Long time, no P...O-S-T

I've been inspired by a former classmate to try one of those 30-day challenge things.  I'm doing a Doodle-A-Day!  And here, I'm taking inspiration from the first really Autumn-like day of the year.

Hmm.  Landscape sketches in my future!

What is the Mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind.

There are more connections in one human brain than there are galaxies in the known universe.  Each human brain has trillions of electro-chemical connections in its neural network (while the galactic count still numbers only in the billions).  Moreover, the structure of these networks is set up so that there are specific regions handling different functions.  Generally speaking, the hippocampus is known to be the center for declarative memory (being able to recall specific information, versus procedural memory, which is more a form of conditioning), while the amygdala regulates emotion.  The question that continues to baffle scientists and philosophers alike is this: What is the relationship between the physical brain and the conscious mind?  “The external physical causes of such experiences, the behavioral responses associated with them, or the neural impulses in the brain…seem to be only accidentally connected with the experiences themselves.”  The qualia, or basic sensory components of an experience, are what we use to define our perceptions.  The way we see, feel, or hear our surrounding environment is subjective and different for every person.

Thresholds, Beetles, Clockwork.  More on Monday!

Response 5

Weekly Response: Atmospheres

1.    Body of architecture:

To design a building; pulling from many sources into one coherent thing.  Learn from the way an actual body is put together—many different bits and pieces (walls and floors and whatever else the user might bring to a space) all come together to function as one entity.

2.    Material compatibility

Involve the users of the building.  Choose materials that react well with each other as well as the inhabitants of the space.  How can I best choose materials that would be good for a sort of general purpose space, and yet still be beautiful?  I would love to use wood paneling, with some other “soft” material, which also ties to…

3.    Sounds of a Space

I love the way wood has its own set of sounds, for settling, expanding, creaking, squeaking.  I also love the way people sound when they walk across a wood floor.  They can glide through as quiet as can be, or they can march around making a cacophony of echoes.  And then maybe the movable walls will be paneled with something that absorbs sound, depending on the space defined.

4.    Temperature of a space

How to design a building that can adjust to different temperature (as related to interior use as well as exterior conditions)?

5.    Surrounding Objects

I’d love my building to become one of the surrounding objects.  Not only would the users be able to bring in their own belongings, but the way they arrange them in their own spaces becomes very interesting.  There are literally an infinite number of possibilities!  I like the phrase “a future without me.”

6.    Between composure and seduction

“Architecture as spatial and temporal art.”  Both Zumthor and Alexander (in A Pattern Language) make a special note about the importance of flow.  Personal spaces should be designed in such a way as to make people want to stay there (seduction), rather than just using space as a way to direct movement (composure).

7.    Tension between interior and exterior

This is a concept I’d really love to explore, as well.  There are countless buildings that play with thresholds, either spatially or through the use of materials (i.e. a large window or door next to a wall that starts outside, and is continued in as an interior wall).  There is a fine play between the levels of enclosure, between being “inside” or “outside.”

8.    Levels of intimacy

This is another topic that Zumthor and Alexander both find relevant.  However, while Alexander focuses on the hierarchy of the interior, Zumthor is (avoiding) calling it “scale.”  I think both elements are important, from social organization of interior spaces, to how the actual architecture relates to the user. 

9.    The light on things

How can I use materials in such a way to manipulate light?  And I know that “manipulate” has negative connotations.  But it is a challenge to try to use more traditional methods of lighting (natural lighting, at any rate), when I am not designing the final layout of the space.

