BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC61303/ARC2224) SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (MARCH 2016) [10 MARKS] NAME: Evelyn Sinugroho ID: 0318217 LECTURER: Mr. Nicholas Ng Khoon Wu TUTORIAL TIME: 14.00-16.00 SYNOPSIS NO: 1 READER TITLE: “Life between Buildings Using Public Space.” (1986) AUTHOR: Jan Gehl The article Life between Buildings Using Public Space by Jan Gehl addressed the importance of a good quality city scape in order to enhance the stimulation of a good interaction between citizens. He investigated the relationship between the uses of outdoor space patterns with the spatial properties of physical environment. Gehl advocated a straightforward way in improving an urban scape which is acquired from his investigation by recording the performance of urban spaces systematically and analyzing what factors affect their uses. He concluded that urban areas that promote comfortable places to observe people and relax in an undemanding way stimulates more interactions rather than spaces in between grandeur buildings. Successful spaces are spaces that attracts people because of people. What stood out to me the most about his point is how he overlooked the chances that some citizen might not take part in the activity of observing other people and to keep up with the social context as an enjoyment. George Simmel’s theory of Objectivism from The Metropolis and Mental Life (1903) in a way contradicts Gehl’s theory about human psychology in a metropolitan city, as Simmel states that human interaction in a city has become Blasѐ despite whatever condition due to the fact that they are pressured to be rational and instrumental in their social interaction resulting the wish to avoid it as much as possible. Adding to this argument, Massey’s Global Sense of Place (1994) emphasizes on a time-space compression and locality as a place to escape from the fast changing era of world because human needs a tool of escapism. I agreed on Gehl’s perspective about how the performance of urban spaces affects human activities, but I believe that Gehl is overemphasizing on using passive contact as a form of human contact for the basis in designing a public space. In this fast changing era, sometimes what people need is not to keep up with the social context, but rather to escape from it.
WORD COUNT:327 ASSESSED BY:
DATE: 11th April 2016
MARK:
GRADE:
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC61303/ARC2224) SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (MARCH 2015) [10 MARKS] NAME: Evelyn Sinugroho ID: 0318217 LECTURER: Mr. Nicholas Ng Khoon Wu TUTORIAL TIME: 14.00-16.00 SYNOPSIS NO: 2 READER TITLE: Semiology and Architecture AUTHOR: Charles Jencks The article Semiology and Architecture by Charles Jencks addresses Architecture in a form of communication, in which an object that we are communicating can’t be convey through a symbol alone. I learned that for a success communication to be conveyed, a symbol needs to be supported by thought and referent. In terms of architecture, the symbol is a concept or an idea, the thought is the representation of the society and percept is the form itself. Same as communicating, a design will inevitably create a meaning, but a successful ones are associated with the whole context of its multivalent purposes. I agreed on Jencks way of relating semiology with architecture, not that this theory is flawless but with this, a design can’t no longer be judged based of subjective preferences alone. I believe it is easier for people to judge a design if there is a basal expressions of an architectural language, not just because the building is aesthetically pleasing. From here, we are ought to get a deeper meaning in the purpose and existence of a building. On the other hand, I don’t agree fully when he criticize Avant-Garde as a group of people who are ignorance for being explorative in designing something new. I believe that a theoretical approach alone in designing to make a deep multivalence concept is not exactly necessary, designs doesn’t always need to be related to the past metaphors, what people want right now is something new, something innovative. Which can be classified as the new era of architecture. Avant-Garde’s way could be perfected if they are to associate more with the people, as long the designs are focuses on people, the program and the context, a deep theoretical way of communicating the meaning of the design itself is not needed. The people itself is the ‘big idea’. A very good example of an Successful architect that is classified as an Avant-Garde is Zaha Hadid, she was constantly criticize for having “no sense of context or locality” but her design alone is meaningful and innovative that is loved by many because she put designing for people at priority. In conclusion to this, I believe there are a lot of ways in conveying the meaning of designs, the avantgarde is not fully at wrong. Instead, now avant-garde has become a trend, a trend that inspires people which I don’t think is wrong. Orange is the new black!
