By Sam Hewitt

Reading 1: Deep Space, Thin Walls: Environmental and Material Precursors to the Postwar Skyscraper

Summary

This piece focuses mainly on the develop of several industrial material technologies and how they shaped the modern building movements including the bauhaus and modern architecture. While the development of metal in manufacturing and building is touched on, the main focus of this piece is on the development of glass for buildings and how different problems such as insulation, glare, and cost impacted its development. Furthermore this piece looks at different buildings that experimented with novel uses of building design in response to these developments. One of the second main focuses apart from glass and window technology but is closely related was the invention of electrical lighting starting with the incandescent bulb through the implementation of the fluorescent light. Lever House, the Secretariat, and The Equitable are all buildings explored in this piece in relation to their, and the architects use of these new technological developments. The author concludes by arguing that the introduction of glass and lighting into buildings was a political and social process that was complex and slow moving.

Take-aways

• There was a lot of iteration experimentation and failures when experimenting with new forms fo building enabled by glass and lighting
• This lengthy process is likely common when implementing new technologies
• Politics and social factors strongly impact the implementation of new technologies
• Window placement is very complex and there are many factors such as insulation and lighting and lifespan that architects must take into account
• The need for natural lighting was a building constraint that shaped all architecture until electric lighting

Reading 2: The Tall Office Building Artistically considered 

Summaries

In this piece, Lois Sullivan makes a clear argument and appeal to the architects of the time and the society at large, that there should be a basic standard, and correct way to build a skyscraper. Sullivan starts by noting that because of industrialization and mass urbanization creating tall buildings for business is a necessity. Sullivan goes on to argue that many current architects intellectualize their buildings and that this method is incorrect or is so in Sullivan’s eye. In the “The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered” Sullivan seeks to formulate a standard method for designing this new tall office building. He argues that in nature we see objective patters and forms that are obvious to us because their form follows function. He argues that for the standard office building this looks like a three tiered building with an entrance and social space on the first floor, the middle consecutive that house the offices, and then the attic and roof which indicate the change in function from the office space.

Take-aways

• The idea of form follows function was partly rooted in observations of the natural world
• During the modern movement, there was a focus on finding the correct or right template for each type of building
• Modernists considered their ideas as objectively correct and the only right way

Reading 3: Space

Summaries

This piece focuses on the history of the concept of space, from its roots in philosophy to its integration into the field of architecture. From there the author focuses on several philosophers accounts of the concept of space contrasting them to each other as a way of explaining how these ideas and writings influenced the architectural movements of the 20th century. Some notable philosophers the the authors include are Friedrich Nietzsche, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger, and Lefebvre. Towards the end of this piece the authors argue, in alignment with Lefebvre stance, that the use of space as a concept in architecture is a way of enforcing or justifying architecture’s independence and its “exercise of power and domination.” Lefebvre also critiques the notion of abstract space, which is the concept of space instead of the experience of space, as being to disconnected from reality stating that “Within abstract space, its occupants find that they themself become abstractions.” These critiques are all part of Lefebvre’s project to reclaim “social space” or a more experiential and useful space. The author of this piece suggests that architects can fulfill their role by combining the conceptual ideas of space and the physical, yet warns that this combination can be a means for those in power to justify their domination and shape the narrative.

Take-aways

• Space as a concept is a recent development during modernism
• There are many earlier philosophical ideas and theories of space that weren’t written by or for architects but that influenced the field in the 20th century
• intellectualizing architectural ideas can make them less accessible and reinforce elitism and be a method for those in power to assert or maintain their own narrative

Critical response

This critical response is to the reading 3 on Space. I thought that the author did not have a strong stance and so the argument was somewhat diluted in some of the philosophers whose theories of space were being described and analyzed. Since at the end of the piece the authors agree with Lefebvre’s stance that using the mental or theoretical framing of space to communicate and operate can reinforce the narratives and use of space by those in power this seems to be their stance as well. Their other assertion at the end is that Lefebvre might have argued for architects to unify the physical and theoretical conception/theories of space in their practice which suggests that the authors are inclined to believe this as well. My main critique is that the authors don’t make the delineation between the mental/theoretical idea of space and the physical but explain those of previous philosopher which effectively contributes to the jargon they seem to hope to integrate into the physical. Even in this critical response because the ideas aren’t clarified in the authors words its is difficult to be having the same conversation with the same ideas.

Application and interpretation

The Library of Alexandria implements many windows in its construction as well as natural and electric lighting. Understanding the scale of the building and understanding that the climate of Alexandria is very hot and sunny especially in the summer, thermal regulation and implementing thermal technologies into the building is critical. Most of the Wall mass of the building is windowless with the entire roof constructed of vertical, north facing skylights. This enables the main space to be illuminated by natural light while obstructing the direct rays. In this case the window technology is less critical than the orientation of the skylights. In any case such a large glass surface area, wouldn’t be possible without the development of window technology in the early 20th century as this chapter describes. Interestingly while there was initially excitement about the possibility to not use windows in factories and offices because of electric lighting much contemporary architecture has rejected this idea, instead valuing natural light. This is exemplified in the New Library of Alexandria.