When I first became an architecture student, my understanding of it was very limited. Architecture was simply the convergence of art and science to my naïve mind. Over the years though, I’ve come to learn a thing or two. I learned there is so much more to it than making cool looking objects or designing well proportioned spaces. (Sure it sounds cliché, but that’s how my mind worked)
Even now I occasionally struggle to differentiate good architecture from bad architecture. So I had come up with a way to digest complex solutions by looking at how well they acknowledge or employ the intrinsic qualities of materials. Think of carving something out of wood for example. Through my wood carving experience I know that chiseling along the grain of wood will give me a smooth surface while chiseling against the grain might chip the block of wood. Therefore an experienced sculptor could use this knowledge of the material to create various combinations of textures on the sculpture. Keep in mind though I’m using the term materials very loosely. The material could be the building material, the site plane, the urban texture or even the form of an object. (I’m open to suggestions for alternate terms instead of materials).
Therefore one way for a piece of architecture to be successful -in my mind- is to understand and to utilize the grain of the material in favorable ways. This would lead to something I call an Intrinsic Architecture, because the knowledge needed to create the final product was intrinsic to or embedded in the material.
Now that I have explained my overview of architecture I will try to explain what -if anything- it has to do with the reading. In Animate Form, Gregg Lynn explains that too often architects tend to roam in the three dimensional world and to ignore the fourth architectural dimension of force. (Let’s ignore Einstein for a little bit) But due to the introduction of force we also have to look at time, since it requires a change in time for forces to take have effect. So it is possible to think of force as the grain in architecture. A clear understanding of change due to forces is necessary to create folds, bodies and blobs.
The example Lynn uses in the article by that name, about the symbiosis of the wasps and the orchids made a strong impression on me. Nature was somehow able to calibrate their attraction to join the two entities in a commensal relationship. Could this level of appreciation or understanding be used in architecture?
I can think of several examples, but Richard Meir’s San Jose City Hall might be a good example. The brie soliel that follows the motion of the sun on the entrance dome is what first came to my mind. Much like a sunflower it rotates around the dome providing shade from the sun at all times. Or the west façade of a building with a shading system that utilizes the change in amount of sunlight to constantly change its façade is another example. (More sunlight = more shades in the down position: less sunlight = more shades in the open position)
The concept of time is essential in all these examples, and the ones Gregg Lynn describes in his articles. My goal in ARCH 670 is to utilize the computer and its four dimensional modeling abilities to understand the grain of time as it relates to architecture.
Even now I occasionally struggle to differentiate good architecture from bad architecture. So I had come up with a way to digest complex solutions by looking at how well they acknowledge or employ the intrinsic qualities of materials. Think of carving something out of wood for example. Through my wood carving experience I know that chiseling along the grain of wood will give me a smooth surface while chiseling against the grain might chip the block of wood. Therefore an experienced sculptor could use this knowledge of the material to create various combinations of textures on the sculpture. Keep in mind though I’m using the term materials very loosely. The material could be the building material, the site plane, the urban texture or even the form of an object. (I’m open to suggestions for alternate terms instead of materials).
Therefore one way for a piece of architecture to be successful -in my mind- is to understand and to utilize the grain of the material in favorable ways. This would lead to something I call an Intrinsic Architecture, because the knowledge needed to create the final product was intrinsic to or embedded in the material.
Now that I have explained my overview of architecture I will try to explain what -if anything- it has to do with the reading. In Animate Form, Gregg Lynn explains that too often architects tend to roam in the three dimensional world and to ignore the fourth architectural dimension of force. (Let’s ignore Einstein for a little bit) But due to the introduction of force we also have to look at time, since it requires a change in time for forces to take have effect. So it is possible to think of force as the grain in architecture. A clear understanding of change due to forces is necessary to create folds, bodies and blobs.
The example Lynn uses in the article by that name, about the symbiosis of the wasps and the orchids made a strong impression on me. Nature was somehow able to calibrate their attraction to join the two entities in a commensal relationship. Could this level of appreciation or understanding be used in architecture?
I can think of several examples, but Richard Meir’s San Jose City Hall might be a good example. The brie soliel that follows the motion of the sun on the entrance dome is what first came to my mind. Much like a sunflower it rotates around the dome providing shade from the sun at all times. Or the west façade of a building with a shading system that utilizes the change in amount of sunlight to constantly change its façade is another example. (More sunlight = more shades in the down position: less sunlight = more shades in the open position)
The concept of time is essential in all these examples, and the ones Gregg Lynn describes in his articles. My goal in ARCH 670 is to utilize the computer and its four dimensional modeling abilities to understand the grain of time as it relates to architecture.
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