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CONSTRUCTING ATMOSPHERE

The book  talks about how creating an atmosphere has always been an important criteria for an architect, where atmosphere of a building is a sensuous emission of sound, light, heat, smell, and moisture; a swirling climate of intangible effects generated by a stationary object. This holds good for the inhabitants also as its the environment  that leaves the effect on the inhabitant than the building itself.

FL Wright considered  himself as the architect of atmosphere, insisting that power of architecture lies in that which cannot be perceived. He believed that  a good atmosphere is produced by integrating every single detail according to a singular vision.

The next generation of architects rejected any emphasis on atmospherics but they too tried to blend every element in a building to create an effect .Even with  their drawings, they tried to create a sense of atmosphere, drawings show the edges of buildings glowing or blurring the building to merge with atmosphere.

Then the book talks about the urban landscape, where there is sudden change in ambience in every few meters. To improve on it the “situationist” proposed many schemes like introducing  psycho geographic  architecture on cities, like the line’s that define its spaces would be completely different than the ones that define buildings, street  and so on. Reconstructing a city could also be achieved by creating decor all around the cities.

VIEW HOUSE

This house designed by Diego Arraigada & Johnston Marklee is a good example of “Architecture of Atmosphere”

The house is in the form of the cylinder, where four geometric mass is removed from the cylinder, creating  a dynamic exterior shape. In interior these scooped out mass creates an impression that it spirals from ground  to the top which, together with a contiguous aperture, results in an interior landscape of surfaces, views, and lighting effects.

This shows that that the architect gave emphasis on the atmosphere than looking the building as an element.

TOPIC FOR RESEARCH

I would like to research on using computation on achieving or deriving the lines at  attaining a design process which cannot be achieved or perceived by human mind.

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In the chapter «The Conditioned Outdoor Room» extracted from the writing «Behind The Picture Window» Bernard Rudofsky provides a survey about the position of outdoor space in people’s life. Rudofsky starts his analysis describing that the comfort of human beings nowadays has been changed in contrast with the history. Thanks to social, economical and technologycal advancements we now belive that we conquered the inconviniences of climate. But we have to remember that human beings are still part of the nature.

Rudofsky is critisyzing the contemporary garden: «No other civilization has produced gardens as melancholy as ours» ; «Backyards are a gigantic waste of potencial outdoor living space». He addresses to the paradigm of Pompeii and the Japanese garden. Comparing and analyzing Rudofsky makes us understand that the modern American garden is an unoccupied space. We understand that the American outdoor works as a fencing between houses or between a house and a public space.

Taking a look at the phenomenon of the wall Rudofsky decides that a wall could become a solution. Building a wall could be a way to transform the contemporary garden from a waste of space into an outdoor living space. A wall could play a role of a sculpture with any defined function, but it will make the outdoor space habitable. It provides shade, protects us from noise, wind and animals and finally becomes a peace of art in our garden.

Continuing the indoor space, by building a “conditioned outdoor room” that gives the feeling of comfort and privacy, we could make our living space completed and harmonious.

Reading this topic i concluded that contemporary architects and designers should strive to renew and renovate the relationship between human beings and nature, that we’ve lost . I am very interested in finding a way to change the concept of a  living space fundamentally. I think that now, when technologies and  society are changing so fast, is the perfect time to change our understanding of the idea of space using, making it more “flexible” and “closer” to nature. I would like to research about how in theory we can use technology and all the historical background we have to make our lives more related to nature and consequently more qualitative.