Theory of architecture-1

Theory of Architecture - I

Unit 1 – Introduction to Architecture

CONTENTS

Part-1:Definitions of Architecture- context for architecture as

satisfying human needs- functional, aesthetic and psychological –architecture as a discipline

Part-2:Introducing the various functional aspects of

architecture: site, structure, skin, services, use, circulation etc.

Part-3Introduction to formal vocabulary of architecture and

Gestalt ideas of visual perception

Originated from the Greek word Architekton

Archi – great. Tekton – builder Architecture is the art and science of

building It is the conscious creation of utilitarian

spaces with the deliberate use of material Architecture should be technically

efficient and aesthetically pleasing.

Architecture

Other Definitions

Other Definitions

Other Definitions

Architecture - a manifest orderappropriately conceivedlogically developedconditioned and disciplinedcoherent through consistency

Architecture

CONTEXT FOR ARCHITECTURE AS SATISFYING HUMAN NEEDS

NEEDS OF MANNEEDS OF MAN

1.GENERAL INFLUENCES

As per GEORGE S. SALVAN wordsGEORGE S. SALVAN words

religion and artrecreation


1.GENERAL INFLUENCES

ACTIVITIES OF MAN

Desire for PPRESRESERVATIONDesire for Recognition

Desire for Response

Desire for Self-Expression

prestige, pride and ambition, social status

love, friendship, and sociability


NATURE

II. INFLUENCES OF NATUREA. CLIMATE

B. TOPOGRAPHY

C. MATERIALS


III. INFLUENCES OF SOCIETY1. SOCIAL CONDITIONS:

2. Man's Personality.

3. Man's Interests.

TV

movies

radiotime

house church

factory

ByAr.Rajiv Kumar.P.S

FUNCTIONFUNCTIONal, aesthetic and psychological

SpatialSpatial SEQUENCE SEQUENCEspatialspatial FIT FIT



NONO Function FunctionNONO soul soul

functional, aesthetic and psychological

Mass & spaceproportion

contrastdecorationmassing

symmetrybalance

Elements of aesthetics

Beauty





expression of cultural pride,

societal passion, or national esteem

mood and productivity

Play with human mind

Space, form, and light affect health and wellbeing


Physical structure has a significant

effect on human behavior. As humans find themselves spending more time enclosed within the walls of structure, it becomes valuable to design structures integrating features of the natural environment and structural landscape features into the human-made environment (Joye, 2007).

Research suggests the design of residential and commercial space has pervasive effects on its inhabitants and is an important consideration in architectural design.


Space, form, and light are elements that are often incorporated either purposefully or unconsciously for aesthetic or practical reasons but more pointedly give people meaning, purpose and stability amidst an ever changing physical universe of seeming chao



ARCHITECTURE as a discipline-

ARCHITECTURE – an ability to organize, manipulate and articulate the constant and variable component parts of size, shape, and treatment.

ARCHITECTURE - a language of sequential path, place, and transition spaces in relationship to site, location, and orientation.

ARCHITECTURE as a discipline-

The relationship of architecture to other fields and disciplines

THREE COMPONENTS

SIZE AND SHAPE TREATMENT ORIENTATION

THREE COMPONENTS SIZE AND SHAPE

is self-evident, consisting of an infinite variety of different sizes of masses or volumes:

such as squares, rectangles, circles, pyramids, ellipses, curves, cubes, etc.

TREATMENT

what do you do with the sizes and the shapes? •how many different ways can you treat it in a simple way? •how does that treatment alter or change? •in what ways can you define or manipulate the sizes and shapes? •what is your strategy for detailing and joinery (articulation)? treatment is pattern, texture, color, figure, ground, light, illumination, contrast,

opacity, transparency, translucency, reflectivity, visual density, thickness or thinness, etc

THREE COMPONENTS

ORIENTATION

what is the relative position of something or someone? •location - a particular place or position: -external - internal - interstitial -placement and displacement -edge (periphery) vs. center (core) or foreground, middle ground,

background -relationship of a building to its neighbors -relationship of building to sky -relationship of building to ground

THREE COMPONENTS

•directionality, redirection or reversals: -up vs. down -left vs. right -longitudinal vs. transverse -horizontal vs. vertical -orthogonal vs. diagonal -exposure: north - south - east - west

THREE TYPES OF SPACE

PLACE - SPACES PATH – SPACES TRANSTITION - SPACES

THREE TYPES OF SPACE PLACE-SPACES

major spaces that portray a sense of definite location or position

PATH-SPACES

major transition spaces which are directional; corridor, connector, passageway.


