ALTERNATIVE PRACTICES

& IDEAS
 Critical regionalism
 An approach to architecture that strives to counter the
placelessness and lack of meaning in Modern Architecture by
using contextual forces to give a sense of place and meaning.
(In the 1980s a few architects and theorists were disappointed
with the direction that architecture was taking under the
influence of postmodernism. Rather than unveiling the
historicity of style in their designs, postmodern architects
became another avant garde that produced designs that
mimicked classical style. )
 The term critical regionalism was first used by Alexander
Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre and later more famously and
pretentiously by Kenneth Frampton in "Towards a Critical
Regionalism: Six points of an architecture of resistance."
 According to Frampton, critical regionalism should adopt
modern architecture critically for its universal progressive
qualities but at the same time should value responses
particular to the context. Emphasis should be on topography,
climate, light, tectonic form rather than scenography and the
tactile sense rather than the visual
 As put forth by Tzonis and Lefaivre, critical regionalism need
not directly draw from the context, rather elements can be
stripped of their context and used in strange rather than
familiar ways.
 Critical regionalism is different from regionalism which tries
to achieve a one-to-one correspondence with vernacular
architecture in a conscious way without consciously partaking
in the universal.
 Säynatsalo Town Hall

According to Frampton, this building by

Alvar Aalto is a typical Critical
Regionalist building.
 Critical regionalism is considered a particular form of post-modern (not to
be confused with postmodernism as architectural style) response in
developing countries.
 The following architects have used such an approach in some of their
works: Alvar Aalto, Jørn Utzon, Studio Granda, Mario Botta, B.V.Doshi,
Charles Correa, Alvaro Siza, Rafael Moneo, Geoffrey Bawa, Raj Rewal,
Tadao Ando, Mack Scogin / Merrill Elam, Ken Yeang, William S.W. Lim,
Tay Kheng Soon, Juhani Pallasmaa, and Tan Hock Beng.
 mediate the impact of universal civilization with elements derived
indirectly from the peculiarities of a particular space.
 preference to how the architect deals with the irregularities of the physical
landscape rather than how he or she employs local culture
 The architect should enter “a dialectical relation with nature”, taking clues
from the topography and avoiding bulldozing in order to flatten space.
 using top-lighting and exposing the elements of construction, speaking
more of the relationship of the building to its space
 Sometimes Regionalism goes back to just Conservatism and resorts
to blind use of vernacular.
 But Critical Regionalism seeks architectural traditions that are
deeply rooted in the local conditions.
 This results in a highly intelligent and appropriate architecture.
 In its broadest sense, then, the Critical Regionalist sensibility looks
to the uniqueness of site and location when deriving the formal
aspects of any given project. Its influence can be felt in the work of
the Tichino School in Switzerland, the sophisticated urban
insertions of many contemporary Spanish architects (including
Rafael Moneo), or the austere concrete forms of the Japanese
master Tadao Ando. All point to a design method that is assuredly
modern but relies on the organic unity of local material, climatic,
and cultural characteristics to lend coherence to the finished work.
The result is an architecture suited to light and touch.
L THE BRICK MASTER OF KERALA
Original name : Laurence Wilfred Baker 
A Born on : 2nd March 1917
U   Burmingham, England.
Resides in : Trivandrum, Kerala.
R  Baker’s architectural career began as a student at
I Birmingham University.
E  However, his blossoming professional practice,
only a year old, was cut short when World War II
erupted in Europe.
 Baker enlisted in the Friends’ Ambulance Unit and
B served as a medical technician in China and
A Burma.He came to India in 1945 as an architect to
the leprosy mission.
K  He settled down in the Himalayas with his wife, a
E doctor from Kerala, where he discovered a hidden
heritage in the local indigenous style
R of architecture.
 Initial work
 Baker lived in Kerala with Doctor P.J. Chandy,while Laurie continued his
architectural work and research accommodating the medical needs of the
community through his constructions of various hospitals and clinics.
 He observed how the local people used only the locally available building
materials to make structurally stable buildings that could cope with the
local climatic conditions and topography. Bakers decided to move South,
to Kerala. In 1965, they moved to Trivandrum and got involved in the
leprosy work and also built homes and institutions for a wider clientele.
 Baker sought to enrich the culture in which he participated by promoting
simplicity and home-grown quality in his buildings.
 His emphasis on cost-conscious construction, An ideal that the Mahatma
expressed as the only means to revitalize and liberate an impoverished
India.
PRINCIPLES FOLLOWED BY
BAKER THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE
Architectural style
 Designing and building low cost, high
quality, beautiful homes.
 Suited to or built for lower-middle to lower
class clients.
 Irregular, pyramid-like structures on roofs,
with one side left open and tilting into the
wind.
 Brick jali walls, a perforated brick screen
which utilises natural air movement to cool
the home's interior and create intricate
patterns of light and shadow
 Baker's designs invariably have traditional Indian sloping roofs and
terracotta Mangalore tile shingling with gables and vents allowing rising
hot air to escape.
 Curved walls to enclose more volume at lower material cost than straight
walls,
 Baker was often seen rummaging through salvage heaps looking for
suitable building materials, door and window frames.
 Initial drawings have only an idealistic link to the final construction, with
most of the accommodations and design choices being made on-site by the
architect himself
 His respect for nature led him to let the idiosyncrasies of a site inform his
architectural improvisations, rarely is a topography line marred or a tree
uprooted.
 This saves construction cost as well, since working around difficult site
conditions is much more cost-effective than clear-cutting
 Baker created a cooling system by placing a high, latticed, brick wall near
a pond that uses air pressure differences to draw cool air through the
building.
LOW COST CONSTRUCTION
Filler slab Advantages
20-35% Less materials
Decorative, Economical &
Reduced self-load
Almost maintenance free
25-30% Cost Reduction

