A Framework for Inspiring Architectural Design
Architecture uncluttered, is the built realization of a concept or idea.
IT IS ALL ABOUT HARMONY
In the introduction to his classic book ” Pillar to post: the pocket lamp to architecture,” first published in 1938, Osbert Lancaster comments about the state of architecture, which according to him “is due to the fact that the ordinary member of the public when confronted with architecture, whether good, bad or indifferent, remains resolutely dumb.” Starting with ancient Egypt and ending in the 1930s, the book aims to rectify this ignorance and encourage readers to respond to and engage with the buildings with which they are surrounded.
Prince Charles has been a rather outspoken critic of modern architecture for most of his adult life. So, it would be fun to imagine what Sir Lancaster would have had to say to King Charles III about global architecture of subsequent decades, and the current millennium.
For Barcelona architect Antoni Gaudi it was all about craftmanship and patterns of nature. His ideas, his forms and his genius for three-dimensional creations, inspired people all over the world. American architect Frank Lloyd Wright believed in an architectural philosophy of harmony between humanity and nature. This philosophy was exemplified in the design of the Kauffman residence; Fallingwater in Pennsylvania (1935).
Photo by Carol M. Highsmith
AND LIGHT
Light plays a primary role in design. Legendary architect Louis Kahn, known as the master of light, was captivated by it. “We are born of light. The seasons are felt through light. We only know the world as it is evoked by light… All material in nature, the mountains and the streams and the air and we, are made of light which has been spent, and this crumpled mass called material casts a shadow, and the shadow belongs to light… Architecture itself had begun ‘when the walls parted and the columns became,’ admitting light and creating a system of support at the same time.”
Through the contoured transparent membrane, the reading room of the New Town Library in Maranello in Northern Italy, designed by architects Arata Isozaki and Andrea Maffei (2012), is perceived to float, and the volume is mirrored on a body of water.
Photo by Alessandra Chemollo
Indescribable space of the Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut by Le Corbusier (1955) -natural light enters, through the light-permeable South wall, transforming the interior into an expanding spatial experience.
AND STABILITY
A crucial aspect of architecture is stability. A sense of stability in balance – a principle element of design, and the stability of the structural system. “Stabilitas” is by definition the ability of an object to maintain equilibrium. After all, architecture is limited by gravity which allows structures to be stable in one position. However, not only are we part of the motion through space that happens for us on every cosmic scale, but the being of man is defined as an active existence, constantly moving in relation to the space it occupies. The concept of dynamic architecture involves a fourth dimension, the spatial expansion time. Florence architect David Fisher defines it as “architecture as part of the environment, adjusting to the sun and the wind, to the view and to our momentary requirements.” The employment of dynamism in design moves architecture from the state of stability to interactive spaces, where time and space temporarily stops and shifts.
From the protected yet transparent space of Villa-X in Brabant Netherlands (2017), designed by Barcode Architects, there is a seamless transition towards the garden, allowing the changing daylight to animate the space.
Photo by Christiaan van der Kooy
AND THE ENVIRONMENT
As a result of the current dramatic changing climatic conditions that affects life around the globe, architecture of necessity must reduce the impact of the built environment on the ecosystem, by making better use of the beneficial elements of the natural climate. Diébédo Francis Kéré’s architectural projects encourage people to dream and aspire for beauty, while maintaining a strong focus on climate change.
Photo by Iwan Baan
The idea of architecture as a fine art may be opposed, or seen as misleading to some, but architecture is one of the forms of artistic expression, and the essence of art is self-expression. Yet, L ’Atelier du peintre by the 19th century French painter Gustave Courbet, who paved the way for the Impressionists and other modern art movements, depicts art as being controlled by the norms of the society. Artists may still have creative freedom on some level, but architecture is more than art. According to HMC Architects ranked among the top U.S. architect firms in 2022, architecture stands as a representation of how we see ourselves, and how we see the world. The role of modern architecture as a relevant architecture, is to improve communities, the environment and the people who use the space.
AND EXCELLENCE
The evolution of architectural form is influenced by acceptable environmental performance, that changes over time, to satisfy cultural changes, the general sense of well-being, and technological innovation. Dr. Barnabas Calder of the University of Liverpool, specializing in the relationship between architecture and energy, makes the point that energy made unprecedented ways of shaping architectural space possible, with the potential devastation of the planet through climate change. The rapid depletion of natural resources is the driving force for contemporary society’s growing demand for resource-efficiency through repurposing, recycling, and reinvention towards a future of regenerative design.
Visionary architect and designer Andrea Branzi concludes that living with change and uncertainty is difficult, but like any disruptive force creates opportunity. “We live in permanent uncertainty, and uncertainty has always existed for those who have known how to interpret it as an extraordinary occasion.” In John Griffith’s pursuit of Arete – a concept in ancient Greek describing man’s pursuit of excellence, he asks his readers to look around, to envision the collective spirit of the third millennium that is influencing us. To think of art, as the brief capturing of the soul, which is current. He observes a sense of hopelessness in the vacuum of values that orientates our being. But, despite the mass psychosis of our time, there is “an unconscious hoping for hope’s return.” From John Griffiths; The Modern Zeitgeist; What is the Spirit that Embodies the Current Age. published July 31, 2021.
