Architecture Histories
Chapter
10
Suzie & Brennan
Reading Overview
This chapter considers history as a discussion of what makes architecture significant not just as a dry chronology.
Understanding the perspective of who is telling the story must be acknowledged.
History can be studied through many categories
Class
Gender
Representation
Environment
Materials
Ideals
Utopian Architecture
Kisho Kurokawa
Nakagin Capsule Tower
MegaStructure Architecture
Sachio Otani
Kyoto International Conference Center
Architectural Historians
Many historians have studied architecture in many different ways
Manfredo
Tafuri
Money Power
Ideology
Form
City Planning Old vs New
Architectural Drawings
Representation Priorities
Myths
Origins “The hut”
Meaning What counts as Architecture
Utopia was never timeless it was a specific persons ideology
Studied figure ground diagrams especially to understand the real difference between past and present culture
Consider the difference in communicative priorities between traditional drawing sets and new products like Grasshopper or Revit.
The first hut was the transition from convenient natural forms to intentionally manipulated shelter
Not all buildings are architecture. True architecture requires intentional meaningful design.
Colin Rowe
Robin Evans
Joseph Rykwert
Nikolaus Pevsner
The Manifesto Models for Outlining a Manifesto
Declare Intent
Public statement of priorities. What is the purpose of what you are doing?
Critique the Present
Diagnose the issue. What is happening here or now that justifies the intention.
Propose a New Direction
Where do you want to go next?
Define a Problem
What is wrong with the world?
Can be straightforward like society needs more housing or more complicated.
Define a Solution
How do you propose to solve the problem?
Define a Means
The means by which this could be achieved.
Take a Position
Architects should describe what their architecture is about.
Defend It
It could be motivated through:
• Politics
• Social Structure
• Economy
• Aesthetic
Declare Intent Architecture should be attractive through utility where sculptural qualities are derived from necessity
Form Follows Function
Corbusier and the Prototype
The Ideal Architecture
Critique the Present
Current modern design is overly ornamented and inefficient.
Define a Solution
Reminders for Architects
1. Mass: pure monolithic forms (pre-brutalism)
Current Architecture is not suitable for human needs
2. Surface: flat planes without ornamentation can be neutural or expressive
3. Plan: speaks to sensation and perception. Consider the sequence of experience.
Aspirations of Architecture
1. Streamlined tactility of an ocean liner
2. Engineered precision of a car
3. Extreme form follows function of an airplane
Applying this to our Thesis
Using These Methodologies a thesis should be a well reasoned layered argument that speaks to history context process meaning and vision
Critical Textual Analysis:
Read architectural ideas carefully. Understand the reasoning of the authors of the ideas.
Form and Comparative Analysis:
Consider Context. Old vs New, Classical vs Modern, think of architecture as a collage of styles.
Representation and process:
How are ideas explored. Methods of drawing develop different priorities than modern software.
Origin and Symbolism:
How does your building connect to human experience or cultural memory?
Defining a Scope:
Not every project has to be significant and meaningful but understanding why something matters is important.
Consider Past and Future:
Be critical but also borrow lessons from history in a way that imagines something new.