Circulation Analysis

Unit Analysis

Nomadic Re-situation

Nomadic Device

Reading Detail & Poetry Questions

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.

- The transition from detailing done by the hands of the craftsman to the tools of the architect has had a big impact on the role of these details. The personal, hands on, aspect of building the details has been lost with many architects with their use of drawing parts digitally and then having someone else build them. This has also cause a more diverse group of materials to be used, because the hand crafted aspect is done so rarely now. The cost of the details has lowered with the industrial revolution and the lost of the hands on aspect; if a detail is handmade now, the cost rises drastically.

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"?

- The “geometrical relationship” of individual details has a direct affect on the viewers understanding of the whole building. A continuity of the building details helps bring the building together as one complete composition and makes the structure more successful. These details reference each other, even when they are not all seen at the same time. This creates a relationship or language between the details and the different parts of the building that help viewers accept it as a whole.

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.

- The details in Scarp’s work “tell-the-tale” in how the details are constructed and where they are placed. The details are the dominated factor in the influence of the spaces or building itself. The Open City buildings “tell-the-tale” in their relationship to the site. They do not focus on a specific building detail or symbolism, but rather they put an emphasis on uniqueness of each site and the poetic beauty of understanding that site.

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?

- Allowing the landscape to be the main point that dictates the space and configuration of a building definitely challenges Western building notions. Much of the time, Western practices look at how the site can be changed in order to allow for the configuration of space that the architect wants. Many times the site is viewed as there to be molded and changed to fit our buildings specifications, not the other way around.

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

- The Open City conveys “lightness” in both conceptually and in actual construction. Much of it is constructed with light timber framing and voids that create a sense of lightness; as well as a feeling of it being temporary or changeable, which plays into the conceptual lightness. This type of lightness is expressed through the light construction and special feelings of the structures, in contrast with buildings in other areas that are massive and have a certain weight to them.

Budget List

Tectonic Discussion Questions

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 structure, timber/thicker structure, earth based or masonry

Tectonic/atectonic - structure that is visually understandable and works as you expect it to/structure that does not work like you think it would; or visually plays trick on your mind with use of materials or structural systems; goes against the norms

Topos/typos/tectonic - site/type/structure

Representation/ontological – the heart of the building; the significant spaces to the inhabitants/ the technical, framing, roofing, structure

Rhythm – repetition and harmony within a design or structure

Corporeal metaphor – how the body understands space without having to think about it

Ethnography – how culture and human society influences and is integrated into architecture

Technology – has a huge impact on the way humans see and understand the world, including our views on architecture and tectonics

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?

_ A trend in Western architecture is to be very program driven and have that define the spaces, such as how OMA works much of the time. Certain spaces are given priority over others and that usually revolves around what the space is going to be used for.

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

_Einstein’s theory has altered how humans look at their place in space and time; this has had a direct impact on what tectonic means and how we understand it. Tectonic has changed from its roots of being based around the structure and building of a space, because humans understanding of our place in space has changed. The way we orient ourselves in space is different because of Einstein’s theories.

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?

_ Our site still is there to situate humans in the cosmos; we are just in an environment or atmosphere that has been changed. Our surroundings are now composed of a contemporary landscape shaped by humans, but we still need to understand our place in the space around us.

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

_ I believe it is still applicable and relevant. We can still design spaces that people can move through; and moments can be created by spaces that cause people to stop and take note of their place in space. Spaces can be developed that take people remove them from their busy lives; even if it is just for a short time, such as walking through such a space to get where you need to go.

Structural Precedent