While the initial understanding of a "Phantom-Like Mass" may lead to "Skeletal Formation I find it a major leap that the "WHO" is not part of this initial phase. The Who is or will be of that place, and will be just as rooted as any stationary condition. Shouldn't buildings respond to conditions of site in a broader context, one to include to accumulated social and cultural history of the who? The answer likely lies in the definition of the Who. The Who embodies a larger community, respectfully not a single person. While I may not be sure the boundaries of this community, one can speculate that there is a geographical or social border isolating groups from this slippery fish of a site analysis...
While a responsible design process may respect an environmental condition, is it not a highly destructive endeavor in conception (making stuff)? Spaces are for people and things not environment. Yet a building is created and will be destroyed. Humanity Continues as Spaces do. Humans Die much the way that a space will instantly- there is a single moment when one is alive and then not.... it is a flash.
The Moment a building begins is another flash.
“A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed and in the end must be unmeasurable.” -Louis Kahn
it shall return to the measurable dust from whence it came.
You hit a very important point there: the client. After all, architecture at its core is a service industry, providing design and planning service for a specific client of a specific project. The client should ALWAYS be considered at the beginnings of a project. At every step of the design process, the architect should of reminded of who he/she is designing for. It is the architect's professional responsbility to address the needs of the user and place this priority over his/her architectural and aesthetic intuitions.
ReplyDeleteChris, I agree with what you're speaking about. Yes, buildings should be climate specific and be advantageous of site conditions. However, a building that satisfies just that one criteria could be bland and unsatisfying. Buildings should reflect the culture and the people of the area. A building should strive to be an amalgamation of regional specific architecture and local culture and heritage.
ReplyDelete