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Provocation 6
Acknowledging the three most important characteristics of architecture that you recognized in the last Provocation, describe your understanding of how the processes of contemporary professional architectural practice accommodate these priorities.
The most important characteristic a work of architecture must embody is to create a meaningful experience that has an ever lasting influence on how you perceive a particular place- to create a memorable moment. In the current professional practice, many projects are focusing on creating an imagery to impress the public. An eye catching form that is picturesque. I think architects are trying too hard to make an interesting looking building that the building becomes an object for admiration. Having an appealing façade or the most stylish interior design doesn’t always equal a memorable experience of inhabiting the architecture. Architecture needs to have a rich array of elements that engage human’s all senses, not just from a visual aesthetic perspective. We need to get away from thinking only about what the building looks like, and start to think what does it mean to be in that place.
ReplyDeleteThe second important characteristic is to design and build a work of architecture that lasts. Its cultural significance is reflected through the use and care the building receives, and the continual adaptation of the building to meet the needs of different generations. There is a renewal appreciation in the beauty of the existing built environment through current remodel projects. Architecture is not only about creating new buildings and making new statements, but through remodel existing buildings, architecture carries a sense of continuum. It respects and honors the work of pervious generations and carries the essence of that built work while repurposing the building to meet current and future needs. This remodeling existing building trend expresses our desire to engage the culturally significant built environment from the past and pass on the tradition to next generations.
The third important characteristic is making a building that intelligently responds to the environment, urban context and human comfort. In the current professional practice, there is an increasing awareness and desire to create intelligent buildings with integrated systems that respond to various needs such as different human comfort zones, energy usage, street connectivity, etc. A building that makes sense is a work of unity; every little detail should work harmonically to create an inspirational, healthy place. I think the Living Building Challenge is a great guideline to assess how responsive is the architecture to its context.
1. Inspire
ReplyDeleteInspiration often comes in the form of unprecedented innovation. We are living in an age of daily advancement, and I believe new materials and technologies are opening amazing doors for architects. Some of the best architecture produced during our lifetime will be brought to life through previously unimaginable technology and modern materials. Contemporary architectural practice has a vast array of design resources. It is the job of the architect to take full advantage of these resources, when appropriate, to create and inspire.
2. Logic
Contemporary architectural practice accommodates this priority by responding to need and constraint. Clients that give the architect challenging needs with an under funded budget set up an opportunity/challenge for the architect to do less with more. Any decision based on primary need is in itself logical. Architecture for its own sake, ie Frank Gary, fails go beyond aesthetic appeal. Franks architecture represents over budgeted (Disney money) architecture that is meant to look beautiful on a postcard. Logic is derived from necessity. As Leonardo da Vinci said, “Strength is born in its constraints, and dies in its freedoms. ”
3. Contribute
Flexibility and adaptability set up the foundations for architecture to contribute for generations. Great buildings endure through time because users have found continued value in them. Perhaps this endurance is a measure of how “good” a singular piece is – excusing common destructive forces such as war and natural phenomena. Currently, as Candy pointed out, adaptive re-use strategies are applied toward buildings that still have a perceived element of worth. Great architecture has the ability to contribute through the ages.
For architecture to be successful on any level, it MUST function well. Today, most architects that are successful are indeed highly skilled at creating functional buildings. The blunt beauty of the building draws us in to study the architecture, and from there we can discover the architect's ability or inability to create beautifully functional spaces that helped to inform the overall design. For example (and appropriate to this term), the Minneapolis Public Library designed by Cesar Pelli is a beautiful building inside and out. It becomes great architecture by also functioning well; the collections are well connected to supplementary spaces with computers and reading rooms, while still maintaining an easily navigated circulation system. Similarly, the Seattle Public Library by Rem Koolhaas is also beautiful both inside and out, however the simple plan of each floor and the sectional circulation makes it difficult to navigate. It will probably still manage to have a full and vibrant life span, but substantial changes are unavoidable if this building desires to function as well as it appears.
