THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE 2

a reviewer for Architecture Students

2021
 CONTENTS
THEMATIC THEORIES
ISMS OF ARCHITECTURE
SPATIAL THEORIES
PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES ON SPACE
SOCIETY & ARCHITECTURE
CULTURE AND ARCHITECTURE
PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN PROCESS
SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS
 A SHORT GUIDE TO THIS REVIEWER
THEMATIC THEORIES
• De Architectura Libri Decem (Ten Books on
Classical Marcus Vitruvius Pollio Architecture)
• Vitruvian Rules of Aesthetic Form
Anonymous tradition of trade • Monastery Institution
Middle Ages
guilds • Development of Building Style
Leon Battista Alberti De re aedificatoria (On Building)
Sebastiano Serlio “Regoli generli di architectura”
Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola “Regola delle cinque ordini”
Andrea Palladio “I quattro libri dell’architectura”
Philibert de L’orme Rejected the absolute beauty of measures
• Francois Nicolas Blondel’s Cours
d’architecture
• Clause Perrault’s Ordonnance des cinq
especes de colonnes
Renaissance
• Jean Louis de Cordemoy’s Nouveau traite
de toute l’architecture
Works Printed by French Theorists • Jacques-Francois Blondel’s Cours
d’architecture
• Marc-Antoine Laugier’s Essai sur
l’architecture
• J-N-L Durand’s Precis de lecons
• Julien Guadet’s Elements et theories de
l’architecture
Before Written Construction • No theory or architects
Theory • Inverted “catenary” model
Semi-circular Vault (Theory by
• Arches, piers, wedges
Construction Vitruve)
• No surviving written document regarding
During Middle Ages
models or theories
During Renaissance • Architects began specializing
• Architecture psychology
Art Nouveau Le Corbusier • Natural forms of plants
• Buildings as giant sculptures
• Otto Wagner
• Adolf Loos
Product Styles of the Industrial Revolution
• Peter Behrens
• Arts & Crafts Movement
• Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe
• Eclecticism
• Walter Gropius
Modernism • Le Corbusier
Art Movements influenced by • Futurism
Modernism • Cubism
Bauhaus “Art & Technology, the new unity”
International Style
Post Modernism Robert Venturi Less is a bore
• Pure forms
Mathematical
• Golden Section
• Organic
Biological
• Biomorphic
• By association
Romantic
Symbolic • By exaggeration
• Grammatical Model
Linguistic • Expressionist Model
• Semiotic Model
“A machine is a house for living; beauty assumes
Mechanical
the promise of function”

• Monumental but primitive

Pre-Historic • Use of Stones
• ”Dawn of Architecture
• Monumental and enormous
Ancient Egypt • Feats of Engineering
• “Early Masters of Engineering”
• Precise rules
Classical
• Beauty from order
• Graceful, classically inspired
• Use of bricks
Byzantine
• Domed roofs, elaborate mosaics, classical forms
• “When Rome builds an Eastern Empire”
• Transitional
• Medieval Europe
Romanesque
• Rounded Arches
• “Medieval architecture + Roman + Byzantine”
• Pointed Arches
• Ribbed Vault
Gothic
• Flying buttresses
• “Architecture reaches new heights”
• Symmetry
• Proportion
Renaissance
• Geometry
• “Classical ideas reborn”
• New exploration of forms
• Light and shadow
Baroque
• Dramatic intensity
• “Architecture of Exuberance”
• Late Baroque
Rococo
• “Architecture in the Age of Mozart”
Revivalism
Neoclassisism • ”New approaches to classical architecture”
Neogothic • “Modern Gothic”
Arts & Crafts Movement • William Morris, “The Lesser Arts of Life”
Art Nouveau • “The New Style”
Art Deco • “20th Century Jazzy Architecture”
• Functional. Industrial, innovative/ novel, technology,
revolutionary and opposing
• Soulless container, absence of relationship with the
environment, arrogant, unarticulated, monstrous, speculative,
mass-produced
• Marked by renunciation of the old worlds, addressed mass
Modernism
housing, explored potentials of materials and new forms,
technological determinism and structural rationalism,
aesthetic self-expression, belief in the power of form to
transform the world, sleek machined surfaces, mass
production and cost reduction, skyscrapers and capitalism,
grand urban projects
Expressionism & Neo-
Expressionism
Structuralism
Formalism
Bauhaus
Functionalism Modernism Styles
The International Style “Beauty in Function”
High-Tech
Brutalism
Deconstructivism
Minimalism
Organic
• Robert Venturi’s “Complexity and Contradiction in
Postmodern Movement Architecture”
• “Reshaping the Past”
 THEMATIC THEORIES
“Architecture begins where engineering ends.” -Walter Gropius

VITRUVIUS AND ARCHITECTURAL THEORY ON ANTIQUITY

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
• Simply known as “Vitruvius”
• Born in Verona
• A famous Roman military engineer and architect for Julius Caesar in the 1st century
BC.
• Prominent architectural theorist during the Roman Empire
• Wrote “De Architectura” (literally translates to: “On Architecture”; known today as
“The Ten Books on Architecture”)
• Describes architecture as an imitation of nature
• First Roman architect to have written surviving records of his field

De Architectura / On Architecture
• A treatise combining the history of ancient architecture and engineering and a
summary of Vitruvius’ own experience and older works in the field of architecture
• Written of Latin and Greek on architecture
• Dedicated to Emperor Augustus of the Roman Empire
• Earliest and only preserved contemporary source of classical architecture
• Reveals the wider concepts of ancient architecture and the importance of the
effect of architecture (aesthetic and practical aspects) to citizens’ everyday life.

Greek House Plan by Vitruvius

• No use of atriums, but make passageways for people entering the door, with
stables on one side and doorkeepers’ rooms on the other and shut off by doors at
the inner end.
• Θυρωρειον “concierge”, place between the two doors. From it, one enters the
peristyle with a recess distance one third less than the space between antae.

Intercolumniation: spacing between columns in a colonnade as measured at the

bottom of their shafts
 • Pyconostyle: one and a half diameters
• Systyle: two diameters
• Eustyle: two and quarter diameters (best
proportion)
• Diastyle: three diameters
• Araeosystyle: alternating araeostyle and
systyle

Fundamental Principles of Architecture according to Vitruvius

From the Ten Books on Architecture

• Order
o gives due measure to the members of a work considered separately, and
symmetrical agreement to the proportions of the whole.
o an adjustment according to quantity
o the selection of modules from the members of the work itself and, starting
from these individual parts of members, constructing the whole to
correspond
• Arrangement
o Includes the putting of things in their proper places and the elegance of
effect which is due to adjustments appropriate to the character of the work
o form of expression include:
▪ GROUNDPLAN: made by the proper successive use of compasses
and rule, through which we get outlines for the plane surfaces of
buildings
▪ ELEVATION: a picture of the front of a building, set upright and
properly drawn in the proportions of the contemplated work
▪ PERSPECTIVE: method of sketching a front with the sides withdrawing
into the background, the lines all meeting in the center of a circle
o The forms of expression come of reflexion and invention
▪ REFLEXION: careful and laborious thought, and watchful attention
directed to the agreeable effect of one’s plan
▪ INVENTION: solving of intricate problems and the discovery of new
principles by means of brilliancy and versatility
• Eurythmy
o beauty and fitness in the adjustments of the members
o found when the members of a work are of a height suited to their breadth,
of a breadth suited to their length, and, in a word, when they all correspond
symmetrically
• Symmetry
o Proper agreement between the members of the work itself, and relation
between the different parts and the whole general scheme, in
accordance with a certain part selected as standard
• Propriety
o Perfection of style which comes when a work is authoritatively constructed
on approved principles
▪ PRESCRIPTION: appropriateness of the orders to specific themes in
the structure
 ▪ USAGE: magnificent interiors must corresponded with elegant
entrance-courts; additional elements must not spoil any existing
elements
▪ NATURE: selection of healthy neighborhoods suitable for structures
• Economy
o Proper management of materials and of site, as well as thrifty balancing of
cost and common sense in the construction of works
o Planning different kinds of dwelling suitable for ordinary householders, for
great wealth, or for the high position of the statesman

