[ Unit Analysis ]

[ circulation analysis ]

[ Nomadic re-situation ]

[ Nomadic Device Photos ]

[ nomadic device drawings & photos ]

[ Detail & Poetry ]

1. As the technique of detailing changed from the hands of the craftsman to the tools of the architect, how has the resulting construction of details changed? Explain in terms of scale, material and cost.

Hand crafted details has a different meaning now, before; the craftsman would have a special link to the piece he was working on, more time would be spend and the detail would gain a special value. Now with more technology and better tools, architects seem to mass produce the elements of the building forgetting about this link that the construction should have, it make it have less value.

2. How does "geometrical relationship" of individual details provide an understanding of the whole building if "indirect vision" localizes the viewer and "habit determines to a large extent even optical reception"?

All the individual details together would make the building complete, look at the big picture of the whole, kind of what you see with the PS1 installations, also, details that  you might think are not as important might have some strong relationship with the building but you don’t relate them together is more of how the building gets in to you, I think that this happens on Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, with the details in his interiors, the geometry of his window designs, the furniture, that you can almost relate that to the floor plan or the aesthetic of the building.

3. Carlo Scarp's details are a "result of an intellectual game" where the Open City buildings are constructed from an act of poetry. Describe what role the detail plays to "tell-the-tale" in each of these environments.

In the Open City, you get a different sense of the surroundings, the details tell the tell of what the building and the area is about, the way the building has this poetic relationship with the site and that it makes you experience the building.

             

4. Pendleton-Jullian writes about the Open City as emerging from and being in the landscape. Does allowing landscape to initiate "the configuration of territory and space" challenge Western building notions, and how so?

In our days, the easiest way to build is to manipulate the landscape for the beeter and easiest construction of your building, but you don’t let the natural landscape be part of it. The landscape should dictate the form and shape of the building, the ideas and designs should adapt and be designed with the landscape.

5. Describe some detail conditions of the Open City that convey "lightness" as Pendleton-Jullian refers to.

When I think lightness I ting about small, thin,  open, floating, not massive,   not huge concrete walls or rooms, but I  think that it refers about what the area makes you feel like when you are in it, that it separates you from the surroundings and you forget about problems or things you have in your mind, it made me think a little of Arcosanti and the way the area is shaped from the landscape.

[ Nomadic Device Budget List ]

Tentative Budget List.

[ Nomadic Device 1.0 ]

First mock up for nomadic device assignment.

[ As Built Desk Drawings ]

[ Maison a Bordeaux ] . [ OMA ]

Kenneth Framton - Studies in Tectonic Culture

1.The readings refer to tectonics in a variety of settings; tectonic/stereotomic, tectonic/atectonic, topos/typos/tectonic, representation/ontological, rhythm, corporeal metaphor, ethnography, and technology. Briefly define each term and provide an architectural example that embodies the condition.

Tectonic / stereotomic.  Light weight, frame like construction – Camping Tents, Tipis / heavy weight, earth constructions – Adobe pueblos

Tectonic / atectonic.  Elements that are shown in the building, you see how the building works and is supported – Suspension Bridges  / The construction elements are hidden

Topos/typos/tectonic. Site/Type/Structure – Where is it. What is it for. How does it work.

Representational/ontological What I it is as a building and structure. What it represent, the significance on a non-construction manner.

Rhythm. The repetition of elements. Ex. Columns in the Parthenon

Corporeal metaphor. The experience of a building, how being in a space makes you feel. Vals Thermal Baths -  Peter Zumthor.

Ethnography. Interaction and relevance of people with a site, building.

Technology. Technology is a great tool for architecture, it helps to make things easier to understand, faster to make, create more interesting buildings, but it should not mandate and guide the path of architecture.

2. Kenneth Frampton writes that this study of tectonics "seeks to mediate and enrich the priority given to space", what is a dominant trend in Western architecture of today and how does tectonics relate to this trend?

Today in western architecture you can see that most of the construction is guided by how it can be build faster and cheaper, and then cover up the exterior to make it sort of – beautiful – but it loses its origin, I think that you don’t see any of the tectonics, just a layer of drywall.

3. "Greek in origin, the term tectonic derives from the work tekton, signifying carpenter or builder". How has the the impact of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity and other space-time models altered tectonic etymology?

Tectonic etymology used to refer to a carpenter or a build, the individual in charge of building a shelter  After Einstein’s theory of relativity and other space-time models made the world realize what would happen if the space we live in is relative, the carpenter or builder would be in charge of creating something relative also, of find a way to make it.

4. Vittorio Gregotti states in 1983, "(t)he worst enemy of modern architecture is the idea of space considered solely in terms of its economic and technical exigencies indifferent to the ideas of the site". If the intention of site is to situate human in the cosmos, how then does site infer from a contemporary landscape that has been graded, conditioned, tamed, treated, sculpted, mapped, engineered, essentially re-created by humans?

Vittorio Gregotti states that the way buildings are being constructed this days is just the fast way to do them, you just get the building you can afford, build it as fast and cheap as you can in a landscape that has been manipulated for its advantage, and sell it or make a profit out of it. I think that we are forgetting about finding not just the easiest and commercial way to build, but to find a relationship between the building and its site, the materials you can use, try not to change dramatically the area. I think that the buildings that can achieve this balance are the ones that are more famous and recognized and that is something that every architect should look for.

5. Is architectural tectonics applicable or relevant in a world of global mobilization? State and explain your position.

I think that it is very relevant, as we grow and become more globalized and connected, the world is able to share knowledge in technology and new ways of building, I thing that is a good thing when you encounter problems in construction that might been already solved in other parts of the world.

Peter Zumthor - The Thermal Baths

VIDEO LINK


                         The Thermal Baths










.

[ maison a bordeaux ] -Rem Koolhaas-