, pulled, rearranged, be reproduced by a single architect of space have evolved out of messed-up, ideas of given meaning. Until no matter how imaginative (Rapoport recently, architects have not confronted 1968b, 301). In fact, he intimates, family structure, child rearing, issue for several reasons. First, education and so on. Within athis generic it is artificial variety that renders the adequate "people" have never been the client, many housing projects vulgar and house form, people have had freedom to make personal statements. and second, no one really understands gives rise to complaints of prestige Now, however, says Rapoport, user needs wein a way that can be directly distinctions and favoritism. That translated into form and space variety is important in environment are faced with a new relationship

Rapoport wants the design to be design. Design is no longer done by It is not just variety, however, but "open-ended," even when the architect also "complexity" and "ambiguity" the people over time, but rather for is designing for a single client. A "generalized categories of people that interest Rapoport. In his use of designer can never know all the uses (Rapoport 1968b, 300)." Most recently, the word, ambiguity does not mean and meanings the client wants to give vague and uncertain in accordance the result has been large scale housing projects. Whereas, even thea building at that moment, he says, not with the first meaning in Webster's to mention monotonous speculatively built tract how he will change in New International Dictionary, Second the future. If the architect will design Edition, but "arising from language house allows freedom of personal expression and alteration with a"with certain admitting of more than one interpreloose fit enabling all changes cultural context, the project does not. the accidental and tation . . . duplexity of meaning." including to a tyranny previously reserved for the potentialities in the environment their monuments, churches andand, public given a chance, will use the buildings-the tyranny of the architect. environment by expressing those

While speculative builders are potentialities (Rapoport 1968b, 301)."

concepts, he claims, is direct, with dependent upon their reading of the market and current tastes, theRapoport architect agrees with some distinc- ambiguity increasing in direct protions made by de Lauwe who describesportion to complexity. Ambiguity, is free to impose his own values while the conflict between man and designer moreover, necessarily implies a ignoring, if indeed he has ever sought in terms to understand, the desires of theof conscious or unconscious and active people (Rapoport 1968b, 300). His or passive. The desirable resolution of the conflict is convalues can be unbending as in the CBS

scious/active where the inhabitant building or oddly anachronistic as in the Early American NASA understands what has been designed

certain degree of complexity. The role that ambiguity and complexity play in our visual experience is one of enrichment. Basing his theories on his understanding of modern

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psychology, Rapoport is promoting

a concept of "optimal perceptual rate

,Rapoport and Kantor 1967c, 211)."

A Perceptual Opulence What has gone wrong with buildings

and cities today, he feels, is a same-

ness and readability that leads to lowered rates of perceptual input. What we need rather is a "perceptual opulence" that rests somewhere between "sensory deprivation (monotony) and sensory satiation (chaos) (Rapoport and Kantor 1967c, 211)." The

amount (Munsinger and Kessen 1964). Similarly, Rapoport and Kantor cite Berlyne's (1958) work with a tachis-

the ability to make things vague and ambiguous in order to widen focus

because subjects lingered longer over

Barron (Rapoport and Kantor 1967c and Ehrenzweig 1965). For each person there is an optimal perceptual rate, believes Rapoport, which always lies between

toscope which indicated to them that

the more complex images, they preferred

complexity (Berlyne 1958). With infants, Berlyne also claims

to have found a preference for complex (checkerboard) patterns from the

very earliest days, as did Fantz, Rapoport reports (Berlyne 1960). Thus, since empirical psychological studies have proven that meagre environments are unpleasant and ideal in between enables one "to dangerous, and complex environments explore, to unfold gradually, to see,are preferred both at the outset and

and get to conceptual images. He bases this contention on work by

boredom and confusion. Moreover, there is a determinable average rate,

"a consensual point" among adults (Rapoport and Kantor 1967c, 214). This rate, in a given society, comes to be the same (on an average) and will always generally increase because

to give meaning to the environment increasingly with experience, continues Rapoport, the next step is to see if (Rapoport and Kantor, 1967c, 211)."

people, by nature, tend to respond to "pacer" stimuli that contain something of the familiar, but more of novelty and

improve the perceiver's brain in quantifiable chemical and anatomical work in psychology that support thisdegrees. (Rapoport and Kantor 1967c,

erence for complexity and ambiguity

Rapoport in association with Stanford psychologist Robert Kantor discusses some empirical

