Building Meaning

An Architecture Studio Primer on Design, Theory, and History

Tamara Metz

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000505993
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

Building Meaning: An Architecture Studio Primer on Design, Theory, and History is an essential introduction to the complex relationship between form making, historical analysis, and conceptual explorations. This book focuses on the relationship and interdependence between design, theory, and history for an innovative and holistic studio approach.

Rather than suggest a singular narrative, this book draws from a diverse range of thinkers and designers to highlight the many interpretations of key architectural concepts, and provides readers with the context essential for developing their own approaches to any design problem.

Building Meaning is organized to reflect the typical studio process, with stand-alone chapters that provide flexibility for use at any stage of design. The ideal book for beginning and intermediate architecture students, it gives specific methods to apply in the studio to make the most of the design process, as well as focused exercises to creatively explore each concept presented. Illustrated with more than 250 color images, it enables readers to engage and understand critically the genesis of architectural ideas and their role in our social and cultural experience.

1Context

DOI: 10.4324/9781003108191-2

Context in its original use referred specifically to writing. It described the relationship of a written passage to each of its parts, and of portions of the text to those parts immediately adjacent. These relationships provide meaning to the text.¹

Context also provides meaning in the physical world, continually shaping our understanding of our environment. A lion encountered on a trip to the zoo will be understood very differently from one seen walking down a city street. The lion may not behave any differently, but the context changes its meaning.

Likewise, our understanding of architecture is inseparable from context. Architecture is essentially about the creation of inhabitable space; such spaces must be grounded in a particular place. Place is much more than a physical location. In addition to simple coordinates, place is defined by a range of factors that provide a context in which architecture is experienced and that architecture in turn creates. These factors include history, traditions, and social structures and cultures, as well as the physical characteristics of a particular locale. When beginning a design project, it is important to understand the context in which you are working.

Our initial experience of architecture may be analytical—the interpretation of existing space so it can then be inhabited productively. The architectural historian and theorist Beatriz Colomina alluded to this when she wrote,

Greek legend insists that Daedalus was the first architect, but this is hardly the case: although he built the Cretan labyrinth, he never understood its structure… Instead it may be argued that Ariadne achieved the first work of architecture, since it was she who gave Theseus the ball of thread by means of which he found his way out of the labyrinth after having killed the Minotaur.²

It was Ariadne’s act of reading and interpreting the context that constituted the first act of architecture. The typical first step in the design process is similarly analytical and reflective. The existing context of a design problem must be understood in order to propose any meaningful addition to that context. This includes the historical context within the field of architecture itself.

ARCHITECTURAL PRECEDENTS

We all learn every day from our personal experiences of diverse spaces. Because architecture is generally well documented, there is also a broad library of examples available to understand better how architecture works. Examples that have come before and that can serve as models for new work are called precedents.

There are many reasons to study precedents. The essential considerations of how to create practical, livable buildings have not changed significantly for centuries, and so there is much to learn from history. On a small scale, precedents might show us how wide a staircase should be or how to design a wall that won’t let in rain. Precedents can also help us learn about use. When tasked with designing a school, looking at other schools can help determine how large spaces tend to be and how they might be organized. Looking at a building with a different but comparable use, such as a monastery, may also uncover information about, for example, the amount of space needed for quiet study versus for gathering and discussion. Precedents can also tell us a great deal beyond the practical considerations of dimensions or details. They can teach how materials might be used, or how local building practices have developed over time.

In addition to the physical experience of a building, it can be extremely informative to analyze the building through its documentation; this facilitates learning precisely how the unique experiences of that building were achieved and also gives us access to spaces that may otherwise be off limits. The analysis of a building through drawings serves to uncover the formal and compositional strategies that serve as the basis of its design. These strategies are independent of style, location, or era. By analyzing precedents to uncover these formal strategies, you will gain a fuller understanding of how to apply them to your own design work.

Formal analysis of architectural precedents need not be complicated, but it does need to be done carefully and rigorously to yield useful information. For example, not all drawings are equally useful. Perspectives can be misleading, as they are limited to a particular view. Similarly, sketches—though descriptive—are not necessarily dimensionally accurate, and so may be unreliable as a reference. Measured drawings, such as plans, sections, elevations, and axonometrics, are the most effective materials for precedent analysis (see “Basic Representational Tools” in Chapter 7, “Representation”).

