The following essay will investigate four out of the six characteristics of Critical Regionalism and its reflections on place, identity and the problems caused by universalization. Mapungubwe will be used as a case study to exemplify and illustrate Critical Regional ism while assessing whether or not it is successful with regards to these four principles.
What is Critical Regionalism? The concept for Critical Regionalism came into existence in the 1980s as an approach towards architecture that retaliates against “placelessness” (Frampton 1983:16) while it aspires to eliminate the lack of meaning in modern architecture by using contextual forces to give a sense of place and depth to buildings. (Eggner 1984:229) The main aim of this well-grounded concept is, as said by Paul Ricour: "How to be modern and to continue the tradition, how to revive an old dormant civilization as part of universal civilization’. According to Frampton, Critical Regionalism should embrace modern architecture for its universal, progressive qualities while simultaneously valuing the responses which are particular to the context (Frampton 1952:148). Emphasis should be placed upon topography, climate, light and tectonic form as an alternative for the visual (Frampton 1952:148). As put forth by Tzonis and Lefaivre, Critical Regionalism is not obligated to extract from the context, instead elements can be removed of their context and can be used in unfamiliar ways.
The non-exhaustive list of Critical Regionalism that will be mentioned include, Culture and Civilization, The Resistance of the Place-Form, Culture vs. Nature and Visual vs. Tactile. To illustrate the above, evidence must be drawn from the conclusion of the analysis made of the 4 principles. Mapungubwe...
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...of Mapunqubwe, and as a final point the historical landscape (Figure 1) (Design and Construction... 2010:17). All of the above principles interrelate with one another to create a complex unity.
Therefore, by assessing the source through an intense critical analysis of each of the four principles along with their relative images, according to Frampton’s 6 principles, it is undoubtedly evident that the Mapungubwe Interpretation Center has considered that which is mandatory in order to be a successful edifice and has excelled at the implementation of Frampton’s principles while simultaneously resisting the architecture of universalization. Consequently this center has become a creation which is both equally as well as successfully modern while simultaneously being a historical site by discovering the perfect balance and becoming a unique and truly South African site.
...e of the Kwakiutl rich culture which creates a hotbed for the talented Kwakiutl artist.
In his opinionated book, From Bauhaus to Our House, Tom Wolfe describes his views on the way architecture has framed our modern world. He frames his book long essay with an excerpt from America the Beautiful, "O Beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, has there ever been another place on earth where so many people of wealth and power have paid for and put up with so much architecture they detested as within thy blessed borders today? . . . Every child goes to school in a building that looks like a duplicating-machine replacement-parts wholesale distribution warehouse . . . Every new $900,000 summer house in the north woods of Michigan or on the shore of Long Island has so many pipe railings, ramps, hob-tread metal spiral stairways, sheets of industrial plate glass, banks of tungsten-halogen lamps, and white cylindrical shapes, it looks like an insecticide refinery." (Wolfe 1) This quote, in short, is the premise of his critique. He does not like the way modern architecture
One theme that is evident throughout Blij’s “Power of Place” is the concept of culture regions mainly his analysis of formal, core, and periphery areas. To introduce the idea of culture regions he mentions how the many of the world’s underdeveloped and poor nations are part of the world’s periphery. In particular, referring to Blij’s map on page 14 many of the developed countries are among the world’s core nations: Japan, Australia, United States, Canada, and Western Europe. Blij explains through his diagram that the peripheries are located in Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, and the Middle East (14). Blij des...
It is rare to find a book that is as informative as a textbook but reads as easy as a short story. But Keith H. Basso is successful in creating an interesting ethnography about the Western Apache culture by using two usually overlooked topics, geography and oral history. Geography and the location of places is usually forgotten or seen as just topography, but Basso proves that geography is more than a location. It is the forgotten history of the name of a place that makes the locality more important than it seems. While whitemen (a term frequented by the Apache to describe White European culture) has constantly renamed places for convenience and prove of colonization, Basso overturns this ignorant and offensive practice and attempts to understand and map the geography of Western Apache by using the original place-names. Therefore this paper will be an attempt to explore the "sense [sic] of place as a partake of cultures, of shared bodies of 'local knowledge' with which whole communities render their places meaningful and endow them with social importance" (Basso 1996:xiv). And from Basso's detailed accounts of interacting with the natives of Western Apache, I will also attempt to demonstrate the importance of spoken (oral) language in relating and learning about ancestral history.
