Concept, Diagram, and Parti

Concept

The definition of concept, in my opinion, is that it is the philosophical, psychological, and symbolic meaning that the architect wants to portray through his or her building.  These ideals come from the architect's world-view, the program, and the client's goals, history, or character.

Diagram and Parti

I have always sort of seen a diagram and parti to basically be the same thing - as a broken down basic geometery behind the building.  Diagrams can then show functions and progressions ect.

The past puts the present into perspective.

In the introduction of “The New Architecture and the Avant-Garde” it is stated that the new “Tendenza” of architecture is to create autonomy. To create an architecture divorced from its functional and economic context and instead to create a sense of disciplinary autonomy against the capitalist driven society.

The “Tendenza” has the view that architecture is a cognitive process that then materializes into a physical embodiment of the process it took to create it. This image of the mental process is not in the pursuit or immersion of political, economic, social, or technological changes. The metaphysical embodiment of this mental exercise is also not a representation of the vernacular.

Architectural Evolution of Trinity College Dublin: 1592-1800

http://www.ucd.ie/arch/

Evolution of Masonry Construction

http://ocw.nd.edu/architecture/nature-and-the-built-environment/lecture-3/lecture-3

 The study of architectural history is important and the cognitive process of architecture should not feel repressed by its study. Ernest Nathan Rogers makes the point that time is a steady continuity in which the present is eternally related to the past though it is made up of periods of slow evolution and also relatively short moments of bombastic revolutions.

The past puts the present into perspective.

LABELS: ARCHITECTURE, FRAGMENT, M, SPAIN, URBAN - HTTP://ORCHESTRATEDINKBLOTS.BLOGSPOT.COM/

Knowledge influences memory and then architecture.

The importance of the evolution of architecture is entrusted to each architect to be unique and to contribute to the evolution. It is in this individualism that an analysis of a structure as a work of art, as Rossi argues in his “The Architecture of the City,” can be made. The city that exhibits architectural evolution is an anthology of individual snapshots showing the progression of architectural and cultural developments, demonstrating perceptions of the past, how people have perceived their spaces, and is, in essence, a living artifact of the anthropological study of the peoples.

http://artect.net/index.php?s=architectural

Monumentality

Louis Kahn makes the comment in his essay entitled "Monumentality" that it "cannot be intentionally created". After considering the reasoning he presented following that statement I cannot help but agree. Would you say that in the studio you see students who try to make their projects this grand ideal that if it were constucted then it would stand for all time, evoke extreme emotion, and become a precident to be followed for centuries to come? Or do you find your work and those around you to be something that tries to be a structure that is the embodiment of the passions, dreams, history, and culture of those who will use the structure?

Beginnings/Order/Proportion

In Juhani Pallasmaa's "The Geometry of Feeling: A Look at the Phenomenology of Architecture" he makes several comments that I find quite interesting. He says that if a building doesn't fulfill the expectation to phenomenologically symbolize the human existence it is "unable to influence the emotional feelings linked in our souls with the images a building creates." He also discusses what he calls the "Architecture of Memory" stating that "architecture of the mind emerging out of feelings and memory images is built on different principles from the architecture develped out of professional approaches."
Tell a memory of architecture that is dear to you. According to Pallasmaa's theory what would have been the phenomenon influencing your emotions to the point that it caused you to remember this particular experience so vividly? Do you agree with Pallasmaa on the idea that professional designs are based on different principles than your architectural memories? Or do you disagree, by disagreeing I mean would you say that you use memories often to approach projects in school?

People/Place/Occasion

How do you feel about Samuel Mockbee's statement that "everyone, rich or poor, deserves a shelter for the soul"? How do you think you could uphold that statement with projects that you are currently working on? Do you think every structure should?

Craft, Making, and Tectonics

"Corruptio optimi pessima! (Corruption of the best is worst!) Some materials promise far more than others but only the workman can bring out what they promise. In this domain of quality our environment is deteriorating." Pye, in his "The Workmanship of Risk and the Workmanship of Certainty", argues that what threatens craftmanship most is not bad workmanship in mass production but because each product is so uniform that it lacks depth and character. This reminds me of African tribal craftmanship where they believe that gods and spirits come and live in each thing they create. Do we stay with our uniform and lifeless plastic products and try to put uniqueness in them? How would we do that? Or should we try to retreave some of the ancient arts?

Sustainable Practices and Thinking Ecologically

There are two main reasons why people look at sustainable practices: for environmental issues and then for what could be called social justice. When sustainability or green products are discussed it always goes straight to ecological topics such as the ozone layer and depleting raw material supplies. Do you think that maybe you personally think of using sustainability because of energy and land fields or because of the social justice factor?