ARCHITECTURE: the art and science of designing buildings
THEORY: body of related facts or principles that explains a phenomenon; basis for future action
- DESCRIPTIVE: explains phenomena or event
- PRESCRIPTIVE: prescribes bases or guidelines
- CRITICAL: challenges the relationship between architecture and society
ARCHITECTURAL ORDERS
- PHYSICAL: form, space, system, organization
- PERCEPTUAL: sensory perception, light, color, texture, view, sound
- CONCEPTUAL: meanings, images, patterns, signs, symbols, context
SPACE ARTICULATION AND ORGANIZATION
PRIMARY ELEMENTS
- Point
- Line: extended point with length, direction, and position
- Plane: extended line with length and width, shape, surface, orientation, position
- Volume: extended plane with length, width, depth, form and space, surface, orientation, position
ARCHITECTURAL FORM: point of contact between mass and space
- Properties: shape, size, color, texture, position, orientation, visual inertia
SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS
- Space within a space
- Interlocking spaces
- Adjacent spaces
- Spaces linked by a common space
ORGANIZATION OF SPACES
- Centralized organization
- Linear organization
- Grid organization
- Radial organization
- Clustered organization
CIRCULATION
Elements:
- Approach: the distant view
- Entrance: from outside to inside
- Configuration of path: sequences of spaces
PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
1. Proportion: dimensional relationship to bases
a. Types:
i. Relative: parts to each other
ii. Absolute: parts to the whole
iii. Arithmetic:
h = (l x w)/2
iv. Geometric:
h = (lw)2
v. Harmonic
b. Classical Orders
c. Renaissance Theories
d. Modulor: proportioning system by Le Corbusier
e. Ken: Japanese proportioning system based on the tatami mat
2. Scale: dimensional relationship to standards
3. Contrast: juxtaposition of elements in a design, element intensity and dominance
- Contrast of line
- Contrast of form
- Contrast of character
- Contrast of mass
- Contrast of color
4. Balance: apparent state of equilibrium; symmetric around an axis
- Symmetrical
- Unsymmetrical (material and design balance)
o Gravitational balance (single element dominance balance)
5. Hierarchy: system of ordered elements (sequence)
- Hierarchy by size
- Hierarchy by shape
- Hierarchy by placement
6. Rhythm: pattern repetition of elements
- rhythm of lines
- rhythm of areas
- rhythm of color
- accented rhythm
- unaccented rhythm
7. Color: quality of appearance of design
- Hue: the color itself
- Tonal Value: lightness and darkness of the color
- Chroma or Intensity: brightness or dullness of the color
THE DESIGN PROCESS
- Generating proposals that changes existing conditions into better things
Stages
- Initiation: project identification
- Preparation: collection and analysis of information (architectural programming)
- Proposal Making: synthesis and considerations
- Evaluation: cycles and feedback (post-occupancy evaluation)
ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAMMING: process of managing information that affects design outcome; to gather, organize, interpret, and present data and information relevant to the design
- Issue-Based Program: what is the problem?
- Required State Program: what should be the solution to the problem?
o Vision of an alternative environment
§ Philosophy: statement of the beliefs where the design solutions take off
§ Problem: statement of the overall issue
§ Concept: solution to the problem, abstracted; breakdown of the answers to the issues within the bigger concept
PROGRAM DOCUMENT:
- States the project purpose
- Fact repository
- Decision documentation
- Legal contract between architect and client
FACT: objective, specific, and verifiable
- Contextual, site-based, or user-based
ISSUE: concerns, questions, topics that require a design as answer
VALUES: personal values
GOAL: statement of intention
PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS: measurable level of function
- List of all possible spaces
- Description of the spaces
o Materials, volume, dimensions
- Space interrelationship
o Matrix, bubble diagram
SPATIAL THEORIES
Architecture and the Self
Levels of the Self
- Body
o Anthropocentrism: the human being is the most important entity in the universe
o Anthropocentrism: the architecture is based on the configuration of the human body; creation of the design with human attributes
o Anthropometrics: body measurement
o Ergonomics: design of devices for the human body
- Gender
o Masculine Architecture: aggression, extroversion; straight lines
o Feminine Architecture: introspective, social introversion; curving lines
o Gay Architecture: expresses both masculine and feminine qualities
o Androgynous Architecture: neither masculine nor feminine
- Emotions: expression of emotions in form and space
- Spirit: concept of oneness in form and space
PROXEMICS: study of the symbolic and communicative role of the spatial separation of individuals
Dr. Robert Sommer: “all human beings have an invisible bubble” (personal space)
Dr. Edward Hall: father of proxemics, “the personal space is not static” (distance)
Proxemic Zones
- Public distance: more than 12 ft. on average
- Social distance: 4 - 12 ft. on average
- Personal distance: 18 - 48 in. on average
- Intimate distance: 0 – 18 in. on average
Socia-petal Space: brings people together
Socio-fugal Space: separates people
TERRITORIALITY AND DEFENSIBLE SPACES
Territory: delimited space that a group defends as exclusive preserve
- Ownership and rights
- Defense against intrusions
- Personalization: staking claims to spaces
Defensible Space: space that affords easy recognition and control through visual access, adjacent or electrical monitoring
SOFT ARCHITECTURE: building or environment that can be personalized without damage
SOCIAL OVERCROWDING: lack of control over the environment; leads to negative behavior
PRIVACY: ability to control interactions with others
- Solitude: being free from observation
- Intimacy: with another person, free from the outside world
- Anonymity: state of being unknown even within a crowd
- Reserve: employment of psychological barrier to control unwanted intrusions
PSUCHOLOGICAL THEORIES AND ARCHITECTURE
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Self-Actualization: realizing the full potential, the client’s dream
Self-Esteem: making the occupant feel good
Social Acceptance or Affiliation: need to belong to a group or society
Security: securing of occupants
Physiological: providing shelter
THEORIES ON PERCEPTION
Cognition: mental process of acquiring knowledge
Symbol: representation
Semiotics: science of signs
Gestalt Theory: observation with innate qualities; layering observation (independent layering)
- Figure-ground: image stands out from the background
- Grouping: organization
Ecological Theory: environment affects object perception (interactive layering)
Transactional Theory: recognizes the role of experience; active perception governed by expectancies
AESTHETICS: study of the mind and emotions in relation to the sense of beauty
Speculative Aesthetics
- Philosophical
o Hermeneutic: environment interpretation as text