Prominent architect and principal of Zaha Hadid Architects, Dr. Patrik Schumacher, promotes Parametricism as the answer to the challenges and opportunities of the information age. He argues that it can bring prosperity through technology in a global society of increasing density, diversity, and interconnectedness of contemporary life processes. Parametricism is the idea that all design elements are interdependent and adaptable. “The opportunities that the information age offers are the new computationally supported information-processing, engineering and fabrication methodologies, which can be brought to bear on architecture’s new challenge of spatially networking and articulating the desired interconnectedness of social processes.” According to Schumacher this fresh style of the present time, finally closes the transitional period of uncertainty after post-modernism and is characterised by “new ambitions and values – both in terms of form (aesthetic values) and in terms of function (performance values) – that are to be pursued with the aid of new tools and techniques.” An architecture of ordered complexity, based on algorithms as opposed to intuitive artistic judgements.
AND PEOPLE
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Quality of Life as an individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live, and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards, and concerns.
Photo by Carol M. Highsmith
The most prominent architect of our time, Frank Owen Gehry, pursue a new bold and different architecture. For this world-renowned architect the making of spaces is about the improvement of the quality of life for the people who live in them and are inspired by it – a necessity of humanity. “There’s joy to be gained making spaces that people are inspired by, live in and work in. We’re all human beings, we all contribute what we can, and we’re actually very equal in the end in what we bring to the table. I don’t have any presumption that I know what the future is, but I do know a building can create feelings, can create communal activity and I think that’s important.”
IT IS THE THOUGHTFUL MAKING OF SPACE
Communities established on the dynamic concept of Quality of Life as defined by WHO, can enhance the spatial quality and sustainability of the built environment, with a guideline of design values for the 21st century. My own search for a meaningful framework for inspiring architectural design in a changing world, yielded no useable results. Florence-born Andrea Branzi see architecture not as the art of building, but a much more articulated form of thought. “I try to carry out designing as a form of reflection, an evolved form of thought, the core of my work is not architecture per se, a discipline per se — I’m interested in architecture and the discipline because of its tight bond with knowledge.” In “Talks with Students,” Louis Khan defined architecture as the thoughtful making of space. Hence my modest attempt, starting with the space that surrounds us.
- Space is inherently formless and includes our being. Space for human occupation, can only be created by physical form – the physical substance that encloses the space within we live.
“Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.”
Ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu — Tao Te Ching
- Everything physical has shape, geometric or organic, and by including the third-dimension depth, form is created. Form encompasses the volume of a structure, and although structural efficiency requires that form follows force, form exists because of its purpose.
“Whether it be the sweeping eagle in his flight, or the open apple-blossom, the toiling work-horse, the blithe swan, the branching oak, the winding stream at its base, the drifting clouds, over all the coursing sun, form ever follows function, and this is the law.”
Louis Henry Sullivan (1856-1924) — Influential architect of the Chicago School, and mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, in his 1896 essay “The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered.
- It is the creative expression of form that relates to the sensory experience of beauty. Aesthetics as a branch of philosophy that deals with the appreciation of beauty, does not replace functionality. Conversely, prioritizing function over form will result in brutalism. This correlation of function and aesthetic value, resides in the concept of functional beauty.
Emdoneni Lodge, Elephant Coast , KwaZulu Natal
“I was just using my skills to create comfortable spaces and beautiful schools and housing for my people.”
Burkinabé architect and 2022 Pritzker Architecture Laureate Diébédo Francis Kéré, best known for his structures that are as beautiful as they are socially engaged.
- The aesthetic solution can be both efficient and elegant, by using only the elements that are necessary. The understanding of the relationship between all the parts of the complexity that exists, will not only enable the resource-efficient achievement of the design objectives, but will have a positive impact on the environment.
“Less is more”
The phrase popularized by the minimalist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), originated in Robert Browning’s 1855 dramatic monologue of the painter Andrea del Sarto addressing his wife: “Well less is more, Lucrezia: I am judged.”
- If scale aids hierarchy, the built environment is for people. It follows that human scale considers the proportion of space in context to the human body. Therefore, physical form is consciously broken down visually, to lighten the sense of mass, emphasizing quality of life.
“Architecture is the interaction between life and form. The most important scale is the people scale”
Danish architect and urban planner Jan Gehl — In Search of the Human Scale (2015).
- The rhythm of solids and voids (form or the absence of it), textures, colours, materials, all that reinforces our aesthetic experience, their relationship one to another and the whole, and the balance of it all, create a sense of harmony, of unity.
The Starry Night by the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. Museum of Modern Art, New York City.
“Music is the space between the notes.”
French composer and founder of musical impressionism Claude Debussy (1862-1918).
- Humans are visually orientated. Our perception of form, its balance and scale, is revealed in light; – the contrast between light and shadow establishes the limits of physical space. The controlled admission of natural light; daylighting, stands at the center of our conception of space. It involves design considerations about orientation, geometries for shading, apertures, and the transparency of materials to absorb, refract, or transmit light.
