VISUAL EF9ECTS | Architecture and the Chess Game of Form and Story

IN VISUAL EF9ECTS, ARCHITECT JEF7REY HILDNER builds on signature themes and concepts that he laid out in his book Daedalus 9, turning again to the cinematic metaphor of chess to bring his theory of architecture to life. "Architecture is a chess game of Form & Story waged on the battlefield of a building and its site," Hildner proclaims in his 9-point Visual Ef9ects Manifesto. "The White Army of Form cries, 'Architecture is the stage set for the drama of life.' The Black Army of Story...
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IN VISUAL EF9ECTS, ARCHITECT JEF7REY HILDNER builds on signature themes and concepts that he laid out in his book Daedalus 9, turning again to the cinematic metaphor of chess to bring his theory of architecture to life. "Architecture is a chess game of Form & Story waged on the battlefield of a building and its site," Hildner proclaims in his 9-point Visual Ef9ects Manifesto. "The White Army of Form cries, 'Architecture is the stage set for the drama of life.' The Black Army of Story cries, 'Architecture is a story told through a building.' The armies of Form & Story fight the War of Art. They fight for our mind and soul and heart." "A great building," Hildner explains, "presents more than the dazzling production values of a Tesla. More than a breathtaking expression of the aesthetics of materials, space, and light--more than a stunning display of Abstract Form. Like architecture since the dawn of time, a great building tells a Symbolic Story. The metaphor of chess helps us see how Form & Story can join forces through 'collaborative conflict,' fraught with peril, to create a heart pounding work of art." Visual Ef9ects springs from the author's talk by the same title that he gave in 2016 for the Symposium on Formalism at the Syracuse University School of Architecture Program in Florence. An award-winning screenwriter as well as a practicing architect, Hildner transposes insights from the arena of story architecture to his parallel arena of building architecture. He spells out the controlling insight in point 9 of his manifesto: "'A story,' says storytelling theorist Robert McKee, 'is a creative demonstration of truth.' So is a building. In a building, everything must be formed, but a great building, like a great movie, presents more than Form, more than Visual Effects. A great building presents Visual Ef9ects. That '9' stands for Story. Truth. My book presents a manifesto. Build beautiful. Build the truth."