Vitruvian Man
• created by Leonardo da Vinci in 1487 showing the proportions
of body that should be taken forward into architecture
• often connected to the beginning of renaissance
• its essence lies on the relationship of anthropomorphic
proportions to built designs
• a more successful interpretation of the Vitruvian Man is the
“Modulor of Le Corbusier” (see page #).
Threefold Principles by Vitruvius: a structure must be firm (strong or durable), useful,
and beautiful

• FIRMITAS (firmness or durability): every time a building is put up, it fights an

unending war with gravity, and how an architect equips his or her building decides
how long it will withstand the inevitable
• UTILITAS (utility or commodity): buildings are too expensive and time-consuming to
build for the sake of building, and ever building erected serves a purpose to its
patrons or contractors. That is to say, every building serves a specific utility, be it
religious, civic, educational, or so on.
• VENUSTAS (beauty or delight): concerned with manifold issues such as how color
and light interrelate with each other on the building’s interior and exterior, how the
texture of the building is visually and sensationally felt, and how the ornamentation
is handled.

MEDIEVAL THEORIES IN ARCHITECTURE

Medieval Period
• Also called as the “middle ages” or “dark ages”
• Existed after the ancient civilization, after the fall of the Roman Empire, and the
rise of Holy Roman Empire
• Time of wars
• Dark age for science due to the forbidden explorations of the Church which limits
their discoveries
• Architecture was limited to the construction of castles
Medieval Architecture
• Architectural knowledge was passed by transcription, word of mouth, and
technically in master builders’ lodges
• Only a few examples of architectural theory were written in this period
• Most works were theological, and were transcriptions of the Bible, so the
architectural theories were the notes on structures included in those.
• The Abbot Suger’s “Bok of St. Denis on What was done during his Administration”
was an architectural document that emerged with Gothic architecture
• Another was “Villard de Honnecourt’s” portfolio of drawing from about the 1230s.
• Books were very limited and were usually written by monks.
• Master builders are treated as architects with laborers as students.
• Two architectural styles developed rooted from antiquity
o Romanesque: continuation of Roman style
o Gothic: product of war that came from France; emerged during the
Crusades

Monastery Institution
• Church as a symbol of winning, a symbol of trophy during the war
• Many building contracts were retrieved during the Medieval Ages but very few
archives contain description of buildings
• Described only as made “according to traditional model” and stating its size
• “There’s no accounting for tastes” was the rule of thumb
o Does not favor the development of theory of arts
Gothic Style
• Initiated by Abbot Suger when he renovated the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis
o First constructed as a Romanesque church and then applied with foreign
ideas and influences
• Monumental churches
• Has many religious symbolisms
• BASILICA OF SAINT-DENIS (1135AD)
o First Gothic Church
o Template of Gothic Church
▪ Higher and wider bays with larger
windows filling the church with light
▪ Has three deep portals with one
tympanum each
▪ Façade was flanked by two towers
▪ Small circular rose window at the
central portal
• UPWARD LEADING METHOD or ANAGOGICAL METHOD by Abbot Suger
o justifies the use of precious materials and dazzling stained glass in sacred
art and architecture to transport the devotees to spiritual heights through
the contemplation of rich material objects.
 o Influenced by the theological writings of Dionysius, Suger was convinced
that the universe consists of the “Father of Lights” (God), the “first radiance”
(Christ) and the “smaller lights” (people).
▪ Seen in the use of windows and fenestrations
o The design exemplifies the desire to get closer to the “one true light”
through:
▪ Heightened architecture
▪ Generous use of light in the Church
o Psychologically, it meant to uplift the spirit, to be united with the Creator,
and be associated with the heavens.
The symbolism of churches and church ornaments
• The paragon of Christian symbolism should be viewed as much more than an
aesthetically pleasing example.
• Through the surpassing beauty of Gothic architecture, God was vividly displaying
a liturgical and theological principle
• The unrivalled symbolic beauty of the Medieval Church was providentially
intended as a timeless principle illustrating how sacramental signs and instruments
convey the grace of God.
• The churches of the Medieval periods are considered as stone Bibles especially
with detailed tympanums and many symbolisms.
• More in: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/43319/43319-h/43319-h.htm

Development of Building Style

• Little to no literary research present
• VILLARD DE HONNECOURT’S “SKETCHBOOK (1235)
o Made up of sketches and writings concerning architectural practices
current during the 13th century
o Gave precise instructions for executing specific objects with explanatory
drawings
o Fused principles passed on from ancient geometry, medieval studio
techniques, and contemporary practices.
o Also included are sections on technical procedures, mechanical devices,
suggestions for making human and animal figures, and notes on the
buildings and monuments he had seen
• RORITZER’S “BOOKLET ON THE RIGHT WAY OF MAKING PINNACLES”
• Only through the guidance of master builders
• Tradition binding and precise in closed guilds of builders