Advantages
Energy saving & Eco-Friendly
Jack Arch compressive roofing.
Decorative & Highly
Economical
Maintenance free
 •Masonry Dome
Advantages
•Energy saving eco-friendly compressive roof.
•Decorative & Highly Economical for larges spans.
•Maintenance free

Funnicular shell
Advantages
•Energy saving eco-friendly compressive roof.
•Decorative & Economical
•Maintenance free

• Masonry Arches

Advantages
•Traditional spanning sytem.
•Highly decorative & economical
•Less energy requirement.
 This is Baker's home in Trivandrum.
 This is remarkable and unique house built on a plot of land along the slope of a rocky
hill, with limited access to water:
 However Baker's genius has created a wonderful home for his family
 Material used from unconventional sources
 Family eats in kitchen
 Electricity wiring is not concealed
Drawings

GROUND FLOOR

FIRST FLOOR
STEPS LEADING UP TO A VIEW FROM THE OPPOSITE
FRONT DOOR SIDE
STEPS DIRECTLY CUT IN ROCK ENTRANCE HAS SMALL SITTING
AREA FOR GUESTS
THE WALL IS DECORATED
FROM BROKEN POTTERY,
PENS, GLASS

A CALLING BELL FOR VISITORS TO

ANNOUNCE THEIR PRESENCE
A MORNING AT HEMLET
USE OF NATURAL
LIGHT
INNER COURTYARD … COURTYARD HAS MANY
CLOSE TO NATURE GARDENS AND PONDS

Pitched roof made of manglore tiles

NEVER CUT TREES ARCHES LED INTO A BEAUTIFUL
INSTEAD OPEN ROOM
ADAPTED HIS
DESIGN
ACCORDINGLY
SIMPLE YET
BEAUTIFUL
WINDOWS
GABLES FOR PROPER
AIR CIRCULATION
AND VENTILATION
 WATER TANK FOR
STORING RAIN
HARVESTED WATER

CONICAL STRUCTURE USED…

 COST EFFECTIVE
BAKER’S WINDOW
Louvered window typical of
baker’s type

STAINED GLASS EFFECT

 FISHERMEN’S VILLAGE
Poonthura ,Trivandrum(1974-75)
CHALLENGES:
 Severity of environment in which the tribal's live.
 Limitation of resources
 Conventional architects stayed away from these projects
 Dealing with large insular groups, with set ideas and traditions.
 Dealing with cyclones

Design strategies
1. Exposed brickwork and
structure
2. Sloped concrete roof
3. Openness in design and
individual units offset each
other Continuous latticework
in the exposed walls
 Low sloped roofs and courts serve as wind catchers
 Open walls function to dispel it
 Long row of housing replaced by even staggering
 Fronting courts catch the breeze and also get view of sea
 Little private rectangle of land in between houses for drying nets , kids play,
 Provides sleeping lofts within and adequate space outside for mending nets and
cleaning and drying fish

