ARC251 Final Exam Terms

Techne

Knowledge of craft / production / applied knowledge

• Knowing how to bring something into being

• WHY

Episteme

Theoretical / scientific knowledge

• Knowing why things must be so

• HOW

Phronesis

Practical / moral knowledge, wisdom, ethics, politics

• Knowing how to act rightly

Vitruvian Man

Symbol of the ideal educated architect

• knowing the harmony between body, geometry, nature

  • to apply to geography, philosophy, medicine, law, history

Manuscript

• hand-copied texts

• rare, slow, elite

• Knowledge passed through apprenticeship and tradition

Print

• Texts being standardized

• Ideas spread across Europe

• Turns into institutionalized authority

Lineaments

Architecture first conceived in the mind (Alberti)

• Lines and angles define a building before construction

• Architecture exists as an idea before it’s built

Beauty

Reasoned harmony

• nothing can be added/removed without making it “worse”

• Comes from:

  • proportion

  • order

  • fitness

Ornament

Secondary/decorative

• not essential

• distract from true architectural quality

The Enlightenment

Belief that human reason can understand/improve the world

Reason

Knowledge should come from:

• Observation

• Logic

• Science

Individual Liberty + “Natural” Rights

Humans born with:

• Life

• liberty

• property

Where architecture becomes the tools of:

• Equality

• Citizenship

• Rational order

(Social inequality is man-made)

Progress and “Human Improvement”

Things such as:

• Society

• Science

• Education

Can perfect humanity using architecture as a way to:

• Educate citizens

• improve morals

• shape better society

Noble Savage

• Idea by Rousseau

• “primitive” humans are:

  • morally pure

  • free

  • equal

• Civilization corrupts natural goodness

Primitive

• Natural/close to nature

• Simple / =

Civil

• Governed by laws

• unequal

• structured

• artificial

Romantic Garden

• Reaction against rigid enlightenment period/geography

• Places emphasis on:

  • irregularity

  • nature

  • emotion

  • ruins

Ha-Ha

Illusion of untouched nature

• e.g. hidden ditch/wall

Primitive Hut

Theoretical origin of architecture

• Built from need

• Natural/rational

Graeco-Gothic Ideal

Combines Greek rationality + proportion with Gothic verticality + spirituality

• Greek = rational order

• Gothic = honest structure

• Morally superior architecture

Modern and Future “Primitive”

Modern architects look for (new primitive)

• honest

• functional

  • free from ornament

Ecole des Beaux-Arts

French architecture school that trained architects through atelier-based studio education

• 1819-1968

• emphasizing composition, competition, classical precedent

Beaux-Arts Pedagogy

1) Atelier Apprenticeship

• Architecture learned through studio, master-pupil training > classroom

2) Competitions

• Education through time-based competitions (look at performances)

3) Drawing as Thinking

• Drawing as a primary tool for reasoning

4) Composition and Parti

• Design emphasized clear, organizational ideas, symmetry, hierarchy, spatial legibility

5) Historical Precedents

• Classical/Renaissance architecture provides a shared vocabulary for intention through the transition of tradition

Atelier

Studio learning environment where students are trained under a master architect through apprenticeship

Composition

Organization and arrangement of architectural elements into a clear, balanced, hierarchial design

Parti

Central organizing idea/conceptual diagram that structures a building’s overall composition

Bauhaus

German school founded by Gropius that redefined architectural education by integrating art, craft, industrial production through workshop-learning

• 1919-1933

Manifesto

Public declaration and intentions

• e.g. Gropius’ 1919 outline of goals of Bauhaus

Workshop (vs. Atelier)

Hands-on learning through making and material experimentation

• Emphasizing production > drawing

Bauhaus Pedagogy

1) Workshop based learning

• Hands-on learning

2) Preliminary Courses (Vorkus)

• Beginning with foundational learning in materials, form, colour

• perception to unlearn academic conventions

3) Integration of Art, Craft, Technology

• Unite artistic conception with industrial production

4) Functional and Social Design Ethos

• Design was guided by function, economy, social purpose > historical style/formal composition

5) Collective Experimentation > Individual Genius

• Collaboration > individual authorship/composition

Vorkurs

Unlearn academic traditions and preparation for workshop practice

Rural studio

Design-build program at Auburn (Samuel Mockbee) that teaches architecture through real projects serving undeserved rural communities

• 1993-now

Rural Studio Pedagogy

1) Design-build as learning

• Learn through constructing real projects

2) Service to underserved communities

• Architecture as a form of civic engagement

3) Material experimentation and resourcefulness

• Reuse, low-cost, local technology

• Creates constraints as design generators

4) Collective and Ethical Practice

• Work is collaborative > individual authorship

Design-build (vs. Atelier / Workshop)

Students design and construct actual buildings

• Separate drawing and making

Commodity (and Labour as Commodity)

Product made for exchange

• has use + exchange value

• produced under capitalism

Use Value

Practical function of a thing

Exchange Value

Market value of commodity

Surplus Value

Value created by workers beyond what they’re paid

• source of capitalist profit

• result of exploitation

Industrial Revolution

From 1760-1900 marking a shift to machine-based production

• increase of wage labour and division of labour

• factories depended on colonial raw material and enslaved/colonized labour

• capital developed through racial exploitation

  • labour value structured along racial hierarchies

“Cottonopolis”

