SWE 6 Threshold

055688ADVANCED LANDSCAPE DESIGN

06_SWE

“I have to break my skull before they believe me.”

WALTER STEINER

material manifestation of immaterial

Materiality is perceived by architecture that concerns with structural and aesthetic of the chosen material and h​o​w it affects the design.

Immateriality is the philosophically spiritual rather than physical. It is perceived in the absence of matter. It is a realm of ideas, a formless phenomenon. Look at it as what is architecture if you strip of the materials.

Buildings are connected to the immaterial through the ideas it presented which have much to do with form and little to do with matter. It is physically, socially and psychologically bound to each other. This often triggers more immaterial senses like smell and touch. Immateriality is based on the user’s interpretation of what is present and absent but the architect has the power to shape these ambiente for such interpretation.

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055688ADVANCED LANDSCAPE DESIGN

06_SWE

semiology sē-mē-ˈä-lə-jē, se-mē- , sē-mī(n.) the study of signs and sign-using behavior

It was defined by one of its founders, the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, as the study of “the life of signs within society.”

Although the word was used in this sense in the 17th century by the English philosopher John Locke, the idea of semiotics as an interdisciplinary field of study emerged only in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the independent work of Saussure and of the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce.

COMPONENTS OF A SIGN

PRINCIPLE TYPES (Pierce)

(Saussure)

signifier

signified

icon

index

symbol

in language: set of speech sounds or marks on a page

the concept or idea behind the sign

resembles its referent

associated with its referent

related to its referent only by convention

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055688ADVANCED LANDSCAPE DESIGN

06_SWE

SEMIOTICS IN ARCHITECTURE (Rethinking Architecture, Umberto Eco)

If semiotics, beyong being the science of recognized systems of signs, is really to be a science studying all cultural phenomena as if they were systems of signs then one of the fields in which it will undoubtebly find itself most challenged is that of architecture.

architectural object

observable & describable

forms & functions variable

The architectural sign is the presence of a sign vehicle whose denoted meaning is the function it makes possible. Illustrated example: different forms, same denotations, different connotation.

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055688ADVANCED LANDSCAPE DESIGN THRESHOLD: FORM

06_SWE

FORM ≠ FUNCTION BUT CAN SIGNIFIER ≠ SIGNIFIED? IT’S A QUESTION OF TIME!

“If the war were still here, this would kill me, so this architectural object is repulsive.”

Paul Virilio, Bunker Archeology “To me, buildings can have a beautiful silence that I associate with attributes such as composure, self-evidence, durability, presence, and integrity, and with warmth and sensuousness as well; a building that is being itself, being a building, not representing anything, just being.”

Peter Zumthor, Bruder Klaus

Images: 1) “Barbara” firing control tower in Landes 2) observation tower camouflaged as church belfry 3) interior of Bruder Klaus chapel built with concrete formed with use of tree trunks 4) exterior of the chapel resembling a bunker

...

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055688ADVANCED LANDSCAPE DESIGN THRESHOLD: AXIS

06_SWE

temperature

a singular atmosphere

light time space

Domestic astronomy is the prototype of an apartment where YOU NO LONGER OCCUPY A SURFACE, YOU OCCUPY AN ATMOSPHERE . As they leave the floor, the functions and furnishings rise: they spread and evaporate in the atmosphere of the apartment, and they stabilize at certain temperatures determined by the body, clothing and activity.

Make allowances for these physical differences in the distribution of temperature in the space and to exploit them by changing the way of life; to REPLACE A HORIZONTAL WAY OF LIVING WITH A VERTICAL ONE where we can occupy different heat zones, different layers, different heights. And thus to create a global ecosystem like a kind of astronomy in the home, where combinations of temperature, lights, time and place are reconfigured.

landscape

architecture

interior

without compromising horizontality of scope

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055688ADVANCED LANDSCAPE DESIGN THRESHOLD: MEDIA

06_SWE

FORENSIC ARCHITECTURE Using sophisticated technologies like remote sensing and 3D modeling, research architects collect evidence of wrongdoings, elaborating their findings to be presented later in court.

THE GOAL:

JUSTICE “It’s a different set of tools to understand the world and change perspectives. Is it art, journalism, documentary film-making, or architecture? Maybe it’s all of the above or maybe it’s a new art form. We don’t know.”

Stefan Kalmár

director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London

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