"an enriched environment (can)

contention (Rapoport and Kantor 213)." 1967c). Sensory deprivation studies The authors found the support they

indicate to them that there is indeed

wanted in a series of rat experiments

and uncertainty (Rapoport and Kantor 1967c, 215). His proof of man's need and pref-

completed, Rapoport goes on to discuss the statements of current designers on this issue. The most obvious and eloquent of the designers who have written on the subject are the two he

at Berkeley by Krech, Rosenzweig and intake. They cite a McGill University Bennett (1960, 1962). Working with chooses to quote-Robert Venturi essentially two groups of rats from study where subjects lay motionless, and Aldo Van Eyck. From Venturi's blindfolded in a silent room for several "enriched" and "impoverished" visual gentle manifesto: days. The subjects reported wild and environments, they concluded, accord"I like complexity and contradiction anxious visual hallucinations and ing to Rapoport, that: "The rats in in architecture-not the incoherence claimed that their visual senses reacted the enriched environment improved or arbitrariness of incompetent archiover the other two groups in brain more violently to deprivation than tecture, and not the precious their hearing, smell or touch (Scott weight and message capacity, in intricacies of picturesqueness. I speak problem solving and in learning." et al. 1959). of wider and solider matter: a kind of (Rapoport and Kantor 1967c, 213). Another experiment with students complexity and contradiction based Rapoport's argument continues by Munsinger and Kessen (1964) on the need to consider the richness of with allusions to work by Victor and concluded that adults consistently experience within the limitations of the Rock (1964) that shows that the prefer variability and uncertainty in medium . . . contradictory relationships visual sense dominates over the other their visual and auditory stimulation. express tension and give vitality. A senses when there is conflict. From Specifically they claimed that: (1) valid architecture evokes many levels that conclusion Rapoport and Kantor every person has a preference for a of meaning: its space and its elements determine only to deal with visual certain degree of environmental become readable and workable in perception. From there they leap to ambiguity; (2) the preferred degree several ways at once ... I like forms Robert White's (1959) insistence of ambiguity is that with which the that are impure rather than 'pure', that man is experimental and exploraperson can cope because it relates to comprising rather than 'clean', distorted tory by nature and is driven by his his previous experience; and (3) rather thn 'straightforward', ambiguous curiosity to seek changing and complex through training a person finds ways rather than 'articulated'..." (Venturi, environments. Creative personalities to cope with greater ambiguity and 1966). in the arts and sciences wilfully develop thus learns to prefer the greater

a dangerous lower limit for visual

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Some of the wonderfully ambivalent, poetic paradoxes Van Eyck is wont to

utter are cited by Rapoport as support

for his position. Among them is this

quote: "Architecture should be conceived as a

configuration of intermediary places clearly defined . . . it implies a break away from the contemporary concept

of many different people, will result in a degree of diversity, and hence

would stay (usually three to four days). Two batteries of tests were

complexity and interest, not possible through conscious design. (Rapoport and Kantor 1967c, 217)."

given to them, before, during and after isolation. In addition, they were sub-

This statement is presented by

Rapoport and Kantor as a conclusion

to their discussion of the experimental proofs of the need for "perceptual (call it sickness) of spatial continuity and the tendency to erase every artic- opulence" and of the literary support for the need for "ambiguity" in archiulation between spaces, i.e., between tectural environments. It presents a inside and outside, between one space clear attitude toward the role of and another (between one reality and architects, but one which is not sub-

another). Instead the transition must be articulated by means of defined in-

between places which induce simultaneous awareness of what is significant on either side. An inbetween space in this sense provides the common ground where conflicting polarities can again become twin phenomena" (Van Eyck 1962).

Having decided that both Van Eyck and Venturi are saying the same

thing he is, Rapoport concludes that

"by ambiguity, we can avoid both monotony and chaos ... Homogeneity

stantiated by the authors. They

suggest that the impossibility of knowing the nature, variety and interrelatedness of the uses of a space prevents the architect from making all of the right design decisions. What

they propose and the lessons learned

from vernacular architecture in this regard, will be discussed in the final section of this paper. Before proceeding with that discussion, however, Rapoport's use and

understanding of work in empirical

jected to propaganda during isolation. Twenty-seven control subjects, who were not isolated, were given the same

tests and propaganda material. The results indicate that the experi-

mental subjects performed worse than the controls both during and after the isolation period on some tests and that they were more susceptible to propaganda, though both groups showed

a significant change in attitude (Scott et al 1959)."

