The importance of context


In the reading “questions that won’t go away”, the author brought up an interesting sentiment about the role of research and knowledge in architecture.  In order to build for the everyday environment, we must first understand it.  


I thought about Alejandro Aravena and his social housing project.  It was mentioned he was a “polarizing” architect, yet it seems his project was successful and well suited for the environment it was in.  He understood the context in which he was building, I don’t believe he took advantage of existing building techniques for his own recognition - It seems he instead embraced it.  If you were to place his social housing in South Carolina, I don't know if it would have worked.  


In our own world of design, I think many of us don’t acknowledge our context.  We focus too much on our own design; and once we work for someone else, our contextual development diminishes even more.  I truly think that every project cannot be successful.  Idealism and reality will always compete with one another, and I think (most) firms will always be more concerned with the dollar sign and their bottom line.  In this regard, I think it is up to the school to teach us to be innovative and thoughtful about our design choices.  Sometimes a detail on a building can be more impactful than the building itself.  





Comments

  1. You bring up a valid point about Alejandro Aravena. I'm not familiar with his other work, but understanding the "half-a-house" social housing project, it seems like he wasn't super self-promoting. I can't think of any other projects where parts of the building are unfinished as an invitation to others to make their mark on it.

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  2. I agree with your comments regarding the importance of context Lea. With projects such as Aravena's social housing project, where the surrounding community drives the entire building process, the two cannot be separated. Context plans such a large role in the demands of design, it should be represented regardless the type of project.

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  3. Completely agree with your statement in saying that Elemental's half-a-house project was successful because he was willing to understand the context and that something like that might not have worked in a more local setting like, say, Anderson. I think that the thing to learn from him here is that he found something that worked well in Chile, why can't we find something that works well where we're at? As you've said, we are given the tools to do that in school; we should continue to apply them in the future.

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