PLAN
H  Egyptian architect – 1900 – 1989
 Designed 160 separate projects from modest country
A retreats to fully planned communities, markets,
S schools, theatres, places for worship and for
recreation.
S
ARCHITECTURAL PERSPECTIVES
A 1. Ancient design methods and
N materials
2. Utilizing a knowledge of rural
Egyptian economic situation
3. Space design suitable to
F surrounding environment
A 4. Low cost construction without
using R.C.C and steel
T 5. Training locals to build ones
own house
H
Y
 Design Phillosophy
• Low cost construction
• Usage of local materials and vernacular architecture
• Training of local people in construction to reduce
labor cost
• Against western techniques and ‘Matcbox houses’
• Design development with energy conservation
technique, Study of temperature and wind patterns.
• Passive cooling
 Design elements

• Mud brick (Adobe) walls

• Thick walls
• Wind-catcher and Qanat
• Decorative screens
• Building orientation and placement of windows
• Domes and Vaulted roofs
• Courtyard
 e
qu
os
m
a
rn
ou
G
 The elevation
Guma Mosque,
Gourna


Pla
n
An
d
Sec
tio
nal
ele
vat
ion
Vaulted roof at Gourna Theatre
Ventilation system - Kharga Market
• Mud brick – Low heat radiation, low cost, availability
• Thick wall – high insulation
• Small windows not facing the sun.
• Windcatcher – Air circulation, a pressure gradient used to get
away with the hot air.
• Qanat – Used with windcatcher to cool the interior air by deep
cut canal in the floor filled with water.
• Screens – Restrict glare of light
• No use of R.C.C and Steel for high heat radiation
• Courtyard with partial greenery to screen dust and sand in the
prevailing wind.
Screens in Window

Schematic diagram of the modes
of heat gain and loss in a
building.
Difficulty of adjusting venetian blinds in summer: (a)
the position for the optimal direction of the air
movement is undesirable with regard to sunshine; (b)
the optimal position for blocking sunlight is
undesirable with regard to the wind direction.
Plan for two rows of
houses showing the
malqaf or wind catch of
each arranged to bring
wind to the dwelling (a),
and details of a
malqaf(b)
Plan of part of
the Sidi Krer
house,
Alexandria,
Egypt. showing
details for the
pump room
under the
courtyard.
Design by
Hassan Fathy
Plan and section of
the pump room of
the Sidi Krer house,
Alexandria, showing
the ventilation
generated by the
wind-escape. Design
by Hassan Fathy.
Plan of the Qã'a of Muhib Ad-Din Ash-Shãf'i AI- Section through the Qã'a of Muhib Ad-Dmin Ash-Shãf'i
Muwaqqi, built in Cairo, about 1350. Al-Muwaqqi, showing the malqaf and central location of
the qã'a.

Section through the Qã'a of Muhib Ad-Din

Ash-Shãf'i Al-Muwaqqi, showing how the
mulqaf and wind-escape produce internal air
movement.

Arrows indicate the direction of airflow;

arrow length corresponds to airspeed.

The measurements were made on 2 April 1973

by scholars from the Architectural
Association School of Architecture in London.
All wind and airspeeds are given in meters
per second.
 Ralph Erskine, CBRE, RFS, ARIBA (24 February
R 1914 – 16 March 2005) was an architect and
planner who lived and worked in Sweden for most
A of his life.
During the 1930s, Erskine studied architecture for
L five years at the Regent Street Polytechnic,
P London under the direction of Thornton White.
At the time, White’s curriculum required the study
H of classical architecture before students were free
to follow their own ideas.

One of his fellow students was Gordon Cullen who

E would become a well-known architectural
illustrator, urban designer and theorist. Cullen
R advocated the improvement of urban settlements
S through an understanding and analysis of their
picturesque qualities. This approach was
K profoundly influential on Erskine, who insisted in
his work that the context and landscaping of his
I buildings be carefully integrated.

N
E
 Byker Redevelopment
Location Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, UK   map
Date 1973 to 1978   timeline
Building Type multifamily housing
 Construction System concrete, brick
Climate temperate
Context urban
Style Modern

Ralph Erskine designed the Byker housing development as 'anti-

heroic' - the architect's vision was not the sole driver of the design. 
He designed for the inhabitants (in some cases to accommodate the
needs of specific families) of the complex rather than to convey a
specific artistic or professional ideology.
• Built between 1969 and 1982, Erskine's design considered the needs
of the residents and fostered a sense of identity that earlier
Modernist flats had failed to achieve.

