The Need for Regional Architecture
Building of the Week: Eastgate Zimbabwe photo by Jeremy Williams https://earthbound.report/2020/05/15/building-of-the-week-eastgate-zimbabwe/
Architecture that focuses on a particular region is important to understand. Local materials, climate, and culture of the area can strongly influence the type of building being built. I find this topic of regional architecture to be interesting but also important to me as it relates closely to my sustainable studies. Regional architecture is about enhancing the culture while also responding to the needs of a location.
One project that I refer back to is the Eastgate mall in Zimbabwe. Architect Mick Pearce was challenged with creating a building that fits into the surrounding area but also must allow for natural ventilation as heating and cooling a building was expensive. The method used to cool and heat the building by using a technique called biomimicry. This technique involves studying the local termites and understanding how the structure can adapt to changing temperatures.
I believe the Eastgate mall in Zimbabwe is an excellent example of Regional Architecture as it focuses on carefully examining the culture and climate that best serves the area and the people using the building. For Mike Pearce, it's not about creating a building but having a building that functions for the user's needs.
I like this example because it shows that critical regionalism doesn't just refer to people inhabitants and structures, but also other biological references. So often architects think they know the answers, but we need to understand that the answers reveal themselves through observation and understanding of communities that already exist in the space.
ReplyDeleteI think this project example is also interesting in that it provides a complex foil to our conversation on junkspace. In our previous discussions, junkspace was distinctly a space that lacked any identity, and was mostly utilized to promote consumer and popular culture. I am curious to discover that, while the building physically responds to the culture on the exterior with the ventilation systems, whether the interior perpetuates the existence of junkspace by coating this cultural response with international culture.
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