RENAISSANCE THEORIES IN ARCHITECTURE

Renaissance
• Time when wars ended which led to the flourishing of art and architecture
• Revival of classical styles to rebuild structures damaged by war
• Started in Florence through Brunelleschi’s renovation of the Florence Cathedral
• Merchants led the revolution of art and architecture
• 1418: a copy of Vitruve manuscripts found at St. Gallen monastery
Leon Battista Alberti
• An architect, poet, linguist, humanist author, philosopher, and a priest
• Epitome of a renaissance man
• Father was Lorenzo Alberti born from a wealthy family, involved in banking and
commercial business in Florence during the 14th century
• The success of the city of Florence during this period was to a large extent a
consequence of the Alberti Family
• Person in charge of constructions commanded by Pope
• “ON SCULPTURE” (De Statua)
o Recommends the sculptor to be guided by both observation of nature and
academic studies, so that they will be educated about proportion treatise.
o Codified the basics of geometry so that eventually it will be mathematically
coherent
▪ This is the same book that Leonardo da Vinci made great use of in
making his own art treatise on painting using the same terms and
ideas and even same phrases.
• “ON BUILDING” (De re aedificatoria)
o One of the greatest works of the theory of architecture
o Completed in 1452, published in 1485
o More emphasis on decoration of building exteriors
o Discussed lucid theory of architectural beauty
o Depends on the harmonic relationship between certain fixed proportions
o Contains subjects such as history to town planning, and engineering to the
philosophy of beauty
o Bible of Renaissance architecture, for it incorporated and made advances
upon the engineering knowledge of antiquity, and it grounded the stylistic
principles of classical art in a fully developed aesthetic theory of
proportionality and harmony
• “Beauty is the adjustment of all parts proportionately so that one cannot add or
subtract without impairing the harmony of the whole”
On Building / Ten Books on Architecture by Alberti
• BOOK 1: LINEAMENTS (PLAN)
o He examines the point of view of utility the parts that make up every
building, and which must therefore be considered at the very beginning of
architecture. These are the surroundings, the ground on which the building
is to be erected, the ground plans, walls, the roof and openings.
• BOOK 2: MATERIALS
o Treating of materials
o Treating of nature
o Budgeting and provision of materials
o Choosing correct material
o Preserving trees
o How to choose wood
o Summary of trees
o Stone – softest, hardest, best, and durable
o Stones left by the ancients
 o Use of bricks – shape, size
o Use of lime and plaster of paris
o Three different kinds of sand and various materials used in different places
o Observation of times and seasons to start a building
• BOOK 3: CONSTRUCTION
o Goes into structural theory dealing with matters that relate to the firmness
of a building
• BOOK 4: PUBLIC WORKS
o Diversity of buildings of public nature
o Region, place, and conveniences and inconveniences of a situation of a
city
o Beginnings of a city – forms and fortification – customs and ceremonies
observed by ancients
o Walls, battlement towers and gates
o Proportion, fashion, and construction as per military ways and private ways
o Bridges – both wood and stone
o Drains and sewers
o Making of city squares
• BOOK 5: WORKS OF INDIVIDUALS
o Concentrated on general and specialized types of buildings as per utility
value
• BOOK 6 – 9: ORNAMENT (To sacred buildings, public secular buildings, private
buildings)
o Discusses about the unity Alberti classified as beauty.
o It is only now that he talks about architecture as a “beautiful art”.
o He related that to what is appropriate in terms of the hierarchy of the
building
• BOOK 10: RESTORATION OF BUILDINGS
o Deals with techniques of preserving existing buildings
o Defects and which can be corrected and which cannot. Water –
importance and effects, warmer & cooler climate, treating insect attack,
etc.
Temples
• Takes as the measure of all things by Alberti
• Source of all building elements that could appropriately used in all other buildings
(Ex: various columns and their components)
• Alberti explains the laws by which the correct number of parts, their proportions,
and their rhythm merge appropriately to form a beautiful piece of architecture
Ideal Floor Plans for Religious Buildings as per Alberti
• In his survey of desirable floor plans for sacred buildings (temples), Alberti begins
with the ideal form of the circle which is expressed in numerous examples of Nature
• Nine ideal centrally-planned geometrical shapes are recommended for churches
• Besides the circle, he lists the square, the hexagon, octagon, decagon, and
dodecagon, all derived from the circle
 • Derived from the square, rectangles that exhibit the square and a half, square and
a third, and double square
• Chapels add small geometric figures to the basic circles and polygons to give a
great variety of floor plans, in which each geometrical figure retains its clear unity
and simple ratios that bind all elements of the plans and elevations into a
harmonic unity

Sebastiano Serlio
• “THE GENERAL RULES OF ARCHITECTURE” (Regole generali di
architettura)
o Serlio describes the five different architectural orders
in which to build (Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and
Composite) and explains which types of materials
and ornaments can be used within each order
o The last pages of the book are devoted to other
elements which an architect should consider when
designing a house: ceilings, gardens, and coats arms.
▪ Presents four different designs for wooden
ceilings (layout of wooden structure and close-
up detail with painted decorations)
o More in: https://www.thinking3d.ac.uk/SerlioIV/
• “HIDDEN LINES” (Linee occulte)
o Application of these exhibits Serlio’s passionate use of
spatial representation
o Represent hidden connections by drawing geometrically following
Neoplatonic thinking
o Highly related to Alberti’s principles of lineaments
• “Architecture needs taught first by geometry and subsequently by the study of
perspective”

Giacomo/ Lacomo Barozzi da Vignola

• Was one of the great Italian architects of 16th century
Mannerism
• “THE FIVE ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE” (Regola delli cinque
ordini)
o One of the most successful architectural text books
ever written
o Standard textbook on the five architectural orders
for three centuries
o Devoted solely to consideration of the
architectural orders and their proportions
o “Concise, fast, and easily applicable rules of the
five column systems”
o Measurements based on Vitruve’s standards – 8th
part of the diameter of the pillar served as a measurement unit – wherein
he was able to derive his own measurements for classical Roman
monuments
 o The focus was not on studying classical monuments, but on their
interpretation
o Clarity and ease of use of Vignola’s treatise caused it to become in
succeeding centuries the most published book in architectural history
• Five sections of the Orders
o The colonnade
o Arcade
o Arcade with pedestal
o Individual pedestal and base forms
o Individual capital and entablature forms
• His goal was to develop a set of rules for proportions that can be understood by
“average minds”
• As per Vignola, the rule that had been handed down from classical architecture
– the height of a column of any order was proportional to the diameter of the
order – often resulted in irrational numbers
• Vignola came up with an easier method to calculate the proportions by starting
from the total dimensions of a building
o Pedestal : Column : Entablature = 4:12:3
o Total height of an order = 19 sections; 15 sections without pedestal
• To differentiate between various column orders, the thickness of the column
should be established as a fraction of the column height and he developed a
module system for different orders based on the radius of the bottom of the
column
• Vignola developed formulas for calculating various parts in order to simplify this
method
• He did not regard his theories as binding since only a few of his completed projects
observed these instructions
• RULES OF ART
o In order to be able to set up the instructions for the Doric system, I used the
Marcellus theatre as a model because it is praised by everyone. First I
measured the main parts; but if some smaller part would not obey the
[Vitruvian] proportions of figures -- which may have been caused by the
imprecision of the stonecutter or by other occasional reasons -- I made it
follow the rule.
• Based his design instructions on four things:
o Idea of Pythagoras (proportions of small numbers meant harmony)
o Proportions and other instructions provided by Vitruvius
o Example set by earlier buildings
o “General good taste” (interpretations vary)

Andrea Palladio
• Father of modern picture books of architecture
• Italian Renaissance architect of the Mannerist period who is widely considered as
the most influential individual in the history of Western Architecture
• PALLADIAN ARCHITECTURE became a European style of architecture which is
derived from the designs of Palladio
 • The term “Palladian” normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio’s
own work
• Palladio’s work is based on
o Symmetry: symmetrical in two axis both façade and plan
o Perspective
o Values of the formal classical temple architecture of the Ancient Greeks
and Romans (Greco-Roman style)
▪ No distortion of classical styles
▪ Addition and subtraction of elements (e.g: no details in tympanum)
• Palladian architecture became popular in Northern European countries and North
America, mainly as a “style” for villa design (house of the rich).
• The style which was popular throughout the 19th and early 20th century (Neo-
Classical) centuries was frequently employed in the design of public and
municipal buildings.
• “THE FOUR BOOKS OF ARCHITECTURE” (I quattro libri dell architettura)
o Describes the principles behind his architecture, which was used for
“Palladianism” or Palladian inspired classicism
o Used classical antiquity as a guide for the construction of buildings
o Palladio illustrated the treatise with his very own projects
o Provides his experiences in coming up with his design
o Little theory involved

Philibert De L’orme
• One of French theorists who are critical of Italians
• Proved that Pantheon’s Corinthian columns had 3 different proportions
• Rejected the doctrine of absolute beauty of measures
o measurements of a column depended on whether the column was large
or small in size or whether it was placed high up or downward in the building
o actual form of the column did not alone determine its beauty
o the final impression of beauty was only created when somebody was
looking at the column
o Principle later developed into “Perceptive Psychology”

