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Lecture 5
Sources of Architectural Form:
An Overview of Western Design Theories
Theory 2
Architecturla Form is generated within the creative imagination
Theory 3
Arcitectural Form is shaped by the prevailing spirit of the age
Theory 4
Architectural Form is determined by the prevailing social and economic condition
Theory 5
Architectural Form derives from timeless principles of form that transcend
particular designers, cultures, and climates
Designer = Scientist
Christopher Alexander
Individual
‘genius’
Innate talent
. Frank GHERY
. Zaha HADID
Classification of buildings as
Renaissance, Gothic, Revival or
Post-Modern showing how
architects working at the same
time tend to use shared ideas
about forms ...
2- it explains the continuity of a design approach or style but how about the sudden
chance in style from one age to next ?
3- how does this idea explain that some ages would appear to posses several spirits
simultaneously?
like at the turn of the 20th century, one spirit extrolling the virtues of
the future Modern Age showed itself emerging in the works of Modernist
pioneers like Peter Behren and Walter Gropius, while another spirit extrolling
the virtues of great ages past showed itself in the works of Edwardian architects like
Sir Edwin Lutyens, Herber Baker.
Clash of SPIRITS
?
The only possible explanation
is that there are several Spirits
from which a designer must
choose, and then this freedom
of choise contradicts the basic
premise of the entire theory.
Hierarchical social order in the formal, symmetrical forms Assymmetrical and grand early Praire Houses as a
for the Palaca of Versailles in 17the Century Absolutist reflection of the primacy of the individual in the 20th
France. Century democratic America.
Unfortunately, it is almost
impossible to find a one to
one correlation between
socio-economic system and
the building form!
Parthenon, Athens Greece 447-436 BC.
Uniqueness of individual
buildings ...
Like the Basilica type ... Essential organizing principle for ancient Roman Law courts,
Romanesque church, Gothic Cathedrals, and a Wildlife Center by Michael Graves.
Both theory of type and theory of abstract visual form do not explain how
these universal notions are transformed into particular applications.
Inadequencies of any single theory ... But to use two or more of these ideas
simultaneously to explain the sources of design ideas.
Good design requires creative, original thinking, that the
designer’s work should not deny the Modern Spirit of the
times, that the designer should attend carefully to the specific
requirements of the climate, the culture and the design
program, and that the designer should obey certian universal
principles of form like balance and proportion.
Arch 312 - Architecture and Design Theories
Juxtaposition of ideas... Not a coherent theory ...
Two opposing groups of ideas about the attitudes to the sources of form
Both the THEORY OF THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE and the THEORY OF
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DETERMINISM Suggest that forms in any given age
and culture will inevitably acquire a certain appreance and form, no matter how
individual designers might struggle to do otherwise.
Rigorously expose
the notion of
creative genius &
University Hospital, Denver. Functionalism in the extreme. bridle at
constraints
Reject as outdated and disposable
...out of fashion
Obsessed with
determining the
latest pulse of
society
This paradox in design theory also creates much confusion in the field of
architectural criticism. If a building’s meritorious is to be judged, on which
expression/theory is considered?
Are there any universally objective standards of design to evaluate all buildings,
or is architectural taste relative to the critic’s personal inclanations?
Arch 312 - Architecture and Design Theories
The paradox in THEORY, PRACTICE & CRITICISM