ReplyDeleteComfort is innate in architectural design moreso than we realize. Humans experience comfort through so many different facets of design including scale, lighting and room temperature. Today's architects deserve an enormous amount of appreciation for how they deal with the notion of comfort. The collective experiences of spaces has allowed us to formulate an unwritten database of comfort levels unprecedented in history. In some ways, comfort is more important than how a building functions. As architects, we know that a service entrance for a library needs to be placed in an inconspicuous area, not because it will function better there but because it adds to the level of comfort for the user. We all know this and we all accommodate this desire and even sacrifice function for this necessity. Today's good architects are truly concerned with the human being occupying the space and have this acute understanding of what is required to sustain comfort.
Timeless architecture is the hardest goal for an architect to achieve. The lack of buildings that have been inspired by the Portland Building is a good indication that most architects realize when a style is simply inappropriate. The majority of today's firms are not creating "wow" buildings, but that is not because they are not good architects. They simply realize that any attempt to create a "wow" building comes with the large risk of creating an avant garde icon of what not to do. Playing it safe may not advance the status of a firm, but it typically maintains an accepted style that society has deemed appropriate.
The number one characteristic that a piece of architecture should embody is a relationship with the human body and psyche. Contemporary architectural practice doesn't always accommodate this priority, but there has been some reform. Integrated design is concerned not with maintaining quantitative average temperature in buildings which is estimated to appease all, but instead concerned with a comfort range relating to the adaptability of the human body. There has been reform against modular, segregated space within the workplace, especially with design professions. Open floor plans and half-wall cubicles are not architecturally deep elements, but they have liberated interaction within a planned space. Operable windows also seem to be occurring in newer buildings more often as a way to bring physical and psychological comfort to occupants as well as letting them play an active role in their environment.
ReplyDeleteThe second characteristic that a piece of architecture is to embody is the notion of sustainability. Contemporary architectural professional practice is accommodating this priority at least in this corner of the world. The ecological building challenges encouraged by our government are mostly just notions, but many professional designers see it as the future way to build and possibly the only way things should be built from now on. I can't think of an architecture firm or website for building products that doesn't advertise their contribution to the environment whether true to that statement or not. The landslide of stewardship as a design approach has already lost its grip and it will cover any lot proposed for construction, at least in Portland.
The third characteristic a piece of architecture must embody is a proper response to the cultural context. A stadium was needed in China for the 2008 Olympics. The project proposed by Renzo Piano had the salient feature of a rounded rooftop for the stadium colored green. His distanced connection to Chinese culture made him ignorant to the fact that a green turtle shell or something that can be interpreted as a green turtle shell is symbolic for a man's wife cheating on him. Renzo Piano did not get the commission because his design disregarded the cultural context and represented something negative to that particular society. Alien forms of architecture placed into a incongruent context can cause confusion in vernacular representation and social ideals. Responding solely to cultural context doesn't happen much in the modern world. International mixing and implementation of materials is distancing us from our cultural backgrounds and much of contemporary architecture continues to strengthen this detachment.
1.For a work of architecture to create meaningful experiences and to strengthen the inhabitants’ awareness of place, contemporary architecture can achieve it through programmatic design. The architects can define the function of the space by addressing its functionality and the meaning of the architecture. In that sense, it will allow the inhabitants to be situated in their surroundings and be enriched with their understanding of place. Each space must be carefully orchestrated with a meaningful experience and connection with other spaces to create an insightful journey.
ReplyDelete2.Contemporary architecture can address the issue of site and responding to its surrounding through intensive site analysis exercises. These exercises will provide the architects with in depth information such as the pros and cons, opportunities and constraints. Which will enable them to have a full understanding of the site and to respond to it appropriately.
3.I think contemporary architecture can create a new meaning for architecture is by staying real to the nature of the architecture. In the design process they can find the most simplistic way to communicate their ideas to the users. Which will allow them to understand and better engage with place, it will create a dialog between the users and the architecture.
1. There is a duality between the idea of producing architecture that really covers the need to design a living space and what exists beyond. Everything exists because there is a need, however in the contemporary world architecture is tied to the poetic and narrative and the realization of this idea is conceptualized in architectural beauty that addresses the real world while not forgetting the poetic.
ReplyDelete2. I think most architectural projects currently resolve quite well the idea of relating to it’s context, is a major priority because creating a successful architectural design responds to the need for an intelligent solution in relation to the environment. Based on this it is possible for the project to evolve in a logical way into the final product or the building itself.
3. The idea of finding meaning in contemporary architecture is inevitable. It is like a piece of art in which we search for meaning in it’s forms and colors, to this end we give more importance to the nature of work.
