MATERIALITY X IMMATERIALITY
Today's lecture is discussing about the materiality & immateriality in architecture , from the past to the present , and the relationship between them.I was asked to understand these two 'terms' and express my opinions upon them. Photos above show the imaginary composed building (left) which wants to shows the immateriality and the old station(right) to explain about the materiality.
Materiality
in architecture is the concept of applying raw materials on architecture , bringing out the characteristic of the material and building itself.
Material is a relative term in architectural design and so may be used to designate materials which are considered to be virtual or other materials which are natural.
In recent years, the concept of materiality has regained currency in architectural debates. In these debates, materiality became subject to critical reassessment and expansion, pushing the concept far beyond nineteenth-century materialisms or art-historical discourses on truth to materials. Interdisciplinary encounters led to engagements between architectural discourse and new approaches in archaeology, anthropology and material culture, which explore notions such as objectification or the agency of objects. New materialist critiques of matter have informed recent discussions around ecology and ethics. In addition to that, historians of architecture investigated the roles of materials like concrete, steel, or glass in fabricating modernity.
sand ,timber and stone are considered as the basic elements in ''materiality''
Building is expected to be solid ,stable and reassuring , thats the basic concept in terms of the materiality .
Materiality plays its role as the mother of concept in architecture , as it emphasis on usage of raw material , and focus on the function rather than the feeling creates by it. It can fully conserve the quality of raw material , since raw material is among the best original material in architecture,they are the best to be used in structure , to withstand building .
Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts
by Tadao Ando
He designed reinforced concrete buildings which emphasis on the haptic senses by widely using ‘raw concrete,’ this is concrete left unfinished, its surfaces bearing the imprint of its formwork.
Outstanding construction method is exposed to evident the quality of material.
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The grid created by the joints of the modular plywood sheets used as forms
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The imprint of the plywood’s raised wood grain
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Rows of small concave cylinder-shaped pockets where formwork fasteners were located.
Surfaces reveal subtle imperfections of hand formwork: seam lines, gradations of color and texture and other characteristics. This is architecture which derives beauty from its constructive logic.
Fairhope’s Sheldon Castle and Mosher Castle
Both the exterior and the interior are largely made of local materials. The stone facing is indigenous to the area, as is the underlying wall tile. Even interior trim is from trees felled on the site. In amongst the stones are pieces of glass and pottery as well as objects from around the world, including the Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall.
Immateriality creates one modern sensation in architecture , like light , feeling etc.It can be expressed through ideas, phenomena.
Immateriality roles as a connection between modern era and building, since new material is invented , building is now not only a design , but a message or idea which architect wants to let the world knows.Immateriality preserve the quality of the building , expressing the word- timeless .
Immateriality is inventing a new method of space planning , not only using the typical building materials.Thus,building becomes lighter , mysterious.
Blur Building
a media pavilion for Swiss EXPO 2002
Creatively using the fog to create one space , seems to be invisible of the structure but it does exist (fog) .In the Glass Box, a space surrounded by glass on six sides, visitors experience a "sense of physical suspension only heightened by an occasional opening in the fog."
A vaporous folly built of steel and architecture ingenuity
by Soul Fujimoto
This light and airy pavilion was created using steel rod in irregular arrangement . bringing out the feeling that the view from far is like a large cloud like shape , or a land art.
Jonathan hill once said," Sometimes a building is not the best means to explore architectural ideas. Consequently, architects, especially famous ones, tend to talk, write and draw a lot as well as build".Hill is interested in the role of the architect and the pressures inherent in a profession which, by its very nature, tends to conceptualise buildings rather than build them, or rather, works in the immaterial rather than the materia
To my mind , i think materiality and immateriality predominantly about the expression of material properties and the human perception.As Juhani Pallasmaa once said, different type of materials has its own meaning to the surrounding , by applying these concepts , building has more vivid soul instead of just a form or structure . Throughout the material or senses create , architect’s design intention can be easily read by users and the understanding of sensation can be trained too.It is no longer talk about the haptic perception but also smell ,vision, feeling of hot and cold etc.
If i were the fourth author, i will argue about the usage of raw material in contemporary architecture , which further discuss the method to blend in the raw material ( materiality) with the new era architectecture style ( immateriality), as the world is approaching to the sensation world rather than just the old & safe thought in the past . I will write about the potential of raw material in order to last longer , just like man made one ( glass, steel).Materials and building are linked closely , one cannot be exist without the other.Hence, Materiality and immateriality should find a balance situation , forming a structure which we called : ARCHITECTURE