Week 5

Tectonics and Fashion

Tectonic - the art of joining;
                construction or making of an artisanal or artistic product;
                a complete system binding all the parts into a single whole;
                Greek - carpenter or builder, artisan working in all hard materials except metal, clay.  Making

From Gottfried Semper we can get a basic understanding of tectonics and also his ideas on 'dressing'.

Gottfried Semper believed the origins of architecture were to be found in the basic form of a shelter and from that developed his
Four Elements of Architecture.
     1. hearth
     2. roof  (framework)
     3. enclosure  (screen, lightweight enclosing membrane)
     4. mound  (earthwork - later masonry platform)
The hearth's flame and bodies around it are protected by the other three elements (prosthetics).

From these Gottfried identified
Four Elements of Building (crafts)
     1. ceramic (or metal forge and cast) - soft and mouldable, after
         working able to be hardened and keep shape.
     2. framework (carpentry) - rod-shaped, elastic, strong in tension.
     3. textile - flexible, tough, high resistance to tearing.
     4. masonry - unyielding, dense, strong in compression,
                                                                                    manageable pieces in regular courses.
                       
                                                           Two Fundamental Procedures
                                                                1. tectonics of the frame - lightweight linear components
                                                                    assembled to organize space.
                                                                2. stereotomics of the earthwork - mass and volume formed
                                                                    together through repititious piling up of heavy weight elements.

My focus will be on enclosure and textile.
The original enclosure screen was woven material.  It is interesting that the German (Semper was German) word for wall - wand - has a common root with the word for dress - gewand.

Semper's Stoff-Wechsel (changing material) theory. When one material was substituted (prosthetic) for another it retained a symbolic form of the original material, construction, or culture.
Examples: Stone carved to look like weaving, papyrus or timber frame. 

 

              Masonry brick laid in weave-like courses. 

               Walls painted or carved to look like woven wall hangings.

Semper's Bekleidung (dressing or cladding) theory. Like the screen that defines the space enclosure is separate from the structure, the ornamentation, even on load-bearing masonry, is also symbolically separate.
 "Solid walls are but the internal and unseen scaffolding of the true and legitimate representatives of   division..." Gottfried Semper

Fashion

 Can solidity and fixity be dissolved and 'dressing' used to create dynamic space?
 Can architectural space respond  and adapt to changing uses and users?

In Dagmar Reinhardt's Elastic Space, she discusses how space can be designed to be flexible, adaptable, and responsive.  Through examples of fashion and corresponding architecture she illustrates degrees of spatial change from static to compressed, flexible, and elastic.

Compressed - a core within an area of ambiguity and a boundary.

The little black dress has a close fit to body contours (boundary) and programmatic elements -pockets, inlays, etc. (core) that can not be rearranged.  The ambiguity happens with changing accessories.

Modernist architecture such as the Farnsworth House has a close fitting, efficient form with a fixed program - bath, kitchen, storage at the core.  The open floor plan can be transformed by adding and rearranging furniture and objects.

Model

Flexible - no ambiguity, two or more predictable 'switch' conditions.

The kimono has a generic, rectilinear form and homogenous surface with areas of intensity created with multiple textile layers and accessories. The shape is created/changed by the wearers behavior and posture - moving, standing and sitting position (switches).

The traditional Japanese house is a rectangular module system based on the tatami mat.  The unit boundaries can be altered (switched) by opening and closing screens to change space per occupant, time of day, and use. 

Models of switches changing spaces

Elastic - space is made in unforeseen ways in non-linear dynamic process
               highly responsive to impact of occupant
               experimental and exploratory

Sartorial fashion examples exhibit dynamic change established through oversize, ambiguity, and insertion strategies.  A modified and unexpected physical operation, spatial effect, or body perception is produced.

 Shigeru Ban reframes space in his Wall-less house with a ground-wall hybrid, a universal floor with no specific spaces, and kitchen and bathroom objects unexpectedly left exposed as sculpture.  The user chooses the area to inhabit, the use sequence, and the time frame.
In Naked House, rooms are in boxes on wheels that can be moved where desired, inside or out.

Model examples of flexible and elastic space

Next, I need to look at more precedents (fashion/architecture comparisons), some reverse relationships, and how these spatial strategies can be applied to other scales such as urban or furniture.

Sources

Frampton, Kenneth. Studies in Tectonic Culture: The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture. Cambridge: MIT Press. 1995. Print.

Reinhardt, Dagmar. "Elastic Space: Latent Formations In Fashion And Architecture." Architectural Theory Review: Journal Of The Department Of Architecture, The University Of Sydney 12.2 (2007): 181-194. Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

Ungless, Bill. A 'Semperhaus' in Suffolk'. 2000. Web. 30 Sep. 2015.