“Our experiences aren’t just conditioned by the physical nature, but the condition of others’ experience of the space happening at the same time” (Monteyne). Nearly every decision we have had to make in our lives have been influenced by a shared experience. Where do these shared experiences happen though? Many occur in pieces of the built environment specifically designed for people to relate and share their ideas. In his November tenth lecture, Steven Teeple explains that shared experience is a key concept in modern architecture and explains in order to successfully implement this we must consider three things: materials and concepts utilized in the designed of space, the integration of landscape as a primary feature assisting in flow, and how we approach connecting the public realm to a particular piece/pieces. If all three of these are utilized the public will naturally let their experiences mesh with the experiences of another.
What materials and concepts utilized in the planning process encourage shared experience amongst citizens? Teeple is the architect responsible for the addition to the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario. Many [buildings] are designed to express emotions or symbolize ideas, and this may influence the final form (Conway/Roenisch 55). The institute was no exception to this statement. The goal of the institute was to symbolize “one place to work together”, expressed through large, open-office space that was easy to navigate. Teeple adapted this through many ways: creating a bistro where researchers could chat about developments, creating pods that were canted in a way so that there would be visual contact amongst other researchers while adapting to the need for quiet study space, and having rooms w...
... middle of paper ...
...interaction.
By focusing our attention on landscape integration, materials that will promote shared experience, and the public realm a piece of architecture is surrounded by we can focus our attention on the creation or revival of shared experience. Teeple determines shared experience is the starting point during the planning process and it ultimately shapes space. During his presentation it is clear his portfolio is dominated by need, and aesthetic. The work of Steven Teeple symbolizes the desire for tight-knit community.
Works Cited
Teeple, Steven. “Steven Teeple Guest Lecture.” Calgary. 10/11/11. In Person.
Sturgess, Jeremy. “Jeremy Sturgess Guest Lecture.” Calgary. 19/10/11. In Person.
Conway, Hazel, and Rowan Roenisch. Understanding Architecture. New York, NY: Routledge, 2005. Print.
Monteyne, David. “ARST 201 Lecture.” Calgary. 02/11/11. In Person.
The TD Centre is a landmark of Toronto. It is one of the most recognizable elements of the downtown core. It has gained this status for two main reasons. The first one concerns its historical significance: the complex was one of the first of many skyscrapers built in the international style. The second reason is personified by the individual behind the planning and realization of the project: Mies van der Rohe. The building was the last high-rise the world-famous modernist created and therefore it embodied all of his concepts and beliefs on the international style. The complex as a whole stands out in the multitude of high-rises of the downtown core because of its typical, recognizable and repeated style. The original three point configuration by Mies has been expanded during the years with three new buildings by architectural firm Bregman and Hammond. Those new additions are different in the relationship they create and extend to the original buildings. In approaching the complex a distinct feature becomes clear. The complex itself is an urban extension of the international style. When entering the area both by car and as a pedestrian an individual is not only witness to a number of remarkable buildings but finds himself immersed in a modernist urban space. In this short analysis it is important to pay specific attention both to the type of construction and to the materials used. All of those elements are important in recognizing how the development of the TD Centre in the 60s shaped the architecture of downtown Toronto and became a widely imitated example of managing the public space surrounding a building.
Landscape architecture has been around since the beginning of time, but it was not until Frederick Law Olmsted came along that the idea of integrating design into the landscape with plants, water, and structures that it turned into a thriving profession. To many, Olmsted is considered “a pioneer in the profession of landscape architecture, an urban planner, and a social philosopher, one of the first theoreticians and activists behind the national park and conservation movements” (Kalfus 1). Growing up, he did not ever graduate from formal schooling and just sat in on a few classes while at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. Instead, he acquired his education from being out in the world through traveling and reading. He had a hard childhood. His mother died when he was just four years old and on his journeys around the world to Europe and China, he became sickly with seasickness, paralysis of the arm, typhoid fever, apoplexy, sumac poisoning, and at times suffered from depression. For many years he went on a journey within himself to find out whom he really was and what he wanted to do with his life, career wise. Frederick had one brother, John Hull, who died in 1857. This left Olmsted feeling empty and at loss of what to do. That was when Calvert Vaux came and filled the space in Olmsted’s life that his brother left. Vaux convinced Olmsted to enter the Central Park Commissioner’s design competition with their design entitled the “Greensward Plan.” With the success in that project, Olmsted figured out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, which was to become a landscape architect. Olmsted practiced from the years of 1857 up until he retired in 1895. Olmsted’s two boys, adopted son John Charles and biological son Frederick La...
Growing up in the Bay Area next to San Francisco ha slead me to become fascinated by the complexity of the cities of the world and how they affect so many people. I love the idea that these cities were all planned and thought up of by individuals working together for a larger goal. The planning of cities affects all its inhabitants in ways that they probably do not even realize which makes these plans and the planning process even more compelling. I am also interested in what makes cities unique. Cities are all made up of roughly the same things: blocks, big buildings, parks, cars, and people. Even though the basic elements of cities are the same they all still have there own unique character. I think one of the most distinguishing factors of cities is how they were designed to accommodate certain needs of their inhabitants outside of where they live or work. Cities can easily be overwhelming or a harsh place to live, which is why certain areas need to be set aside to offer some kind of escape. In addition to being a place to withdraw, parks and recreational areas can be a distinguishing characteristic of a city. In San Francisco, the Golden Gate Park, Union square, the Presidio, the wharfs and many other areas set it apart from all of the other cities of the United States and the world. How the planners of San Francisco thought about the areas that the inhabitants needed outside of work and home helps give it its individuality as a major city. Just like how someone must plan all cities, people planned all the parks and recreational areas of cities that have such a widespread effect. By looking at Fredrick Law Olmsted and the Urban Design and Social Context approach he represents, one can learn more about landscape architecture in...