Rapoport and Kantor fairly describe

the mechanics of the experiment in

which the subjects wore translucent goggles, cardboard cuffs and gloves

and lay in a silent room with blank walls, but they ignore the point that the sensory deprivation was total and not merely visual and that much of

the emphasis was on the propaganda

aspect.

The experiment shows, as most of

psychology and his understanding of us might easily surmise, that deprithe cited writers on art and architecture vation of all the senses is indeed leads to monotony because there is no direction . . . Hence we get contrived should be checked. His arguments unsettling, but there is no discussion spring from this base. If he has differences ('googie architecture')" of the relative importance of the various (Rapoport and Kantor 1967, 217). interpreted the psychological studies senses or whether deprivation of any True architectural variety would avoid correctly, then his point of view must one of them alone would be as effective. our tendency to create ever more be taken seriously. This section will Possibly, the other senses would hysterical googie forms. Of course, demonstrate that he has misinterpreted compensate. Moreover, it must be the studies he cites. and this has been the target all along, remembered that students who volunthe best way to create true variety is by teer for such experiments should not "open-ended" design that allows the References to Empirical Psychology be termed average in their acuity and inhabitant to complete the building. sensitivity. They are unusual in their In the first experiments referred to Only such active participation allows desire for stimulation and information the observer to understand the environby Rapoport and Kantor (1967c), and many not represent a fair crossment and results in heightened interest are the McGill University sensory section of an urban population. The deprivation studies of the 1940's and and perception. larger issue of individuality, particularly 1950's. While there is little discrepancy "At some level the need for ambiguity with regard to people with unusual in the factual reporting, the context is in the environment suggests that it is visual sensitivities will be discussed left out. Their condensation of the impossible to design (my italics) the later in this paper. conducting of the experiment agrees total environment. It suggests that the In citing the selective orienting substantially with this summary: environment must be open-ended, unfinished to a degree so that the necessary completions, the expression

"Twenty-nine male subjects were placed in isolation for as long as they

response studies by Berlyne (1960),

Rapoport and Kantor introduce their own emphasis by claiming that Berlyne

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interpreted the infants' greater likelihood of first fixation on more complex

images as "preference" (Rapoport

and Kantor 1967c, 213). I can find

no statement by Berlyne that it should be interpreted as preference. Fantz, as cited by Berlyne in the same chapter

does claim to have found a preference

in infants as well as in chimpanzees for

chessboard patterns over solid colors. Rapoport and Kantor are correct in this citation, but a further reading of

Berlyne would expose his belief that it is the amount of contour that

stimulates the "on- and off-receptors" of the retina (Berlyne 1960, 99) that causes fixation in an infant. He says that other experiments indicate that this does not apply to adults who are more effected by incongruity, irregularity and heterogeneity than amount of contour. Another experiment discussed in the same chapter indicated to Berlyne the possibility that: "orienting responses tend not so much to be attracted to complex parts of the stimulus field as to shun features with

low information content and that they distribute themselves more or less

evenly among features where information content exceeds a certain

threshold (Berlyne 1960, 102)."

He does not attempt to define that threshhold, but in the light of the

simple experimental images illustrated in his discussion (Berlyne 1960, 100), it could be relatively low and include

even the most drab urban environment.

The Munsinger and Kessen (1964)

report does, in fact, arrive at the three

already cited conclusions listed by Rapoport and Kantor. The grand con-

clusion extracted from that report that "adults consistently prefer variability and uncertainty in their visual and

auditory stimulation" is again misleading, however (Rapoport and Kantor 1967c, 213). First, they omit the important qualifying thought "inter-

mediate (my italics) amount of cognitive

uncertainty" (Munsinger and Kessen 1964). Second, the experimenters note

some quite significant differences between people particularly when the

art students participated. Rapoport

might explain their different perform-

ance as a result of their increased train-

ing and experience, hence, increased

preference for complexity.

That people can be trained or made

aware is not the only issue, however.

