CONTEXT AND BUILDING
There are much changes of elements in architecture along this century , including form , design approach, materials and etc. However , there is one element is still active in contemporary architecture, that is “Context”.
Contextualism in architecture is a bond between architecture and urban planning in a certain context and context is a place that can connect architecture with urban planning. Construction in the present context means to interweave the new and the old in a way that it would be able to create a lively desired whole . As contextualism is the adaptation of form with context, different types of natural, historical, psycho-cultural and man-made contexts are considered and as the safe guarding and constancy of past's form order is its basis for creating form, even the ideals are predatory to the preexistent conditions or traditions
Throughout a century , the changes of architecture can be said from complexity to simplicity or regular to irregular. But this few changes did not change the importance of context . Most of the architect still take the context as the important consideration during design. As I said in previous article, A building design without consider context is nothing.
Subsequently, I will introduce two buildings from Iran, which support my view of context is still as the important consideration in architecture.
Wind towers (Badgir) are important elements in traditional Iranian architecture, providing natural air-conditioning in hot, dry and humid climates for thousands of years.The Dowlatabad garden wind tower in Yazd, presumably the world's tallest, is said to be 250 years old and about 33 meters high. It is surrounded by intricately hand-carved wooden lattice panels and stands atop the Dowlatabad cistern.
This project is a spatial dialog between traditional Persian Architecture and aspects of modern architecture. It creates an architectural space through the incorporation of modern architecture tenets with traditional Persian architecture.
As we can see , the climate context did affect in iran’s architecture. The wind tower is so important in iran , most of the building design with it but play with different way compare to ancient architecture such as form , appearance but the way it works remained. This two building exist in iran today , which can fully explain how context is important either a century ago or today . However the form of the building is totally changed due to other context.
Architecture does note exist alone, from century ago until now . It must have context to complete or enhance the idea of the architect. A well looking building that does not have a communication with the surrounding area is a failure in architecture. Most of the architect connect their building with site through materials and function of the public area of the building. The public area of the building always design with the function that relates to surrounding site to suit the context of the site. Then the techtonics of the building , which means the construction method of the building always be selected from the local method to make your building as the iconic building of the site.
Borujerdi ha House, in central Iran. Built in 1857, it is an excellent example of ancient Persian desert architecture. The two tall windcatchers cool the andaruni (courtyard) of the house.