• Built in phases to enable the original residents to remain in the area,

the new development replaced much of the previous terraced
housing and created more green space.

• The large, blank façade of the Byker Wall, a prominent multi-story

element of the scheme, was designed to shelter the rest of the
complex from the noise of the Metro station and a planned
motorway.

• Colourful balconies arranged in a random order break down the

mass of the block, while variations in the landscape and building
form provide visual interest.
Photo, human scale of entry balcony · Byker Redevelopment · Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, England, UK
Photo, ground level entry · Byker
Redevelopment · Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
England, UK

Bykar wall
 Erskine's Millennium Village
Innovation and sustainability are the
two key drivers for the new
Greenwich Millennium Village in
southeast London. It is an ambitious
mixed-use development being built
according to a master plan by
architect Ralph Erskine using the
latest sustainable methods and
materials.

The £250 million project, being

constructed in phases over a five-year
period, saw its first occupants in late
2000. For the first phase, Erskine was
also design architect, with EPR as
production architect.
The residential design is reminiscent of Erskine's Byker Wall housing
development in the north of England.

It offers dramatic elevations of barrel-vaulted roofs, using traditional

materials, adding Erskine's trademark color and texture.

These 450 apartments, set around modern versions of the classic London
"garden square" concept, lie on the northernmost part of the planned village
site beside the River Thames and a newly created lake.

To maximize connections to the environment, they sport balconies,

terraces, or sundecks, some fronting the lake, others with dramatic views
toward the Thames Barrier.

Along with the extensive use of glass, materials include split bricks
contrasted with colored plaster, corrugated panels, wood cladding, and zinc
sheet. "The colors help break down the scale of the facade," says architect
Brendan Phelan, director at EPR. 
The first phase of housing as seen
from the artificially created lake.
Diagrams of the
ecology.
The bathrooms reveal a
Scandinavian influence. 
L
U Lucien Kroll (born Brussels, 13 March
1927) is a Belgian architect well known
C for this projects involving participation by
the future users of the buildings.
I
His most famous work is the Medical
E Faculty Housing, at the University
of Louvain, Belgium, from 1970-76.
N
The Belgian architect Lucien Kroll is
known internationally for his iconoclastic
K way of making architecture; his complex
and idiosyncratic forms delight some,
R enrage others, and intrigue many.

O
L
L
From the outset of his career Kroll aspired to a vernacular style which showed no
sign of "progressiveness" but which involved a constrained use of simple forms
and materials.

He mixed materials in a seemingly random fashion and favored weathered

materials that harbor vegetation and look as which give the building an eternal air.

He created buildings that related to both the landscape and to the people using
them.

Kroll favoured group participation in his projects. He negated his "authority-as-

expert" position in order to generate ideas and solutions from his clients.

His medical faculty buildings for the University of Louvain outside of Brussels
aroused widespread controversy in the early 1970s, their fragmented and
improvisational appearance - the result of a deliberate participatory design process
- in stark contrast to the adjacent massive and repetitive hospital, the embodiment
of a centralized bureaucracy. 
Ecological Architecture Of Lucien Kroll

To put it mildly, Lucien Kroll’s approach to architecture is unconventional. There are

no past masters to whom he turns for inspiration; his buildings derive solely from
rigorous application of his own philosophy of what a building should be. Kroll’s
descriptions of the conventional products derived from the Modern Movement are
laced with the adjectives of oppression: the administrators who commission designers
are fond of ‘paramilitary models’; Pruitt-Igoe in St Louis (and developments like it)
are the products of generations of ‘somewhat militaristic architects’; the dark glazed
windows on the wall of a contemporary office presents a ‘fascist facade’.

Kroll builds cheaply, using man’s most basic building materials.

He has a fondness for artificial slate roofing tiles -mostly the kind made by Eternity:
‘They are cheap, very tough, they accept moss, and live with the weather’.
His favourite images are of lichens and lush, succulent plant growth, of weathered rock
and the haphazard placing of stones to form walls made by unskilled workers.
He likes things built by man that look as if they have been there forever, absorbed into
the landscape.
SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL BY LUCIAN KROLL (CAUNDRY,
FRANCE)

The new Lycee at Caudry near Cambrai in north-east France involved the most
stringent design and construction ecological competition yet for a school in
France.

All aspects were considered: running energy, embodied energy, lighting,

environmental quality, rainwater, sustainability, toxicity of materials, long and
short term pollution, potential re-use and recycling, even waste management on
the building site.