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What is important is the possibility, not considered by Rapoport, that people

are basically different. Artists may

prefer complexity because of their training or, alternatively, they may be artists because of a special sensitivity

for visual issues. This problem will

be discussed in a later section of this

paper in relation to the writing of

Anton Ehrenzweig.

sented by Berlyne in this quote: "...'an intermediate degree of complexity (unity in diversity) makes

Rapoport concludes from these direct and quite scientific results that the rat

brains were "improved" by environ-

for maximum appeal, the exact degree mental stimulation. His emphasis on

depending on personality traits (Berlynethe purely visual aspects of the ex-

perimental environment cannot be supported when the experimenters In his analysis of the Krech, Rosendescribe the environment entirely in zweig and Bennett (1960, 1962) ex-terms of toys, maze-experience and 1958, 295)."

periments on rat brain weight and

sociability. The Krech experiment

There is one sentence in the Berlyne message capacity, Rapoport has againmay have had too many variables to be (1958) article on visual complexity misinterpreted the data and drawn conclusive at all, but if we were to grant unsupported conclusions. While it is its validity within its humble claims, it cited by Rapoport and Kantor that would support their argument and true that they found a significant would be difficult to extrapolate the apparently serves as the source of their increase in brain weight, it was the conclusions to apply to humans in misleading extrapolations: "environmentally impoverished" rats urban or even house environments. ".... they reveal a tendency to fixate a part of the environment that is a relatively rich source of information in preference to one that is a relatively poor one (Berlyne 1958, 294)."

who had the larger brains! (Krech, The question Rapoport puts before Rosenzweig and Bennett 1960.) architects and planners is one of total There is no mention of message deprivation versus controlled develop-

capacity in the reports unless it is in- ment. We are concerned with issues herent in the discussion of chemical of visual, tactile, auditory variety in

change. This change and some statements about the abilities of some rats The experiment deals with "perceptual curiosity" and shows that subjects to solve maze problems were the only seated before a tachistoscope "showed subjects discussed. Krech, Rosena greater mean fixation time for the zweig and Bennett ran this group of

'more complex' figure than for the 'less experiments with essentially two groups complex' figure (Berlyne 1958, 295)."of controlled littermate rats (there was Complexity was broken down in distincta third 'normal" control group which tests into irregularity of shape, amount is not relevant to the discussion). One of material, heterogeneity of elements, group of ECT (environmental comirregularity of arrangement, and plexity and training) rats was allowed incongruity. to live in small groups of ten in relatively

space in which people are free to

move. It might be possible that under

Skinnerian conditions of control,

imposed variety and training will in-

crease one's ability to cope with more

variety and training, but that is not the

question. As an appropriate and oddly

prophetic epilogue to this discussion of their work, one of the experimenters made this remark in a later article

footnoted by Rapoport and Kantor: "I hope you will neither reject this

Berlyne's conclusions relate to per- large and open cages and was allowed research as irrelevant to your own nor, ceptual curiosity and reaffirm an to have "toys" and daily maze experion the other hand, apply it uncritically intuitive belief that we are more likely ence. The other IC (isolation control) to work on human behavior and rats were isolated in small metal boxes to look, at least initially, at new and development (Rosenzweig 1966, 321)." interesting images than simple, familiarand handled only for cage cleaning. ones. Berlyne does not claim that this Upon decapitation an analysis of Having so far established to his is by preference (intelligent choice chlorinesterase was performed with satisfaction that 1) deprivation is unimplied) except to note that subjects the following results: "The ratio of pleasant and harmful, 2) enriched cortical to sub-cortical ChE in the voluntarily lingered over the more environments are gratifying and complex images when no specific tasksECT group was lower than it was in didactic and 3) that complex environwere required of them. The experi- the IC group." In other words, they ments lead to chemical and volumeric ment does not attempt to explain the conclude, "this experiment has demonimprovement of the brain, Rapoport lingering fixation as an indication of strated a measurable and consistent gets into even shakier ground when enjoyment, compulsion to resolve change in the patterning of ChE in rat he tries to deal with concepts as well as incongruities, or simply an initial fasci-brains as a function of environmental experimental data. Robert White's nation of curiosity. Upon resolution stimulation (Krech, Rosenzweig and (1959) "Competence" paper does of the ambiguity, the subject would Bennett 1960, 518)." support Rapoport's contentions that perhaps return to the familiar and In a second experiment, they match "... stimulation and contact are sought simple image. In Berlyne's words: ECT and IC rats in problem solving ..., (that) men are persistent in in a maze after a period of starvation. choosing environments which provide "A further hypothesis-that complex Both groups did equally well at finding changing and interesting feedback. . . or novel stimuli attract observing the food at first, but upon increasing (and that) healthy behavior is exresponses and other investigatory maze complexity and solution reversals, ploratory, varying and venturesome behavior because incomplete perception the ECT rats "learned" much faster. in nature (Rapoport and Kantor of them arouses a drive which continAt the end of many tests, the rats were1967c, 215)." ued examination of them reduces is therefore admissable and deserving becoming more equal again, presumably The emphasis Rapoport misses is the of consideration (Berlyne 1968, 295)." as a result of experience, and upon importance of the act of being exploradecapitation, their brains were almost tory. The Held and Hein (1963) cat Another important qualification is pre-equal in chemical patterning. experiments have established for most