Regionalism is a political ideology based on a collective sense of place or attachment, and is discussed in terms of Canadian society, culture, economy and politics (Westfall, 3). Canada is known internationally as a nation incorporating several multiregional interests and identities into its unification of culture. Its diverse population is comprised of numerous ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations and traditions; and all resides under one federal government. Ever since the founding of Canada, it has developed into regional cleavages and identities, based on various geographical topologies, lifestyles and economic interests (Westfall, 6). It is these characteristics which make it problematic for the federal government to represent all demands of its people on a national level. Regionalism is thus an issue within regards to political proficiency in the Federal government.
Blij, H.J. de , Peter O. Muller, Jan Nijman, and Antoinette M.G.A WinklerPrins. The World Today Concepts and Regions in Geography. Fifth Edition ed. United States of America: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011. Print.
According to Charles Jencks, "The modern world, compelled forward by the imperative of continuous growth, is a juggernaut with no reverse gear". To architecture, modernism is like the discovery of the American continent all over again, a territory that is not owned,...
Domosh, Mona, Roderick Neumann, Patricia Price, and Terry Jordan-Bychkov. The Human Mosaic: A Cultural Approach to Human Geography. 11thth ed. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 2010. N. pag. Print.
The essence of modern architecture lays in a remarkable strives to reconcile the core principles of architectural design with rapid technological advancement and the modernization of society. However, it took “the form of numerous movements, schools of design, and architectural styles, some in tension with one another, and often equally defying such classification, to establish modernism as a distinctive architectural movement” (Robinson and Foell). Although, the narrower concept of modernism in architecture is broadly characterized by simplification of form and subtraction of ornament from the structure and theme of the building, meaning that the result of design should derive directly from its purpose; the visual expression of the structure, particularly the visual importance of the horizontal and vertical lines typical for the International Style modernism, the use of industrially-produced materials and adaptation of the machine aesthetic, as well as the truth to materials concept, meaning that the true nat...
Knox, Paul, and Sllie Marston. "Chapter 8 Food and Agriculture." In Human Geography: Places and Regions in Global Context. Glenview, Il: Pearson, 2013. 266-298.
Correspondingly, Katie Llyod Thomas shares similar views on how modernity has increasingly concealed tectonics. She conceptualizes how materiality is secondary to form with hylomorphism in her Architecture and Material Practice. “Hylomorphism, which understands materials as a subset of matter, does not provide a way of positively distinguishing materials, and underscore the architectural tendency to use materials as mere finishes,” says Katie.6 Modernity has instigated materiality and tectonics to become inferior to the architectural form; therefore, concepts and spaces are given more importance and further worked on more attentively, leaving materiality till the end. As Katie mentions, materiality in the design process of a student is in fact consider in the later stages, where it is discussed as a technical issue rather than a conceptual one.6 Materiality and tectonics is a conceptual joint, it is the structure that forms an architectural expression, represents an emotion, and it is what creates a space. Considering all factors, materiality shall not be left to discuss at the end, but worked on as the design is developing, therefore working on form alongside materiality and
In chapter one of Frampton’s writing, “Cultural Transformations,” he describes how changes in society create new architectural styles due to new cultural needs. Frampton starts by explaining the relationship between man and nature in different architectural styles. Man and nature were distinct entities; however, for the sake or ornamentation in architecture, the two were constantly combined. This idea soon changes with Baroque architecture where man and nature started to be distinctly separate, and this later leads to the Neoclassical style which shows an increased desire for man to have control over nature (Frampton 1). Neoclassicism essentially stems from a new cultural formation that grew from the life styles of declining aristocracy and the rising bourgeoisie, and this transition leads
This was an era where sociology was emerging. Hirsch using Sauer’s work argued that human interaction with the natural landscape created a ‘cultural landscape’. Hirsch uses Gow ‘s (1994) chapter on Amazonian Peru to demonstrate how a cultural landscape develops. The Piro people of Peru use rotational crops to feed their people and share their food among the tribe. When they look at the land it represents kinship structures and social ties. The notion of space and place are entwined in meaning by emphasising the reality but also looking to the potentiality of the place thus creating a ‘space’.
Located on the south-west coast of Africa surrounded by water and one of the oldest deserts in the world, lies a place most people do not recognize by name. its a place that is full of vibrent people with extreme pride in there culture and ways of life.
Hart, Diane. Geography Alive! Regions and People. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2006. Print.