Response of neighborhood vernacular regarding local community values
If a community values a specific religion, for example, does the architecture reflect that religion? Perhaps private spaces are more valued than public spaces, therefore, the neighborhood vernacular may have more small spaces than large spaces.
Example: The Inca people valued the cosmos and a place connected to the sky and the surrounding landscape. The city of Cusco included a large rectangular central space for ceremonies surrounding the cosmos. (Example from Lara, Fernando Luiz, and Felipe Hernández, eds., 2021, “Indigenous Modernities: The Tocapu and Other American Grids.”)
Plaza de Armas
Message conveyed though material choice of building
Materials can be hard, soft, permanent, ephemeral, organic or inorganic. The material choice makes a statement about the purpose of the building itself and the values of the user/client. For instance, were sustainable materials used and/or expensive looking materials?
Example: Eugene’s first straw bale house was finished in 1997. The message conveyed through material choice is that the client prioritized sustainability, high insulation value, and low cost of construction. Perhaps the client wanted to reduce heating and cooling energy needed to condition the interior.
Straw Bale Construction
Relationship between room décor and style of architecture
The room décor can enhance the architectural style or it can contradict the style. Modern architecture is known for sleek lines and minimal ornamentation. Does the resident of the building heavily ornament the interior? Or does the resident stay consistent with the minimalist design in the interior?
Example: Truus Schröder occupied the Rietveld Schroder house until she was over eighty years old. The interior was lived in space that showed the mess of life while the architectural design was known for its De Stijl aesthetic, way of subdividing spaces, and use of color. The interior has a shabby, everyday life feeling that is in contradiction to the perfectionist, abstract architecture. (Example from Heynen, Hilde. 2009. “‘Leaving Traces’: Anonymity in the Modernist House.”)
Truus Schröder in Schroder House Interior
Schroder House Exterior
Effect of adapted architecture on user
A change to countertop height is a common adaption in interior architecture for residential homes. If the homeowner is tall or petite, than an adaption in height makes the kitchen easier to use. The effect of adapted architecture can be negative for the user as well, such as the private courtyard example in the mass housing project in Morocco. The residents did not get a say in the design process and the adapted architecture did not meet their needs (based on Monique Eleb, 2000, “An Alternative to Functionalist Universalism: Écochard, Candilis, and Atbat-Afrique.”).
Example: Successful Kitchen counter height adapted by user and unsuccessful adapted architecture of private courtyards in Morrocco mass housing project. Residents walled off the courtyards to have more interior space.
Successful adapted architecture, accessible counter height
Unsuccessful adapted architecture, residents walled up private courtyards
Use of grids in a city to create and/or divide space
Grids can be used to claim territory and they also can be used for ease of navigation. How a community grids off spaces or includes other spaces creates relationships between people of different groups as well as people and their environment. Grids can be used as a means of connecting or segregating in city planning (based on Lara, Fernando Luiz, and Felipe Hernández, eds., 2021, “Indigenous Modernities: The Tocapu and Other American Grids.”)
Example: Elche, Spain uses a grid system that helps inhabitants with wayfinding. Central plazas can be seen as larger community spaces with greener as seen from above.
Elche, Spain aerial city view
Effectiveness of natural light in a space in context to the room’s program
Natural light can be very useful to reduce energy consumption of artificial light as well as provide a local light to the space. Natural lighting changes with climate and season, while artificial light does not. There is a certain quality of natural light that cannot be substituted (based on Frampton, K., 1983, “Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance (H. Foster, Ed.), the Anti-Aesthetic; Essays on Postmodern Culture.”)
Example: Natural lighting has UV rays that can damage and fade artworks and books, however natural light also on an artwork provides a different atmosphere of viewing the piece. Ways of incorporating natural light into these spaces without the damaging the artwork takes thoughtful architectural design. The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York incorporates skylights into the design to admit the ideal amount of light.
Parrish Art Museum
Feelings conveyed through outward appearance of building
The view of a building can be welcoming and charming or sinister and imposing, and infinitely in-between. The height, color, historical context, and the viewer’s own experiences all contribute to the feeling the viewer gets as they first lay eyes on the building. Sometimes the goal of the building is to show its power, like a government building, or to welcome all like a library. The building’s program can affect shape and aesthetics, but the architect has choice into how the viewer feels regardless of the program.
Example: Singapore wants to show off it’s innovation and its wealth in addition to drawing tourists in. The conservatory complex at Gardens by the Bay shows this playfulness and innovation.
The conservatory complex at Gardens by the Bay
Role of government in city architecture
The government plays a central role in developing Singapore’s built environment. There is a cultivated aesthetic and rules to abide by depending on the neighborhood.
Example: There are five identity corridors outlined by the government’s master plan. The Inner Ring Corridor has a master plan to encourage more walking and cycling by constructing more paths.
Singapore’s five identify corridors
Impacts of green space in urban environments on community members
Singapore is a small city-state with a high density of people and many tourists each year. The incorporation of green space into urban environment provides and respite from the built environment.
Example: Singapore’s airport is a prime example of how a typically chaotic and non-green space environment was transformed into an oasis with a central waterfall and plants.
Changi Airport
Guidelines
- Attention to biophilia elements in context of architectural design
- Cultural context of building in relationship to community
- How form relates to local vernacular
- Recognition of structure in terms of historical setting
- Consideration of both architect’s and client’s place in social hierarchy
- What role power or ego plays in the purpose of this structure?
- Public and private space ratio and how that was determined
- Where did the funding for the project come from and for what motive?
- Were indigenous people consulted and equity considered in the creation of this project?
- Do I have enough cultural, historical, and economic context to understand the purpose of this structure?
I found the frame of interpreting the message conveyed though material choice of building very useful; the materiality of a building is always present so an important consideration.