The study and theories of architecture over the years has been interpreted, transformed, and implemented in many ways some of which are coherent and related to one another and others which completely refute all other approaches. In this paper I will discuss the Theory of the Urban Artifact as posed by Italian Architect Aldo Rossi In his work "Architecture of the city"(1966). The title of the Rossi's book "Architecture of the city" reflects his understanding of the city as a man-made object, a single work of architecture in its totality, one that is not individual rather it is composed of many different parts that make up this totality. For Rossi one of the main elements for understanding a city is its urban artifacts. Rossi sought to establish …show more content…
Like the city Urban Artifacts are characterized by their own history and forms. An Urban Artifact may be a building, street or a district. An Urban Artifact depends more on its form than its material, it is a complicated entity that has developed in space and time. If the same artifact had been built recently in modern times it would not have the same value as it would not contain the richness of its history which is a main characteristic of an urban artifact. To consider one urban artifact will lead to several questions such as individuality, Locus, memory and design. These urban artifacts help shape the form of the overall city and a key to understanding the urban artifact is realizing their collective character. Rossi strongly refutes characterizing an artifact by its relation to function as he states that functions are dominated by form and the form determines the individuality of every urban artifact. He argues that since every function can be articulated through a form and forms in turn contain the potential to exist as urban artifacts, Forms allow themselves to be articulated as urban elements. In contrast to function which all forms are capable to incorporate with some alternations and transformations if …show more content…
Rossi states that in the nature of urban artifacts there is something that makes them very similar to a work of art. As they are material constructions but not restrained within the material they are something different, and as they are conditioned by the technicalities of their material and construction they in turn condition. This aspect of art in urban artifacts is linked to the quality and uniqueness of the artifact itself. Urban Artifacts are very complex and therefore difficult to define. If a person takes any urban artifact such as a building or street and attempts to describe it that concept will always differ from another person's description such as a person who lives and experiences that artifact an example can be given for a tourist and resident, a tourist may describe and experience the artifact in a different way in comparison to the resident who may have a history or a certain memory in relation to that artifact and thus he portrays it in a different light, this same phenomenon is seen in works of art where two individuals may analyze the same work of art but have two completely different understandings. Rossi States urban artifacts are deeply rooted in the collective and therefore in the memory of the collective. Urban artifacts are manifestations of social and religious life. From this theory of urban artifacts Rossi tackles the idea of permanence. He states that permanence
New York City has been called “the greatest city in the world” numerous times by its own people and visitors to the city. New York is civilization’s greatest world within a city. It gives the overpowering impression of being a magnet and mirror for all of humanity and all that humanity does. For a city so young, New York is home to number of architectural classics. Two of these masterpieces of architecture are the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum. Both continue the metaphor of New York being a world within a world and possess the latent fusion of form and function, one dependent on the other. The Metropolitan Museum is the epitome of neo-Classical style while the Guggenheim is a modernist powerhouse. Each museum serves the same purpose: displaying humanity’s greatest achievements. By comparing and contrasting their history, location, façade and interior, I will investigate how they arrive at this goal in contrasting styles
He suggests that the use of “electronic imaging prevents imagining and promotes thinking about architecture rather than bring architects, contractors, clients and critics to think within architecture” (275). Inspired by Frascari, the strategy of technography is encouraged (278). This is a “different way of thinking about the relationship between a [working] drawing and a future building. Rather than “simply Cartesian, technical lines showing edges, corners and joints these technographic drawings reveal both the symbolic and instrumental representations of the future building.. it is to make visible what is invisible”. Ridgway remarks, “The fact that any of this could be considered contentious indicates that extent to which architects have become alienated from the heart of their profession” (279). He asserts, “Part of any technography must be an acknowledgement of the historical context of construction knowledge. This is not only so we can better understand our rich architectural ancestry, but because it re-establishes a connection with the origins of our profession in building” (279). Rather than a “miniature projected representation of an imagined building, details are drawn as poetic constructions themselves, following the logic of drawing and not building and representing the “built detail symbolically, in addition to instrumentally. The symbolic and practical are one and the same thing” (280). “What are the symbolic qualities we are trying to embody in our buildings and how would we represent them in drawings?” becomes the question (278). These drawing “may not be easy or straightforward to understand or interpret.
The article “The Life of An Artifact” by Michael Shanks discusses archaeological points of view and how the presence of the artifact relates to the social issues. An artifact may undergo through aging, decay or physical changes, but it should not be forgotten with the past. Similarly, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami created a new life-cycle for the 727 painting by combining different art styles and cultures. The painting follows the “Superflat” movement and applies the techniques learned from both American and Japanese art. The 727 painting became a unique art style that creates a new
The role of the city is to be the center of economic, political, and cultural movement. Cities have a dense population compared to the area, so careful planning must go into its development. In the U.S. alone, 55% of the population lives in cities with more than 1,000,000 people, 78% in cities with more than 100,000, and less that 3% live in agricultural areas (Angotti, Tomas. 1993). Since it is so crucial for a city with countless numbers of inhabitants to work properly, there has to be certain building types to facilitate the lives of the people. One of the most important building types is the temple. Temples through out time usually work very similarly urbanistically in the sense that they are centers of religious practice and located in key areas. A temple is a symbol of the culture; it represents the people’s beliefs and how devoted they are to them. Temples have usually been elaborate and large scale; examples of this include the Temple of Kukulkán in Chichén Itzá, Mexico, and the Mother Church in Boston, Massachusetts. The Temple of Kukulkán and the Mother Church in Boston are strikingly similar in many ways, including architecturally and how they are used by the people of the city.
