No Time For Meaning
Atmospheres is such a cool read. It was my first time through it, and I really appreciate the transposition of a lecture into a read like this. For me, when given time, can put my thoughts together better on paper than in person. But, I know some people are better at giving that atmosphere in speech through a lecture. That is why this is a powerful read. Zumthor is good at delivering.
The amount of time needed to respond to this article would take a while, so in keeping relevant with this section of the course, I wanted to talk about the fifth item titled Surrounding Objects.
This section talks about the relationship people have to buildings even after their original intention. How people more or less make the space what it is. Zumthor has this visit to the Bienefeld houses in Colgone, and discovers how people have inhabited the spaces in this instance. People had their personal objects and values displayed throughout the structure and Zumthor thought that might have been the original intention: to showcase livelihood.
He is quoted saying, "The idea of things that have nothing to do with me as an architect taking their place in a building, their rightful place. It's a thought that gives me an insight into the future of my buildings: a future that happens without me. That does me a lot of good. It's a great help to me to imagine the future of room sin a house I'm building. To imagine them actually in use."
Now the first thought that comes to mind after this quote is how that space should survive right? If it is of good surrounding object, or it gets its art across properly, how should we preserve that structure? Concrete? Steel?
In this age... our age... of sustainability being a primary factor in the way we approach building, we must now start to think of how that survival of space can continue on with materials that aren't meant to last forever. Wood is on the rise, especially in our comprehensive designs, and it should be. But the question remains: will the meaning of the architecture be carried out in another way if we cannot preserve its intentions in the built form?
Ian,
ReplyDeleteI too found the Surrounding Objects chapter to be one of the most profound. In particular, it is because Zumthor emphasizes the importance of use. What is architecture without the user. What is a built environment without the unbuilt space between. The juxtaposition redefines what it means to be an architect, and is a reminder that we must plan for the undesigned world as much as we do for the designed one.
Ian,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you enjoyed reading the text by Zumthor. It had a similar impact on me when I first read it. The idea of "use" that Zumthor is referring to is so much more powerful than the typical way we use that word. It's beyond just considering maintenance of a building, but more about how the use of the architecture increases the value of the architecture to the occupant over time. It's a symbiotic relationship between the material body of the work and the body of the occupant. Zumthor is not focused on sustainability, but it is interesting to consider how his buildings are for the most part sustainable beyond the scientific codification we use, such as LEED. When one starts to become embedded in a site and in the creation of an atmosphere associated with the past, present, and future of a place, is it inevitable that the resulting work will be lasting?
The thing I love about architecture is the way that it preserves history. You can tell a lot about society just from observing the architecture. This means that the projects we create will preserve our own spot in time which is pretty remarkable. So, I guess the question for us as we practice is what do we want our architecture to say? One hundred years from now, will the architecture I create have an impact on the future?
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