The site context has the honor and task to make the first impression to the patron or visitor. It is the responsibility of the architect to create balance, and distinguish the relationship between his work of art and the context of its neighbors. The architect has to choose an appropriate and meaningful quantity of balance (referring to the harmony) between his work and that of his surroundings. Harmony can be achieved by picking out important characteristics of the site.
ReplyDeleteThe second most experience phenomenon of any building is the aesthetics. Current architects are using their design buildings as a way of signage, buildings that are eye catching and evocative but with time they lose their sugar coated layer and become eye-soars. Thinking to Luis Baragan’s Pedregal project where the aesthetics evolved and developed from the poetics of the place.
Flexibility is another important aspect of architecture. The world is running on at a fast pace and its demanding architecture that is able to respond and react to the demands. The internet, twitter, TV, and the new technology that is coming out is making the world even faster. Le Corbusier began this trend in architecture by giving the world his free floor plan which allows for flexibility.
1. Be well functioned to meet the need, both physically and social/psychologically.
ReplyDeleteTo be able to achieve this goal, people involved in the design should communicate thoroughly throughout the entire design process, including all phases such as conceptual design, architectural design, engineering and final implementation. The owner, perspective building occupants, and operation and maintenance personnel should be involved to contribute their understanding and knowhow on how the building and its systems will work and operate for them once they take occupancy. Any architectural practice should ideally identify the scope of a design problem prior to beginning the design, which is intended to solve the problem, and only thorough research and collaboration can make it possible to carry out a well functioned building design.
2. Be responsible to the context.
Cultural fit is an important aspect of contemporary professional architectural practice. It’s not sensible for an architect to create a design that can solely stand on its own without carefully consideration of its surroundings, culture and communities. Most likely, architects are designing a specific component for a well established community. Existing conditions such as topography and soils, storm water runoff and drainage, vegetation, views, climate, circulation, land use and cultural history will ultimately influence the design solution. A good understanding of the building site and its surroundings is very crucial at the very beginning of the design process. Only when we have a rich awareness of the context then can we make a meaningful contribution to the community where the product of contemporary professional architectural practice belongs to.
3. Be able to bring meaningful aesthetics to the public.
As I mentioned in my comments to the previous provocation, aesthetically successful architecture comes from integrated approach that always combines the thoughtful compromise of the function, structure, environment, beauty and economics. I believe once these important aspects of an architecture have been fully recognized and well considered, then the aesthetical fact of the final product will arise naturally from the processes of contemporary professional architectural practice.
In today’s architectural practices each of the following architectural characteristics are accommodated in multiple ways. For clarification, I will just be specifying one major way in which each characteristic is addressed.
ReplyDeleteSite Context – can be a very important part of the architectural design process. Site studies are very important as far as topography, surrounding structures, community, demographics and a wider scope as a whole such as a city or even a state. These studies help add in the design process and become a very important tool.
New use of Technology – As Leed and Green become a more important part in our everyday practice of architecture it becomes more apparent that the advancement of building technology and material plays an important role in making a green approach attainable. This is something that is not only driven by the architect, but the developer as well. The architect plays a big role in this process through finding the correct technology to meet the needs of the client and budget.
Success of Program – In today’s hard economic times program becomes an even more important characteristic of architecture as the clients are less willing to create beautiful works of architecture and are more able to create spaces that need to function toward the program. This is always an important part of a great work of architecture, but it has become something that now requires the architect to make sure that every space down to the last square foot works toward the sole purpose of the architecture. This is something that forces the profession to become more aware of the spaces they are creating.
I believe that in the professional practice, site is upheld as one of the most impressionable parts of a project. A site dictates the built environment, ephemeral context, and materiality of the urban or rural fabric. This given place always has a specific orientation to where the sun sheds light and projects shadows, I believe that most practicing architects account for all these important site criteria, as well as integrating zoning rules and regulations, budgets, future growth and overall conceptual and poetic ideas.
ReplyDeleteNatural day lighting is a powerful tool that architects have used for ages when sculpting space within and around buildings. I hope that in the professional world, natural daylight would be the number one request from clients who commission projects. Day lighting should be a giving in the unwritten rules of architectural design. It is my understanding that most good architects are pushing towards the practice of providing ample amounts of “Good” natural light.
