PROJECT 1a – Tectonic Precedents 'Sushi is a good metaphor for good architecture. The importance in sushi is to choose the best material from the place, in season. Frank Gehry makes bad sushi.” --Kengo Kuma Course Title Due Date Instructor
Arch 503 Accelerated Design II Friday, September 4 Keith Diaz Moore
Objectives This project will focus on: Learning how to conduct case study precedents How to present information in a graphically compelling manner
The Problem Students are asked to utilize Semper’s Four Elements of Architecture as a framework by which to critically analyze the tectonic thinking exhibited in built work by exemplary contemporary architects. In 1851, Gottfried Semper wrote The Four Elements of Architecture which remains one of the most influential theoretical writings in architectural history. This essay asserts that there are four essential elements to architecture: hearth, mound, roof and enclosure, stemming from four essential acts or practices to create architecture: crafts using heat (ceramics, metal, glass); water and masonry; carpentry; and weaving, respectively. The hearth is, according to Semper, the “moral element” or the soul of architecture. This is because the hearth is experiential in nature. It is sensual (thermal comfort), nurturing (food), and social (communal). Thus the primary architectural tectonic is the experiential, or what Frampton calls the ethnographic. Mound addresses issues of gravity, roof addresses shelter and enclosure may also be thought of as mask. Or to use a human analogy, enclosure is skin, roof is bones, mound is muscle and hearth is soul. Each student will examine the architectural work of a contemporary architect and interpret that person’s approach to three buildings in regard to each of these tectonics. The architects are to be selected from the recommended reading list in the class syllabus. The interpretive framework will be informed by Spivak’s archetypal places and Thiis-Evensen’s Archetypes in Architecture. Spivak identifies 12 place genotypes (beyond shelter) from which all others flow: sleeping, feeding, cooking, excreting, grooming, meeting, playing, working, competing, storage, territoriality (portal), and path. Thiis-Evensen’s framework is structured differently than Semper’s but will ease analysis as it focuses on floor (mound), wall (enclosure) and roof. For each building, students are to choose four place genotypes to examine and: a) describe the floor/wall/roof assemblage that creates the place; and b) describe the “personality” of that place genotype and how the role of those tectonic elements in creating that personality. Presentation: Each building and its four genotypes should be on a 20x30 board. Each genotype should be presented in a 10x10 area. The remainder of the board should identify the building and its location, architect, date built, and a matrix summarizing the analysis. Schedule Monday, August 24 (9:00am): Computer Orientation Wednesday, Aug 26: Woodshop training; Software workshop Monday, Aug 31: Proposed Layout Formats Friday Sept 4: DUE Evaluation Students will be evaluated on the following criteria: 1. Clarity and Insightfulness of the Interpretation 2. Exhibited understanding of tectonic literature and the precedents studied 3. Quality and timeliness of presentation 4. Adherence to Process Arch 503, Fall 2009 School of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Kansas
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