Make-up Assignment 2: Architectural Theories

Mubashir TM
A/3298/2019

(a)

REFLECTIONS ON THE SCOPE OF TECTONIC

By Kenneth Frampton

In the excerpt, the author starts with an introduction about the history of
contemporary architecture and how we travel through various iterations of structural
aspects of the building historically. And how finally we were able to develop a new
language for structures and architecture. Talking about the main subject of this, where
space becomes such an integral part of the thinking about architecture. We are bound
to think about space in architecture without emphasizing the spatial displacement of the
subject in time. He also says buildings, unlike fine art, are not all about the sign but the
built representation is a thing that has a necessary use.

The tectonic which is derived from tekton having Greek origin means carpenter or
builder. In general, the term tekton refers to an artisan working in all hard materials except
metal. And finally evolved into architekton which evolved into the present-day word
architect.

Coming to the topic of topography, the author talks about how considering
the idea of space as literally in terms of its economic and technical form rather than the
idea of site and form of modern architecture. The idea of the site being the support for all
the structure which is going to be built over it is an unavoidable fact that the site is
important. This can be viewed through two points of view, through tools of imitation and
tools of assessment of physical and formal relations. The author explained this through the
example of the masterwork of the Greek architect Dimitris Pikonis, Philopapou hillside park.
The pattern in the park pavement can show us how design on-site can transcend into
both aesthetic and function. Acoustics also play an integral part in the site in assuring
unity as a whole
 The author explains the idea of corporeal imagination as the capacity to
experience the environment bodily. It is not a spiritual but rather a physical experience of
the environment. This was advanced through the imagination of Neopolitan philosopher
Giambasttista Vico in his Scienza Nuova of 1730. he considered the concept not only
metaphorical and as mythical but through the tactile appropriation of the world. The
touch and feel of architectonics are also being discussed the successively by Adrian
stokes on how time and touch on weathering of stone. In Alvar Aalto’s Saynaatsalo town
hall (1952), we can see a similar phenomenological awareness while entry to the council
chambers through a sequence of the tactile experience.

Semper’s theory on tectonics was the notion of the

emerging science of ethnography. To support Semper's
theory, the author two cited two examples from history
which are the two basic modes of a building which are the
compressive mass and the tensile frame to create current
architecture. the first example is Pierre Bourdieu’s 1969
study of the Berber house, where an entire domain is
segregated into two sectional displacements and
materials such that to distinguish the upper, dry, human
from the lower, wet, animal parts of the dwelling. this
symbolic system reinforced by the construction was
confirmed by Bourdieu’s testimony which was cited.

Berber house plan

The second example is from Japanese culture, where weaving and building
have primary elements and rites and rituals from archaic times which still followed. The
patterns and the knots would represent which parts of the building’s world have the
columns and where columns will be placed and other such important configurations
figured out from six different knots.

The author then moves on to talk about tectonic and atectonic. Tectonics can be
defined as certain expressivity arising from statical resistance of construction in such a
way that the resulting expression can’t be denoted in terms of either structure or
construction alone. he has shown how a similar combination of structure and construction
changes in a subtle variation on how it assembled. It is possible either by the order of the
structure or variation in the method of construction.

According to the author, there is no other twentieth-century philosopher except for

Martin Heidegger, who explains the impact of technology better. His fundamental break
with positivism and his notion of “thrownness” easily explains the idea to confront our
destiny through history. His concerns about the topographic concept of the bounded
domain are also broached in his essay “building, Dwelling, Thinking. Heidegger lastly
concludes by establishing the difference between the artifice of the world and the
natural condition of the earth and how each of them is conditioned by each other. It is
also noticed that he is a believer in ‘eco philosophy’ as he has emphasized dwelling,
caring, and letting be. Therefore, he considered technology will be devoid of nature,
history, and man himself if released on a planetary scale.

In conclusion, the idea is to identify the term “tectonics” deeply by

collecting and categorizing the different aspects of the tectonic. It is said that tectonics
be described as the "art of framing construction," in which linear parts are joined with
joints and covered or infilled with lightweight material. In three categories, the "art of
framing construction" reveals a common concept of tectonics: in terms of its etymology in
the first, building system in the second, and Gottfried Semper's material constructs in the
third. For starters, tectonics is based on framing construction, as its etymology refers to the
art of carpentry. Second, this definition of tectonics goes beyond the concept of a
mechanically structural element that lacks artistic sensibility, incorporates both the poetic
and rational aspects of technology. Third, the tectonic body becomes both the ornament
and the structure at the same time, thanks to the organic, twofold system of the tectonic
frame. This dual property of the tectonic body implies a broader perspective that goes
beyond the conventional tectonics idea of structurally supporting formations. This study
argues that tectonics be viewed as a term that expresses the significance of the real
material influence on space, rather than structural or decorative form because the "art of
frame building" is based on material construction rather than structural or ornamental
form.
(b)

Coming to the tectonics of the project Koch Areal C, the project sits on flat surface with
roads on adjacent two sides and a coal storage on other side. The two opposite sides
have bee interconnect through H shaped pavement and also pavement had been
provided all around the building for pedestrian movement. The use of distinct material for
the pavement which separate it from the barren ground and landscape is helpful to
direct the pedestrian in and around the project.

The site plan showing the pedestrian pathway

From the site plan given above, we can clearly see how the walkway helps in connecting
two sides of the sites. This makes the project blend into the site seamlessly and it became
one with the environment.
 Sectional diagram showing load transfer

The displacement of the load also carried through the six main cores in the building and
prefabricated slabs which transfer these loads to the peripheral columns. Finally, this load
is taken down to basement and send to the ground from there. These six core changes as
it goes up to residential floor and is disconnected from each other throughout the
residential and finally connects at the roof top.

In the Koch areal project, there is play of height of the space where we can see the
height of spaces ranges from triple heighted to single heighted. Various kind of structures
have been incorporated support such complex structure. For the triple heighted circus
training hall, tapered concrete beam and hollow steel c sections which supports the roof
garden terrace above the training hall and also the space frame which will be hung on it
for the training purpose.