For practicing architects, the notion of place should be important as the project scope for a specified site, or proper orientation to natural day lighting strategies. Place should dictate the materials that are used within your design palette. The locality of your region should indicate strategies for solar orientation, as well as the harmonious integration of both passive and active systems, which could minimize the buildings energy consumption over its lifespan.
Be Relevant-
ReplyDeleteEngage contemporary design principles.
Environment
Understand that a building of today must be held to a rigorous rubric of environmental needs. Buildings must create healthy and productive environments for their users. Whether it be held to LEED standards, or those set by the Living Building challenge, buildings of today cannot be solely based off of “tight” envelope strategies where the only way to provide air to the user is through mechanism.
Digital Tools
Whether it is Sketch-up, Rhino or 3-D Max our practice must recognize the evolving tools of our craft. Whether they are utilized to aid design or to render, these tools allow designers a way to think spatially relatively faster, depending on their familiarity of the software. This does not replace the architect’s hand as an extension of his/her body; it is a tool, such as modeling from chipboard or rendering in Prisma color.
Be Multi-Faceted-
Whether designing a building whose program is flexible for its occupants or encompasses layers of detail the practice should embody a multi faceted approach; integrating designers across fields, incorporating engineers, consultants and interiors from day one, ensuring that the architecture created is informed by more than the architects design goals, it is evolved both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Consider The Journey-
It is the journey of the user that unravels the narrative the architect has tried to instill in the building. Architecture practice must be able to view their building designs from the perspectives of the varied users that will encounter their architecture. The way in which a six year old, and elderly woman, a freshman in college, or a newlywed couple can have a different approach the level they engage architecture. These people must be thought about, and designed for such that the building can foster a unique relationship with each individual user.
Safe Shelter
ReplyDeleteFrom Hammurabi* to 2008 NYC Construction Building Code, rules have been created to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the construction and occupancy of buildings and structures.
Codifying processes are reactionary; they emerge as prescriptions to remedy harmful situations to ensure that the problem never happens again. In recent years several countries, beginning with Australia, have moved to much shorter objective based buildings codes. Rather than prescribing specific details, objective codes lists a series of objectives all buildings must meet while leaving open how these objectives will be met. When applying for a building permit the designers must demonstrate how they meet each objective
*Hammurabi (ruled ca. 1796 BC – 1750 BC) said he was chosen by the gods to deliver the law to his people. In the preface to the law code, he states, "Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exhalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land."[
Belonging
In occasions architecture successfully attempts to be part of its environment. I think that an architecture project belongs if able to enter in dialogue with its place, community and strengthen that particular society sense of place, identity and cultural experience.
Currently architecture could be created by architects, developers and contractors that don’t need to participate or understand the place or the community they are working with. Architecture is created within a rapidly changing world, where is difficult to take the time to foster personal sense of belonging. Regardless if architects have a strong sense of place and belonging, the current production process rarely allows architects to take the time to reflect and create an architecture that belongs.
The professional community of architecture as a whole does not practice these things as a checklist of good design. Instead a dynamic array of other cultural significance play major roles of influencing design. These influence come from political agendas, bottom line values, codes, and a multitude of other factors.
ReplyDeleteGenerally function is one of the first aspects addressed in schematic design intent. With that said, how do you accommodate each and every user for a particularly large or dynamic building that will potentially accept thousands of users from diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious heritages. The task is daunting and cannot always be empathetic for every individuals needs. It is our job as architects to try and respond in the most appropriate ways to what and who we can. This statement also speaks true for context and aesthetics. Is there any one right way to approach an opportunity. The answer is, no. We do the best with the information we are able to obtain as intelligent and thoughtful human beings.
Contemporary professional architecture typically ignores anything meaningful. Architects often strive to create a memorable building by simply using flashy materials attached to the surface of orthogonal forms. Program is then stuffed into this box and it is called architecture. Rarely does the site enlighten the form of the building beyond providing the physical boundaries and setbacks to regulate the exterior walls. Sadly, those that are truly creating with an eye on meaningful, informed design are the ones who do one or two high profile projects a year. Those that churn out the majority of the structures that we interact with on a daily basis do so with little effort to making sure that the architecture works beyond the fundamental nature of the program.
ReplyDelete