o Phenomenological: intuitive
o Existential: creative
o Political (Marxist): struggle
- Scientific
o Psychoanalytic: catharsis (upsurge of emotions)
o Psychological
§ Mechanistic: stimulus
§ Contextual: nature
o Organismicist: organism
o Formist: pattern or form
- Empirical
o Information-Theory Approach: image (big picture)
o Semantic Approach: meaning
o Semiotic Approach: cultural meaning
o Psychological Approach: physical or response
BEHAVIOR SETTINGS AND ACTIVITY SYSTEMS
Behavior Settings: combination of activity and place
- Standing pattern of behavior
o Actones: microbehavior within the standing pattern of behavior
- Milieu or physical support
- Relationship between the standing pattern of behavior and milieu
- Specific time period
CONCEPTS AND FUNCTIONALITIES
- Functional Concepts
o Vitruvian Triad: firmitas (strength), utilitas (utilities), venustas (aesthetics)
o Durand: the two problems of architecture
§ Private buildings: optimum accommodation for low cost
§ Public buildings: maximum accommodation for a given sum
- Environmental Concepts
o Light and Color
o Temperature
o Ventilation
o Sound
o Smell
o Texture
- Structural Concepts
o Frames
o Tube construction
o Mushroom construction
o Suspended systems
o Pre-fabrication
o Stretched Membrane
o Stratification
o Evolutionary Architecture
- Cultural Concepts
o Ethnocentrism: judging people by the standards of one’s culture
o Critical Regionalism: factoring in cultural variations and contextual realities
- Thematic Concepts
- Time-Based Concepts
- Technological Concepts
PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS IN ARCHITECTURE
Environment and Architecture
- Man Over Environment
o Ten Books of Architecture: Vitruvius
§ Comprehensive view of the building
Environment over Man
- Poetry of Architecture: John Ruskin
o Everything should be natural
LAWS OF ECOLOGY:
- Harmonious relation to land; work in partnership with nature
- Start of green architecture
EKISTICS: human settlement is made of 5 elements: man, nature, shells, networks, society
BAUHAUS: socialist movement in architecture; combines architecture + fine arts + design
- Walter Gropius’ school in Weiman, Germany (1919)
- Forerunner of modernism; architecture for civil society: ART + TECHNOLOGY
ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE: architecture must be a natural element of the site
MODERNISM AND THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE
- Architectural response to the social upheaval between the 20th century wars
o Renunciation of the old world
o Technological determinism and structural rationalism
o Belief in the power to transform the world
o Sleek, machined surfaces
o Mass production and cost reduction
- Le Corbusier’s formula
o Programmed precisely
o Structural frame separately identified
o Pilotises
o Flat roofs
o Open-plan interior
POST-MODERNISM
- Reaction to the excesses of the International Style; humanistic and pluralist, individuality and craftsmanship
- Introduced by Robert Venturi in “Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture”
- Memory aids to human history; uses humor as well
CRITICAL REGIONALISM
- Examines the global trend of architecture to reflect the dominant culture
DECONSTRUCTION
- Freeing oneself from the authority of the system
- Questioning given norms to unearth the hidden biases
- Thinking outside the box
PHENOMENOLOGY AND PLACE
- Knowing something as more than a rational process but also involves a felt experience
- In architecture:
o People assign unconscious meanings to the environment
o Place:
§ Bounded manifestation of the production of meaning in space
§ Built, natural, or both: the Designed Environment
§ Spirit of Place / Genius Loci: meaning of place (namamahay)
o Topoanalysis: study of an area’s Place and Spirit of Place
FENG SHUI: Chinese philosophy of geomancy
- Related to the concept of Qi, the flow of natural energy
2 Theories of Feng Shui
- Form Theory: currents are known based on landscape
- Compass Theory: places emphasis on mathematical calculations using LO P’AN
Five Elements of Feng Shui
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Wood: life, femininity, creativity, organic
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tall, cylindrical (tree trunks)
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Fire: energy, intelligence
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sharp peaks (flames)
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Earth: stability, endurance, ground
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flat terrain
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Metal: competitiveness, business, masculinity, metal
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rounded hills (coins)
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Water: all that flows, transport, communication
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wavy, undulating ground
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YIN YANG: harmonious balance of opposites
CONCEPTS AND PROPONENTS
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Modulor
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Le Corbusier
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Proxemics
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Dr. Edward Hall
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Hierarchy of Needs
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Maslow
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Ten Books of Architecture
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Vitruvius
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Poetry of Architecture
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John Ruskin
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Laws of Ecology
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Aldo Leopold
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Ekistics
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Doxiadis
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Bauhaus
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Walter Gropius
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Organic Architecture
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Frank Lloyd Wright
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Post-Modernism
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Robert Venturi (introduced)
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Critical Regionalism
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Alexander Tzonis, Liliane Lefavre, Kenneth Frampton
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Deconstruction
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Jacques Derrida
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Phenomenology and Place Theory
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Edward Husserl and Martin Heidegger
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Phenomenology and Place Theory in Architecture
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Charles Norberg - Schulz
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