THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM

1. BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM
(ARC61303/ARC2224)
SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (MARCH 2017)
Name: Nge Jia Chen ID No.: 0317738
Lecturer: Mr. Prince Tutorial Time: 10-12pm
Reader/Text Title: The Geometry of Feeling- A
Look at the Phenomenology of Architecture
Synopsis No: 4
Author: Juhani Pallasmaa
From the Geometry of Feeling, Pallasmaa states that architecture has been gradually detaching from its
purposive background, determined by its hedonistic rules and value systems. Thus, reducing into visual
elements without the reality of experience. The author viewed archetypal forms as a correlating elementto
how architecture is experienced by the dwellings. In the absence of it, architecture is just a mere
ornamentation. The author consistently emphasized that architecture should communicate with the people’s
emotive experience rather than designing merely physical entity.
From the text, Pallasmaa suggested thatarchitects primarily designbuildings withthe images and the feelings
of the people in mind, notjust as a physical object. “The artistic dimension ofa work of art does notlie in the
actual physical thing; it exists only in the consciousness ofthe person experiencing it”, the author stated. The
interaction between architecture and the people should stimulate one’s consciousness and evoke the
embodied sensory memories buried deep within oneself.
In the phenomenology ofarchitecture or derived as “looking at” architecture, early childhood memoriesserves
as an undisguised material ofphenomenological analysis. The purestand imprecise contentofa child’s mind
retains personal identifiability and emotional force throughout one’s live, convincing the authenticity of the
experiences. Perhaps, the most comprehensive architectural experience is the sense of being in a unique
place. The author stated that architecture is in fact restricted by its practical purposes and other external
conditions. Butif it does actas a symbol for human existence, the emotional feelings will notbe triggered by
the images the building creates.
To conclude this text with my two cents, the author argued that modern buildings lacks the dialogue with
people and I do not fully agree on the statement. It is vital for change, or else there will be no holistic
advancementin human history and architecture. Modernization is also a part of human existence, without it,
architecture is not being a complete symbol. Therefore, the architects should always create builtforms in-line
with advancement of modern science while shaping ‘new’ memories, then reality for the new generations.
Word Count: 349 Mark Grade
Assessed by: Date Page No. 2

2. BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM
(ARC61303/ARC2224)
SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (MARCH 2017)
Name: Nge Jia Chen ID No.: 0317738
Lecturer: Mr. Prince Tutorial Time: 10-12pm
Reader/Text Title: Learning from Las Vegas Synopsis No: 2
Author: Venturi, R., Brown, D. S., Izenour, S.
This text expresses that existing contextenlightens architects by challenging our perceptions towards it. The
authors discussed how symbolisms dominates the architecture over forms and spaces on an urban scale in
the commercial strip of Las Vegas. Thus, raising questions on how commercialization affects architecture.
Modernists progressively revolutionize the forms and spaces,prioritizing the functions or purpose given to the
user within the built form. Utterly excluding the existing conditions, changing the environment rather than
enhancing what is available. However, commercial vernacular design is studied primordially and it can’t be
reinvented but can only be improved by modern movements.
The authors implied that ancient iconology, such as archetypal sculpture, graphics and symbols, which the
modernists has abandoned, to be a form of communication. The commercial adaptation of these laid on the
streets of Las Vegas, dominating the skyline and landscape. Ultimately becoming an element of
communication across this flat desert town, giving bold and effective communication stretching over
distances. An example given is the enormous signs in vast spaces helps guide one while in high speed,
providing reliable directions through bold communication unlike the subtle modernist expressions, given the
context of a highway.
In commercial persuasion, words and symbols are utilized. Communication functions through proximity.
Through changes in streetscales, the type ofcommunication changes. In this context, symbol creates spatial
relationships better than forms. Hence, architecture defines little. An example from the text is a vast parking
lot that divides the low, modest shop front and the high-speed way. The parking lot communicates as a
“piazza”, the continuity of road lamps and the pictorial signage out-front that unifies the mega texture.
In conclusion, architects should design with enhancing the existing conditions in mind. Archetypal forms and
spaces should communicate with the users in relation to the existing urban scales and settings. As proximity
changes, how architecture is being communicated changes as well. Otherwise, architecture is redundant.
Word Count: 317 Mark Grade
Assessed by: Date Page No. 1

3. BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM
(ARC61303/ARC2224)
SYNOPSIS: REACTION PAPER (MARCH 2017)
Name: Nge Jia Chen ID No.: 0317738
Lecturer: Mr. Prince Tutorial Time: 10-12pm
Reader/Text Title: Towards a Critical Regionalism
(Point 5 & 6)
Synopsis No: 6
Author: Kenneth Frampton
Critical regionalism strives to oppose the placelessness and the lack of identity of the International Style,
rejecting ornamentation of Post-modernism at the time. It mediates the impact of universal civilization with
indirectly derived elements from the peculiarities of a particular place, retaining high critical self-
consciousness. Frampton then states that critical regionalism has a direct dialectical relation with nature.
The author talked about “cultivating” the site by responding to the topography; having a stepped form of a
building on the terracing of the same site rather than flattening the datum which induces placelessness.The
realization of architecture is perhaps inscribed through the geological and agricultural past in the region.
In terms of light and climate control, the author states that fenestration has an innate capacity to engrave
architecture with the region’s peculiarities. These two natural forces will impinge upon the envelope of a
building, influencing the outlook to express the essence ofthe region. The delicate modulation of the above
factors creates a constant regional inflection of forms, opposing directly to the use of universal methods.
Despite that, the author claimed that architectural autonomy dwells within the tectonics over scenographic,
it’s a presentation of structural poetics rather than representation of façade.
The author then suggests that tactile as an essential dimension in the perception ofbuilt forms. One has a
range of reciprocal sensory consciousness aside from visual sense. Tactile is unreducible to data, nor to
image but only experience itself. According to the author, complementing visual experience by readdressing
the tactile dimension of human consciousness is what critical regionalism pursues. The consolidated tactile
and tectonic values can surpass bare technical presentation and endure the uncompromising modernization.
In summary, the text advocates the importance of place-form in critical regionalism. The sense of place
inscribes the idiosyncratic values of that existing urban fabric. It must be achieved through both visual and
tactile dimensions symbiotically. Only with this, will the place-form progressively weather through the
advancement of universal modernization.
Word Count: 326 Mark Grade
Assessed by: Date Page No. 3