Works Printed by French Theorists

• CLAUDE PERRAULT’S THE ORDONNANCE FOR THE FIVE KINDS OF COLUMNS
(ORDONNANCE DES CINQ ESPECES DE COLONNES)
o Culmination of Perrault’s efforts
o Proposed a relative theory of beauty
o Translated book on:
http://d2aohiyo3d3idm.cloudfront.net/publications/virtuallibrary/08923623
32.pdf
• JEAN LOUIS DE CORDEMOY’S NOUVEAU TRAITE DE TOUTE L’ARCHITECTURE
o Influenced by Perrault’s determination to reduce the complexity of
architectural composition and the proportioning of orders
o Search for truth, simplicity, and honest expression of form
o Demonstrates an early understanding of the sophistication of Gothic
structures
 o Argues in favor of classical clarity with the orders, used structurally, all
unnecessary ornament eschewed, design that drew upon nature and
antiquity, and buildings that expressed their purpose
• MARC-ANTOINE LAUGIER’S AN ESSAY ON ARCHITECTURE (ESSAI SUR L’A
ARCHITECTURE)
o true principles are explained, and invariable rules proposed, for directing
the judgement and forming the taste of the gentleman and the architect,
with regard to the different kinds of buildings, the embellishment of cities
• JACQUES-FRANCOIS BLONDEL’S COURS D’ ARCHITECTURE
o Compilation of Blondel’s lectures and plans
• J-N-L DURAND’S PRECIS DES LECONS
o Discusses the elements of buildings, composition in general, and
examination of the principal kinds of building
o Translated book on:
http://d2aohiyo3d3idm.cloudfront.net/publications/virtuallibrary/08923658
03.pdf
• JULIEN GUADET’S ELEMENTS ET THEORIES DE L’ARCHITECTURE
o devote his lectures to the study of architectural planning, and this method,
which achieved prestige as a result of his keen mind and wide historical
knowledge, was pursued by many later scholars.

CONSTRUCTION THEORIES IN ARCHITECTURE

• Available building materials and tools have determined or at least modified
building forms
Building Material Ensuing Architectural Form
Spherical vaulted construction:
Amorphic material: soft stone,
igloo, trulli (South Italy), nuraghi
snow
(Sardinia)
Cone-shaped tent-like
Sheets of skin or textile, and poles
constructions
Logs of wood Box-shaped construction

Before written Construction Theory

• Architecture created without the help of architects or theory
• Builders used a model instead of mathematical algorithms now used in modern
construction
• Inverted “catenary” model
o Mesopotamian stone vault duplicates a catenary curve leads to the
assumption that the design was based on the invention that when a
catenary is inverted, the original stretching forces become replaced by
compression only and all sidewise forces remain absent
o Necessitated verbal instructions which today would merit the name “design
theory” even if there is no written evidence
Semi-Circular Vault: Theory by Vitruve
“Where there are arches… the outermost piers must be made broader than the others,
so that they may have the strength to resist when the wedges, under the pressure of the
load of the walls, begin to thrust out the abutments.”

Vaults of Medieval Cathedrals

• Le Theatre de l’art de Charpentier by Mathurin Jousse
o Deals with wooden constructions
• Le Secret d’architecture decouvrant fidelement les traits metriques by Mathurin
Jousse
o Deals with stone vaults
• Both writings describe traditional structures and do not yet present any tangible
theory for their design
• Shapes of Gothic vaults resemble inverted catenaries

During Middle Ages

• Architects design not only the layout and decoration but also the construction
and stability of buildings
• Architects were also in charge of the construction work itself

During Renaissance
• Architects began specializing in the “disegno” of the buildings
o Design of the exterior
o Layout of the buildings
• Mechanics of materials and construction started to become a field of study of its
own
• Mathematical models and verifying through experiments were adopted from
Francis Bacon and Galileo Galilei.
• 1675: Marquis de Vauban founded a building department in the French army
called “Corps des ingenieurs”
• 1747: Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees, special school founded in Paris where new
profession specializing in construction was organized
• Other figures who developed mathematical construction theory
o Robert Hooke
o Jakob Bernoulli
o Leonard Euler
• Theory of elasticity of structures developed from Euler onwards
• New innovations of practical building were made and published in books
o Pierre Boulet: l’Architecture pratique
o William Halfpenny: The art of sound building
o Francis Price: The British carpenter or a treatise on carpentry
o William Pain: The Builder’s companion, and Workman’s general assistant
Copying from Antiquity
• Architecture from antiquity came to a point of perfection and designers only
needed to combine and modify the elements to fit them to practical requirements
and resources of each commissioner
• EUGENE VIOLLET-LE-DUC: The 1st theorist who set out to create a totally new system
of architectural forms independent of antiquity
o “What we call taste in but an involuntary process of reasoning whose steps
elude our observation… Authority has no value if its grounds are not
explained”
• The foundation of modern architecture
• Viollet-le-Duc;s deductions in developing a new architecture:
o “A door ought to be made for the purpose of going into a building or going
out of it; the width of such door ought therefore be accommodated to the
... number of persons who have occasion to go in or out; but however
dense a crowd may be, the persons are always under seven feet in height;
... To make a door five yards wide and ten high is therefore absurd."
o “A column is a support, not a decoration, like a frieze or an arabesque; if
then you have no occasion for columns, I cannot understand why you
furnish your facades with them."
o "A cornice is intended to keep the water from the face of the wall: if
therefore you put a projecting cornice in an interior, I cannot but say that it
is unmeaning.
• Although Viollet-le-Duc did not create a timeless architectural style himself, he
showed others the philosophical foundation and method that they could use to
develop even radically new form languages
• OWEN JONES: used forms inspired from nature, especially plants
o His studies resulted to the first design instruction on the use of ornaments
originating in nature (GRAMMAR OF ORNAMENT)
▪ “Flowers or other natural objects should not be used as ornaments”,
instead, “conventional representations founded upon them
sufficiently suggestive to convey the intended image to the mind,
without destroying the unity of the object they are employed to
decorate”
▪ “Imitations, such as the graining of woods, and of the curious colored
marbles are allowable only when the employment of the thing
imitated would not have been inconsistent”.

ART NOUVEAU
• The 1st architectural style independent of the tradition of antiquity after the Gothic
style
• Originated from the philosophies of Viollet-le-Duc and rules of Jones but no
theoretical research has been found
• The hegemony of Jugendstil was short which limited the time to do research
• The example set by Art Nouveau encouraged some of the most skillful architects
of the 20th century to create their private form languages.
 • Le Corbusier: architecture psychology, as natural forms of plants, buildings as giant
sculptures

Personal Styles
• Private form languages brought by Art Nouveau
• The personal styles of architects are not necessarily based on laws of nature or on
logical reasoning. More important is that they exhibit a coherent application of an
idea which also must be clear that the public can find it out. An advantage is also
if the style includes symbolical undertones.

Theoretical Treatises
Le Corbusier

• Modulor
o Short written foundation to system of proportions based on the Golden
Section
o Fundamental perceptive psychology base was presented in the book Vers
une architecture:
▪ “Architecture is a brilliant, orthodox, and original jigsaw puzzle of
masses combined in light. Our eyes were created to see the forms in
light; light and shadow reveal the forms. Cubes, cones, balls,
cylinders and pyramids are primary shapes that light so excellently
reveals; the picture they give to us is clear and perspicuous without
indecision. That is why they are beautiful forms."
o Method of proportioning based on height of an English man with his arm
raised
o An anthropometric scale of proportions devised by Swiss-born French
architect Le Corbusier.
o Developed as a visual bridge between two incompatible scales, the
imperial system, and the metric system
• Study of natural forms of plants
• Buildings are understood as giant sculptures

• Five Points of Architecture (Les 5 points d’une architecture nouvelle): declaration

of the cardinal rules of “new architecture”
o Pillars or columns elevating the building body off the ground
 o Free plan or Open floor Plan: achieved through the separation of load-
bearing columns from the walls subdividing the space
o Free façade: the corollary of free plan in the vertical plane; free of
ornamentation
o The long horizontal sliding window or fenetre en longeur
o The roof garden, restoring, supposedly, the area of garden used up by the
house
• Architecture as Space (Bruno Zevi)
o “The crux of architecture is not the sculptural pattern, but instead the
building interiors. These can be seen as “negative solids”, as voids which the
artist divides, combines, repeats, and emphasizes in the same way as the
sculptor treats his “positive” lumps of substance.”