Name for Manchester during industrial revolution

• global center for cotton-making

• dependent on enslaved cotton

• symbol of industrial capitalism and empire-linked production

Ruskin’s 6 Characteristics of Gothic Architecture

1) Savageness

• imperfections showing human limitation/effort

• life/freedom/unmechanized labour

2) Changefulness

• Variety > repetition

• individual work with choice/liberty

3) Naturalism

• Attention to nature as observed

• lived experience > abstract rules/doctrine

4) Grotesqueness

• imagination allowed freedom

5) Rigidity

• Visible effort, strength, honesty in structure

6) Redundance

• Excess and “waste” beyond strict utility

• Labour as joy not efficiency

Materials

Structural / physical substances

• WHAT

Materiality

Cultural and symbolic meaning

• WHY

Craft

• skilled / individual labour

• irregularity / imperfecetion

• hands

Industry

• division of labour

• standardization + repetition

• machine

Stone (compression)

• materials pushed together

• thick walls, arches, vaults

• mass and weight

Iron (tension)

• materials pulled apart

• thin members, skeletal frame

• light and flexible

Reinforced Concrete

Combines both forces:

• concrete = compression

• steel rebar = tension

• enables modern structural freedom

Structural Expression

Structures made visible

• form follows structural logic

• materials properties shape the design

• honesty in construction

Technological Determinism

• technology drives social change

• new materials = new architecture

• industry reshapes design and labour

Vernacular Knowledge

Local building traditions passed through practice

• climate responsive

• local materials

• collective/community-based knowledge

Nubian Vault Technology

Ancient sustainable construction using sun-dried mud bricks and mortar to build vaulted roofs without requiring timber framework or specialized machinery

• cheap and labour based

• local knowledge

Cladding and the Origins of Architecture

Architecture begins with covering/surface (skin) not structure

• Early buildings were like textiles/skins stretched over a frame

• Materials must be honest (no fake imitation)

Ethics of Ornament

Morally and culturally problematic in modern society

Loos argues that…

• it’s wasteful (time, labour, money)

• A sign of degeneracy/backwardness

  • modern culture = removal of ornament → progress

Anthropology and Empire

Western judgement of “primitive” culture (tattoos, ornament)

• colonial thinking

• labeling non-Western bodies as “primitive”

• reflection of power + bias not truth

Le Corbusier’s 5 Points of Architecture

1. Pilotis

• building lifted off ground

2. Free Plan

• Flexible interior (no structural walls)

3. Free Facade

• Exterior independent of structure

4. Ribbon Windows

• long horizontal windows

5. Roof Garden

• usable roof space

Goal: modern, efficient, machine-like architecture

Architectural Promenade

Designing movement through space as a sequence of experiences

e.g. Villa Savoye

enter → ramp → living space → roof garden

• architecture being something you move through, not just see

Villa Radieuse (Radiant City)

Le Corbusier’s Ideal City:

• Ordered, modern, functional

• Based on efficiency + standardization

tied to his belief in rational, controlled environments

The Modular

Proportional system based on the human body + math to create harmonius/universal design

used:

• human height (~6ft)

• golden ration

Primitivism

Idea that “primitive” cultures are:

• More natural/expressive

• critiqued as a Western construct tied to colonialism

Raumplan (Loos)

Designing space in 3D volumes instead of flat floors

Rooms have:

• different heights

• interlocking levels

Focus on the interior richness > exterior appearance

e.g. Villa Müller

Individual vs Collective

Tension between:

• Personal identity (individual)

• Mass urban society (collective)

From Simmel:

• Cities push people toward individualism, but also force conformity through systems like money and work (FREEDOM + ALIENTATION AT THE SAME TIME)

Blasé Attitude

Emotional detachment due to overstimulation

• people stop reacting because the city is too intense

Flaneur

Urban observer who wanders and watches city life (observant but distant)

Analogy (Rossi)

City is built through:

• Memory

• History

• Imagination

Analogous City

Different times, places, and meanings are combined mentally

• city is not just physical → it’s symbolic + remembered

Collage

Designing by combining fragments from different sources

A city = mixture of:

• old + new

• planned + accidental

Urban form is layered, not unified

Capriccio

Artistic/architectural fantasy image that combines:

• real + imaginary buildings

Similar to collage but is more imaginative

• shows how cities are constructed through imagination

Delirium + the Skyscraper (Koolhaas)

City = CONTROLLED CHAOS (Delirium)

NYC is:

• irrational

• chaotic

• driven by desire

Skyscrapers:

• stacks unrelated programs

• creates instability + unpredictability, but is limitless

Constructivist Social Condenser

Soviet idea that architecture shapes social behaviour

• buildings act as machines for social interaction

  • e.g. housing designed to force communal living

architecture = tool to engineer society

Koolhaas 5 Points of Bigness

1. Size

• Buildings become so large that they cannot be controlled by a single design approach

2. Form

• inventions like elevators replacing traditional circulation

• ideas of composition, scale, proportion are irrelevant in BIG BUILDINGS

3. Interior vs. Exterior

• interior = constantly changing

• exterior = stable, symbolic (facade is its own project)

4. Value

• too big to judge as “good” / “bad”

• the scale places it in its own category

5. Context

• no longer fits into surroundings

• exists independently from the city

“Great City, Terrible Place” (Correa)

Cities (like Bombay) are:

• full of energy, opportunity, culture

• poor infrastructure

• inequality

Cities are vibrant but difficult to live in

Urban Informality

Unplanned systems:

• slums

• street economies

• self-built housing

• necessary response to rapid growth

Cities grow outside formal planning

Incremental Growth and Design

Cities develop step by step over time

adapts are based on:

• needs

• resources

(Correa) growth is organic + evolving, not fixed