Exploring The Theoretical Dimensions Of The Tectonic Essay

Heritage buildings, structures and places reflect the history of a city, the unique architecture. While Australia cannot does not have buildings which have stood for centuries, the collection of buildings and places of special significance tell a story of where we came from, what we as a city have achieved, who we are as a society and our cultural expectations. The importance of heritage in our built environment is well recognised; heritage buildings may be significant for aesthetic, historic social, spiritual or technical reasons, (The Australian Institute of Architects, 2008#). Architects convey a vision, providing an opportunity to create a reality; this is vital in the integration of heritage conservation and urban development.

As Australian architects were often inspired by international designs many houses were decorative thus there was the emergence of the Californian Bungalow within the 1920s. This housing structure began during the “early nineteen-twenties which became a leading fashion” (Boyd, 1962, p.70). Due to the fact that Australian designs were not as independent as it is today the Californian Bungalow was mainly influenced from the American Californian Bungalows. The bungalows in Australia was an approved style for a suburban house as a result of its simplistic building methods such as staining timbers, creating a pale plaster surface and applying decorative textures on plywood (Cuffley, 2007). Hence, the bungalows was a start of a new way of living for

With the modernization of Australia, cross-cultural designs can be seen in a few buildings such as the Marika-Alderton House by Glenn Murcutt. Many ethnocentric views came with the final completion of this house. Some people call this timber and metal structure the future prototype for Aboriginal housing but the Aborigine client herself denied that fact.

Regions use the earth mixed with certain ingredients then to be left out in the sun to dry into bricks, when they lacked timber and stone.

Material displacement, absurd formation and facadism, creates discussion, challenges the viewers and provokes polarised opinions. Architects within the current era, are expressive, artistically driven, technologically aided and therefore experimental. These factors have encouraged outrageous designs and statements. The outcomes have provoked controversy, which are expressed through various mediums, such as media, articles, debates and lectures. An architect that has created many controversial buildings, is non other than Frank Gehry. The individual whose works are considered between pragmatic professionalism and radical experimentation. One building that will be further articulated and examined, is the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building, University of Technology Sydney (UTS). A building spawned from a sketch, and an idea of a tree house and as Gehry himself said “A growing, learning organism with many branches of thought, some robust and some ephemeral and delicate”. The intention of the design was to develop it inside-out, which has undoubtedly shaped the branding and marketing efforts of the school. The greatest controversial statement made towards the building, is its absurd and somewhat organic display of a ‘fabric’ like, brick facade. A facade that has been sculpted in a way that has never been attempted quite like that before. All to achieve the concept of ‘movement’, a fabric like quality with a

Australia: The National Standards Taskforce, pp.Page 14-15. Available at: https://lms.rmit.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/ content/listContent.jsp? course_id=_321575_1&content_id=_6401826_1&mode=reset [Accessed 1 Sep.

I read and started perusing and composing the names of structures and the engineers that appeared to be engaging. After, I turned every building upward online to see the picture; the real structure and by inclination I started to wipe out and select the ones I discovered generally fascinating. This limited down the rundown I had and made if much effective to start a more significant examination. The objective of discovering a book at the library kept up, I then went to the Texas Tech Library catalog and typed in all the buildings I found. Twilight of examination I chose to step back, and begin once again. I required a less complex arrangement, for example, considering more contemporary structures that still connected to the Egyptian Revival

The strong influence of Victorian style on Adelaide architecture is evidence of European society in Australia.

Architectural works have been conceived from ingenuity and principles accumulated since the dawn of time when we lived in primitive caves and sought shelter for survival. Architects interpret these conventions and use the physical environment to bring them to life using tectonic and stereotomic expression. Tectonics is defined as “The science, or the art, by which implements, vessels, dwellings, or other edifices, are constructed" ("Tectonics" 1913). Baeza (2009) further explains tectonics architecture to be “a structural system of knots and joints in which the construction is articulated”. Conversely, Francesco Cacciatore describes stereotomics as “the gradual removal of matter from an initial shape” (Cacciatore 2011). Stereotomic and tectonics

Due to the distinctive climatic conditions in Australia, the architectural trend has been consistent with the western world. Most of the architectural styles in the past were influenced by the British designs. Around the 20th century, the influence of American urban designs came into existence.

No less than three distinct characteristics of neotectonic surface deformation are apparent in the Australian landmass (Sandiford et al. 2009; Sandiford and Quigley 2009). These include the one at long wave length at a few 1000’s of km, systematize varieties in the degree of Neogene marine overflow suggest that the Australia continent has tilted north-down, southwest-up (Sandiford 2007).

Geoprocesses move our continents 2-3 cm a year. At a time in our world all our continents were connected. Geoprocesses modifies our surface such as plate tectonics, mountains, earthquakes and volcanoes. Mountains, volcanoes and mountain ranges are some of the best sites people see and all those sceneries are made by geoprocesses.

Before the beginning of the 19th century, building structures were only thought of as assembled constructs. Where the design and aesthetic of them were dictated by the utilization and boundary conditions. Towards the start of the 19th century, the knowledge and understanding of engineers changed due to the establishment of technical colleges around the world. "When science found its way into the building practice, there was a shift initiated that, besides some other technical innovations, also brought a whole new view of structures and how they were developed" (Rinke and Kotnik 2010). A more science-based view on the structural aspects of truss design marks the transition from a craftsmanship-orientated construction to a theory-oriented construction. This made the design of trusses and all structures more rational, systematic and highly efficient.

Architecture is the very foundation of mankind, and it has been around almost as long as humans. Many cultures and nations have used it for many purposes. Some purposes include a living place, a burial place, storage, and in many cases a form of art. It has evolved throughout time, each more unique than another. While there were many types of different architecture, many of them follow the same principles. The difference though between some nations architecture is so distinctive that one may be able to know where its style originated. While many different styles of architecture were influenced by previous nations, some, like the United States, were influenced by a single man, Thomas Jefferson.

While tracking all of Earths major earthquakes and volcanos there became trends that developed. These trends allowed me to actually learn from our own Earth. The most active area of our plate tectonics was subduction zones. This type of plate boundary was the reason for the majority of the earthquakes documented over the semester. Most of these earthquakes were shallow, but at times had very deep focal points. Because of the old, cold plate being sub ducted I saw significantly more deep focus earthquakes in this tectonic setting. Subduction zones were also responsible for the deepest earthquakes that were experienced throughout the semester. While capturing the title of the most active, deepest earthquakes, it also produced the largest earthquakes of the semester. Subduction zones accounted for nearly all of the earthquakes that registered a magnitude above 5.7. Because of these earthquakes being the largest, they also created the most damage. These plates were able to cause the most damage because of how much elastic energy they could store in their old, cold, and brittle plates. There were several earthquakes throughout the semester that took the lives of the people living in the area while causing destruction on their community infrastructure.