Elements of Architecture

From form to place + tectonics

2nd edition
new translation
reworked with revisions and additional content

Pierre von Meiss

Translated from the French byTheo Hakola

EPFL Press
A Swiss academic publisher
distributed by Routledge
 Table of contents

Foreword v
Kenneth Frampton

Introduction to the new edition 1

First part
Elements of Architecture: From Form to Place

1 Phenomena of perception
The pleasure of looking at, listening to, feeling, touching and
moving through architecture 13
Seeing 15
Listening 16
Scent 17
Touching 18
The body in motion 19
Seeing and perceiving 20
Laws of vision 20
The eye is not innocent 27
The sphere and the rose 28

2 Order and disorder

Inevitable order 33
Order in construction 33
The sense of order 34

Factors of coherence 34
Repetition and resemblance 36
Proximity 38
Enclosure or common background 38
Orientation of elements: parallelism or convergence towards a void or a solid 39

From order to chaos 40

Homogeneity and texture 41

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Elements of Architecture: From Form to Place + Tectonics

Alignments and series 42

Gradation 44
Hierarchy 46
Contrast 47
Complexity 48
Contradiction 50
Chaos 52

Interaction of factors 53

Regularity and irregularity 55

Simplicity ' 56
Regularity 56
Exception to the rule 58

Order in disorder and vice versa 60

3 Measure and balance

Spaces on a human scale 67
The notion of scale 69

Anthropomorphism and architecture 71

The fascination of number and proportions 75
Commensurate proportions 76
Incommensurate proportions 77
Proportions in difficulty 78

Balance 80
Symmetry 80
Asymmetrical balance 87

4 Fabric and object

City and monuments 93

Composition of the object: articulation and continuity 100

Articulation 102
Continuity 104

The object: faces, corners, relationship to ground and sky 106

Positive articulation: corner in relief, plinth and cornice 106
Negative articulation: the recessed joint 109
The sharp edge 111
The fusion of faces 113

First Interlude: From object to space

Spatiality of objects 119

Relationships between objects 122

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 Tabic of contents

5 Space
Elements of spatial definition 130
Depth of space 134

Density of space 136

Opening of space 137

Spatial juxtaposition and interpenetration 139

Spatial characteristics of elementary shapes 144
Composing: Wright and the Froebel blocks 148

Composing: Le Corbusier and the 4 Compositions (1929) 149

Composing verticality 150

Three strategies for spatial composition 154
Structure-space 155
The "Raumplan" 158
The "free plan" 161

Floor, wall and ceiling 164

6 Light and shade

Light comes to us from things 173
Quantity and quality 173
Light and space 174
Windows all over the place 180
Half-light and shadows 182
The challenge of lighting in five points 185

Second Interlude: From space to place

7 Places
The landscape - a great challenge 199

Site and place 202

Limits, thresholds and spaces of transition 215

Place as an identity-support 224

Dynamics of path 230

Third Interlude: Cosmic, Territorial and Temporal

Orientation 237

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Elements of Architecture: From Form to Place + Tectonics

Part Two
Tectonics

8 Making materials sing

Form and material 247
Stone 249
Reinforced concrete 251
Brick 254
Wood 257
Glass 260
From metals to carbon 262

9 Aesthetic of gravity
Obvious solidity 270
Stability and elegant performance 272
Imbalance re-balanced 276

Lateral thrust 277

Technology and modernity 280
Fact or fiction? 283
Technology displayed 284
Technology extolled 285
Fragile technology 286
Falsified" technology 287
Technology as a service 288
Technology domesticated (tamed) 289

10 Body and cladding

The issues 293
Texture, bonding and modenature 296

Thicknesses 307
Face or mask? 308
Rough-and-raw or skin? 309
Tracing the skeleton versus autonomy 311
Textile inspired cladding 314
From "Fligh-Tech expressionism" to the "mystery of the veil" 317

The fa9ade as a complex "machine" 321

Epilogue 327

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Annex
Annex 1 Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal
Colin Rowe Et Robert Slutzky

Annex 2 Architecture Against the City

Bernard Huet

Annex 3 The Landscape Alternative

Sebastien Marot

Bibliography

Iconographic references

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