Week 10

The Skin we Wear

1st Skin.
Skin is a master at integration and multi-tasking.  It is the enclosure that holds our insides in, connects to our structural system to give us form, and renews and heals itself all while continually performing several functions.

3rd Skin.
Following are some examples of ways our 3rd skin (building) can perform some of the functions of the 1st?

sources: 
 Oswald, Rachel.  "How Your Skin Works".  How Stuff Works.  Dec. 2009. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
"Skin." National Geographic. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.


 
Body focused design theory and application
Richard Neutra is an example of an architect whose design theory and process was centered on the human body in space. The article:
        The Modern Interior and the Excitation Response:
        Richard Neutra's Ocular-centric Phenomenology
describes his use of sensory stimulation to move the body through space.

Richard Neutra ‘described his architecture as serving to choreograph the sensory and emotional responses of the human body’ and claimed ‘the most important purpose of design was to control the senses to clarify the body’s position in space.’  Neutra based his theory on the theories of psychologist Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt.  In Neutra’s theory, the eye is central and can activate involuntary, predictable responses in the body (excitation response – reflex).  Wundt proposed that the eye’s reflex muscles are connected with the contraction of the muscles for head movement.  Neutra interpreted this as sight being a precursor of movement – ‘if the eye is involuntarily drawn to see something, this will trigger the head to turn towards that visual stimuli, which will in turn change the direction the entire body is moving.’  Neutra used the interiors of his domestic work as laboratories to apply his theory of the eye as surrogate body. Two examples of this application of his vision and movement theory are illustrated in diagrams of the Kaufman Desert House.

The first image is a perspective view from a point inside the house

The second image is an isovist diagram showing the original directional path (red), a minor visual path (white) and the visual directional reflex path (blue) directed towards a major view.  

Again, from another point in the house towards the pool and landscape beyond.

source:

Ostwald, Michael J., and Raeana Henderson. “The Modern Interior and the Excitation Response: Richard Neutra’s Ocular-centric Phenomenology.” (2012). Scientific and Academic Publishing. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.

It seems to me that the reflex/excitation response would dull after a short time and the initial newness wears off, especially in a place like a home where a lot of time is spent and the same views are seen frequently.  Temporary installations, flexible framing of different views, or less frequented/repeat visit spaces would be more effective uses of this strategy.


Program and site
I would like to develop the idea of 'how to wear a building' with a place for people. I am considering the possibility of a combined school and community center project located in an urban location in Boise to introduce a new school typology and form to an area with a very traditional pattern of school building - an opportunity to design outside the 'school box' and have an influence on the educational and community experience of children and their families and neighbors.

The Curtis site is embedded within a residential neighborhood and the Franklin site is at the edge between residential and commercial (an area identified in Blueprint Boise to be developed as a community activity center).
I also need to look at where the Boise school district's school needs are as well as where a community center could be located and desired by a community for more site options.

I will continue looking at building skin precedents, including low tech and vernacular responsive skin strategies, and begin studying the history of school building.