CONTEXT & BUILDING 2
In today lecture, we discuss more about different type of context in architecture. Different architects have different understanding for the concept “context”. Context include urban planning, design and construction that have been influenced by a variety of factors from different perspective of time zone due to respective main concern of the situation.
Architecture is the physical language of city and community building. Architecture projects need to be perceived as part of implementing an urban design project which entails gathering insights into urban fabric and how people use urban spaces. The role of a Designer is to work on many scales, thoughtfully designing public places and spaces, to build on the unique local character and the best qualities of the forms inherent in that geographic region.
In my opinion, context today is same important as it was a century ago. From 1900s until now, context can be seen in the specific building which taking reference from other buildings (mainly refers to the city) and the context of the surrounding landscape inside a building design.
Besides that, context as considerations was also applied into the building element, making the element to be unique compare to the other elements ( that is the essence of the context which architect wanted to emphasis) architects also designed a building to make the relationship between exterior and interior, having interaction between each other or without interaction, just want to reflect the context of site.
Other context that considered from a century ago till now could as well be a different context – not spatial relationship , such as the context of the same type or author or period/style of buildings (they can stand apart both in space and time from the given object), the context of theories and concepts related to the building, the context of a certain lifestyle (forms of life).
Thus, context is still there , having the same influence to the buildings , either make the building form , enhance the space quality, reduce the space uncomfortable , increase the human satisfication... It is still the same basic consideration of design ! it is still the base for the site planning , wherever we find the way to define the word context , it is just the changes in meaning, the quality is still the same , still important . Whenever there is a building, there is context.
Unity Temple by Frank Lloyd Wright
Unity Temple is a Unitarian Universalist church in Oak Park, Illinois, and the home of the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation. It was built between 1905 and 1908.
Located on a busy main street in Oak Park, Unity Temple sits as a heavy mass on the site. Because of the noise level from the street, the temple appears to be windowless save for a few clerestory windows placed in recessed parts of the facade. As with some of his later works, Unity Temple is designed as a bipartite building that locates the temple at the center of the building, which connects to a community center through a low level corridor. Even though, Wright tried to abandon the traditional values of the Unitarian Church, he still placed the temple at the heart of the building suggesting that even though the design of space can ultimately change, the values that are instilled in the space don’t have to.
Throughout Wright’s architecture there is an interplay between light and dark, in the material, spatial configuration, and literal means of light. The exterior reads as heavy and opaque whereas the interior appears open and airy. Inside the temple, the light seems to appear from nowhere flooding the space with light. Since the windows were removed from street level, the parishioners have no view of the exterior or nature. Wright’s response to this issue was to design stained glass that had hues of green, yellow, and brown to evoke the sense of nature within the interior.
Maritime and Beachcombers Museum by Mecanoo
This maritime museum in the Netherlands features reclaimed wooden cladding and a zig-zagging roof that reference the gabled houses of the surrounding hamlet.
The museum is designed with four playfully linked gabled roofs which are a play on the rhythm of the surrounding roof tops which, seen from the sea, resemble waves rising out above the dyke.
Kaap Skil plays with daylight and the contrast between daylight and artificial light, lightness and darkness in various ways. Inside the building the boards cast a linear pattern of daylight and shadow creating an atmosphere infused with light and shelter. The sense of light and space heightens the contrast between the openness of the first floor and the more enclosed basement with its lower ceiling.
Comparing this two buildings, there are many similar context that considered by the architects. For the Unity Temple, It more focus on blending the building in the busy street and the ways to make the building more calm and quiet. For the museum, It more focus on how the building outlook blend in the site to make the whole site harmony. This both building include the consideration of environment, such as light to create different feeling and solve the interior issue.
“Context was formal, marked in particular by its study of figure/ ground relationship” – Adrian Forty
The form is the solution to the problem, the context defines the problem. I believe context must be heavily considered，before and after you come out with your idea or design ,who knows there will be a hidden context that vanished when you start designing but appear when you almost finish it ? Context is an underground root to all building ( imagine the buildings are all three , presence in outlook to user )it withstand all the buildings but they grow up with their particular shapes , height , giving different meaning to the environment ( that is the effect of the context towards the building !) A building does not stand alone—particularly in an urban environment.
