FORMALISM

AESTETA

3T SY 2016-17

Quick RundownMay 8 – 11 Questions (PLATE # 4 soon)

May 15 – 5 Metaphysical Projects of Western Architecture

May 22 – PLATE # 1 (A Question of Aggragation)

May 29 – Architectural Determinism

June 5 – Kantian Philosophy

- PLATE # 2 (Concept vs. Experience)

June 19 – POST DESIGN RATIONALIZATION

(Romanticism vs Factality)

July 3 – Hegelian Dialectics

July 31 – Formalism

- PLATE # 3 (Mathematician’s House) CONCEPT

August 4 - PLATE # 3 (Scale Mode)

Formalism

The term formalism describes an emphasis onform over content or meaning in the arts,literature, or philosophy.

Formalism (Art)

In art history, formalism is the study of art byanalysing and comparing form and style—theway objects are made and their purely visualaspects.

The context for the work, including the reason for its creation, the historical background, and

the life of the artist, that is, its conceptual aspect is considered to be of secondary

importance.

Formalism (Literature)

• It is the study of a text without taking into account any outside influence.

Formalism (Philosophy)

Formalists within a discipline are completelyconcerned with "the rules of the game," as thereis no other external truth that can be achievedbeyond those given rules.

How does Formalism in architecture being “controlled”?

Construction Lines

EARLY EXAMPLES

Ad Triangulum

in Gothic Architecture

Construction Lines

• Hidden Lines

• Guide lines

• Xlines

• Construction lines are temporary lineworkentities that can be used as references whencreating and positioning other objects orlinework.

VILLA LA ROTONDA by Andrea Palladio

Why is this important?

Their purpose is to instigate a personalinvestigation of architectural design based on aparticular assumption:

Without denying individual creativity andinnovation, there is ample evidence of a canonof fundamental design strategies shared byarchitects worldwide;

Why is this important?

A close examination of the work of greatestarchitects – Michaelangelo and Le Corbusier, forexample – reveals that much of their successwas due to their ability to interpret these designstrategies in fresh ways that made them seemnew.

Contemporary students of architecture tend to assume that the dramatic technological

advances of the recent past and the present place them in an entirely different world of ideas than the one of their predecessors.

[Hanlon] Argue that despite differences in appearance and in methods of

construction, at the conceptual level of composition little has changed over

thousand of year of formal exploration.

Architectural Design is essentially – PATTERN MAKING.

Are you ready to learn basics of Formalism?

Five Formal Properties

• Number

• Geometry

• Proportion

• Hierarchy

• Orientation

1 Number

THREE MAJOR LOBESTWO MINOR LOBES

2 Geometry

Division by 45 degrees

3 Proportion

2:√3 rectangle

4 Hierarchy

Primary veinsSecondary veins

Tertiary veins

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

5 Orientation

Horizontal axesVertical axes

Maple Leaf Analogy

What is most fascinating about this rigorous system is that among the countless maple leaves nature has produced, no two leaves are ever exactly alike.

The underlying rules of a maple leaf pattern (number, geometry, proportion, hierarchy, and orientation) ensure consistency without uniformity.

1 Number

Three major lobesTwo minor lobes

1 Number

Number is the fundamental property. They assume that all physical phenomena are in essence numerical.

Some structures are relatively easy to discern whereas others, such as chaotic structures of weather systems, are extremely complex.

1 Number

Common feature of space and time as we ordinarily

experience them in architecture such as rhythm and cadence, are numerical

progressions.

House in Bangalore

2 Geometry

Division by 45 degrees

2 Geometry

Geometry is the shape of number. Like numbers, geometries in nature vary widely in complexity.

Geometry is an underlying ordering mechanism that establishes a consistent language of form for a given phenomenon.

Each geometric figure has intrinsic qualities.

2 Geometry

The square, for example, is defined by its four equal sides and right angles.

In architectural design, the relation of geometric figures is a visual language that is central to our reading of pattern.

House Plan by Frank Lloyd Wright

3 Proportion

2:√3 rectangle

3 Proportion

Proportion is the ratio of numbers with a geometric figure or among parts of a larger composition.

Le Modulor by Le Corbusier

4 Hierarchy

Primary veinsSecondary veins

Tertiary veins

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

4 Hierarchy

Hierarchy indicates the relative importance of the parts of a composition and is dependent on number, geometry, and proportion, since each of these attributes to the identity of each part and its position relative to others.

Nature avoids uniformity because forms in nature respond directly to the distribution and collection of energy.

4 Hierarchy

Since sources of energy are concentrated or intermittent, not uniform, forms must organize themselves hierarchically to produce structures that mediate between places of high concentration of energy and those of low concentrations.

4 HierarchyAnalogously, in architectural patterns, not all parts are of the same significance. We can consider them in respect to energy as well –literally in respect to natural light, but also figuratively to their visual, emotional, and spiritual energy.

The Cathedral of Christ the Light by SOM

5 Orientation

Horizontal axesVertical axes

5 Orientation

Orientation operates in two ways in patterns: externally and internally.

All natural phenomena are oriented in space in some way, in response to forces around them, such as sunlight or magnetic field.

5 Orientation

• They may be oriented externally toward patterns outside themselves, such as the sun or a direction of movement.

• They are also oriented internally by virtue of an organization of their parts (e.g., the axis of symmetry that controls the position of the head, thorax, and abdomen of a beetle indicates its direction and movement).

5 Orientation

Likewise, in an architectural design, we find buildings oriented externally toward distant objects, such as the Kaaba in Mecca for mosques or the polestar for some Anasazi Kivas.

Internally, orientation may take the form of an axis of symmetry, but there also may be a series of changing orientation in a choreographed movement though linked segments of space.

15 minute break

1 Number

Number’s role in architectural compositionThe designer arranges parts of a composition in some way – sequentially or repetitivelyproducing RHYTHM. RHYTHM is not REPETITION

1 Number

Number’s role in architectural compositionThe designer arranges parts of a composition in some way – sequentially or repetitivelyproducing RHYTHM. RHYTHM is not REPETITION

2 Geometry

The geometric conception dominates the form. The crossings are square in plan,The dimensions of this square produced the planning module for the entire church

Church of saint Michael, Hildesheim Germany

It is a tour de forceof elementalthree dimensional forms;

CubesCylindersPyramidsCones

Church of saint Michael, Hildesheim Germany

3 Proportions

Schroder house

by Gerrit Rietveld

3 Proportions

Despite the complexity of design, Rietveld relied on a traditional proportion for the building as a whole: the goldensection is the basis for boththe plan and the section.

3 Proportions

The rationale for the use of an abstract ratio such as the golden section has two theoretical bases;

First, since much of the natural world appears to be ordered by the golden section (including our own bodies), humans are presumably predisposed to find it aesthetically pleasing.

3 Proportions

The second theory is that because it can be subdividedsystematically to produce identicalRatios at different scales, its use Achieves a harmonic relationAmong the parts of a composition.

HARMONY

4-5 Hierarchy & Orientation

Süleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul Turkey

By Mimar Siman

The center of this large complex of buildings is a mosque. Sinanperfected the compositional system, derived from Byzantine precedents, by which relatively small domes, half domes, monumental arches, and buttresses supported a fully hierarchical composition that produces a cascade of volumes from the centerto the periphery.

A formal orientation of a building, as distinct from a processional orientation, fixes internal elements of a plan to an external phenomenon – for example, a cardinal direction, another bldg, or a view. As with all mosques, in this case it is a distant referent, the Kaaba in Mecca.