TRANSITION-SPACES

minor spaces which process a change from one condition to another. •joint spaces (or articulation spaces) •can define a pause between spaces •can juxtapose spaces of contrasting or continuous character •can act as a separator space •can act as fastener, joining or linking space servant-spaces are transition spaces that act as functional support (storage spaces,

bathrooms, mechanical voids, space occupied by structural elements, etc.)


Introducing the various functional aspects of architecture

SITE:Location (geography)a point or an area on the Earth's surface or elsewhereBuilding site, a place where construction takes place


STRUCTURE:

It is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized


SKIN:


CIRCULATION:APPROACH

The Distant View

ENTRANCE•From Outside to inside

CONFIGURATION OF THE PATH•The Sequences of Spaces

PATH-SPACE RELATIONSHIPS•Edges, Nodes, and Terminations of the Path

FORM OF THE CIRCULATION SPACE•Corridors, Halls, Galleries, Stairways and Rooms


SERVICES:

StructuralPlumbingElectricalFire safety

Maintenance

Gestalt Theory• Gestalt theory originated in Austria and Germany toward the end of the

19th century. Since then, Gestalt theory has become fundamental to several related disciplines, including art, graphic design, web design and interior design.

What is Gestalt Theory

• Gestalt theory focuses on the mind’s perceptive processes• The word "Gestalt" has no direct translation in English, but refers to "a

way a thing has been gestellt ; i.e., ‘placed,’ or ‘put together’"; • common translations include "form" and "shape"

What is Gestalt Theory

•Gestalt theorists followed the basic principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

• In viewing the "whole," a cognitive process takes place – the mind makes a leap from comprehending the parts to realizing the whole.

Fish/Duck/Lizard 1948 M.C. Esher

Figure Ground Segregation• When you look at the environment, you

look at it as a whole picture, not separate parts.

• There are images in the environment that people are aware, this would be the figure.

• Images people are not aware of make up the ground.

Figure – Ground Segregation

• The figure is what a person is concentrating on;

• The ground would be everything else in that environment;

• Some properties of figure ground:• Figures hold more memorable association

than the ground.• Figures are seen as being in front of the

ground.• The ground is seen as uniformed material

and seems to extend behind the figure.• The contour separating the figure from the

ground appears to belong to the figure. (Goldstein, pp. 156-159)

Reversible figure/ground•There are no correct interpretations to what the figure is and

what the ground is; it is the individual’s choice.• People have different memories and experiences that

influence their perception of images.•We have seen that meaningfulness can help determine which

area we see as figure.• If something has meaning to someone, it normally "jumps out"

at them, and is more noticeable

Gestalt Laws of Organization

1. proximity - elements tend to be grouped together according to their nearness

2. similarity - items similar in some respect tend to be grouped together 3. closure - items are grouped together if they tend to complete some

entity4. Continuation – the eye is compelled to move through one object and

continue to another object


Unit 2 – Elements of Architecture

CONTENTS

Understanding fundamental elements such as point, line, plane, form and space, shape, pattern, light, colour, surface and texture with reference to the evolution of architectural form and space

POINT Marks a position in space Conceptually, it has no length, width or depth It is static, centralized and directionless As the prime element in the vocabulary of form, it serves to

mark:

THE TWO ENDS OF A LINE

THE INTERSECTION OF TWO LINES

THE MEETING OF LINES AT THE CORNER OF A PLANE OR VOLUMETHE CENTER OF A FIELD

To mark a position in space or on the ground plane, To mark a position in space or on the ground plane, a point must be projected vertically into a linear a point must be projected vertically into a linear formform

