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Writer's picturezeynep eda gonen

16 steps to understand architecture












DURABILITY


To Vitruvius, durability is about building’s stability of a building, solid ground and materials should be chosen wisely.


BEAUTY


In Vitruvius’s point of view, beauty depends on the pleasure that a person gets from the view of a building. Pleasure can be ensured by considering propotion according to correct pirinciples of symmetry.


CONVENIENCE


Vitruvius thinks that convenience is about the compatibility between a building and place where this building has been built. Place must be convenient to make sure building has no fault or presents no hidrance to use.


Vitruvius, ‘’Book 1/ Chapter 1: The Education of an Architect and ‘’Book 1/ Chapter 3: The Departments of Architecture and’’ , The Ten Books on Architecture, trans. Morris Hicky Morgan,

Cambridge/MA: Harvard Universty Press, 1914.



COHERENT SYSTEM


Le Corbusier says that coherent system is a system which proclaim an essentail unity. According to him all the cathedrals and Indain temples were built by considering the measures and the coherent system. This method secures harmony in buildings and makes them systematic and beautiful.


Le Corbusier, ‘’Chapter 1: Preamble’’ and ‘’Chapter 7: Concrete Verifications and Coda’’, The Mofulor. A Harmonius Measure to the Human Scale Universally Applicable to Architecture and Mechanics, trans. Peter de Francia and Anna Bostock, Bastel: Birlhauser, 2000.



THE TERRACES


Paul Scheerbart thinks that terraces are important in buildings, esspecially in glass buildings. According to Scheerbart, terraces help buildings to become a part of the universe, earth. By ‘’becoming a part of earth’’, he means seeing the sky, letting the sunlight and moonlight and stars into the rooms. He says that it can be possible by not only using few windows, but using walls and terraces which made entirely of glass, infact coloured glass.


Paul Scheerbart, ‘’Glass Architecture (expert)’’, in Programs on 20th-century Architecture, Ulrich Conrads, ed., trans. Michael Bullock, Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 1997.



ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE


As Laszlo Moholy- Nagy says, there are differences between sculpture and architecture. In his point of view dealing with space can be mixed with dealing with volüme. He says ‘’to the unpracticed eye a sculpture may seem as minature architecture and works of architecture as widen sculpture’’. Space formation changes, however, the old meaning of architecture.


Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, ‘’Basic Architectonic Questions’’ and ‘’Architecture and Sculpture’’ The New Vision: Fundamentals of Bahaus Design, Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Mineola/NY: Dover, 2005(1938)



THE MATERIALS OF THE TEA ROOM


As Kazuka Okakura says huge columns of wood and enormous beams used in the production of the tea room. Through this materials and the way of construction, tea room resistant against earthquakes and climate conditions of the country but not against fire. According to Okakura, the way that their construction give rise to have a lot of examples of the durability of their wooden architecture.


Kakuza Okakura, ‘’The Team Room’’, The Book of Tea, Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 2006 (1906).



FLEXIBILITY IN ARCHITECTURE


According to Herman Hertzberger flexibility became the catch-word, because of the function problem in architecture. As Hertzberger says, if the design of buildings are neutral, the buildings can associate different functions and thus the building can orient itself the impacts of changing time and situations. He says that the problem of changeability is not about adaption or modification of characteristic features but ‘’having these features in the beggining’’.


Herman Hertzberger, ‘’Functionality, Flexibility and Polyvalence’’, Lessons for Students in Architecture, Rotterdam. 010 Publishers, 1988.



MOTION AND ANIMATION


As Greg Lynn says despite the differences between animation and motion, they can mixed-up. For him motion includes movement and action but animation includes evolution of a form and its shaping forces.


Greg Lynn, ‘’Animate Form’’, in A.Krista sykes, ed, The Architecture Reader. Essential Writings from Vitruvius to the Present, New York: George Braziller Publisher, 2007.



STASIS AND STABILITY


According to Greg Lynn under a simple gravity stasis is the stable force of a ground point, across the ordering system. But under a more complicated concept of gravity, stability is the ordering movement into cadenced process. For him ‘’discreteness, timelessness and fixity’’ are distinctive for stasis; ‘’multiplicity, change and development’’ are distinctive for stability.


Greg Lynn, ‘’Animate Form’’, in A.Krista sykes, ed, The Architecture Reader. Essential Writings from Vitruvius to the Present, New York: George Braziller Publisher, 2007.



NATURE AS A GUIDE


According to Jan Kaplicky nature can be used as an example at many different ways. For Kaplicky there is so much to learn from nature like the efficient use of materials looking at the thread in a spiders web. By looking organic forms, he means materials can be used more productive ways by using nature as a guide.


‘’Green Qustionnaire: Responses by Norman Foster, Jan Kaplicky , Richard Rogers, Ken Yang and Thomas Herzog’’, in A.Krista Sykes, ed. , Construction a New Agenda. Architecture Theory 1993-2009, New York: Princeton University Press, 2010.



NATURE AS A GUIDE


For Thomas Herzog architecture can not be deduced directly from nature. The reason is the function of our buildings are different from the nature of plants and animals. But there are a lot of lessons that can be learnt from nature. According to Herzog the productive use of materials, diversity and great beauty in details can be learnt from nature.


‘’Green Qustionnaire: Responses by Norman Foster, Jan Kaplicky , Richard Rogers, Ken Yang and Thomas Herzog’’, in A.Krista Sykes, ed. , Construction a New Agenda. Architecture Theory 1993-2009, New York: Princeton University Press, 2010.



ALIVE CITY


According to Constant the modern city is dead because of the utility. To solve this problem he suggests a city which is alive, by mean alive to be creactive. Constant says, his New Babylon Project is a mass creativity. So it deals with action, enormous creative potential. For Constant it deals with transfiguration of ethics, it deals with new communal system.


Constant, ‘’New Babylon (1960), in Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-century Architecture, Ulrich Conrads, ed., trans. Michael Bullock, Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 1997.



SOCIAL SPACE


Constans says that in his New Babylon there is a huge harmonious structure which includes several floor, a ‘’social space’’. In his point of view this social place is articially air conditioned and lit. He says, these sectional spaces occurs a large public spaces serving the aims of social life. According to Constant there are walls which can be shift, so the space has diversity for any condition and for any time.


Constant, ‘’New Babylon (1960), in Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-century Architecture, Ulrich Conrads, ed., trans. Michael Bullock, Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 1997.



MODERN MOVEMENT


According to editors Modern Movement attempt to cut its connection with history. They come with a question, if modern movement and history became independent, how can history be used for source of inspiration? The editors says that there are two answers fort his question; using history literally and using history more abstract. Both has different style, different methods.


‘’Harvard Architecture Review (from the inagural editional): ‘’Beyond the Modern Movement’’, in Architectural Theory, vol 2: An Anthology from 1871-2005, Harry Francis Mallgrave and Christina Constandriopoulos, ed., Malden/MA, Oxford and Carlton: Blackwell Publishing, 2008.



ARCHITECTURAL LANGUAGE


Editors say that architectural history is a motivation behind creating an architectural language. According to editors as all architects, modern movement architects, too, study history to be inspired by it. Modern Movement architects use history to develop their current architectural language and to create new architectural vocabulary.


‘’Harvard Architecture Review (from the inagural editional): ‘’Beyond the Modern Movement’’, in Architectural Theory, vol 2: An Anthology from 1871-2005, Harry Francis Mallgrave and Christina Constandriopoulos, ed., Malden/MA, Oxford and Carlton: Blackwell Publishing, 2008.








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