Kroll stresses the need for a holistic approach, drawing no hard lines between
physical and psychological issues, cultural and technical ones, or between the
well-being of the individual and that of the planet.

These concerns interact in complex ways, so stringent energy demands were not
allowed, for example, suddenly to dictate the whole design of the school as with
tile famous glass wall at Wallasey, or with a huge hemispherical form for minimal
surface area. Rather,
East-west alignment of both main
teaching blocks is perhaps the
strongest move, which gives them
north and south faces.

Southern exposure is needed for

maximum solar gain, but is also
more manageable with shading
devices in summer because the
sun is high.

It is important too for the

ecological concept that the linear
blocks have a shallow plan-depth
for day lighting.
Ecological design also profoundly affected landscape treatment, with green roofs,
newly made ponds to the east, and a hillside to the west.

Roof strategy was to grow vegetation on all low-pitched or flat ones not paved for
access.

This increases insulation and avoids the need for surface treatment, while the
vegetation absorbs rain like a sponge, reducing or at least delaying run-off.

Most classrooms are conventionally rectangular and set in linear ranges conditioned
by day lighting.

Social spaces for larger groups such as the library, assembly hall and restaurant have
more complex polygonal forms with faceted roofs.

This differentiates them visually and spatially from the other parts, but they are also
more centralized in form.
Polygonal shapes allowed development of semi-separate bays - for example in the
library- which break down the scale of the whole into sub- appeared for electric
constituents being drawn from a spaces ‘owned’ by smaller groups.
Four views of the
“attics”. The top two
floors were divided
between students who
had activities in
common and who also
personally designed
their spaces and
furniture.

When Atelier Kroll

subsequently built the
interiors, they
carefully followed the
indications of the
future inhabitants.
View of the administration-
school building. The
emergency exits were added
after construction had
already begun, in order to
adapt to regulations that had
changed in the meantime.
This alteration harmonised,
however, with the
complexity of the facade
and enhanced the mosaic
effect of the architectural
composition.
 Tadao Ando , born September 13, 1941) is a
Japanese architect whose approach
T to architecture was categorized by Francesco
Dal Co as critical regionalism.
A Ando was born in Minato-ku, Osaka, Japan,
and raised in Asahi-ku in the city.
D
He has led an eventful life, working as a truck
A driver and boxer prior to settling on the
profession of architecture, despite never
O having taken formal training in the field.

He visited buildings designed by renowned

architects like Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies
A Van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis
Kahn before returning to Osaka in 1968 and
N established his own design studio, Tadao
Ando Architect and Associates.
D
O
Ando has strong culture backgrounds in Japan, where he was raised and also currently
lives.

Japanese religion and style of life strongly influenced his architecture and design.

Ando's architectural style is said to create a "haiku" effect, emphasizing nothingness

and empty space to represent the beauty of simplicity.

He favors designing complex spatial circulation while maintaining the appearance of

simplicity. As a self-taught architect, he keeps his Japanese culture and language tightly
in his mind while he travels around Europe for learning experience.

Tadao Ando's body of work is known for the creative use of natural light and for
architectures that follow the natural forms of the landscape (rather than disturbing the
landscape by making it conform to the constructed space of a building).

The architect's buildings are often characterized by complex three-dimensional

circulation paths. These paths interweave between interior and exterior spaces formed
both inside large-scale geometric shapes and in the spaces between them. 
Row House in Sumiyoshi (Azuma House)
This urban dwelling made throughout of exposed concrete replaced the middle unit of
three row houses in a downtown district of Osaka. Ando, who sees himself as a fighter-
architect, developed a number of bold proposals for small houses. Among those houses, the
Row House in Sumiyoshi is his crowning achievement.
The Social theme

The Row House has a social theme as

well as a design theme. Ando introduces
a concrete box amidst the dilapidated
wooden row houses that crowd the
central areas of Osaka and creates a
highly self-sufficient living space inside
that box. Ando ensures individual
privacy, something traditional
townhouses were unable to provide; he
creates a residential space that enables
modern individuals to develop. Row
House in Sumiyoshi is an expression of
Ando's belief that the house is precisely
the building type that can change
society.
The facade
We see an axially symmetrical composition,
an overall form having a gatehouse-like
character and a doorway in a central
location.
In the design of the elevation Ando uses
only two rectangular forms: the overall
outline of the building, and the doorway.
We can also see that the entire site has been divided longitudinally into three parts and that the
courtyard too has been divided into three equal parts. Tripartition is applied to the building as a
whole and echoed by the rhythm of long-short-long on the facade, namely, wall-doorway-wall.
In relation to the Environment

Ando's treatment of nature in the city is something else that distinguishes his work.
Confronted by the vulgar urban environment of downtown Osaka, he came to the
conclusion that coexistence with nature was funtamental to human life. He proposed
a new lifestyle in coexistence with nature, which is integrated into the dwelling.

