Structures become heavier, greater allowances are needed to compensate for the limited timeframe, simple shapes are preferred, and standardization and machine usage are always the first choices in this endeavour. Instead of optimizing the use of material to create lighter, better-performing structures, we minimize the amount of thought put into the design and we stop people from working too hard on the building site. Engineer Steve Webb observes that this distortion leads to an inclination to minimize labour, both physical, on-site, and intellectual, in design studios. The way the industry is shaped today in most developed counties, labour, in its every form, is heavily taxed. Site labour, management and design costs should also be considered. Then again, materials are only part of the equation. Economic value, for instance, is a much better indicator of how, when and to what extent certain materials are being used: the most common rule is the cheaper the better. The intrinsic qualities of materials could, in this instance, influence the shape of the building, its structure, the way it captures light, ultimately leading to a more coherent and balanced built form.Įven though we are trying here to understand architecture through the lens of philosophy, this field is far from being a deciding factor in the actual design process. Following Aristotle’s line of thought, instead of Plato’s, might lead architects to consider the materiality of architecture earlier in the process, even from the very beginning. This means that these two elements, matter and form, are inseparable and are both needed to give meaning and substance to objects. His disciple, Aristotle, also wrote on the same subject but disagreed with his master on one key issue: he did not believe that the meaning of things can lay outside of them, that matter and form could belong to separate worlds. However, Plato is not the only thinker to tackle the problem of substance, matter, and ideas. The materials needed to bring architecture into the real world seem to be the very elements that detract from the purity of its ideas. This process usually comes with a fair share of frustrations on the part of the architect, as columns often need to be thickened and beams need to be widened. After the abstract concept is fully formed, materials are introduced as they are needed to give physicality to the ideas. This is when the materiality of architecture comes into play. In his myth of the cave, pure forms and ideas belong to a world transcending our own, and only their shadows, their imperfect manifestations, become visible to us. Plato, the Greek philosopher, would be proud. via Īt first, these shapes are rendered simply in white, as if taken directly from the World of Pure Forms. When sitting down at the drawing board, forms start to emerge based on constrictions and opportunities, needs and desires. Architects are somewhat justified in taking pride in their power of abstraction. It finds equilibrium between difficult dilemmas, it transposes the spirit of the epoch, as Mies van der Rohe famously claimed, it is an art form, while also having major social, economic, environmental implications. Maria-Cristina Florian, learner- batch 7, Writing/s in Architecture.Īrchitecture is not just about building buildings.
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