Week 2

Field of Inquiry - Design problem brief

Architecture, an inanimate, cannot solve, or fix, a society’s problems.  However, architecture can provide a nurturing space to accommodate human needs and to support programs designed to alleviate social problems.  Can architecture/urban design go farther and become a tool, a prosthetic, to provide occupants the ability to transform themselves, to open up new possibilities? (Grosz)  Ed Keller suggests that architects might “design environments that enable users to manipulate and shape their own surroundings”.  Can architecture blur and even eliminate perceived social identity lines?  Can architecture go beyond just changing the image or form of a social structure (i.e. housing, public space) to teaching a new way of thinking (Hawkinson) to overcome circumstances such as isolation, homelessness, poverty, low education? (Bell) 

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Investigation:

What part can details, envelope, and program play in this ‘prosthetic’ architecture? 

                Detail:  autonomous – independence, intense teaching moment (Mayne)

                Envelope:  responsive (Rakatansky), relationships, context (Tschumi), transformation (Grosz)

                                  

                Program:  organization, efficiency (Tschumi), how people live (Stern) 

Response: A big concern with this problem brief is the potential of the program becoming the solution rather than the architecture.  A better question to ask would be 'How can I wear a building?'  It was suggested to look at Russian Constructionist architecture and the work of Neil Denari, and Allen, Smout and Allen for building tectonic ideas.

Citations:

Tschumi, Bernard and Irene Cheng, eds. The State of Architecture at the Beginning of the 21st Century. New York: Monacelli Press, 2003. Print.

       Bell, Michael. "Market Identity: Disappeared by Detail." 20.

       Grozs, Elizabeth. "Prosthetic Objects." 96.

       Hawkinson, Laurie. "Evidence of Identity." 38.

       Keller, Ed. "Bodies in Time." 104.

       Mayne, Thom. "Moments of Intensity." 40.

       Rakatansky, Mark. "Envelope Please." 76.

       Stern, Robert A. M. "Urbanism is About Human Life." 20. 

       Tschumi, Bernard. "Vectors and Envelopes." 64.

Additional Reading:

Brown, Azby. "Something To Sink Your Teeth Into: Firm, Kengo Kuma & Associates, Site, Kasugai, Japan." Interior Design 82.1 (2011): 59-62. Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals. Web. 10 Sept. 2015.

Ford, Edward. “The Architectural Detail.” (2011): Princeton Architectural Press.

Japha, Derek, and Vivienne Mary Japha. "Identity Through Detail: Architecture And Cultural Aspiration In Montagu, South Africa, 1850-1915." Journal Of The International Association For The Study Of Traditional Environments Traditional Dwellings & Settlements Review: 2.2 (1991): 17-33. Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals. Web. 10 Sept. 2015.