It can get extremely cold in winter, on rainy days an umbrella is needed to go to the
tiolet.
Ando gave priority, not to some facile notion of convenience, but to being able to
look up to sky and feel the wind.

The courtyard of the Row House is a secluded space cut off from the commotion of
the city; it is open only to the sky. It is a window, accepting light, wind and rain so
that nature is able to seep into the spirit of the observer.

The courtyard, made of concrete, glass and slate, reflects incident light and causes
complex shadows. Matter has a psychological effect on the observer precisely
because the absence of ornament invites extraordinary empathy.
 Church of the Light
Church of the light (sometimes
called "Church with Light") is the
Ibaraki Kasugaoka Church's main
chapel. It was built in 1989, in the
city of Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture.
This building is one of the most
famous designs
of Japanese architect Tadao Ando.
In 1999, the main building was
extended with the addition of a
Sunday School.
The Church of the Light is a small structure on the
corner of two streets at Ibaraki, a residential
neighborhood. It is located 25 km north-northeast of
Osaka in the western foothills of the Yodo valley
railway corridor.

The Church of the Light consists of three 5.9m

concrete cubes (5.9m wide x 17.7m long x 5.9m
high) penetrated by a wall angled at 15°, dividing the
cube into the chapel and the entrance area.

One indirectly enters the church by slipping between

the two volumes, one that contains the Sunday school
and the other that contains the worship hall.

The benches, along with the floor boards, are made

of re-purposed scaffolding used in the construction.
A cruciform is cut into the concrete behind the altar,
and lit during the morning (as it is facing east).
The one element carried through Tadao
Ando's structures is his idolization of
the reinforced concrete wall.

The importance given to walls is a

distinct departure from Modernist
architecture.

They are usually made of 'in-situ' poured

in place concrete.

Considerable care is taken to see that the

walls are as perfect as technique will
allow.

These walls are thick, solid, massive, and

permanent . The main reinforced concrete
shell of the Church of the Light is 15
inches thick.
One theme he expresses in this work is the dual nature of existence. The space of the chapel
is defined by light, the strong contrast between light and solid. In the chapel light enters
from behind the altar from a cross cut in the concrete wall that extends vertically from floor
to ceiling and horizontally from wall to wall, aligning perfectly with the joints in the
concrete. At this intersection of light and solid the occupant is meant to become aware of the
deep division between the spiritual and the secular within himself or herself.
G
E LIFE AND TIME:
O BORN: 1919,COLOMBO.DIED: 2003
EDUCATION: 1941-B.A DEGREE(ENG.)
F CAMBRIDGE UNIV.1943-BARRISTER

F FAMILY: FATHER-LAWYER 
MUSLIM-ENGLISH PARENTAGE;
R MOTHER- MIXED GERMAN-SCOTTISH
E DESCENT.

Y EDUCATION: 1941-B.A DEGREE(ENG.)

CAMBRIDGE UNIV.1943-BARRISTER AT
LAW,MIDDLE TEMPLE ,LONDON1956-DIPL.
IN ARCH.,ARCH. ASSO. SCHOOL,LONDON.
B
A
W
A
PHILOSOPHY
•Highly personal in his approach, evoking the pleasures of the senses that go hand in hand
with the climate, landscape, and culture of ancient Ceylon(Present day Sri Lanka).

•Brings together an appreciation of the Western humanist tradition in architecture

•with needs and lifestyles of his own country.

•The principal force behind TROPICAL MODERNISM.

•Work with a sensitivity to site and context.

•His designs break down the barriers between inside and outside, between interior design
and landscape architecture.

•He reduced buildings to a series of scenographically conceived spaces separated by

courtyards and gardens.

