Deep Space, Thin Walls

Exceeding the post-war allowances of resources brought out sky scrapers and vastness of potential. Suddenly, space was infinite in its possibility to reach far and wide.

Artificial light vs. natural light

No windows? Unhealthy!! Unnatural!!

We should be adapting home systems to work with the future of our climates, rather than buying countless small appliances to make our spaces comfortable and livable. That should be a given for humanity’s habitat.

We’re really just complicated plants with feelings and a dire need for true sunlight. An indoor plant grown with only artificial light will never be as sturdy and healthy as one grown with real sun. But that is debatable now that our outside conditions could very well be more toxic than the filtered interior! Fire season smoke is pretty brutal.

Sinister corporate mentality: no windows, no time of day. My first job at Target was miserable, spending 8 to 10 hours inside, with no windows or idea for time of day. This was designed for consumerism – to keep people shopping and spending for as long as they could. Similarly, casinos use that same strategy to keep people inside, gambling without any idea for how long they’ve been there. It’s cruel, and sadly, it works…

TAKE AWAYS

• Like plants, people need natural light to thrive
• Buildings need functional space, not wasted space
• Consumerism is ruining the planet

 

The Tall Office Building…

As the natural law, “Form ever follows function.” The Golden Rule of Modern Design.

I personally prefer artistic expression. I am not personally a fan of the cold, hard prison-like styles of modern architecture. Grey concrete blocks do not warm my colorful soul. As a maximalist, I have a hard time appreciating the simplicity. Cost and time are easily the biggest factors to simplify the overall plan of modern and post-war rebuilds. The more we study modern spaces, the less I see interior function living up to its bold exterior. Interiors feel like an afterthought of wasted potential and useless empty space. I wonder if it is an accumulation of poor planning and lack of resources, or if the architect simply thought more of the outside, and less of the actual day to day functions of their creation.

Sullivan’s defense of his work – he stuck to his principles. This old article was pretty bleak and hard to get through. As an ode to ornamental renaissance – I’m here for it. Not sure how the wedding cake or the random ads relate. When I hear form follows function, I think of how a building can serve in functionality, storage, and necessity. Does that mean that design stems from whatever is needed first? Surely, design can exist purely for the artistic reality of creation.

I adore ornamentation. It’s not an easy feat for brick to emulate lace, and that kind of quality craftsmanship no longer exists in that form. The delicate arches add an impressive ornate detail to an otherwise sturdy city block. Unfortunately, the effort and detail are lacking in modern concrete structures.

TAKE AWAYS

• Form Follows Function
• All components follow Rule of Threes
• Height evokes loftiness

 

 

SPACE

“The human being creates with his body, what the architect and painter call Space.”

Beyond pure aesthetics, Space is the “purest substance of architecture.” Stemmed from 1890s philosophy, no one can agree on its true definition.

“Space exists in the mind as pure intuition.” – Kant

“Space as a field for the Dionysian instinct, to move through song and dance.” – Nietzsche

“Space is the void.” – Endell

Architecture is the realization of space. As architects, our job is to enclose space, articulate space, share social space, create more space, understand the illusion of space, incorporate limited space, realize dynamic space, utilize everything to avoid wasted space.

“A system of tension in free space. A change of space into urbanism. No foundation, no walls. Detachment from the earth, suppresion of the static axis. In creating new possibilities for living – it creates a new society.” – Banham, Theory and Design (1960)

TAKE AWAYS

• Space is everything
• Space is nothing
• No one can agree what Space is