A Pattern Language, part 2

K. The flow through rooms

1. "As far as possible, avoid the use of corridors and passages...Place the common rooms to form a chain, or loop...with views of fires and great windows." (630)

L. Zen view

1. "If there is a beautiful view, don't spoil it by building huge windows that gape incessantly at it.  People will see a glimpse of the distant view as they come up to the window or pass it." (643)
2. Place of transition

M. Bed clusters

N. Bulk storage

O. Light on two sides of every room

1. Wrinkle the edge

 P. Street windows

1. 2nd and 3rd storey windows = connectivity
2. Ground level = high, private windows

Q. Six-foot balcony

1. Minimum 6'
2. Recessed rather than cantilevered
3. Open towards south

R. Structure follows social spaces

1. Physical spaces congruent with social spaces
2. Engineering is independent from social needs
3. Buildings where the structure is hidden leave yet another gap in people's understanding
4. "Never modify the social spaces to conform to the engineering structure of the building." (945)
5. COLUMNS AT CORNERS

S. Efficient structure

1. Usually in straight lines
2. Ceiling heights vary

T. Good materials

1. Secondary materials = easy repair
2. Wood, bamboo, canvas, etc. = GOOD
3. Al, plate glass, etc. = BAD

U. Thickening the outer walls

V. Box columns

1. Warm to the touch
2. Proportionately thick/solid
3. Easy connectivity, nail-able, hand-cuttable

W. Floor surface

1. Service v. comfortable zone

X. Soft inside walls-->white gypsum plaster

Y. Windows

1. Filtered light
2. Open wide
3. Small panes

Z. Ornament

1. Warm colours-->colour of light
2. Pools of light

FIN

A Pattern Language, part 1

From A Pattern Language:
A. Household Mix

1. Corresponding areas of singles, couples, small families
2. Lack of diverse contact with different stages of life.
3. "Encourage growth towards a mix of household types in every neighbourhood, and every cluster so that one-person households, couples, families with children, and group houses are side-by-side.
4. OLD PEOPLE EVERYWHERE

B. Degrees of Publicness

1. Public, halfway, isolated
2. Row Houses

•  "...Typical row houses are dark inside, stamped form a n identical mould." (205)
• Windows only along the short side

           - The long, thin house

C. The Family

1. "The nuclear family is not by itself a viable social form." (377)
2. Balance of privacy and communality
3. Large family room-farmhouse kitchen (in the MIDDLE)

D. House for a Small Family

1. Common area, couple's realm, children's realm

E. House for a Couple

1. Ample opportunity for solitude/privacy
2. Room for Growth/change

F. House for One Person

1. "Once a household for one person is part of some larger group, the most critical problem which arises is the need for simplicity." (390)
2. Self-sufficiency/economy
3. Bare-bones necessity
4. "Nothing that is not needed, everything that is."
5. "Small size does not preclude richness of form."
6. "When it is well-done, a small house feels wonderfully continuous--cooking a bowl of soup fills the house; there is no rattling around." (391)

G. Your Own Home

1. "People cannot be genuinely comfortable and healthy in a house which is not theirs.  All forms of rental...work against the natural processes which allow people to form stable, self-healing communities." (393)
2. "People will only be able to feel comfortable in their houses, if they can change their houses to suit themselves...rearrange [the house] as they like it." (393)

• Not every house must be owned!
• CONTROL

H. Intimacy Gradient

1. Degrees of inticimacy-->hierarchy 
2. Front to back

I. Indoor Sunlight

1. Most important rooms are oriented to the SOUTH
2. E-W axis
3. Open up indoor sunny rooms to the outdoors
4. BDRMs get EAST exposure

J. Common Areas at the Heart

1. "No social group...can survive without constant informal contact among its members." (618)
2. At a tangent to the path of circulation
3. Kitchen/eating/sitting

Lazy Sunday: Rain, Jazz, Architecture

From Archetypes in Architecture: (con't)
C. The Frame

1. Columns (in rows) can be used to divide space.

D. Colours

1. "Plain drawing is an abstraction...because everything in nature contains colours."
2. Colours used to embody specific meanings.
3. "Does an individual colour have a given and unchangeable meaning?"

E. The Windows-->Openings

1. Windows of different sizes, according to spatial function.
2. Shapes as an expression of motion.

F.  Functionalism and Open Space

1. "The walls of functionalism were made white and thin like a skin that swathed the volumes underneath."
2. Overlapping and Technology

• Activities float in the "great space"
• Development of a structure surrounding empty space

G. Final Word

1. "We find that architects during any given period are influenced by a common architectural language...bound together by a common intention which is typical for the period."