In the readings I found it very useful for formulating concepts from the site and how simple ideas can also become very complex. Nakijin Community center has simple rigid structure that is almost overtaken by the plants that grow on its roof. The plan reveals just how structured building becomes underneath its roof at the same time maintaining a complex program that is related to their ideas to space. Though the structural grid is strict because of their treatment of how they consider the balance between open, enclosed, and semi-enclosed space they are able to create spatial qualities that vary throughout the entire structure. The same concept of the balance between open and enclosed space follows throughout their other projects and fits very well with Nago City Hall as it provides a strong relation to their ideas of Governmental Buildings. These buildings exist because of the people and it is an important function that the public has domain within its structure the way that Nago City Hall incorporates the open spaces in the form of Asagi Terrace. In my opinion, these spaces within the building provide the citizens with the sense of transparency with the government which is one is very revealing to what architecture can do politically.
Monthly Archives: November 2010
Rick Joy Discussion
The work of Rick Joy has a stoic elegance that blends beautifully with the natural deserts of the southwest. He has said that “the task of architecture is not to entertain us, or to suffocate us with impressions of witty formal inventions, but to create the silence, calmness, and concentration that enables us to experience the beauty of the world and life around us.” His work perfectly describes his ethical stance. His private residence in Arizona is a perfect example. The use of rammed earth in a form that is simple and forever timeless. It creates a highly sucessful project that conveys a sense of place in a seemingly infinite landscape.
Because Rick Joy sticks with basic design principles such as common building materials, proper solar orientation and proven green principles, his buildings stand the test of time. It is a tried and true way to design buildings. While it is possible to have a highly successful building with experimental materials and playful forms, there are many correct ways to design.
Joy’s Uncompleted Taos Work
In 2007, Rick Joy started constructing a house and stable in Taos, New Mexico. In 2009, the client filed bankruptcy, and the house was left uncompleted. The house was to be the first of its kind- a series of 50 foot wide barrel-vaults built of rammed earth. Out of curiosity, I went with a few friend’s to explore the abandoned construction site. As we approached on foot, walking along the access road down into a valley and up again to the house entrance, we were confronted by a graveyard of full-scale window mock-ups and abandoned steel beams. We walked through a sample barrel vault, and to a pile of earth (probably intended as ramming material). The site look as if the contractor was there one day, and the next he just didn’t come back, leaving an interesting archeology for us to explore. We were unable to get inside the one completed wing of the building, but the huge windows allowed us to see the interior of all of the major rooms- revealing the impressive barrel-vaulted ceilings. From the exterior we were still able to experience the most important connection to nature- a 15 x 40 window from the main living space overlooking the Taos desert valley. The beauty of the project was that the completed parts of the buildings integrated seamlessly with the uncompleted parts and with desert surroundings. Some things are better left unfinished.
ghost
“…the suggestion seems to be that within this freedom to complete the “design,” the viewer is actually free to invent and add a personal interpretation of the structure’s missing parts, searching experimentally for the conclusive envelope of an edifice.”
I really appreciate the way that McKay-Lyons engages the user in his buildings. The inhabitants of a building actually complete the design through the act of dwelling. The Ghost series showcases beautifully lonely work, but with the addition of people these structures become resurrected.
Portlandia Opinion
Interesting read on the Michael Grave’s building:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/myoregon/2010/11/hey_portland_keep_portlandia_e.html
Back From San Fran
And were back. Here’s a few pictures from the trip.
Brian Mackay-Lyons
Howard House
It was interesting to read BML’s philosophy on Fitting, Framing, and forming and then read examples of his work. I find the essence of “dwelling” in his work. As a side note, I think the photos showing people using the space are much more interesting and bring a sense of scale and reality to the Architecture. I love this picture of the girl “modifying her microclimate” 
Brian Mackay_Lyons
I find his houses to be very interesting. They seem to all be passive solar and pay great attention to collecting southern sun. He gives many spaces an open feel, where the boundary between indoor and outdoor is blurred.
Brian Mackay – Messenger House II, Howard House and Ghost
I like his minimal approach with the houses he designs in Nova Scotia. Both the Messenger House II and Howard House are not these monumental glorious structures, but these simple quiet structures that address very well the climate and landscape that they are in. His philosophy on democratic architecture – architecture for the people – is expressed in the simplicity of his forms. Anyone, from the uneducated to students of architecture, understand the building and can bring their own meaning into it.
Messenger House II
Howard House – Framed view of the landscape
Howard House – A quiet structure on the landscape
I think his Ghost projects are very interesting in that they teach students literally how to build from the ground up. He brings back the idea of the master builder, a person who does both the design and the construction their project. A concept that is now lost with all the technology and media, and all the overwhelming varieties of materials, construction types and forms. He gives his students a design problem and a limited amount of materials that are typical in the region and they build simple modern structures that address the vernacular characteristics of the region. It would be interesting to see a similar workshop but in a different site or different country. The materials and building techniques would change depending on the region.
Brian MacKay
The part of the reading that most resonated with my design ethos was “In order to be truly comprehensible, architecture has to demonstrate a clarity that makes it sufficiently democratic, as to be accessible to an educated public.” Clarity in every architectural move is one of the most exciting achievements: to make a complex, work-intensive process seem simple and rational.
The reading about Brian Mackay-Lyon’s work is like visiting an old aquaintance, Heidegger’s sense of dwelling. Quantrill says it best at the end of the third paragraph…Lyons architecture is “bold enough to tell the plain truth of its materiality, to stand on his native soil in modern terms…an art form he sows and grows…”
How do you respond to his work in his native Nova Scotia?
Brian MacKay’s architecture seems very function-driven, something always reflected in native architecture. More than orienting windows, he orients the Howard House with a concrete windbreak to deflect the gales of the bay. His plans are overly rational, yet humanistic, because of scale, materials, and “simple” complexity. One of the least-used (today) but most enjoyable architectural moves is the human-size nook or bend that brings you physically closer to the building. In these spaces it is like being in a tight path in the forest or a cave, and your surroundings become a natural cradle. Brian MacKay understands this and obviously has great respect for the users of his buildings.
As well as the dwellings, have you looked at the “ghosts” which he and his students created?
I own a book titled “The Forgotten Architecture of North America.” It is an uncommon book, not trendy or filled with bright computer graphics, depicting mostly rural structures from generations ago. Some are rotting, some dilapidated, all are beautiful. Ghost #1 evoked from me the strongest sense of nostalgia and emotion about an architectural work in a memorable time period. Beautiful.