theory

1. BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE ANDURBANISM (ARC61303/ARC2224)
SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (MARCH 2015) [5 MARKS]
NAME: CHIA WEE MIN ID: 0315186
LECTURER: NICHOLAS NG TUTORIAL TIME: 4pm to 6pm
SYNOPSIS NO: 4 READER TITLE: FROM " TOWARDS A CRITICAL REGIONALISM "
AUTHOR: KENNETH FRAMPTON
Based on the reader, From " Towards a Critical Regionalism" Kenneth Frampton discussed about culture versus the
nature which involves the topography, context, climate, light, tectonic form and the visual versus the tactile which address the
importance of tactile in terms of architecture.
Firstly, Frampton discuss that critical regionalism involves more directly with nature than a more abstract architecture.
Architecture now favors to a more economical, for instance bulldozing of an irregular topography into a flat site but this will lead
to a condition ofabsolute placelessness where the absence ofthe place will disappear whereas the terracing of the same site to
receive the stepped form of a building is an engagement to the site.
Another elements will be the climate and light. A generic window is obviously the most delicate point at which the two
natural forces impinge upon the outer membrane of the building, having a innate capacity to inscribe architecture with the
character of the region. Artificial light nowadays can aid the space to be will litthroughout the day will cause the space to lose its
aura but in replacement with the artificial light through carefully contrived monitors, so that where the direct sunlight is avoided,
the ambient light will changes under the impact of time, season humidity and so on.
Despite the topography and light, Frampton also address that the primary principle ofthe architectural autonomy resides
in the tectonic rather than scenographic as tectonic is just more than the expression of skeletal framework but also raises this
construction to an art form said by the architectural historian, Stanford Anderson. For instance, Kevin Mark Low's architecture,
where he likes to expose the material and the way in which they are fabricated are very raw and vary rough but the way in which
they are design together is refined. In his architecture, he said that it is all about the relationship between one and the o ther and
how they all come together in a more merry fashion. The way a welder put steel together can be pretty awful, but if there is a
narrative for it, which act as a guide to arrange the material of a greater refinement in contrast with it, then the lack of refinement
is not hidden but showcased in a way that it feels like an art.
Last butnot least, Frampton also compare the visual and tactile where he address that tactile is an important dimension
in the perception ofbuiltform. Frampton uses Saynatsalo Town Hall as an example wherethe second floor chamber are as much
tactile as the visual which prevent the distancing from a more direct experience of the environment as which Heidegger has
called, "loss of nearness ".

2. WORD COUNT: 453 DATE: 30/5/2016 MARK: GRADE:
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