But these contrived differences give rise to esthetic difficulties too. Because inherent differences—those that come from genuinely differing uses—are lacking among the buildings and their settings, the contrivances repre...
Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier are two very prominent names in the field of architecture. Both architects had different ideas concerning the relationship between humans and the environment. Their architectural styles were a reflection of how each could facilitate the person and the physical environment. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, is considered one of the most important buildings in the history of American architecture and Le Corbusier s Villa Savoye helped define the progression that modern architecture was to take in the 20th Century. Both men are very fascinating and have strongly influenced my personal taste for modern architecture. Although Wright and Corbusier each had different views on how to design a house, they also had similar beliefs. This paper is a comparison of Frank Lloyd Wright‘s and Le Corbusier ‘s viewpoints exhibited through their two prominent houses, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House and Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye.
Sorkin, Michael., Mildred S. Friedman, Frank O. Gehry, Frank O.Gehry Associates. Gehry Talks: architecture + Process. New York: Universe Publishing: Distributed to the U.S trade by St. Martin’s Press, 2002.
But how does one even begin to fathom what makes a public space worthy to the users and the city? Is it purely the design of the building? Or is it the function of the building? Or is it in fact how the function of the desired spaces and the vision of the designer work together to create the experience?
Tectonics is a term that refers to the structural part poetic material, formal belonging to the building or construction in general. Tectonics cannot be separated from the technological and this is what gives ambivalence to the term. You can identify three conditions: the technology object (instrumental need) the scenic object (may refer to a non-visible object) and the tectonic object appears in two modes (ontological and representational). The first includes the construction element (static and enhances its cultural role), the second includes the representation of a construction element that is present but hidden.
Frank Lloyd Wright has been called “one of the greatest American architect as well as an Art dealer that produced a numerous buildings, including houses, resorts, gardens, office buildings, churches, banks and museums. Wright was the first architect that pursues a philosophy of truly organic architecture that responds to the symphonies and harmonies in human habitats to their natural world. He was the apprentice of “father of Modernism” Louis Sullivan, and he was also one of the most influential architects on 20th century in America, Wright is idealist with the use of elemental theme and nature materials (stone, wood, and water), the use of sky and prairie, as well as the use of geometrical lines in his buildings planning. He also defined a building as ‘being appropriate to place’ if it is in harmony with its natural environment, with the landscape (Larkin and Brooks, 1993).
The author explains architecture as an identification of place. Architecture starts with establishing a place. We define ‘place’ as a layout of architectural elements that seem to accommodate, or offer the possibility of accommodation to, a person, an activity, a mood, etc. We identify a sofa as a place to sit and relax, and a kitchen as a place to cook food. Architecture is about identifying and organizing ‘places’ for human use.
Remarkably, unlike in the description of art or music, the notion of atmosphere remains largely unaddressed in architecture. Atmosphere, can be argued, is the very initial and immediate experience of space and can be understood as a notion that addresses architectural quality, but the discussion of atmosphere in architecture will always entail, by definition, a certain ambiguity. After all, atmosphere is something personal, vague, ephemeral and difficult to capture in text or design, impossible to define or analyse. Atmosphere, Mark Wigley says, “evades analysis, it’s not easily defined, constructed or controlled”.
As Nuttgens eloquently expressed, architecture is a “vital…expression of the experience of mankind.” It is more than just buildings used for storage, housing, religious purposes, simple functionality; it is a great manifestation of the commonality of man, the great connecting factor of humankind. However, it can be argued that the ancient and classic forms or architecture are in essence more “profound…lasting… [and] inexhaustible” than those of their modern counterparts, because of some key differences in the ways ancient and modern architecture are practiced.
The role of the architect is a question that evokes a spectrum of answers from Norman Foster’s definition; ‘Architect is an expression of values… the way we build is a reflection of the way we live.’ [Foster, cited in Tholl, 2014: Online] This debate of who and what an architect should be and do is not a recent one to emerge but has lead many architects and designers as far back as Vitruvius [15BC] to produce documentation on what they believed to be the make-up of an architect. In Vitruvius’ ‘The Ten Books On Architecture’ he quickly establishes two fragments that make an architect, the manual skill and the theory and scholarship.
There are 25 major specialties in engineering that are recognized by professional societies. In any one of those 25 specialties, the goal of the engineer is the same. The goal is to be able to come up with a cost effective design that aids people in the tasks they face each day. Whether it be the coffee machine in the morning or the roads and highways we travel, or even the cars we travel in, it was all an idea that started with an engineer. Someone engineered each idea to make it the best solution to a problem. Even though engineer’s goals are similar, there are many different things that engineers do within their selected field of engineering. This paper will focus on the architectural field of engineering.
So many things in buildings can make a person act or feel important. An example of this would be someone who is not used to having nice things and when they go out on vacation it’s something as simple as a nice hotel suite to take away the stress that life can sometimes give to a person. But on the other hand a person that already lives in a nice big house with new things may not appreciate the capacity of a nice hotel suite because they already get that on a daily basis. (Clayton & Myers, 2009)