POINT

POINT IS EXTENDED

BECOMES A LINE WITH LENGTH,

DIRECTION AND

POSITION

Obelisk of Thutmose I, Karnak

Other point-generated forms that share these Other point-generated forms that share these same visual attributes are the:same visual attributes are the:

CIRCLECIRCLE

Plan of the Tholos at Epidaurus

CYLINDERCYLINDER

Baptistery at Pisa, Italy

SPHERESPHERE

Cenotaph for Sir Isaac Newton

LINE A point extended A line is a critical element in the formation of any visual

construction It can serve to:

JOIN OR LINK OTHER VISUAL ELEMENTS

SUPPORT VISUAL ELEMENTS

SURROUND OR INTERSECT OTHER VISUAL ELEMENTS

DESCRIBE THE EDGES OF AND GIVE SHAPE TO PLANES

SQUARESQUARE

TRIANGLETRIANGLE

ARTICULATE THE SURFACES OF PLANES

LINE The orientation of a line affects its role in a visual construction A vertical line can express a state of equilibrium with the force of

gravity, symbolize the human condition, or mark a position in space

A horizontal line can represent stability, the ground plane, the horizon, or a body at rest

An oblique line may be seen as a vertical line falling or a horizontal line rising

Column of Marcus Aurelius

Vertical elements have been used throughout history to commemorate significant events and establish particular points in space

Hagia Sophia, Constantinople

Vertical linear elements can also define a transparent volume of space, as in the example above, the four minarets outline a spatial field which the dome of Hagia Sophia rises in splendor

• Linear members that possess the necessary material strength can perform structural functions

• Linear elements express movement across space

Salginatobel Bridge, Switzerland

• Linear members provide support for an overhead plane

Caryatid Porch,The Erechtheion, Athens

• A line can be an imagined element rather than a visible one in architecture

• An example is the AXIS, a regulating line established by two distant points in space and about which elements are symmetrically arranged

National Mall, Washington D.C.

• Two parallel lines have the ability to visually describe a plane• The closer these lines are to each other, the stronger will be

the sense of plane they convey

Colonnade

PLANE

A line extended in a direction other than its intrinsic direction Conceptually has length and width but no depth

• Planes in architecture define three-dimensional volumes of mass and space

• The properties of each plane – size, shape, color and texture – as well as their spatial relationship to one another determine the visual attributes of the form they define and the qualities of space they enclose

• In architectural design, we manipulate three generic types of planes:• Overhead plane• Wall plane• Base plane

OVERHEAD PLANE

The overhead plane can be either the roof plane that shelters the interior spaces of a building from the climatic elements, or the ceiling that forms the upper enclosing surface of the room.

WALL PLANE

The wall plane, because of its vertical orientation, is active in our normal field of vision and vital to the shaping and enclosure of architectural space.

BASE PLANE

The base plane can either be ground plane that serves as the physical foundation and visual base for building forms, or the floor plane that forms the lower enclosing surface of a room upon which we walk.

• The ground plane ultimately supports all architectural construction

• It can be manipulated to establish a podium for a building form

• It can be elevated to honor a sacred or significant place; bermed to define outdoor spaces or buffer against undesirable conditions; carved or terraced to provide a suitable platform on which to build; or stepped to allow changes in elevation to be easily traversed

Acropolis, AthensElevated to honor a sacred, significant place

Mortuary Temple of Queen HatshepsutTerraces approached by ramps rise toward the cliffs where the sanctuary is cut deep into the rock

• The wall planes isolate a portion of space to create a controlled interior environment

• Their construction provides both privacy and protection from the climatic elements for the interior spaces of a building, while openings within or between their boundaries reestablish a connection with the exterior environment

• The ceiling plane is usually out of reach and is almost always a purely visual event in a space

• It can be raised or lowered to alter the scale of a space or to define spatial zones within a room

