Heidegger
1) Is it possible our personal interaction affects the building? Does our interaction as designers and clients affect the building?
Yes, our personal interaction affects a building. I think it is through human occupation and interaction that make a space successful. I think occupation/interaction can make a very bad space successful, and vice versa, a good space unsuccessful through non-occupation/non-interaction. An example of a good space which wasn’t used and became unsuccessful would be Steven Holl’s Bellevue Art Museum. Spatially the building is really beautiful but due to no one coming to the museum they had to shut it down a couple years after it opening. It is now reopened due to private donations. On the other end of the spectrum I think there are plenty of examples of bad buildings which have been transformed into successful spaces through personal interaction. I think most apartment units are not the nicest spaces, but through human interaction they are transformed into inviting and successful places.
Yes, I think that designers and clients affect the building. I think one of the main goals of the designer and client is to make spaces which promote interaction. Without interaction then the building will be unsuccessful, and no designer or client wants an unsuccessful building.
2) Is it valuable to search for authenticity in designing/ building architecture? What is one example?
Yes, I think that authenticity is what makes a building a quality piece of architecture. I think there are many ways to achieve authenticity. For me, one of the most important ways to achieve and express authenticity is thorough using materials in an honest/authentic way. I think the most well known architect who tried to achieve authenticity through material expression is Louis Kahn. His famous quote “And when you want to give something presence, you have to consult nature. And there is where Design comes in. And if you think of Brick, for instance, and you say to Brick, ‘What do you want Brick?’ And Brick says to you ‘I like an Arch.’ And if you say to Brick ‘Look, arches are expensive, and I can use a concrete lintel over you. What do you think of that?’ ‘Brick says:’…I like an Arch.’ This quote illustrates that Kahn how Kahn thought about the inherent qualities of a material and used them in a honest way to achieve an authenticity. This is why Kahn typically worked in concrete and brick, because these materials are structural, and the final building would be an authentic expression of these materials structural qualities.
3) Can we design and build with this sense of permanence?
Yes, I think that we can design and build with a sense of permanence. I think buildings should be built to be permanent. There are some cases where architecture is temporary but the majority of buildings are designed to be permanent. I think permanence is achieved by integrating the building into it’s context and through material use. I think Tadao Ando is a good example of an architect who creates buildings with a sense of permanence. Most of his projects are physically dug into the earth which creates a sense of permanence. Also his use of concrete helps give his buildings a solidity and weight which helps anchor his buildings to the site.
-Brandon Cari