MODERNISM
Preconditions in Functional Architecture
• Function is one of the cornerstones of Vitruvian Theory
• Did not receive as much attention in the Renaissance era
• Industrial Revolution
• Eugene Viollet-le-Duc

Product Styles of the Industrial Revolution

Arts and Crafts Movement
• Originated in the mid-19th century as an antidote to the dehumanizing effects of
the industrial revolution
• Proponents include:
o William Morris
o John Ruskin
• Proponents gave expression to designs for houses, fabrics, furniture, handmade
books, and other decorative arts.
• British Arts and Crafts featured references to Medieval and Gothic styles
(England’s design heritage)
• US Arts and Crafts were featured mostly houses and some churches and chapels
• John Ruskin
o Art critic who articulated the negative sentiments regarding the Industrial
Revolution
• William Morris’ THE RED HOUSE
o Steep roofs, L-shaped asymmetrical
plan, and overhanging eaves recall
the Gothic style
o Brick introducing a simple, pedestrian
touch, which contribute to its general
recognition as the first Arts & Crafts
building
• BUILDING TYPOLOGY
 o Bulwark against the harsh conditions of industrialization
o Regenerative spiritual haven
o Locus of traditional family unity
o Structural authenticity: exposed beams, strong posts, rafter extending past
roof line
o Simplicity: open floor plans with built-ins, smooth surfaces, lack of intricate
carving
o Native materials: wood (especially oak), locally sourced stone, stucco,
brick
o Natural influences: earth tones, attention to wood grain, decorative items
made of shell or bone
o The hand of the artist: hand hammered metals, handmade tile, embracing
of imperfections
o Emphasis on home life: dim, homey, glowing interiors, prominent fireplaces,
glass art to soften light
Eclecticism
• Architectural style that flourished in the 19th and 20th centuries
• Any design which incorporates elements of traditional motifs and styles,
decorative aesthetics and ornaments, structural features, etc. that originated from
other cultures or architectural periods.
• “The architecture of borrowing”
• Designers that adopt eclecticism often choose to focus on one particular style
which resulted to the birth of revivalist movements
• Harness historic styles to create something original and new
• Beaux Arts Approach
o Richard Morris Hunt
o Charles Follen McKim

Industrial Revolution
Crystal Palace by Joseph Paxton (1851)
• Glass and cast iron structure built for the Great
Exhibition of 1851
• First application of ridge-and-furrow roof
design
• Economic, low-cost
• Method of construction became a
breakthrough in technology and design and
paved the way for more sophisticated pre-
fabricated designe
• Construction: self-supporting shell maximizing the interior space
• Glass cover: enabling daylight to enter
Safety Elevator by Elisha Graves Otis (1857)
• Made modern skyscrapers possible
Rolled Steel Manufacturing
1870s
The Great Fire of Chicago (1871)
• Downtown in Chicago was burned and needs of construction of new buildings
• New construction looked very similar to what was built before the fire to save time
and money
• Four-story downtown commercial buildings were often a hybrid of brick, stone,
and iron construction
• Some argue that Chicago wouldn’t have developed significantly without the fire.
Chicago
• Second largest city in the US
• Place where the first tallest building (The Home Insurance Building) was
constructed

1890s
The World Columbian Exposition (1863)
• Chief Architect: Daniel Burnham & Frederick Law Olmstead
• Strongly influenced American architecture and city planning
• Promoted rapid urbanization of the South Side
• Site gained the nickname “White City”
• Showcased Daniel Burnham’s City Beautiful movement
o Design could not be separated from social issues and should encourage
civic pride and engagement
• Used the grandeur and romance of Beaux-Arts classicism to legitimize the
architecture of pavilions and evoke solidity in the young city

Popular Modernist Architects

Louis Sullivan
• “Form ever follows function”
• Mentor of Frank Lloyd Wright
• Explored organic ornamentation and steel-frame construction
• Used natural ornament as a metaphor for a democratic society
• He believes that a building should respond to its own particular environment, just
as a plant would grow “naturally, logically, and poetically out of all its conditions”
• ORNAMENT IN ARCHITECTURE
o “It would be greatly for our aesthetic good if we should refrain entirely from
the use of ornament for a period of years, in order that our thought might
concentrate acutely upon the production of buildings well formed and
comely in the nude.
o “Ornament is mentally a luxury, not a necessary”
o “The intellectual trend of the hour is toward simplification”
o “a building which is truly a work of art (and I consider none other)
is in its nature, essence and physical being an emotional
 expression. This being so, and I feel deeply that it is so, it must
have, almost literally, a life. ”
Frank Lloyd Wright
• Greatest American architect of all time
• Believed in the power of connecting architecture with its inhabitants
• “The mother art is architecture… without an architecture of our own, we have no
soul of our own civilization”
• PRAIRIE STYLE
o Designed to reflect the
low-slung, horizontal lines
of the American prairie
landscape, with lengthy
rows of windows, low pitch
roofs, and an absence of
basements or attics.
o Interior walls were
minimized to create and open floor plan to foster a sense of community for
inhabitants and a harmonious connection to the natural world.
o WILLIAM H. WINSLOW HOUSE
▪ Typified the Prairie Style
• USONIAN HOUSE DESIGN
o Architecture which
intervenes for affordable
housing
o Streamlined, with a
simplistic approach to
construction, proving that
beautifully minimal
architecture could be
affordable
o HERBERT JACOBS HOUSE
▪ One of Wright’s works during the Great Depression featuring a
Usonian approach
• ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE
o Interiors and exteriors in balanced
harmony
o House could be compared to a
living organism with all parts relating
to the whole, making form and
function wholly intertwined.
o FALLINGWATER IN RURAL
PENNSYLVANIA
▪ Blends seamlessly into the
forest greenery of rural Pennsylvania, cantilevered over a rushing
waterfall
 ▪ Mirrors the natural pattern of surrounding rocks with its stacked
shape, built from concrete, glass, and stone
o TALIESIN WEST
▪ Structure merges with the landscape in this piece, constructed from
local rock bound with desert
sand and accented with
redwood beams and splashes
of Cherokee red
o GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, NYC
▪ Open plan space with spiral
ramp towards an airy domed
skylight illuminating the space
with natural light
• DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
o Create built environments that are both functional and humane
o Connects with and enriches the users’ lives
o Organic design philosophy: Architecture holds relationship with its time and
place
o Showcases materials (wood and stone) in their authentic state
Otto Wagner
• MODERN ARCHITECTURE (Moderne Arckitektur)
o Appearance not only created a sensation but also presaged a revolution
o First modern writing to make definitive break with the past, outlining an
approach to design that has become synonymous with 20th century
practice
o Opposed architectural eclecticism as a realist
o “The sole departure point for our artistic work can only be modern life”
o “The realism of our time must pervade the developing work of art. It will not
harm it, nor will any decline of art ensue as a consequence of it, rather it
will breath a new and pulsating life into forms and in time conquer new
fields that today are still devoid of art”
o Codifies the ideas of Modern architects representing the advent of
modernist thinking
• Basis of modern architecture could not be the symbolism of the past but the
imperatives of time-construction and technology
• Utility style is the style of the future
• Function of architecture is more important than form or style
• Wagner’s stations used Art Nouveau style defined curvilinear and soft angular
forms, organic motifs, and geometric designs
Adolf Loos
• ORNAMENT UND VERBRECHEN
o An essay entailing his strong agreement to modern theorists regards
ornament
 ▪ Economic concern: creation of ornament added additional labor
and material costs and workers who produced ornamentation were
paid less than those who performed straightforward work
▪ Political concern: ornament is the aspect of the material world that
traditionally confers on objects their qualitative distinctiveness, a
dispensable carryover from the outmoded elite cultures of the past
▪ Aesthetic concern: Ornament is a kind of mask, the means of hiding
defects of workmanship, materials, or basic design
Peter Behrens
• Mentor of Van der Rohe, Gropius, and Le Corbusier
• Pioneer in the field of modern industrial design
• ON ECONOMICAL BUILDING (VON SPARSAMEN BAUEN)
o Adovated the use of types and inexpensive materials such as slag concrete
o A way to look for financial saving possibilities in construction