21

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psychologists the critical relationship between the perceived world and active,

physical participation in it. There are a great many complicated interrelationships in a city environment that can stimulate exploratory behavior and a great many levels of interaction with them. White is clearly talking about an environment of much greater scope than the visual or even strictly perceptual.

White also has some remarks about the levels of motivation which might

be desirable:

the usefulness of establishing criteria

with the information load related to

upon establishing such a criteria,

tion (vertical scale) versus information

that integration. The finding that apparently interests pluralistic society in an urban environment. Rapoport and Kantor are intent Rapoport is that the curves of integra-

for "optimal perceptual rate" for a

however.

experiments is their reading of Streufertfor the "concretes." At no point does and Schroeder (1965). At no point do the report indicate that the information was at all visual not to mention prethey come close to claiming to have dominantly visual. The conclusion was found a "consensual point of visual preference among humans as opposed only that levels of integration are low to a random scatter among individualswhen the flow of information is meagre

(Rapoport and Kantor 1967c, 214)." "Strong motivation reinforces learning in a narrow sphere, whereas moderate Their experiment deals with informamotivation is more conducive to an

tion and not visual perception alone.

exploratory and experimental attitude which leads to competent interactions

in general (White 1959)."

"It may well be that structural characteristics and (informational) load conditions would have somewhat

different effects on perceptual (my

This thought introduces the ambivalent italics) complexity. In other words,

situation which exists. Man also seeks

peace amid stimulation. Just as he

seeks novelty and new experience when he is bored, he "craves that utterly unstimulated condition once sketched as the epitome of neural bliss" when he is

over-stimulated (White 1959). Leuba, as quoted in White's article, put it this way: "There is an optimal level of stimulation, subject to variation at different times, and learning is associated with movement toward this optimal level, downward when stimulation is too high and

upward when it is too low (Leuba in White 1959)."

load both peak at the same point for

One of the most serious misrepboth the "abstracts" (whose level of resentations of empirical psychologicalintegration is consistently higher) and

differentiation and integration involved in performance, may or may not be highly correlated with differentiation and integration involved in perception ... Data concerned with the effects of

environmental complexity or information

load on perception characteristics, as well as data concerned with the inter-

action of conceptual structure and environmental complexity as they might effect perceptual characteristics

and low again when the flow is too fast. As for Rapoport's allegation that

they discovered the ideal rate of infor-

mnation was "ten bits of information

per unit time (Rapoport and Kantor 1967b, 215)" it is only fair to the ex-

perimenters to explain that a bit is an agressor move and that the unit of

time was one half hour.

Rapoport and Kantor report the con-

clusions of Dember and Earl (1957)

correctly. It is not clear, however,

whether their conclusions about man's

tendency to follow "pacer stimuli"

under rigid experimental conditions have direct application in the randomness of urban life. They themselves have difficulty in pinning down the notion of complexity:

the relationship of conceptual structure

"We have deliberately avoided defining complexity as an attribute, but rather

to environmental and behavioral

have made it a dimensionless measure

variables (Streufert and Schroeder 1965, 136)."

enables us to take what seems the

would be of great value in further testing

of a stimulus on any attribute. This

reasonable view that a stimulus may

On the surface, this may seem to be a restatement of "optimal perceptual

Their experiment involved 236 male college students who were initially

propose an intermediate state of stimu-

teams by classification in a tactical game Earl 1957, 95-96)."

rate" as promoted by Rapoport and Kantor. To the extent that they both

lation as desirable, as opposed to deprivations or satiation, both are

tested and classed as "abstracts" or

"concretes." They were matched in

have a (lifferent measure of complexity on each of its attributes; analogously, an individual may have a complexity value on each attribute (Dember and

against "aggressor" experimenters. The games were controlled by the Rapoport and Kantor understand this difficulty and, as a result, assert that aggressor's moves which are the infor-

obvious and trivial. Leuba, however, is specifically talking about the process mation load to be handled. The main force of the experiment had to do with of learning. He also introduces the concept of variation over time for each the levels of integration involved in

individual which further complicates performance (problem solving) and

there is a "conmmon relevant phycho-

logical factor .... that seems to be an

open-ended or indeterminate quality to the stinmli, which can be covered

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purely conscious analysis seem accidental and imponderable. It is never entirely possible to anticipate with any precision the impact of changing illumina-

tion and perspective distortion playing on the cavities and protrusions of a building. The simpler and more geometric architectural shapes become, the more dramatic and incisive appear their irregular distortions wrought through changing light and viewing angles (Ehrenzweig 1965, 36)."

