Guest Edited By Mark Garcia

“Architecture should not be seen as representing a magical transition from the worldly to the heavenly, as had been implied by the Baroque Style, but rather as a medium that told nothing less than the story of the “origins” of mankind.” (Ching 610)

Theastre Gates' minimalist exhibition, How To Build A House Museum, is a historic event for the Art Gallery of Ontario. Commonly regarded as a somewhat conventional gallery, Gates' immersive work is a monumental step towards engaging the AGO with contemporary artists lives and works. As we walk into the fifth floor, the audience feels as if we have crossed through time to another space, similar to the transportive journey that listening to music or being in a club takes you on. Gates uses his art to evoke that same form of escapism. However, once your mind feels relaxed and is open to take in the exhibit, Gates throws a multitude of historical graphs, personal items and architecture layered in meaning onto you, as a reminder that this whole

“Portugal,” she responded. “Beautiful estate. Very modern.” By which she meant the building was nearly indiscernible from the landscape outside. By year 2105 people appreciated nature, and those with the ability to pay for the technology to restore their lands to something that could support life did so. Modern interior design however could mean anything though. But Ellis knew Emmanuel cared about as little about interior design has bunny cared about whether the moon was made of cheese or fairy farts.

Architecture should be nurturing, responsive and alive, dynamically shifting spatial balances, organically expressive forms, subtly luminous colors and biologically healthy. To achieve such life-enhancing architecture, it has to address all the body senses simultaneously and fuse our image of self with experience of the world. By strengthening our sense of self and reality, architecture serves its all-important function of accommodation and

On his book on Modern Architecture, Curtis writes that modern architecture was faulted for it’s “supposed lack of ‘recognizable imagery’” towards the end of the 1970s. This statement supports the idea of Jencks’ double coding where architects must now make

This book was written by Juhani Pallasmaa with regard to ‘Polemics’, on issues that were part of the architecture discourse of the time, i.e. 1995. It is also an extending of ideas expressed in an essay entitled “Architecture of the seven senses” published in 1994.

In the first talk, I remember the point that art and architecture have a direct and important relationship with each other. In order to help understand architecture, I’ve decided to learn more about art itself. So, this essay will analyze and focus on one piece of art in an attempt to really break it down to its core.

Architecture is often mistaken as purely an art form, when in actually it is where art and engineering or art and practicality meet. For example, painting is an art, when preformed well it yields a beautiful picture that evokes a deep human reaction and brings pleasure to its viewer, however this painting provides no function, it cannot shield us from the rain or protect us from the wind or snow, it is purely form. An insulated aluminum shed provides shelter and protection from Mother Nature; however, it is a purely functional building, it was drawn by an engineer, not conceived by an artist to have form. The culmination of form and function is Architecture, the Greeks and Romans fathered this idea and Palladio’s study of roman architecture taught him his valuable truth.

Different architects have different styles because they are trying to get at different things. Architecture is not just about making something beautiful anymore, it is about trying to get across a set of ideas about how we inhabit space. Two of the most famous architects of the twentieth century, one from each side, the early part and the later part up until today each designed a museum with money donated by the Guggenheim foundation. One of these is in New York City, it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The other is in bilbao, Spain, and it was designed by Frank Geary. My purpose of this paper is to interrogate each of these buildings, glorious for different reasons, to show how each architect was expressing their own style.

Discussing various approaches to perceiving meaning within architecture (understanding architecture as an expression of underlying social orders; treating architecture as a result of the Zeitgeist, and finally; interpreting architecture as an independent sign system comprised of its own grammar, syntax and ways of meaning), Whyte claims architecture can be understood as an analogy to language. Subsequently, Whyte claims that simply interpreting meaning with architecture is challenging due to the complexity of a building. To truly understand an architectural meaning, Whyte states a number of perspective shifts must occur, ensuring all design stages, from concept through to construction is accounted for due to the ever evolving nature of a project and therefore

This subject was suggested as a possible topic from the course outline. As it is an area of much interest and controversy was chosen as the direction of study for the paper. Previous research into Virtual Reality (VR), coupled with a particular interest in its architectural application also proved motivating. However, although the direction of the initial research appeared straightforward, after further investigation it became obvious that there were in fact two distinctly different interpretations that could be drawn from the area of Virtualism in Architecture. This division was between whether VR was used FOR architecture (VR used as a tool to aid in architectural design). Or whether it was used AS

The book consists of twelve chapters that propose this idea that designers should explore the nature of our senses’ response to the spatial built forms that people invest their time in. It tries to cover a specific topic in each chapter that in order to deconstruct the book, it is necessary to cover each chapter individually.

“ Architecture organizes and structures space for us, and its interiors and the objects enclosing and inhabiting its rooms can facilitate or inhibit our activities by the way they use this language”(Lawson pg.6).

Centered in the house is a ramp that takes you on a journey from the underbelly of the house on the ground floor to the main body on the first floor and then on to a roof garden. Throughout the house views of the surrounding nature are framed, your mind is free marvel, as the forms evoke a sense of exploration and delight. Villa Savoye is better experienced than viewed through an image, only then can you understand the greater meaning and purpose that informs its beauty. One might argue that this is not beautiful architecture and a poor example, however upon visiting this house you cannot deny that the house is beautiful in its own right, evoking a response from the occupant. Le Corbusier’s masterpiece is moving; therefore achieving what he believed architecture to be about. This experience and the emotion that is felt can only be described in words. Shapes play a big role in the architecture but clearly the meanings behind are more important.

Architectural design practice will be increasingly mediated by digital technology in the future. Digital fabrication technology allows architects to conceive designs both digitally and physically, and may empower them to take a more active role in the materialization and construction process.