Art Movements
Futurism
• Founded by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti producing the MANIFESTO OF FUTURISM
• Characterized by long dynamic lines, suggesting speed, motion, urgency, and
lyricism
• Simultaneity of movement
Cubism
• Interpretation of Space
• Centered in dissolution and reconstitution of 3D forms

International Style
Characteristics
• Box-type forms
• Open plans
• Use of glass and steel in building envelop
• Reinforced concrete construction
• No ornamentations
• Feeling of lightness
• Flat surfaces
Philip Johnson
• Luxurious in scale and materials
• Symmetry and elegance were emphasized
• “All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that
contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space”
• “Doing a house is so much harder than doing a skyscraper”
Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe
 • No particular style because philosophy must come first
• Used steel and concrete frames wrapped in brick and glass curtain walls including
his famed work, CROWN HALL
• “Less is more”
• Believe that the configuration and arrangement of every architectural element
must contribute to a unified expression
• “Skin and Bones” Architecture
• “God is in the details”
Walter Gropius
• “To build is to create events”
• “Architects, sculptors, painters, we must all return to the crafts. For art is no a
profession. There is no essential difference between the craftsman and the
architect. The architect is the exalted craftsman.”
• “The final goal of all artistic activities is architecture.”
• BUILDING TYPOLOGIES
o Clean lines
o Horizontal composition
o Modern materials like glass and steel
o Box-type
o Simple
o Smooth surfaces
o Primary colors
• BAUHAUS
o Connects the workshop wing with the vocational school. A single-storey
building with a hall, stage and refectory, the so-called Festive Area,
connects the workshop wing to the studio building.
o The unity of art and technology

• BAUHAUS PHILOSOPHIES
o Combines arts with fine arts and crafts that influence modern and
contemporary art
• BAUHAUS CHARACTERISTICS
o Form follows function
o There is no border between artist and craftsman
o The artist is an exalted craftsman
o Minimalism
o Use of technology
o Wise use of resources
o Integrity of materials
Le Corbusier
• PAVILLON DE L’ESPRIT NOUVEAU
o Modular dwelling block that can be attached to form bigger
o Open plan
o With kitchen and living areas on ground floor
 o Bedroom and bathroom on second floor
• BRUTALISM
o Minimalist
o Exposed building materials and structural systems
o Angular geometric shape
o Monochrome
o Unpainted brick or concrete
o Other materials: steel, timber glass
• “For the first time perhaps, the pressing problems of architecture were solved in a
modern spirit. Economy, sociology, aesthetics: a new solution using new methods”
• “Through the channel of my painting, I arrived at my architecture”

POSTMODERNISM
• Reintroduced an awareness of the past
• “You can not know history” -Philip Johnson
• Led to a revived awareness of the well established traditions of city planning, and
ultimately to the new urbanism movement

Robert Venturi
• GUILD HOUSE
o Illustrates what is ugly, banal, and symbolic in architecture
o Reflected his ideas on variety and contradiction and broke with all
conventions of functionalism
• His buildings have been characterized by the playful use of elements of
classical architecture
• COMPLEXITY AND CONTRADICTION IN ARCHITECTURE
o Offers a critique to justify his own work
o Examination of complexity and contradiction in architecture
o “More is not less”
o Modernist architects ignored many factors and worked against the
needs of the society.
o Demonstrative : Less ; Modernism : Boring
• Architecture must have variety and contradiction which are indispensable
• Concerns about rediscovering architecture as a bearer of symbols
Charles Jencks
• THE LANGUAGE OF POST-MODERN ARCHITECTURE
o One of the most successful works on architectural theory from post-
1945 era
o Theoretical foundation of post-modernism
o PART 1: THE DEATH OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE
▪ Refers to the demolition of several high-rises which were built
between 1952-1955
o Criticizes the elitist reductionism of modern architecture
 o Emphasizes the need to enlarge the vocabulary of architecture in
different directions – to include native (local), traditional, and
commercial jargon of the street”
o Sees radical eclecticism in Post-modern architecture and is
described as a double standard which appeals to the elite as well as
the man on the street
• Types of architectural communication
o An attempt to analyze architecture as a semantic (meaning) system
o METAPHOR as an architectural form
▪ Modernist buildings: cardboard boxes and checked papers
▪ The more metaphors architecture triggers, the greater the
dramatic effect
▪ The more metaphors remain mere suggestions, the greater
semiotic ignorance
o WORDS as a makeup of architectural language of form
▪ Established motifs and elements such as columns and pitched
roof
▪ Architects must employ explicit system of semantic order and
he goes on to suggest a mixture of styles
▪ Important development: Reanimation down-to-earth
architecture which he finds in decorative forms and building
materials
• “The mysterious, ambiguous, and lustful” and toward a “radical
eclecticism” as a “naturally developed response to a culture of choice”
Post-modernism and Critical Regionalism
• BEYOND THE MODERN MOVEMENT
o Five characteristics of Post-modernism:
▪ History
▪ Cultural allusionism
▪ Anti-utopianism
▪ Urban design
▪ Contextualism
THEORY
• As Doctrine or ideology- speaks of how things should be providing set of
principles. Theory as a model or a s system held ideal
• As explanatory schemes- describes things found in this world. Theory is
viewed as an account of reality that seeks to capture the tangible
conditions.
• A system of assumptions, accepted principles and rules od procedures
devised to analyze, or otherwise explain the nature or behavior of specified
set of phenomena.
Historical Development of Theory Definitions
• Started from 16th to 17th Century
• First phase 16th century: Sight or spectacle watching, seeing, observing
o Sir Isaac Newton was observing the apples falling to the ground in
1666 which leas him to study the universal gravity.
o If the statement is not accepted 100%
• Second Phase 17th century: speculation, projected idea, linked to a
perception
o Sir Isaac Newton starts to use formula to speculates.
• Third Phase 17th century: schemes of ideas, process.
o It is documented and processed in a systematic way.
• Fourth Middle Phase 17th century: explanatory scheme
o It implies meanings and ideas.
o Systematic explanation of practice.
Research, Theory and Practice
• Compatible, ideally proposed and practice is action.
Aristotle’s distinction about actions:
Theoria- activity of contemplating aimed to establish knowledge
Poiesis- poetic or artful making with the goal of producing
-Elements of beauty or arts.
Praxis-as the mode of making in which theory informs the work and lead to action
Eero Saarinen
• Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century
famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project:
simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.
• International Style and Expressionism
• Much of his work shows a relation to sculpture.
• Devotion to quality and professionalism
• “Next largest context “, man of vision
• Famous because of his Tulip Chair
• GATEWAY ARCH
o A memorial arch, monument and observation tower
• KRESGE AUDITORIUM AND CHAMPEL AT MIT
o Inspired by an animal
• TWA TERMINAL
o Inspired with a bird ready to fly
Jorn Utzon

• A multi-venue for performing arts.