Even more to the point is Ehrenzweig's discussion of Alison and Peter Smithson's criticism of neat precision

by the term ambiguity, and (that) there is evidence to suggest that this factor can be related to optimal perceptual rate

(Rapoport and Kantor 1967b, 215)."

If there is such evidence, it certainly has not been presented in this paper. It appears that Rapoport was proceeding from a set of intuitively derived hypotheses, probably stemming from

his interest in vernacular architecture,

and that he scanned the literature for

in design: sometimes make his vision vague (and here Rapoport directly contradicts his "They say that the business of living is

definition of ambiguous) in order to messy; as it impinges on a too-neatly get into his subconscious or in order to designed space, it will throw it into

see large scale interactions.

confusion and ugliness. A well designed

Rapoport misses two vastly importantblock of popular flats ought to be

issues, however. The first is that enlivened, not disfigured, by the many Ehrenzweig is talking about a rare patterned curtains that its future ability and not at all about the way occupants will put in the windows. Any most people function. "Space intuition really good building ought to be "open"

is therefore as rare in architecture

in the sense in which a fertile motif

scientific support. What he found was as it is in geometry (Ehrenzweig is open, waiting to receive readily the not entirely predictable incidents of a broad base of primitive experiments 1965, 134)." its practical use that will produce its that generally supported the direction The second and even more pertinent of his intuition, but which, upon somedifference is in their feelings about final appearance (Ehrenzweig 1965, 43-44)." the role of architects. Rapoport has what closer inspection do not support his conclusions. stated that "it is impossible to design the total environment... (and that) At a casual reading, this seems to mirror the catch phrases promoted by complexity and interest are not possible References to Art and Design through conscious design (RapoportRapoport-messy living, open-ended, A good point of entry into a discusunpredictable, practical use. This is not and Kantor 1967c, 217)." Ehrenzweig sion of Rapoport's reading of writersbelieves that an architect is a creative at all the same, however. He speon art and design is the problem of thepersonality who has that power to get cifically says "a well designed" flat. The creative mind can and should creative personality-and specifically,into lower levels of consciousness and the architect as creator. He opens Pandesign for the reality, the clutter of life that "his unconscious mind will have dora's box when he alludes to Anton and make allowances for the unprescanned and explored many other uses Ehrenzweig's chapter to Gyorgy Kepes' and interpretations and automaticallydictable. Ehrenzweig believes the good Education of Vision (Ehrenzweig provided for them in his final designartist/architect is the one best suited to do this. 1965). Rapoport intends to use Ehren(Ehrenzweig 1965, 43)." The architect zweig to further his contention that as a creator has a vision and hence a Rapoport displays the same misunambiguity and complication are positive, duty to contribute his vision to those derstanding of language in choosing to desirable qualities since one of the goals quote Aldo van Eyck as an exponent of who do not have it. of the creative person is to intentionally his own point of view. The whole inwiden and unfocus his perception. A "Architectural space intuition must tent of van Eyck's writing is to define creative person, they both agree, must scan complex interactions which to a what the architect should be doing,

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not what he should leave for other

folk architecture and many have found

of 'framework.' . . . Frameworks could

people to do. His commitment is to in it more than mere formal and ro-

then possibly be defined in terms of the

things with it ("non-programatic Rapoport's new book, House Form specificity"). He might agree with and Culture (1969b) is worthwhile Rapoport about the present state of reading both for the sketches and

305)."

"clearly defined . . . defined in-between mantic inspiration. I believe he is correctrelative rate of change based on an places (Van Eyck 1968)." He does in thinking that there are observable analysis of past examples, primarily in not want to give them nothing so they "constancies" which "represent certainthe vernacular tradition . .. framework, whether in the house or city, must be can make something out of it but give deeply felt needs and desires (Rapoport fixed by the designer (Rapoport 1968b, them something so they can do many 1967a, 176)."

the profession but certainly not the

cataloging of many of the house types

In the end, then, there is a definite

attitude about the role of the architect.

While it is one with which I personally can find some general and intuitive travels and for the emphasis upon the "The wonderful thing about architecture sympathy, it has not been rigorously predominant importance of cultural is that it's an art-just that. The terrible or even adequately defended. Had values in the development of indigenous thing about architects is that they are Rapoport based his theory upon obserhouse forms. I believe he is justified not always artists. Worse, they are vation in the field alone and illustrated in continuing this investigation of the semi-artists (tiny omnitects!) (Van vernacular tradition and developing more richly with drawings than with Eyck 1968, 89)." further his theory on the nature and misleading references, it might have

ideal state.

he has encountered in his extensive

been a useful contribution to architec-

Of the writers cited by Rapoport, relationship of its formal determinants. tural literature. As it is, his contribuRobert Venturi (1966) is perhaps theIt may very well be that there is a clear

tion has been impoverished and perhaps lesson for architects, but for the present, most opposed to his views. Venturi explicitly states that the archiect can his work has not convincingly estab- even rendered suspect by careless scholarship. It is almost a form of and should design complexity and lished any greater understanding of scientisnm almost as if he felt coinwhat that lesson might be. ambiguity into his buildings. His pelled to justify and bolster observa"Manifesto" is a very personal state- There is a definite development in tions and reasoning that might well ment by an architect who accepts the Rapoport's specific personal conclurealities of his time as he sees them and sions, from the early articles when he have stood by themselves. Anton Ehren-

zweig could have been thinking of welcomes the challenge to affirm them merely describes indigenous buildings Rapoport when he wrote: in their immediate contexts, to the in a very specific architectural statement. On a symbolic, historical and per-present. Early in 1967, he could say: "Today's architects in search of haps too intellectual level, his work is inspiration are casting around for new "The difficulties in applying these multi-meaning, but it is certainly never sociological factors that would introduce intuitive insights, and relating laboratory

"open-ended." Moreover, Venturi

sees in the very nature of architecture an element of complexity: "... architecture is necessarily complex and contradictory in its very inclusion of the traditional Vitruvian elements of

commodity, firmness and delight. And today, the wants of program, structure, mechanical equipment and expression,

even in single buildings in simple contexts, are diverse and conflicting in ways previously unimaginable (Venturi 1966, 22)."

Rapoport is certainly as entitled to

his beliefs about architects and archi-

tecture as Venturi, Van Eyck or Ehren-

findings to design, have not yet been tackled (Rapoport and Kantor 1967c, 220)."

In an article published a few months later, he begins to see what architects

should do:

"These vernacular environments have

welcomed obstacles into their calcula-

tions. So great is their need for the new sociological functionalism that they are often not content with serving existing social order, but find themselves in the

role of social reformers, catering to non-existent social requirements (Ehrenzweig 1965)."

basically been open-ended, unfinished frameworks, which people could complete physically, and change physically over time .. . If we give people an unfinished frame, they will complete it, and in so doing introduce their own meaning to it ... This framework can be at different scales-regional, metropolitan, urban, local, building, etc....

zweig. It is wrong, however, for him (Rapoport 1967d)." to borrow their prestige when none of them are saying at all the same thing. In the most recent articles, he has become even more specific about the job Conclusions

architects should be doing:

There is certainly a quality about "Architects are better trained and far many vernacular buildings and settle- more sophisticated than the public... ments that appeals to most men-par-I would argue that the architects should act as pacers . . . The designer would ticularly those men with developed visual sensitivities like Amos Rapoport.give up some of his absolute control

Architects before Rapoport have studiedand concentrate his skills in the design

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On Diverse Needs and Choices

Bibliography Berlyne, D. E. (1958). "The Influence of Complexity and Novelty in Visual Figures on Orienting Responses." Journal of Experimental Psychology, LV, 289-296.

Berlyne, D. E. (1960). Conflict, Arousal and Curiosity. McGraw-Hill, New York City. Dember, W. N. and R. W. Earl (1957). "Analysis of Exploratory, Manipulative, and Curiosity Behavior." Psychological Review, LXIV, 91-96. Ehrenzweig, A. (1965). "Conscious Planning and Unconscious Scanning" in G. Kepes (ed.) Education of Vision, George Brazillier, New York City, 27-49.