Duncan’s (1991) analysis of western museums is defined through the theme of “durable objects” as a criterion to judge the heritage of American and European art as a ritual of the modern state. In this manner western art museums are built like “temples” as a symbolic and figurative representation of greatness of western culture throughout the world: “[They] are more like the traditional ceremonial monuments that museum buildings often emulate—classical temples” (Duncan 90). This interpretation of American/European museums defines a dominant source of cultural heritage that ritualizes
An everyday walk through the Downtown Champaign area is much more diverse in its structure than I had initially expected it to be. For my photo essay assignment, I took camera phone to downtown Champaign to capture different elements of the city. Compared to the city of Chicago, whose commercial spaces are taken by franchises, the downtown Champaign area has kept its traditional small town vibes with local companies while also taking on more modern commercial characteristics. The city has found a balance between the buildings and the fonts the accompany them which is what my photos revolve around. It was due to this idea that people passing through that downtown area experience both modern and traditional parts of the city.
Wirth, L. (1938). Urban as a Way of Life. In R.T. Legates, & F. Stout (Eds.). The City Reader (pp. 90-97). New York, NY: Routledge
Introduction: Architecture is characterized with usefulness and purposes and not just a type of building structure. Thus, Architecture is more than just work of art, but serving certain purposes as well. The work of architecture represents the people and protects their core values in propelling the people to the entire world. Classic Greeks and ancient Romans’ architecture have really contributed to the world recognition of the people’s art and culture.
Artifacts have special cultural value. Many artifacts contained the non-material circumstance that had their own culture’s tough characteristic and they symbolized the culture and historical of a country.(“Artifacts”, 2011, para.1). The worth of artifacts inflects a country’s or a nation’s culture developments. Values, esthetic interests, and economic conditions in its period.
To understand the role of place in architecture, the author compares architecture to language. Language has patterns and arrangements, architecture relates directly to what humans do. It changes or evolves as
Renzo stated in an interview, “Architecture is about exploring. Culturally, historically, psychologically, anthropologically, and topographically, every job is different.” Renzo is particularly well known for adapting designs to their location. He later went on to say “(architecture) should make a contribution to the contex. … you must employ a homeopathic process, ... you can easily destroy their (cities) subtle dynamics” (Archinect, 2006).
Architecture is not ever autonomous, contrary it is related to the city and the structural area. When looking at the architecture of Steven Holl, a continuity can be seen. The word of anchoring that is used as becoming a place shows some similarities with the approach of “critical regionalism” defined by Kenneth Frampton (1983). Frampton describes forms that are thought like an image and mentions the possibilities of an authentic architectural manner that refers to a specific place of architecture. According to Holl (1989), the most distinctive feature of architecture instead of the other activities is to stem from being an integral part of a place. This means that place is a ground with its inside and outside and constitutes the basis of both the building and the design. Holl’s architectural manner contains the responsibility of focusing on the urban voids in architectural design. In his essay named as “Modernizm’in Yerellikle Uzlaşma Arayışı: Holl” , Abdi Güzer (1995) mentions about the concept of anchoring of Holl that the exterior voids are not only the ground of the building but also of design concepts. Also, the building does not always have a change in order to take part in music, film or art, thus every building has only one place. In like manner, in his article “The Murmur of the Site”, Rafael Moneo claims that the urban void is the ground in which a building is
The framework that Jameson utilizes helps us understand why the city owner in “I Bought a Little City” alters a perfectly industrialized city with antique ideals. Jameson introduces the idea that postmodernism, the absence of innovation, is a concept that plays an active role in our society but is not accepted as so. This is not widely accepted because it is frowned upon to not be unique or exclusive in our day to day lives. Being able to cultivate your own styles and ideas makes you a more desirable person in our culture. Jameson concedes that postmodernism has a main characteristic, stating “one of the most significant features or practices in postmodernism today is pastiche” (Jameson, 1983, p.113).
The book as a description of modern architecture, its styles and influence succeeds but falls short as a prescriptive methodology. His work is still recalled for the need by modernists to categorize everything into neat little boxes, not necessarily for the sake of uniformity, but for sake of some ambiguity. The ambiguity may be the triumph of this book as post modern architecture era is supposed to create more questions than the answers.
During the centuries, human being always settled down as communities. Cities are developed, expand and evolve in this period. Obviously, old buildings are very important to give us idea about history and the culture of th...