WORD COUNT: 403 ASSESSED BY:
DATE: 25/04/2016
MARK:
GRADE:
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC61303/ARC2224) SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (MARCH 2015) [10 MARKS] NAME: Evelyn Sinugroho ID: 0318217 LECTURER: Mr. Nicholas Ng Khoon Wu TUTORIAL TIME: 14.00-16.00 SYNOPSIS NO: 3 READER TITLE: The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses AUTHOR: Juhani Pallasmaa The article “The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses” by Juhani Pallasmaa addresses on the importance of senses in architecture as a basis for interaction between the livings and the world. Pallasmaa briefly talks about the other elements and purposes of architecture, yet he still stresses on the senses as a tool to integrate human with architecture and how architecture should be designed responding to human’s senses. The statement about how human senses interact with the nature catches my attention the most. He stated that nature has a certain elements that can continuously give a constant healthy interaction with human senses. He furthermore stresses that architecture is essentially an extension of nature, spaces that would stimulate human senses and emotional in many ways creating visions to understand the world. I strongly agree on this, in a sense that human are originally created to response sensitively to the nature, to the world. It is through time that human has developed to be slightly detached and that our sense have been dulled. From here, the role of architecture now is to rejuvenate the sense as how nature has done it. But many questions have come into my mind as of how architecture become an extension of nature. Do buildings need to be integrated with nature to give that ‘polyphony of senses’ to the user? Or through biomimicry? To answer this question, I believe Pallasmaa was accentuating on the application of Organic Architecture, criticizing form follow function philosophy as he says ‘Architecture is not an isolated and self-sufficient artifact.’ The idea of organic architecture refers not only to the buildings' literal relationship to the natural surroundings, but how the buildings' design is carefully thought about as if it were a unified organism. Essentially organic architecture is the literal design of every element of a building: From the windows, to the floors, to the individual chairs intended to fill the space. Everything relates to one another, reflecting the symbiotic ordering systems of nature. In conclusion, senses are important to architecture. Senses through nature are mostly metaphysical to human. The sentence ‘architecture as an extension of nature’ can be applied when the building trigger that visceral sense of the nature out of the user.
WORD COUNT: 371 ASSESSED BY:
DATE:
MARK:
GRADE:
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC61303/ARC2224) SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (MARCH 2015) [10 MARKS] NAME: Evelyn Sinugroho ID: 0318217 LECTURER: Mr. Nicholas Ng Khoon Wu TUTORIAL TIME: 14.00-16.00 SYNOPSIS NO: 4 READER TITLE: “Towards a Critical Regionalism” (1981) AUTHOR: Kenneth Frampton This reading focuses on the architectural style of Critical Regionalism, it is a movement at which it rejects the deficiency of identity of international style and at the same time rejects the ornamented post-modern style. One thing that catches my attention the most is how Kenneth Frampton stresses on how Critical Regionalism could be the key answer to solve the lack of cultural sense in architecture but still implement the global universal technique. He emphasis the deconstruction of the eclecticism and universal technique by confining the universal economic building technique, which he assume it would liberate the style from being conditioned by the global industry and the literal implementation of pre-industrial style. I agreed on the idealism of these fusion, in a way it became a bridge between two contrasting elements, the old and the new. This solution doesn’t destroy the originality of the place and at the same time brings about the efficiency of global architecture. This ideal is very promising and can easily be accepted by anyone. But similar to what Frampton stated, I feel this ideal is slightly weak in terms of the implementation in to the real world. In what way would they implement it? Utzon’s Bagsvaerd Church design is one of the example I found that lighten up the ambiguity of Critical Regionalism, at which he implements the economic universal technique of precast concrete blocks construction on the exterior and regional culture of bellowing concrete vault presenting the quirk of the place on the interior. I feel that this concoction of different elements has turned into ‘architectonic attraction’, as what Martin Hartung commented, combination of both the ‘technique and the art of building to form something transcending them both.’ The contrast of region identity and the global implementation creates an element of surprise to the building which is not alien to the region yet meaningful. Another architect that I truly adore which implements critical regionalism into his design is, Kengo Kuma. He experiments with Japanese cultural patterns and create something new and unique but original, which brings about Japanese art but at the same time implements the universal technique in terms of the materiality and construction method. As a result, his building become a piece of art that successfully reflects the culture of Japan. Another point Frampton made that interests me is the group of people called Arrier-Garde. The group of people that is out dated because they distances themselves from the post-industrial styles, from the global changes and rational innovation such as AvantGarde. Frampton truly believes Arriere-Garde could become the group of people that would revive a sustainable architecture style. I was very skeptical about his statement until I furthermore read about these two groups. Why Arrier-Garde? How about the Avant-Garde? 21st century is said to be the rise and the fall of Avant garde, rise due to the liberation freeing design, fall when they became too rational as they destroys the cultural sense of the place. Their architectural movement is not sustainable as ‘their utopian ideals have been replaced by rationality and reasoning.’ Whereas Arrier-Garde, if they are to be given the universal technique as a hybrid technique and combine it together with their existing cultural-based design, they would become a culture with a firm sense of identity, that also keep up a connection with the universal technique. In this sense, I totally agree with Frampton, supported by the critics of Charles Jenks, ‘they (Avant-Garde) have insisted on the intractability of the new and confusing.’ The Avant Garde have created a design that is so out of the context, it would destroy the character of the city. The ones that could save this are the ones that have not let themselves be influenced by the globalization of deconstructivism style by the avant garde, and is pure enough to realize the cultural sense and identity of the context. In conclusion, I truly agree on the idea of critical regionalism, as it incorporate the two contrasting elements of cultural arts and universal technicality. Yet it is not being implemented in many place, people still prefer something new and confusing of the avantgarde’s. If only people would realize how this would destroy the uniqueness of each region, I truly believe they would start implementing critical regionalism style. All we have to do is to spread the awareness.
WORD COUNT: ASSESSED BY:
DATE:
MARK:
GRADE: