from the top: Looking westward from outside the courtyard of Hua bu xiao zhu (A little structure of splendor steps) in Liu yuan (Garden of lingering). From Fung, Stanislaus, Liu, Shida, Sun Yu. ‘Aperspectival effects in the Liu Yuan, Suzhou’, Architectural Journal no. 568 (2016), p38 Eileen Gray et Jean Badovici, E.1027 Au Cap Martin Roquebrune, 1926-29. Original caption from ‘Maison en bord de mer’. L’Architecture Vivante . Hiver MCMXXIX, Édi- tions Albert Morancé Eileen Gray, architect; Le Corbusier, mural. E.1027, view of the reconstructed built-in writing cabinet, 2016
remarks In Chinese garden, whiteness articulates nature. As a human work, it augments and enriches the reality in nature by bringing forth what has been previously latent there, presenting the anonymous occurrences of natural existence that otherwise may not thrive or be accessible. It allows nature to manifest itself. Eileen Gray’s whiteness, in addition to the articulation of nature that resembles the condition in Suzhou garden, has the alternative function of interweaving – the crucial and incessant exchange and reciprocity – of the practicalities of everyday life. These migrations and drifts are more intense than those happening in Suzhou gardens. The outcome is a harmony and equilibrium between whiteness and its surrounding milieu; less a one-off acquisition and more a mutual modification and modulation that is to be maintained and renewed. Despite different cultural backgrounds, the Suzhou garden and E1027 have similarities. The colourless, austere and insignificant appearance of white is not spectacular, but is, rather, acknowledgement of limitations. It calls on the reality of existence with a patience for the appeal of the horizon, without forcing anything too soon. It is an attitude of waiting, delaying finality and definite result, the sense of release and inaction. Corbusier considers whiteness as a field for elaboration, thus drawing a well-worn distinction between art and nature, between upcoming and pre-existing. Standing out as a pictorial representation, it is certain of its power in a wider range of prosaic and everyday affairs. Eileen Gray shows more delicate sense of awareness, returning to the mundane world, seeking transcendence from the secular realm. The departure between them is the difference between responsibility and awareness, the former a professional manner of speaking, the latter a pre-professional habit of listening and appealing. n
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