Held, R. and A. Hein (1963). "Movement Produced Stimulation in the Development of Visually Guided Behavior." Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 56, No. 5, 872-6. Krech, D., M. R. Rosenzweig and E. L. Bennett (1960). "Effects of Environmental Complexity and Training on Brain Chemistry." Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, XII, 509-519.

Krech, D., M. R. Rosenzweig and E. L. Bennett (1962). "Relation Between Brain Chemistry and Problem-Solving Among Rats Raised in Enriched and Impoverished Environments." Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, LV, 801-809.

Munsinger, H. and W. Kessen (1964), "Uncertainty, Structure, and Preference." Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 78, No. 9, 1-24. Rapoport, A. (1964). "The Architecture of Isphahan." Landscape, XIV, No. 2, winter 1964-5, 4-11.

Rapoport, A. and H. Sanoff (1965). "Our Unpretentious Past." AIA Journal, Nov. 1965. Rapoport, A. (1966). "Some Aspects of Urban Renewal in France." Town Planning Review, Oct. 1966.

Rapoport, A. (1967a). "Some Consumer Comments on a Designed Environment." ARENA Architectural Association Journal, Jan. 1967. Rapoport, A. (1967b). "A Research Project on Low Cost Housing." Architecture in Australia, Feb 1967.

Rapoport, A. and R. E. Kantor (1967c). "Complexity and Ambiguity in Environmental Design." Journal of the American Institute of Planners, July 1967. Rapoport, A. (1967d). "Whose Meaning in Architecture?" Interbuild/Arena, Oct. 1967. Rapoport, A. (1967e). "Yagua, or the Amazon Dwelling." Landscape, XVI, No. 3, spring 1967, 27-30.

Rapoport, A. (1968a). "Sacred Space in Primitive and Vernacular Architecture." Liturgical Art, Feb. 1968.

Rapoport, A. (1968b). "The Personal Element in

Housing: an Argument for Open-ended Design." Royal Institute of British Architects Journal, July 1968.

Rapoport, A. (1969a). "Housing and House Densities in France." Town Planning Review, Jan. 1969.

"Today, even in an environment that can be air-conditioned, and in which we can have as much light as we want at any hour of the day or night, most functions of the body continue to exhibit daily and seasonal cycles, as well as cycles of other periodicities. (There is, for example, some evidence of lunar cycles in

human physiology.) Even though the ideal of technology is to create a constant and uniform environment, physiological functions still undergo cyclic changes because these are linked to the cosmic forces under

which human evolution took place. When modern life carries day into night, and imposes rapid changes of latitude, as in a jet aircraft, it creates physiological conflicts because man's body continues to function according to the cosmic order. We really are still operating with the physiological equipment that had fitted us to the natural environment prevailing during the Late Stone Age. *

*

0

"I should like now to direct attention to

the obvious fact-and yet not sufficiently obvious to have inspired as much biological study as it deserves-that the total environment affects individuality through the influences it exerts on the organism during the crucial phases of development, including the intrauterine phase. These early influences affect lastingly and often irreversibly

practically all anatomical, physiological, and behavioral characteristics throughout the whole life span. *

0*

Rapoport, A. (1969b). House Form and Culture. Prentice Hall, Englewood, N.J.

Rapoport, A. Housing and House Form (in press). Rosenzweig, M. R. (1966). "Environmental Complexity, Cerebral Change and Behavior." American Psychologist, XXI, 321-332.

Scott, T. H. et al. (1959). "Cognitive Effects of Perceptual Isolation." Canadian Journal of Psychology, XIII, 200-209. Streufert, S. and H. J. Schroeder (1965). "Conceptual Structure, Environmental Complexity and Task Performance." Journal of Experimental Research in Psychology, I, 132-137. Van Eyck, A. (1962). Architectural Design, Dec. 1962.

Van Eyck, A. (1968). in A. Smithson, Team 10 Primer, M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Venturi, R. (1966). Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. Museum of Modern Art, New York,

"Creating div result in som opinion diver than efficien germination

nature. Since mental design range of cho word design planning, urb all the practi life."

N.Y.

Victor, J. and I. Rock (1964). "Vision and Touch: Experimentally Created Conflict Between the Two Senses." Science, 143, 594-596. Write, R. (1959). "Motivation Reconsidered: the Concept of Competence." Psychological Review, LXVI, 297-333.

From "Biological Individuality" by Rene Dubos; Reprinted from the COLUMBIA FORUM, Spring, 1969, Volume XII, Number 1. Copyright 1969 by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of

New York.

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