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arc5410 Advanced Structure and Construction

tectonic technicYale Center for British Art Louis I. Kahn 1976 Centre Georges Pompidou Piano & Rogers 1977

“If one poses the question as to what might be a comparable ground for architecture, then one must turn to a similar material base, namely that architecture must of necessity be embodied in structural and constructional form.”

“However, building remains essentially tectonic rather than scenographic in character and it may be argued that it is an act of construction first, rather than a discourse predicated on the surface, volume and plan, to cite the “Three Reminders to Architects” of Le Corbusier. Thus one may assert that building is ontological rather than representational in character and that built form is a presence rather than something standing for an absence. In Martin Heidegger’s terminology we may think of it as a ‘thing’ rather than a ‘sign.’”

Kenneth Frampton from “Rappel a l’Ordre, The Case for the Tectonic”

Tectonics……

“a manifestation in architecture of the esthetic imperative as part of human nature. It attends to the potential of building for qualities inherent in the material, economy in their use, potential for elegance in resolution in their juxtaposition, and the total compositional quality of form. It goes beyond necessity and responds to a sensibility of a higher order as mastery and skill. It relates to the sensibility that has characterized all fine works of architecture. It has been the quality of all work of architecture”.

Tectonics Studio description in ArchitectureCUHK 2007

Yale Center for British Art Louis I. Kahn Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 1976

ground level plan

Trenton Community Center Louis Kahn 1955

“tartan plaid”

Integration: structure + mechanical services + lighting + interior space

Tectonic……

“a certain expressivity arising from the statical resistance ofconstructional form in such a way that the resultant expressioncould not be accounted for in terms of structure and constructionalone.”

Eduard Sekler: an essay entitled “Structure, Construction and Tectonics

The Miesian corner detail illustrates two aspects of the expressive potential of structure andconstruction; the first which derives from the structural and construction logic of form, and can bereferred to as the cognitive, and the second that reflects the personal view or tendency of the designerand may be thought of as the poetic.

Stock Exchange Building H. Berlage Amsterdam, Holland ca. 1890

British Pavilion

Expo in Seville, Spain

Nicholas Grimshaw &Associates

1992

Chek Lap Kok Airport

Hong Kong

Norman Foster & Associates

1998

Hall 4

Expo in Hannover,Germany

Von Gerken, Marg, &Partners

1996

“Technics is an approach that considers the technical systems of a building, that is, structure, envelope, environmental controls, etc., not only in the way they contribute to the functional requirements of architecture but also in their relationship to the physical form and appearance of the building.”

Maison du Verre P. Charreau Paris 1929

The evolution of contemporary hi-tech architecture has its origins in the twentieth century. New methods of construction (reinforced concrete and modern steel framing) offered opportunities in design to create greater flexibility in planning and a new formal vocabulary that embraced transparency (both literal and phenomenal) and a minimalist aesthetic that favored a direct expression of the structure and construction.

Maison Dom-ino Le Corbusier 1921-1930

Villa Carthage (top) and Villa Savoy (bottom) Le Corbusier 1928-1930

Salvation Army Building Le Corbusier Paris, France 1928-32

Systems design:

• open systems: flexibility - modularity

• off the shelf mass-produced components

• integrated assemblies

SCSD (Schools Construction System Development) Ezra Ehrenkrantz Stanford University ca. 1962

Suspended ceiling system: a multi-purpose power membrane

Eames House Charles and Ray Eames Santa Monica, California 1949

Reliance Controls Factory Norman Foster & Assocs.

Fleetguard Factory Richard Rogers Renault Distribution Center Norman Foster Quimper, France 1981 Swindon, England 1982

Engineering / Architecture

Robert Maillart > A. Peret > E. Freyssinet > P. L. Nervi > E. Torroja > R. Morrandi > F. Candela > C. Menn > F. Otto > H. Islar > S. Calatrava

Centre Georges Pompidou R. Piano & R. Rogers, arch. Ove Arup & Partners, engr. Paris, 1977

What is the scope of architecture from a technics view?

“Architecture is both an interior and an exterior experience. The best architecture comes from a synthesis of all of the elements that separately comprise a building; from its relationship to the streetscape or skyline to the structure that holds it up, the services that allow it to work, the ecology of the building, the material used, the character of the spaces, the use of light and shade, the symbolism of the form and the way in which it signals its presence in the city or the countryside.”

Norman Foster

What is the purpose of design from a technics view?

“The designer’s task could be summed up as analyzing set problems in the widest sense and organizing the best available resources to achieve the highest-performance solution in the most economical manner.”

Norman Foster

Technics

Lightweight construction: save materials and lessen weight and thereby loads. Achieved by structural efficiency, that is , design of structure to improve the strength to weight ratio, and by the use of new and improved materials

Energy conservation: where possible favor selective mode of design over the regenerative.

Methods of production: improve quality of construction while reducing cost.

• Lower the cost of labor through application of prefabrication and off-site production

see refabricating Architecture assemble buildings in “chunks” produced offsite by Timberlake and Kiernan subcontractors

use of 3D modeling with embedded information and online information sharing to improve coordination

• Lower the cost of construction through speeding up the cycle. Faster construction = $

• Lower the total building cost by reducing construction error.

Visual quality can be achieved through clarity, simplicity and the integrity of the design.