•His ideas are providing a bridge between the past and the future, a mirror in which
ordinary people can obtain a clearer image of their own evolving culture.
Osmund and Ena de Silva House ,Columbo, 1960-62
Geoffrey Bawa
Views from the
entrance toward
the main courtyard

The front loggia was first

encountered obliquely as
part of the perspective of the
street and gradually revealed
the main entrance on the
centre line of the second of
its four bays.
Used the texture of floor
material dialectics
between inside and outside
Space flows from inside to outside and long vistas range across a series of indoor and
outdoor 'rooms' to create the illusion of infinite space on a relatively small plot.
View from the different rooms to
the main courtyard.
Bentota Beach Hotel,
Columbo, 1960-62, Geoffrey Bawa
 The entrance facade The entrance staircase

n this cavernous entrance, a stone staircase led up towards the richly

Here they encountered the
central courtyard with its
gurgling pool framed by a
trio of temple trees, where
they caught their first
tantalizing glimpse of the
distant ocean through the
columns of the main lounge
and the coconut palms
Back in the hotel, however, the
stepped floor of the dining room
presented the panorama of the
estuary to every diner, while lines of
chairs in the lounge invited visitors
to share the experience of a glass of
arrack and the view through the
coconut grove towards the sea.
Triton Hotel
The divided the
rooms into small
clusters, some of
which he turned
through 90 degrees
to form projecting
wings

a fairly conventional rest house form similar

to that he had used for the Serendib Hotel - a
line of rooms facing the sea
entrance court with
coconut trees
standing like sentries
in a large reflecting
pool
Triton Hotel

internal courtyards were set up to enliven

the corridors
'Everything is at
the same level
visitors would
discover a cross-axis
leading outwards and
upwards past a
sequence of
courtyards
L
U Luis Ramiro Barragán
Morfín (March 9, 1902 –
I November 22, 1988) was
S a Mexican architect.

Barragán was born

B in Guadalajara.
A
R He studied as an engineer in his
home town, while undertaking
R the entirety of additional
A coursework to obtain the title of
G architect.
Á
N
Barragán attended lectures by Le Corbusier and became influenced by European
modernism. The buildings he produced in the years after his return to Mexico show the
typical, clean lines of the Modernist movement.

Nonetheless, according to Andrés Casillas (who worked with Barragán), he eventually

became entirely convinced that the house should not be "a machine for living."

Opposed to functionalism, Barragán strove for an "emotional architecture" claiming that

"any work of architecture which does not express serenity is a mistake."
Barragán always used raw materials such as stone or wood. He combined them with his
incredibly creative use of light.

The work of Luis Barragán is often (and misleadingly) quoted in reference

to minimalist architecture. 

Most architects who do minimalistic architecture do not use color, but the ideas of forms
and spaces which Barragán pioneered are still there.

There have been several essays written by the Pritzker Prize recipient Alvaro Siza in
prefaces to books that make reference to the ideas of Barragán as well.
LUIS BARRAGÁN HOUSE AND STUDIO

The Luis Barragán House

and Studio, located in
the Tacubaya suburb of Mexico
City, was the residence
of architect Luis Barragán in
the years following the Second
World War.

Built in 1947, the 1162 square

metre three-storey concrete
house and garden reflect
Barragán's design style during
this period.
The house is located at General Francisco Ramírez 12 in the Tacubaya suburb
of Mexico City.

The external façade is in keeping with the low-class neighborhood: it was highly
important for Barragán not to change the aspect of a street.

The entrance hall is quite small, forming as it were an emotional step before finally
encountering the house as Barragán designed it, which in his use of vivid color (as he
always did) starts to amaze every visitor with the first corridor, which is a quite vivid
pink, with yellow spaces.

One of the most important matters in the house is the light: as Barragán always hated
the use of ceiling illumination, the house is lit, if not by natural illumination, then only
with small lamps always placed on top of a small table.

The magnificent garden (not as big as it may look, but as Barragán wanted, with the
feeling of an enormous place) is a complicated puzzle of natural corridors and trees
(one of them is only decorative and not actually alive: the architect really wanted
another one and decided to bring one without planting it).
On the garden side, the building has a very different aspect compared with the
street side. The qualities of Barragán's architecture are expressed in the
treatment of the spaces inside the house, where he plays with strong non-
harmonic colour schemes (e.g. the sequence from the entrance); the raw
volcanic stone on the vestibule floor extends through a second door to the hall.
The garden was initially conceived as a large expanse of grass, but Barragán
later allowed it to grow more freely.
he Torres de Satélite ("Satélite Towers") are
located in Ciudad Satélite, in the northern Torres de Satélite
part of Naucalpan, Mexico.