• Its form can be manipulated to control the quality of light or sound within a space

• The roof plane is the essential sheltering element that protects the interior of a building from climatic elements

• The form and geometry of its structure is established by the manner it spans across space to bear on its supports and slopes to shed rain and melting snow

• As a design element, the roof plane is significant because of the impact it can have on the form and silhouette of a building within its setting

Falling Water, Frank Lloyd WrightSlabs express the horizontality of the roof planes as they cantilever outward from a central vertical core

Schroder House, Gerrit RietveldThe overall form of the building can be endowed with a distinctly planar quality by introducing openings which expose the edges of vertical and horizontal places

VOLUME A plane extended in a direction other than its intrinsic direction

becomes a volume Conceptually, a volume has three dimensions: length, width and

depth

All volumes can be analyzed and understood to consist of:

Points or vertices where several planes come together

Lines or edges where two planes meet

Planes or surfaces which define the limits or boundaries of a volume

• Form is the primary identifying characteristic of a volume

• It is established by the shapes and interrelationships of the planes that describe the boundaries of the volume

• As the three-dimensional element in the vocabulary of architectural design, a volume can be either a solid – space displaced by mass – or a void – space contained or enclosed by planes


Unit 3 – Elements of Architecture - FORM

CONTENTS

Understanding perceptual effects of specific geometric forms such as sphere, cube, pyramid, cylinder and cone and its sections as well as their derivatives with respect to the evolution of architectural form and space.

• In architecture, a volume can be seen to be either a portion of space contained and defined by wall, floor, and ceiling or roof planes, or a quantity of space displaced by the mass of a building

• Plan and Section – space defined by wall, floor and ceiling

• Elevation – space displaced by the mass of a building

• In architecture, a volume can be seen to be either a portion of space contained and defined by wall, floor, and ceiling or roof planes, or a quantity of space displaced by the mass of a building

• Plan and Section – space defined by wall, floor and ceiling

• Elevation – space displaced by the mass of a building

FLOOR PLANspace defined by wall,

floor and ceiling

ELEVATIONspace displaced by the mass of a building

Building forms that stand as objects in the landscape can be read as occupying volumes in space

San Miguel Building, Ortigas

Building forms that serve as containers can be read as masses that define volumes of space

Piazza Maggiore, Bologna

SPHERE

Sphere is body that consists of Regular, continuous surface.It has no lines , edges or cornersNeither horizontal or vertical emphasisIt is a form which is closed within itself.

Visual effect

Pure convex form externally Presents impenetrable,

uninviting appearance. It displays visual quality of

repulsion. Has no points of interest to

focus Defined by vague outline of

circle, whole mass appears as immense dot.

FLOATING PAVILION FOR SHANGHAI

SPHERE BUILDING , SHANGHAI

Emotional effect

Lack of concentration Restleness Diffuseness Total effect on observer is lack of sense of orientation

FLOATING PAVILION FOR SHANGHAI

SPHERE BUILDING , SHANGHAI

Inside the sphere

The bounding surface is continually concave.

It opens to the observer. Invites attention. Attraction is from all sides Centre of equilibrium is centre of

sphere which may be imaginary if not articulated

It arouses sensations of Concentration , repose and orientation.

The circular shape in architecture

The Circle symbolizes unity, stability, rationality. It is also the symbol of infinity, without beginning or end, perfection, the ultimate geometric symbol. It represents a completeness which encompasses all space and Time.

Lucky Coin' Building , china Al Dar Headquarters | MZ Architects

Derivatives of sphere – Hemisphere

Cut horizontally in half. Cut portion forms an edge,

circular in plan. The dome and the edge

portion give the visual character

Hemisphere - Visual effect & Emotional effect

Visual Effect Diffuse quality in the sphere , but continuity is terminated at

rim. Emotional effect A sense of circular movement set up by the rim. While sphere leads to disorientation hemisphere leads to circular movement.