• One of the best examples of Expressionism style
• “A design can grow like a tree, if it grows naturally, the architecture, will
look after itself.”
• A famous building constructed by Jorn Utzon is the Sydney Opera house
found in Australia.
• SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
o A multi-venue for performing arts.
o One of the best examples of Expressionism style
Santiago Calatrava

• An Architect, Artist, and Engineer, sculptor his works take materials like
concrete, glass and steel beyond the normal bounds
• concepts buildings following biomorphic forms
• expressionism architect
• In 1979 he won the Auguste Perret award for rekindling the quality of Perret's
structural work and for re-emphasizing the importance of primary structure
in defining form.
• LYON- SAINT EXUPERY AIRPORT RAILWAY STATION
o The central building is given endowed with a symbolic image of flight,
which facilitates its association with the character of the region,
bringing together the idea of alpine landscape with pulse progress.
 o “The projected cover is like a giant bird that rises above the train
tracks
• TENERIFE AUDITORIUM
o arc” shape 15-20 cm thick first applied in the building • Two points o
the large arch touching the ground and the end is suspended.
• PLANETARIUM OF THE VALENCIA SCIENCE CENTER
• CITY OF ARTS AND SCIENCE, VALENSIA SPAIN
o Inspiration-giant human eye Building is known as “Eye for
Knowledge”
• HSB TURNING TORSO
o Is the tallest skyscraper in Sweden and the Nordic countries, situated
in Malmö, Sweden.
Louis Kahn
• “Architecture is reaching out for the truth.
• Louis Kahn's work infused the International style with a fastidious, highly
personal taste, a poetry of light.
• Isamu Noguchi called him "a philosopher among architects."
• He was known for his ability to create monumental architecture that
responded to the human scale.
• His palette of materials tended toward heavily textured brick and bare
concrete, the textures often reinforced by juxtaposition to highly refined
surfaces such as travertine marble.
• • While widely known for his spaces' poetic sensibilities
• Architectural Style:
o notable for its simple, platonic forms and compositions
o use of bricks and poured-in place concrete masonry
o contemporary and monumental architecture that maintained
sympathy for the site
o Influenced by ancient ruins, Kahn's style tends to the monumental
and monolithic; his heavy buildings do not hide their weight, their
materials, or the way they are assembled
• YALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY
o considered as Kahn’s first major work
• JATIYO SANGSHAD BHABAN
• SALK INSTITURE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES
• PHILLIPS EXETER ACADEMY LIBRARY
o Kahn conceived of the three types of spaces as if they were three
buildings constructed of different materials and of different scales –
buildings-withinbuildings ".
o The outer area, which houses the reading carrels, is made of brick.
The middle area, which contains the heavy book stacks, is made of
reinforced concrete. The inner area is an atrium.
 • INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AHMEDABAD
• ESHERICH HOUSE
• NORMAN FISHER HOUSE
IEOH MING PEI
• Post Modern Architect, Modern architecture, Futuristic and International
Style.
• cast your eyes on buildings to feel the presence of the past, the spirit of a
place; they are the reflection of society."
• “I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be
built on a foundation of necessity.”
• form follows intention
• creating a bridge between the present and the past.
• Books Published
➢ Suzhou: Shaping an Ancient City for the New China : an
EDAW/Pei Workshop Published on 1988, This book is based on a two
week charette conducted in July 1996 in Souzhou, China. Extensive
documentation of this charette is presented here, including dozens
of sketches, drawings and details developed by the members of the
charette.
➢ I.M. Pei: Mandarin of Modernism Published on 1995, About the
first biography of an amazing modern master whose architectural
vision and political skill have shaped our environment. Michael
Cannell reveals here the history and personality behind the
enigmatic Pei, our most famous living architect.
➢ I.M. Pei Published on August 19, 2005- This book is about Ieoh
Ming Pei’s Biography In 1935, 17-year-old I.M. Pei left his family in
Shanghai, China, to study architecture in the United States. Though
he had intended to return home after earning his college degree, the
Japanese invasion of China and the outbreak of World War II
changed his plans. Following the Communist takeover of China in
1949, Pei decided to remain in America to develop his budding
architectural career, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1954
• LOUVRE MUSEUM PYRAMID
• EAST BULDING
• BANK OF CHINA TOWER
o tallest building in Hong Kong and Asia from 1990 to 1992, the first building outside
the United States to break the 305 m (1,000 ft) mark
o supported by the four steel columns at the corners of the building
o triangular frameworks transferring the weight of the structure onto these four
columns
o covered with glass curtain walls
• MACAU SCIENCE CENTER
o asymmetrical, conical shape with a spiral walkway and a large atrium inside
 • MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART
o utilized creamy limestone for the outer facades
o Features a stand-alone island for the structure
o decorated by several Islamic arts
• GREEN BUILDING
• SUZHOU MUSEUM
• MIHO MUSEUM
• THE GRAND DUKE JEAN MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
• LUCE MEMORIAL CHAPEL
KENZO TANGE
• Japanese Architect
• Architects today tend to depreciate themselves, to regard themselves as no more than just
ordinary citizens without the power to reform the future”
• “Designs of purely arbitrary nature cannot be expected to last long”
• “I am aware of changes gradually taking place in my own designs as part of my thinking on this
matter”
• “I feel however, that we architects have a special duty and mission... (to contribute) to the socio-
cultural development of architecture and urban planning”
• “In my opinion, further consideration of those views will help us find a way out of the current
impasse, and reveal to us the kinds of buildings and cities required by the informational society”.
• “Technological considerations are of great importance to architecture and cities in the
informational society”.
• “There is a powerful need for symbolism, and that means the architecture must have something
that appeals to the human heart”.
• “Tradition can, to be sure, participate in a creation, but it can no longer be creative itself”.
• HIROSHIMA PEACE MEMORIAL MUSEUM
o Tange refined this concept to place the museum prominently at the centre,
separate from the utility buildings.
o In addition to architectural symbolism, he thought it important for the design to
centre around the building that houses the information about the atomic
explosion
• TANGE HOUSE
• KAGAWA PREFECTURE OFFICE
• YOYOGI NATIONAL MUSEUM
• TOKYO METROPOLITANT GOVERNMENT BUILDING
• ST. MARY’S CATHEDRAL