“L’architecture est le jeu savant, correct et magnifique des volumes assemblés sous la lumière. Nos yeux sont faits pour voir les formes sous la lumière ; les ombres et les clairs révèlent les formes.”
Charles Édouard Jeanneret, known as the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier (1887-1965) — ‘Vers Une Architecture.’ (1923).
- The physical transparency of glass fluctuates beyond the visual perception of surfaces, to perceive depth between different spatial areas simultaneously, transitioning space, manipulating the perception of form. Perceptual space is increased, as our view pushes through the transparent membrane to the environment.
“Transparency means a simultaneous perception of different spatial locations. Space not only recedes but fluctuates in a continuous activity.”
Colin Rowe (1920-1999) British-born, American-naturalised architectural author, and teacher — Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal (1971).
- Colour does not exist without the presence of light. Colour is all around us, it is inherent to materiality. Visible light is reflected off or absorbed by texture, changing the appearance of how we perceive colour. The relativity of colour changes the perspective, which effects how we see our surrounds, reinforcing the meaningfulness of space.
Image by Daniel Mercadante
The art of Seeing. It is essential to an architect to know how to see”
Mexican architect Luis Barragán (1902-1988) — Pritzker acceptance speech 1980. “In Luis Barragán’s poetic imagination, colour plays as significant a role as dimension or space. Rough textures and water reflections heighten the impact of bright sunlight in his colourful buildings.” Dr. Thomas Schielke, architect, and architectural lighting specialist (2018).
- Sensory information from our physical environment elicits psychological responses, which have a substantial influence on the cognitive processes in humans; recognizing patterns in an integrated whole that is more than the summation of its component parts. Our senses consciously or subconsciously influence mood, to let us perceive the environment around us in a particular way, to experience a sense of place, to delight.
“Understanding architecture is not the same as being able to determine the style of a building by certain external features. It is not enough to see architecture; you must experience it. You must observe how it was attuned to the entire concept and rhythm of a specific era. You must dwell in the rooms, feel how they close about you, observe how you are naturally led from one to the other. You must be aware of the textural effects, discover why just these colours were used, how the choice depended on the orientation of the rooms in relation to windows and the sun…..You must experience the great difference acoustics make in your conception of space: the way sound acts in an enormous cathedral, with its echoes and long-toned reverberations, as compared to a small panelled room well-padded with hangings, rugs and cushions.”
Steen Eiler Rasmussen (1898-1990) — Experiencing Architecture (1957) Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.
- Human health and well-being are intimately linked to the state of the environment. Originally desired due to the aesthetics, it is not enough that physical space must connect with nature, it must interact with it, it should belong to it. Aesthetics, technology, and ecology are all Intrinsically linked, providing for space and form to become fluid.
” I cannot pursue my architecture without considering the minimization of energy consumption, simple and direct technologies, a respect for site, climate, place, and culture. Together, these disciplines represent for me a fantastic platform for experimentation and expression. Of particular importance is the junction of the rational and the poetic resulting hopefully in works that resonate and belong to where they reside. “
Glenn Murcutt — Pritzker acceptance speech (2002). Noted for designing innovative climate-sensitive private houses. The Magney house was completed in 1984 on a barren, wind-swept site overlooking the ocean in New South Wales, South Coast, Australia. The success is based on the intelligent design, seamlessly incorporating the environment and climate.
- Transitioning to a resource-efficient living of interconnectedness in a circular economy, requires change. A framework of design values for the present time will give orientation in considering the typologies of innovation, postulated to solve this conundrum.
“It is not about ideas. Innovation is at its core about solving problems”
Greg Satell— Transformation and Change expert, international speaker, and author. The Physics of Change June 2022.
KAROO-BY-THE-SEA
Contemporary Coastal Design evolved to reflect the emotion of being by the sea in calming light-filled spaces, that flow between the inside, outside and beyond. Relating to the human scale, open and airy, it takes its clues from the natural environment.
“Design is not everything, of course, but it has the power to contribute to the senses, even subconsciously, creating a home; the use of local materials, poured concrete, wood for heating, plants, and textiles all strengthen the sense of “hominess” inside and out.”
Orly Robinzon – Israeli architect and author of Homes with Soul: Designing with Heart. (2018)
The pages that follow will feature the designs of architects and interior designers, with a focus on coastal living.
Stefan Antoni – Beyond, a private residence in Cape Town by Studio Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen. https://www.saota.com
“I like buildings to have a certain sensuality to them, to have certain surprizes in them, and this house has a lot of delight in it. I am like a barefoot person. I like textivity, I like rawness, the primal aspect to things. For me it is all about volume and space and light and transparency and views.”
Eddie Da Silva – a rendering of house Kloppers, Mossel Bay by Eddie Da Silva Architects https://www.bespokebyeddiedasilva.co.za
“Contemporary aesthetic drive, designing the home within the landscape, dissolving the border of the interior & exterior, to take advantage of the views, with the use of natural environmental materials such as timber, steel, glass, natural rock & concrete. The notion of “less is more” runs through our aesthetic.”
