Mark Pimlott | Significant meetings

South African Journal of Art History, 2013

As a starting point of consideration, this enquiry briefly weighs up the Pre-Socratic (materialists) position of 'the primary stuff of the universe' with the trio Socrates-Plato-Aristotle's differentiation between Form (morphe) and Matter (hyle). The purpose of this initial exercise is to highlight, as suggested by Vitruvian myths and revisited in recent architectural discourse by Joseph Rykwert and Aaron Betsky, the differentiation between architecture (event, notion) and building (scenography, thing). Reinforced by the essays of Jonathan Hill (Immaterial Architecture) that suggests a fusion of the immaterial and material in architecture and Katie Lloyd Thomas (Material Matters) who shifts the focus towards the material over the form, this endeavour exposes the blurred boundary between the visible material of building and the invisible immateriality of event-architecture. With the aforementioned in mind, the Dematerialisation of Mies Van der Rohe, Immaterial Material of...

2010

When Architects and Designers Write / Draw / Build / ?, 2013

Finds and Results from the Swedish Cyprus Expedition: A Gender Perspective at the Medelhavsmuseet, 2004

This is an edited version of an article written for the Architectural Association of Japan, November 1994 I am often asked for my views about the relationship between structure and architecture. Is that because the structure in our work assumes an unusual importance-is our approach different from that of other architects-now or in the past? Does it have something to do with the nature of our work and in the relationship that we create between the structure and the spaces which determine the appearance of the buildings both inside and out. It is difficult for me to pick apart a process of designing that seems so obvious that I take it for granted. But maybe it is important to state the obvious-to say that the structure is going to be influenced by the geography, even the climate of a place as well as the needs of the people who generated the building in the first place. How else could you explain the big-span structural steel 'trees' of London's third airport at Stansted happening at the same time as the concrete vaults of the Lycée in Frejus, in the South of France. At Stansted the base or 'trunk' of the trees are literally rooted in the distribution of air and artificial lighting from the undercroft below. The 'branches' spread out to support the most elegantly minimal roof, whose function is only to provide shelter from the elements and to let in light from the sky above. Compare this with the massive roof and supporting structure for a traditional airport with its need to carry the weight of the mechanical equipment above the roof and below it all the usual ductwork, fluorescent lighting, cables and suspended ceilings. By comparison our concept for Stansted is radical even if it does mark a return to an earlier tradition of less mechanistic buildings-to suggest a newer generation which are elegantly comfortable but also energy conscious.

Architectural Research Quarterly, 2004

Described by the organisers as a neglected topic in recent architectural discourse, this conference set out to address the rise, fall and possible futures of the problematic and controversial term 'primitive'. Taking place over two days in September 2004 at the Welsh School of Architecture in Cardiff (hosted by the research group Architectural History and Theory Wales) it aimed to attract an interdisciplinary audience and included a range of keynote speakers drawn from both academia and practice. Selected papers from the proceedings will be published in book form by Routledge in 2005.

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 2011

The International Journal of Architectonic, Spatial, and Environmental Design, 2018

A vital component to any architect’s education is learning how to effectively utilize building materials as carriers of architectural meaning; the development of a coherent tectonic language is fundamental to teaching architecture. This requires a careful understanding of the most basic components of architecture, its language, its words. The words are composed of materials, the sentences written in a building’s tectonics and detailing. Learning how to speak is the first step towards writing poetry. Learning the building art’s material language is the first step to creating architecture. Many academics and practitioners who are attracted to design build share a common belief that the materials and methods of construction matter, and are essential to an architect’s education. Latent in this line of inquiry is that if these elements are significant, that significance should be made manifest in the final, constructed reality of the building. This conception runs strongly counter to the direction of most contemporary architecture, in which seamlessness, weightlessness, and the suppression of materiality are ascendant. With these ideas in mind, how should an architect be trained? This paper will explore one method, using design build pedagogy to engage architecture students in a patient search for their own tectonic philosophy.

Espasyo: Journal of Philippine Architecture and Allied Arts, 2010

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 2011

Defects have plagued buildings for decades if not centuries, and even more so in the post war era of the private developer and with the emergence of the ‘design and construct’ project- the sister act of development as a private system of creation of our titled buildings. Although many D&C projects are created with minimal defects, the practice of D&C and its evolution out of the previous Architect and Master Builder era, has a large part to play. This paper takes us through a brief history lesson including the emergence of private property development and D&C in the post-WWII era, and the associated vulnerability of standards of construction across professions and regulatory systems. The erosion of the regulatory process, both professional and authority-based, is also revealed in the emergence of private certification and the dilemma of the slippery deal. The end product of such a system is illustrated with a ‘horror’ case example of one of its offspring. Finally a ‘Defects Scenario Matrix’ is put forward for ways to keep a handle on defects on the D&C project based on a review of the horror case example and then a case example with a low defects regime.

Bruce Rickard: A life in architecture , 2018

"What is most needed in architecture today is the very thing that is most needed in life-integrity. Just as it is in a human being, so integrity is the deepest quality in a building." ii Whenever I had an opportunity to attend a lecture given by Bruce Rickard he always seemed to start by talking about integrity. I noticed a pattern, he would start, pause mid sentence, fiddle with microphone and turn into his slides. Integrity in architecture was his topic but I never heard him explain what he meant in words. Bruce was quiet and shy and despite a generous following and admiration he never became comfortable with public speaking and preferred that his work spoke on his behalf. He talked quietly to his slides showing photos of houses he designed, guiding us through their welcoming landscapes, head spinning sections leading to outdoor decks, rustic stone fireplaces celebrating the texture and pattern of natural materials and quiet corners with bookshelves and window seats. People loved his lectures and came in big numbers. The slides were beautiful to look at and all seemed inspired and satisfied apparently absorbing the meaning of the word from the non verbal messages on the photos. The word integrity stayed with me as a question. How does integrity-meaning a quality of being honest, of good character, or uncompromising-apply to architecture? If architecture is about shaping space, how can it be shaped by integrity? Is it only about the geometry, patterns of fitting together, the final architectural form? iii Not surprisingly I discovered that integrity was also a favourite word used by Frank Lloyd Wright when describing his design philosophy.