Internally One concave surface and other flat Interior is circular in shape. The attention to the observer will be to the centre. The sense of movement is associated with the edge. Inverted hemisphere If the base is flattened it would be horizontal arena towards the

which attention is focused. This would be idea for viewing a central activity such as sporting

events

CUBE Six equal square sides Angle between any two adjacent faces being right angle Cube is static form. It is very stable unless it stands in corners.

VISUAL EFFECT The vertical blank square neither invites nor repulses .visually

and physically impenetrable ,uninviting appearance. Because the directions are equally emphasized , the mass as a

whole has no directional quality and neutral. Visual force is given by edges.

INSIDE CUBE Space inside cube is bounded in plane surface , lines and

corners. Corners wont project towards the observer but recede away

from him.

Cuboid Altering the equal sides of the cube, cuboid is obtained. The volume is spread in particular direction either horizontal or

vertical , irrespective of the surface. Each mass has a longer side and Shorter side. Surface lines are emphasized than corners. Horizontality – urban street.( because of the continuity one hesitates to stop unless opening is

created ) Verticality – high rise building( both physical and visual tension makes it dominating visual entity)

The horizontal internal space stimulates a horizontal movement which is greater with increasing horizontality. So space becomes transformed into a passage , a corridor and an internal street.

Vertical space stimulates vertical movement when filled with stair case, lift or ramp.

Pyramid

Made up of tapering and inclined surface and gather together to form an apex , a corner where the whole mass culminates.

The directional quality is stronger than that of a rectilinear tower.

Cylinder

Rounded surface.In far distance it appears in outline as rectilinear and nearer it appear more like circular.

Curvature and circular movement continue alongside a strong vertical movement. the resultant is spiral. spiral ramp and spiral stairs suits a space.


Unit 4 – Elements of Architecture - SPACE

CONTENTS

Understanding perceptual effects of specific configuration of architectural spaces – Enclosure – Internal and External, Continuous spaces

Spatial relationship and its types, Spatial organisation: Centralized, Linear, Radial Clustered, Grid – built form and open space relationships.

SPATIAL ORGANIZATION

There are five types of spatial organization: 1. Central Organization 2. Linear Organization 3. Radial Organization 4. Cluster Organization 5. GRID Organization

Central Organization It is a stable & concentrated composition It consists of numerous secondary spaces that are clustered

around a central, dominant & bigger space. It presents secondary spaces that are equal in terms of

role,shape & form, which creates a distribution package that is geometrically regular to two or more axes.

Central Organization Those central organizations whose forms are relatively compact

& geometrically regular can be used to :‐–Establish "places" in space,– Be term of axial compositions,–finally act as a form‐object inserted into a field or an exactly defined spatial volume.

Linear Organization

Consists essentially of a series of spaces. These spaces can be interconnected directly, or be linked

through another linear independent and distinct space. Those spaces that are important, functionally or symbolically

within this organization, can take place anywhere in the linear sequence and show their relevance using their size and shape.

The organization can solve linear different conditions at the site. It can be a straight, segmented or curve line and it can develop

itself horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

Radial Organization

It combines elements of both linear and centralized organizations. It consists of a dominant central space, with many radial linear organizations.

While a centralized organization is an introverted scheme that directs to the interior of its central space, a radial organization is an extrovert scheme that escapes from its context.

The central space of a radial organization has a regular form, acts as the hub of the linear arms and maintains the formal regularity of the whole organization

Cluster Organization

This type of spatial organization is used to connect spaces using proximity.

It can accommodate in its composition spaces with different sizes, shapes and functions, as long as they relate themselves by proximity and some visual element.

The connected spaces can be grouped gather around a large area or a well defined spatial volume.

GRID ORGANIZATION

It consists of forms and spaces whose position in space and their interrelationships are regulated by a type of plot or a three‐dimensional field.

It can be created by establishing a regular scheme of points that define the intersections between two groups of parallel lines.

Its capacity on organization is the result of its regularity and continuity that includes the same elements that distributes.

Spatial Relationships

Space Within a Space

Interlocking spaces

Adjacent Spaces

Spaces linked by a common space

Education

Theory of architecture-1