Analysis is a process that develops through diagrams—graphically simple drawings (and occasionally models) that represent only particular aspects of an architectural composition (see “Generative Diagramming” in Chapter 3, “Building Organization”). The simplification of the diagram is very important—by isolating certain carefully chosen elements within a drawing, the diagram brings to light compositional or formal relationships that might otherwise have been obscured by extraneous information. Diagramming is also an iterative process; observational diagrams are only the beginning. Initial diagrams serve to clarify and highlight selected elements within the building, and also serve as a basis for further diagrams that emphasize relationships and compositional strategies as they become apparent. This information in turn needs to be interpreted and sometimes combined to arrive at a more complete understanding of an architectural composition.

An analysis of the Talaie House, a traditional courtyard house in Iran, helps illustrate this process (Figure 1.1). When viewed in plan, the organizational logic of the house isn’t immediately clear. However, a series of diagrams representing different aspects of the house begin to provide some insight. Diagrams of major and minor axes, courtyards, spatial hierarchy (the relative importance of different spaces), and entries and circulation (spaces dedicated to moving from one location to another, such as hallways, as opposed to those meant as destinations) each provide new insight into the formal composition of the building, and how the building is meant to function. This type of house is designed to support a complex traditional social structure, in which the home is defined by clearly delineated spaces meant for different social groups. The axis diagram emphasizes the three distinct spatial sequences in the house, while the courtyard diagram highlights the very clear edge between the house and its surroundings, with outdoor space contained within the solid exterior wall of the house. The spatial hierarchy diagram makes clear the most important areas within the house. Finally, the circulation diagram reinforces the distinctions between areas meant for different populations (men, women, and visitors) and how those groups are separated. Taken together, the four diagrams tell a story about how architectural form reflects and reinforces patterns of social behavior.

FIGURE 1.1 Talaie House, Yazd, Iran, c. late eighteenth–early nineteenth: plan and diagrams.

It is important to note how these diagrams use certain graphic tools to ensure legibility. First, they represent only a small number of elements from the plan, with everything else either edited out or shown in a very light line as a reference. The vocabulary is quite limited in each diagram, with only varying lines and grey tone. A range of line weights calls attention to particular elements, with thicker lines providing emphasis. Finally, note the absence of labels or symbols. While labels can be useful in some cases, it is crucial for an analytical diagram’s effectiveness that it show the relationships present in the original drawing rather than tell the viewer what to see.

These diagrams are all examples of preliminary diagrams that don’t require a great deal of knowledge about the building being studied. They are, in fact, a tool with which we can begin to read the conceptual and formal systems that are at play in the building’s design.

Box 1.1

Analytical diagrams can represent a wide range of characteristics. When first exploring a new architectural precedent, it’s important to remember that no one diagram is likely to uncover the entire story behind a building. Rather, the first series of diagrams are simply a starting point to help clarify and distill the information provided by the original drawings. For this reason, it can be useful to work through a series of basic diagrams first and then use those as a source for additional diagrams that are more specific to each precedent.

Some basic diagram topics include:

Inside/Outside	Circulation	Public/Private
Rhythm	Repetition	Enclosure
Proportion	Structure	Hierarchy
Materiality	Geometry	Symmetry
Mass/Void	Alignment	Axis

Once preliminary diagrams are complete, synthesizing the information gathered from those simple observations can lead to a much deeper understanding of the architectural logic of a particular precedent. Take, for example, a series of diagrams of the Villa Cornaro designed by Andrea Palladio (Figure 1.2).

FIGURE 1.2 Villa Cornaro, Piombino Dese, Italy, Andrea Palladio, 1552: plan and diagrams.

In this case, the initial diagrams exploring geometry, repetition, and rhythm uncover symmetries and relationships that may not have been obvious from the original plan. By combining these observations, the series of diagrams uncovers the compositional logic behind the design of this villa, where techniques of displacement and compression create a diverse assortment of spaces within a strict formal system.

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Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents Page
• Acknowledgements Page
• Introduction
• 1 Context
• 2 Inhabitation
• 3 Building Organization
• 4 Form
• 5 Nature
• 6 Tectonics and Materiality
• 7 Representation
• 8 Design Methodologies
• Index