Discussions on Architecture

Discussions on Architecture

Discussion 1: What Was Wright Up To?

Questions

1. Architecture has taken a different course in the modern world. Wright wanted to be different from the other architectures in the world. What was Wright’s philosophy about architecture?
2. Landscape determines the structure of the house, and it also profoundly influences architectural designs. Does modernism apply the same principles in design and construction?
3. The traditional houses were structured while highly observing the relationship between a structure and the landscape. What was the relationship between the traditional house and the land?

Question 1: Organic Architecture

I think some of the features identified in Wright’s designs encompass clerestory windows, a one-story rambling elongated plan for the floor, and overhanging eaves. Frank was determined to obtain a harmonious balance with the landscape for the site of the building. For example, spring green is formed like a dock or a bridge on the Wisconsin River. Taliesin West roofline protrudes towards the Arizona hills, stepping in paths located on the down to the desert pools that are appearing like liquid. Taliesin is built synonymous with a brow on the corners of the hill. However, it was not located on top of the hill. Frank belied that you should not establish a building onto a hill directly since you are likely to lose the hill. Building on one side of the hill preserves the hill together with the desired eminence.  The Taliesin property adapts to the environment since the horizontal lines take shape and natural outlook of the shorelines and the hills. The sloping roofline mimics how the land is sloping.  Falling Water, a private home, is designed using glass materials and steel, and it was given the appearance of smooth concrete stones along the waterfalls of Bear Run. Kentuck Knob has its roof rising out of the side of the hill, which is a natural component of the part of the forest floor. The modern organic https://studygroom.com/yellowstone-ecosystem/buildings are not linear, and their https://studygroom.com/american-transcendentalism/geometry is rigid. I think I like organic architecture since it aims to preserve and conserve nature rather than destroying it.

Discussion 2: Falling Water: The House on the Waterfall

Questions

1. Frank Wright Falling Water architecture periodic breaks into a natural setting, which is not taxing, but it is absorbing. What relationship with nature does the falling water architecture express?
2. While sitting in the living room at Falling Water, laurel bushes, mossy patches, and birch bushes are visible from the window. Is it possible for most architectures to regard what is outside the house than what is inside the house while approaching their architectural design?
3. Falling Water was an extraordinary building in the 20th century. Which basic materials were used to construct the building?

Question 1: How does Falling Water reflect Wright’s ideas about Organic Architecture?

I think the organic architecture revolves around the concept that human life is part of nature, and Wright introduced an outcropping rock which projected over the floor of the living room into a vast central hearth. The devoted incorporation of nature and the environment where the building was structured reflects Frank Wright’s ideas on nature. The house is contouring into the cantilevered ledges responds nicely to the rock strata of the streams on the banks, creating a beautiful landscape. The connection with nature is further emphasized by the use of glass where the house lacks walls facing the falls but with only a central core stone used to build the stone columns and fireplaces. The liberal use of glass provides an elongated vista which directs the eye into the woods and the horizon.  The creative design of the architecture has used corner turning windows without mullions results in the vanishing of the edges. Finally, nature is incorporated into the construction by bending the trellis beam to give way for the existing tree.

Discussion 3: Lessons from Las Vegas

Questions

1. Postmodernism was gaining popularity in the 1960s and hit its strides in the 1980s and 90s. Why did it fall back in fashion? Which new ideas forced clients to go back to modernism?
2. Postmodernism was a design used by architectures to make buildings and constructions to be highly communicative and also meaningful with fun? Why were a lot of designers only focusing on the fun and meaning?
3. The students realized that Las Vegas had the unique architecture which deserved to be appreciated. What ways was their perception of Las Vegas architecture influenced?

Question 1: Lessons learned by Brown and Venturi’s students from observing Las Vegas

The students learned that the strip was like a bazaar, but technically it was built on a scale for cars with broad roads and numerous huge types of signs to guide people in.  While observing the strip and the way people and cars go around it, they realized that the signs served their function.  The signs were mainly focused on making the buildings legible, and they resulted in the postmodernism. New directions such as de-constructivism spawned from the ideas, and this is what made architectures to observe modernism. To this day, architectures look up at Las Vegas since it teaches people how to design architecture, which meets the expectations of people but not just to the constructions. The architectures have considered creating what their clients love, and this is a lesson learned from the Las Vegas observation.

Discussion 4: Modernist to Postmodernist Architecture

1. “Cities are places which can provide a little something for everybody and only because everybody creates them,” Jane Jacobs. From the statement, what do you think makes a city exciting and livable?
2. Cities are dynamic systems. Define a city in relation to the random dynamical system concept provided by Jane Jacobs.
3. Jane Jacobs criticizes modernism by stating that cities were created for cars, not people. What observation can you make with the modern cities that support her statement?

Question 1: Ways in which postmodernism architecture differs from the modernist vocabulary

I think modern architecture applies the principle of minimalism, where structures are economical and functional rather than decorated beautifully and comfortably. The postmodernism architecture assumes the role of reservation of styles for house design and the following characteristic and firms, asymmetrical designs for commercial buildings. Postmodernism uses primitive technology to produce beauty, and this is not the same as modernism, where beauty was created by basic technology. Modernism architecture was striving to achieve a connection between structure and nature, and in the process, the architectures were trying to avoid abolishing natural features. Postmodernism believes in the beauty of structure without confirming to nature, and this is why during constructions, they destroy natural features. I firmly believe that humans and specifically mentioning tourists are visiting places so that they can connect with nature. Modernism did not only take into consideration beauty, but it also considered how the structure could link humans to nature and increase comfort. I prefer modernism to postmodernism.