The Tactile Learning We Lacked

Today’s architects are definitely luckier than their predecessors. Beautiful and well-organized documentation, clear photographs, and even online videos all make the far precedents accessible, the far visit easy. But all the information is still visual- we learn by eyes.  I remembered we discussed many times in studio and history class about the renderings and the more technical drawings of our own designs. We all believe the plans, sections and elevations are more reliable and “honest” while the renderings are the cheat parts.  Peter Zumthor, an architect we talked many times on class, is a good example.  For me, what I do like is to see his thinking about the tactile, the material, the light texture from his drawings. But because I never really been to the bath, I am unsure if my love is still the same love for that case after my visit. Frampton’s reading reminds me of our lack of tactile education in this decade: we are easily lost in the virtual cases and forget the other senses in the architecture. We need to feel, touch, and remember the space and develop our sense to rebuild a very similar “rendering” in our mind. And the architect journey seems still a long, long journey.