Kenneth Frampton's Rappel A L Ordre

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In Kenneth Frampton’s Rappel a L’ordre, the Case for the Tectonic, he reinterprets modern architecture “through the lens of techne.” Techne can be traced back to its Greek origins, which embodied the ideas of art, craft and skill in the making of an object. Techne came to be tied with the materiality and construction methods used in buildings. Technology then came to refer to the making and using of tools and the methods to solve a problem. Implicit in the word “technology” is the act of construction that involves manipulation of resources. In the text, tectonic expression means relating to construction, and defined as “building construction in general, but also formal amplification of its presence in relation to the assembly of which it is a part.” He calls for the return of the irreducible structural unit as the ideal architectural form, and the visual expression of both structural and construction elements. Frampton references Heidegger to imply that the essence of the tectonic is an act of making that is revealing. Tectonic expression should “reveal” the logics of construction, clarity of structure and the articulation of details and joints. He goes on to argue that architecture grounded on tectonic …show more content…

This was outlined as the approach to architectural design that integrates technology into the structure of the building. This marked the foundation for the development of high-tech architecture, which advocated the incorporation of elements of technology into building design and favored the exposing of technological services, material and structural frameworks of buildings. Spatial forms can be revealed in the process of integrating exposed technical utilities, simultaneously reflecting the materials and construction technology of the

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