One of the country's first urban sculptures of

great dimensions, had its planning started in
1957 with the ideas of renowned Mexican
architect Luis Barragán, painter Jesús Reyes
Ferreira and sculpturer Mathias Goeritz.

The project was originally planned to be

composed of seven towers, with the tallest
one reaching a height of 200 meters (about
650 feet), but a budget reduction forced the
design to be composed of only five towers,
with the tallest measuring 52 meters
(170 feet) and the shortest 30 meters
(98 feet).
Goeritz originally wanted the towers to be painted in different shades of orange, but
changed his mind later due to some pressure from constructors and investors. It was
finally decided the towers would be painted in red, blue and yellow the so
called primary subtractive colors with the addition of white.
Á
L
V Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza
A (Alvaro Joaquim Melo Siza Viera), is
R one of the best-known Portuguese
O architects of the 20th century.

Although Alvaro Siza produced

S numerous projects for clients in
I Portugal (houses, schools, and other
Z instututions), it was not until the
A 1980s that Alvaro Siza began to
recieve recognition through
V exhibitions and commissions in other
I European countries.
E
I
R
A
Alvaro Siza's architecture is strongly rooted in the Modern movement, but incorporates
a subjective approach to concept and design, seeking alternative interpretations of
modernism.

Alvaro Siza has stated, "Architecture is increasingly a problem of use and reference to
models... My architecture does not have a pre-established language and does not
establish a language.
It is a response to a concrete problem, a situation in transformation in which I
participate."

The geographic and climatic contitions of the place of Alvaro Siza's architecture are of
profound importance to this thinking in addition to cultural and social concerns.

In Alvaro Siza's oeuvre sensitivity to context does not result in nostalgic historicism or
critical regionalism.

It is rather a unique approach to a universal language transformed to respond to a local

situation. Alvaro Siza's built works strive to integrate conflicting demands and
affinities, often embodying points of tension that exist in a delicate balance.
 Miranda Santos House, by Álvaro Siza
At the beginning of the 1960's, the Portuguese architect, Álvaro Siza, designed a
house for a writer in Matosinhos, Porto.

Since then, there have been several changes in its ownership but Siza has continued
to be the architect throughout and has been in charge of all its alterations, additions
and new furniture.

Now, due to external circumstances, the house fulfils all the requirements to be a
museum of the architect.
The writer Luisa Ferreira da Costa commissioned
the young Álvaro Siza in 1962 to design a house in a
dense neighbourhood of small plots.

Costa asked for privacy and seclusion, and requested

low, indirect light suitable for her writing.

Siza responded by providing a two-storey house

with skylights to create diffuse overhead light and
small windows in the elevations to simply provide
views of orientation and reference.

He made use of the architectural vernacular, using

mono pitched tiled roofs and plastered structural
granite walls. This produced simplicity of volumes,
a quality of composition reinforced by meticulous
constructional details with openings framed in thick
timbers, untreated to retain their natural colour.
The house changed ownership in 1987. Its new proprietor, Miranda Dos
Santos, commissioned Siza to make alterations which consisted of
enlarging existing windows and making new ones as a reaction against
the new owner's perception of the dim light of the skylights.

These new openings were detailed differently from the original

construction.

It was as if Siza was marking his own evolution by adding new materials:
the new window openings were framed with white painted wood in white
marble cases.

Shortly afterwards, the house passed to Santos' son, an engineer who also
asked Siza to continue working with the house, but this time, by
designing all its furniture.

His commission was not to ask Siza for 'artistic' objects, but rather to
fulfil his practical requirements.
 Iberê Camargo Foundation

The Iberê Camargo Foundation (Fundação Iberê Camargo in Portuguese) is

a cultural institution dedicated to preserve and promote the work of Brazilian
painter Iberê Camargo (1914–1994).
Created in 1995, one year after the artist's death, it not
only aims to make people know Camargo's art but
also intends to stimulate reflections on the
contemporary artistic production, through displays,
courses, seminars and meetings.

The headquarters and museum building of the Iberê

Camargo Foundation, in Porto Alegre, was designed
by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza, the Pritzker
Prize winner in 1992.

Before its inauguration in May 2008, the foundation

was operating in the late artist's home, also in Porto
Alegre.

The new building is located on the bank of Guaíba

Lake.
The honorary president of Iberê Camargo Foundation
is his widow, Maria Coussirat Camargo.
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