Synopsis

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC61303) SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (AUGUST 2018)

Name: Wong Lieng Kam Lecturer: Ar. Prince Favis Isip Reader/Text Title: Towards A New Architecture ‘Architecture or Revolution’ (1994) p.271-288 / Text 1B

ID No: 0323566 Tutorial Time: 10am Synopsis No: 1 Author: Le Corbusier

“Architecture or Revolution?” Le Corbusier presents his ideas in a concise, pithy style, studded with epigrammatic, often provocative and observations. In an era of great social and political change, he perceived architecture as a crucial instrument in addressing the ills of contemporary society, he expounded his technical and aesthetic theories, views on industry, economics, relation of form to function, the "mass-production spirit," and much else which an appropriate architecture would combat social unrest. Architecture could prevent revolution.

According to Corbusier, we do not completely understand the deep gap left between the current development with the one that happened in earlier times in the history of human civilization. The transformation in such amazing rapidity, now cannot take back control. We must understand what is going on and learn to harness our tools to change for the better.

Corbusier explains how our own time, that is for the last fifty years, opposes the time that have gone before. (pp. 271272)

In the previous times, man follows “natural” system, where he rose with the sun and went to bed at dusk, the society is stable likely to endure (pp. 273-274). At present, mass production, had change the spirit of the workers both no longer exists but rather a more collective spirit. There is no link between the daily activities of the man as they have been moulded by his participation in modern events, demoralized in servitude to anachronisms and has formed certain desires which in this way the society is helping forward the destruction of the family that will inevitably lead to its own destruction (pp. 275-288). The society is filled with desires, everything depends on the effort made and the attention paid to these alarming symptoms. (pp. 288-289) In a nutshell, Le Corbusier spoke of avoiding political ‘revolution’ not because he was opposed to the concept of revolution as such, but rather because he recognised in architecture the possibility of a ‘revolution’ that would go beyond the political. As Fredric Jameson has observed, ‘he saw the construction and the constitution of new spaces as the most revolutionary act, and one that could ‘replace’ the narrowly political revolution of the mere seizure of power [1].

Thus, far from being against revolution, Le Corbusier could be seen as a supporter of reform in its most radical and farreaching sense. In my opinion, architecture for the pioneers of the Modern Movement had a role as a democratic force within a democratic society. Architecture was to be a force of liberation, overtly political and emancipatory in its outlook, the possibility of reducing social problems and of creating a new and better world. fffffswlehcoweiuhr coweuihcruweich ch euh Word Count: 448 Assessed by:

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BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC61303) SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (AUGUST 2018)

Name: Wong Lieng Kam Lecturer: Ar. Prince Favis Isip Reader/Text Title: Towards A New Architecture ‘Architecture or Revolution’ (1994) p.271-288 / Text 1B

ID No: 0323566 Tutorial Time: 10am Synopsis No: 1 Author: Le Corbusier

References: [1]

(Fredric Jameson, ‘Architecture and the Critique of Ideology’, in Joan Ockman (ed.),Architecture, Criticism, Ideology,

Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 1985, p. 71.)

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BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC61303) SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (AUGUST 2018)

Name: Wong Lieng Kam Lecturer: Ar. Prince Favis Isip Reader/Text Title: Complexity and Contradiction (1966) p.16-33 / Text 2B

ID No: 0323566 Tutorial Time: 10am Synopsis No: 2 Author: Robert Venturi

Robert Venturi expounds on the reasons why the postmodernist movement revives this complexity in design. It expresses in the most compelling and original terms the postmodern rebellion against the purism of modernism. In Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, he addresses architecture as the only place where redundant and simple construction, in thinking and in material reality, takes shape (pp.16). All other art forms indulge and promote complexity in their art form. Venturi suggests that architecture is rationalized through rejecting and excluding the complexities that emerge in architecture because the building is essentially comprised of a multitude paradox, from dealing with outside and inside, movement and immobility and so on (pp.16-17).

Venturi finds great value in embracing the complex layers by recognizing the various paradoxes present in architecture and the society that architecture accommodates, which architectural form can produce more meaning through complexity and contradiction than just the simplistic and purist geometry of orthodox modernism. “I welcome the problems and exploit the uncertainties”, Venturi criticizes modernism for rejecting the complexities and being exclusive as opposed to accommodating. On Mies’s infamous statement on modernism in “Less is More,” to “Less is a Bore” Venturi is hesitant of the oversimplification of architecture, because the complex behaviour of people and how they move through their environment is not reflective to one unified, simplified form (pp.16-17). Although, oversimplified architecture is able to make selective decisions and create a building that is successful in use and memorable in appearance, it is bland for a program of living, referring to how people meet differently in architecture because people are varied so they respond to an environment that accommodates for this instinct that responds to change and chaos.

