Usually
defined as horizontal bearing members, flying beams act as a bridge, spanning
across and connected two disparate parts of a structure. In Canterbury, these
bridging devices are called flying buttresses, architectural elements that add
height and light through their support system. Nowadays, these aerial delights
may or may not be structural, but they create a majesty of space that surely
seems to have found inspiration in its Gothic ancestors.
The
modernist rendition of the flying beam may be integral to the structure or
created for effect. In either dimension, these are subtle and interesting
architectural features. This is because they act as dual agents in both
bridging and dividing, connecting and separating. When acting as a bridge, they
create a passageway or door opening by joining the two opposing walls at a
somewhat lower height than the ceiling. In this instance, there is air both
below and above the beam, giving an airy, light feeling to the space. As a
divide, it serves a similar purpose by separating or puncturing space either
for passing through or by lightening up a heavy volumetric wall. In either
case, flying beams lend themselves well to the modernist home by introducing an
ethereal quality. It is a heavenly lightness that evokes its own sense of
piety.
Flying
beams can be made of sheetrock, wood, painted cabinetry, glass, metal, even
light. If Dan Flavin was an architect, his beams would surely be glass tubes
filled with colored brightness. Usually, we see these beams as heavy wooden
supports in traditionally styled rooms, oftentimes in kitchens and dens. In
these instances, they add a warm, clubby feel. As glass, they appear highly
transparent as the surrounding light passes through them.
In
their sheetrock form, flying beams tend to be pithy in substance. Spanning
between walls, these usually hollow extensions can be rather narrow, say 4 x 4
or similar dimension. If one can imagine standing with arms widespread, each
hand touching an opposing wall (think Vitruvian Man), one will get an image of
how they perform. Riding high into space, high enough for people to walk under,
they act as portals. Used artfully, they create clever datum lines, leveling
the eye and establishing visual harmony around a room. Thus, if there is a room
entry height of say 7'-6' in one area, situating a flying beam at a similar
height close by, creates visual continuity within that space. They connect
elements at a similar height, thus drawing subtle yet strong relationships
between them.
In
addition to connecting walls within a contained area, flying beams also bridge
different rooms to each other, threading continuity between spaces. Oftentimes,
these beams are not at 180 degree angles to each other, but vary as the rooms'
relationships to each other differ. Here, they help create a sense of flow by
tying the rooms together.
From an artistic perspective, flying beams
sculpt space, carving out voids to create highly imaginative empty spaces. Like
the artist James Turrell, who uses light to fill not only an architectural
void, but also to have the ethereal nothingness of light become, in its own
way, a volume, the effect is quite similar. In both instances, the absence of
volume becomes as important or an even more important element than the mass
from which it is carved. Similarly, flying beams cut through empty space,
carving out forms and shapes of different sizes and depth.
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