NEW URBANISM SUSTAINIABLE

TADAO ANDO
• Japanese Contemporary Architect, Modernism and Minimalism
• I do not believe architecture should speak too much. It should remain silent
and let nature in the guise of sunlight and wind.
• Light is the origin of all being
• Walls of defeat walls.
• Refers to simplicity
• Light and water
• Considers the natural light pass through the building
• The importance of nature in Japanese Architecture.
• AZUMA HOUSE (ROW HOUSE IN SUMIYOSHI)
• CHURCH IN THE WATER
• CHURCH OF THE LIGHT
• WATER TEMPLE HYOGO
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN PROCESS
Four Significant Phases
1. Definition of the Project – known as the programming where more activities are
required to complete the data of the project.
-the accumulation and gathering of general information including specific data
related to the project which includes:
o Background of the project -Discussion about the project touching on the
basic needs.
o Scope of the project – Embraces the needs of the project that can be
translated into spaces or architectural undertaking within the realm of
architect’s service.
o Project objective- Reflects the intentions of the project owner in putting up
a building. Contains the enumeration of the intentions. Why the prospective
client is proposing a building or a project?
- Influence the direction of the design objectives and approaches
set by the architect
➢ Sort out all the client’s objectives in relation to
architectural activities.
➢ Observe hierarchy of objectives
➢ Project objectives-client
➢ Design objectives-architect
- Goal- Broad vague statements of what to achieve at the end of
the process.
- SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and
Timebound
o Site of the project- Contains information about the site: location, size and
shapes, measurements others.
- TCT: Transfer Certificate of Title
▪ Shows Ownership
▪ Location
▪ Orientation
▪ Technical description
 o Building Requirements-All requirements and data needed in putting up a
specific building: legal, space requirements, standards, needs and wants
of the user/owner, cultural, others
2. Development of Design Strategies
o Design Objectives - Architect’s intention on what to accomplish at the end
of the design process
- Answers the needs of the project which can be translated into
spatial or architectural activities
o Design Considerations - Influencing factors that are considered in
developing the building and its environment. These are factors may not be
directly related in architecture but are needed since they affect the design
of the building
- Geared toward the attainment of the design objectives
Some Considerations
▪ Environmental
▪ Art Elements and Art Principles
▪ Legal
▪ Demographic
▪ Other: Science, Engineering, Urban Design and Regional
Planning, Landscape.
- Design Issues- current problem that needs to be addressed
through design activities.
- An area of concern that demands a design response
o Programming
o Technical space analysis- complete all the spaces needed so the building will
function efficiently.
- The use of matrix diagram is the best way to graphically analyze
the adjacency of spaces.
3. Development of Design and Appreciation
4. Final Design and Appreciation
ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAMING
• A plan or procedure
• A process of managing information so that the right kind of information is
available at right stage of the design process and the best possible
decisions can be made in shaping the outcome of the building design.
• It also creates the structure for fulfilling the hopes, wishes, and desires of the
building’s future inhabitants
• It is the first step of the design process
- Information provided by the client/user
- Design team or program consultant (Garbage out, Garbage in)
Two main concerns of programming
1. Analysis of the existing state- site analysis, user profiles and codes
2. Projection of Future state- set of criteria that the design must meet in order to
be successful includes: the mission, goal, concepts and performance
requirements.

AIA Design Process Design Process as Cyclic Process (in

Circle)
• Program document- states the mission
(purpose) of the project and serves as a
repository of all relevant factual material
pertaining to the project
- documents all relevant factual materials
and decisions about the scope and direction
of the project

Generic Process

• Analysis- is the breaking up of any whole into parts so as to find pout

their nature, function
 • Synthesis- putting together of parts or elements to forms a whole.
Fact-site, user, culture economics must be uncovered.

SOME DESIGN CONSIDERATION

• Data about site
o Cultural, Natural and Aesthetics
• Design issues
o (Pena, 1987)- Form, function, Economy and Time.
o (Palmer, 1981)- Human Factors, Physical Factors and
External Factors.
PROFESSIONAL ISSUES AND CONCERNS ON PROGRAMING
➢ Limits creativity
➢ Too complicated
➢ Increase cost, waste, energy
Importance of Programming
➢ Give architects info for projects big or small
➢ Stage for gathering info and decisions
PREPARATION OF AN ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAM
Program form/ Content
➢ Preliminaries
➢ Executive summary
➢ y Values and goals
➢ Design considerations
➢ Project requirements
➢ Space identification
➢ allocation
HIERARCHY OF DECISIONS
Mission

• defines special purpose that the building project must fulfil to succeed.
• should answer the questions
➢ Why are we doing this project?
➢ What is the contribution that this project will make to the
world?
Goal

• must be developed
• Clearly expresses the level of quality to be reached by the final design
regarding all design issues have been uncovered in the analysis phase.
 • It is a statement of an ideal quality level in which the design should have to
be 100% successful
• Types of goals (process/ resource goals)
1. Time
2. Financial
3. Talent
4. Skill
5. Critic
6. Evaluators
• Educational goals-opportunity of the design team to learn something
• Personal goal-what the design team wants to get from the project
• Project goals-relate only to the outcome desired from the project
• Techniques in developing goals: Interview, Observation, Scenarios and
Existing documents
GOOD GOAL STATEMENT
o level of quality or degree of excellence that the ideal solution or final
product will achieve. resolve the question raised about the role of a
particular issue in the design project.
o embodies the aspirations of the client and the users so that the
designer is inspired to fulfil those dreams.
o focuses on the quality of environment to be achieved for the issue
that the goal is delineating
METHOD OF FORMULATING GOAL
o focus on the designer’s search for a solution to problem without
limiting the potential for multiple, alternative design concepts that
would fulfil the goal’s intention
o Heuristic method
o Goal should be general
o It should avoid words that are open to wide range of interpretation
Performance Requirement
• Statement about measurable level of function that the designed object,
building, or place must provide for a goal to be met.
• It is also called performance specification standard or a criterion and is
often labelled as an objective.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS?
•Specific and Measurable
•Operational Measures
➢ Binary measures either yes or no. Whether or not something works or
whether or not it meets the required level of performance.
➢ Scalar- measures within acceptable range of values using physical
measurements
 ➢ Judgment- evaluation based on values, verification, ranking,
estimation, approximation, guess, anticipation.

Values
• different building types require different responses to the same issues based upon the values of
different users

Issues
• Issues are means to any matter that demands a design response in order for building project to
be successful for its clients and users
ISSUE CHECKLIST
▪ AUDIBILITY
➢ Behaviour
▪ CIRCULATION
➢ Information
➢ Material
➢ Parking
▪ Elegant means Phasing
➢ Quality
➢ Energy efficiency
➢ Environmental impact
▪ Flexibility
➢ Adaptability
➢ Choice/variety
➢ Expansion/contraction
➢ Multi-use
Image
Identity
Message
Ordering/proportion
Status/hierarchy
symbolism I
▪ Interaction
▪ •Group participation
▪ •Social
▪ Legibility •Layering •Orientation •Plan recognition •Sequence COMFORT
•Physical •Psychological Convenience •Durability •Economy Mood/ambience
•Attitude •Emotional response •Spirit of place Olfactory Personalization •Group
•Individual Resource management Safety •Accident •Hazard Security •Assault
•Robbery •Unauthorized access/.entry •Vandalism Territory •Group •Individual
Visibility Facts •Are objectives • specific, • verifiable by some measurements or
observation Site •Climate •Wind •Sun •Temperature •Humidity •Wind speed
and direction Codes Site conditions Building codes Subdivision regulations Fire
code Water code Others Traffic Bicycles Pedestrians Vehicles Person/user
•Activity analysis •Age group •Anthropometric •Disability •Environmental
history •Density •Organizational structure •Others Perceptual abilities
 •Personality •Roles •Rules •Values Context •Cultural •Demographic •Economic
•Ethnical •Historical •Political •Social •Others

Note: All goals requirements concepts performance requirements must be

parallel to the mission