The Manhattan Transcripts Project, New York, New York, Episode 1: The Park
Bernard Tschumi
French and Swiss, born Switzerland 1944
1976-77
This gelatin silver photograph from Bernard Tschumi’s Manhattan Transcripts compresses a mini-sequence of image, diagram, and dashed absence to argue that events, movement, and narrative — not just walls and plans — make architecture legible.
Across the sheet three numbered squares create a cinematic beat: a high-contrast, smoky street photograph, a crisp architectural plan pierced by a human-shaped void, and a dashed-outline frame that suggests a missing or future action.
Tschumi’s Transcripts upended traditional architectural drawing by foregrounding action, program, and temporality, opening architecture to narrative, performance, and theoretical critique.
Medium
Gelatin silver photograph
Dimensions
14 x 18" (35.6 x 45.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase and partial gift of the architect in honor of Lily Auchincloss
Accession
3.1995.18
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