Such features of architectural nakedness help the architect to make evident judgments on what works for the building but this oversimplification is also the down fall for the architecture because it ignores the desire for visual stimulation that is achieved through variety. The complex architecture, Venturi says it has multiple meaning, which the meanings contradict one another when analysed side by side but Venturi suggests that they should be addressed together as the clarity that can lead to a bare and bland architecture that stands alone separate from the people it accommodates. Even separating elements of architecture, Venturi suggests each part has their place in architecture and should be recognized for the complexity by addressing the architecture as a whole. In addition, towards his theory of the duck and decorated shed is very valid. The duck form does its function well, very straightforwardly tells you that the construction involves ducks or more frankly sells ducks. Whereas, in the case of the decorated shed, we cannot visualize its function from looking at the building alone.

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BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC61303) SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (AUGUST 2018)

Name: Wong Lieng Kam Lecturer: Ar. Prince Favis Isip Reader/Text Title: Complexity and Contradiction (1966) pp.16-33 / Text 2B

ID No: 0323566 Tutorial Time: 10am Synopsis No: 2 Author: Robert Venturi

looking at the building alone. The function of the building is defined by the activity inside but indistinguishable from the outside, so there’s a sign that directly states its function, e.g. eatery. Venturi seemed to be declaring war against modernism; his works all seemed to contradict the rules of modernism [1].

In my opinion, Venturi sees a requirement toward the difficult whole. “It is the difficult unity through inclusion rather than easy unity through exclusion”, acceptance rather than rejection is ideal to achieve a rich architecture. The “difficult whole” is the challenge to unify the numerous components that encompass an architectural form. The challenge to achieving a more valuable architecture is through consciousness off all the potential parts and finding a way to bridge them all into a cohesive mass. The whole is the “sum of its parts” as a result a complex equation creates a more interesting and valuable result that is incomparable to previous solutions especially in architecture. An architectural work can be richer by revaluating the complexity and the all the parts that function as the architecture.

References: [1]

(Robert Venturi, ‘Learning from Las Vegas’, 1972, pp.88)

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BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC61303) SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (AUGUST 2018)

Name: Wong Lieng Kam Lecturer: Ar. Prince Favis Isip Reader/Text Title: The Geometry of Feeling: A Look at the Phenomenology of Architecture (1996) pp.448-452 / Text 3B

ID No: 0323566 Tutorial Time: 10am Synopsis No: 3 Author: Juhani Pallasmma

Juhani Pallasmaa begins by introducing relationship between form and memory, how economy and materialism control modern architecture, making building increasingly abstract, hardly to be understood by intellectuals. It is believed that the architects today are too carried away by the eye-catching architectural form, and overlooked the spatial experience due to technological advancement of reductionism intellectual, reducing solely for visual sense. Hence, modern buildings are seeming to stifle than vintage houses to be more awe-inspiring (pp. 448). By insisting the problem, architects attempted to revitalize the origin to reconnect back the journey of memories to the user.

The architecture has detached itself from its proper background and purpose, overlooking the building experience, which the viewer’s perception and emotion should be emphasized instead of physical form of architecture. Human perceptions must not be neglected but instead integrated into spatial architecture design bearing our sensory experiences. Therefore, elemetarism should be rejected and to restore the richness of architectural idiom that convey the authentic feelings true to architecture. Equally, the simplest of forms potentially evokes the imagination of those experiencing it (pp. 449).

The inner architecture of the mind emerging out of feelings and memory images is built on different principles from the architecture developed out of professional approaches. An average mind does not remember exact detail of a single window or door but recognize the dark warmth and special smell of the rooms that are there on the other side. The presentation of architecture in other arts is the “pure thing” of a child’s way of experience things, spontaneously. Strong architectural experiences produce a sense of loneliness and silence irrespective of the actual number of people there or the noise. Experiencing art is a private dialog between the work and the person experiencing it which excludes all other interaction (pp. 451-452).

In my opinion, Juhani Pallasmaa is comprises on interpretations of “pure looking”, where the aim is to appreciate the simplicity of structural design, light, shadow and space as the context of perceptual experiences that move, change and even fundamentally orchestrate landscape, revealing fully the human spirit. He believes that for building to enhance meaning and embody memories, they should do more than reflect practical environmental realities of planning geographical and physical space to fit surrounding. By relating back to my previous projects, titled “Visitor Interpretive Word Count: 459 Assessed by:

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Grade Page No. 1

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC61303) SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (AUGUST 2018)

Name: Wong Lieng Kam Lecturer: Ar. Prince Favis Isip Reader/Text Title: The Geometry of Feeling: A Look at the Phenomenology of Architecture (1996) pp.448-452 / Text 3B

ID No: 0323566 Tutorial Time: 10am Synopsis No: 3 Author: Juhani Pallasmma

Centre”, we are required to study of different spatial organization method in relation to human occupation and behaviour, similarly as Pallasmaa by abstracting the emotional connection and perceptual awareness, phenomenology architecture expresses the sanctity of human context, capturing empathy, joys, sorrows and the shared experiences of people’s lives, their feelings, memories and consciousness which reflects admirable architecture sensitizes our inner conscious.

Therefore, as a future architect, we should understand in making our built environment to be desirably enlightened. looking at the building alone.

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