Architecture and the Urban Environment A Vision for the New (original) (raw)
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Introduction opening essay, project texts and ending essays Edited 3 12 2012-Warsaw 1 text shortened to fit on page Introduction Designing, constructing and establishing meaning in buildings are collective activities. The skills of my colleagues are intrinsic to the work that we make in the practice: the strategic vision and resilient thoughtfulness of Jim McKinney, the polymathic knowledge, synthesising skills and endurance of David Owen and the commitment and sheer hard work of those who have chosen to work with us. Words, the most collective form of communication, thread their way through the projects, in explanations to clients and constructors, and as the means, along with drawings, of explaining the projects to my collaborators, to myself and to the wider world. A large part of the text in this monograph, including two of the essays, consists of what I have written over the life of the practice about its overall ideas and the thinking behind individual projects. More trenchant commentaries are provided by other architects and writers whose intellectual and creative interests coincided with those of our practice. The interview by David Turnbull and essays by Mark Cousins and William Mann illuminate significant stages in our work. William Mann's essay 'Architecture of the Unconscious Collective' identifies a particular desire in our practice to make communicative architecture. My experience in the Netherlands, both in realising buildings and as a Professor in the Architecture Faculty of TU Delft, indicates that this is possible. Here planning, architecture, teaching, and writing intersect and people are active in choosing where and how they live. At TU Delft I have found myself in the company of exceptional colleagues, in particular my associate professor Christoph Grafe and friend, fellow academic and sometime collaborator Mark Pimlott. Both, in their different ways, have helped me to understand what I have been doing and shown me the value of writing. Writing and publication are among the ways that a building acquires meaning. More stringent is the way that people, unaware of the architects' intentions, fit buildings into their practical and imaginative lives in even more personal and instinctive ways than designers. The restless search for ways that buildings might succeed in their world of use and misuse while also making a contribution to cultural knowledge is the underlying subject of this monograph.
This research combines multiple theoretical approaches to consider the relationship between architectural spatial configurations and spatial practices in one Camden housing estate. Two primary theoretical fields are reviewed and critiqued: semiotic and structuralism and theories of the everyday. A key focus is the way in which architecture is discussed in visual or aesthetics terms with little reference to its spatial characteristics. This is diagnosed in the literature of architectural semiotics and structuralism, history and criticism of housing and everyday accounts of architecture. Using the work of Henri Lefebvre and Michel de Certeau the argument is made that spatial configurations are intimately linked to spatial practices. This work is partly pre-figured by social and other critiques of the perceived autonomy of the architecture of the 1950s and 1960s. A review of key texts by Kevin Lynch, Jane Jacobs and Oscar Newman identify some of the potential of a socio-spatial approach to architectural criticism. Within the field of the everyday (and others) the tendency towards privileging agency is countered by de Certeau’s balanced account of the relationship between forms and practices. A review of some of the literature on Camden housing highlights the aesthetic bias setting up a sketch analysis of one estate focusing on the specificity of its spatial configurations and their relationship to practices. The case study looks at a few selected moments of a large estate in Camden, calling into play many of the issues raised, to show how specific configurations relate to present and historical forms, practices and interpretations. The intent is to provide a suggestive reading that reveals the weaknesses of previous reviews as well as pointing towards the development of a spatial approach to architecture which connects the specificity of forms to the way in which they are practiced thus highlighting the responsibility of forms.
Architecture after All || After-Narrative: Editor's Preface
2006
Perspecta 38: Architecture After All explores the ever-widening array of political, social, technological, and economic influences in architecture today. Many leading designers and thinkers have turned away from the ideological hegemony of critical theory towards a rediscovered focus on praxis as a means of conceptual positioning.
An ecosystemic role for Architectural style : bearing 'the plan' in 'mind
2015
© © U Un ni iv ve er rs si it ty y o of f P Pr re et to or ri ia a 'Architecture has nothing to do with the "styles"' (LeCorbusier, 1986(1923]:47). For Mom and Dad Digitised by the University of Pretoria, Library Services, 2015 © © U Un ni iv ve er rs si it ty y o of f P Pr re et to or ri ia a i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To be involved in tertiary education is a privilege. To teach that for which one was merely trained to practice is an exciting voyage of discovery. My time in teaching matches almost my extended time of being formally taught in the discipline. I have 'learnt' architecture twice, once by rote and once in humility. To thank all by name would be difficult. All my educators at all times, my colleagues, of all institutions and in practice, my students past and present, my friends and my family share in the achievements of this study. They have all mostly borne and sometimes dragged me through difficult times. Even when I was floating they were there. The technical demands of producing this document are such that if Kobie Olivier, Rosa Olivier, Frank Gaylard, Francois Swanepoel, Elaine Silver and Eve Stanley had not helped it would never have happened. To them my gratitude. All the librarians of the Merensky Library, 'en by name' Annetjie Greyling, Hannie Bezuidenhout, Gerda Pretorius and Carin le Roux, have not only been helpful but also supportive. To all of them my appreciation. The bursars Neill Powell and Neill are hereby acknowledged for their 1990 award. Schalk le Roux, as Subject Coordinator of Environmental History, through friendship and example, having himself trod the path, made the study less formidable and highlighted its pleasures. Digitised by the University of Pretoria, Library Services, 2015 © © U Un ni iv ve er rs si it ty y o of f P Pr re et to or ri ia a ii Prof. Dieter Holm has been instrumental in introducing me to a particular manner of thinking. This, in consolidating my own catholic interests, has not only been intellectually satisfying but also enriching. He has been inspirational, critically astute, mindful of my failings and tolerant of my iconoclasms. I could and would have had no other mentor for this particular study.
ENVIRONMENTAL & ARCHITECTURAL PHENOMENOLOGY, vol. 23, 2012 (3 issues)
2012
his EAP starts 23 years. We thank readers renewing subscriptions and include a reminder for "delinquents." We are grateful to subscribers who contributed more than the base subscription. Thank you! This issue includes three feature essays. First, management and systems consultant Robert Fabian overviews his growing awareness of the importance of human dimensions of urban design, and Norwegian architect Akkelies van Nes considers architectural theorist Christian Norberg-Schulz's contribution to a phenomenology of place and architecture. Last, retired educator John Cameron sends another "letter" from his rural home on Tasmania"s Bruny Island. Accompanying his account of place as "gift" is art work by his life partner, artist . Tentatively, EAP plans to sponsor at least one special session relating to environmental and architectural phenomenology. Conference website: www.ihsrc2012.uqam.ca/.